Starlighter (28 page)

“Magnar, may I intercede on behalf of this girl? It is not our way to allow a young woman to face such dire consequences without an escort.”

The dragon snorted derisively. “Why would she need an escort?”

“To ease her passage to the next world.” Jason gave him a surprised look. “You do believe in another world, don’t you?”

“It depends on what you mean by another world.” Magnar extended his neck and brought his head close to Jason’s. As the draconic eyes stared into his, the dragon’s hot breath warmed his cheeks. “You are veiling your words. What is it that you are not telling me?”

“If you allow me to go with her, I will give you more information, but first I want to—”

“So be it.” Magnar withdrew his head. “I will carry the Starlighter,” he said to the other big dragon, “and you will take the male. Yarlan is capable of dispatching the rabble.”

The word pierced Jason’s mind.
Dispatching?
“Wait,” he called. “What do you mean by ‘dispatching’? We had a bargain.”

“Shall I carry him by claw?” the other dragon asked.

“It is the only secure method.” Magnar flapped his wings, and, with a jump into the air, snatched Koren off the ground with his claws.

“Wait!” Jason called again, but the dragons ignored him. He looked back at Randall, who had drawn his photo gun and sword.

“We won’t go down easily,” Randall said.

The other dragon launched as well, and with a swipe of his eagle-like talons, he grabbed the back of Jason’s shirt and jerked him into the air.

Elyssa ran out of the mine, dripping wet and screaming, “Jason!”

A claw bit into Jason’s skin. The shirt pulled tightly against his chest, making the litmus finger throb again. Now well above the top of a nearby tree, he shouted back. “Is the way clear to the portal?”

“It is!” Elyssa paced back and forth underneath him. “What should I do?”

“Just make sure the Lost Ones get home!”

“I will!” As she spread out her arms, her wet clothes clung to her dungeon-thin body. “And I’ll bring you home, too! I will find you, no matter how long it takes!”

The dragon shot higher, making it impossible to communicate, but the shrinking bodies of his friends still
said so much. Elyssa let her arms droop. Randall wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hurried her back into the mine.

Yarlan sent a blast of fire after them, but it missed well high of their heads.

When his carrier dragon leveled out, Jason looked over at Magnar. Koren dangled in his claws, her cloak flapping in the breeze. She stared at him, peaceful, as serene as a sleeping child, even with her hands and feet in bonds.

Starlighter.
The name kept echoing in Jason’s mind. What could it all mean? Why was she so valuable? And what caused the dragons to go back on a bargain?

Jason nodded to himself. No witnesses to appeal to the Zodiac. Yarlan would likely stage a mining accident, and no one would be the wiser. The only hope for Elyssa and the others would be to escape through the portal before the accident occurred. Yet, if anyone could figure out what to do, she could. Apparently she had already stopped the flood.

He let out a sigh. It was best now to settle down and survey the area. Maybe remembering the landscape would serve him later.

To his left, the stream flowing next to the mine, as well as three other streams, ran together, creating a substantial river that ran through a forest that stretched into a massive wilderness on the opposite side. The green hardwoods signified healthy, fertile soil, far better than the sanitized clay back at the mine.

Ahead lay a town, a village of stone. Two of the buildings stood out—a cathedral-like edifice with a tall belfry, and
a multi-spired structure with a smooth dome cap. Beyond the village much farther downstream, a high wall of stones stretched from left to right as far as he could see. The river ran up to it but disappeared beyond, as if it passed the boundary underground.

After a few more minutes, Magnar glided into an opening in the roof of the structure with the belfry. Jason’s carrier followed, and they flew through a marble-lined corridor and into a huge chamber. Inside, dozens of fountains of fire shot up toward the ceiling, making a circle of flaming geysers.

Magnar swooped low and released Koren. Her chin slammed against the marble floor, and she slid several body lengths. Jason’s dragon dropped him from nearly twice his height, but he managed to land on his feet in a run.

As the dragons settled to the floor, Jason hurried to Koren and lifted her to a sitting position. He reached for the gag, but Magnar shouted, “Do not take that off!”

Jason lowered his hands and slid one over Koren’s. “I will do everything I can to protect you,” he whispered.

She looked at him with glistening eyes. Again, they seemed to speak, as if she wanted to say, “I know, but please save yourself if you can.”

After Jason’s transport dragon flew back into the corridor and disappeared, Magnar stalked toward them, speaking in a gruff tone. “Who are you, little man, and where did you come from?”

