Return of the Starchild (The Divine Inheritance Series Book 1)

by Catriona Murphy

  ‘Does she stay there? Forever?’

  The woman looked dismayed. ‘Yes.’

  Iliana shook her head. ‘I won’t, I can’t.’

  ‘You’re right, you can’t. What good would you be to your friend? Tell me your argument.’

  Iliana’s throat caught, a lump forming. ‘I can’t just leave her there, I have to try.’

  ‘Try? Trying is nice for beginners. But when the stakes are high and death is playing at the card table you will need something better than just ‘trying’.

  ‘What would I need?’

  The woman rose. ‘You need to accept the fact that you’re useless. To everyone.’

  ‘Thanks, but I’m not useless and I have powers by the way.’

  ‘You don’t say?’

  ‘There’s a man I need to find, he’s in Cherbourne. Do you know where that is?’

  The woman chuckled. ‘Yes, it’s quite far, it would take you some time to reach it on foot. And you would need to know how to work a compass, and orientate yourself with a map.’

  Iliana turned her words over.

  ‘Assuming you get there past the slavers, they’ve travelled far north this year. I’m assuming livestock is drying up for them in the south.’

  Iliana felt her despair rising like a tide, she tried to push it down.

  ‘You need to accept yourself as you are right now, know yourself and your limitations before you ‘try’ anything. If you don’t, you will die,’ she said simply, ‘the Otherworld is not for the weak of heart or mind. You need to learn so much before you can do anything for yourself - or for others.’

  ‘Show me,’ Iliana whispered, feeling a desperation that had been hounding her since she arrived in the Otherworld. ‘Show me how I can be better. I need to be better.’

  Resigned, the woman turned away and walked towards the door.

  ‘I cannot show you, I cannot demonstrate. You will need patience and time.’ She opened the door and paused. ‘But you can start by helping me clean up the kitchen.’

  Iliana dressed in a blouse and some trousers she had found in her drawers. Zelda and Terrence churned through her mind, split between two different goals she needed to reach. But beyond the current problems loomed the mystery of herself, and finding her family was like a homing instinct that grew stronger as time went on.

  The kitchen, to Iliana’s surprise, was almost completely defaced. A part of theceiling had imploded, the windows had all smashed and the tidy arrangement of food on the tables lay in ruins on the floor with the tables utterly splintered. It looked like a fight had broken out between a pack of hungry dogs.

  ‘If you think this is bad, you should see our herb garden, just outside. It looks as though you couldn’t let anything be.’

  She was handed a sweeping brush. ‘Come now. It won’t fix itself.’

  ‘I did this?’ Iliana asked in astonishment. Surprises should have been becoming second nature to her now, but all it did was make her weary.

  The woman gave her a look of impatience mixed with surprise. ‘Of course, who do you think it was? The tooth fairy?’

  ‘This...sort of needs more than just a sweeping,’ she commented, as she began to sweep anyway.

  ‘Need to start somewhere.’

  ‘How did I do this? Are you sure it was me?’

  The woman sniggered. ‘Well, I certainly wouldn’t have done this to my own kitchen, and I don’t think Blava has the ability.’

  Iliana stopped. ‘Do you know how I can do this? Or why?’

  The woman gave her a queer look. ‘You really don’t know much about yourself, do you?’

  Iliana couldn’t think of a response that wasn’t embarrassing.

  ‘Well,’ she brushed shards of glass into a bag, ‘maybe it’s time you did some investigation into that.’

  ‘Easier said than done,’ Iliana muttered, sweeping debris into a corner.

  ‘By the way, since you were so polite to ask,’ the woman smiled white teeth, ‘my name is Zoe.’

  Iliana threw herself furiously into cleaning, turning it into a cleansing ritual that could hopefully wipe her past out of existence.

  Zoe would give her the occasional worried glance, and Iliana would ask her questions to try and distract her, to distract herself.

  ‘This is the Reservation Steppes,’ she explained, as they both pulled the tables back onto their legs, ‘it is a solace and sanctuary where the Muckleberry can live and roam freely.’

  ‘Muckleberry?’

  ‘My goodness, open your eyes. They’re all over the walls of this house, why there’s one in particular who has taken a shine to you.’

