by Natalie Erin
Midnightstar sighed in aggravation. She obviously wasn’t going to change the unicorn’s philosophy anytime soon. She might as well get answers to other questions. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you.”
“Ask away.”
“The other night you said something about…not eating the mushrooms?” Midnightstar said, totally confused.
“A Changer mix did once. He regretted it till the day he died. His thoughts were very loud.”
When Midnightstar still looked confused, Dust said, “Don’t ask.”
“The thoughts of Changers?” Midnightstar’s head swirled just as much as Dust’s eyes did. “What are you talking about? How do you know what other Changers think?”
“I know this, Midnightstar, because I was a skygazer, too.”
Her jaw dropped. “You…you were like me? You said that you were...”
Dust tossed her tail. “Because of my ability to catch onto things quickly, the Assembly decided that I should be one. The old ones taught me everything they knew before they died. But skygazers are born, not made, Midnightstar. I was never meant to be one, and forcing me to become something I’m not damaged me. My visions and dreams, though they were frequent, were never as powerful as yours, Midnightstar. If I was to be a skygazer I would’ve found a portal by now…but I have not, and portals appear rather quickly once a skygazer receives their powers, as you have seen with Xiuh.”
“So they pressured you to be their skygazer, and you decided to leave?”
“Yes.”
“They let you walk away?”
“They don’t dare to go after me. I am not someone they want as an enemy.”
Midnightstar wouldn’t want Dust as an enemy, either. Now that she knew what Dust’s alternative form was, she saw her as a powerful ally. “But why does the Assembly need skygazers?”
“The Lands are in dire need, Midnightstar. The skygazers usually have some sort of knowledge that can put the entire realm at an advantage. Skygazers helped to end the First Despondent, and so the Assembly believes they can end this one as well. But with no skygazers to be had, the Assembly is fully responsible for the well being of the Lands, and you can obviously see that they don’t like being responsible.”
“Obviously.” Midnightstar scraped the ground with her paws. “Why me? Why was I chosen?”
“It’s an unanswerable question. You may never know.”
The quiet was uncomfortable for Midnightstar, but Dust seemed to melt into it, becoming the silence completely. The unicorn blinked and said, “The Assembly must never find out that you are a skygazer, Midnightstar. They will use you, like they used me.”
“There wouldn’t be a chance of stopping the unicorn war if they found out?” Midnightstar asked.
“No. You would be too busy trying to come up with answers to the Second Despondent itself.”
“But one wolf can’t fix that. It’s the responsibility of everyone,” Midnightstar protested.
“It is easier for them to put the burden on one lone soul.” Dust lowered her head, her horn glinting in the moonlight. “You have a visitor.”
Midnightstar looked over her shoulder to see Xiuh slithering out of the same hole she had come from, curiously prowling to her side.
“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere. You said earlier you needed to talk to me?” Xiuh said.
“She’ll listen this time, Xiuh,” Dust said quietly.
“Hello, Dust.” Dust’s form was apparently no big shock to Xiuh...he probably knew all along.
Midnightstar took a breath. “Yes. Xiuh, what I say is going to seem a little strange to you, but please, just listen.”
She took a deep breath, then dove right in. Xiuh listened patiently, crossing his front legs as she explained everything that she could. She related to him the visions, what the griffin said...all of it.
When she was done, he said, “But wait. If I’m your portal, shouldn’t I be able to hear the voices of the Changers too?”
“No. Only skygazers have that ability.” Dust raised her hoof.
“What I don’t understand is why I can see the thoughts of Changers,” Midnightstar said. “I’m a skygazer. I protect the Lands, not Nesting’s Haven.”
“You forget that the Lands and Nesting’s Haven are connected. Remember that the first Accompany and the first Changer came from a Land creature and a Land fairy.”
“Made so by a light spirit, correct?” Xiuh asked.
“Yes. And the Specters you ran into, those are their opposites. They are the spirits of the dark.”
