Episode #1 - "Torn": Star Chasers (Volume 1) (7 page)

    
Ty followed as Phaylio wished and removed his shoes. The water lapping at his ankles frightened him, and he thought it wholly unnatural.
So much water.
He was scared to death as the darkness began to enshroud him, all he could see was the large, black shape that seemed to be all around him, wanting to swallow him.

    
“Shilastar is very fond of you,” stated Phaylio openly. “She doesn’t really like Erant as much as she pretends.”

    
A swell brought water about Ty’s ankles again and he jumped back, as if it were hands grasping at his skin. A shiver ran up his spine, bringing a tingling sensation to his neck, which he hunched up. Ty crept slowly toward the safety of dry ground.

    
“We have about an hour of light left,” explained Phaylio sounding remorseful at the day’s end. He gave Ty a wry smile. He stroked something within the folds of his overcoat. “Would that the two of you would one day be wed, my life would be complete. I know she would be happy with you; you have a touch of care in your eyes, Ty. I always marked it there, just so.” He said pointing to a trace of light in Ty’s eyes.

    
Ty stared at him, giving Phaylio his full attention now. “What?... If I did something to lend you to think... to think that, I am sorry. I must be carrying on, the hour is late...”

    
“Yes, it truly is...” summarized Phaylio. “I have something to ask you, Ty. And I want your full attention.”

    
“Go on...” replied Ty, “I am listening.”

    
“I want you to go this very night, don’t delay... Go as far away from here as you care to go, and never come back.”

    
“You want me to go?” asked Ty, rather hurt.

    
“Yes, I want you to go, go away, and take Shilastar with you...”

    
“Take Shilastar with me?”

    
“Yes, I want you to take her with you, take her as far away from here as you can. Take her to a place where there is no darkness and the sun never sets, take her to a place where there is no danger, and everyone is free and equal... Do you know such a place, Ty? Would you take Shilastar there?”

    
Phaylio stopped Ty’s lips with his hand, as Ty attempted to respond. “It is only a dream of mine, Ty. You need not worry about it. But would you take her to a place far enough away so that she could be safe? Make it an obscure corner... someplace with mountains and sandy beaches like this one, a place with trees and grasses... There I go running wild again. Just take her away from here is all I ask.”

    
“I don’t know if I could, even if I said I would. I’m not sure if I am strong enough...”

    
“Oh, I think you are, if you have a mind to try.”

    
“I... I don’t know. I could place her in danger. It is so peaceful here. You do not know what trouble I am in, nor would you want to, or perhaps hope to understand.”

    
“Oh, really,” returned Phaylio, meaning it as both a question and a statement. “It is that last thing I wish, Ty, would you do it for our friendship’s sake?”

    
“I... I’m not sure.”

    
“I always thought you would be the one to put the mark upon us, but it turns out it was not so. But it chanced for the better, for now you are still alive. Of course, the other way around would have served my purposes better, though I never really figured out how you would put the mark upon us and still live. If you have been the driving force of the killing, I could have coerced you to my plans, for you would have no other choice. But now I have nothing to hold over you, save this: I am your friend, and Shilastar is your friend, and we are in trouble.”

    
“Trouble? What kind of trouble? Phaylio, everything is all right. They are gone now, there is nothing to concern yourself over.”

    
“You still don’t understand, I have been grooming you as best I can, and still you do not understand. Were the many years of work for nothing?” Phaylio asked himself, sitting down on the sand. It was cool against his buttocks, especially as the water swept upon him. Only a few more minutes of light were left in the sky, and Phaylio’s eyes were growing heavy. He had so much to do, and so little time to do it in. “Ty, I want you to take her with you when you go. One stop out of the myriad you will play over your lifetime, is it so much to ask? Take her wherever you care.”

    
“Phaylio...”

    
“I know, I know,” muttered Phaylio. He closed his eyes and sighed. His heart was so heavy and filled with mourning. He revealed something from the confines of his coat, but in the fading light, Ty didn’t see it. He looked down at it, whispering to himself.

    
Neither Phaylio nor Ty saw the figure coming at them from the shadows until it was upon them. Phaylio was the first to take note of it, and he stood up haughtily, his nostrils flared. “You were not to be here, I told you to stay put.”

