Broken World Book Two - StarSword

by Southwell, T C

  The law of the land had been broken, a major one whose name rode within the storm like the distant tolling of a gargantuan bell. The lashing trees whispered its name; the wind screamed it and the thunder roared it. The Staff of Law reminded all who would listen of the law that had been broken, reinforcing its forbidding.

  "Life and Death shall never mingle. Forbidden. The dead shall not return to life."

  Chanter scrambled over rain-washed rock, leaving the trees' shelter to face the storm's naked power. He staggered under its might, resuming his man shape to cling to the stone with fingers instead of claws. Raising his face to the raging elements, he reached out with his will, took hold of the wind and calmed it a little. The repercussions could not be completely stilled, though it was within his power to do it. The world must vent its fury and spend itself to find order again. So he gentled the wind and lessened the rain, but allowed the storm to continue.

  Chapter Eleven

  The storm raged all night. Kieran lay beside Talsy, who slept so deeply that she never moved. He dozed, his slumber disturbed by the thunder and lightning crackling overhead.

  The sun rose in a grey dawn to light a dismal, storm-torn world, battered and cleansed by wind and rain. The wind still moaned and rain continued to fall, but the thunder had moved away and the lightning was distant flashes. A carpet of fallen green leaves covered the grass and the river swirled past in a swollen muddy torrent. Fallen branches and twigs littered the ground and choked the river; new born streams trickled past to join it. Kieran rose and joined the people who sat around the fire, chewing dried food.

  Roth greeted him cheerfully, glancing at the back of the shelter where Talsy still slept. "How's the First Chosen?"

  "Asleep. No sign of Chanter?"

  "The Mujar? No, none. Where do you suppose he went?"

  Kieran shook his head. "I don't suppose, I know he went to help the other chosen we left behind. I had all but forgotten about them."

  "So what happens now?"

  "We wait for Chanter." Kieran accepted a piece of dried meat and chewed it, staring out at the miserable day that dawned.

  The storm continued all day, and the river rose almost to the rock walls that sheltered them, but did not enter. Talsy continued to sleep, and Kieran sat beside her, growing more worried with each passing hour. Where was Chanter? Why did Talsy not wake up? He shook her a few times, but she merely mumbled and tossed.

  At dusk the rain stopped, but the wind continued to blow in bitter gusts straight from the icy slopes of distant mountains. The temperature dropped until the water that covered the ground turned to ice and the shelter's inhabitants huddled close to the fire. Kieran carried Talsy to it and held her while she slept against his shoulder. Roth shot him a worried look, and Kieran was also concerned by her deep sleep.

  When a black wolf padded up to the shelter, Roth gripped Kieran's arm, drawing his attention to it. In the darkness beyond, more wolves howled. Kieran watched the wolf. The only weapon the rebels possessed was a dagger. The animal came closer with the loose-jointed gait of its kind, entering the firelight. Several others saw it and recoiled in alarm, but Kieran continued to study the wolf. It turned to look at him, and the firelight shone on silver-blue eyes. As he relaxed, it opened its mouth in a panting expression that could have been laughter.

  The icy clamp of Dolana froze the air, and the wolf seemed to melt away. Chanter smiled at Kieran, sharing a secret joke while the others gaped at him. As he stepped into the shelter, Talsy woke with a gasp, looking confused. Chanter knelt beside her, and she smiled and took his hand. The Prince watched the pair, struck afresh by the strangeness of a Mujar when seen in close proximity to Truemen.

  Chanter exuded wildness like a sweet scent, from the glitter of his ebon mane to his skin's golden sheen, his perfection set him apart. Beside him the Truemen soldiers looked scruffy, dirty and coarse. Kieran tore his eyes away and frowned at the fire. Envying a Mujar was foolish, and the road to damnation.

  Tyrander stared at the wall and fingered the Starsword's hilt. He sat in his throne room, whose echoing vastness and grandeur reminded him of his vaunted status, which he cherished. The room's rich trappings had always pleased him, and some of them were real, even though most of the castle was the Staff of Law's fabrication. Since the rebels' departure, he had made a brave attempt to drain the castle's cellars. In spite of his triumph over the Mujar, his failure to save himself from the Black Riders rankled, and each day brought death closer. Many of those who had stood by him had fled now, and he had been tempted to join them. Running would only prolong the waiting, however. The Black Riders would hunt everyone down in the end.

