Starbright: The Complete Series

by Hilary Thompson

  The only thing I’m completely sure of is that I can never let these men into Hebron, or I might lose Zarea forever.

  Now, more than ever, do I understand my parents and why they fled Shechem so many years ago. Why they lived in the wilderness and brought me up to be my own - not theirs and not anyone’s.

  We only have one life in this broken world, and when we find something worth holding onto, we have to fight with every breath and scrap of energy to keep it.

  The older man coughs, breaking into my thoughts. “Go to the creek and cleanse yourself well. If the girl is to find you attractive, you must attempt to present yourself as such. I will stay here and tend the fire,” he says to Jonath. “We will spend the remainder of the day in prayer and meditation on the Prophet’s words.”

  Jonath sighs and rises, reaching inside his pack. Once they are both preoccupied again, I shift backward, shimmying a few dozen feet until I can safely rise to my feet.

  So much has changed in just a few short days. When I returned from my recent mission, I hoped to spend a few weeks with Zarea, sneaking nights beneath our willow tree and settling into a routine of hunting and protecting the Tribe.

  Now I must go to Abraham to accept a mission that could end my life and force Zarea into an unwanted marriage or give me everything I’ve barely dared to dream of.

  And waiting in the trees are two men from a city I’ve never seen, come to take away the only person who sees me. The one girl who is most needed - by me and my Tribe - will be led to the edges of the land by these men.

  As soon as there is enough distance between us, I break into a run. There is no time to waste.

  I return the horse to the hunters’ pen and head straight for Mama Rose’s tent. I knock on the wooden pole next to her door flap, praying she is here and alone. “Mama Rose?”

  “Hang on, hang on. An old woman moves slowly.” The door flops open, pushed by her black fingernails. I don’t wait for her to invite me in - we know each other better than that.

  Quickly I tell the story of the men in the forest. She makes me repeat several parts, alternately cackling and curdling my stomach with her somber glances.

  “I never believed that story…” she says almost to herself.

  “What else do you know?” I can hear the desperation in my voice, and I hate it.

  “Some people used to say Zarea’s mother wasn’t really from Kedesh, like Abraham claimed, or even from Tartarus, like the gossips guessed. There was rumor once that he had tracked down that group from Elysium and followed them home. That he caught him a girl at the edge of the world. But it died out when they saw how dark that girl was. Most of ‘em from Elysium are blonde.”

  “But if nobody knew Rea’s mother, how did Rea make it back here?” My brain is stuck on the logistics. Fathers can vanish, but mothers are a bit harder to hide.

  “Oh, people knew her all right. She lived here a few months until Zarea was born. Not very friendly. Didn’t talk much and kept inside Abraham’s tent mostly. But then one night she just vanished.”

  “Ran away?”

  “Abraham claimed it was the childbirth. That she lost too much blood and didn’t recover and he buried her himself. Always seemed a little fishy to me.”

  I try to sort the morning’s new revelations from the half-truths I’ve accepted for so long. The puzzle no longer has defined edges, and the image I’m building is too hazy to see yet.

  “Do you think her mother is this Lady Thema? That she’s still alive in Elysium?”

  Mama Rose just shrugs. “Don’t matter what I think. They’re coming for your girl.”

  And just like that, she’s distilled the mystery to one solid fact. I’m back where I started - with blood lust for the two strange men waiting in the forest.

  “You best be getting on to Abraham,” Mama Rose prods me, scattering my dark thoughts.

  I curse under my breath. In the confusion of the morning I’ve all but forgotten the looming threat of the Hero’s Mission. I hurry to my own tent and clean up as best I can.

  Abraham is not reading next to the longhouse, nor is he pacing inside. Finally I think to check his tent. Of course he is there, a look of annoyance on his face.

  “I hope you’re better at tracking young girls than old men,” he grunts, packing tobacco into his pipe.

