The Twilight Star

by Laura E. Collins

  “What happened? Are you okay?” she asked as she came around to stand next to me. After what happened with the prince, she knew that was the last place I wanted to be.

  “I’m fine, but I can’t waste any time, I’ll be back later!” I said as I ran out the door as fast as I had come in.

  People watched me as I hurried along in my wet dress, which left a trail of droplets on the ground as I left. Hopefully most of that would be done by the time I got inside the castle. Even though the sun had begun to set, I decided not to run as I did not want to attract any unnecessary attention. You never knew who watched you here and I didn’t know who was planning the attack on the princess. There was only one person I could talk to. Unfortunately, I did not want to see him, the thought of being face to face with him made me cringe, but this was important. The only person I could trust with the information I had learned was the Princess Emeley’s own brother, Prince Eythan.

  I walked calmly through the common entrance for servants into the castle and made my way into the Great Hall. The cool air and fragrance of the fresh flowers that decorated the place cheered me a little. The courtiers gathered there gave me some curious glances, taking in my sopping wet appearance and, no doubt, my fishy smell. I continued on, trying not to look nervous. I approached the throne room at the end of the Great Hall. Surely, someone stationed there would know where I could find the prince. I timidly approached the guard standing straight and tall outside of the entrance to the throne room.

  “Excuse me?” I said softly.

  “What is it, Wayfarer?” the guard replied in a bored tone.

  “Please, I need to speak with Prince Eythan regarding an important matter.”

  The guard chuckled, apparently amused by my comment. “Prince Eythan is away at the moment. Come back another day,” he said turning his attention back to the scenery behind me.

  “It’s very important, can you please tell me where he is?” I persisted.

  “I told you he is away, now go back to your home, the sun is setting!” he said a little more forcefully this time.

  I would not be deterred that easily. If something happened to the princess because I failed to get the word out, it would be my fault. “If the prince is away, then I need to speak to the king himself!”

  The guard laughed out loud this time. “The king? Oh that is funny. I will tell you what, . . . you just tell me what your message is and I will see that he gets it,” he said in an amused tone.

  I was not inclined to believe him. “My message is for the king’s ears only!” I said, raising my voice a little.

  Before the guard could respond, another voice chimed in. A voice I detested. “What kind of trouble are you causing now?” asked the irritated voice of Lord Crievan, who approached me from behind, on his way to the throne room. One of the guards opened the doors for him.

  I curtsied out of polite custom, not because I wanted to. “Please, I have an important message for the king.”

  “Sure you do. Get out of my way and go back to your filthy clinic, Wayfarer. You have no official business here. The king is far too busy dealing with important matters to entertain a servant like you and you are dripping dirty lake water on the floor! Be gone!” He eyed me up and down as if I were a parasite.

  I stared at the horrible vampire, wondering how such an unpleasant creature could be so respected here. “I’m not going anywhere until I speak with his majesty!”

  “Guards! Remove this troublesome servant from the premises!”

  Just as the two guards flanking the throne room moved towards me, a deep voice halted them in their tracks.

  “What is all of this noise about!” an authoritative voice questioned.

  All of us stopped and kneeled before the king as he appeared in the doorway of the throne room. “Nothing, Your Majesty, this servant is just causing trouble. I will have her removed,” Lord Crievan replied, motioning for the guards to grab me and lead me away.

  “Hold,” the king said firmly. “I heard she has something to say to me. Perhaps I should hear it.”

  “My King!” Lord Crievan replied in outrage.

  “It will not take long, bring her in,” he said to the guards as he walked gracefully back into the room and seated himself on his throne.

  Lord Crievan gave me the evil eye as the guards motioned for me to enter the room and then shut the doors behind me, sealing me in with King Edreyan. One of his advisors remained nearby. I guess this was as private an audience with him that I was going to get so I decided it was better than nothing. I hurried and stood before him, curtsying again.

  “Thank you for receiving me, Your Majesty,” I said with a slightly shaky voice. I had never been this close to him before. I could see how his children bore a strong resemblance to him, especially their eyes and hair. The vampire king nodded and I got right to it. I did not want to take up much of his time.