“At least we left those far behind,” Midnightstar said in relief.
“Not quite, Midnightstar. We only have to look inside our heads to find them.”
Silence was coupled with shock. “So all those voices that I hear…they’re just Specters in my head?” Midnightstar asked.
“Yes, but much worse. It’s much easier to spot what is evil with your eyes than with your heart.”
Midnightstar didn’t hear the last sentence. Her sight went fuzzy as she was teleported to a hot sky above a giant, golden palace miles wide. A great garden of flowers surrounded the castle and there was a jungle in the distance, the waves of the ocean crashing in the background. It was so peaceful, and serene.
Then she looked downward to see thousands of soldiers marching towards the palace, carrying banners that depicted insignias of long, thin icicles.
“Midnightstar, what is it?” Xiuh questioned, concerned.
Snapping her mouth shut, she shook her head and pulled out of the vision. “They’re planning an attack,” Midnightstar said. “Wyntier and his army.”
“Wyntier has an army now?” Xiuh yelped, jumping back.
“How do you know?” Dust asked, dropping her head to look at Midnightstar directly.
“I just saw it in a vision. They want to hit some sort of palace.”
“There are no palaces in the Lands,” Xiuh said.
“I don’t think it’s here,” Midnightstar mused. “It’s somewhere tropical and sunny, with palm trees and a big garden.”
“Are you quite sure?”
Midnightstar hesitated. “I don’t know.”
“Could this be the past?” Xiuh said, looking at Dust.
“Possibly.” The mare raised her head.
“This is mad,” Midnightstar said. “What I saw could be the future. We might be able to stop it!”
“But what if it’s not? What then?” Xiuh said.
“You’re the portal. You’re supposed to be my guide!” Midnightstar said, pointing her paw at the dragon.
“You’re the skygazer, you’re supposed to be the boss!” Xiuh shouted back.
“Stop, stop,” Dust demanded, putting her hoof down. “Whatever the case, we can’t do anything about it now, not when we don’t know where it is. The important thing is to train you how to see these things so you know. The way you see now is sporadic and random.”
“Thanks,” Midnightstar grumped.
“If the palace is as big as you say it is, they’ll be able to defend themselves,” Dust said. “We mustn’t worry about things we cannot control.”
Midnightstar wasn’t so sure, but Dust was right. Her inexperience in this area could cost them. She would have to find out more about this situation before they could do anything about it. “Could you teach me how to be a skygazer?”
“Yes. Tomorrow, before Rabika goes hunting, we’ll start your training.”
There were voices outside Snapfoot’s den that night. He got up from his sleep, grumbling. More complaints from wolves who know nothing, he thought. Wanting to halt the murmuring, he wearily pulled himself to his feet and forced himself out into the camp, waving his head around. There was no one out here. Odd…
Something snapped in the woods nearby. He brought his head up, instantly alert. There was movement out in the plains. As he caught the scent of unicorn on the air, his weariness left him immediately. “Wolves, to your feet!” he cried.
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Unicorn after unicorn flooded into the plains, rampaging towards the pack with rolling eyes and fierce brays. Some of them stabbed wolves in their sleep, others stomping them to death beneath their hooves before the creatures had a chance to stir. The wolves awoke, stumbling to their paws to fight in confusion at the dozens of unicorns swarming through the plains. Confusion rampaged through Snapfoot’s head. Where was Kaliska and her guard? They were supposed to stop this!
“Everybody, get up!” Snapfoot cried. “It’s an ambush!”
Chapter Eight
Everything Goes Quite Terribly
Midnightstar stood waiting in the gray, early morning underneath the intimidating loom of the Blue Sky Peaks. Dust had decided that it would be best to teach her outside the cave, where the Assembly wouldn’t know and where her friends wouldn’t see. The Changer, however, was very late.
“How much longer must I wait for you, Dust?” Midnightstar mumbled, her annoyance with the creature slowly growing.
