Page 65 of Sea of Stars

dead body out of the underground cavern.

Denton moved from my side and shoved all his belongings back into his bag. He shook Harish, trying to wake him. When there was no response, he somehow hoisted Harish up over his shoulder. “Breghton!” He said my name more forcefully this time.

I looked up at my friend. He was blurry in front of me. I blinked, trying to see him through my tears.

“You need to carry her. You need to bring her body to her family.”

I nodded. We had to give Mahlia a proper funeral. She still had a chance of becoming an owl, but if we stayed here, her body would be trapped and she would never reach the heavens. I lifted Mahlia’s lifeless body into my arms, cradling her. I ran to catch up to Denton. He paused by the crystal bridge and waited for me. He moved and let me step up onto the bridge first. I wasn’t scared this time. I walked quickly forwards, still looking down at Mahlia.

A deafening crunch finally brought me back to reality. Denton was wide-eyed behind me. I looked down and saw that a huge crack was forming down the middle of the bridge. The tremors in the ground were breaking it in half. I hoisted Mahlia’s body up over my shoulder, and began to run as fast as I could. I reached the end of the bridge and jumped. I turned and watched Denton scramble off the bridge. He made it to the end and jumped off. The bridge collapsed behind him, shattering on top of the crystal spikes below.

Denton didn’t pause to look behind him. I didn't know how he was managing to run while carrying Harish, but he plowed by me and I quickly followed. We twisted and turned as we tried to dodge the crystals. We didn't want to burn our skin anymore. Every time the ground shook, the maze became even harder to maneuver in. I was panting heavily by the time we reached the hole in the rock ceiling. I needed water. Fortunately I didn’t have to yell for help, because I knew I could barely speak. A rope was already waiting for us. A pair of eyes were looking down at us from outside the crevice. Mikado turned and roared.

A few seconds later Vellswar’s face appeared above. “They have Mahlia!” he shouted excitedly. "Grab the rope!” he yelled, and his face disappeared from view.

“You first,” I said to Denton. I feared that once they lifted me and saw Mahlia was dead they wouldn’t bother to remember to bring Denton up. And I wasn’t strong enough to pull him up, let alone him and Harish.

Denton grabbed onto the rope and slid into the loop at the bottom so that he was in a sitting position. He gripped the rope with one hand and with the other he held on to Harish, who was lying across his lap. Denton’s face looked squished and I knew he was using all his strength to hold onto the rope and not let Harish fall to his death in the crystal grave. When Denton was almost to the top, he lost his grip on Harish, who began slipping from his lap. Luckily Vellswar’s hand reached down into the hole at the last second and lifted Denton and Harish to safety.

The rope fell back down and this time I grabbed on. I held on to it firmly as Mahlia and I were lifted up into the air. I looked around once more at the crystal cave. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen, yet inside of it, the most horrific thing possible had happened. Who had brought Mahlia here? I could hear Vellswar’s heavy breathing and then his hand reached down and lifted me and Mahlia up into the air. He placed us gently onto the sand. I put my hand on her cheek and looked down at her face. I removed my hand and buried my face in it, finally allowing myself to really cry. I would never see her smile again. I would never hear her sweet voice. She would never know that everything I did was to protect her. She would never know that I loved her. My body shook as I cried.

“Mahlia!” Achates screamed with joy. And then he must have seen her pale skin or me crying because he gasped. “Do something!”

Augury ran over and listened for a pulse. Then she pulled away. Her eyes were filling with tears.

“We tried. We did a blood transfusion. But...” Denton took a deep breath. “I forgot that you have to use a relative’s blood. I’m so sorry.”

Augury collapsed over Mahlia’s body. “My beautiful Mahlia,” she sobbed. Hearing her cry made my tears start to fall even faster. Augury lifted her body off of Mahlia’s and stared down at her dead granddaughter. She combed her fingers through Mahlia's knotted hair.

Chinook hooted loudly and Mikado answered with a thunderous roar.

“We need to go back to the castle. We need to tell everyone what has happened.” Achates wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffed.

I tried to pull myself together but I couldn’t stop crying. It was my fault that she was dead.

“First we wait for our guests to arrive,” Vellswar said solemnly.

Achates nodded and walked over to Augury. Augury was still kneeling beside Mahlia. She fell into Achates and he wrapped his arms around her. We waited in silence. I had no idea what Vellswar was talking about, but I didn’t care. I took a huge gulp of water from a jug that Vellswar handed me. It didn’t feel satisfying at all in my throat. I watched as Augury moved and began to clean the wounds on Mahlia’s body.

Denton came over and sat next to me. He grabbed the bottle and took a sip of the water. “Breghton,” he said.

I couldn’t look at him. My stomach churned. The guilt was heavy on my chest.

“Breghton, this wasn’t your fault.”

My lip quivered. Of course it was. I had challenged the fates. I let my head drop. “Leave me alone,” I said. I gritted my teeth together to stay calm.

“We’ll find whoever did this,” Denton promised.

“I said leave me alone!” Tears burned my eyes.

Denton looked like he had been slapped in the face. He stood and walked away from me. I felt the ground rumble again, but this time it wasn’t a dragon. I saw dozens of mountain dwellers charging through the sands. They all had the same gray fur as Mikado, making it look almost like an avalanche descending upon us. Mikado must have made a call out to his brethren. These were the guests we were waiting for. For a moment Vellswar looked happy. His smile didn’t last long, though. How could anyone be happy when a young, innocent woman lay dead?

Vellswar petted a few of the mountain dwellers, calling them by name. They must be his pets. I was glad I didn’t have to walk back to the castle. It would probably only take a day on one of the mountain dwellers. Everyone continued to sulk. Mahlia’s body had been cleaned and her hair had been combed. She looked peaceful.

“Are we ready?” I asked, slowly standing. I couldn’t bear sitting there looking at Mahlia for one more second.

“Now we’re ready,” Vellswar said, pointing up into the air. Dozens of owls filled the sky. Some were snowy white and the others were gray. I guessed Chinook had made a similar call.

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