Page 24 of Sea of Stars

My sprint slowly turned into a jog and eventually a walk. Soon I was so out of breath that I had to stop completely. I placed my hands on my knees and tried to take a deep breath. My shoulder was soaked with blood. The scab had fallen off, causing my wound to reopen. I sat down and poured a few drops of salt water on my arm. This time I didn't flinch because I was growing so used to the pain. I noticed my hands were bloody as I screwed the cap back on, so I sat there catching my breath and trying to pull the splinters out with my fingers. If I ever reached the village, the healer could help me get fixed up. I lifted my shirt and removed the deep splinters from my scarred skin. Now there were tiny little red holes all over the blue symbols. Without any more hesitation, I got up and began walking once again.

I glanced behind me whenever I heard the slightest noise. Even though I never saw anything there, it caused me to quicken my pace. The mountain dwellers may have been huge, but they were also sneaky and good at blending into the rocks. They could easily be watching me.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I finally saw smoke rising in the air. I went to the side of the cliff and looked down. I was so close. Right beyond the tall grasses were small, mud huts speckled around in a circle. A thin river ran adjacent to the village. I needed water. I tried to ignore the pain of my formerly dislocated shoulder and started to climb down the mountain. But the pain was there, and it slowed me down quite a bit. When I finally reached the bottom I was surrounded by grass that was taller than me. I looked up at the rocks behind me and was glad to be rid of them. I turned and ran through the grassy field.

It was so quiet. The villagers were probably still asleep. I needed water. I had a thirst like I had never experienced before. Mortwar had withheld water from us divinares through many droughts, so I had definitely experienced my fair share of thirst. I knelt down by the river and cupped my hands together. I drank the water by the handfuls until I couldn’t drink anymore. My reflection stared back at me in the water. My hair was so dirty and unkempt that I was surprised I could hear a thing. Glancing at the village, I still saw no one about, so I strode into the water. I was sweaty and the water cooled me off instantly. In an attempt the get rid of all the grime, I rubbed my face and dipped my hair into the water. It felt wonderful to be in the water, but I was famished and bleeding and I needed help now. I emerged from the river and rung out my hair. Then I ran to the closest hut and knocked. There was no answer. I waited a few moments, trying to be patient, before knocking again. Giving up, I stepped away from the house and looked into the sky. After locating the smoke in the air, I went toward that hut. I knocked on the door and waited once again.

“Hello?” I called, tapping again on the wooden door. When we slept, Mortwar locked us in our huts. I assumed these divinares didn't have someone lock them in at night, but I didn't know how they behaved. I reached for the handle, turned it, and opened the door. When I walked in my heart dropped. It was empty. I looked at the hearth and saw the fire dwindling. There weren’t any logs, just a small amount of soot causing the smoke. The fire must have been burning for days. Who left their house without checking to see if the fire was still burning? I looked around and noticed that the house was pretty empty except for a few things strewn carelessly on the floor. I turned and walked out the open door.

I looked up into the sky again. The sun was nearly right above me. It wasn’t that early in the morning anymore. The divinares should be awake by now. “Hello?” I called repeatedly as I walked around the village. I opened a few more doors and saw similar scenes in the other huts. It was like the owners had left without any intention of coming back. The whole village was deserted, and they had all left in a hurry. My mind raced. I ran to the edge of the town and found a wide, matted path in the grassy fields. They must have all left together.

My mind continued to race until it finally landed on a conclusion: I was in danger. They must have fled to escape from something. I turned to the village and gulped. Whatever it was could still be here. I bent low to the ground and tiptoed to the nearest hut. Hastily, I turned the knob and walked in, shutting the door behind me. After bolting it shut I felt a little safer. These huts were sturdy and wild animals usually had a tough time breaking into them. I turned around and began to look through the owners' abandoned items. Books lined the walls. I ran to the table, picked up a blumberry, and bit in. The delicious sweetness made me feel so much better. I took a seat and looked toward the bed. I dropped the blumberry mid-bite.

