The Shadow of Our Stars: The Tales of Evinar

by Alexander Richter

  “There you are,” he said in a state of delight, his voice was deeper pitched in nature. “Nearly burnt down all of West Row to find you— thought you got away, but they insisted otherwise. Shame, so many others had to die in the game. And who do we have here?” He turned to look at Billy. “A suitor? Is my romance not fitting for a woman of your stature? Like the coat.” He had a bleak appearance and was dressed in similar attire from the men back in Woolbury— black coats and black collars, but he was different. He looked an awful lot like the elves of Lochwald. He could have easily passed as Faelar’s brother but not, at the same time. Where the pointed-elf-tipped ears were meant to be, Billy saw bubbling scars where they’d be clipped or burnt off. Menacing.

  “Gorwin.” Elise resented the name.

  “You’re late. Three days by my record. Tell me, where have you been hiding? Looking to keep it for yourself after all?”

  “Keep what?” Billy asked, but he went unnoticed.

  “Quiet!” Gorwin snapped his fingers, and the rooftop stalkers shoved a piece of linen in Billy’s mouth. “Now that he can’t interrupt, we can talk business. He’s a tad bit vexatious if I might confess. Could have done… better for yourself.”

  “So you sent your goons after me?” Elise asked as Gorwin paced around her. “I’ve got what you wanted. Take it and we can all leave unharmed.”

  “Ahaha, you amused me sometimes princess. I’ve nearly been skinned alive for the delay, and now it’s going to cost you what was promised.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  With another snap of Gorwin’s fingers, the linen wrapped artifact was retrieved from Elise and placed in his hands. He ravenously tore at the sword’s covering like a child. The darkness of the stable was hardly suitable to admire the craftsmanship. “Remarkably light if I might add. Not at all what I was excepting. And you found this in the desert, I presume? Terrible place to hide, smart nonetheless.”

  “You’ve got what you wanted, now pay me what I’m owed and I’ll be off! You’ll never see me again.”

  “No. No, I don’t think so. Not this time. You see, plans have evolved. Turns out no one meant to know this sword even exists, and if I let you go, well… you might start talking to people about it. I can’t have that… she can’t have that. No. I’m afraid this is the end of your escape account. I do owe you a massive amount of gratitude. You’ve made me a very wealthy man.”

  “I’ll be on the next ship eastern before you know it!” she barked.

  “Not worth the risk. It’s been nice…while it lasted.”

  “I can’t believe you’d betray me for coin. You’re a fool to think the same won’t happen to you. The very instance you turn your back, they’ll stab you. I hope they do.”

  “Reasonably. But for the right amount, I’d turn over my own brother over if I could. Bless his dead soul. Gold hits the spot if you know what I mean? There’s nothing like a fat pouch hanging from your belt.”

  “You’re a wretched man!” The cords around Elise’s wrists tightened, gouging into her thin skin and twisting her bones. “There’s no peace where you’ll be going next!”

  “Is that a threat or a promise? How gripping. Nevertheless, I hope you know this wasn’t a simple ruling for me, but she can be very… persuasive. I’ll cherish you, even after you’re gone.”

  The flames stoked again, and what was once smoldering was vehement with newfound heat. “Have an illustrious end!” Gorwin broke into a fit as he and his hooded men left the stable with the broadsword in hand.

  Elise’s head hung low in defeat as the heat built.

  Moonlight nickered in protest.

  First, the fire shot up the far end of the stable, running along beams into the hayloft, and then across the roof’s structural support. A dance of orange evil burnt over the ribs of the stable. Estranged souls cried in delirium of the entrapped, waiting for more to join their grim ranks.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” said Billy managing to free his mouth of the linen muzzle. “I don’t like fire.”

  Elise sat as the heat basted against her golden skin with sweat. Defeat felt like death to her. Perhaps death was more painless now. Wheresoever her plundering had carried her, this was the one chance to break free. But she had been betrayed by the very hands orchestrating her freedom. There was no way she had the strength in her to fight out of this one. Yet she had to. Elise thought about getting revenge on Gorwin— how she’d make him pay for double crossing her, but the idea almost seemed worthless. He’d soon get what was coming to him.

