Starlight

by Adrienne Woods

  King Helmut was driving, which was so not kingly at all, but I guessed with his men, it was a completely different scenario. I wondered again what my father was like with all his men. They’d refused to betray him, even though they were being tortured. What was my father like?

  I feared that I would never get a chance to find out. Is he even still alive?

  The drive to the port they’d set up close to the lodge was quick.

  The elevator was even faster and when we got out, there were plenty of reporters again.

  “How did they know we were going to be here?”

  “News spreads fast,” Emanual said and handed me his jacket to hide beneath.

  Questions were being asked again. King Helmut answered all of them as Emanual and the others led me outside to where more SUVs waited for us.

  The drive to the Creepers took a few hours. I had the privilege of sitting next to Jerry and his jokes were a good distraction.

  He was easy to talk to, and I wondered if he knew how Taylor felt about him.

  We spoke about that too and everyone in the SUV teased him about that.

  “C’mon, she is like my sister.”

  “Have you known Taylor long?”

  “Well, we grew up together, but that was about it. We weren’t really friends. Her dad and mine are sort of close.” He started to babble. “Besides, she is a dragon.”

  “She’s a dragon? Which breed?”

  “Night Villain. I so don’t like to be on her bad side.”

  Everyone laughed. I hadn’t known she was a Night Villain.

  “You seriously didn’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  “C’mon, Jerry. The looks she gave me.”

  “I’ll speak to her.”

  “I can handle it. I just don’t think she likes me very much because of that twinkle in your eyes when you look at me.”

  “I am a healthy guy. I have that twinkle with everyone. Maybe she has a thing for Blake. Ever wonder about that?”

  “Could be. Blake is known for his looks.”

  “Yes, pretty boy seems to have it all.”

  The SUV grew silent again and after half an hour we stopped a few yards from the Creepers.

  The ops guys took out their bags and some old looking robes as a disguise. They all transformed using natural ingredients and not magic to make them appear dirty and to fit in with Etan.

  Blake was still nowhere to be seen.

  King Helmut addressed them again. They all knew what they had to do. They were not going to come out until the day Etan was free. But they were going to scout everything for the next few months. Getting intel and getting the base ready for us.

  It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. Still, they all looked and acted as if they lived for missions like this.

  I took in the first guy. I didn’t want to know his name in case he wasn’t going to make it. He gasped as we reached the core of the Creepers. It took everyone’s breath away.

  After we made it to the other side, it was dark again.

  I went back, took the second one in and it carried on like that, until all six of them were together.

  When I took Emanual through, they were gone. There was no sign of them anywhere.

  “They were just here…”

  “They have a mission, Elena. Go.”

  “Blake isn’t here yet.”

  “He will be here soon.”

  I went back, took in Jerry, Dicky and Raymond.

  There was still no sign of Blake.

  “Just go. He will be here soon,” Emanual said.

  When I got back I already felt disorientated. Transitioning between the dark and then day was really taking its toll on my sight.

  Finally I spotted a huge figure flying on the horizon. He landed gracefully and transformed as I turned around.

  When I looked over my shoulder he already had his jeans on.

  “See?” He was breathing fast. “I’m here.”

  “You need to take a breath. How fast were you flying anyway?”

  He just grinned. “Let’s just say you wouldn’t have stayed on my back, and I’m fine. Let’s go.”

  I took him in and Emanual’s eyes grew wide. “How fast?”

  “Not fast enough.”

  “Blake, you need to take it easy.”

  “Whatever old man.”

  He shook his head. “Still a lot to learn.”

  “I can still kick your ass.”

  “Want to bet? I have three hundred more years of experience, cub.”

  Blake laughed.

  “So, where are we going?” I asked.

  “We are going to camp out in the forest,” Emanual said and we walked the direction of the nearby forest.

  I grabbed Blake’s hand. I knew I wasn’t close to the forest of Eikenborough, but I didn’t like the forests in Etan. What if someone found us?

  We slept in the trees, not tents, and I shared a branch with Blake.

  None of us said a word. We couldn’t even stargaze, as there were no stars, just an abnormal big moon that shone really brightly.

  I wished that I could hear Blake’s thoughts. We could’ve spoken to one another and this silence wouldn’t have tortured me so much.

  “Calm down, Elena,” Blake whispered. “You are safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  I smiled. “How did you know?”

  “Your heart is beating like crazy.”

  “I just hate forests here.”

  “I know. But I’m here now.”

  I smiled and leaned backwards into his chest. He wrapped his huge arms around me tighter and I started to calm down. He was like my shield. He could make us vanish if anything happened. I was with the safest creature on this earth. Nothing was going to harm me. Nothing.

  THE NEXT MORNING Emanual made fish for breakfast. He roasted them in his hands so that there was no sign we’d been here at all.

  “So, what is the plan?” I asked while eating my fish.

  They both stared at me.

  “We do have a plan, right?”