“Sir?” I asked, standing up from the table. The chair I once sat on crashed to the floor behind me. “Sir?” I repeated as I made my way over to the bed. I pulled back the curtains and screamed out in terror. The sheets were soaked with blood. The divinare’s neck was slashed, and his head seemed barely attached. I backed away and tripped over one of the other chairs, landing on the dirt floor. I got up quickly and pulled on the handle, but it was locked. My fingers trembled as I turned the lock. I didn’t look back as the door slammed shut behind me.

The worst beast possible had been here...Breghton. I didn’t know why I was so certain it was him, but I was. We had been planning to come here together. There was no reason why he wouldn’t still come. He needed help fixing his ankle. He must have scared the villagers with Mikado. Or maybe he used his quick tongue to trick them into leaving. This man probably tried to take a stand against Breghton. Either way, Breghton had once again double-crossed me. He really did want me to die, and he was definitely evil enough to kill another divinare.

I walked around, opening more hut’s doors and glancing in until I found the one I was looking for. I stepped inside and took a look around before locking the door behind me. There were no dead bodies in the hut, but I still felt unsafe in the empty village. I rummaged around the healer’s abandoned possessions until I found a needle and thread. I had to stitch the gash on my arm before there was no more blood left in my body.

Chapter 9

I poured the rest of the salt water over the stitches on my arm and tossed

the empty bottle on the floor. Watching Swishel give me stitches wasn’t nearly as bad as having to give them to myself. I had to pause after each stitch and will myself to go on. I shuddered and tried to focus on sewing up the slit in my shirt instead.

When I was done, I rummaged through my knapsack in search of some medicine. After I was whipped, Swishel always gave me something to prevent infection. I grabbed the bottle I had used to revive Breghton and swallowed the last few drops, knowing that such a little amount wouldn’t do me much good. I reached back inside the knapsack and pulled out the very last bottle that I had not yet opened. Wondering what Swishel had given to me, I unscrewed the cap and put a dab on my tongue to find out.

I screamed as a piercing, screeching noise vibrated through my hair. Pressure rose to my forehead and tried to rip open my skull. My tongue burned as though I had taken a gulp of boiling acid. I closed my eyes, gasping for breath. My lungs seemed to be withering away in my chest. My veins seemed to stop coursing blood. I stood frozen in time, frozen in pain.

And then a bright blue image appeared. It was just a fragment of a moving picture, and it was just as quickly swept away. The horrible noise stopped. My pulse quickened once again and the pain completely disappeared. I took a deep breath. One thing was for sure. Breghton would reach the old divinare kingdom before I would. And the image had shown that he was marching upon it with a whole army.

I stared at the terrifying liquid. Moving to the window, I held it up in the sunlight. The liquid shimmered blue. I put it up to my nose and sniffed the contents. There was no doubt about it. Even though it was blue, the liquid in the bottle was blood. And the only explanation for what just happened was that it was divinare blood; blood from a divinare who had the gift of the Moira. I didn’t have time to dwell on why Swishel would possess such a disgusting thing.

I tossed the bottle of blood back in my bag and grabbed a loaf of fairly soft bread from the table. The freshness of the bread only confirmed that I had just missed the villagers. I took a huge swig of water from a pail, poured the remaining water into my empty bottles, and then tossed the jars back into my knapsack. I doubted that the healer would mind me using what she had abandoned.

I longed to collapse in the bed in the corner of the hut. It seemed like an eternity since I had slept on something besides rock, but I knew I needed to follow the divinares path through the grass. If I slept, their trail might be lost by wind or rain. Besides, being alone here gave me shivers up and down my spine. For all I knew, the rest of the huts contained dead bodies too.

I unlocked the door and peered left and then right. Just because Breghton was no longer here didn’t mean another monster wasn’t lurking in the shadows. When I was certain there was no one there, I walked out and closed the door behind me.

