Lintang and the Brightest Star

by Tamara Moss

  ‘Eire, we still need to medicate the mythie, whether the second prophecy comes true or not,’ Xiang said.

  Eire didn’t take her spear from beneath Lintang’s chin.

  There was a rustle of leaf litter behind them, then Yamini stood by Lintang with her staff. ‘You can’t force her to go.’

  Eire held Lintang’s gaze a heartbeat longer before withdrawing her spear and turning away with a sneer. ‘You will change mind. You will come running to us when you realise Captain needs you. You said you would do anything. Remember?’

  ‘That’s enough,’ Xiang said sharply. ‘The rest of us will go with you. Mei, Kona.’

  Mei passed Bayani to Lintang, who held him tight as the others prepared to leave. Pelita looked from Mei and Kona to Lintang and Bayani.

  ‘You can stay, pippit,’ Mei said. ‘Lintang will take care of you.’

  ‘Wrong!’ Pelita said gleefully. ‘I’ll take care of her!’

  Mei gave Lintang a questioning glance, and Lintang nodded wearily. She didn’t know how, but she’d find a way to look after both of her friends. It would probably help having another person here, even if the other person was Pelita.

  ‘We’ll be back in a few days,’ Kona said.

  Eire was already ahead. The others said a quick goodbye and hurried to catch up. Yamini glanced back once. Lintang didn’t know how to react. Should she mouth a thank you for standing up for her? Or should she glare, because of everything Yamini had said about Bayani earlier?

  Her indecision took too long – Yamini turned away again.

  The group disappeared beyond the trees, and soon the sounds of them vanished. Lintang’s heart beat so fast it was making her dizzy. What if Eire had been right? What if they really did need her help with the second prophecy? What if her absence meant the difference between saving Captain Shafira, and losing the captain’s star forever?

  Lintang was supposed to trust her instincts, but this time, she had no idea whether she’d done the right thing.

  Lintang sat propped against a tree, hugging her knees as she watched a brown beetle crawl over her boots. She scratched absently at one of the insect bites from the swamp. Her coat and hair were still filthy after the fight with the dead walker.

  The forest was quiet. It was an odd contrast to the turbulent panic inside her. She’d spent the last seven days marching to an internal chant, counting down every turn of the hourglass, and that sense of urgency wasn’t going to go away just because she’d stopped moving. She thudded the back of her head against the tree trunk.

  Three days, three days, three days.

  Three days to save Captain Shafira’s immortal star, and she was sitting here doing nothing because she’d made an impossible choice. Pain crawled inside her, nesting in her heart. She couldn’t stop thinking of her captain. The way she stood at the Winda’s helm, her braids fighting to escape her red kerchief in the breeze. How she stalked through the passageways with power and purpose. The menace in her expression when she drew her sword, so her opponent knew exactly what they were up against.

  But it was all an act, because Lintang had seen her softer moments too. The way she laughed when Xiang did her victory dance after a game of rouls. The faces she pulled with Pelita when she didn’t think anyone was watching. The kindness she’d shown Bayani the night before his own prophecy had been due to come true.

  Her ferociousness – her Godliness – was a performance, like the glitter of the circus. Really, she was as ordinary as Qourees’s room backstage, just a normal person who had hopes and dreams like the rest of them.

  And now she was stuck in Hallaxa. Alone.

  Lintang buried her face in her knees. Captain Shafira had always been there for them, and Lintang wasn’t even trying to get her back.

  She had done what she could for Bayani and Pelita. There had been a stream nearby, running down from the mountain. The water had been fresh, but too cold to bathe in. She’d used a sturdy piece of bark as a container to bring some back for the others to drink. Then she’d foraged for fruit and berries. Bayani hadn’t eaten much before he’d fallen asleep, stretched out on his stomach, his head resting on his arms. Pelita finished the remainder of the food before curling up beside him. Every now and then she’d giggle in her sleep.

  They deserved rest. They’d hardly had any since they’d started this journey.

  Three days, three days, three days.

  A wind picked up, sweeping through the fiery leaves. Bayani stirred at the disturbance. ‘Lintang …’

  Lintang jumped up and rushed towards him. ‘What’s wrong? What do you need?’

