Page 10 of Sea of Stars

I pulled out some of the salt water and sprinkled it onto the deep cut on his wing. He hooted sadly once more, and fell back asleep.

Chapter 4

Thunder boomed from the heavens as lightning cut through the sky. Rain continued to splash outside. It had been over a week since Chinook’s wing had been damaged. I had already gone down to the ocean for more healing water, and I would have to do the same tomorrow. Chinook finally rose again a few days ago. He had squawked and hopped around for several minutes, clearly distressed. I coaxed him into a cave I had found and tried to calm him down. After many tries, he eventually went back to sleep. It was good that I had found the cave, because today we would have been drenched in the storm if he had still been outside. The cave was much warmer, yet damp, which still caused a slight chill in the air.

I sat down under the blanket with Chinook and continued to stare at the rain falling outside the cave. I had woken up so upset that I had selfishly eaten the rest of our food. I just kept eating and eating, until the last crumbs were gone. I didn't care. A part of me was hoping I would starve on this mountain. Last night I had the most terrible nightmare. Actually, after what had happened with Swishel, I was certain that it wasn't a dream at all. I had seen a glimpse of what was happening at Mortwar's camp:

***

Fires burned around me and the clang of metal enveloped my hair. It was hard to see through all the smoke. I had never been inside the brutarian forges, but the black mountains looming overhead confirmed my location.

"Tell me where she's gone!" Mortwar's voice boomed and the mountains trembled.

My head snapped towards him. A dozen divinares of different ages were kneeling before Mortwar. I recognized all of them, they were each from a different hut. Jeremody wasn't with them, nor anyone else from my group. To the side of them was a large vat of molten iron. There were a few iron-covered oval shapes on the ground next to it. Everyone remained silent.

"You are all useless! I've wasted enough time already with your lies. Tell me where she is now, or you'll all end up just like the others!"

The word "others" seemed to echo off the mountains. He wasn't just talking about Swishel then. There were fifteen total huts at the Iron Gates, which meant three of the huts weren't represented. Maybe these three divinares were the "others" that Mortwar was referring to. What had he done to them? I wondered.

Mortwar grabbed the girl closest to him by her hair and lifted her into the air. I recognized her right away. Her name was Ieerie. She was several years older than me and had only recently been brought to the prison. She hadn't been there long enough to lose her spunk. I held my breath.

She surprised me by asking a question instead of screaming. "Is it true that she has the gift?!" She yelled the question, most likely not knowing how loudly she was speaking since Mortwar was holding her hair in his fist.

Mortwar glared at her. He shook her up and down, causing her hair to be pulled more forcefully.

Ieerie's face was contorted with pain, but she didn't cry out. "I can see it in your eyes, brutarian. You foolishly killed everyone in her hut. They were the only ones who could have known the truth of where she is. Besides, even if I knew, I would never tell you. The divinares will rise..."

Before she could finish speaking, Mortwar raised his axe and cut it clean through her throat. Her headless body fell to the ground, and Mortwar stood there, still holding her head by the hair. He walked over to the vat and tipped it. Liquid iron spilled over the side and coated Ieerie's head. It now looked just like the other metal ovals next to the vat.

Mortwar walked back over to Ieerie's body and kicked it. She flew into the air and landed in a heap several feet to the right. There were ten headless bodies beneath hers. One for every member of my hut plus a body from each of the other three huts that weren't represented.

***

Jeremody was dead. I continued to watch the rain pattering on the stone. Everyone from my hut had been murdered. All my friends were gone because of me. I was far away from the Iron Gates, and Chinook was hurt and unable to fly. By the time Chinook got her strength back, I feared that all the prisoners would be dead. I mourned Ieerie and the others who had lost their lives because of me. But it was hard to think about anyone besides Jeremody. I was furious at my parents for leaving me to Mortwar. Jeremody had to have been angry at me for leaving him behind in that awful place. He had died thinking that I abandoned him.

Pressure was building on my chest from the guilt and I was struggling to breathe. I stood up and ran out into the rain, taking huge gasps of air. I leaned against the sleek rock of the cave and slowly slid down until my butt hit the cold stone. Within a few minutes I was drenched.

Ever since meeting Jeremody I had thought of him as almost a brother. He was a few years younger than me, but he had grown into a handsome man. I could picture his shaggy brown hair falling into his face and the freckles underneath his eyes. Tears streamed down my cheeks, mixing with the rain. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Now that he was gone I realized for the first time what he truly meant to me. I had felt homesick ever since leavin

g the Iron Gates and it wasn't because the Iron Gates was my home. It was because Jeremody was home to me. It didn't matter where I was or who I was with, I'd never have that feeling again. I loved him. And he would never know how I felt.