Luckily, the grass was still matted where the villagers had trekked. I pulled my knapsack around my good shoulder and started walking. If Breghton really was heading to Divinoira, then I was too. I needed to get my dagger back, because I didn't stand a chance against Mortwar without the surge of strength it seemed to give me. After only a few steps I stopped and looked back at the abandoned village. I hesitated for a moment, but then walked back toward it. I pushed over a barrel of hay, rolled it near one of the huts, and then righted it again. I grabbed a handful of the hay and pressed it against my skin. Eventually the hay smoked and sparked and I tossed it into the barrel. The remaining hay burst into flames.

I opened the door of the hut where I had found the dead man. I tried not to look at him as I rolled him off the bed. My hair fluttered when his body hit the ground with a thud. Using all my strength, I dragged him out of the hut and toward the barrel. I don’t know how I did it, but I was somehow able to lift and push him into the barrel. The horrible smell of burning flesh made my nose cringe. Swishel had convinced Mortwar that divinares buried their dead, to be one with the earth. So, for a long time he decided that he would send their ashes to the sky. Every time a divinare died in our village, he would burn the remains. Sometimes he would do it before they were even dead, their screams echoing for all to hear.

But Swishel once told me that she had tricked Mortwar. It was actually the divinares' custom to send the remains of the deceased back up to the heavens. Burning their bodies was the most respectable ceremony for the fallen. A few years ago Mortwar had figured this out. It was the only time I had ever seen Swishel be whipped. Ever since then, Mortwar had decapitated his prisoners who misbehaved and poured molten iron over their skulls, forever trapping their spirits to the earth. The number of heads on top of the iron bars of the fence was always increasing. Every member of my hut back at the camp would never be able to enter the skies. And when I returned to go save the rest of the divinares, I'd have to see Jeremody's skull on top of that gate. It would remain there forever, solid and stuck.

I was sure this divinare didn’t deserve to be murdered. Therefore, he ought to have a proper funeral. I didn’t have time to stay for the full offering to the sky. I touched the side of the barrel. “I will honor your death with vengeance,” I whispered. My words curled into the smoke and rose to the heavens.

I left the burning barrel and began to trudge along the matted path. Soon my clothes were drenched with sweat from the warm afternoon sun. The stench of blood and smoke wafted off of them, filling my nose and making me feel nauseous. I continued following the trail. Thoughts of the last few days kept trying to enter my mind. I didn’t need to be reminded that I was on my own. I stared down at the trail and trekked onward. I knew I had to be fairly deep into the Verdalk Grasslands at that point.

I crouched down and looked at the dried blood that had appeared on the trail. Tufts of short gray hair were splotched on top of it. “Mikado,” I whispered. I looked up and saw the grass standing tall in front of me. The path had veered to the right. The cries of a baby coursed through my hair and made my scalp tingle. My eyes followed the new trail and I peered around the corner. Two large men were heading toward me. One of them was carrying a comparatively small package. Without hesitation, I ran into the tall blades of grass and got down on my knees, hoping that I was concealed.

“I told you nothing good would come from this marriage.” Both men stopped at the turn in the trail. They looked even taller from my crouched position. I leaned in closer and saw the ears on the sides of their heads and their pale skin. They were definitely humans, and as far as I was concerned they were just like the man from the tree who had tried to rape me. I got closer to the ground, suddenly trembling.

The younger of the two men replied, “The child. What am I supposed to do with a baby?” He looked close to tears as he said the words and glanced down at the package in his arms. It seemed like the man was fairly young, probably only a little older than me. Although, it was hard to tell since he was a human. His eyes were a deep black that matched his hair. There was stubble across his chin and cheeks and it looked like he hadn't been sleeping. He wore gray leather armor with buckles down the front. There was a strip of leather that wrapped diagonally across his chest with several pouches attached to it. And sewn onto the chest of his armor was an emblem of an eye, as black as his, inside a brown gear.

“It has no place here. Leave it to die in the sun,” the older man said harshly. His hair was graying by his ears, but otherwise he looked a lot like the younger man. He even wore the same outfit with the strange eye inside the gear. It must have been some kind of uniform.

“My child does not deserve such a fate. It was not Trina’s fault that..."

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