A Legend of Starfire

by Marissa Burt

  As the flame on the Dreamopathy table flickered out, Robin studied Wren. “Where are your other crew members?” She shook her head with a little smile. “I mean, the other Alchemists. Will they help us?”

  “Simon will,” Wren said without hesitation. “As Jack said, the others are imprisoned. But the Outsiders owe me a favor, and I think it’s time to collect.”

  Robin looked impressed at this information, and then her mouth formed a thin line. “Yes. I owe a visit to the Outsiders as well.”

  Wren frowned at the Dreamopathy equipment. It would be counterproductive to use magic to contact them. “We’ll have to do it in person. Come with me.”

  When Wren and Robin arrived at Simon’s camp, they didn’t find him alone.

  “Vulcan!” Wren cried, waving at the figure just arriving on Simon’s falcon. “You’re here!”

  Vulcan dismounted easily, as though he’d been riding falcons all his life. “That never gets old,” he said, unstrapping a pack of food and handing it to a newly woken Simon.

  “It’s great to see you, Wren,” Vulcan said, and then awkwardly began rummaging through the foodstuffs. “I mean, your time with the Outsiders seems to have suited you.” He knocked the pack off the stump. “I mean—”

  “I know what you mean,” Wren said. “I feel different, like I can take on the world, you know?” Maybe someday she would tell Vulcan about what had happened by the river of starfire.

  Vulcan dropped the food he was trying to put back.

  “We may have to take on the world,” Robin said, looking at them both with an amused smile. They gathered together for the morning meal, making introductions all around and telling the others what the girls had learned from Jack.

  “Boggen’s at the stronghold now, and it’s where he does all his research, too. We have to move fast, though, before he suspects anything’s amiss,” Robin said.

  “Vulcan.” Wren set the roll she was eating aside. “What about the Scavengers? Are they willing to help?”

  “Of course!” Vulcan said. “We’ve gathered a lot of support in the past few days. There are plenty of Magicians who would like nothing better than to dethrone Boggen. I can return to the city right away and notify them.”

  “Some of the animachines will want to help.” Simon got to his feet. “They are quite passionate about freedom. When do we attack?”

  “As soon as possible,” Wren said, getting to her feet. “Today.” She turned to Coeur, whose invisibility had worn off in the night and who was now preening her feathers. “But first Robin and I must visit the Outsiders. They have a bargain to keep.”

  Wren hurried up the path through the Outsiders’ farmland, Robin struggling to keep up at her side, but hiding it very well. It seemed that days of inactivity had made her weak and breathless. They had flown Coeur directly to the Outsiders’ island in order to confront Maya. Wren was counting on the Outsiders’ fierce animosity toward Boggen to work to their advantage: she was nearly certain they would want to help fight Boggen and free the captives; she wasn’t so certain that they would do it side by side with the animachines.

  Robin was more confident. “Mother Goose will do anything to keep her identity hidden. Believe me, she’ll help.”

  Wren nodded, wondering if it wouldn’t be better for Maya to come clean about her past once and for all. Wren herself knew the folly of keeping things shut up and hidden. But perhaps there would be time for that later. They would need to hurry in order to join Winter and the others at the valley. Boggen would not give up willingly, and things would likely come to the use of force. They needed as many allies as they could muster.

  Wren raced past the Healer’s hut and the outlying hovels, sparing a fleeting thought for Auspex. She hoped he was well again, but then she was in front of Maya’s hovel, ringing the little bell that hung outside.

  Maya’s sunburned face seemed even more hardened than Wren remembered. “Wren. So you escaped the animachines,” she said, and the surprise that momentarily fluttered across her face at Robin’s appearance turned into what looked like displeasure. “And found another whose hands are dirty with stardust. Traitor,” she spit at Robin.

  Wren was flustered. She hadn’t expected a welcome with open arms, but she hadn’t thought that Maya would be so hostile.

  “It’s you who are the traitor,” Robin said without malice. “Not because of what you were. Mistakes can be forgiven. But because of who you are now. Hiding and lying. Sending nightmares and trapping allies.” Robin’s cheeks flared red and her words grew hard. “Your fear of magic could have destroyed the Outsiders. Still could unless you agree to help us stop Boggen.”

