Starburner

by Claire Luana

  Rika did unbuckle the scabbard, though, and tucked it under one of the benches in the stern of the boat. She rose, stumbling against the rail. “Can I help?”

  “We must haul up the anchor,” he said. “I pull, you coil the rope?”

  She nodded and fell into position behind him. He grunted as he hauled the dripping anchor up from the sea-floor, hand over hand. The closer the anchor got, the more his spirits rose. This was going to work. They were actually going to escape.

  “Have you sailed before?” he asked.

  “A little,” she replied. “As a kid.” A memory seemed to flash across her gray eyes wreathed by thick, black lashes. She was as thin and willowy as a palm frond, with an ethereal beauty to her oval face, petite nose, and smooth, tan skin. Her coloring was lighter than his own or that of any Nuan, set off by her thick, ebony hair. She was short as well, shorter than most Nuan women, only coming up to his chest. If not for the freckles across her nose and the playful gap between her teeth, he would think her a sky spirit. And perhaps she was, given the incredible power she’d displayed last night.

  “What?” she asked. Vikal fought his embarrassment. He had been staring. “Take the wheel,” he said. “I will hoist the sails.”

  She followed his instructions, making her way to the stern to where the wheel stood. Vikal hoisted the main sail, and it unfurled dark as night against the first pinpricks of stars. He was struck by a moment of surprising gratitude for these black sails. White would be conspicuous, even from the shore.

  The sails luffed and snapped in a gust of wind and he winced, looking back at shore. Had anyone heard the sound? But Rika sensed what to do, turning the ship to the southeast—the best angle for the wind to catch the sail. She pulled in the mainsheet, tightening the sail.

  Vikal finished unfurling the jib, the second sail on the bow of the boat, and the girl tightened it, tying off the rope on a nearby cleat.

  Vikal made his way back to the stern and took the wheel from her. “Not bad,” he said. She hadn’t been lying—she did know something about sailing.

  “Where are we going?” she asked. “There are some islands that way. We could hide out in them for a day or two before regrouping and heading to Yoshai. That’s our capital. My mother and brother will be there. Readying our people for war.”

  “Do you have weapons more advanced than what I saw yesterday?”

  She crossed her arms. “You mean when you helped them murder my father?”

  He winced, keeping his eyes on the dark sea before them. “Though I know it is little consolation, I was under their compulsion. I had no control over my actions.” He had known it would come to this. He had just hoped they would be gone from here before it did.

  “Convenient excuse,” she muttered.

  “Call it an excuse, but it is the truth. Believe me. Whatever disdain you feel for me, I have for myself a thousand-fold. The things I have done… They will haunt my dreams as long as I live.”

  “You…knew?” She softened. “You were in there…aware…when your body was doing what they commanded?”

  He nodded, the muscles in his jaw working. He wished he could forget—though he knew that the sentiment was cowardice. There was no redemption for the things he had done. He didn’t deserve the blessed relief of amnesia. A king who murdered his own people—

  “I’m sorry,” she said softly.

  Their eyes met, and the pity in hers was too much to bear. He didn’t deserve it. He had helped the leeches kill her father. Her king. He turned to watch the shore of this foreign land slip away, its hive of green lights burning in the darkness. One light seemed closer, farther out to sea than the rest of the anchored ships. He squinted, crouching down a bit to examine the angle. The light was most definitely closer. Gods, no.

  “We are being followed.” His voice was flat.

  She ran to the rail to look, sending off a stream of curses. “What do we do?” she asked.

  “We cannot outrun them,” he said. “This ship is sturdy, but not fast. They will catch us.”

  “So we fight? If they board us, you take any humans, and I’ll…I’ll try to figure out how I managed to kill that other soul-eater.”

  He weighed this option. “Even if you could figure out how to use it in time, your power is too bright in the darkness. It will be a beacon announcing us to all the other soul-eaters. We will be overrun before we have gone a league.”

  She grimaced. “Then what? Take the rowboat, hope they can’t find us in the darkness?”

  “That will only help us until morning. When they will easily find us and pick us up.”