    
“Father, I couldn’t, not now... I had to see you... I had to know... I told you he would not accept it, even if you gave him the easiest way out. Father, you have guided me for so many years toward the one thing for which you have always aspired. You told me I was the one, and I believed you. Would you have me
throw it all away
?”

    
Phaylio chuckled at the fullness of her spirit. “So much like you,” he whispered looking away. He saw an image in the distance now, a faint glow growing closer. “I know, I know,” he chided himself. He looked to the sun, and the last of its light, an orange-red crest being devoured by the shadows. He said aloud, “Still, you should not have come.”

    
“I would not have stayed away, even if I could...”

    
“Shilastar...” began Phaylio, his eyes fought to stay open, but they were so heavy and he so wanted to rest.

    
Shilastar ran up beside him and placed both her arms about him, swaying him in a gentle hug. “Hush, just let me hold you,” she cried.

    
“Ty,” called Phaylio, with as much strength as he could manage.

    
Ty walked closer, only now understanding Phaylio was talking about his death. A tear swelled up in his eye as he took Phaylio’s hand, disregarding the water about his knees. He didn’t think about it anymore, but if he would have turned his eyes out into the grey shifting shape, he probably would have been very afraid. The shadows seemed to make it breathe as it flowed up and down against the shore, and perhaps its energies allowed Phaylio a few extra breaths as the sun waned on the horizon.

    
Phaylio glowed with the warmth he perceived about him. Even in the darkness, he could see two eyes staring back at him from just beyond the grey mists ahead. His precious cargo had fallen from his hands, only moments ago, though he hadn’t noticed. “I know, I know,” he mumbled again.

    
Shilastar wiped the tears from her face. She had had no proper period to mourn, and her heart was riddled with pain. She tried to be strong and joyful in Phaylio’s last moments, but she couldn’t. It was all too soon. “I’m sorry, father, I’m sorry,” she softly repeated.

    
“No need,” replied Phaylio, “that is how life is, it is sorrowful till the last. It is all right to cry, release your pain.” Phaylio tilted his head, so his eyes met Ty’s. “So, do you see now why I asked? They have not gone, nor will they until it is over. Find Send’r, he will know what to do...” Phaylio’s lips slowed, and soon he breathed his last breath. Phaylio saw a face gentle and kind just before his eyes slowly closed. A warm, familiar hand slipped into his, and in his thoughts, he walked away.

“
Ty where are you going?” shouted Shilastar, chasing after him.

    
“You don’t expect me to just go hop-skipping across the planet with
them
still up there, do you?” Ty averted his eyes from her searching stare, looking upward for a hint of shadows against the soft night sky.

    
“No, we can walk. Remember, you promised... You said you would accompany me...” stated Shilastar, her tone almost imploring.

    
“How did you... ? No, I didn’t.”

    
“Fine, just take me as far as Ttuirre.”

    
“Ttuirre?”

    
He had intended to keep his promise to Phaylio, but he didn’t understand the import. Who was this Send’r and why did he care? Ty was too busy contemplating his own dilemma to be concerned over someone else’s comparatively trivial problem. If Phaylio had been visited with the slow death, it was his just desserts, that was the law. And although he could grieve for the rest of his life, it wouldn’t change the facts. He and Shilastar sat long by the water’s edge conferring the body to its final resting place as Phaylio had wished.

    
“I’ll have Erant help me. I don’t need your help.”

    
“Erant?” Ty asked.

    
“Yes, Erant.” Shilastar played with the tone of her voice as she said the other’s name. “Father told me I could trust you. He said I could put my life in your hands... little did he know.”

    
“He said that?” Ty wasn’t sure if he believed her.

    
“He did.”

    
“Okay, but only as far as the fourth village, and we will go to Ttuirre last.”

    
“No problem. That’s all it will take. And the sooner you leave, the better,” rebuked Shilastar.

    
“The sooner the better. Very much so,” mumbled Ty.

    
Their conversation hadn’t gained much ground until now, and Ty was growing flustered. Paliy had but five villages: six in theory but four excluding Phaylio village. The way Ty figured it, the faster they moved, the better. He hoped to have Paliy far behind him in two day’s time. The villages spread out in a large circle from the ruins; and because earlier Shilastar had pointed out the direction of the closest village to where they stood, this is the direction he headed.

    
The breezes turned bitter as the darkness progressed, but neither had provisions to shield them. Walking had built up a fever in them, so the cold didn’t take hold of them until they idled. The two began anew at a faster pace, carefully picking their way among the shadows in their path. Ty watched Shilastar brace herself against tight shivers, wrapping her arms about herself. The chill was getting to him, too, though he wouldn’t admit it.

