by Tamara Moss
‘Sunstones.’
‘Sunstones?’
‘Oh yes. The capture of Xiang from the EVU is worth at least two.’
Lintang frowned. ‘If you know Xiang’s name, why didn’t you send the monster after her as well?’
‘She’s Vierzan. She will appear before court and have a fair trial. The pirate queen deserved no such treatment.’
Lintang lurched, hatred making her vision swim, but before she could reach the governor, Yamini said, ‘You have yourself a deal.’
Lintang stopped. ‘What?’
The governor, who was already fumbling to light a spark with two crystals from his coat, glanced at Yamini in surprise. Yamini tossed her staff away and stepped over a pile of metal books with her arm out in offering.
The governor returned the crystals to his pocket, still refusing to release the bahatsi powder. He grasped Yamini’s arm, pleased. ‘Good girl. You’ll make your country proud.’
Yamini dropped his arm. ‘There’s only one person I want to make proud.’ Then she spun to Lintang and tossed a small thing to her.
Lintang caught it, stunned. Sure, Yamini’s trick with the keys had been good, but Lintang had been right there watching and still she hadn’t seen Yamini slip the vial from the governor’s inner pocket.
‘You really are extraordinary.’
‘Obviously. Now run!’
Lintang raced for the exit as Yamini snatched the bahatsi powder and rushed after her.
Karnezis’s laughter followed them.
‘You can’t medicate the Disgraced God,’ he said as they burst into the cold air. ‘Until I call someone my enemy, it doesn’t exist. Do you hear me? Right now, the mythie doesn’t even exist!’
Lintang hurtled back into the cave and pressed her blade against Karnezis’s neck. ‘Bring the monster out!’
Karnezis grinned with his black-rooted teeth. ‘No.’
‘Do it! Do it or I’ll –’
‘You’ll what?’ He gurgled with sickening laughter. ‘You won’t kill me.’
Lintang wasn’t so sure. Killing him would make everything easier. His star would no longer be tethered to the lo fali-air. It would be free, and she’d be able to medicate it without Karnezis speaking her name and putting her at risk of being sucked into Hallaxa.
She thought again of the prophecy.
Ten days from grief
Your second pays the price
And is willing to make
The greatest sacrifice.
Maybe it had nothing to do with her life. Maybe murder was the price she had to pay. Maybe she had to sacrifice the brightness of her own star in order to save Captain Shafira.
But the thought of stabbing a rotting old man was appalling. Even though he had done terrible things, even though his star was wasting away with every breath, she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill him to save everyone. And Captain Shafira would never have made that choice, either.
‘Lintang,’ Yamini said from the cave entrance. Bayani and Pelita were with her.
‘What are they doing here?’ Lintang said, running to them in alarm.
‘I tried to get them to turn back, but they wouldn’t listen,’ Yamini said.
Pelita patted Alis, who was winding around them happily. ‘We’re helping!’
‘What do you need?’ Bayani said.
‘I don’t know what to do,’ Lintang admitted. ‘The lo fali-air doesn’t exist unless Karnezis calls for it.’
‘It doesn’t exist?’
She looked hopefully at Bayani. ‘I don’t suppose you know anything about it that might help me?’
‘Not really,’ Bayani said. ‘Sorry. The Mythie Guidebook didn’t have much. All I know is that it goes after the brightest stars.’
Lintang glanced back at Karnezis, who had settled down on a pile of blankets and was watching the exchange with the smirk of someone who knew they’d won.
She ushered the others further away from the cave entrance so he couldn’t listen.
Yamini lowered her voice. ‘Your star is bright. It has to be, if the lightning bird chose to protect you.’
‘So?’
‘So maybe the brightness of your star could be enough to lure it out.’
Bayani snapped his fingers. ‘And remember what Zazi said? The Disgraced God is just a mythie – all we need to know is the Kanekonese lore about what makes a star bright. What did Mei tell us?’
‘You have to be brave and loyal,’ Yamini said.
