Midnightstar (Creatures of the Lands Book 5)

by Natalie Erin

“Yes,” Midnightstar said, her voice raising to a loud point. “And I’m sorry. Sorry I wasted all this time believing that you could help us. I’m also sorry that I thought a bunch of bigots were going to do anything!”

  There was an instant uproar at Midnightstar’s insult. “Now see here!” a voice cried high from above. Other animals joined in, the screaming growing louder with each protest.

  Midnightstar’s cries echoed over them all. “You’re all cowards!” she called. “While the Ortusans grow in number and the animals of the Lands keep turning on each other, you hide in your court, hoping that the Second Despondent will just pass you by!”

  “Who are you to say what our intentions are, you spindly-tailed little pup?” a badger grumbled, pounding his paw against the stone.

  Midnightstar dropped her head. “We left our pack and traveled all this way for nothing. It all depends on me,” she whispered. Tears sparked in her eyes and she closed them tightly, gritting her teeth as they began to run into her fur. “It has always depended on me. The one with the light of the stars upon her back.”

  “What are you blithering on about? Speak up!” the heron demanded.

  Midnightstar let out an enraged growl. “The Assembly will fall!” she cried, and her eyes flashed pure white with the declaration. “The Second Despondent will not be over until each and every one of you has been cast to the corners of the earth! As sure as you have watched the blood of the Lands be drained by the Ortusans, you also will be drained of life!”

  “She’s mad!” the heron gasped, stepping back.

  “This night, I seal your fate!” Midnightstar cried. “As you have shown no mercy to the creatures of the Lands, there will be no mercy shown to you!”

  Midnightstar then knew all had gone wrong. She threw back her head and great beacons of light burst from her sockets, illuminating the court and blinding all who looked on.

  “Her eyes! Her eyes are glowing!” a jaguar shouted.

  “She’s a skygazer!”

  At this sentence, the Assembly erupted. “Block the doors!” the heron cried. “Don’t let the skygazer escape!”

  The light emitting from Midnightstar’s eyes went out. She whipped her head around to see dozens of animals blocking the exit, flooding the floor until they had made a circle around her, Rabika, Tatl, and Adelaide.

  “Halt! I demand it! I am the Wolf King!” Tatl said, his voice intermingling with the others.

  “One member cannot overrule us all,” the heron stated. She raised her wings in a threatening position and said, “Join us, skygazer. Your duty is to the Assembly.”

  Xiuh, where are you? Midnightstar whispered in her head, beginning to panic. She searched outwards for her dragon, wanting to force herself into his brain to cry for help, but he was nowhere to be found.

  “What are you going to do to me?” Midnightstar asked, terrified.

  “Only what you’ve been destined for, skygazer,” the heron said, crouching low. “Now I see why Dust brought you here.”

  Midnightstar felt betrayed. Of course this had been Dust’s real motive. She’d lead them blindly into a trap. Midnightstar bet that Dust had searched the Lands for months in order to find a real skygazer, just so she could get the Assembly to leave her alone.

  It didn’t matter. Dust meant nothing to her now.

  “You can’t hold me captive. I won’t be your servant like Dust was,” Midnightstar said.

  The Assembly closed in. “We just want to talk,” the heron said.

  “You weren’t so keen to talk until you figured out you could use me,” Midnightstar said.

  “If you cooperate, no one will get hurt,” the heron said lowly. “However, if you fight, there will be consequences.”

  “Get hurt?” Midnightstar gasped, shaking her head.

  “Your friends will remain underground, in our sleeping quarters. We won’t kill them…if you do what we ask…”

  Midnightstar knew she should’ve come alone. The Assembly was going to use her friends, torture them until she gave into their demands. But she wasn’t a true skygazer. She had no training, and no idea how to use her powers. Midnightstar glanced at the quivering Adelaide. Her tail was tucked between her legs, and her eyes were wide. The thought of her being tortured was madness.

  “Come, skygazer,” the heron said. “We have a special place prepared just for you.”

  Midnightstar’s vision wavered, transforming into another’s. In one breath Midnightstar both stared into the eyes of the heron and smashed the door to the giant court down with a sharp, angry kick.

  Midnightstar was jolted back into her own body as she saw Xiuh standing upon the broken door, nostrils flaring, fangs bared.