  Maya folded her arms across her chest with a frown and a stubborn expression that Wren had come to know well. Perhaps a gentler approach was in order.

  “Outsiders are defined by courage and honor,” Wren said, and Maya responded with a gruff nod.

  “I know you will honor your agreement to help me free my friends,” Wren continued. “And I know you also want to stop his horrible experiments on other innocent people. Of course, it will take a great deal of courage.”

  A steely glint came into Maya’s blue eyes, along with something else. Wren wondered if it could be a glimmer of fear.

  “Wren?” Auspex’s face popped out from behind Maya, and he had a warm smile for her. “You’re all right!” He bowed deeply then, pushing past Maya and kneeling. “Courage and Honor, Wren. You saved my life when you slew that beast.”

  “Oh, Auspex, I’m so glad you’re all right!” she said, helping him to his feet. “But it’s not like that at all, about the animachines, I mean. They’re not hostile, they’re just frightened!” She saw Maya’s cold gaze and stumbled over her words. “But I guess there’ll be time to talk about that later.” She was nervous, made more so by the frown that creased Maya’s face, but she didn’t have the box deep down inside to shove everything into anymore. So Wren let herself be nervous and get on with things anyway.

  “What’s this about whether or not we will rescue prisoners?” Auspex gave Maya a slight nod of deference. “The Outsiders would like nothing better. Once we know where Boggen’s stronghold is, we can—”

  “We know where it is,” Wren said, meeting Maya’s gaze. She wondered if behind all the hardness lurked a fear that drove her. Maya gave her a grudging nod, and Wren knew that she would keep her bargain.

  “And today is the day we destroy it,” Robin said, and she spoke as one with authority.

  Auspex bowed his head with the same deference he had shown Maya earlier. “It will be as you say. I will gather the Outsiders.”

  TWENTY

  Hey diddle, diddle!

  The fire and the fiddle,

  The falcon flew up to the tow’r.

  The little girl laughed to see such sport,

  And evil was stripped of its pow’r.

  With Maya and Auspex hastening them along, nearly the whole settlement had procured weapons and set off in no time at all, leaving the few young children with the even fewer elderly Outsiders. Wren flew on Coeur’s back, instructing her falcon to go slowly and keep low. Robin, whom all the Outsiders clearly held in respect, led the way to the place where the allies had all agreed to gather. The others kept a steady pace behind her, their slow trot matching the speed of Coeur’s flight.

  “I still can’t believe what you say about the animachines,” Auspex said, glancing up at Wren as he jogged across redbush-covered flatlands. “If it is true, we have wronged them greatly over these many years. There is no courage or honor in killing them when we can live peaceably together.”

  “If what the girl says is true,” Maya said in a hard voice that plainly indicated she doubted the fact, “we will deal with the issue of the animachines later. Even if they are sentient, they are still products of twisted magic.” Her mouth was set in a firm, thin line. “No compromise.”

  “Please promise not to attack them, okay? At least not today,” Wren shouted down at them. That part of t
he plan hadn’t gone so well. The Outsiders had agreed to an uneasy truce with the animachines, but only until the prisoners were freed and Boggen was defeated. For now, it would have to do.

  There was little conversation on their journey. The Outsiders needed their energy to keep up their quick pace, and Wren found that, despite her newfound confidence from the encounter with the Crooked Man, she was still physically exhausted. Even with the few stops they made to rest, she was worn out when Coeur landed among the tight formation of city dwellers gathered around Vulcan, Robin, and Winter. Robin led Wren ahead a few paces to consult.

  “According to your description and our map, the stronghold’s entrance is through that pass there.” Behind her, the foothills of two obsidian mountains loomed, shiny black in the afternoon light, providing a natural route that was narrow enough for only a few people to enter at a time. “The prisoners are kept in the stronghold when they’re not being used for research.” The cliffside behind was honeycombed with alcoves that reminded Wren of a warped version of the Crooked House. Instead of the familiar welcome of those balconies, however, there were bars over these apertures, and streams of sickly gray smoke trailed into the polluted sky. The whole exterior was coated in a yellow pulsing barrier that thrummed with magic. Wren recognized it as the same color she had seen behind Boggen.

