“It is likely already too late for water, but …” Arxad nuzzled Fellina’s cheek, whispered something in her ear, then lowered his body. “Come. I will take you.”
While Jason climbed on, Koren pushed her hood back, revealing her signature hair and eyes. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Yes.” Cassabrie pushed the stardrop into Koren’s hand. “You can do this as well as I can. I’ll find a way to restore Exodus.”
Koren closed her fingers around the stardrop. “We need to talk sometime.”
“We will. I’m sure of it.” Cassabrie stooped next to Petra and withdrew the control box from her scorched waistband.
“What’s that?” Jason asked as Arxad rose from his belly.
Cassabrie quickly slid the box into her pocket. “Something that I must keep secret for now. I hope you will trust me.”
“Sure. I trust you.” Jason shrugged weakly. “I don’t see why I shouldn’t.”
She looked at Jason’s belt as he sat atop Arxad. Mounted as he was, with his sword hanging in a scabbard at his side, this young man she had dwelled within was an inspiring sight to behold. Yet, she couldn’t tell him why she wanted Koren to exercise her gifts without a more experienced Starlighter around. He would ask too many questions. “Will you be my bodyguard, at least until I get to Exodus?”
“Of course.” He reached down a hand. “I’ll give you a lift. No use making Arxad get down again.”
Riding Jason’s pull, Cassabrie climbed up to Arxad’s back and settled behind Jason, her hands braced on his hips. As Arxad reared on his haunches, she took in a deep breath. He jumped into the air and flapped his powerful wings, shooting upward so fast, her body pressed down on his scales. Soon he flew out the Zodiac’s open double doors, through the portico, and into the air.
Exhaling, she luxuriated in the sunshine and cool breeze. Although it felt wonderful to move and breathe again, it seemed wrong to enjoy it. Petra lay back there in agony, close to death, and the fate of all the world rested on the skill of a Starlighter.
Cassabrie sighed. Years ago, she had refused to take Brinella’s place as the guiding light, and her choice had cost everyone dearly. She wasn’t about to make the same mistake again.
nineteen
We’d better get started,” Koren said. “Petra’s barely breathing.” Elyssa touched Koren’s head. “Can I get some more hair first? Deference prefers yours.”
“Sure.” Koren lowered her chin. “As much as you need.”
Elyssa plucked several strands of Koren’s hair and extended them toward Fellina’s neck wound. “Here, Deference.”
A glowing hand appeared and snatched the hair.
“Thank you.”
Elyssa hurried to Petra and crouched at her side. “Okay. Let’s give it a try.”
Koren opened her hand, revealing the shimmering stardrop.
“Who should swallow it?” Elyssa asked. “Me or her?”
“I have no idea.”
Elyssa knelt over Petra, one knee on each side of her hips, and clutched her pendant. “Try to get Petra to swallow it.”
Koren pushed the stardrop between Petra’s charred lips, but as soon as the burning sphere touched her stub of a tongue, Petra bit down and spat half of it out. The stardrop fragment plinked on the floor and sizzled as it dwindled away. Her eyes clenching shut, she let out a gut-wrenching moan.
Elyssa reached for the stardrop, but Koren grabbed her wrist. “I don’t think she’ll let me try again. I’ll just get her to swallow what’s in her mouth.”
“But she might need it all.” Elyssa scooped up the now-tiny fragment. In seconds, it sizzled down to nothing. “This isn’t good.”
“It can’t be helped. Let’s do it.”
Nodding, Elyssa laid her hand over Petra’s dark lips while Koren massaged her scalded cheeks. “Come on, Petra,” Koren whispered. “Swallow it.”
As Petra’s body trembled, Elyssa spoke in a soothing tone. “Settle down, sweetheart, and let me probe deep inside. I can feel the stardrop’s energy near the back of your throat. It’s stuck there, but it’s healing the scar tissue.” Elyssa looked at Koren. “I think she must have inhaled some of the flames.”
“Looks like it. She might be burned all the way down to her lungs.”
Using both hands, Elyssa ripped open Petra’s tunic, peeling the fused material away from her melted flesh and revealing dark, oozing burns. “Oh, dear Creator! This is terrible!”