  “How about you stop shooting down my ideas and come up with one of your own?” she snapped.

  There was one play they could make. She wouldn’t like it…but they didn’t have a choice. It was the only way. “I have an idea. Hold the wheel.”

  He hurried to the middle of the cockpit and pulled the wooden top off the pillar that was affixed there. Rika’s eyes widened as he set the wooden piece on the ground. It revealed what looked like a compass at first glance—eerie green dials and needles swinging beneath the surface of the shiny glass orb. In truth, it was so much more than that.

  “What is that?”

  “It is the leeches’ astrolabe. Each vessel has one. How do you think they got here so fast?”

  “It’s used to…”

  “Travel across vast distances. In an instant.”

  “And you know how to use it?”

  “I have…observed it in use. I understand the concept.” He had watched the spinning of the dials as the soul-eater had jumped them from his home, Nua, to this strange land. He could reverse the process. Hopefully.

  “Great. You’re going to astrolabe us into the center of a mountain,” she said.

  “Would you rather have your soul sucked out?” he snapped back, pointing behind her. The ship following them was only a few hundred yards away.

  He twisted the dials on the base of the astrolabe, setting the coordinates for Nua.

  “We can’t leave here,” she protested. “We need to help my mother. Help Yoshai. Where would we even go?”

  “Home,” he said, the green light from the astrolabe beginning to pulse. The light flared so brightly that he was forced to close his eyes, to shield his face from the brilliance. Then the world went wrong, and Vikal lost all orientation. Up was down, sideways was inside. And then…nothing.

  KAI PACED ACROSS the armory floor, sweat pouring off of her. Though she and Emi had just finished an intense sparring round, the physical activity had done little to calm her ragged nerves. Her steps carried a limp, her hip smarting from a particularly deft move of Emi’s that had landed her hard on the ground. She rubbed it, wincing. “You didn’t need to go all ‘Armsmistress Emi’ on me. I could have broken my hip!”

  “You’re not that old.” Emi snorted. Her friend was sitting on a bench, polishing a set of daggers. Her friend’s moonburner uniform, with its navy-blue fabric and silver embroidery, was unbuttoned at the neck to let some air in. Emi’s full, silver hair was plaited in a thick fishtail braid down her back. She didn’t look the least bit concerned that the two heirs of Kitina were missing. They could be dead for all she knew!

  “The point of sparring was to quiet your mind. You didn’t even make the smallest effort. So, you suffer the consequences for your lack of focus.”

  “I suffer the consequences of having two obstinate children!” Kai threw up her hands, spinning to begin another line of pacing. “You’re sure Oma knew nothing about Rika’s plans? She didn’t even have a whiff of a hint of where she was going?”

  Emi shook her head. “Daarco questioned her about it. I think he was channeling some of his old dark sunburner ways—getting all intense and in her face. Poor Oma was quaking in her slippers. I had to bribe her with rice pudding to even come to the dinner table after. If she knew anything, she would have talked.”

  Kai smiled. She hardly remembered the old Daarco anymore, angry and
sullen and hateful. For so many years now, he had been her faithful general and friend, a true partner to Emi, and a good father. “I wish I knew where they were! It doesn’t make sense—Rika and Koji planning anything together. They can’t stand each other right now.”

  “We know where they went. Rika went to meet this shadow, to try to force her powers to manifest. Koji probably followed along like the little brother he is because he can’t stand to be excluded.”

  “I thought Enzo would have had the sense to talk Koji out of something so foolish,” Kai grumbled.

  “We seishen are only as foolish and headstrong as our burners,” Quitsu drawled from the corner, where he was draped over a pile of shields, his chin on his paws.

  “I’ll choose to ignore that,” Kai shot back. “You don’t think that Rika would confront these invaders by herself, would she? I didn’t raise that foolish of a child?”

  Emi shook her head. “Rika may be desperate to gain her powers, but she’s been soaking in all those lessons on diplomacy and foreign relations you’ve been feeding her all these years. She’ll know how important it is for Hiro to take the lead in this negotiation. I don’t think she’s confident enough to think she could manage it herself.”