  I proceeded to tell him of my chore to harvest bugle leaves and the two men that had plans to either abduct the princess or harm her in some way on her way back from Westercliff. I related every detail that I had heard to the best of my recollection. He studied me, but also seemed to listen carefully to me. I was surprised that he let me finish without interrupting me.

  “Do you have any idea who these two men were? Did you recognize them?” he asked in his rich, deep voice.

  “No, Your Majesty. I could not see much from where I was and I did not recognize their voices either. They spoke like courtiers though.”

  The king looked over at his advisor on the right side of the room and nodded. The advisor promptly left the room, shutting the door behind him.

  “Have you told anyone else what you heard?”

  “No, Your Majesty.”

  “Good.” Was all he said as he stood effortlessly and walked down the steps of the small platform the thrones were on to approach me. I suddenly felt a little scared as he neared. I had never been so close to him before and I found the whole experience to be quite intimidating. “You did the right thing by coming to me, Miss Remington.” He seemed to look me up and down quickly before continuing, “for anyone who encounters a Nevalth eel and lives to tell about it must be speaking the truth. Otherworldly creatures can sometimes sense the difference between good and evil.” He stopped and gently snatched something off of the skirt of my dress. The movement was so fast; I barely registered it until he stood before me holding what appeared to be a scale in his hand. It was large, perhaps the size of the palm of my hand, and was translucent with an iridescence like a rainbow you would see on a bubble. He knew what had been in the water with me. “They are almost as rare as you are,” he said with a smile. “You may go now.”

  I curtsied again, feeling puzzled and walked out of the room, pushing on the doors to open them. The guards closed them behind me. I felt relieved that I did not see Lord Crievan anywhere as I made my way slowly down the Great Hall and out towards the servant’s passageways towards the village. Once outside, I hurried as fast as I could back to the clinic. I was too cold and wet to want to stop for supper. After I reached my familiar kitchen, I lit some candles and looked down at my skirt. Sure enough, along the areas where the beast in the water had sailed against me were a two more of the glittering scales like the one the king had plucked off of me. I reached down and pulled one off of my skirt. It was shaped like a large guitar pick and felt strong like glass. I took my finger and felt the sharp end gingerly. I hissed as I pulled my finger away fast, seeing the blood ooze forth. It was razor sharp. I carefully pulled the other scale off of my dress and set them both on the table, wondering what I could use them for.

  ∞

  A few days passed and I heard nothing about any abduction or emergency concerning Princess Emeley. I considered that a good sign she hadn’t been harmed. On the fourth day, Sir William arrived with his carriage.

  “The king wishes to meet with you, Evelyn,” he said as he gestured to the carriage. My nerves flared up as I collected my cloak. I hoped this was
good news and not another trip to Ironhaven, or worse.

  I followed Sir William through the castle all the way up to the throne room, uncertain as to what I was about to go into. I knew this had something to do with my reporting of the plot to kidnap Princess Emeley and I hoped that they had caught and unraveled the threat against her. On the flip side, if they’d uncovered nothing, I could be held accountable for lying to them. Sir William stepped aside once we’d reached the entrance doors. He nodded to the guards who parted and opened the doors. Looks like I was going in alone. I took a deep breath and stepped inside. I walked a few paces slowly and the doors shut behind me. King Edreyan sat on his throne with his magnificent crown set upon his head. He looked very regal and somewhat intimidating, however he seemed to regard me with kindness in his eyes. I think that is what gave me the courage to keep moving . . . that and the fact that I did not see Lord Crievan or the prince anywhere.

  “Come in,” the king said amiably.

  I approached him down what seemed like a long runner of an impressive looking rug and knelt before him when I reached the end.

  “Please rise, Miss Evelyn Remington.” He said my name like the words just rolled off his tongue effortlessly. “Leave us,” he said softly to his advisors on either side of him. Both gave a polite bow and did as they were asked.