  The Prince groped for the wine bottle, found it empty and hurled it against the wall, yelling for another. The cowering servant who brought it fled as soon as he could. Any who displeased the Prince now died a swift and fiery death by the Starsword. He caressed its gleaming hilt with a smile. He would use it to fight the Black Riders when they came. Kieran would not get it back until he was dead. His greatest wish was that he would outlive his brother and be the last to wield the sword, denying Kieran the satisfaction of using it against the Black Riders himself.

  Tyrander pulled the Staff of Law from his jacket and gazed at it with blurry eyes. During the great storm, which had raised a huge cloud of dust around the castle, the stone had hummed faintly, but he had been too drunk to ask it why. Since then, he had sobered a little.

  "Does my brother still live?" he demanded.

  A single word of golden fire formed before him. "Yes."

  Tyrander grunted. "Show me."

  The vision formed inside a burning ring. Kieran sat before a camp fire in a cavern, a few rebels visible behind him. Tyrander stared sourly at the image.

  "Where's the Mujar?"

  "With him."

  The Prince uncorked the wine bottle and drank. "How long before the Black Riders get here?"

  "Two days."

  "Will they kill him first?"

  "No."

  Tyrander belched and wiped his mouth. "But not long after, eh?"

  "Kieran is in no danger."

  "Why not?"

  "He is chosen."

  Tyrander frowned at the burning words. "Not anymore."

  "He is still chosen."

  "The First Chosen is dead. There are no more chosen."

  The flaming writing twisted and reformed. "The First Chosen is alive."

  Tyrander shook his head. "I killed her myself."

  "She is alive."

  The Prince straightened and banged the wine bottle down on the table. "Show me."

  The fiery ring reformed to show Talsy sitting by a fire, smiling at someone beside her. Tyrander glowered at the image. "Who's with her?"

  The vision expanded to reveal the Mujar tearing a piece of dried meat. Beyond them was Kieran, and in the background his mother sat with her women. Tyrander stared at the vision for a long time, his wine-dulled brain hardly able to accept what his eyes told it. He picked up the wine bottle and drained half its contents in a huge gulp, belching.

  "How's this possible?" he asked in a flat voice.

  "The Mujar restored her to life, and in doing so broke one of the highest laws of the land. That is what caused the storm."

  Tyrander's lips twisted in a bitter smile. "Is there nothing he can't do?"

  "Yes."

  "What?"

  "Mujar cannot kill."

  He swigged the wine. "Of course. That's easy to do. But he can let people die and then bring them back to life." His voice rose. "And that's bloody impossible!"

  Tyrander rose to his feet, swaying, and staggered to the window, where he gazed into the blackness of the night. Almost no lights glimmered amongst the trees now. The oasis was nearly as dark and deserted as the sands beyond. He remembered the Mujar vividly. The aura of subdued power hung about him and shone from the depths of his strange eyes. He had been within the great hall, so close that he could have reached out and touched him. The legend
ary Mujar, the useless, helpless beggars who could command the elements. Yet during his brief encounter with one he had experienced awe, as if in the presence of a god. He banged his fist on the window ledge, bruised it and shocked a little sobriety back into his wine-soaked mind.

  "He must pay," he muttered. "I will not let him win! I have the Starsword and the Staff of Law. There must be something I can do!" Tyrander flung away the half-full bottle of wine and drew the Starsword with a hiss.

  Chanter stayed with Talsy for most of the night, sitting in the stone shelter's entrance. She sat with him until the cold drove her back to the fire, unable to persuade him to join her. His presence still comforted her, and eventually she fell asleep curled up by the fire. The moment she dozed off, the Mujar rose and stepped into the night. Kieran watched him go, glancing at the sleeping girl.