  The sword was a separate matter. What did they want with that? And why was her knowledge of its existence meant to die with her? Things were not adding up.

  “Hey, you!” Billy said, trying to recover Elise from her trance state. “Are you with me?" He hacked as the obscure grey smog filled his lungs. “We don't have time.” He thought of Rose still inside. Billy needed to save her as she'd done for him.

  Seeing the innocent life to her left, Elise valued the fight in his voice. Having but known him for only a few hours, she could sense he wasn’t one to give up so effortlessly. It was like looking into a mirror at a past self. She would not have given up. She couldn’t give up. Giving up won’t be part of this dilemma, she narrated to herself in a motivational speech.

  Elise riffled through her satchel to find her short knife. Gorwin’s men weren’t very good at bounding wrist it turns out, because she had enough range of motion to wiggle her blade’s edge and free them both.

  The wooden beams were licked with cinder. A shade of dark smoke clouded their field of view. Moonlight had been raging behind them in a stable while the fire continued to burn. It was the first time she’d heard her horse scream, as the fire grabbed hold of her tail. Elise was quick to put it out.

  “Get on,” Elise called as Billy stupidly attempted to enter back inside the inn.

  “But I can’t. She’s still—“

  In an instant, the stable doors crumbled and disappeared with a deafening bang! The pendant in Billy’s ginger hand shinned with a light too intense for his eyes to ignore. Without another thought, he sprang onto the horse and they rode out of the fiery chasm with speed matching a bow strung arrowhead.

  The ensemble of Cross Lane gathered to see what commotion ensured. Many of them watched in delight as they imagined the horrors inside— an innocent soul lost or a feud to be reckoned. They cheered and placed bets on which one it was.

  Sinister figures turned to the white horse with appetites for destruction. Their eyes blackened from their pupil to their iris. When the first person vaulted at them, Moonlight had just enough time to react. But like mindless minions, they swarmed tenfold. One came straight for Elise, attempting to yank her off. Another reached for Billy’s neck but failed in the process.

  “We must go!” she cried, kicking with both of her feet to fight off the wicked.

  “But she’s—“

  Elise did not care. As far as she was concerned, whoever was still inside the blaze was long lost. There was no sense in fighting to stay alive around people who wanted to kill you, and they certainly did.

  “What in heaven’s name are you doing! That’s my friend back there and you’re going to leave em to die!” Billy felt his fist curl up into balls. He was angry. Rightfully so.

  “If you’d like to stay, by all means. No one’s forcing you to come.”

  Billy turned his head back towards the inn. It was a pile of charred wood now with nothing more to save. Elise was right. No one was forcing him to do anything he didn’t want to do.

  He peered down at where the red jasper was in his pocket. It was still shining through the material of his trousers. He remembered what Rose said, “Death does not wish for my soul today” and could not help but think what she meant by those words. Maybe there was more to her than he’d yet to understand or see. Possibly she had made it out alive. He prayed that was the case.

  Moonlight took off like a bird in flight and jetted away from the chaos.
The flames spread to the neighboring church, turning Cross Lane into a wildfire. Elise half thought about returning to West Row where they could take refuge with the orphans, but she knew it wouldn’t be any safer. If they had any wits, they’d get out of Fayhollow before the entirety of the city started hunting them down, but Elise could not do so until she exacted her revenge against Gorwin and gotten back what was stolen from her.

  Horseback, they scoured the streets of Fayhollow searching, but he was an enigma— lost amongst the foul and cruel. The night was pressing onwards with still no sighting, and matters were progressing more dangerously. Word had spread rather quickly about the disorder on Cross Lane. It promoted civil wars all across the city. Nix and the Blacksword’s Guild mobilized to seize the fallen territory, whilst his adversaries did everything in their power to prevent the victory. Like a graveyard, Fayhollow was breeding into the atrocities of a nightmare fueled by an already crumbled construct.