Just as Midnightstar was about to leave, Dust appeared from the mountain crevice, in her wolf form once more.
“You’re late,” Midnightstar grumbled.
“I never specified an exact time for you to be here,” Dust commented, licking her paws clean. “I just said we would begin this morning.”
Midnightstar opened her mouth, and then snapped it shut again before speaking in a flustered voice. “I just thought you’d be here earlier.”
“I had other things to do this morning,” Dust said softly.
“What sort of things?” Midnightstar questioned.
“Nothing that matters to you,” Dust replied. “We must be getting started if we are to make any progress.”
Midnightstar wanted to press, but thought better of it. “What are we to start with?”
“Learning to tell which visions are memories, and which are current events,” Dust answered. “You need to be able to look for clues within the vision.”
“What kind of clues?” Midnightstar asked, thinking of hunting. “Do I look for the position of the sun, or something like that?”
“No. You must look deeper than the image.” Dust told her. “You must look for the underlining fabric of time.”
“What do you mean, the fabric of time?” Midnightstar cocked her head to one side. “How can I look deeper?”
“Glance to the edge of your vision and find the strings that tie the image to you,” Dust said. “They appear just like any ordinary thread, and they attach all memories to one’s mind.”
“Okay...so if I find them, how do I know if it’s a memory or not?”
“Those visions that hold onto memories are thicker, as they have existed longer,” Dust explained. “The thinner visions are newly formed, and belong to current events. You can tell how long ago a memory occurred by the thickness of these threads. Try now, Midnightstar. Bring on a vision.”
“I can’t command them at will. They’re random,” Midnightstar protested.
“Yes, you can, Midnightstar. As a skygazer, you are connected to the thoughts of all Changers,” Dust reminded her. “If you concentrate, you should be able to break into the mind of one right now. Now concentrate.”
Feeling like she was being pushed around, Midnightstar obediently closed her eyes and tried to bring on a vision. She thought it would be impossible, but to her surprise, she fell into the eyes of another just as easily as she saw through Xiuh’s eyes...easily and effortlessly.
She was in long hallway, bounding towards a door. Orange fur stuck out on the legs of the Changer she was seeing, and she was very low to the ground. She directed her attention to the corners of the vision, trying to find the strings. At first, there was nothing. But then, just barely in view, was a thin strand of some glittering substance. It was so thin, it was almost invisible. This vision wasn’t a memory. It was happening right now.
The Changer kept moving. Midnightstar took in the lavish decorations in the hallway. Everything was decorated with jewels and rich fabrics. This was the home of someone with status and power, a king or lord. Perhaps this was the interior of the palace she’d seen earlier. The creature ran up to a door and slunk in through a small crack, peering all around.
The room was dark. On the bed sat a young girl with bright pink hair, kissing a boy who laid beside her.
“Cameliyon,” the Changer whined. “Martin and I need to talk to you.”
“Go away, Pumpkin,” the girl replied viciously. “We’re busy.”
The Changer curled inward, suppressing a feeling of hurt. Midnightstar focused in on the boy, trying to see who it was.
She gasped when she recognized the face. Kennu? she thought, forgetting that the Changer could hear her.
The orange Changer jolted its head around, trying to find who had spoken. Midnightstar pulled away. Dust was waiting patiently when Midnightstar returned to her own reality.
“It wasn’t a memory,” Midnightstar panted. “It was Kennu.”
“It doesn’t matter who it is that you see,” Dust said softly. “The strings matter.”
“They were really thin. I could barely see them,” Midnightstar said quickly. Her mind was reeling. Who was with Kennu, and what had they been doing? Was he in love with the girl he was with? And if not, why had they been kissing like that?
“You need to focus, Midnightstar.” Dust’s stern voice bombarded through the questions spinning through her mind, and the Changer stared intently at her.
“I am focused,” Midnightstar growled.
“No, you’re not,” Dust replied sharply. “You cannot learn more if you will not focus.”