  As soon as the night hid him, Chanter called upon Dolana and changed his form again. The gentle wind swirled falling snowflakes as the wolf loped through the whitening forest, heading back to the chosen in the gully. He had to bring the two groups together so he could protect them. Now that the storm had abated, the chosen would be able to travel, and once he had united them they could continue their journey to the gathering.

  Dawn's pale light found him at the cavern he had created in the gully, where the people slumbered around the fire within it. The sleepy guard leapt up with a yell at the sight of a wolf trotting out of the forest. The sudden cold of Dolana stilled the man's grab for his knife, and the Mujar replaced the wolf. The people stirred from their blankets, and Sheera hurried up to stop before him.

  "Come," he said, turning away.

  Chanter paused at the forest's edge to wait for the chosen to gather up their belongings and quit the shelter. The stone sank back into the ground behind them, vanishing as if it had never been. Sheera followed the Mujar as fast as her old legs would carry her, Shern panting behind her. Chanter set a fast pace as snow continued to fall, making the footing treacherous.

  Talsy woke as the sun climbed into the sky, immediately noticing Chanter's absence. Throwing off the blankets Kieran had spread over her, she stared out at the white landscape. Its emptiness mocked her, the snow-laden trees stark sentinels against the ground's pristine whiteness. She jumped when Kieran draped the warm blanket over her shoulders, turning to frown at him.

  "Where did he go?"

  "I think to fetch the rest of the chosen. Come to the fire, you'll get cold."

  Talsy allowed him to tug her to the fire, and she stared into it while he plied her with tea and bread, not noticing the rebels' worried glances.

  The sun rose into a cold grey sky over a snow-covered landscape gripped by an icy hush. The forest creatures had retreated into their dens and lairs, birds huddled together in the trees for warmth, and nothing stirred. The rebels murmured in hushed voices, as if afraid to break the stillness.

  Talsy glanced up to find Kieran's eyes upon her and scowled. "He should be back by now."

  The Prince shrugged. "He's leading the chosen. They'll slow him down."

  "When did he leave?"

  "Just after you fell asleep."

  Talsy gazed at the frozen forest, then shrugged off the blankets and stood, pulling her fur jacket closer as the chill air nipped her skin. She wandered from the shelter, heading for the woods. Kieran rose and followed her.

  "Where are you going?"

  She glanced back in annoyance. "For a walk, and I don't want company."

  "I don't think you should be alone."

  "I'm perfectly safe, and anyway, what good are you without a sword?" she pointed out sourly.

  "You'd be surprised."

  Talsy turned under the first of the trees. "Leave me alone."

  "What if Tyrander sends more men to capture you again?"

  "He thinks I'm dead."

  "He has the Staff of Law," he pointed out. "It will tell him that you're alive."

  "Only if he asks it. Besides, Chanter will protect me."

  "He let you die."

  "He had no choice," she snapped. "What else could he do?"

  "He could have come sooner."

  "He gave you the Starsword and sent you to rescue me. How was he to know that you'd fail?" She swung away, tossing back her hair as she marched deeper into the forest.

  Kieran hesitated, then started after her. "Don't think his concern for your welfare is any more than duty. He doesn't love you, and he never will."

  She spun to face him again, scowling. "What would you know about it? You have no idea what we share."

  He walked closer. "I know what it is to love a Mujar."

  "How could you possibly know that? You're a man."

  He smiled as he stopped before her. "You don't have to be female to love a Mujar. Dancer helped to raise me. I knew him for many years and I loved him deeply."

  "So how do you know that he didn't love you? They threw him in a Pit, didn't they?"

  "Yes." Kieran hesitated, glancing away. "But he stayed with us only for the comforts my father gave him, nothing more. You can't get that close to Mujar, they're too wild."

  "I don't care what you say, you're wrong!" She tried to turn away, but he gripped her arm.

  "No, I'm right. Don't fool yourself. Dancer felt nothing for me. Once when we were out together in the woods, I slipped and broke my ankle. When I asked Dancer for help, he turned into a bird and flew away. I managed to get halfway home when my father found me. Dancer left me to die."

  She jerked her arm from his grip. "Chanter has saved me many times."