  He moaned, trying and failing to get up.

  ‘Stay there,’ she said. ‘You have to rest.’

  ‘Captain Shafira …’

  ‘The others are handling it.’

  He blinked at her. ‘But …’

  ‘I’m here with you.’ She attempted a smile. ‘As if I would leave you behind.’

  His stare was penetrating. She couldn’t work out what he was thinking until his face crumpled and he said, ‘You don’t want to be here.’

  ‘Of course I do.’

  He buried his face in his arms. ‘All I do is drag you back.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

  ‘I’m useless. Yamini’s right. Captain Shafira shouldn’t have brought me along in the first place.’ Lintang touched his shoulder, but he shied away. ‘Just go. Don’t worry about me.’

  She’d never seen him like this. Even before, when he had believed he was going to die, he had accepted his fate with grace.

  ‘You’re tired,’ she said. ‘Go back to sleep. It’s going to be fine.’

  ‘No, it’s not. What’s the point of being a God if I can’t do anything?’ His body shuddered. ‘Take Pelita and go after the others. You don’t need me.’

  ‘I am not going anywhere without you.’

  He moved suddenly, making her jump. He was trying to get up again, but his arms and legs shook with the effort. Lintang lunged to catch him, too late, as he fell back to the dirt. The thud woke Pelita, who grumbled and opened her eyes.

  Bayani lay sobbing into the leaf litter. ‘I can’t do it. I can’t get up.’ He writhed slowly, as though in pain. Lintang fought her own tears. If only she could do something. If only she was stronger, or smarter. If only she could stop him feeling like this.

  ‘Somebody help me,’ he moaned. ‘Mratzi. Patiki. Somebody. Anybody. I need help. I need help. I need –’

  The ground trembled. Pelita shrieked and scrambled up. Lintang grabbed her before she thought to run around in her usual wild fashion. Bayani lifted his tear-stained face.

  ‘What is that?’ Lintang said. Fear iced her. ‘Is – Is it the monster?’

  Had Governor Karnezis received another rebel name, and sent the lo fali-air after them? Was the beast right now standing upon the mountain peak, as it had seven days earlier?

  The trembling turned to rumbling, which became violent shudders, like someone was rattling the entire island. It went on and on.

  Bulges lifted from the ground around them. Five piles, growing larger and larger, made of thick brown mud. Lintang unsheathed her sword. ‘What’s going on?’

  Bayani looked at her in panic. ‘It’s not the lo fali-air, but it’s definitely a mythie.’ His eyes were overly wide. ‘And we don’t have any Curall.’

  THE MYTHIE GUIDEBOOK ENTRY #48: Guardian Earth (Kaneko Brown)

  The guardian earth (sinka) is a humanoid earth mythie under the predator category. It is a large being made of forest parts. It has spiky roots on the back of its head and hands for attack.

  Diet: Unknown.

  Habitat: Forests across Kaneko Brown.

  Frequency: Rare.

  Behaviour: Guardian earths protect forests from people intending damage, such as loggers and arsonists. They live underground and rise up to crush their victims. The only way to escape is to pay the correct tribute.

  Eradication: Fire is the best way to destroy a
guardian earth.

  Did you know? Guardian earths have puppet minions made of mud.

  Danger level: 4 for those intending damage to the forest 1 for others

  ‘But I don’t want to harm the forest!’ Lintang cried as soon as Bayani explained what they were facing. The mud monsters were now fully formed, in the shape of faceless humanoids. They staggered towards her.

  A mud monster grabbed her, its hand like wet clay. She swiped her sword. Her blade sliced through its forearm and its hand slopped to the ground.

  ‘Oh no, I’m sorry!’

  Lintang hadn’t meant to hurt it. She didn’t want it returning to its human self missing body parts, or have a scarred face, or maybe not survive its injuries at all. The Zulttania of Allay had lost an arm and an eye due to the wounds she’d sustained as a mythie. Lintang never wanted that to happen again.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Bayani said. ‘They’re not really the mythie.’ He looked around. ‘You’ll know the guardian earth when you see it. These are just puppets.’

