Page 22 of Sea of Stars

“Yes,” I said, smiling.

He took a few deep breaths and then said: “Well don’t worry about it. It was my dumb idea to ride the beast.”

“He’s not a beast,” I protested, continuing to pet Mikado. “He’s an intelligent creature. And I think he was sent to protect us.”

I held my forearm on my stomach. Breghton lightly rotated my forearm away from my torso, but still kept it perpendicular to my body. The inside of my elbow was now pressed into my side. It was painful but not as bad as when I had hurt it. He stopped moving my arm and looked at me.

“Is it done?” I asked, grimacing.

“No, not even close,” he said, his voice filled with concern. This is going to hurt a bit." He twisted the lower part of my arm away from my chest in the opposite direction until it stuck out to the side. He moved my arm gently but each slight movement made me want to scream out in pain. He kept rotating my arm back and forth in the same motion, growing more and more concerned. I was biting my lip trying to focus my mind away from the pain. Soon the taste of blood filled my mouth. Tears strea

med down my cheeks. It seemed impossible but the pain continued to worsen.

Breghton paused for a moment when the bottom of my arm was sticking outward. The next thing I knew his lips were upon mine and it felt like he rolled my shoulder forward. Pain seared through my arm as I yelled atrocities and tried to kick Breghton off of me. He rotated my forearm back onto my stomach and held it gently.

The pain subsided a little as I shoved him away with my good arm. “What was that?!” I said. I cradled my hurt arm with my opposite hand.

“I was trying to distract you. I knew when it popped back into place it would hurt.” He shrugged his shoulders. The sheepish smile on his face made it impossible to be angry with him.

I looked down at my shoulder. It was badly swollen but at least now I could move it. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“From the healer in our village,” he replied.

“So this has happened to you before?”

“No, I saw her do it a few times to other people.” He seemed to shrink away from me. “What do we do now?” he asked, trying to change the subject. He looked down at his hands and rubbed them together. It looked like he already knew what we needed to do next, but he stayed silent.

“We need to fix your ankle,” I said.

“If it’s broken we can’t fix it alone,” he replied. “And if it’s only sprained I just have to wait it out. It will heal on its own.”

“How much time did you spend at the healer’s hut?” I asked. “Your friends must have been hurt a lot.”

Breghton once again looked extremely uncomfortable. I reached out and put my hand on his. He sighed and said, “I lived there for a few years. She took me in after my family was killed.”

Breghton. We hadn’t filled in most of the huge gap in time that we were apart from each other. All I knew was that he had cuts on his arms, his village had been destroyed, and he hadn’t forgotten about me either. I moved next to him and placed my head on his shoulder. He instantly wrapped his arm around my back as he yawned. Everything I learned about him made me like him more and more. We had both been through some terrible things but we were both here, still alive, even though we were badly damaged. I began to yawn too. The sun was still high in the sky but I was too tired to move.

"I'm sorry about your family," I said.

"If I had never lived with the healer than I wouldn't have met my friend Denton. He used to spend hours in the healer's hut learning about all sorts of weird things, whatever the healer would teach him. He's like a brother to me," his voice wavered.

"I can't wait to meet him."

Breghton cleared his throat. “Let’s get some rest,” he said and pulled me down into his arms.

I placed my head on his chest as he held me close. Mikado walked over and lay down beside us. Exhausted, he fell asleep instantly. I felt so safe in Breghton’s arms. And with Mikado so close I knew that no harm would come to us. My eyelids began to grow heavy.

Breghton kissed the top of my head. “I’m so sorry,” he croaked. It sounded like he was holding back a sob. I wanted to protest and tell him I was the one who was sorry for the day’s events and for getting him into this mess in the first place. But my words didn’t come.

“I’m so sorry, Mahlia,” I heard him repeat before I drifted into a peaceful sleep.

Chapter 8

I shivered and shut my eyes even tighter. I reached for my blanket and pulled up the worn, thick cloth. I smiled to myself as I remembered that I was no longer living in Mortwar’s village. Instead of dirt below me, there was rock. I was free. Breghton must have tucked the blanket around us when darkness had encroached. My smile grew as I thought about Breghton. I reached out to him but only felt cool stone. I yawned and slowly opened my eyes.

The stars above gave the darkness of night an eerie glow. I blinked, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the night. I stifled a sob as I looked around. The only things near me were small tufts of gray fur.

“Mikado?” I yelled into the night, but all I heard was a whisper. I knew my hair was dirty, but it couldn’t be that filthy. I reached up and felt my hair. It had been tied into a knot. Tears streamed down my cheeks as I undid my hair and let it fall loose around my shoulders. I could once again hear sounds around me. “Breghton!” I screamed, choking on my tears. The silence of the night was the only response I got. He had promised he would never leave me. “Breghton!” I yelled, my voice full of anger now.

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