I took a deep breath, but the tightness in my chest persisted. Jeremody had spent all his time at the Iron Gates trying to protect me. Had he somehow known that I was blessed with the power of the Moira? I didn't think so. I truly believed he just cared about me. When the members of my hut had grown up and separated into pairs, it was unspoken that Jeremody and I would remain together. I had been adamant about not having children at the Iron Gates and he seemed to agree with me. My stubbornness had blinded me to my true feelings. But had he thought if we ever escaped that we'd be together? Had he loved me too? Questions came flooding to the surface, and just like the questions I had for my parents, they could never be answered.

All I wanted was to be back at the Iron Gates, inside my hut, snuggled up next to him. I would trade freedom any day for him. I needed his embrace. I needed his kiss on my forehead. I needed him. I wanted him. I loved him.

For what seemed like hours I sat there in the storm. I was so soaked that rain dripped off my eyelashes, and I could no longer tell if I was crying. Jeremody would have been horrified if I gave up and died on this mountain. His death could not be in vain. If I could find out what it meant to have the gift of the Moira then maybe I'd still be able to help the other prisoners escape. I willed myself to stand up and ring out my hair. I had so many questions for the deceased that they made my mind spin. Even though I couldn't know the answers, I had come to a single conclusion. Mortwar was done. I would dip his skull in iron and mount it on his precious gate. Taking a deep breath, I walked back into the cave.

I unfolded the map I had found a few days ago. When picking up the bottles scattered everywhere, I had discovered it rolled up and hidden inside one of the jars. The Iron Gates was in the upper left corner, surrounded by the Forge Mountains that had left a constant shadow on the camp. A small depiction of an anvil was drawn next to the Iron Gates. This same symbol was scorched onto Mortwar's stomach. Since none of the other brutarians had the anvil tattoo, I assumed it was a sign of leadership. Not even his wife, Quinwar, wore the sigil. Mortwar’s men would disappear into the mountains during the day to work at the forges, and return at night, covered in dark soot. It was rumored that brutarians' skin turned gray over the years because of the soot, but I didn't believe it. They were born with the darkness on their skin.

During the day at the prison camp, the clanging noises from the forges echoed off the peaks. I knew that the brutarians made weapons, bangles, shackles, and other small things that I had seen. And now I knew how they coated the skulls on top of the gate with iron. I shuddered at the thought. I didn't want to imagine any other gruesome things they did at the forges.

"Vengeance Peak" was written in the center of the mountains. It was the tallest portion of the mountain range and I could picture it well. It stood directly behind the Iron Gates. The only thing more menacing than Vengeance Peak was Mortwar himself. One of the strange things about the map was the word "Brutarians" scrawled across the top in bold letters. I knew that Mortwar and his men were of the brutarian race, but there were only fifteen brutarians total at the Iron Gates. And that was the only place it was written anywhere on the map. If they were the only ones left, just the divinares at camp outnumbered them.

I traced my finger down from the mountains toward the Murkthed Forest. I was very familiar with this dark forest because my parents and I had hidden in it so many times. Actually, I couldn't think of any other place I had been with my parents. It was possible that I had spent my whole childhood in those woods. On the outskirts of the forest was a dot with the word "Creshter." Right under that were the words "Human Town." That had to be near where I met the stranger in the tree. I had been right that he was a human. A small picture of fire was drawn beside Creshter. I thought about the man threatening to burn me alive and gulped.

I scanned the map and saw more human towns scattered about. They must not have been in the path that Chinook had flown, or else she was flying so fast that somehow I missed them. I was relieved that I hadn’t seen these towns. There were small pictures above each village depicting various torture methods that sent chills down my back. I stared at the image of the Iron Gates for a long time. A small string was sketched above it, but if you looked very closely, the very top of the string was thicker than the rest of it, almost like a handle. I shuddered, remembering Mortwar’s whip ripping my skin open.

Shoving the memory aside, I looked back at the paper in my hands. The strange slant of all the letters looked a lot like Swishel's handwriting. She must have been the one who had drawn this. My finger continued to trace the map. Underneath the forest to the left there was the Tragere Desert. Fortunately Chinook was smart enough not to fly through that. She must have flown around it, but through what I wasn't sure, because there were rip marks all along the right side of the map, leading me to believe that there was a whole other side that was missing. There were also a few chunks that had been torn from the bottom left corner. It was almost like there were things Swishel didn't want me to see. In that case, it was definitely not where I should be heading.

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