Jason glanced at Koren again, then at the flames behind him. They warmed his back beyond the comfort level, and the potential flames in front of him seemed just as dangerous. “My name would mean nothing to
you, Magnar, but I think you already know where I came from.”

“Do I?” Magnar again drew close and studied Jason from head to toe. “You are too healthy, too well fed to be one of our slaves.” The dragon’s tongue flicked out and in. “How do you explain that?”

“My mother is a good cook.” Jason spread out his arms. “I promised to give you answers, so ask me another question. I, unlike dragons, will not go back on a bargain.”

Magnar snorted a plume of smoke. “You emerged from a mine, wearing clothes unlike other miners and with hands not yet broken by the hammer and chisel. You are clearly not a miner. I wonder if you even know where you are.”

As the dragon’s head swayed from side to side, Jason watched his fiery eyes. Apparently Magnar expected an answer even though he hadn’t asked a question.

Jason firmed his chin. This interrogation would be like a sword duel, yet with words as weapons. “Magnar, are you asking me about my location? I’m sure a dragon as wise as you already knows where we are.”

A ball of fire shot past Jason’s cheek, singeing his eyebrow.

“Do not patronize me!” Magnar roared.

As he rubbed the superficial burn, Jason looked at Koren. A tear tracked down her cheek and into her gag. Her anxious eyes seemed to warn him of something, but what?

He turned back to the dragon and squared his shoulders. “I am from Major Four, the fourth alpha planet from Solarus, and I have crossed into Dracon through an underground gateway.”

Magnar’s brow lifted. “Ah, yes. Dracon. That is what you call Starlight on your world. I had almost forgotten.”

“What do you call our world?” Jason asked.

“Darksphere.” Magnar moved a step closer. “How did you open the gateway? Did you find the crystal?”

Jason leaned back to avoid the hot breath. “I don’t know anything about a crystal.”

Magnar stared at him eye to eye. “We will see how truthful your words are.” He called out, “Zena, lower the shield. I want to speak with you.”

The fountains subsided, revealing a tall, slender woman who wore a wraparound black sheet. Holding her head high and carrying a shoulder bag, she walked past a dark object that looked like a big egg.

As she neared, her eyes came into view. The pupils were black ovals with no surrounding irises, more like a ghostly cat’s than a human’s, and they seemed to wander, as if unable to focus. “What do you wish?” she asked.

Jason shuddered. She looked like a risen cadaver who had forgotten to stay planted in the ground. Even her voice seemed to come from the grave.

“Take the Starlighter back to the prince,” Magnar said. “She must be chained again. Under no circumstances may she be released until I give the word.”

Zena kept her head held high. “And if the prince chooses otherwise?”

Magnar spoke through a low growl. “The prince will
not
choose otherwise.”

“As you wish.” Zena withdrew a dagger from the bag and sliced through Koren’s bonds, including the gag. She led her to the egg and fastened manacles to her wrists and ankles.

Now sitting cross-legged, Koren gazed at Jason with a forlorn look in her eyes. “If it is in your power,” she said weakly, “please come for me.”

Her voice ripped through his heart, bringing tears to his eyes. He held up a fist. “One way or another, I will set you free. I promise.”

Magnar smacked Jason with the tip of his wing. “You make a beggar’s promise, bread for your children when you have empty pockets.”

With a spin on his heels, Jason faced Magnar again. “What do you want from me?”

The dragon’s eyes flamed. “The crystal.”

Jason pushed his hands into his pockets and turned them inside out. “Like you said, I have empty pockets. I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

Magnar extended his neck again and sniffed Jason’s clothes for a moment before pulling back. “Perhaps when you see the Starlighter tied to the cooking stake, you will remember where you put it.”

Jason resisted the urge to ask about the cooking stake. Whatever it was, it had to be bad. It would be better to probe for more useful information. “Who is Zena, and what is this black egg?”

As if on cue, the fountains of fire began to rise again, veiling Koren, Zena, and the egg. Although all three were still visible in between the columns, the wavering flames distorted the view, making it impossible to know what they were doing inside.

“Your first lesson as a new slave on your new home planet,” Magnar said, “is that you do not ask questions of your master unless you are in a submissive posture.” He swung his tail and bashed Jason on the side of his head. One of the spikes jabbed his scalp and nearly penetrated his
skull. He collapsed and writhed on the floor, holding a hand against the wound. Warm liquid flowed between his fingers.

