by Dan Haring
Sear’s eyes flashed brighter, and he went deadly still. “You ought to carefully consider your words, Rekton. Else they be your last.”
“Did you say the same to Arctus? He caught you stealing the stars, and you destroyed him for it,” Rekton said, his gauntlets raised.
“Sear!” cried one of the Flyers. “Is this true? Why would you harm the stars? That is our primary function—to protect them.”
“And what’s this about Arctus?” yelled another.
Before Sear could answer, Kyro spoke up. “Pelag. He wants to die. And he’s determined to cut down every star until he finds the one bearing his heart so he can be released. Sear has been aiding him.”
Sear stalked toward Kyro. “I have had just about enough of you intruders—” But before he could finish, a wall of mechanical giants blocked his path.
“These are grave charges, Sear. We take them seriously,” said one.
“Go to his house,” Andra said. “You’ll find more where these came from.”
“Until we determine the truth, you are not going anywhere.” The giant turned to the one next to him. “Carus, go to Sear’s house to verify or defy these claims.”
Carus soared into the air without hesitation, leaving a blast of hot steam in his wake.
“You cannot keep me here,” Sear said, shoving his way through the wall and readying his boosters to fly. But before he could take off, several giants grabbed him and held him down. Sear struggled, in the process kicking up the burlap casings Andra had set on the ground. They scattered around the clearing. He also knocked over the bag of dead stars, and a glint caught Kyro’s eye. Curiosity insisted he pick it up. He ducked flailing metal arms and legs, but he reached the sack and freed the object—a small metal lantern, glowing with a mysterious light.
Before he could examine it properly, Sear yelled. “Put that down! Thief!”
Startled, Kyro quickly shoved the lantern in his pack. Sear lunged for him, but Kyro dodged. Rekton blocked Sear’s path, towering over him.
The hum of a Flyer over their heads made everyone look up. Carus settled down among them with a resigned expression on his face. “The humans tell the truth. Sear has many star casings and dead stars in his possession.”
The giants who had been holding Jector suddenly let go, and he ran toward Kyro. Sear attempted to shoot up over Rekton to reach Kyro, but Rekton caught him by the foot and Sear came crashing back down to the ground. The clanging metal sent ripples resonating into Kyro’s bones. Sear rose to his feet and dusted himself off, growling.
“You will not hurt the boy. You have done quite enough,” Rekton said.
Sear shoved Rekton, but he barely budged. “I will do as I please,” Sear said. “And so will the rest of the camp.” More giants began to appear, until too soon those who sided with Kyro and Andra were outnumbered.
Sear yelled for them to catch the intruders, even while the members of their camp who knew the truth tried to convince them Sear had betrayed their reason for existence. But it was to no avail. Unfriendly metal arms reached for Kyro, until he and Cypher were scooped up by Rekton.
“Your friend is right. There is something very wrong with Sear. He seems to be malfunctioning. We must get you to safety.”
Kyro glanced behind to see that Andra had been rescued by a Flyer, and that Rumy and Jector were not far behind.
“If that map we found is any indication, Pelag is going to cut down all the stars near my watchtower in Drenn. We must protect that sector. And to do that, we need to go to Daluth and convince the Star Shepherd Council to help.”
“Then we shall get you there with all speed,” Rekton said. The great lumbering giant paused to hand off Kyro to a Flyer named Elktor and Andra to Carus. “Take them to the Star Shepherd Council in Daluth. The rest of us will head for Drenn, and you can catch up to us there.”
Elktor nodded his head and rumbled. Then, Kyro’s stomach dropped into his feet as he and the giant shot into the sky, sailing high above the trees.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
With the help of their new friends, Kyro and Andra left the Radamak Mountains much faster than the way they had come.
While Jector and his Stitchers headed for Drenn and the watchtower with Tirin, the Flyers who had defected from the main camp carried Kyro and Andra to Daluth and the Star Shepherd Council’s watchtower. If they wanted any chance of defeating Pelag and his army, they needed to convince the Council to help and alert the rest of the Star Shepherds.