    
The next time they stopped began again, Shilastar’s teeth were chattering and she shook intensely. Ty loosed his jacket from his shoulders and offered it to her, but when she refused it he put it back on, pulling it up close.

    
“Suit yourself.”

    
He took stock of his possessions, as he did often unconsciously, especially when he was aggravated.

    
Shilastar’s vexation grew as she watched him for a moment. “All right already, give it to me,” she said through frigid lips.

    
“Too late! I offered and you didn’t want it. Make up your mind next time.”

    
“I did...” grumbled Shilastar. “Well... At least share.”

    
“Share? You want me to share?”

    
“Yes...” she replied, quietly adding, “please.”

    
Ty removed his arm from the right sleeve and offered it to her. Luckily, the jacket was large; he liked it oversized to harbor some of the trinkets he liked to keep close. They ambled on awkwardly, but were warmer. Combining their body heat was enough to stem the cold.

    
The second moon had already risen when they reached Kyj-Llai, which was dark and dreary at this late hour. Before they wandered onto its paths, Shilastar unceremoniously segregated herself from Ty, leaving a fair distance between them. She let him keep the jacket. She would soon have warm stew in her belly.

    
Unlike Phaylio or Ttuirre, Kyj-Llai was quite spacious. Its inhabitants were excessively private and tended to keep their distance from the rest of Paliy, and often even among themselves. They didn’t need anything from the outside, for unlike the previous, they were composed of two villages. The village of Kyj occupied the southernmost and part of the northeastern sections of the city, the part they were presently in, and Llai. The two together didn’t lack trading or anything else the solitary cities did.

    
Unfortunately, Shilastar had forgotten these cities’ tendencies toward privacy and disdain for outsiders. They found no inn this evening of the sort to which they were accustomed. The two had also neglected another very important thing, they were seriously lacking anything of monetary worth.

    
Shilastar let the few coins she had trickle through her fingers as she fiddled with them in her pockets. The coins were worth more to her in sentimental value than for what they could buy her. Normally, she had little use for money, getting everything she wanted solely on the basis of who she was and her status.

    
Ty was more sleepy than hungry, and he wouldn’t have cared if she hadn’t produced the coins and offered them to him. He didn’t even think to look at them. He shuffled them into his pocket and urged her closer to the establishment they stood in front of, pausing just before he activated the door.

    
“Wait a minute, it’s my turn. Believe me, we need a change of luck. I really wish you had given me that money before.”

    
Shilastar rolled her eyes, and pushed him into the door, automatically activating it. Ty walked in as if he knew the place, proceeding straight to a pair of open stools, and sitting before anyone could say otherwise. He seized two of Shilastar’s coins, setting them on the counter top. He motioned with his hands for two bowls and two drinks by creating a circle in his hand and rubbing his belly and then raising an imaginary glass to his lips, and finally raising two of his fingers.

    
The man behind the counter, small of height, wide of girth, and beady eyed, snatched up the coins, deposited them, and then retrieved two bowls, and later returned with two foaming drinks. Shilastar started to object as the glass was placed in front of her, but Ty clamped a hand to her mouth, grinning broadly at the bartender.

    
“She doesn’t like the foam, but no problem, see? I’ll sip it off for her. See? No problem...”

    
Shilastar opened her mouth again to object, but Ty turned and pushed his mouth tight against hers, which made the barkeep turn away. Ty released Shilastar’s hand, which he immediately restrained to keep her from smacking him in the face. Shilastar leaned over close to Ty, smiling, and whispered in his ear, “You ever do that again, and I’ll bite down so hard you won’t be able to taste for the rest of your life.”

    
Ty glared but quickly began to eat. This was the third, and seemingly the only remaining, inn in Kyj-Llai, and he wasn’t about to get told, kindly or no, that he wasn’t welcome again. They had walked the streets for hours, wandering from varying promising locales, all of which Shilastar had said she knew or had been by, but none of which she had been in. She said her father had been in at one time or another, but not in recent times.

    
The two gobbled their food in silence. The interior of the inn was warm and cheerful, and relatively empty. Ty guessed it must be somewhere near the closing hour, so he immediately emptied his mug and then discarded it, quickly reaching for Shilastar’s. But she slapped his hand away and faked raising the glass to her lips. She didn’t really want it, but she wasn’t going to let him have it, either.