  It didn’t matter anyway – the severed stump of the mud monster’s arm grew a new hand in its place.

  Lintang exhaled in relief. ‘Thank the Gods.’

  She jumped out of the way as more mud monsters lumbered forward. None of them were interested in Pelita or Bayani. They only wanted Lintang. Even when Pelita gave a battle cry and slapped a mud monster on the butt, it completely ignored her. She drew her muddy hand away and scrunched up her nose. ‘Ewww.’

  Lintang retreated. ‘Why are they after me?’

  ‘Have you broken any branches or done anything to the forest?’ Bayani said.

  ‘No! Even that piece of bark for the water was just from the ground.’ One of the monsters swung its arm at her. She ducked. ‘I’m going to lead them away from you.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘It’s all right, I’ll figure something out.’

  She turned and ran, and the mud monsters gave chase. They moved faster now she was sprinting. She weaved between trees and jumped over roots, her mind racing as fast as her legs. How could she take the monsters down for good?

  Maybe if she wounded them properly –

  She spun around and sliced horizontally through the torso of the nearest mud monster. The body was thick, but her sword was sharp and her arms were strong. It fell into two pieces.

  The other mud monsters used the opportunity to surround her. She kept an eye on the broken mud monster as she fought off the others. Its lower half dissolved into the ground, but its upper half was reforming.

  For the love of Patiki, how was she going to get out of this?

  Two mud monsters came at her at once. She jabbed at one but the other caught her blade in mid-swing and wrenched it from her hands.

  ‘No!’ she cried as it threw her sword away.

  She started forward but one mud monster grabbed her arm and another snagged her hair. They dragged her to the ground. Her scream was cut off by a hand against her mouth and nose. It blocked her airways. She was suffocating in mud.

  She shouldn’t have stopped. She should have kept running, and thought of something else to destroy them. Maybe she should’ve gone towards the river. Maybe she should’ve left the forest.

  The mistake was going to cost her her life.

  She kicked and struggled to break out of the mud monster’s grip. Her hands were still free, but she couldn’t do anything with them. Her sword, she needed her sword, she could see it out of the corner of her eye, lying uselessly out of reach –

  Shabby shoes thumped across the leaf litter. Someone scooped down and grabbed the sword’s hilt, flicking it towards her. Lintang instinctively reached out. There was the comforting smack of it landing in her palm. She slashed down the middle of the mud monster pinning her to the ground, and it fell apart on either side of her. Her fingers clawed to pull off the mud around her mouth and nose, and when at last she was free she drew in long, ragged gasps.

  Her saviour was nearby fighting off the other mud monsters. Lintang sprang up to join her.

  Yamini.

  Yamini had returned, flushed and panting, as if she had run all the way back down the mountain just to save Lintang. She swung her staff at the advancing monsters.

  ‘You came back,’ Lintang said, her voice cracking.

  ‘Focus,’ Yamini growled.

  She and Lintang stood side by side as the monsters came for them, sword and staff swinging in a rhythm Lintang had never experienced before. When she fought with Xiang or Captain Shafira, her skill level was well below theirs. But Yamini moved the way Lintang did, and there was less urgency against the clumsy lumbering of the mud monsters. It was more about concentration; synchronicity. Lintang was even able to try shika between the whips of her blade and the dodging of blows. She saved Yamini from a lunging monster; Yamini fought off another monster at Lintang’s back. Their partnership worked.

  It was weird.

  It was never-ending, though, because the monsters kept coming back, no matter what they did. Lintang was starting to worry they’d be stuck here until they dropped dead from exhaustion when an alarmed cry echoed through the forest.

  ‘Bayani,’ Lintang said, and she broke out of the circle of monsters.

  Yamini’s footsteps thundered after her as she raced the way she’d come. Lintang didn’t dare think what had made Bayani yell like that.

  She returned to the place she’d left them to find both still on the ground, unharmed. There was no time to be grateful – something else was growing from the leaf litter, and it wasn’t a mud monster. It was a hulking mass of roots, moss, leaves and stone.

  ‘Wow,’ Pelita said. ‘Oh, hi, Yamini.’