  My stomach flops over as I realize that he’s really going to ask me. “What will you ask of me, Leader of Hebron?” I ask, using the ceremonial phrase invoking a new mission.

  Might as well let him know that I know what’s coming.

  He smiles in satisfaction, blowing a smoke ring toward the opening in the top of his tent.

  “Have a seat.” There are no other chairs, so I settle onto the woven rug. Of course he would want me at his feet like a child. This man may not be as terrifying as the Destroyer is rumored to be, but he is a clever kind of demon all the same.

  “I assume you have heard of Thadd’s mission.”

  I nod.

  “Then, Stian - wanderer of Hebron - I ask that you consider a mission which will be to the great benefit and glory of your Tribe. Will you hear me?”

  “I will.” The formal words are bitter on my tongue, but my choices are few, as they have always been.

  “The time has come to find Asphodel and the Starbright maiden of Justice. Sixteen years have passed and our people grow tired of waiting. Yet certain signs have been reported.”

  “What signs?” I know I shouldn’t interrupt, but I need to know what I’m looking for.

  “That is not your concern until you accept the mission. Be assured that the time is now. If you take this mission, you will travel east toward the mountains, as you comprehended yesterday. You will take no protector with you. You will not return until you have claimed the power of Justice for our Tribe.”

  “So it’s true then. The Hero’s Mission.”

  He nods, watching me intently.

  I don’t know what he’s waiting for, but I won’t give him anything.

  “And the Hero’s Recompense?” I ask instead.

  He grins and laughs loudly. Smoke puffs out and settles into his beard before being coaxed toward the sky. “I see my daughter still favors you. Do not forget who you are, though.”

  I glare at him, wishing I could just slit his throat now and be done with it. “I know exactly who I am, and who I will become. What of the Recompense?” I repeat the word through gritted teeth. Reducing his own daughter to the concept of payment was something I had wondered if even Abraham was capable of.

  But of course he is.

  “Thadd has accepted the mission on these terms, as has Caine. They will compete for her hand and my chair regardless of your decision. But yes, if you complete the mission before the others, you will marry your Rea and lead Hebron.”

  The threat is there - he knows I love his daughter. He doesn’t care.

  “It is more than could have been hoped for by the son of such a father.” His voice is so low that at first I don’t recognize the insult. As my brain pieces together his words, the rage I feel toward this man and his games is almost uncontrollable.

  “I will accept the mission,” I manage. My head is spinning. I hadn’t even decided yet to accept. I was supposed to talk it over with Zarea and Mama Rose more.

  But he’s made me angry, and I have to fight or he wins.

  Who am I kidding - by making me agree, he’s already won.

  Abraham’s movements become brisk and business-like. He puts aside his pipe and pulls a thick scroll of paper from a box. The mission log.

  “Can you promise me your efforts will be true and adherent to the will of the Tribe?” His ceremonial words stir the panic that has been gathering in my belly.

  I can’t take this mission.

  I need to find Rea and run tonight. I need to make her see how that’s the only way for us to be together.

  “I won’t make you a false promise,” I say. I need to stall.

  He nods. “I know. You nev
er have.”

  I wait for him to make the same offer, but of course he doesn’t. We are all supposed to assume Abraham’s word is always truth. If only I believed that, I wouldn’t think twice about accepting this mission.

  I try to talk through the information I know about the mission. “If Asphodel lives, we have to find it before Tartarus. Lord Hadeon would destroy the maiden and probably the whole city with her.”

  Abraham nods his agreement. “Can you find it?”

  I consider. “If it exists, I can find it.”

  “Then you will accept the mission?”

  “And leave so soon? I just returned: I haven’t had my six month rest. Much planning needs to be done for such a long mission.” We both know the sort of planning that has to be done - funeral arrangements in case of mission failure.

  “Nonetheless. The mission begins in two days. Thadd and Caine will depart then. If you choose to deny the mission, you must find other occupation. Rejecting a mission-“

  “I know. Ends my occupation as wanderer.” I don’t even care that I’ve interrupted him. I hate being backed into a corner like an animal.