  “Let’s hope not,” Kai said. She closed her eyes, rubbing them wearily. “Hiro, take care of our babies,” she said under her breath.

  “Did you get any sleep last night?” Emi asked, concern written in her dark eyes.

  Kai shook her head.

  “Had any breakfast?”

  Another head shake.

  “Let’s at least get some food in you. You can’t help them by sheer force of worry.”

  “It’s a mother’s most powerful weapon—“ Kai began, but her stomach interrupted her with a loud rumble. Kai pursed her lips. “You win this round,” she relented.

  “I won all the rounds today.” Emi grinned, the old burn-marks on her face paling against her brilliant smile.

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  Emi wrapped her arm around Kai’s shoulder and squeezed. They rounded the door into the hallway and a servant scrambled to a stop, nearly bowling into them. “Your Majesty!” He panted. “Prince Koji has been sighted riding through the Sea Gate! He’s coming in at a gallop. He should be nearing the palace gate by now.”

  Kai’s stomach dropped. What would bring him back at such a pace? Not slinking back with apologies, but at a full-fledged run? “Let’s go.”

  Kai and Emi sprinted through the hallways of the palace, dropping all sense of royal decorum. Quitsu streaked after them like a silver arrow. They dodged servants bearing trays of food and nobles who plastered themselves against the walls in surprise at the queen’s passage. It wasn’t fast enough. Kai needed to be there now, to see him now.

  They burst out the doors of the castle into the main courtyard, shaded with soaring camphor trees. “Koji!” she cried. Her son was across the courtyard, standing next to Enzo, whose flanks heaved with effort. Koji turned towards her with a face red and blotchy with tears. When he saw her, he ran towards her and they slammed together in a fierce embrace. Kai held him in her arms, taking in his solid presence with palpable relief, rocking him as shuddering sobs began to wrack his body.

  “Shhh,” she said, stroking his golden hair. “It’s okay. You’re home now. You’re safe.”

  He held her, bowing his head to let his tears fall on her shoulder, wetting her blouse. Kai held tight to her son and her fears, a thick knot deep within her, wanting to know what these tears meant, but also holding on to this moment of not knowing—sensing that soon, everything would be change.

  He finally pulled back, wiping his nose on his sleeve. She had never seen him look so miserable.

  “What happened?”

  “Father’s dead,” he said, not meeting her eyes. “They killed him. And Ryu. And all the other burners.”

  Kai felt her knees grow weak beneath her and it was only Emi, at her side in a blink to grasp her arm, that kept Kai on her feet. Hiro…dead. Her mind stumbled over the word, unable—unwilling to wrap around it. It couldn’t be.

  “Your sister?” Kai asked, grasping for something to distract her from a cascading sorrow that was too great to bear. Even if…Hiro…Rika had to be safe, right?

  He shrugged, wiping his nose on his sleeve again. “She killed one of them. Her power, it came and when the thing tried to kill her, she killed it instead. That didn’t make the others too happy. She told me to run…she was holding them off…” He looked at her then, misery etched across his face. “I left. Enzo started running, and I didn’t stop him.” Tears flowed fresh. “I left her. I’m so sorry. I left her.”

  Kai pulled him into another embrace, her own tears mingling with his as she pulled his cheek against her own. “You did the right thing. If your father couldn’t defeat these enemies…you did the right thing. You came back to me. You warned us.”

  “I’m a coward,” he sobbed. “They were hurting her and I abandoned her.”

  She pulled back, taking his face in her hands. “Sometimes it takes more courage to live than to die. We needed you to live. I needed you to live. When faced with overwhelming odds, retreat is not cowardice.”

  He nodded, but she saw he didn’t believe her. She didn’t know if she believed herself. She wanted to scream at him, pound his chest for leaving his sister behind, for going in the first place and putting himself at risk. But she knew, the small part of her that was still in control, that if she did such things, she would lose him forever. And she needed him. He was likely all the family she had left.

  “Koji,” Emi said gently, putting a hand on his arm. “These invaders. You’ve called them…things. What did you see?”

  “They’re not human,” he said. “They’re eight feet tall, covered in impervious armor. They have four arms with claws on the end. Burning can’t touch them.”