  “Oh, it’s only a little dragon,” a goose said, honking its displeasure.

  “Let’s use his pelt for a rug!” a rooster cawed, and the members of the Assembly barreled towards him.

  “No!” Midnightstar howled, terror squeezing her heart as the animals jumped upon her dragon.

  “Wrong day,” Xiuh said, and he belted out a flame that shocked even the eldest members. It whipped around, curling into several strands and wrapping into different shapes so that the ends of the flame formulated into the appearance of animals, creatures that attacked the Assembly with a ferocity that was uncommon.

  “He’s her portal!” the heron gasped. “Grab him, too!”

  “Catch me if you can!” Xiuh shouted. He breathed out a multitude of flames, which sent even the bravest members of the Assembly scampering into hiding before stampeding his way over to the wolves in the center.

  “Xiuh,” Midnightstar breathed. Her portal had shown up at just the right time.

  “Let us go, quickly,” he insisted.

  “How did you learn to breathe fire like that?” Midnightstar asked, stunned.

  “Dust taught it to me. Perks of being a portal,” Xiuh said.

  “Let’s get out of here!” Tatl roared, and the entire group stampeded for the door.

  “No! This must not happen!” The heron squawked behind them. “She’s ours!”

  “No,” Xiuh said just as they reached the doors, flying up to the very top of the cave. “She’s mine.”

  The dragon swung his tail into a large balcony that hung over all the others. It instantly crumbled at his well-aimed hit and he came spiraling down, flying faster than the rock that was chasing him, sweeping out the door as the boulder fell onto the rock below, blocking the exit just as he and the others escaped.

  But it didn’t stop there.

  Midnightstar skidded to a halt as she listened to the tortured screams that were emerging from the other side of the boulder, where the court was trapped. The one rock that had fallen had caused the entire complex to crumble onto itself, causing a major rockslide and crushing the members of the Assembly to death underneath the falling stone...one, by one, by one.

  “Mids, come on!” Adelaide insisted, tugging on her fur. “Let’s go!”

  She was paralyzed. “The Assembly,” she whispered. “They’re all in there. They’re getting crushed!”

  “There’s nothing we can do! They brought this upon themselves!” Tatl insisted, trying to get her to budge and failing.

  Xiuh grabbed her with his fangs by her scruff, dragging her along. By the time he’d pulled her halfway through the cave, the screams had ended. Midnightstar scrabbled for a hold, no longer thinking, just feeling as the mountain shook all around her…

  “Look out!” Rabika said, and Midnightstar glanced to the roof. She dove out of the way as sharp crystals crashed to the floor, some shattering in pieces on the cold floor, others clunking to the ground in giant weights that would crush them if they made a misstep.

  “Move!” Tatl said, and he snatched Adelaide out of the way just before a falling crystal cut her open. “We’re almost to the outside, go, go, go!”

  Gem after gem fell to the floor. Midnightstar gasped as a massive amethyst rattled above Xiuh’s head, and she pushed him into a wall just before i
t hit his skull. The group made it out, crawling through one of the remaining holes that hadn’t collapsed frantically. Tripping over a rock, Midnightstar fell to the ground…and stayed there.

  After the group had caught their breath, the questions came.

  “Midnightstar, what…” Tatl said, eyes weak. “What happened in there?”

  She didn’t answer. She didn’t have any answers anymore. She had nothing. Everything in the world had just slipped out of her paws, shattered by the Assembly. And in turn, she’d shattered them.

  “All of them,” Adelaide said chokingly. “Every single animal in there just...died.”

  “I can’t say I feel very sorry for them,” Rabika snarled nastily.

  “Rabika, those creatures had families and friends too. Just like us,” Adelaide whimpered.

  At Adelaide’s words, Midnightstar’s own came out in great, wretched sobs. “It was my fault!” she moaned. “I cursed them! I cursed them all to suffer.”

  “Curses mean nothing, Mids,” Tatl comforted. “They’re not real.”

  “I’m a skygazer! What I say is bound to come true!” Midnightstar burst.

  “Midnightstar, I’m the one who caused the rocks to fall,” Xiuh added. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I didn’t know the whole cave would collapse in on itself.”