  Iliana remembered the yellow-eyed long-necked creature poking about her room. ‘That’s a Muckleberry? They’re a little weird looking.’

  The woman chuckled deeply. ‘I suppose to an outsider they look strange. They’re herbivores and can be a little, ah, dim? At times. But they’re good natured creatures.’

  Iliana remembered her room was on the second floor. ‘How tall are they?’

  ‘Oh, quite tall. They come to about just below the roof of my house, but I suppose you noticed that.’ She laughed again, it was something that came easily to her. She shovelled remains into a bag Iliana held out.

  ‘Ah yeah, I did. They’re not dangerous or anything, are they? I mean, do they hurt people?’

  Zoe gave her a warning look. ‘Only if people hurt them first. Unfortunately, they’re not particularly equipped to do battle with people, they have some skill in defending themselves but it’s not enough to help them survive. They are an endangered species.’

  ‘Is that why do you have them here?’

  Zoe inclined her head, and dropped another load into the bag. ‘It is. They are defenceless and are not strong enough to live on their own. It’s a tragic situation for the poor little devils, this world won’t let them live in it, they cannot roam in the wild like all other creatures and be really free.’

  ‘But why not?’

  Zoe’s face darkened for the first time, it was like dark clouds threatening rain, or worse. ‘Poachers, I mentioned them to you already.’

  ‘Ah! The wards? Is that what had knocked me out?’

  ‘Yes. They’re to capture and neutralise anything walking on two legs. If you were more developed in your powers, you would have sensed them before walking into one.’

  ‘Do the wards catch many people?’

  ‘In the beginning, they did. We received plenty of arrogant money-hungry vermin that were ready to test our defences, thinking they would overcome them easily. Nowadays, it’s well known beyond my borders that you don’t encroach that of which you cannot handle.’ At her words, the kitchen blackened, as if a shadow had crossed over it, and Iliana heard the strain of wood and cement groaning.

  Zoe shook herself. ‘Oh goodness me! The poor kitchen. I think it has seen enough abuse for one day.’ The atmosphere reversed back to normal, rewinding as if it hadn’t really happened.

  Iliana frowned at her, and wondered at the old woman.

  ‘Anyway. Like I said, not many poachers still in the business of poaching anymore,’ she beamed at Iliana, ‘all thanks to me.’

  ‘I imagine you’ve made a few enemies,’ she said thoughtfully.

  ‘None that I can’t handle.’ She shovelled in the last pile of debris that went in with a puff of dust. ‘There we are, all finished.’

  Iliana looked around the kitchen. There was still a hole in the ceiling and a crack splintered through the floor. ‘Eh...’

  ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day.’ She gave Iliana the look of a shrewd teacher. ‘As they say where you come from.’

  ‘You know where I come from?’

  ‘Of course!’ She leaned in as if conveying some scandalous gossip, and tapped the side of her nose. ‘There’s not much I don’t know.’

  Iliana thought back to the Muckleberry shrieking at her in her room, and a thought occurred. �
��Why are they hunted? There are other animals here in the Otherworld, aren’t there?’

  ‘Yes,’ she picked the bag up, ‘there are. But the Muckleberry are in high demand for their feathers and skin, you see. Great aristocrats like the impotent idiots that reside in the highest tiers at Erp Surrel pay generously for them. Their feathers are quite colourful as you noticed, a deep purple that is desired widely. Their skin is used as accessories for bags, belts, all the useless things that people think they need. You can just as easily construct those things by using other materials, but no, some people,’ she hesitated, ‘some people just want more. Consumed by greed and envy, wanting what everyone else has.’ She looked at Iliana. ‘It’s no life to live, Iliana dear. If you ever visit Erp Surrel, perhaps you will see it for yourself.’

  She led Iliana out of the kitchen back into the main foyer. ‘But never mind all that, you rest now. You look tired.’

  The thought of sleeping didn’t appeal to her, she wanted to avoid it, not wanting to see the Lady of the Lake again.

  ‘You will sleep well tonight,’ Zoe said, as if reading her thoughts. ‘I promise you that.’