‘You’re already that,’ Bayani said. ‘She also said you have to sacrifice –’
‘Which she’s done, to get this far,’ Yamini said.
Bayani’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. ‘What was the other thing? That word …?’
‘Hi-lar-i-ous,’ Pelita said.
‘Not that one.’
‘Non-materialistic,’ Lintang said. ‘But how am I supposed to prove I don’t care about possessions?’
‘You could give something up you own,’ Bayani said. ‘Something important.’
Lintang glanced down at her muddy coat, her one gift from Captain Shafira. ‘I could burn this, maybe? I don’t have many other things on me at the moment.’
‘Pretty rock,’ Pelita said.
Lintang spun to her.
‘Your pretty rock,’ Pelita said. ‘The one you always look at.’
Her sunstone. Lintang hadn’t realised Pelita had seen it. How often had she been gazing at it, for even Pelita to have noticed?
Lintang reached for her necklace. ‘I don’t think …’
‘It’s perfect,’ Yamini said.
‘It works with the prophecy, about paying a price.’ Bayani hesitated. ‘But I still don’t like that part about the greatest sacrifice – I mean, Eire’s not even here …’
‘Lintang says she has it covered,’ Yamini said. ‘She just has to medicate the mythie, and all the stars who have been trapped will return. Right, Lintang?’
‘Right.’
Bayani frowned at Lintang as if he didn’t quite believe her.
‘But I should just burn my coat,’ Lintang said.
Yamini snorted. ‘That’s not going to work. You need to give up the sunstone.’ When Lintang still hesitated, she lifted her eyebrows. ‘What’s the matter? Suddenly attached to the shiny rock?’
‘No!’ But even as Lintang said it, she realised that yes, she was. She didn’t want to give up such a valuable item. It was her reward for everything she’d done for Allay. Why couldn’t she keep it?
‘You’re not going to bring the Disgraced God out unless you prove you’re not materialistic,’ Yamini said.
‘I don’t think you should do it.’ Bayani sounded worried. ‘I think we should go somewhere safe. It doesn’t matter, Lintang. Eire is supposed to medicate the mythie, anyway.’
No, she wasn’t, but he didn’t know that. He didn’t know Lintang was the heir to the Winda. He didn’t know she was the only one who could save Captain Shafira. And if she told him, he’d try to stop her.
She clicked open the wooden case of her necklace. The sunstone fell into her palm.
‘All right,’ she said. ‘You three, get on the fyredragon and fly away. I don’t want you anywhere near this place.’
‘Wait,’ Bayani said. ‘This isn’t –’
‘It’s fine.’ Lintang held up the vial of Curall. ‘I can do this.’
Yamini didn’t budge. ‘You’re as mad as the governor if you think we’re going to leave you.’
‘I was Lanme Vanyan, remember? I’ll beat the monster. But I need to know you’re safe first. Please.’
Yamini hesitated a beat more before reluctantly climbing on Alis. Bayani gave Lintang a desperate look. ‘Promise me –’
‘I promise I’ll win this.’ Lintang patted Alis on the hind leg. ‘Alis, please keep them safe.’
Alis rose, carrying the three of them into the air. Pelita gave a screech of glee and Yamini dug a finger in her ear, scowling. Lintang watched them go higher into the bright blue sk
y. They were safe, and that was all that mattered.
She stepped across the plateau towards the slope of scree.
She hadn’t lied to them, not exactly. Her promise would be kept – she’d medicate the monster and bring back every star that had been swallowed.
But she didn’t know how to do it without being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice like the prophecy said.
She placed her sword at her feet and stared again at her sunstone. It truly was beautiful.
A beautiful, shiny rock.
It had held hope at one stage. It had been her backup plan, to get her family out of Desa. To be rich, to own things, to be admired by others. She understood why Yamini had once been driven by greed.
But there was no need for shiny rocks when there was the Winda, sailing them across the seas. When there was the crew, loyal and loud and funny and brave. When there was her mother’s love, her father’s kindness, her brother’s silliness.
When there was Captain Shafira.
Lintang kissed the sunstone and held it in the air.