“No! I want to know more!” Midnightstar demanded.
“Not with your mind wandering like this,” Dust told her. “Rabika will be leaving soon to hunt the Ortusan. You should bid her goodbye.”
“I want to learn,” Midnightstar snapped. “You have to teach me! The Lands depend on it!”
“This may be the last time you see her,” Dust said bluntly before walking away. “You should value your friends, Midnightstar.”
Midnightstar struggled not to chase after Dust and drag her back. “Why do you always do this?” Midnightstar questioned. “You’re always walking away when someone is trying to reason with you!”
Dust didn’t reply. Midnightstar stalked away, shaking her head and growling. She knew she should be afraid for Rabika, but she was more worried about what Kennu had been doing. Rabika could handle herself. Kennu couldn’t, and wherever he was she didn’t want him getting into trouble.
“There you are, Midnightstar! we’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Tatl said, pulling her from her thoughts as he climbed outwards from a hole in the mountain. “Where’s Dust?”
“Creator only knows where,” Midnightstar replied.
“You’re starting to sound just like her,” Tatl joked. “She always says stuff like that.”
“Maybe I am,” Midnightstar mumbled. She wanted to object to the thought that she and the Changer were similar, but Midnightstar knew she was more like Dust than she could ever know. The thought terrified her.
The unicorns were everywhere, running into the plains from what seemed to be all directions. They had planned this attack well, and despite Snapfoot’s defenses, Kaliska and her guard had obviously failed to stop them, or even warn the pack that they were coming.
“Head for the forest!” he called as loudly as he could, hoping someone would hear him.
The wolves would know the burnt Verinian better than anyone else. They had traveled through it for months now, memorizing every blackened path and crumbling tree on their search for food. It was the only place where they would have a fighting chance. If Snapfoot could get his pack into the forest, they’d be able to hide until the unicorns grew tired and left.
But his pack didn’t listen to his command. They wanted to fight. The hunger of the wolves fueled their rage, filling them with bloodlust and a ravenous desire to kill.
“Stop fighting! We must retre
at, or we will all die!” Snapfoot yelled. He was sure the members of his pack had heard him, but no one did as told.
“Why must we run? We must fight for who we are!” a young wolf cried back. “We are wolves! We do not run!”
“We will be the last wolves to ever live if we don’t get out of here now!” Snapfoot responded, but no one cared to listen to him any longer. The fighting continued, and as Snapfoot watched wolf after wolf be impaled on the horns of the unicorns, his only remaining thought was to find Kaliska and ask her what had happened.
Snapfoot ran across the field of carnage, ignoring the screams of the wounded and dying. They should’ve been prepared for this! Had it been wise to trust Kaliska with such an important task? Or had she lied to him all along, and sealed the pack’s doom?
As he ran, he saw a small group of wolves run for the ashy forest. They were the only ones who had bothered to obey his words. But how many had died before they took heed of his warning? “Too many,” he answered for himself. But numbers didn’t matter now.
Snapfoot stopped and dropped his head low to the ground, searching for the scent of the she-wolf. “Where are you?” he muttered.
He caught it just upon the border of the unicorn’s land. There was a trail of blood, and a few patches here and there of gray, soft fur. Then he figured it out. They’d taken her.
“I’m coming, Kaliska!” he yelled, running after the trail. He hoped he wasn’t too late, but doubt surged through his mind. The unicorns had killed her already. There was no way they’d leave her alive.
He’d traveled through most of the Verinian before he found her, beaten and bruised in the bottom of a large hole. “Kaliska! Are you alright?” he called.
“Snapfoot?” she whispered, her voice giving away the pain. He sighed in relief. She was still alive.
“Yes, it’s me!” he answered. “Are you hurt?”
“Yes,” she moaned. “I’m hardly able to move.”
“Is anything broken?” he asked.
“I don’t think so,” she whimpered. “I’m just bruised.”