  “It’s a shield,” Vulcan said, coming up behind them. “That’s how Boggen’s kept the prisoners captive. Simon said it was similar to a substance from your world. E-lectruck”—Vulcan stumbled on the word—“e-lectruck-city, that’s what they called it. Does that mean something to you?”

  “Electricity!” Wren echoed. “An electric shield! No wonder the prisoners can’t escape.”

  “Oh, yes!” Vulcan said. “We should warn the Outsiders. They will surely die if they touch the shield, or at least that’s what Simon said.”

  Robin was instructing Winter, and Wren was surprised to see that the city dwellers responded to her like the Outsiders had, as though she was their leader.

  Vulcan scanned the horizon uneasily. “Where is Simon?”

  “We don’t need this Simon. Or the animachines,” Maya shouted, waving her crossbow above her head, and the Outsiders cheered behind her. “We will fight Boggen’s evil magic. No compromise!” At the sound of her battle cry, the quiet facade of the stronghold transformed. Dark shapes appeared on exterior balconies and scurried down ladders, lining up into ordered rows of troops that stretched across the width of the mountain. More henchmen poured out from the pass between and began to march in tight ranks toward their foes.

  Simon’s voice came from Wren’s shoulder. “It looks like it’s not going to be peaceful after all, doesn’t it?”

  “Simon!” Wren exclaimed. “Am I glad to see you!”

  Simon was astride a hovercat, the other animachines following behind him in glistening silver ranks. The Outsiders nearest them gave the animachines a wide berth, with suspicious glares for their historic foe.

  “Get those beasts away from my crew,” Maya hissed, and Wren motioned Simon to the side.

  “The Outsiders have agreed to keep the truce,” Wren told him. “But it would be better if you and the animachines kept your distance.” Simon didn’t have a great number of animachines, but the ones he did have were formidable in their own right. Ranks of hovercats were in the front, and there were the sheep and wolflike versions as well. A few flying ones soared overhead in menacing arcs.

  “Spiders, too?” Wren whispered when she saw the awful shapes lurking near the back.

  “Spiders are animals like all the others,” Simon said in an unconcerned voice. He was staring hard at his animachines, and Wren wondered if they were communicating. She saw them shift, spread out in a different formation, as Boggen’s henchmen drew near. It appeared that they were prepared to fight.

  “Outsiders, ready!” Robin called, and they peeled off into smaller clusters of twos and threes that looked too eager to attack the forces that were headed their way. “They have starspears,” Robin warned, pointing at the stardust-powered weapons strapped to their enemies’ backs. “So watch for an attack from above.”

  Then, all of a sudden, the wall of henchmen stopped, parting down the middle to provide a long walkway back toward the pass, and coming down the center of it was Boggen himself.

  “Go home,” he boomed in a menacing voice magnified to carry across the entire plain. At first, Wren’s body froze, instinctively waiting for the pain to bloom in her neck or the crippling fear to overtake her body.

  He has no hold on me. Even though Wren’s heart beat faster and every sense was alert to danger, Boggen couldn’t control her. She belonged to the Crooked Man now, and she carried starfire. At the thought of it, strength and courage surged through her, chasing any temptation to fear away.

  Now Wren could see Boggen more clearly. He was taller and stronger, his form covered with dark spiked armor and crowned with a helmet that looked like a beetle’s. Boggen looked inhuman, as though he belonged more with the obsidian mountains than with the Fiddlers that surrounded him.

  “Nod cannot exist without stardust,” Boggen was saying, “and we will have no stardust without my new research. The few must be sacrificed for the good of the many. It is the only way that Nod will survive, and you are foolish to try to stop me.” He leered at them, his features twisted into hate. “The Outsider wench is right. There is no room for compromise.” He threw back his head and laughed. “The Alchemists learned as much.” He pointed to something Wren hadn’t noticed before. The pass stretched up between the two mountainsides, and a glass box swayed between them at a dizzying height. Figures crouched in the glass box, figures Wren, with a sinking sensation in her stomach, recognized.