Her palms beaded with sweat. She was going to call for the monster.
Insanity.
But she had to go through with it. For her captain. For the brightest star.
Don’t think about your fear, Kona had told her. Think about what you need to do right now.
All she had to do was speak.
So she spoke.
‘Lo fali-air.’ She remembered what Mei had said about mythies from Kaneko Brown responding to their own language, and added, ‘Annai a Lintang of Desa,’ but that was all the Kanekonese she could use in this situation. ‘You want my star? It’s bright. I know it is.’ Then she hurled the sunstone as far as she could down the mountain. ‘So come and get me!’
There was a rumbling. This wasn’t the same kind of rumbling as when the guardian earth appeared. This was something that shook the ground, and the mountain, and the air, and the sea and Lintang’s very bones.
This was the Disgraced God, returning.
Lintang choked. Her limbs became as heavy as stone.
The rumbling came from above, and rocks fell around her as the monster galloped down from the peak. It reached the plateau, a towering mass of muscle, so large she couldn’t see its head. Fire glowed between strips of neck muscle. Its armour glinted in the sunlight.
Lintang couldn’t move. She was so frightened, she couldn’t remember her own name, let alone why she had called the monster to her. Her legs gave way. She sank to the ground. She’d expected to be scared, but she’d forgotten the extreme terror. She’d forgotten how powerless she was. Sobs shuddered in her chest. Unbidden, childish cries for her mother fell from her lips.
She was going to die.
The monster lowered its head to stare at her with four red eyes. A reptilian tongue darted out, tasting the air. It released a deafening scream. She screamed too, and shoved her hands against her ears.
It was so loud. So loud, and angry, and horrifying, and she could taste vomit rising in her throat –
Something knocked against the side of her head. A bottle in her grip. She drew her hand away to stare at it.
A vial.
The Curall.
Captain Shafira.
A feeling wormed through the growing cracks of Lintang’s terror. Warmth, and hope, and love.
She didn’t need to be powerful. She didn’t need to fight the monster at all.
She just had to bring her captain back.
She lifted her gaze to the monster and aimed the spray. The Disgraced God thundered towards her. Surprisingly, her hands didn’t shake. Yes, she was going to die. But Captain Shafira was coming home. The brightest star that would ever shine in the night sky would be free.
Lintang was willing to give her life for that.
Her mind was calm. She was at peace. Soon she would join her ancestors in the sky.
‘May Mratzi harvest my star with care,’ she whispered, as the monster lowered its jaws towards her, spilling fiery breath across her skin.
There was a heartbeat where she thought she heard Bayani’s voice, perhaps an echo in her head of her dearest friend before death, but his frantic words – ‘Mratzi, no –help her!’ – didn’t match her memories of him.
And then …
Everything stopped.
She waited, but the world had stilled, as if she were stuck in a single moment, a grain hovering at the neck of the timepiece without falling through.
Was she dying?
Stars overlaid her vision; she saw her world and another at the same time. Constellations swirled above and below. The deep blue ground, tinged with reds and purples, surged like a stormy ocean, rolling and swelling, carrying more stars with it.
Ytzuam.
She could see Ytzuam.
She had achieved shika state.
The stars burned with heat and light, but something else, like the presence of friends, family.
‘Hello?’ she whispered, and a bright star, one of the very brightest in the sky, drifted towards her.
She felt someone stand by her side – an ancestor who had answered her call.
‘Hello, Lintang of Desa, granddaughter five times down.’ The words were in Toli. There was pride in the man’s voice, and a smile. She didn’t recognise it, and yet something about it felt fiercely familiar.
Her limbs tingled, like they had been gripped by the stars themselves. She felt strong. Skilled. Her senses were heightened. She was aware of every particle of dust in the air, every drop of blood in her body. The world was no longer complicated – she understood everything, from the beginning of time right through to this suspended moment. Her life was a single thread interwoven with every other part of the world’s tapestry, and she could see it all. She knew how birds flew, how stars were harvested, how clouds held rain. She knew more about Bayani than he knew of himself – his powers, his capabilities, his untapped strength. There was so much he had yet to discover.