Koren grimaced. “Her skin looks like it’s still burning.”
Elyssa lowered her hand close to Petra’s chest but jerked it back. “She’s so hot! What should I do?”
“We need the water,” Koren said, “but we can’t wait.”
“I think you’re right.” Elyssa eased her hand down onto the dripping sores, cringing as her fingers melded with the spongy, dark flesh. “I’m probing again. Pray for a miracle.”
Koren drew her hood over her head and looked up. The ceiling was open, allowing her to see one of the murals in the Zodiac corridor, the painting of Cassabrie standing within the glowing sphere. Only moments ago, Koren had stood at the outer doorway studying the artwork while Arxad broke the stakes with his tail, allowing Jason and Randall to safely jump. Then, as she dropped down to their waiting arms, the idea of help coming from above never felt so real, but human help wasn’t enough. They couldn’t do this alone. “Creator of all,” she said, her voice cracking, “hear my plea. Ease Petra’s suffering. Cause the stardrops to do their work. Repair what is damaged and lift her to full healing. She is such a precious girl, an adopted sister I will always cherish. It is I who got her involved in all this trouble, and she bravely accepted every challenge. Bless her. Hold her. Let her know that you are pleased with her faith and courage.”
“I sense a movement,” Elyssa said. “It’s not physical. Something is shifting at the very core of her being. When I healed you, I was able to connect myself with your thoughts and feelings, but this time I’m not finding the connection with Petra.”
Koren licked her lips, trying not to cry. “Maybe it’s because she’s not a Starlighter.”
“Or maybe it’s because she’s dying.” Elyssa closed her eyes. “Wait. I think … Yes, here she is.”
Petra’s body settled, and her eyes fluttered open. She lifted an arm and pointed toward the ceiling.
Koren looked. There was nothing but darkness.
“I … I see him,” Elyssa called. “He’s coming this way.”
Koren looked in the direction Petra stared. “Who?”
Elyssa’s voice rang out with joy. “Cassabrie said I’d know an angel when I saw one. He is so beautiful!” Petra’s mouth stayed closed, but her eyes seemed to communicate while Elyssa translated with spoken words. “He’s holding out his hand.”
Petra reached, straining and groaning.
“You’re trying to touch the angel?” Koren asked.
Her own face twisting in pain, Elyssa nodded. “Take me there. I want to go to heaven. No one here believes in me.”
“No!” Koren cried. “Don’t die! Petra, my dear sister, don’t leave me! I believe in you! I love you! I love you more than life!”
Petra’s arm dropped to her side. She puffed fast, shallow breaths, her eyes now wild.
“Dear angel,” Elyssa shouted, “please wait! I have one request before I go. I want to give Koren a message.”
All three paused. As complete silence held sway, it seemed that time itself had stopped.
Petra took in a deep breath, then, with her eyes back to normal, she gazed at Koren. Lifting her hands, she began forming a message with her fingers, but they bent against each other, and the signs lost their shape. Finally, her arms fell limp at her sides, and she relaxed every muscle, her breath releasing in a long sigh.
“Petra!” Koren shouted. “I couldn’t read your message! What are you trying to tell me?”
Blinking, Petra whispered, “I love you.” Then her eyes closed, and her chest fell silent.
<
br /> “Petra?” Koren brushed Petra’s hair back again and again. “Petra! Sweet sister, can you hear me?”
Lying perfectly still, Petra made no sound.
Spasms rocked Koren’s body. As she slid back on her knees, her words spat out in choking gasps. “Elyssa … did every word … you spoke … come from … Petra’s mind?”
Her manner lethargic, yet calm, Elyssa peeled her hand away from Petra’s skin. “Yes. Every word.” “Even … I love you?”
“No, I didn’t say that.” Elyssa nodded at Petra. “She did.”
“But how? She has no—” “I don’t know how.”
Her spasms easing, Koren touched Petra’s gray lips. “Do you want me to look inside?”
“To see if she has a tongue?” Elyssa shook her head. “I don’t want to know.”