  “Yes,” Blake smiled. “We do, and I told Emanual you were not going to like it.” He gave Emanual a playful, raised eyebrow look. “He’s just scared to tell you.”

  Just then, a raw fish came sailing through the air, right at Blake’s face. “I’m not scared. You need to stay put, Elena, let us do our job, and…”

  “No, I’m not going to sit here and wait for everyone to come back.”

  “You won’t be alone, Raymond…”

  “I said no, Emanual.”

  “See?” Blake interrupted.

  “So what is the plan?” I looked at Blake this time.

  “We are going to the parade in disguise. We won’t go near the reaping. I promise. We need to let all of them know that help is coming so that when it happens, they will be prepared, Elena.”

  “Okay,” I said, but horrible things started jumping through my mind. There was one in particular where Blake vanished to who knows where again.

  “So where is the disguise?” I asked as none of them had come in with bags.

  “We are going to use a transformation spell, one that will help us to blend in, and we are going to a complete differently city, not Eikenborough like last time.”

  “We are going to Sovereign. It’s a couple of miles to the north,” Dicky said.

  “Sovereign it is.”

  “From what we gathered the last time,” Jerry spoke, “Sovereign is where all of it is starting, so the minute they bring the prisoners out…”

  All eyes were on Jerry.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” He quickly retraced his words. “I…you guys know what I mean. One of us will get word to them.”

  “I will,” Blake said as he took a bite of his fish.

  “You are?” I asked.

  “Elena, I know how to do this. I have a plan, got it all figured out, and you will be right there with me. I won’t leave you,” he spoke softly. “W
e are going to be unrecognizable.”

  “Okay. How are you going to get word to them?”

  His lips widened.

  “Oh please, do tell her Blake,” Emanual teased.

  “I’m scared she won’t kiss me again.”

  All of them laughed while I squinted, wondering why on earth I wouldn’t kiss him again.

  “Dung balls, okay. My father said that they used to leave secret messages inside the dung balls of deer and smaller animals and packed it in a certain shape so that they know it’s a message. I won’t be able to leave it somewhere, so I have to spit it at them.”

  “You’re going to put dung balls in your mouth?”

  All of them laughed.

  “For the greater good, one needs to be prepared to do the worst.”

  “It’s not the worst thing he’s had in his mouth,” Emanual said.

  “Oh shut up,” Blake said and everyone laughed.

  After the fish, the transformation spells started. Emanual changed all the dragons to elder men, but he turned Jerry into a woman. It was a great joke.

  Blake turned himself into a fifty-year-old dude with a scruffy, red beard and scruffy red hair. I became his ten-year-old mute daughter.

  All of them seemed so huge standing around me.

  “Just don’t kiss your daughter, Blake.”

  “I’m sure in a place as evil as this…forgive me. I shouldn’t have said that.” He sounded serious.

  I knew it was a huge possibility.

  “Remember, you are mute, so not a word, okay? And don’t pay attention to what I will be saying, Elena. I know dark, I know evil and we need to fit in.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll cringe from the inside.”

  He smiled and looked at Dicky, who had a bag full of dung balls.

  “All the messages inside?” he asked and Dicky nodded.

  “Raymond and Emanual helped me.”

  “Seriously, a girl?” Jerry tried to pull his dress over his knees.

  “Woman have plenty of power my friend. Don’t underestimate that disguise,” Emanual said again.

  We all started to walk in the direction of Sovereign.

  Half a mile from Sovereign we all parted ways.

  “Meet again at the tree. Be safe, Blake.”

  “You too.”

  “Good luck, Elena.”

  I ran over to him and give him a hug around his waist. “Just don’t get yourself killed, please.”

  “Be careful what you say, it might not be from the evil this side but from your father next to you, young lady.” He sounded so wise, just like his disguise. It made me laugh. “And you’re mute.”

  I made a couple of signs up with my hands and all of them laughed as I reached Blake again.

  We walked in silence to Sovereign’s market where they sold whatever they could.

  I saw a girl around my height with shackles around her neck and feet.

  She stayed close to a tent that sold some sort of drinks.

  Blake’s hand grasped mine tighter and I looked up at him as he stared at the little girl too.

  He walked faster, past the tent toward the front.

  The parade hadn’t started yet, and I flinched as one of the men standing in the crowd, as drunk as a skunk, bumped into Blake.

  He kept him upright with his one arm.

  “A bi’ to’ mu’ to drink, hey,” Blake spoke in the most awful accent.

  The other guy spoke so fast, using the same accent. A few of his teeth were missing and he smelled horrible.

  He then took out money and handed it to Blake.

  I could see from his demeanor that he didn’t like it one bit, but when he opened his mouth, he sounded the opposite.

  He roared with laughter and just shook his head. Said something about a mute, which must be me, and I got it. That guy wanted to buy me. Disgusting.

  I squeezed Blake’s hand tighter.

  The guy then said something about the Reaping, and I knew he was asking us if we were going to go. More men came and Blake made disgusting jokes again about my “so called mother” who’d died not making enough money lying on her back and how I was going to take her place in a couple of years.