  Yamini joined Lintang, breathless. ‘What is that?’

  ‘The guardian earth,’ Bayani said.

  The bulge of forest debris was getting bigger and bigger. At last the guardian earth shook itself from the dirt, towering above them, almost as tall as the trees. Lintang and Yamini lifted their weapons. The mythie had an armour of wood and stone and a helmet of roots with sharp spikes at the back. Yellow eyes gleamed behind holes in the helmet.

  It crouched on all fours and stared at both Yamini and Lintang. Neither moved.

  ‘Now what?’ Yamini said out of the corner of her mouth.

  The guardian earth lifted its enormous, branch-like fingers. Bayani shouted as it scooped him up.

  Lintang rushed forward, too late. The guardian earth straightened and a cavity opened in its chest armour, revealing a root-formed ribcage. With a great effort, it rolled back its shoulders, cracking open its ribs, and placed Bayani inside.

  He scrambled to get out before the ribs closed again. ‘No, no, no!’ But the guardian earth’s shoulders slumped forward, and the ribs slammed shut like the doors of a prison. Bayani pulled at the root bones. ‘Let me out!’

  ‘Oooo,’ Pelita said. ‘Well done, Bayani! You made a friend-friend.’

  Lintang raised her sword. She had no idea how she would beat this thing, but by the Gods, she wasn’t going to let it take Bayani.

  Except when she moved to attack, he yelled, ‘Wait!’ and she stopped, surprised.

  Yamini’s grip tightened on her staff. ‘I’d hate to alarm you,’ she muttered, ‘but the mud monsters are returning.’

  Lintang exhaled long and hard. How much more could they endure?

  ‘Put your weapons down,’ Bayani said.

  ‘What?’ Yamini and Lintang said together.

  ‘Just do it!’

  The mud monsters were almost upon them. Lintang looked at Bayani through the root-ribs. Determination shone through his tiredness.

  ‘You’d better know what you’re doing,’ Lintang said, tossing her sword at her feet.

  After some hesitation, Yamini threw her staff down too.

  The mud monsters stopped walking.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Yamini said.

  Bayani slumped his forehead against the wooden ribs. ‘Pelita was right. I made a friend-friend. Er … I m
ean, a friend.’

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘I called for help, and help came.’ He smiled wearily at Lintang. ‘You had a sword, so it thought you were attacking me.’

  ‘It’s protecting you?’ Yamini said.

  Lintang frowned. ‘I thought you said it protects forests.’

  ‘I guess it protects Gods too.’

  ‘Gods?’ Yamini said.

  Bayani lifted his gaze to the creature holding him captive. ‘It’s all right. They’re my friends. They won’t hurt me.’

  After several heartbeats, the mud monsters began to dissolve. They bubbled and melted into the ground, until they were nothing but puddles. Pelita ran over and stamped on them. ‘Don’t come back! Naughty monsters!’

  ‘Can I pick up my weapon now?’ Yamini said to Bayani.

  ‘I think so.’

  Yamini edged to her staff and tentatively grabbed it. The guardian earth didn’t move.

  Bayani tapped on its wooden ribs. ‘Will you let me out?’

  From its stony throat came a rumbling growl.

  ‘I guess not,’ Yamini said. ‘Looks like you might be stuck in there.’ She eyed him. ‘What was that about the Gods?’

  ‘Forget that,’ Lintang said, a slow smile creeping across her face. ‘This is perfect.’ She grinned at Bayani tucked safely inside the guardian earth. ‘If that thing’s carrying you, we can go up the mountain. We can still save Captain Shafira!’

  The guardian earth seemed to like Pelita too. It lifted her onto its shoulders as it walked, while Yamini and Lintang followed behind.

  The ground sloped steeply upwards. Sometimes it was so sheer they had to go sideways until they found somewhere they could scramble up.

  The chill deepened, and the air became difficult to take in. The trees turned bare, naked of leaves as they trembled in the wind. The group slept that night in little holes the guardian earth made in the ground. It let Bayani out of its protective cage so he could rest comfortably, but watched him through the night. When they woke, they discovered clinking shards of ice had formed on their bundled coats. They ate the ice for water.