  “How about the idiots pick a more stable court next time?” Rabika said, but Tatl growled at her, and the she-wolf became silent.

  “Your eyes glowed,” Adelaide said. “Just like Allie and Kennu’s. Why, Mids?”

  Midnightstar didn’t hold back. It was no use keeping her secrets anymore. There was no point. “I already told you. I’m a skygazer.”

  “Yes, but what is that?” Rabika snapped.

  “I have visions,” Midnightstar said quickly, her words spilling out. “I hear things, and see them, too. That’s why I’m always so spacey and why I scream out in my sleep. I can hear the thoughts of Changers, and enter into their minds.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us any of this before?” Rabika asked. “We could’ve helped you.”

  Anger bitterly flared through her, and she raised her head up, clambering to her paws. “Do you know what it feels like to hear things in your head?” Midnightstar screamed, taking a few clumsy steps forward. “Do you understand how it feels to see things you can’t comprehend?

  “Mids, calm down,” Tatl insisted. Rabika’s eyes just grew wide.

  “I will never calm down! I will never be calm again, after all of this!” Midnightstar howled. “Can you comprehend how horrible it is, day after day after day after day, to have visions that you can’t tell are real or not? What would you say to me if you were in my position, Rabika? If you told me, I’d have thought you lost it!”

  “But Midnightstar, you’ve always been a little odd,” Tatl insisted.

  “This is different!” Midnightstar said. “Do you want to know more? I see through his eyes!” She pointed at Xiuh, and the dragon stared back at her as an iron statue, never blinking., ever calm. “I can go into his mind, and watch things as he does them! I can hear his thoughts, and I can’t even help it! Dust was supposed to teach me how to control it, but she left!”

  “Mids, please, please, I don’t care what you are, please just stop crying,” Adelaide said, and she began to cry too. “Stop, stop. I don’t care if you see things, or if you hear voices. I don’t even care if you’re crazy. You’re my friend and I don’t want to see you cry. Don’t cry.”

  “Come here, skygazer,” Xiuh said, and he looped himself around Midnightstar, nuzzling her close as his hot breath caressed her fur. “Be still.”

  “I can’t be still,” Midnightstar complained, and she concentrated on the pale sheen of his scales, the whiteness she felt like she had been falling through forever. “I can’t stand by and wait while the Assembly, the unicorns, the Creator, does nothing. I can’t follow the command to be still.”

  “You have to,” he rumbled, and Midnightstar could hear the fire burning in his stomach.

  “Can you tell us what a skygazer is again?” Tatl asked. His voice was inquisitive, rather than frightened.

  “The protector of the Lands...technically, the equivalent of the Great One. I am her portal, which means I’m her guide,” Xiuh said, explaining for her.

  “How long have you known?” Rabika pressed, asking Midnightstar.

  “Weeks,” Midnightstar moaned.

  “We’ve been traveling with the protector of the Lands all this time, and we didn’t even know it?” Tatl breathed.

  “No, Tatl,” Midnightstar hushed. “You’ve been traveling with a liar and a fake. I cannot even be true to myself. I have failed at my one task.”

  “Mids,” Adelaide said. “Maybe…maybe you misread the prophecy. Maybe going to the Assembly isn’t what the solution was all along.”

  “Great. I messed that up, too,” she mumbled. Xiuh drew her closer.

  “Maybe going to the Assembly was part of the plan,” Adelaide offered. “It’s just…not the full plan yet.”

  Poor little Adelaide. She always had hope against hope, even when, in situations like this one, it was pointless.

  “Let’s all get some rest,” Xiuh offered. “It’s been a long night. We can figure out what to do in the morning.”

  “Agreed,” Tatl said.

  Nobody else bothered to ask any more questions, either because Midnightstar was so upset or because Xiuh was giving a threatening glance to anyone who came near. Midnightstar sighed, curling up into a ball, her tail tucked over her face. It was over. She had failed. In the morning, they would begin the journey home…if there was even a home to go back to.

  All through the night, Xiuh never left her side.

  Snapfoot pulled Kaliska along beside him, carefully maneuvering her around rocks and stumps in the path. “This is taking forever,” she moaned. “Just go. I’ll make it back somehow.”