  “You think to scare us with your empty threats?” Robin spit at Boggen, raising a crossbow to aim at his helmeted head. “None of us fears death. There is courage and honor in fighting you.”

  Wren looked back with horror at the glass prison. Jack was up there. And Mary and Cole. She was glad Robin was drawing Boggen’s attention. She began to inch sideways, toward where Coeur was roosting near the back of the Outsiders’ armies.

  “They will have a perfect view of your destruction.” Boggen laughed, too long and too loud, and Wren felt prickles of fear all up and down her spine. “Apprentice!”

  Boggen’s wicked gaze locked on her. “You have long eluded me. But no longer. Come to me, Apprentice. You will wield my magic against my enemies.”

  Sudden realization hit Wren. If she had still been under his power, she would have obeyed. She knew it as sure as she knew anything, and the horror of the future Boggen had intended for her loomed. She would have gone to him and betrayed her friends, betrayed everything they had fought for. She could see that Boggen was growing impatient. He reached out a spiked arm and beckoned imperiously, so sure was he that Wren would come cowering.

  Instead, she stood still and straight. “You are wrong, Boggen,” she said in a loud, clear voice. “You will not win this fight. Your evil will not overcome the good just as darkness cannot overcome the light. All will be well.” She remembered the Crooked Man’s words and drew comfort from them.

  Boggen’s eyes widened in amazement at her rebellion, but he quickly masked his surprise. He flicked a gauntleted hand at her as though he were flicking aside an insect. “Foolish words from a foolish child.”

  “You’re a monster,” Vulcan said, pushing his way out in front of the others. The lifelong animosity of someone who had lived and suffered under Boggen’s oppressive rule was written plain across his face. “You won’t get away with this.”

  Boggen drew one arm up and flung it across his chest, funneling an arc of tainted stardust straight toward Vulcan. Vulcan dove to the side, and the magic hit where he had been standing, searing a smoking hole into the ground.

  “You cannot defeat me,” Boggen said in a deadly quiet voice. “But I will enjoy watching you try.” He raised both arms, and Wren saw the glint of silver undern
eath his armor.

  “He’s transformed himself,” Maya gasped, and the horror in her voice was enough to help Wren interpret what she was seeing. Where there should have been pale flesh, silver-plated skin rippled in the sun. Black horns stuck out from Boggen’s back like a porcupine’s spine. Boggen had made himself into an animachine.

  “Abomination!” Maya shouted. “He’s using twisted magic! No compromise!” The Outsider roar echoed her cry. No compromise! The hunting cries of the animachines joined them, and the forces behind Wren thrust forward with fury to engage the enemy.

  “Vulcan!” Wren cried. She lost sight of her friend when the two armies surged together with a clash of weapons. She hoped that he would be safe, but she knew she couldn’t help him now. Instead, she pushed her way to the rear of the eager Outsider army and found her falcon. “Fly hard, little Coeur,” she said as she climbed up.

  Wren had become so used to living a magic-free life that it took her a few moments to recognize what was happening. Boggen’s henchmen were using stardust. Their starspears fired flaming missiles that hit with surprising accuracy. A hovercat cried in agony as one reached its mark, but Coeur flew on. Boggen’s armies were fierce, their stardust spears flashing blue fire as they fought, but they were not prepared for the flying creatures. The animachines swooped and clawed, easily plucking henchmen two and three at a time from the ranks of fighting Magicians. Until Boggen joined the fight. Bolts of the twisted form of electricity he had created arced through the air, scattering searing missiles among her allies. Coeur climbed higher, dodging the streams of magic and the Outsiders’ crossbow bolts alike. Over the battle and up past the cages that covered the mountainside. Now that Wren was closer she could see that people were inside, people whose faces were pressed up against the yellow shield. Men, women, and children, all of them trapped in Boggen’s stronghold.