  Iliana managed to hold back the tears until she reached her room, where she broke down. A hole had been ripped in her chest, the wound in her continued to fester. Curled up on the bed, she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the images of the lake that again popped into her mind intrusively.

  The faces of the haunted souls imprisoned by the lady swam in her vision. The sombre faces of the adrift, lost and doomed. And Zelda was now one of them.

  Iliana woke up to a Muckleberry nuzzling her face. Eyes shut, she groaned and turned over. The pecking continued into the back of her neck.

  Growling, Iliana swatted the bird away. Its beak latched onto her hand in a surprisingly strong grip and shook hard.

  Her eyes flashed open and she yelped, and pulled her hand back. She pulled herself away from the Muckleberry, and scrambled from the bed.

  The night before, Iliana had tried to make a run for it and used the window to escape. Using creeping vines that choked one side of the manse, she had shimmied down and walked for two hours before turning back.

  Her mistake had been leaving the window open.

  The Muckleberry let out an annoyed shriek and pulled its head back out the window. Iliana rushed forward, shut it and sank down to the floor. Eventually she pulled herself up into a foetal position, curling inwards in some subconscious manoeuvre that it would shield her from the pain. The hole in her chest seared, like it had been drilled there ruthlessly and left open to putrefy and bleed her from the inside out. She didn’t bother crying, it was the spasms of pain that would befit her body uncontrollably that she felt now.

  Zelda was not only dead now, but trapped in a sort of Hell.

  After everything she did for Iliana she could do nothing to help her. She knew none near who could help either.

  Terrence. Terrence could help. If Iliana could find him, he could free Zelda, maybe he could even bring her back.

  As she dressed, she glimpsed Zoe through the window slowly repeating practised maneuvers with her hands, her eyes watched her hands as she motioned slowly in a semi-circle. Iliana recognised it as Tai Chi, remembering seeing her Tai Kwon Do instructor practising the art.

  The herb garden was through the door in the kitchen that Blava and Zoe had come through.

  However, there was little point in calling it an herb garden anymore, as herbs would have had to been present.

  The soil was a dry crumble that looked overcooked. Even a small tree providing shade had lost all its leaves and looked sad and bare.

  Zoe thrusted Iliana a water can. ‘Take this, the liquid is charmed. Should do the trick.’

  Iliana walked between rows of plantations, the upturned dirt gave Iliana an earthy smell that took her back to her childhood days.

  ‘Who captured you?’ Zoe asked, she knelt down as she planted seeds where the soil had been, leaning back on her heels.

  Candell appeared in Iliana’s mind, and clumps of soil drifted up from the ground ghostlike, forming around her like a dirt mist.

  She swallowed.

  ‘Don’t worry, talk to me. You can try now.’

  Iliana poured from the water can, pushing past the dirt hanging in the air.

  ‘Slave traders, they were going to sell us in some square down south.’

  Zoe spat. ‘The only other kind I hate just as much as poachers is slavers. How far those people have fallen from the grace life has given them! They live to enslave others, spending their coin that came from the flesh of people.’

  ‘They had a wizard.’

  Zoe’s eyebrows rose. ‘Did they now? How unusual. Don’t suppose you know his na-’

  ‘Bolbous,’ Iliana replied curtly. ‘He woke her, the Lady of the Lake. He woke her so she’d take Zelda,’ she flinched from saying her name, ‘Zelda,’ she said more carefully, ‘is who they wanted to kill so they could sell me. They got half of what they wanted. And I’m going to kill them.’

  The branches from the garden’s tree all snapped and disintegrated as they fell, by the time they hit the ground, they rained on it like sand.

  Iliana stared in horror.

  Zoe grimaced. ‘Iliana, you will need to control your abilities.’

  Iliana turned away, her lower lip quivering. She tried to focus on breathing slowly through her nose. A steely resolve took her over and she looked to Zoe. ‘I saw you practising Tai Chi’, she said, trying to make her voice sound calm. ‘Can I practise with you?’

  There was something in how Zoe moved, when she saw her from the window, that made the scared part of her attracted to it. It was the smoothness, the hypnotic manoeuvres that carried an assuming calmness that drew her in. It felt like there was an important secret in it that if she knew it, she would be all she needs to be, and more.