Thanks to the maps they’d found, they knew exactly where Pelag planned to strike—the sector of the sky over Drenn. Every Star Shepherd across the lands would need to pledge their aid and their catapults.
Flying was not what Kyro had expected. When he was a little boy, he’d often wondered what it had been like to hang the stars, to fly so high and carry out such an important task. Now he only wondered how some of the giants like Sear had been convinced to abandon that grand mission. Perhaps they were all just malfunctioning as Rekton had suggested. But here he was, clutching Cypher—whose nose was firmly buried in Kyro’s chest—and soaring through the air, held fast in the cage of a giant’s metal hand. The wind whipped around him, tearing at his hair and jacket. Andra was not far away, and he suspected her thoughts echoed his. A look of elation was clear on her face as she gripped the mechanical fingers holding her safe.
Below them, the Black Sands—so intimidating up close—seemed like nothing more than a smudge on the landscape. Drenn was behind them, and to the west the ocean swirled endlessly to the horizon.
But the best part was above them.
Here, the stars were brighter than ever before, each one sparkling in a unique tone and manner. Kyro was still far enough away that he couldn’t see the hooks holding them up, but he could just make out the difference between the older ones with the burlap sacks made by Jector and his kind and the newer casings he and the other Star Shepherds used. Invisible from the ground, but not from this height, thin bands of starlight radiated from star to star, connecting them all. Here and there were patches of hollow darkness where a star had once hung and no longer did.
Something heavy and determined swelled in Kyro’s chest.
This was the starlight net. From here, it was easy to see how the vissla and other dark things had been able to escape their dark prisons. The starlight net needed mending, and Kyro had to do it. It was his sworn duty as a Star Shepherd.
He wished the Council leader, Kadmos, could see this. It might very well change his mind.
Then, as the Council’s magnificent watchtower came into view, Kyro smiled. He knew just what to do.
* * *
When Elktor, the Flyer who had carried him here, set him down in front of the watchtower door, Kyro nearly laughed. The giant was half as tall as the watchtower itself. If the Council wasn’t impressed by him and Carus, the giant carrying Andra, nothing could do it.
“Wait here,” Kyro said, and the giants nodded. Andra gazed up in awe at the massive watchtower with its vast number of telescopes dotting the roof.
“Hurry, Kyro,” Elktor said. “It has been a long time since I have flown so high. The starlight net is in tatters. We must act now, or it will be too late.”
A hard knot formed in Kyro’s gut, but he understood. He knocked on the door to the watchtower much more confidently than he had the first time he had come here.
Kyro was just about to knock again when the door opened. “Jakris!” Kyro cried. “I’m so glad to see you.”
Jakris frowned in the doorway, glancing from Kyro to Andra and then down at Cypher as the dog wagged his tail and sniffed the man’s feet in greeting. “Kyro, you cannot be here. The Council has banned you and your father—”
Jakris’s voice choked off as Elktor stepped into view.
“The Council was wrong,” Andra said triumphantly.
“And we have
the giants to prove it,” Kyro said.
Jakris stepped outside, his mouth hanging open. “Impossible,” he said breathlessly.
Elktor knelt down and extended a mechanical finger in greeting. “I am Elktor,” he said. “The stars have been stolen, and we require the aid of all Star Shepherds immediately.”
Jakris put his hand on the extended finger, his own dwarfed by the giant’s. He ogled the craftwork of the giant and then peered into his face, fascinated by the glowing blue light behind Elktor’s eyes.
“Absolutely extraordinary.”
Elktor stood and gestured to the skies behind him. “Hurry, my brothers and sisters are on their way, ready to be dispatched to Star Shepherds across the world to bring them and their catapults back to Drenn.”
Jakris gaped at the metal forms now dotting the sky and growing bigger every few moments. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
He hurried off, leaving them waiting outside to greet the new arrivals.