  I didn’t want to hear their conversation any more, I knew he had to play the part and that these men were beyond evil based on what they made their women do.

  We finally moved on and Blake squeezed my hand again but I didn’t look at him.

  We stayed in the front until the hooves of horses echoed on the other side of the wall. The gate opened and the horses appeared, pulling steel carriages and my heart cringed now that I knew whom those carriages were for.

  Another steel door opened and men that were barely men walked out, shackled on a long chain.

  All of them were so skinny, and their clothes were torn. Their hair was cut short, making them look like slaves. They had thick metal bracelets on their neck, feet and wrists as they were pushed and shoved into the carriages.

  They were my father’s devoted men, those that had refused to break. They were barely alive, had bruises, cuts and sores all over their bodies.

  I tried to see if my father was among them, but they were so dirty. I wouldn’t even recognize him if he was right in front of me.

  They were all divided into the carriages as people started to pelt them with rotten fruit and whatever they could find. Yelling curse words, blaming them for whatever it was they were going through.

  I felt like crying but knew that I couldn’t. It would give everything away.

  Blake squeezed my hand tighter.

  “Just stay here,” he whispered softly and let go of my hand as he rushed up to the carriages.

  The movement was so fast as he spit the dung balls into the first carriage, and whispered a command in Latin.

  My heart pounded as the one guard started to push Blake back but he spoke again in his broken-English accent and the guard laughed and gave him free access again to the second carriage.

  He told the other guards what Blake was doing, and they all just roared as he spit more dung balls into the second carriage. He still found a way to say the command without the guards hearing them. From what I could tell the men in the carriages all heard. They even looked back at Blake.

  I hoped that it was going to work.

  Blake carried on making jokes with the men. He was really good at blending in.

  The third carriage came and the same thing happened. Finally, the fourth.

  Just then the guards lost their cool as Blake pushed for money for their entertainment and they literally pushed him off the stairs back to me.

  When he reached me we made our way out of the crowds, back to the forest.

  “You there,” one of the soldiers in the crowd yelled as we reached the shops. My heart pounded again as he was pointing at Blake.

  “Walk faster, Elena.”

  “Blake, they are going to use force, draw more attention to us.”

  “Walk faster.”

  I did as he said with my hand clutched so tightly in his.

  He found an empty store, opened it with his telekinesis and we entered.

  We sat against the door as one of the guards walked past.

  Another few followed him and they spoke about the red bearded man. He looked familiar to the other one, said he owed him money.

  The door knob turned but it didn’t open. My heart was stammering in my chest.

  We waited for half an hour as the guards didn’t want to leave. They walked past all the empty stores.

  Just then, Blake’s watch beeped just as a guard walked past and he tried to muffle it.

  The guard heard it and was pounding on the door.

  “Trust me,” Blake whispered and he crawled into a corner and held me tight.

  The door finally smashed over and Blake covered my face. I closed my eyes too as I didn’t want any attention drawn toward us.

  “You are hearing things. Now you have to explain to Lord Hopper why we need a new door on
this store. You idiot!” the man slapped him hard on the head.

  “Something beeped.”

  “Beeped, like what?”

  “I don’t know. The noise came from in here.”

  “Well you see anybody?” he asked and the guy said nothing.

  “Let’s go,” he said. “A fucking beep.” The guy sounded irritated.

  I knew Blake had blended in. Why they didn’t see the shimmer was beyond me.

  “Let’s go, Elena.”

  “They are still outside.”

  “We will move past them, they won’t even know.”

  “I’m not as quiet as you,” I said as we got up.

  He then picked me up as I was still in disguise and carried me on his arm, like a father would his small daughter, and walked out. He slipped past the two men, not making a sound, and walked in the opposite direction back toward the forest.

  He blended in until we found the group.

  “They should’ve been here,” Raymond sounded worried.

  “Give them time. Blake isn’t stupid,” Emanual said.

  Blake let down his shield and we appeared. “Good to know you have faith in me, Emanual.”

  All of them jumped.

  “How did you do that?” Jerry asked.

  “I’m a dragon of many talents, my friend.” He raised his eyes once.

  “What happened, Blake?”

  “Guards followed us, said I look like a guy who owed them money. We need to get out of here.”

  “Did you do as planned?”

  “Yes,” Blake sounded irritated. “I saw all of them.”

  I looked at him. My father too? I wanted to say it out loud but remembered that no one here knew about that.

  “Who are they?”

  “The other side,” Blake ordered.

  WE REACHED THE Creepers again.

  “Take everyone out first. It’s daylight. If guards come, I can shield off the others.”

  I nodded and took Jerry out first. He changed back into his old self once he was safely in Tith and went to King Helmut, who was waiting for us.

  I took out Emanual next and went back for all of them.

  Blake was last.

  We both shifted back as we reached the core of the Creepers.

  “I’ve never been so scared my entire life. When your watch beeped…”