Starbright: The Complete Series

by Hilary Thompson

  I bend my head down and she lifts her lips to mine, her eyes closed in what I hope is acceptance and trust. My fingers thread through her dark waves as I kiss her, and I feel our bodies grow warm and wanting against each other.

  When she pulls back, I miss her with every thought. She doesn’t seem to know I’ve signed the mission log, but she will soon. And then there will be no more hiding. She will truly see everything in me. All I can hope is that it won’t be too much for her.

  I ask, “Will you meet me at the willow tonight? We have so few nights left before everything changes.”

  I bite my tongue, afraid I’ve said too much, but she only nods.

  I spend the rest of the afternoon going through my possessions. Compared to many, I have so few belongings, but even these are overwhelming when I think about never returning. Hebron may not be my ideal home, but it’s the only home I have.

  I distribute my extra cooking utensils and food stores to Mama Rose, who just grunts and tells me I can have them back when I return. I give my unneeded clothing and battered weapons to some younger hunters who will likely move into my tent when I leave.

  There are few mementos of my family left - a knife of my father’s, the cooking pots I’ve given away. The only picture I have is of my mother. There was once a drawing of the three of us together, but it was damaged by water on one of my first missions.

  A few years ago I found a hinged pendant in one of the houses I raided out east, and so now the portrait rests safely in a worn locket. Last summer I added Zarea’s likeness to the other side, and now both women watch me as I close the locket. I wrap it in a scrap of embroidered material from my mother’s wedding dress and place it carefully in an inside pocket of my pack.

  The tent is now empty of personal possessions. Ready for a new set of hunters or wanderers or mission-takers. Whatever Hebron may ask of its young men and women, they do, even if it might potentially end their lives.

  Today, I am no different; perhaps that makes me, finally, part of their Tribe.

  SIX

  Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun - all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

  Ecclesiastes 9:9

  The Holy Bible, saved from before the Cleansing

  The night is very warm, but there is always a breeze near the river. The willow branches float along the water, the leaves shifting to show the stars.

  I’ve been there a long while when Zarea arrives. She parts the branches and looks down on me for a moment before joining me on the blanket. Her face is unreadable - no smile. She lies down in front of me, her back pressed against my chest. I gather her closer, tucking my arm over her waist. We are both quiet, watching the branches drift along the surface of the water.

  I push up onto an elbow and look down at her. I trail my fingers down her bare arm, and she shivers a little.

  “Rea, I want to be with you. I want to wake up next to you every morning. I want to have a future with you.” My voice shakes a little, and I curse at myself for being so nervous. I love this girl, and I can’t even figure out how to tell her.

  I don’t know how I’ll bear it if she isn’t ready to tell me the same. But we’ve talked about the future before - in our first months together two years ago, our dreams were nets that collected the stars above.

  She continues to look beyond the willow leaves into the constellations spread across the sky. As the minutes pass, I start to realize her silence probably isn’t a good sign.

  “Sti, people like you and me - we don’t have that kind of future. Not anymore.”

  “What do you mean? We’re in the Tribes - not Tartarus. We can do anything.”

  “Abraham has basically given me to Caine,” she cries, rolling onto her back, but somehow farther from me. Her fingers fidget with the unraveled edge of her shirt. Each thread she pulls out is like a little piece of my hope, flying away on the evening breeze.

  “I know…but we have to fight it.” It’s all I can say.

  “I know.”

  It’s not good enough. Not with what we’re facing.

  She sits and turns to look at me. “You know, it’s not even that Caine is good at tracking. I know you can evade him. I said that because I was hoping you’d finally find a little fear for what my father can do to your life! To our life…” She trails off and I know what she’s afraid of. I should be too, but I’m not.

  “You think Abraham and Caine will team up and I’ll be done for.”

  She nods. She may be right. But I refuse to let fear of others dictate my choices, or what I work for in life.

  “Rea, I want you. I’ll fight for you. I’m not going to just get over you and live a quiet life here in Hebron, watching you lead the Tribe with Caine. I can’t do that.” I trace the line of her face, cupping her cheek in my palm. Surely she can see that a future like this would kill me in a worse way than dying on a mission.

  All of us die one day - it’s what we do before that moment that makes us worthy of life.

  My emotion suddenly wells up, and I just can’t keep silent anymore. I take her hand and lean down so that I’m in her line of vision.

  “We’ll find a way if we’re together. Marry me, Rea.”

  Her hand trembles just a bit, slipping from mine. “No.”

  And with one word, she stuns me stupid. I’ve been thinking of ways to ask her to marry me for days now, and even though I’ve messed it all up with an impulse, I still basically expected a “yes.” Even if we have to wait, I thought we had been dreaming the same dream.

  “What?” is all I manage. The word keeps popping up for me. Evidently I just can’t grasp anything in my life right now.

  “No, Stian. I can’t. I’m not…I’m…”

  “You’re not what?”

  “I’m not even supposed to be here. I’m leaving soon.”

  “Leaving what?”

  “The Tribe. Someone’s coming for me. From Elysium. Any day now.”

  “Elysium…”

  “There are so many things you don’t know, Sti. Things I don’t even know.”