  "Because you're the First Chosen."

  "Even before that."

  "Because you had clan bond with him."

  She glared at him. "Well I don't care! He's said that he'll never leave me, and that's all I ask."

  "Did he? I find that very hard to believe. Tell the truth. What did he really say?"

  She hesitated, scowling. "He said that he'd always return to me, and that's the same thing."

  "No, it's not, and you know it."

  Talsy bit her lip. "Why are you doing this to me?"

  "I don't want you to get hurt, that's why. I see the way you rely on him, you're not happy unless he's around. He's like a drug you can't do without, and it's not right."

  "Why should you care, anyway?"

  Kieran ran a hand through his hair. "Damn it, I know what it's like, and how much it hurts when they leave. My father never got over Dancer, and I still miss him to this day. Some people get addicted to Mujar, and can't live without them."

  "Well I won't have to," she retorted. "Chanter will never leave me."

  "You have no future with him. He's not a Trueman. He's different, alien. He's the child of another god."

  "That doesn't mean he can't love me."

  "It does! He doesn't have Truemen emotions; he's not capable of it. It's not his fault. If he had a choice he would probably want to love you, but he can't."

  She stepped closer to him, her hands clenched, and glared up at him with such fury that he retreated a pace. "You're the one who's trying to hurt me. Your poisoned words are born out of envy for Mujar. It makes me wonder if you're truly chosen or another traitor in our midst."

  "You know I'm chosen." He shook his head. "You just can't accept the truth, can you? It hurts to hear it, but if you accept it now, you could save yourself a lot of pain later on."

  Talsy pushed him, forcing him back a step. "Go away! Leave me alone! I don't want to listen to your poisonous, envious lies!"

  He gripped her arms. "Ask the woman who's with the chosen we brought with us, she's been through it already!"

  "No! It's different for me!"

  "It's not! You may be the First Chosen, but in the end you're just another girl who's fallen in love with a Mujar!"

  Talsy wrenched free and slapped him as hard as she could, jerking his head to the side. He stepped back, averted his face and raised a hand to his reddening cheek while Talsy fumed, glaring at his profile. A soft snarl startled her, and th
ey looked around. A wolf sat a few feet away, watching them with vivid blue eyes.

  "Chanter!" Talsy started towards him, pausing as he shifted to man form in a frozen moment. He stepped back, his eyes fixed on the Prince, and she stopped her rush to greet him. The Mujar bristled with wild power.

  "Go to Sheera, Talsy," he said. "She comes with the rest of the chosen, over there." He pointed into the forest.

  Talsy glanced at Kieran, who watched the Mujar with narrowed eyes. She hesitated, and Chanter gestured.

  "Go."

  With a snort, she swung away and strode off through the snow in the direction he had indicated.

  Kieran shifted as the Mujar gazed after Talsy before facing him.

  "Come, walk with me," he said, turning away.

  Kieran followed, his mind whirling with worried thoughts as they walked deeper into the forest for several minutes, then Chanter stopped and turned to face him again.

  "You're right, Prince Kieran, and you're wrong. I do love Talsy, but not in the way you do. If you wish to win her, as I think you do, you're going about it the wrong way."

  Kieran relaxed at the Mujar's soft, calm words. "I thought you were angry."

  "No. I am Mujar, and we are the children of a different god, as you said. We don't have Truemen emotions. We do feel anger, but what you said does not annoy me. I would never hurt Talsy, yet I cannot give her what she wants. In the end she will be hurt, you're right."

  Kieran looked puzzled. "Why are you talking to me now? You never have before."

  Chanter smiled. "Isn't this what you've wanted, to have me answer your questions? I've decided that it's time I did, and you need guidance. You've proven yourself worthy of my trust and council."

  His smile faded, and he sighed. "Don't argue with her about me, you'll only make her resent you. She's not as stupid as she sometimes acts, and she knows that her love for me is futile, I have told her. To win her you need to be kind and patient, comfort her when she needs it, but don't try to convince her to stop loving me, it won't work."

  "How can I ever compete with a damned Mujar?" Kieran growled.