  I waited for him to speak. He seemed to be studying me casually as I looked upon him. I wasn’t sure if I should keep my head bowed or look elsewhere or not so I kept eye contact with him like I normally did with everyone from my world.

  “Miss Remington, I have called you here today to express my sincere gratitude for the information you were kind enough to provide me with a few days ago.”

  Okay, so far so good, I thought to myself.

  “Thanks to you we have apprehended the individuals in question and prevented their intended harm towards my daughter . . . and for this I am grateful to you.”

  I continued to be silent. I really didn’t know what to say. “You’re welcome” was on my lips but it didn’t seem like it was the correct thing to say to a king.

  “I am happy to have helped, Your Majesty,” I replied instead.

  “I summoned you here today because I would like to reward you for your loyalty to my family.”

  Loyalty? Reward? I wasn’t sure what he meant.

  “It is not often that a wayfarer comes into our world and aligns his or herself with us. Dr. Thorpe was the only one that I can recall in all of my years. Tell me . . . there must be something that you want. What is it that your heart desires most?”

  My mind seemed to whirl into overdrive. I had an audience with the vampire king and he was asking me what I wanted. I needed to think fast before he rescinded his offer. What did I need . . . besides money? It did not take me long at all to come up with my answer. After weeks of searching, I had not come up with any leads on how to get myself back home to my world. The king was hundreds of years old, perhaps he knew something. He might very well execute me for asking, but I did not care anymore. I needed to know. I felt he would tell me the truth. Anything would be better than that deal the witch Rosalind had proposed. If there was a way home, perhaps the king could clue me in. Anything that didn’t involve cutting a hand off of someone would make me happy.

  I took a deep breath. “Your Majesty . . . all I want is to go home . . . I miss my family . . . I miss everything,” I said honestly and sadly. “Please, . . . do you know of any possible way to open the portal that brought me here so that I could go back?”

  King Edreyan was silent, and looked thoughtful for a few moments before he stood and walked a few strides to the steps before descending them and moving to stand before me.

  “I understand your predicament, Miss Evelyn,” he said compassionately in his eloquent voice as I looked into his dark green vampire eyes. “I am afraid that there is no way to send you home. By our laws, anyone caught attempting to force open a portal is executed without question.”

  I looked down at the floor in disappointment and remained silent. I didn’t expect him to say anything else but he started speaking again.

  “The portals are perhaps the most dangerous threats to my world. It is not known how long they have been active, however I can attest that they have been opening and closing well before my time and periodically through my existence. Their occurrences are unpredictable and have become rare over the last several decades.” He spoke softly and calmly and I was relieved not to detect any anger in his voice.

  He continued. “The portals have been known to be connected to worlds and times much different from ours as you can attest to. There is no fortelling when they will open, or for how long they stay open. What we do know is that beings and creatures from our world can exit from them and beings and beasts from other worlds can travel to us through them. In my time I have seen some horrific creatures appear into our world from them. It is impossible to know where an open portal will lead to. A portal could lead to heaven, or a portal could lead to hell. Unfortunately you would not know until you had traveled through one and then it would be too late.

  Humans have dwelled in this dimension long before vampires. It was through a portal from hell that brought the first vampires into this world. It was ages ago and those vampires were savage monsters. They were pure demons. They did nothing but kill the humans for their blood and, by accident, they created new vampires. Demons bound to a human body . . . the vampires you see today. Over the centuries these new vampires became accustomed to the human ways of life, thoughts, and desires. They began to become somewhat more civilized. Some began to regard humans as more than a food source. I was one of them. A vampire can never truly deny the demon that dwells within, however he can fight it to aspire to be a strong leader, a role model, . . . someone who is looked up to.

  You have come here with nothing but the clothes on your back. You were an outsider . . . a stranger, but, by your own accord you, already have so many of my people are looking up to you. You can fight your own personal demons to aspire to be a strong role model of our society. You can survive here in Eteryn just as those primitive vampires did long ago.”