“Ah! That is better.” Magnar let out a low chuckle. “Now you may repeat the question.”

Jason pushed up to his hands and knees. Blood streamed across his cheek and down his chin before dripping to the floor. He looked up and glared at Magnar. “This is not my home planet. If you hope to learn anything from me, I advise you to treat me as an emissary, not as your slave.”

“Emissary?” Magnar’s voice shifted to a surprised tone. “If you are an emissary, why did Prescott fail to communicate your visit to me in the usual way?”

Jason focused on the blood pooling in front of him.
Usual way? And how does he know Prescott’s name?
He cleared his throat. “The governor was indisposed.”

Magnar stared at him, his red pupils oscillating between wide and narrow. After a long moment, he extended a wing and helped Jason rise to his feet. “If you are really an emissary, I will not insult you any further. Yet, if I discover that you are not, your execution will be instantaneous.”

Jason wiped blood from his hand to his shirt. Again, blistering retorts flooded his mind, but any one of them would likely mean death.

“Climb on my back,” Magnar said, “and I will take you to the Zodiac’s courtyard. There we will find my emissary to your world, and I have some pointed questions for him.”

K
oren stared at the black egg. The shell’s polished surface reflected everything around—the circle of fountains spewing fire to the ceiling; Zena standing nearby, stoic, as if in a trance; and her own reflection, her downturned features painting a portrait of her feelings—tired, sad, near the point of despair.

She wept. Would Natalla be able to escape the dragons? Would she be sent to the cattle camp? What would Magnar do to Jason? At long last, someone had come from the other world, a promise of rescue, a sign that the stories were all true, and now her hopes were being dashed.

As she cried, a voice drifted into her consciousness. “Koren, if you had done as I asked, your rescuer would not be in peril.”

She looked at the egg. The voice continued, and her lips spoke the words. “Leaving the Basilica was a tragic mistake.
Your presence at the mine provided a way for the men to rely on something other than their inner strength and sense of sacrifice for their loved ones. They allowed you to sacrifice yourself, and any man who gives up his duty to protect and defend the little ones, and transfers that duty to someone whom he should protect, has shredded his masculine dignity.”

Koren swallowed, but her throat tightened, making her voice squeak. “Do you mean that it would have been better for them to die?”

“In the long run, yes, because now they will never regain the courage they have shorn, and the future of humans on this planet is darker than at any time in history, for the Starlighter will be lost forever.”

“Lost forever? Do you mean that Magnar will kill me now?”

“Is that not the sacrifice for which you offered yourself?”

“Yes, but I thought maybe you would defend me. You’re the prince, and they do what you say.”

“I said you would be safe as long as you stayed within these walls. You violated that arrangement, so your safety is forfeit. If Magnar has his way, you and your rescuer will soon die, and yours will be a most excruciating death.”

Tears dripped down Koren’s cheeks and fell to her manacles. “Is there anything I can do? Anything to help Jason and the others? Even if I have to die, I am willing, but I want my fellow human beings left unharmed.”

“Is that so?” Her head turned unbidden toward Zena, and words spilled from her mouth. “Zena, move the Starlighter close to me so that we may have a more intimate conversation.”

A hint of a smile bent Zena’s lips. “As you wish, my prince.”

Crouching, Zena pushed a key into a lock where the chains attached to a ring on the floor. She reeled out several more links, extending the length between the ring and the manacles, and locked them in place again.

Koren’s lips again moved without command. “Come closer, Starlighter. Wrap your arms around me and listen to my inner voice.”

She glanced at Zena before shuffling forward on her knees. The chains dragged and jingled as she moved, and the extra links allowed her to reach the egg. She draped her arms over it and laid her ear on the shell near the top. A faint noise, low and rhythmic, sounded from within. Could that be the dragon’s heartbeat?

Words entered her mind, but this time without her lips giving them voice.

Listen to my heart
,
Koren
,
and I will infuse what you hear into yours. Put away the confusing thoughts in your mind
,
for they will never lead you to me. And do you remember what I said to you about the chains?

“If I stay in chains long enough, I will learn to love you. It is better that I love you by force than be given freedom to choose.”

You remember well.
A soft laugh emerged.
How did freedom serve you?

“Poorly. But I was trying to love, trying to sacrifice. The Code says you will recognize love when you see someone sacrificing himself for the sake of a pauper, and that’s what I was trying to do.”