  “I won’t leave you here alone.” He stopped, allowing her to rest a moment. Her injuries were slowing them down considerably, but the idea of abandoning her now was hideous to him.

  “You must. The pack needs you,” Kaliska said. “Go and help them. I’ll find my own way home.”

  “You need me too, Kaliska,” Snapfoot replied.

  “I’m useless,” Kaliska said softly. “I don’t deserve anyone’s help. All I’m good at is getting pregnant and making everyone angry.”

  “You haven’t made me angry yet,” Snapfoot told her soothingly. “So come on. Let’s get going.”

  “You are a stubborn fool, Snapfoot,” she commented, leaning against him once more, her eyes twinkling. “But I don’t mind.”

  “You’re the only one that’s ever going to be allowed to get away with calling me a fool.” He chuckled.

  They walked on in silence, slowly moving one step at a time. The barren trees ahead marked the barrier between the Verinian and the plains, and Snapfoot readied himself for the horrid sight he knew must lie in wait for them.

  Everything was covered in blood. The bodies of wolves were everywhere, with only a few unicorns lying among them. Out of the corner of his eye, Snapfoot watched as the few living wolves were making for the opposite end of the burnt forest, the unicorns close on their tails. All the hope Snapfoot had vanished in a single sigh of agony.

  Snapfoot laid Kaliska down by a bush. “Stay here,” he whispered. “I have to gather the pack.”

  “Agreed. I’ll wait.” Kaliska laid her head down to get some rest, and Snapfoot wound his way through the trees, following the fleeing pack at a distance. When he’d finally found them, the unicorns had abandoned the chase and they’d gathered in a clearing, where only twenty or so wolves remained.

  “Is this all that’s left?” Snapfoot said in astonishment, stepping into the group. He looked from face to face, shocked to see so many friends missing. His stomach gave a jolt as he realized that his father wasn’t there.

  “You!” a wolf cried as they noticed him. “You tail-turning worm, you
betrayed us!”

  “Where is Lilja?” Snapfoot demanded, pushing his way through the group. “WHERE?!”

  “He’s still in the plains, trying to save his sister!” another wolf said, casting his head to the east.

  Aunt Lottie. Snapfoot was off in an instant, tearing back to the plains. In the distance, two wolves were dueling with a bright red stallion...Dragonheart. Snapfoot ran and ran, trying to get there in time. From afar, he heard their voices.

  “Lottie, run! Save yourself!” Lilja gave a great wheeze as he avoided the unicorn’s deadly horn once more. The old wolf was battling valiantly, but he couldn’t keep up. He stumbled as he attacked, barely able to defend himself against his attacker’s movements.

  “I’m not leaving you!” Lottie said. Lilja pushed her out of the way as the unicorn charged once more. His horn narrowly missed both of them.

  “Hold on Dad, I’m coming!” Snapfoot cried.

  He got there just as the unicorn charged again. Lilja crouched down and used the remaining energy he had to leap into the air, sailing towards Dragonheart with fangs exposed. In that moment, Snapfoot thought it looked like his father was flying.

  As Lilja was about to latch onto his neck, Dragonheart swung around and dealt Lilja a swift kick in the chest. Lilja gave a grunt at the same time the stallion’s hooves connected. There was an awful sound of cracking bone, and suddenly, Lilja wasn’t Lilja anymore.

  “No! Father!” Snapfoot screamed, but it was no use. Lilja’s old, withered body fell off of him, the fight over. Before Lilja’s corpse hit the ground, Snapfoot knew his father was running with his ancestors.

  Lottie stood still for an instant, staring at Lilja’s shell, as if she couldn’t believe what had happened. Then the sweet, tender Lottie fell away as she became a monstrosity, teeth bared as she whirled upon Dragonheart.

  “YOU USELESS CREATURE!” Lottie bellowed. “I’LL KILL YOU!”

  Lottie latched herself onto the unicorn’s throat. The beast gave a great, bellowing scream before she ripped open his veins. He sunk in a writhing fashion to the ground, where he died in seconds.

  Snapfoot’s paws were swamped in the unicorn’s blood. Lottie, gentle Lottie, had killed the son of the mare Lavender, the same unicorn that had given Lottie life through her horn so long ago.