  “Where now?” Billy thought to himself. He couldn’t speak. Too many things transpired on this day. He turned mute. His head was jumbled and clearly, Elise had no sort of plan at all. He began to see the truth in the theme as Moonlight wavered back and forth, repeating old routes. “We’ve already been down this way multiple times,” he said. “When are you going to tell me what’s happening?”

  But Elise had no initial intentions of doing so unless pressed. Billy was a stranger no less. She half-heartedly questioned her reasoning for sticking with him this long in the first place. Why had I continued to invite him along? She wondered. These were her matters to be solved, not his. Thus far, she had labored alone, and now company made things worse. “We need to find him,” was all she said to answer his question.

  Billy scoffed at the lack of information. “If I’m going to help you at all, then I’d expect some sort of explanation. I almost died back there, and my friend might have. What does that sword have to do with anything? And why did they want you dead?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  “Why not!”

  “Because… because, it’s not safe!” Elise seemed agitated to the point of tears.

  “I deserve to know why I almost died!”

  He did deserve to know. Elise reminisced about these words for a moment as Moonlight proceeded towards the city’s southern gates. “It’s simpler if you don’t.” Ignorance is bliss, she mouthed to herself.

  “Why do they want the sword?” Billy said, pausing between each word to make sure she understood the distress in his voice.

  Suddenly, the scrutiny undid the lock covering Elise’s mouth, and she took a deep breath, perhaps regretfully. “Domination.”

  “Domination?” he repeated, “of what? Of who?”

  “Everything.” The word rolled off her tongue like a droplet of poison. In truth, she’d never thought about what finding the sword would bring to the people of Evinar. As far as she was concerned, she’d be on the next vessel eastern before anything terrible could follow. And now, she didn’t feel much different from Gorwin. She’d double-crossed all of Evinar for her selfish escapism. Elise’s eyes started to well up, and a tear slide down her cheek. She was no better than the father she was fleeing from. The King was disdain in the land, and so was she.

  “Who wants it?” But deep down he already knew the answer. There was only one person he could think of. Only one person threatening enough to want that kind of power. Billy’s face rested and the lines of his forehead twisted.

  “You know of her, don’t you? I can see it on your face, but you don’t look afraid.”

  He wasn’t. “Her,” he said like, he’d known all his life. “Yes, I know.” All of a sudden, the visions of the water came back like a train colliding in his brains. How desperately he wanted to forget about all he’d seen, but there were so many questions he craved answered. He almost felt compelled to ask them, but he knew she wouldn’t be the right person.

  “That’s where they’re taking the sword, and I fear we may be too late.”

  Billy looked around them. They’d just managed to exit from the southern gate before they slammed shut by the gatekeeper. There was a dark sky collecting overhead when he looked back towards the Archway. A storm was brewing. He knew that, but did he have the courage to venture into it? “We have no other choice,” he said dryly like the decision had been made for him without consent.

  Elise rolled her eyes. She knew where he was going with the thought, and he was right. There was no other choice. She needed to right the wrongs she’d committed at all costs.

  “We must follow them for the sake of everyone’s life,” she breathed.

  The cold winds of the Arran Mountains rang down on their necks and sent shivers down their spines. Elise’s long golden hair blew wildly as she toiled over the decision. It was like she was being split right down the middle. One part of her wanted to go west and forget about the mess she’d made, but the other part, and the more responsible part of her, tugged on Moonlight’s silver hair towards danger.

  Western.

  “The sword it is.”

  30

  A hole opened at the base of Spine Mountains large enough for Abbott and Quinn to crawl inside. It was drenched in eeriness. The cave smelt of former things that had not seen the light of day since perhaps time had made them. They were vile things, warnings of what might stand in their way.