“Neither do I.” Koren closed her eyes and again forced tortured words through her tightening throat. “She’s one, Elyssa. She suffered so much, and most of it was my fault.”
Elyssa shifted away from Petra and crouched next to Koren. “How so?” Her voice sounded streaked with pain.
Koren shook her head. “I can’t … Not now.” She leaned over and kissed Petra’s forehead. “Good night, sweet sister. I’ll see you again someday.” She unclasped her cloak and draped it over Petra’s body. As she rose to her feet, she wiped tears from both cheeks. After all they had gone through together, how could she just get up and leave Petra behind? But there was so much to do. With most of the population already exposed to the disease, she had to spread the word and give everyone hope for a cure.
Randall limped over to Elyssa and Koren. “I’m so sorry! I wish I could’ve helped, but I didn’t know —”
“There was nothing you could have done,” Elyssa said. “Thank you for standing guard.”
“Well, I don’t want to sound callous or anything, but I have a question.”
“Let’s hear it.” Elyssa wiped her hand on her shirt as she rose. “I don’t promise any answers.”
“How did Petra get here?” Randall asked. “We left her in the Northlands.”
“I’m finished,” Deference called.
All three turned toward her. “Will the stitches hold?” Elyssa asked.
The shining spirit emerged from Fellina’s body. “They should for a while, but we need to find something stronger than hair.”
“The butcher sometimes does surgery,” Koren said. “Most humans either heal on their own, or they die, so he doesn’t get much practice. I saw him stitch up a boy once. He uses string made from the gut of a sheep.”
Deference nodded. “I was just thinking that.”
Randall regripped his sword. “Then we should pay this butcher a visit and get some.”
“But he doesn’t keep it in his shop,” Koren said. “He said it was hard to make, and since he doesn’t want people wasting it, he hides it in a safe place.”
“Then maybe Arxad can force him to give us some.”
Koren shook her head. “I don’t think humans are going to be in any mood to give a dragon anything right now, especially with the threat of a deadly disease hanging over everyone. The butcher is sure to be fresh out of it, if you know what I mean.”
“Tibalt would be perfect for that job,” Elyssa said. “He probably has wounds that need stitching.”
Koren looked up at the open ceiling. Without a healthy dragon, there was no way to get to the Zodiac’s exit. “I’ll tell him, but I’ll have to go through the tunnel to the Basilica.”
“Wait a minute,” Randall said. “Didn’t anyone at least think about my question? How did Petra get here? I’m guessing it had to be a dragon, but Arxad and Fellina were with us.”
Elyssa tapped her chin with a finger. “Of the dragons that would cooperate, that leaves only Xenith. She’s fast. I should know. I rode her on a wild escape.”
“Okay,” Koren said, “if Xenith brought her, that means she must have dropped her off in the Basilica. She might still be there making sure no one followed Petra.”
“Or she might be waiting for Petra to return.” Elyssa leaned over and stroked Fellina’s wing. “Since Arxad will want to stay with Fellina, Xenith is the best option for transport to the Northlands. Someone with immune genetics has to get there.”
“Right, the disease. But who will go? You or Cassabrie?”
“I don’t know yet, but if I go with Xenith right away, I’ll need someone to tell Arxad.”
Koren pointed at herself. “Then I should come with you. I’ll wait to see what happens to you before I look for Tibalt.”
“I think that should work.” Elyssa clasped Randall’s arm. “Will you stay and guard Fellina and Deference while Koren and I look for Xenith?”
“Of course, but who will guard you and Koren?”
“You are such a chivalrous knight,” Elyssa said, patting his cheek.
Koren smiled in spite of her pain. “He certainly is.”
“We’d better get going.” Elyssa marched toward the tunnel. Koren followed, looking back at Randall.
With one hand on the hilt of his sword, he called after them, “Wait! You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know!” Elyssa entered the tunnel and began a slow jog.
Pressing a hand on her wounded side, Koren tried to keep pace. Randall’s voice faded behind her. “Why won’t people answer my questions?”
The moment Arxad landed in front of the Zodiac, Jason slid down and helped Cassabrie dismount. He ran to a large bucket Arxad had placed gently on the ground just before he landed. Grabbing the handle and an attached rope, he lugged the water to the open doorway. Stopping at the threshold, he looked down into the lower level. Randall stood next to Fellina, his sword drawn. “How is she?” Jason called.