Ah
,
yes! The Code. Now you see that the rigors of the Code are too difficult. You are unable to love
,
unable to sacrifice
,
so the Code is useless. Obeying it is out of your reach. You were born a slave
,
and you will die a slave
,
so
the only good you can do is to serve me. As I taught you earlier
,
in your condition of aggression and doubt
,
you would never believe me worthy to be served
,
but now that you have learned how foolish you really are
,
and chains once again bind your ankles and wrists
,
perhaps you are less certain than you were before.

“Less certain about what?”

Your notion that love is a choice
,
that chains can never bind a heart. Your freedom has led you to seek a breaking of our covenant. Whether or not Magnar’s word superseded mine is of no consequence. The result has been disaster. So you can see now that you must be forced to serve me
,
for that is the only way you will ever learn to love me. Even now
,
if you will acquiesce with heart
,
mind
,
and soul
,
and agree to these chains for as long as I command
,
I can save your life.

Koren gazed at her chains. The prince had allowed them to be extended, not taken off. He had given her permission to touch, to listen, to embrace, but she still couldn’t walk away if she chose to do so. What did it all mean?

As she pondered, the memory of her recent conversation with the prince returned to her mind. She had shaken one of her chains and said, “If this is your idea of being worthy, then no, I would never learn to love you.” And that statement still seemed so true. No one would force love on someone else. It wouldn’t be love at all.

Still, she couldn’t argue with him. Not now. Her choices had proved disastrous, regardless of her motivations.

She looked at the raw skin and oozing blood that outlined her manacles. He was wrong. This wasn’t love. This couldn’t be love.

Koren stared at Zena. She stood erect, a ring of keys dangling from her fingers, and a sheen of perspiration
making her skin glow. With the fountains reflecting in her shimmering pale skin, she seemed to be on fire. What was she, anyway? Those black, ovular pupils made her look like the egg had imprinted itself on her eyes.

Letting her gaze drift down Zena’s arms, Koren squinted to get a good look. The sweat on the slender white wrists highlighted a slight discoloration in her skin. Manacle abrasions? Yes, that had to be the reason. The shape and size of each mark was exactly right. She, too, had been shackled in these irons, and now she served the prince without chains.

Koren stiffened. Was Zena a picture of what she would become if she listened to the voice of the prince? Would she transform into a mindless zombie who believed love was hatched from bondage, that the Code was useless and impossible to obey, that her sacrifice for friends caused the hearts of men to fail?

She fingered once again her cloak’s green eyes, embroidered over her heart. Or should she listen to the voice in her heart, the one that sang like a bird whenever she read from the Code, the one that whispered into her mind saying how much the Creator loved her, that he would woo her with grace and mercy rather than with chains?

Loosening her arms, she drew away from the egg. As she slid backwards on her knees, a voice came through her lips. “Why are you drawing back? You are learning so much, and now I need to tell you—”

She slapped her hand over her mouth and pressed her lips closed. Breathing heavily, she concentrated and, slowly lowering her hand, forced her mouth to speak her own words. “No! I will not listen to you or your heart! I have to follow what I know to be true, the Code, that I can do what
it says, that love is embodied in sacrifice, not chains! I will never love a despot that demands a kneeling posture while flailing my back with a whip! That’s not love. It can’t be love! I will never be your servant!”

She closed her lips again, but the voice managed to break through once more. “So be it…Zena, take the Starlighter to Magnar.”

Surrounded by Cowl, Allender, and the other men as well as the children, Elyssa pointed toward the interior of the tunnel, water dripping from the heel of her hand. “Where does this lead?”

“To the secondary entrance,” Allender said. “It was once the only entrance, but Magnar forced us to dig a new one.”

Elyssa nodded. “I was there, and I saw three tunnels. The middle one leads to a hole Jason and I used to come down to the mining level. Where do the other two lead?”

“As you face the tunnels,” Allender said, gesturing with his hands, “the one on the right leads here, and the one on the left goes up to the top of the mesa. When the dragons deliver supplies, they land up there, and we use that tunnel to carry heavy objects in the cart. The wheels work better there than on the stairs at the entrances.”

Cowl lifted a finger. “We have one dragon guarding us. If my guess is right, he knows by now that a portal is in the secondary entrance chamber, so he will try to stop us.”

Randall struggled to his feet and raised his sword. “I’ll see what I can do to keep him out of there.”

“Any idea how long till Tibber opens the portal again?” Elyssa asked. “I lost track.”