  Kai and Emi exchanged a look of shock. “What do they want?”

  Koji shrugged hopelessly. “They called themselves soul-eaters. They…they suck the life from people. I saw… Father and Ryu…they turned to ash.”

  Emi took Kai’s hand, grasping it tightly. Kai nodded with much more calm than she felt. “Why are they here?”

  “I think…” Koji shuddered, closing his eyes at the memory. “I think they’re here…because they’re hungry.”

  A SOFT BREEZE ruffled Rika’s hair. Her eyes fluttered open, taking in an impossibly large sky filled with unfamiliar stars. She was lying on the deck of their boat. Gone were the giant tortoise, the red phoenix rising, the white tiger, the blue serpentine dragon. The constellations she had grown up with, her familiar friends…they were gone. Replaced by unfamiliar stars in unfamiliar patterns. She closed her eyes again, shutting out the strangeness, the horror of her present circumstances. It was a dream. It had all been a dream. Her father. Ryu. An armada of monsters intent on destroying everything she held dear. Hot tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and she curled her arms around her stomach, trying to hold in the wracking sobs that threatened to consume her, to deny the reality that her mind insisted upon. This was a dream. She’d walk down to breakfast and her mother would be perched in her father’s lap kissing him and she’d tell them about the wildest dream she had had over cups of steaming tea.

  “Rika?”

  She opened her eyes. The strange stars remained, refusing to be banished, to admit they were anything but firm and fixed and real. An ache rippled through her, a quake that shook apart the already-shattered pieces of her heart. Her father and Ryu were gone, and she was here. In this strange place. With this strange man.

  “Are you all right?”

  She took in a shuddering breath. She would have to face it. To fix it. To make the most of this mess that had so quickly consumed her reality. She couldn’t stay lying on this salty deck forever. Rika rallied her strength and tried to sit up, her vision reeling. She groaned, bringing a hand to her head, as if she could hold the pounding inside.

  “Easy,” Vikal sai
d.

  She squinted in the darkness, looking for him. He sat across the cockpit from her, elbows on his knees. The sails fluttered uselessly, flapping back and forth.

  “It hits hard, especially the first time. It takes a few minutes before everything works right.”

  “What’d you do? How’d you work that thing?” Her voice sounded like an echo in her own head.

  “The leeches call it ‘hopping.’ Far more advanced magic than anything we have on our island. I learned when…they controlled me. With this power, you can cross great distances instantly. Travel between worlds.”

  Between worlds? Rika couldn’t wrap her mind around that one, so she set it aside for the time being. “The leeches?”

  “It is what we have named them. Leeches. Soul-eaters.”

  “What do they call themselves?”

  “It is not a word that can be translated.” he said. “It means something like—deliverers.”

  “Deliverers?” Rika was incredulous. She adjusted her position gingerly, leaning back against the opposite rail. “They have a high opinion of themselves.”

  “I saw some of their history when I was under their thrall. They come from the stars. From another world. Many other worlds. They started out by trading—exchanging knowledge of their magic and the worlds for resources. For souls. They would free those who were sick, suffering. They were deliverers, in a way. Then a new queen was born. She was different. Ambitious. Cruel. She killed the old queen and everything changed. They have become these monsters you see today.”

  “And no other soul-eaters objected to this new queen’s plan to start murdering everyone in their path?”

  Vikal shook his head. “They have a strange social structure. Like—a beehive. The queen controls the soul-eaters. The soul-eaters control the thralls. No independent thought or action allowed. It is contrary to their nature.”

  “An army of mindless killers,” Rika said. “Great.” Her head had mostly stopped spinning. A warm breeze blew from the island, invigorating her with the heady scent of lush vegetation. She hauled herself to shaky feet—and felt her knees go weak. She caught herself on the rail. Okay, too soon. “Where are we?” she asked, looking across the dark sea to a body of land she could just make out in the distance. “It’s so warm here. The air feels…thick.” Her despair was fading into the background as her curiosity grew. She had never been anywhere beside Yoshai and Kitina. What was this place? A different land mass? A different world?