  From the moment I heard Thadd at the common fire I have known this was coming, but the finality of his words breaks my stoicism. Suddenly I really just want to tell him no - Asphodel will never be found until they break free of their earth-bound tomb.

  I want to tell him that I’d rather be a washerwoman than take on his race to the death.

  I want to tell him his own daughter would rather run away than bow to his will for her life.

  “Stian.” Abraham’s calm, rumbling voice breaks into my thoughts. He watches me almost in sympathy, and I hate him even more, if that’s possible.

  “There simply is no time for the customary wait period. Assuming the girl was born at the time of the Prophecy, she and the other will be nearing the age of completion very soon. We need to work quickly.”

  He pauses and leans toward me, an open, earnest look spread like a mask over his face. “And you are the only man I truly trust with this mission. The others will be there simply to ease your passage before and after.”

  It’s a load of shit and we both know it. He grins, just a little, before straightening his mouth again.

  “So Thadd has the accepted same mission?” I repeat.

  Abraham nods, not doing a very good job of hiding his satisfaction.

  “And Caine too?”

  Abraham nods again, barely containing his obvious pleasure in the job he’s done. He doesn’t even care that it’s so easy for me to guess his gaming strategy - he is too proud of ridding his Tribe of the three warring brothers.

  All of his competition, gone in one stroke.

  Glaring at him, I reach for the mission log and sign my name beneath Caine’s.

  FIVE

  Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

  John 20:29

  The Holy Bible, saved from before the Cleansing

  I burst through Mama Rose’s door, anger threatening to collapse what’s left of my sanity.

  “Hold on, boy. Slow down before you knock my house into the lake. What’s in you?”

  “Another mission! To find Asphodel!” I bite the words out as I pace and twist in her tiny space. “It’s unbelievable. He can’t force me to do this. I haven’t even been home a week!” My brain refuses to focus on the larger threats.

  “You could always refuse the mission,” she offers in a flat voice.

  “No. You know what that means - I’d be reduced to a laborer - shame, no future. I’d never see Zarea again.”

  “True. But you’d keep your life. This Hero’s Mission has no such guarantee. Besides, if you take it you’ll be gone from her for months anyways.”

  “I know.” The hopelessness is starting to sink deep into my bones. I’ve only ever half-believed in the prophecy, and the task of finding Asphodel alone - on a deadline - is more than I can imagine right now. “It’s not like those cave people even exist anymore. That prophecy has to be bunk.”

  “No, it’s not.”

  “Old fireside stories - that’s all that’s left of Asphodel.” I wave her away like the puffs of smoke she is blowing in my direction.

  “You’re wrong, boy. The prophecy has begun. Maybe even longer ago than Abraham believes.”

  The subtle power in her voice makes me finally stop pacing and look at her carefully. “What do you know? What have you been keeping from me?”

  “Not just from you,” Mama Rose carefully blows a spiral of smoke and cackles as it rises toward the opening in the top of her tent. “Maybe fifteen year ago I saw a sign of the prophecy. I watched the star fall from heaven.”

  “What?”

  “I saw the Starbright maiden. She fell in a blaze of sparks and a trail of light.”

  “Just a shooting star.”

  “On the spring equinox? During the year of the longest solar eclipse recorded?” She grins as she repeats the signs.

  “Coincidence. Fireside tales.” My brain is pulsing with the need for this to be true, but my heart is slow to trust an old woman’s superstitions.

  “Don’t patronize me, boy! I know more about this world than nearly anyone left in this God-forsaken Tribe. And I’m telling you, the maiden fell to earth over fifteen year ago.”

  “So she would be nearing the age of marriage…” Abraham had just implied this, but I don’t think he knows for sure.

  “And that means the beginning of the second prophecy. She will bring Justice to the people, yes. But she’ll also bring Balance to the world.”