  But Abbott could not linger on the thoughts any longer. Ignorance was bliss. At least the cave was not ladened with bugs to pester him going forward.

  Quinn peaked down the barrel of her stellascope. There was nothing to detect other than the norm affairs of magic. But the invention proved ineffective under true blackness. Tucked deep down inside her bag, Quinn pulled out another metallic object.

  Baffled, Abbott saw Quinn’s arm entered her bag to the elbow before taking out the device. The bag’s bottom never ended, similarly to the hamper in their caravan.

  “Carrying an entire house in there with you?” Abbott said jokingly in an attempt to lighten the gloom.

  “Only the essentials,” she said sharply. “Don’t you have something in the likeness back at Woolbury?”

  Abbott scoffed hearing sarcasm in her voice. “We do yes, but when your hands feel the bottom, the bag tends to end rightfully so. We do have those.” Abbott pointed to the metallic shell in Quinn’s hand. A mechanical torch. He and his father weren't wealthy enough to possess one, but he’d seen them around from time to time. “Nicked it from Woolbury, didn’t you?” he said, recognizing its likeness.

  Quinn neglected to reply, but the smirk on her face was enough evidence to prove some validity to his theory. She was a thief no less and a darn good one.

  The torch was brass drawn out into a cylinder as big around as a child’s forearm. The cylinder was fixed with large silver fittings and an enormous red dot resembling a coat button. Quinn pressed the button and a clear stream emanated from its barrel. The cave was a black hole of emptiness. Nothing to be seen by one’s eyes.

  “Fancy, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t want to know,” Abbott said, rolling his eyes.

  “I'm not a criminal. I’m just being… resourceful! What would we have done now without it? Wade away blindly in the dark?”

  Abbott supposed to some degree she was right, but the idea of stealing anything that didn’t belong to him made him uncomfortable.

  The torch shined over a channel of cave water. It’s surface dazzled under the light and popped through the stone walls. They found a wooden boat bobbing along the edge just a distance from where they’d entered the cave. It appeared to be some sort of ferrying boat that one could traverse through the mountain, but it was older and seemed to be decaying under the shrillness of the temperature.

  “All aboard,” Quinn said, cheerfully turning her torch downstream. “This should take us through the entirety of the mountain.”

  “I’m not getting on there,” Abbott said in protest. “Can’t you see the hole in it?”

  “A boa
t would be faster than walking.”

  “But more dangerous,” he interjected.

  “Everything about what we are doing is dangerous, don’t you forget that. Besides, what’s the harm in adding a bit more onto the already heaping pile?”

  “Who goes there!” a voice thundered in the dark. “Who awakes me?”

  Quinn removed a weapon from her belt. “Show yourself,” she fanned the touch from north to south and then east to west, and found only darkness.

  “You have not answered my question.”

  Abbott clutched his ears in agony. The voice emanated all around him in a fury of sound.

  “Who wishes to pass through my territory?”

  “That’s none of your—“ Abbott covered Quinn’s mouth.

  “Abbott Bradbury of Woolbury,” he said in the exchange. He couldn’t afford for Quinn to make any more enemies.

  “And Abbott Bradbury of Woolbury, what is your purpose inside the Caverns of the Western Lands?”

  “Passage. Safe passage to the land beyond these caverns.”

  “No one goes beyond those boundaries anymore. Why would two unprepared humans risk their own lives to journey to such a death? Surely you’ve heard the warning tales. It would be voluntary.”

  “We have no other choice,” He confessed. “Warning tales or not. There is no turning back. That is our destination and this is a mere route to get there.”

  “Are you going to let us pass in peace or stand in our way?” Quinn barked, still searching for the origin of the speaker.

  Abbott flared at her oval-shaped eyes.

  “How very interesting,” the voice said in amusement. “Who is the little angry woman?”

  “Little! Angry! Why you don’t know anything about me! You can’t even see me.” Quinn did another passing sweep with the torch and still found nothing. “I don’t go down without a fight.” She wavered her sword back and forth in warning.