Page 39 of Starlit Bargains

Chapter 9

Unraveling

Kai woke with a jolt, momentarily disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings. The copper glow of the celestial markings had dimmed considerably, now little more than a faint outline tracing the ancient patterns on the walls. How long had he been asleep? Hours, judging by the quality of light filtering through the broken ceiling—the deep blue of early dawn rather than the pitch black of night.

A small fire crackled in the center of the ruins, its dancing flames casting moving shadows across the weathered stone. Eliar had managed to gather enough dry wood to build it while Kai slept, though the effort had clearly cost him. He sat with his back against the far wall, his face unnaturally pale in the flickering light, eyes half-closed.

“Look who finally decided to join the living,” came Briar's familiar voice. The sprite hovered near Kai's face, her tiny arms crossed. “I've been keeping watch while you two take turns being unconscious. Someone had to be the responsible one.”

Kai sat up, wincing at the stiffness in his muscles. “How long was I out?”

“Long enough for me to count every single crack in this ceiling,” Briar replied, pointing upward. “Twice.”

She fluttered closer, her expression shifting to something more serious. “Do you think Silas and Thorne are looking for us by now? We've been gone way longer than we said we would be.”

The mention of home sent a pang of guilt through Kai. He'd been so caught up in shadows and prophecies that he'd barely spared a thought for those he'd left behind at Thornhaven.

“Probably,” he admitted. “Though Silas is used to me disappearing for a few days at a time. It's when I hit the week mark that he really starts to worry.”

“Thorne,” Eliar repeated, the name clearly familiar to him.

“You know Thorne?” Kai asked, surprised.

“Not personally,” Eliar clarified. “But guardians of different domains... we tend to be aware of each other, even if we never meet. His connection to the land is profound. He would sense the disturbances we've been causing.”

“Great,” Kai muttered. “So not only do we have shadow monsters and village Keepers after us, but potentially an overprotective forest guardian too. Just what we needed.”

“On the bright side,” Briar offered, “if Thorne finds us, he might be able to help with star-boy's shadow wound. His healing magic is the real deal.”

“If he doesn't decide to turn us into fertilizer first for disrupting his forest's energy,” Kai countered.

“Your concern is touching,” Eliar said, a hint of amusement flickering in his star-flecked depths despite his obvious discomfort. He attempted to shift position and immediately winced, one hand going to his chest with a sharp intake of breath.

Alarm lanced through Kai. “Hey, what's wrong? Are you hurt?”

“It's nothing,” Eliar said, but the tightness around his eyes told a different story. “The shadows... where they touched me. It will heal.”

“He wouldn't let me look at it,” Briar announced, zipping over to perch on Kai's shoulder. “Apparently sprite medicine isn't good enough for fallen cosmic entities.”

“That's not—” Eliar began, then sighed. “Your offered remedy involved tree sap and what you described as 'good vibes.'”

“Which would have worked perfectly,” Briar sniffed, “if someone wasn't too stubborn to try it.”

“Let me see,” Kai insisted, already kneeling beside Eliar. “I have some actual healing knowledge. Silas made sure of that after the third time I came back from a simple errand half-dead.”

Eliar hesitated, then relented with a small nod. He carefully pulled aside the torn fabric of his shirt, revealing a patch of skin along his ribs that looked... wrong. Not wounded in any conventional sense—no blood, no broken skin—but altered. The flesh had a strange, semi-translucent quality, as if something essential had been partially extracted from it. Beneath the surface, dark tendrils spread outward from the central point of injury, like ink diffusing through water.

“Well, that's horrifying,” Briar commented, leaning forward for a better look. “Makes my skin crawl, and I'm mostly made of flower petals.”

“Thanks for the diagnosis,” Kai said dryly. To Eliar, he asked, “Can it be healed?”

“For me, yes, eventually.” Eliar carefully covered the injury again. “My nature is... resilient, even in my diminished state. For a human, such a wound would be fatal.”

“Good thing I'm not entirely human according to these ruins,” Kai said, gesturing to the faintly glowing markings on the walls. “Or at least, that's what you both keep implying.”

“I've been saying you were weird for years,” Briar pointed out helpfully. “No one ever listens to the sprite.”

Kai ignored her, focusing on the task at hand. “There should be supplies in my pack. Some herbs that might help, at least with the pain.”

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