“Me, too.” Randall nodded toward the recesses of the tunnel. “Just gather everyone over there and wait in front of the portal. If I can keep the dragon out, you should be safe.”

Allender let out a sigh. “I am no longer sure what to believe, but I am the leader here. If that little redhead can show such spirit, I can show a little bit more myself.”

“And I,” Cowl said. “When I saw the emerald fire in her eyes, it awakened something in me I had forgotten, like a flint lighting a torch that had long since been abandoned.”

Micah curled his bent fingers into a fist. “Yes! Let it burn!”

“You cannot face the dragon alone,” Cowl said, laying a hand on Randall’s shoulder. “I will help you.”

“But what about Tam?” Elyssa asked. “If you—”

“Then she will always remember that her father was a hero. I should have embraced that legacy when the numeral one came up on the cube. Seeing it made my heart quake, and I listened to my fears. After watching that blessed angel being carried bound and gagged up those stairs, I swore I would never listen to that dark voice again.”

“Then I will go as well,” Micah said, “I can—”

Randall withdrew his sword. “Cowl will be plenty. If every man suddenly gets the heart of a lion, no one will be left to protect the children.”

“Fair enough.” Allender marched ahead, side-stepping the hole leading to the lower level. “Follow me.”

Three men shadowed Allender. Mark carried Natalla, and another raised a lit torch, while Micah guided the children ahead. Elyssa waited for the others to walk out of earshot and looked at Cowl and Randall in turn. “I think we’re in more trouble than we realize,” she said.

“I agree.” Randall rubbed the hilt of his sword with tight fingers. “I was wondering about that
dispatching
business. Every man and child here knows about the portal and our world, so the dragons don’t want to leave anyone to spread the news to the other slaves.”

Elyssa laid a hand on the tunnel wall and closed her eyes. She allowed her mind to probe within, feeling the structure as she mentally drilled into its depths. “I sense trembling. It comes and goes in a rhythm.”

Randall looked up. “Footsteps? A dragon’s footsteps?”

“Could be. There is also another sensation, like a low buzzing noise. Very strange.” She flashed open her eyes and stared at Cowl. “At the top of the mesa, is the opening to the third tunnel big enough for a dragon to go through?”

Cowl nodded. “But only for a few steps. It quickly gets smaller.”

“Do the dragons have anything dangerous that Yarlan can put into the tunnel, something that would kill anyone below? Poison gas or a wild animal?”

Cowl stroked his chin for a moment. “I cannot think of—” His face suddenly turned pale. “No! There is something!”

“What?”

“Bees!”

“Bees?”

“Yes, in the forest we have beehives that slaves harvest for the dragons. The bees are extremely vicious, and their stings are fatal. Only a few humans have been found who can safely work around them. The dragons, of course, are immune because of their hard scales.”

Elyssa touched the wall again. “That would explain the buzzing I sensed.”

“For that to work,” Randall said, “Yarlan would have to close the exits.”

Cowl gestured with his hands, as if going through the dragon’s motions. “First he would put the bees in place and close the top opening. Then, while the bees are finding their way through the tunnel, he would likely close the secondary entrance.”

“And then this one,” Randall said.

“Yes, there is a boulder near each that he can push in place.” Cowl picked up Jason’s sword. “Come. We must get out before he shuts us in. We have to keep this escape open.”

Elyssa ran deeper into the tunnel, calling back, “I have to warn them. If the other entrance is already blocked, we’ll come back through this one.”

As her path turned darker, she again probed with her mind. The ground was even and the walls were smooth, no obstacles to prevent her from running as fast as her tired legs would carry her.

Soon, light returned. Ahead, the tunnel ended at the anteroom, and the men and children were gathered near the stairs. Natalla, pale, but otherwise recovered, stood holding Mark’s hand.

Allender stooped at the lowest stair, looking up at the exit while the man with the torch stood beside him. Wallace crouched in front of the portal plane, staring at the line of crystalline pegs embedded in the floor. “I saw the crystal you recovered,” he said to Elyssa. “It must be the missing peg.”

She pulled the crystal from her pocket and hurried to his side. Kneeling, she inserted the pointed end of the peg into the hole, but sand and pebbles kept it from going all the way in. “It’s blocked.”

“I will clean it out.” Wallace withdrew a small knife from his pocket. “It won’t take more than a minute.”

“We might not have a minute.” Elyssa left the peg with Wallace, rose, and waved at Allender. “We have to get the children out of here.”