  I looked up at him and he gave me a slight brief smile before he stepped past me and continued down the long carpet. The doors opened before him and he strode out into court, leaving me standing in his empty throne room to ponder my thoughts.

  Chapter 19

  “Let me get this straight,” Sean said to me sternly at supper. “You had a private audience with the king and he offered to give you anything you wanted for saving his daughter and all you did was ask him for knowledge about the portals!”

  “Sean, keep your voice down! He is the oldest member of this society, if anyone knows anything it would be him!” I defended with irritation. Even though we were again on speaking terms, I still had not forgotten his behavior in the tavern.

  “Sometimes you are so stupid, Evie!” Sean ranted at me. “He would not have told you anything anyway. You could have asked for gold, or a title, or some special privilege that could have benefited all of us and instead you got nothing! We already know what we must do to open the portal; the bargain is already in place!”

  “Sean,” Sarah said, trying to ease him down.

  “Shut up, Sarah! Evie had a chance to help us all but she blew it!”

  “I didn’t blow anything!” I said angrily. I was tired of being blamed for his hatred of this world. “I simply don’t trust that witch in the forest. She . . .”

  “Whatever, Evie! Don’t you want to go home? Now all you have done is tip him off that we are all digging around trying to find a way.”

  “Of course I want to go home! I didn’t mention anything about you!” I snapped. “I did what I thought was right at the time. I think it says a lot that I did not ask him for money. It’s not like we are starving.”

  “Speak for yourself. Next time something like this happens . . . and this goes for all of you, run it by me first!” he ordered.

  “You a
ren’t the boss, Sean,” I argued.

  Sean abruptly turned and stalked over to me. He roughly put his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. “You listen to me, Evie! These creatures are evil. Stay away from court and lay low. I’m only trying to help you.”

  “Take your hands off of me, Sean!” I said as calmly as I could. Much to my relief, he did. “I’m out of here. Sam, are you coming?”

  “Yes . . . I’m done,” she said as she bid everyone good night.

  I was already at the path back to our street by the time she caught up with me. Who did Sean think he was? He has no right to tell me what to do. My feelings of inadequacy and loneliness surfaced again and I concentrated hard on ignoring the ache in my chest for the prince on the way back.

  ∞

  After my confrontation with Sean, all I wanted to do was lie in bed and avoid contact with any of the people here. But, of course, duty calls. As soon as we were open, Sir William’s servant came to deliver me a message that my skills were needed in the South Village for the day so off I went. Of course Sam would be allowed to stay. I don’t think Sir William would ever let her go anywhere without him knowing. I didn’t mind though. It was bright and sunny and I knew the way. Perhaps a walk would help pull me out of my gloom and doom.

  A short while later I reported to the makeshift clinic in the apothecary shop bearing my bag of commonly used remedies. The owner, a kindly man with dark hair began rattling off the names of the patients, along with their ailments, that would come while sending a servant to alert them I had arrived. I worked for several hours treating lacerations, burns, common colds, and a few skin infections before I packed up and left. The apothecary seemed disappointed to see me go. I think he liked having me there.

  I appreciated the mild weather and sunshine as I meandered back along the dirt road by the lake towards the East Village. I occasionally passed a soldier on horseback or a villager or two, but never felt in danger. The large rock formation extending into the water on my right always caught my attention. I wondered what it might be like to climb to the top for the view. Why not? I thought. You never know what kind of herbs you might spot and I needed some knitbone to heal wounds. As I veered off the road down towards the rock formation I realized it was much larger than I had anticipated . . . and hollow. Upon closer inspection, it was a small cave with a passageway. I could even see light filtering through to me from the other side. I wondered if it led to the beach, so I decided to check it out. I looked around first to make sure no one was watching me and stepped inside. The passage of time and perhaps water had carved out a smooth path wide and tall enough for me to walk along until I reached a ledge overlooking a small sheltered pool extending with a large opening to the beach. The water lapped peacefully below me and did not appear more than five feet deep with pale sand and rocks visible at the far end. Off to my right, I could see several rocks I could climb down to the water to wade about ten feet and climb onto the sandy shore.