  “Someone from Elysium,” I repeat, my tongue growing numb in my mouth. She knew this and didn’t tell me? I’ve been plotting ways and reasons to kill the two men in the forest, and she knew they were coming all along?

  Is this the real reason she didn’t want me to take the Hero’s Mission? Because there’s still no chance for us, even if I somehow win?

  I feel like my lungs are folding inward, crushing the air from me.

  “My mother wasn’t from Kedesh, like Abraham told everyone. She was from Elysium. And she didn’t die giving birth to me - she went home to Elysium because that was part of the prophecy. She told Abraham someone would come for me when I turned eighteen.”

  “Elysium,” I manage. Zarea sighs in impatience.

  “Yes, Sti. I’m sorry I never told you. I really never believed it, but Abraham is insisting they’ll be here any day - on my birthday, he thinks. He wants you and Caine and Thadd gone before they come.”

  “No trouble…” I say, my brain gradually beginning to function again. “He doesn’t want us to cause any trouble.”

  She nods, looking miserable.

  “But what could possibly be in Elysium for you? How can you leave Hebron for them?”

  “Not for good. Just to meet…Stian, Abraham thinks I might be able to meet my mother. That she’s alive - waiting for me.” Her voice drops to a whisper, and with this revelation there is no argument left to make.

  Of course Zarea would travel to Elysium - the city at the edge of the earth - for a chance to meet her mother, of whom she has no memory.

  I have no idea what to say to this. If I hadn’t seen the men myself, I would assume it was just a cruel story to keep Zarea here, waiting.

  So I figure, since we’re sharing dark secrets, I may as well come clean. Maybe my news will shake her back
to what’s real, rather than crazy rumors and the promises Abraham has made her.

  “I signed the mission log,” I say, and my confession shuts her mouth and closes her face to me. She stares at me blankly.

  “I know, Rea. I know you didn’t want me to…but I have to do this. It’s my last shot at redemption.”

  She snaps back to life, startling me. “Redemption from what? Your father’s sins are not your own! You’re worth so much more than you think.”

  “So I’ll finish the mission and come back to lead Hebron. Even if you’re not here, surely that part would be honored. Abraham can’t be around forever. He-”

  “You think you’ll find her, don’t you. The maiden.” Zarea interrupts, not even looking at me. She reaches to the edge of the blanket and begins pulling at the soft, white clover flowers.

  “Mama Rose does.”

  “She’s just a foolish old woman, Sti.”

  “Sometimes. But she’s never been wrong about this stuff before.”

  The flowers are being braided into a rope now, Zarea’s slim fingers bending their stems to the intricate pattern. She can’t be still, and I know her brain is spinning like mine.

  “I think you’ll find her, too,” she finally says. I duck down to try and catch her eyes, but she turns away just enough.

  “But that means I’ll get to come home - maybe to you! What’s the matter?” She’s being so contradictory. What is she really concerned about?

  “Abraham will do something to keep you from winning.”

  “He has to obey the terms he made for the Hero’s Mission.” But both of us know he’s cheated before. My father should have won his own Hero’s Recompense, yet he sleeps in a grave not far from this willow tree because he trusted people too much.

  “What’s really going on, Rea?” I finally ask, hoping there’s something else - something simple, so I can ease her mind.

  “You’ll find her. I know you will. But you still won’t be able to come back for me - Abraham will do anything to keep us apart.” She pauses and takes in a deep breath. “So if this maiden really is almost our age, what’s to stop you from falling for her instead of me?”

  My jaw drops and all I can do is blink at her.

  “Rea, that’s ridiculous.”

  “Stian, it’s not. You like power. You fall in love with people who have it.”

  “Didn’t work with your father,” I point out in annoyance. Still, her accusation pokes at my brain.

  “Okay, then. People who have power and use it for good. You want that. You covet it, and you could fall so easily for a pretty girl who possesses the power to save the world.”

  “Maybe you have that power, too.” Something in me won’t let me argue against her first point. My parents raised me to respect that sort of combination - the ability and the willingness to help those who need help was prized above everything for them.

  “I could have it. But I need someone beside me who wants to do good. Caine would never be that person. Thadd, either.”

  “So I’ll beat them back here with the maiden and we’ll force Abraham to honor the Recompense!” I can’t believe we keep coming back to this, and still all she does is shake her head.

  Time to shift to my next strategy. “So come with me - we can leave and go somewhere else!”

  “Like your parents did? No thanks.”

  It’s a low hit, and it sucks the air out of my lungs. She knows it, too, and she’s not sorry. She’s too afraid of something to notice.

  She continues, her voice sarcastic and bitter. “So you just want us to leave Hebron and wander forever? Or go back to Shechem? Do you even know where it is?”

  “Shechem - the real Shechem - doesn’t exist anymore. You know that. My parents should never have left its safety. They left their hearts and souls in that valley, destroyed its existence by leaving. But we could find it again. Build it again.”

  “I don’t even understand what you’re saying, Sti.” Her voice is tired, like she wishes this were all over. But I’m feeling the shots of excitement and hope that always comes when I imagine the Tribe where I was born.