  “Still. How could Abraham have missed the fall of the star? Is he keeping that a secret? There’d be no reason to.”

  “He was away on his own missions then. Those years were hard for him - he wasn’t the Leader yet. And he had a young daughter to provide for. But you know that story.”

  Her words bring back images from my youth, before I lived alone in the Tribe. When my father and mother were both still alive, and I had more in my future than just being a lonely wanderer, destined to be sent on the world’s most hopeless mission.

  “What should I do, Mama Rose?” I hate how weak I sound.

  She eyes me for several minutes, as though she could see the future in the haze of smoke surrounding me. She nods.

  “You should go visit my sister.”

  “Madna?” I ask. That’s not exactly what I expected.

  “Yep. Madna hasn’t laid eyes on you in at least two years. That’s no way to treat an old woman.”

  “You want me to go see her now?”

  “Well, she’s in the right direction, for starters. And she knows a lot more than she’ll tell - unless the right person asks her!” Mama Rose laughs again. Despite my surprise, I’m beginning to like the idea. Madna’s safe house has been a passing home to so many wandering people over the years; it’s very likely she knows quite a bit about how to begin finding Asphodel.

  “What about Zarea?” I’m sick at the thought of life without her beside me. The Tribes supposedly have the most freedom of all the people left in our world. Yet here I am - trapped in a corner with nothing to do but submit to Abraham’s plan.

  Mama Rose shrugs. “Take her with you. You two can run away, or if you find the cave people, you can come back and claim her true.”

  I shake my head. “She won’t go.”

  Mama Rose huffs. “That girl has too much pride. Thinks she can protect everyone from everything.”

  She lowers her pipe and turns to look at me squarely. “Look, boy. You know better than anyone how shifty Abraham can be. So you need to figure a way to beat him at his game. Take the mission. Find the girl. I’ll keep an eye on your little princess here. You two together would make damn fine leaders, and I’ll do what I can to help you get there.”

  I feel my eyes water, and I know it’s not the smoke. “Thanks, Mama Rose.”

  I go back to my tent and begin the daunting ta
sk of packing for another mission. Although gathering the necessary items is something I barely have to think about, the items I choose to leave behind are suddenly given so much more meaning.

  There is a very real possibility that I will never return to claim them. Even though each mission is like that on a certain level, there is so much more finality surrounding the Hero’s Mission.

  I’ve just finished sorting my clothing when Zarea slips inside my tent. She almost never comes here in daylight, so I watch her warily. She doesn’t meet my eyes at first.

  “Is everything okay?” I say finally, hoping she didn’t come here to fight.

  “I don’t know. Are you over feeling sorry for yourself?”

  I bite down a sarcastic reply. It probably took a lot for her to even come back here after what was said last night.

  “Look, Sti,” she continues, her voice softening. “I’m sorry I brought up your father. I know Abraham is just like the Leader your parents ran from when they left Shechem. I wish they hadn’t found more of the same here.”

  “Zarea, your father killed my father. And you compared me to him? Do you even realize how that sounds?” I try to rein in my temper, but this has always been a taboo topic between us.

  She sighs in frustration, shaking her head because she has never believed that particular gossip.

  Zarea isn’t cruel, but neither is she usually kind just for the sake of kindness. People around her must earn her respect before they earn her favor. She is fierce and uncompromising.

  Except with me.

  Suddenly I find myself imagining how she might change if married to Caine. My failing loyalty to Hebron begins to rally. Zarea could be taught cruelty. Under the influence of a father like Abraham and a husband like Caine, Hebron could begin to feel more like Tartarus than a free Tribe.

  So I smooth out my feelings and my face and start again.

  “I’m sorry I overreacted.” I take her hand and bring her close to me, wrapping my arms around her body. She’s so strong, but still slim in my arms. Fragile, like the love we’ve built in the shadows and hidden places of our lives.