  The woman’s gaze was calculative, Iliana didn’t think anyone could pull such a perceptive gaze but she was convinced it could penetrate stone.

  ‘You can indeed,’ she replied. ‘It requires a lot patience.’

  Iliana held her gaze. ‘I have time.’

  ‘I suppose you do. You cannot learn for revenge. You must learn for yourself.’

  Iliana’s mind cast back to when, as a child, she saw her father trash the kitchen when her mother hid his alcohol. The next day, she had signed up for Tai Kwon Do.

  When Rose teased her on a bad haircut because her mother’s hands shook with withdrawal from when she cut it, Iliana struck her nose so it bled profusely.

  ‘I can learn for myself, and use it for myself,’ she replied coolly.

  ‘There is theory behind it you must learn. You can start by the studying the Dao.’

  ‘The what?’

  ‘Back to your watering now, Iliana. We’ll talk soon.’

  Some time later, Iliana was sitting in the kitchen drinking Zoe’s brew, when a giant over six foot walked in. His face was scrubbed with a bushy beard and he had a round, burly stomach that was just about kept in by a wide leather belt. He wore breeches and a thick cotton checked shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow, and loose buttons revealed curly hair on his wide chest. His thick arms were scarred with black hairs combed over them. The man seemed like the lone forest ranger type only instead of a gun he had a crossbow at his back, and a sword at his side. His sparkling blue eyes went straight to Iliana as soon as he entered.

  ‘My ho! You were the one who caused all the trouble yesterday. A part of me feels partially responsible for that.’ He cocked his head to one side. ‘She still doesn’t look like much, you sure she was the one who blew up your garden?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ Zoe was stirring over a simmering pot in the hearth, ‘it was her indeed. And she may not look much but don’t be deceived.’

  The man shrugged.

  ‘Are you not going to introduce yourself?’

  ‘Of course! It’s not like we ever get g
uests here.’

  He lumbered over to Iliana with an easy swag. ‘The name’s Benson.’

  ‘You were the one who found me,’ she said, peering at him curiously.

  ‘That I am. Wasn’t sure whether you were in our trap because you were scavenging or because you were trying to reach the legendary Mother Abundant. We do get those kinds of visitors from time to time.’

  ‘He’s referring to me,’ Zoe said to Iliana’s questioning look, ‘I’m a little famous.’

  ‘A little? Bah! She’s being modest. Truth is, old Zoe here is well known throughout the kingdom.’

  ‘Who are you calling ‘old’?’ Zoe flicked him droplets from the pot.

  ‘She’s famous for protecting the Muckleberry,’ Iliana explained.

  Benson looked doubtful. ‘Ah yeaaah,’ he drawled, ‘but there’s a few other small details you might have missed—’

  ‘She doesn’t need to know everything about me, Benson.’

  ‘Oh,’ he gleamed at Iliana, ‘the stories I could tell you.’ He had a mischievous twinkle in his eye. ‘When the missus here isn’t around I’ll sit you down for a chat on all that.’

  ‘Out now Benson, the borders don’t always protect themselves.’

  Zoe waved a wooden spoon threateningly at him.

  He held his hands up in defeat. ‘Alright, alright, I will take my leave. It’s good to see you conscious this time,’ he said to Iliana.

  Iliana smiled at him, finding herself liking him instantly. His easy manner made her feel at ease, and his open, warming nature was like that of Zoe’s, only more playful like a teasing kitten.

  ‘That’s enough for today, Iliana.’

  Iliana looked up from her tea. ‘But I’ve barely done anything,’

  ‘There is always tomorrow. We’re not in any rush.’

  ‘But it’s your food supply - your herb garden.’

  ‘We’ve got backup rations, go on.’

  Iliana wandered into other parts of the manse, and found a large library at the rear. An enormous tattered map of the Otherworld dominated the far wall. Parts of it looked worn and torn in some places, but she could still make out Sleepers Hill. Her finger traced over the lake and then up to the Steppes and noted that faerie HQ wasn’t too far away. She wondered if Terrence was there now, looking for her and Zelda. A sharp tug at her heart made her turn from it, she found herself unconsciously avoiding anything that reminded her of Zelda.