  “Shechem - as a city of refuge - scattered when my father and his followers left and headed west. But land doesn’t change. It’s paradise, Rea. Mountains on every side for protection. Green grass and black, rich earth filling the valley. Fruit trees and croplands. Animals everywhere.”

  “Why would anyone leave that?”

  “I used to know. Used to remember the stories of why our people needed other people. But now I don’t understand either. My father always said it was too lonely. We thought we were the only people left on the whole planet.”

  “There weren’t other Tribes in the east? Not even then?”

  “I’m sure there were others, but they must have left in the beginning.” I shrug. It feels good to talk about these things. Perhaps if we had both shared more secrets, our current standoff wouldn’t be necessary.

  “As far as we could tell,” I continue, “my family’s bloodline was one of the few immune to the virus used in the Cleansing. Every city we searched was so empty, Rea. And we traveled north and south for so long before heading west.”

  She is quiet for a few minutes, her fingers combing the grass. “So why would we want to go back?”

  Her question startles me because it should have been obvious. I haven’t been painting the picture right.

  “Freedom? Adventure? There are so many reasons, Rea. Think about it - we can take the people we love and start fresh. We’ll be the new pioneers. The settlers traveling to the new world.”

  “It’s not really new, Stian. And the Leader your parents ran from might still be there.”

  “I get why you’re nervous,” I say, trying to control my impatience. She’s nitpicking my arguments, focusing on the small details instead of the big picture - she just can’t see it. “But, Rea. There’s nothing here for us.”

  She looks at me then. Really looks at me. And I see so much sadness in her eyes. The kind of pain I can’t quite handle seeing.

  “There’s everything here for us. You just can’t see it.”

  I blink, and suddenly I do see - everything I need to. She loves me, but she’d rather live apart than see me die. I love her, but I’d rather die trying to be together than live apart.

  I watch her for a few moments, tallying the arguments in my head. “You plan to go to Elysium if these men show up? Even if I don’t take the mission?”

  She nods, and my chest tightens. She was never planning to wait for me. I know the promise of meeting her mother is huge, but her deception still hurts.

  “Would you leave Hebron to escape Caine?”

  She shrugs. “Abraham will never allow me to marry you, or even Thadd. Caine is the one he wants. I guess I’d rather leave Hebron for Elysium than be part of that. Our people could leave too if things get bad.”

  It’s a coward’s argument, but I don’t call her on it.

  “And Shechem?” I prod. She’s wavering, so maybe I can point her back to me.

  “Just a dream, Sti. It’s too isolated and intangible. Besides, I’m not really moving to Elysium, Stian. I’ll be back, and then I’ll deal with Abraham and whoever else is waiting for me.”

  And with that, I realize I have nothing left to say. Her mind is made up, and so is mine - they just aren’t in agreement.

  She leans in to kiss me - an offering of peace that is meant to soothe my hurt feelings and righteous anger. I take the offering because I’ll need its memory to sustain me in the months to come.

  I let my hands roam over her body, memorizing its soft curves and harder muscles. Her skin that smells, always, of rose petals and earth. Her thick hair, dark as the night that wraps around us. Maybe I’m hoping too much, but I feel the same urgency in her own hands.

  We fall asleep under the willow, wrapped in each other’s arms. But when I wake a few hours later, she’s gone. Just like she always is. I pound my fist into the ground, cursing the fate or
god or destiny that has systematically taken everything from me.

  All I want is a home of my own, with Zarea by my side. What wouldn’t I do to gain that?

  Then I remember the men from Elysium, who will arrive in Hebron tomorrow: I can still eliminate one threat from my long list.

  If Zarea’s mother still lives in Elysium, I refuse to wait for her to claim her daughter and steal the one wager I just can’t lose.

  My resolve crystallizes. I will kill the messengers, find the maiden, and return to Hebron to force Abraham’s false promise into truth.

  SEVEN

  Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

  Deuteronomy 16:20

  The Holy Bible, saved from before the Cleansing

  Even in the dark, I find the men easily.

  They have moved their camp, but only a few miles toward our summer village. They have also built a substantial fire. Either they are just that inexperienced, or they have no wish to hide.

  I position myself in a similar fashion as before, hidden on the forest floor by low branches and the lush summer growth. The firelight glints off their smooth faces as they drink from their silver mugs and I listen, waiting for my opening.

  “So tomorrow we will approach the Leader and claim Zarea?” Jonath asks, a half-smile on his young face.

  Marcus glares. “You must forget this silly obsession. She is not yours unless she decides that is so. Our city does no such matching.”

  “But she will surely be pleased with her rescuer,” the boy reasons, his smile growing. His teeth are white in the shadows.

  “You are a fool,” his partner returns. I have to agree - even if it were not Zarea, any woman would be insane to think she was being rescued by being taken away from everything she’s ever known. They must think highly of Elysium to be so confident.

  Then again, Zarea would go anywhere to find her mother, even the slave markets of Tartarus.

  It is this thought which makes me hesitate. I could kill them now and be done with it. Until Elysium sent another party, Zarea would be forced to wait in Hebron. But I would give up many things to have my own mother returned to me. Who am I to make that decision for Rea?