The others had landed by the time Jakris returned with several members of the Council including Kadmos. Kyro’s stomach tightened when he saw the man’s scowling face. If anyone would find a reason not to help them, it would be him. Kadmos’s robes swept across the doorway as he marched outside.
“What is the meaning of this? Has your father sent you?” He stopped short when he realized they were surrounded by looming mechanical giants. His eyes narrowed. “Is this some sort of trick?”
Jakris sighed behind him, but the other Council members gasped and pushed forward.
“It’s no trick, sir,” Kyro said. “I went looking for my father, and I found him staying with a group of mechanical giants. They’re still alive after all this time. And we all need to work together to save the stars.”
Kadmos scoffed. “This again?” He waved a hand and moved to go back inside. “Your father would do anything to regain his status as a Star Shepherd. But all his smoke and mirrors will not change a thing. He abandoned his post and the stars, and the Council’s verdict is final.” He turned, but had only taken a single step toward the door when Elktor’s hand swooped down and pinched the back of his robes, preventing him from going any farther.
“This is not a trick,” Elktor rumbled. The other Council members took a large step back, eying the dozen or so giants warily. “We hung the stars, and now some of our brothers have gone astray, convinced by one of the Elders’ descendants to cut the stars down. Pelag gave his heart to the stars centuries ago to ensure the knowledge he possessed lived on. But now he is weary of his long life and has become obsessed with finding the star that carries his heart and destroying it so he might leave this life. And he will cut down every star in the sky if he has to in order to achieve his goal.”
Andra stepped forward. “You all swore to protect the stars. You didn’t believe that anyone could cut them down, but now Kyro has brought you proof. You must protect them.”
The Council members murmured, but Kadmos’s face had gone pale. “Did you say Pelag?” he whispered.
Elktor nodded, sending a breeze at the group of Star Shepherds.
“He is in our history books, the most ancient of them, along with several others named as the Elders’ heirs. It is written that he and the other heirs pledged their lives to ensure the knowledge that was eventually given to the Star Shepherds survived. Indeed, Pelag was one of the very ones who helped us found the Council and suggested the building of our towers and catapults.” Kadmos’s hands shook. “No one but a Star Shepherd with access to our histories should know about him.”
“Or a giant,” Kyro said.
Kadmos gazed at him with new eyes, then at his fellow Council members. “We will help you.”
Chapter Thirty
Kadmos was true to his word. He and the other Council members quickly supplied the mechanical giants with directions to the rest of the Star Shepherds.
Kyro and Andra had returned with Cypher to the Drenn watchtower to prepare and wait for the reinforcements to arrive.
They’d found their friends, Captain Salban and Doman, waiting for them there.
“Captain!” Kyro said, when he opened the watchtower door to find her and Doman seated at his kitchen table.
The woman smiled warmly at him. “And so our travelers have returned. We’ve been holding down the watchtower for you, and keeping an eye on the skies.”
“Th-thank you,” Kyro managed to say. “But I thought you hated Star Shepherds.”
Salban shrugged. “True, but I don’t blame the stars for that.”
“I’m so glad you’re safe,” Doman said, rising to his feet. “I followed you to Romvi, but after that, I couldn’t figure out where you’d gone. I was worried. Did you find your father?”
Kyro stared at his shoes, and Andra put a hand on his shoulder. “Sort of,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Salban frowned.
Kyro sank into a nearby chair, and Cypher pawed at his knees until he scooped the dog into his lap. “I found my father, but he isn’t right. He’s not really there. Like he’s in some sort of trance.” He sighed. “Something happened to him in the Radamak Mountains, but we have no idea how to fix it. I’ve lost him all over again.”
“We’ll figure something out, Kyro. I’m sure of it,” Andra said, scratching Cypher’s ears.