    
Ty surveyed the few coins in his pocket again, jingling them softly. He wondered how many more she had, and then he asked. Shilastar produced a small, pull-string purse, playing with its weight in her hand. She mimicked his yearning stare and then ferried them away. “Well,” Ty said beginning with an astute slowness, “if you want information, this is the best place to begin, but you must drink heartily and earn the barkeep’s trust.”

    
Shilastar played with the idea in her mind for an instant, “I don’t think so. You just want another drink, and I’m not going to let you have it.”.

    
“OK, have it your way, but when we’re back out on the street with nothing, I’ll tell you about it.”

    
“Fine. Perhaps one more, but that’s all... No more.” Shilastar’s strong front began to ebb, and tears welled up in her eyes. “Ty,” she cried softly, “I haven’t mourned him. I need time.”

    
She sounded so pathetic that Ty’s heart went out to her. He hadn’t fully considered Phaylio’s words or his actions, but he thought he was making good on his promise to Phaylio. He ordered his second drink, taking long sips as he mulled over thoughts he should have considered long ago had he not been too preoccupied. Phaylio had always been a peculiar, somewhat eccentric person tending toward ramblings that seemed to go nowhere. Had all been going somewhere? And if so, where was it taking him, or where was it meant to take him? He considered his earlier thoughts of Phaylio perhaps harsh. He had never seen the man commit an act that should have brought such a thing upon him. Why then, and why now? Seven times in the past year, he reminded himself. He felt them close to him, and his premonitions were usually correct, or had been so far.

    
Ty beckoned, and the figure behind the counter shifted from his cleaning toward Ty. They were the last ones in the place now, even the lights in the kitchen were switched off and the cook was gone.

    
“You two look lost,” said the man even before Ty spoke. “I bet you are. You look familiar, dear. What are you doing with the likes of an outsider?”

    
“Yes, I think I am,” toyed Shilastar.

    
“What are you doing?” muttered Ty glowering. He didn’t want to get kicked out just yet.

    
“I tried to tell you earlier, but...”

    
Shilastar was cut off by the other, “I know your face, but it seems to me so long ago, it couldn’t have been...”

    
Shilastar knew to whom the man was referring and replied, “Could be...”

    
“Could it be?” asked the man, scratching his head, “You’re her daughter I would venture. You have her eyes.”

    
“Yes, Llai, father always said you were fond of her, though.”

    
“Wait a minute!” exclaimed Ty. “You know this man, and you said nothing?”

    
“I tried to earlier. Twice. But you cut me off.”

    
Llai laughed and remarked, “You two seem to be in a bit of a fix, maybe I can help. Gosh, it has been such a long time since your father ventured here, must be forty, forty-five turnings...”

    
“Forty,” whispered Shilastar to herself.

    
“How did you know my name? I have never seen you here before, though your face, your eyes... Did anyone ever tell you, you are a spitting image of her?”

    
“No,” spoke Shilastar with guile, “my father described you in full detail to me, even down to the way you play with your ear.”

    
“What do you mean play with my ear?” replied Llai, immediately defensive.

    
“He even said you would become defensive
…
” laughed Shilastar.

    
Ty took Shilastar aside for a moment, pulling her close beside him. “If he told you all that, why did it take you so long to find this place?”

    
“You know, he tended to go on and on about things. Some things I can remember just as if he spoke them to me yesterday, some of which he did, but... but...”

    
“Knew?” interrupted Llai.

    
“Shhh, it’s okay. You don’t have to explain.” Ty put his arm around her for an instant and then pulled it away.

    
Llai seemed understand what was implied and didn’t pry. “You are welcome to stay the night, though I can’t offer you much. Rest, and you will feel much better in the morning.”

    
Llai showed them where they could sleep and little more was said. Not much needed to be said. Ty was the first to fall asleep, shortly followed by Shilastar. She watched the way his chest rose and fell as he enjoyed slumber. Tired as she was, a flood of ideas and thoughts mixed and jumped through her mind.

    
Shilastar was also the first to wake, so she busied herself in the kitchen with the cook, at her own insistence, chasing the other away if he tried to refuse her assistance. She made Paliyian gruel, her style, and several other breakfast dishes, which were cooling as Ty stirred.