She knew it all.
Her ancestor spoke again. ‘My name is Pero the warrior, and I am here to help you.’
Pero the warrior had lived long before the Infestation. Despite what the stories said, he’d never faced sea serpents or propheseeds or Lanme Vanyan. His opponents were real people, invaders to his country. Caletrom had tried to take over the Twin Islands in the past. So had Roan. Even Manse had sent soldiers during his lifetime, trying to destroy villages and take resources.
Pero had been a farmer’s son in a small village, but he was desperate to protect his people, so he had trained night and day until he was a skilled warrior. He had joined a defensive army and defeated many enemies. Over time, his heroic battles turned into legends. Cruel captains became monsters in retellings. His brave feat, where he helped sink an entire fleet of Roan ships, became the popular tale of Pero and the Kraken. And when he was at last struck down, his opponent became Lanme Vanyan, a fitting end for a mighty legend. Pero the warrior was a hero, but he had never fought real monsters before.
Lintang of Desa had.
Time started up again, and Lintang, with the power of her ancestor’s star coursing through her body, rolled away from the monster’s jaws with impossible speed. She picked up her sword as she passed it. The lo fali-air’s fangs snapped closed on empty air.
Lintang was already on her feet. She raced towards the cliff, bypassing the cave. The monster turned its massive head to follow her. Her feet hit the wall; she rebounded and flipped around as the Disgraced God advanced.
With one deft spray, she got the Curall in its nostril … and kept going. She landed on the monster’s head. Pero’s strength drove her – she powered down the fire-bright neck and along its back.
The beast shook its body, trying to fling her off, and she dived towards its reptilian tail, clinging to it like it was rope. It was difficult, but her body was used to the challenge. She had done similar drills on the rigging during Eire’s endurance training. In fact, she was reminded of a certain time on the gang plank,
when she had hung on, and hung on, and hung on –
This time, she didn’t fall.
Her sword was in her other hand. She thrust the blade into a slot in the lo fali-air’s armour. It would be nothing but an irritation, but it would do. Her job, until the mythie had transformed back, was to keep it busy.
The monster whipped its tail, throwing her into the air. She flew high, higher, until she could soar no more and started to plummet. The monster opened its enormous jaws to swallow her, and she glimpsed glowing lava down its throat. She braced herself for impact, her body buzzing with the power of Pero’s star, ready to be swallowed, but there was a flurry of silver-blue scales, and moonstone talons caught her coat, flinging her against the sheer cliffs of the mountain instead. She hit the rocky wall, momentarily stunned, as Alis veered around, still carrying Bayani, Pelita and Yamini.
‘Thanks!’ she called breathlessly after them.
The monster snapped its jaws. It realised it had missed its target and leaped up to try again. Lintang let go at the last heartbeat, falling far enough to miss being eaten, and grabbed a jutting rock further down. Her shoulder jarred painfully from the impact, but at least she was alive. Stones tumbled around her.
She began climbing down as best she could with her sword still in hand. Someone called her name. She glanced at the plateau to find Alis had landed, and Bayani had gotten off. He was running towards the cliff.
‘No!’ she cried.
Yamini was shouting for him too, but she stayed back to stop Pelita from following.
The monster had heard Bayani’s shout and whipped around to find him.
What was he doing?
With her heightened hearing, Lintang caught his words:
‘Ignore Lintang! It’s me you want.’
The monster swooped down to swallow him. He held his ground. There was a determined look on his face. Powerful. She saw Niti within him.
Niti, one of the Three Gods, who in the legends had chased The Unnamed One out of Ytzuam and into the shadow realm.
‘Bailosai!’ he said before the fangs reached him. ‘You aren’t really the lo fali-air.’
The monster paused.
‘What are you doing?’ Karnezis snarled, staggering out of the cave. ‘Kill them! Kill them both!’ He pointed wildly at Bayani, but his mouth opened and closed as he realised he didn’t know Bayani’s name.