“That’s terrible,” Salban said. “Perhaps the village doctor can examine him and shed some light on his condition.” She glanced around. “Where’s your father?”
“He’s on the way…” Kyro said. Salban raised an eyebrow at him. “We found him with…with a group of mechanical giants. They’re bringing him back here now, along with reinforcements.”
“Mechanical giants? Reinforcements? It sounds like you’ve got quite the tale to tell, and you do owe me a story. Start talking,” Salban said.
Kyro explained how they had discovered the giants and uncovered Pelag’s plot to cut down all the stars. How Pelag had narrowed his search to Drenn and would attack the skies here in full force next. It was hard to tell which part shocked Salban and Doman the most. But once they recovered, they agreed to help.
They had the rest of the afternoon to prepare, but wasted no time. The giants who arrived with Tirin also brought as many boulders as they could carry from the Radamak Mountains. Now they dug for more to assemble an arsenal.
There was no shortage of amazement from Captain Salban and Doman regarding the giants. Kyro didn’t blame them. If he hadn’t seen them with his own eyes in the mountains, he wasn’t sure he would have believed they were real either.
The giants were quiet and solemn as they worked, silent mechanical sentinels. They harbored no great love for those who had turned against the stars; nevertheless, they didn’t relish the prospect of battling their own brethren. But they were crafted with one mission in mind—to protect the stars—and they would do so without hesitation.
While the giants worked, Kyro and Andra did what they could to prepare as well. Captain Salban and Doman headed for the village to collect as many star casings as possible before the sun set. And to warn the villagers that a battle was coming. Kyro knew they’d have to use the catapult mainly against the rogue giants, but they also needed to return as many stars to the sky as possible as they were cut down.
He suspected there would be a lot.
Kyro and Andra set up a makeshift workstation beside their catapult, dragging the table and all the star casings and tools they needed outside. The faster they could use the catapult, the better. Once they were set up, Kyro rummaged through his rucksack for something to eat and found something else instead: that lantern he’d discovered in Sear’s star casings. The one Sear had seemed none too pleased he’d taken. He held up to the light to examine it better. It had been an impulsive action, and he wasn’t even sure why he’d done it. He’d just known, somehow, the second he’d laid eyes on it that it was important. The
lantern was made of a thin, light metal that must have once been bright and shiny, but had begun to dull with age. The inside, however, glowed softly. But it was sealed shut too tightly for Kyro to open.
“What is that?” Andra asked, running a finger over the edge of the lantern.
“I’m not quite sure. I found it with the casings Sear had been hoarding. He didn’t seem very happy that I took it.”
Andra raised an eyebrow. “Then it must be special. Have you ever seen anything like this with a star before?”
Kyro shook his head, then his breath caught in his throat. Could it be…? “I wonder if this has anything to do with the legends of the Seven Elders or the Elders’ Heirs…” He peeked through the decorative swirls cut out on the sides, but all he could see was the soft glowing light, not what was making it.
“I think we should be very careful to keep this safe,” Andra said, glancing over her shoulder.
“Agreed.” Kyro gently put the lantern back in his pack. Maybe there was some way it could help them turn the tide in this battle. He just had to figure out how.
It was midafternoon before the first of the Flyers arrived, carrying Star Shepherds and their catapults. They first caught a glimpse of them as tiny specks on the horizon, unexpected shapes in the sky. The first Flyer—Elktor—set his shell-shocked burden down near Kyro and his catapult and then took off again immediately.
There were many more Star Shepherds to retrieve before nightfall.
“I’m Kyro,” he said, shaking the man’s hand. He was a little younger than Tirin and wore a red cloak that clashed with his bright-orange hair.
“Rishi,” he said, looking rather green around the gills. “Sorry, today has been a bit of shock. First the giants exist, then the stars are being cut down, and then I have to fly all the way here. Not a thing I ever expected to be doing.” To Kyro’s surprise, the man laughed. “But certainly a story for the books. I’m happy to help. What’s the plan?”