“Better. She tried to talk, so I told her about the neck injury. She’s staying still.”
Arxad flew over Jason’s head and zoomed into the lower chamber. He landed with a thump, pulled in his wings, and nuzzled Fellina.
Jason held up the bucket. “I got the water for Petra. Arxad didn’t want to try to land with it down there. He thought it would spill. I have a rope, so I can —”
Randall slid his sword away. “It’s too late, Jason.” A sigh nearly overwhelmed his voice as he looked at the floor. “She’s dead. Elyssa and Koren just left for the Basilica.”
Jason dropped the bucket. As water poured to the lower level, he leaned in to get a better look at the chamber. Near the left edge of his view, a blue cloak covered a motionless body.
He swallowed down a lump. Poor Petra. She of all people didn’t deserve to die. So much death. So much suffering. Would this slaughter of innocents ever stop?
After clearing his throat, Jason nodded at Randall. “I’m going to see if I can help Cassabrie.” He turned and kicked the bucket off the threshold, sending it tumbling through the portico, down the stairs, and out to the street.
He met Cassabrie at the bottom of the stairs. Using the edge of her cloak, she dabbed tears from her eyes.
“You heard?” he asked.
She nodded and looped her arm through his. As they walked toward the Basilica, she leaned her head against his shoulder. “What I am about to do,” she said, her voice quavering, “will finally set everyone free.”
Jason angled his head to watch her as they continued. Her expression seemed resolute, unchangeable. “What about the disease?” he asked. “We don’t have a vaccine yet.”
“If this works, we won’t need one, at least for those who are willing to apply the treatment. But you had better go ahead with the vaccine plans, just in case.”
Jason refocused ahead. Cassabrie spoke in riddles, apparently unwilling to reveal her plans, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. “What are you going to do?”
“I can’t tell you, and please don’t ask me why.”
“Okay, but I know you’re going to try to raise Exodus again. Are the holes sealed?”
“Before Koren resurrected Exodus, I had hoped that Elyssa coul
d seal the wound and stop Taushin’s scheme to infect everyone. You see, another Starlighter once dwelt in the star, and Elyssa, being a Diviner, could have sealed the membrane from the outside using her healing gifts and without contracting the disease, but things didn’t quite work out that way. So, after Koren took the other Starlighter’s place, we discovered that Taushin had stolen the spear. It wasn’t hard to guess what he might do, so I had to come up with my alternate plan.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Not for others.”
“That means it is dangerous, doesn’t it?” He stopped and grasped Cassabrie’s arm. “Could you die doing this?”
As she stared at him with her piercing green eyes, a breeze blew back her cloak. Her skin glowed with a thin, delicate aura, as if painted with phosphorescence. “Jason,” she said with a solemn tone, “don’t ask me to reveal what I am not willing to reveal.”
He waved his hand toward the grottoes. “I just don’t want you to sacrifice yourself for these … these … Oh, I don’t know what to call them.”
Her eyes seem to boil like green storm clouds. “Human beings? Miserable wretches who are too frightened to know what to do? Slaves in chains who are blinded by their cruel captivity, fearful that any rebellion would cause their children to suffer torture or death?” She pointed toward the south. “Jason, you’ve seen the cattle camp. You’ve seen the grinding mill. These monsters have ripped the hearts out of the women and stripped the backbones out of the men. Cruelty does that.”
Jason shoved a hand into his pocket. “Okay, I’m sorry for thinking like that. I know they’re valuable no matter what. I learned that the hard way. I’m just trying to protect you.”
Cassabrie backed away a step and let her cloak flow freely. “Jason, I am a Starlighter, born to sacrifice. I am not yours to protect.”
“Listen …” Jason dragged a toe across the ground before looking at her again. “I don’t understand what a Starlighter is supposed to do, but why can’t Alaph do something? He’s powerful, isn’t he?”
Her answer echoed like rolling thunder. “What I must do, only a Starlighter can do. There is no other option.”