Deciding that fresh air is good for my recovery, Astralux is eager to fly. Once we’re high enough that she’s able to coast better I feel a growing concern in her.
“What happened earlier today?” Astralux asks loudly over the wind blowing past us.
Thinking about my conversation—and breakdown—moments ago, I debate back and forth on how to respond. “I had a talk with Veremund. I’m struggling with some things.” There’s a pause, and I feel Astralux’s desire to know more. Unable to hide everything from her, I sigh. “Prince Philander made some comments that got me to thinking about stuff. And it just brought up a lot of hurt about…about….”
“Ah,” Astralux suddenly says. She sends me lots of assurance and a bit of anger. “So it was as terrible as a dinner as I imagined?”
“Terrible? What were you imagining?”
“That no-good dirty prince trying to put his hands on you.”
I hug Astralux tight. “No. He treated me like a lady of the court, actually.”
“Given how I think he treats the ladies of the court, that doesn’t make me feel better.”
Now I laugh. “Prince Philander was polite to me.”
“You’re much nicer than I would be to him,” Astralux says.
“He might not be ‘Ward’ material,” I say. “But I’d still trust him with my life over a Vladykar any day.”
“Maybe.”
I can sense amusement from Astralux as I chuckle. It feels good to hang out here in the sky with her, talking. While the sun is still far too bright for my eyes, its rays feel delightfully warm against my skin, and I lift my face toward it.
“Vitegadium and Thorn are coming,” Astralux says.
A bit of mixed emotions run through me. But I can’t deny how glad I am when I hear Vitegadium’s happy growl over the flapping of wings. “Estelle!” the cheery dragon calls. “It’s so good to see you out and about!”
“It’s good to be up here,” I say.
I hear Vitegadium fly in tandem with Astralux, to my right. “How are you feeling?” Thorn asks.
“Better every day. Still can’t open my eyes in the sunlight.”
“It’s very pretty here,” Vitegadium says. “Lots of rolling hills, some trees here and there. The river isn’t too far away to the west.”
“She’s been here before,” Thorn says.
“Oh! I forgot about that.”
I smile. “How are you both doing?”
“Great!” Vitegadium says.
“Better every day,” Thorn says, echoing my sentiment.
I wonder if Thorn had been injured while rescuing me, but he doesn’t offer anything else. Or is he referring to his own emotional and mental state? Given Veremund’s comments, I can only imagine how dreadful it was for him.
I feel surprise from Astralux. “Did you see that?” she asks.
“No,” I say lightly.
Astralux growls low in her throat, chuckling. “Not you.”
“See what?” Vitegadium asks.
“On the horizon,” Thorn says. “I saw it—like a shadow that shouldn’t have been there.”
I wait, wondering what they’re looking at. Then I feel Ariadna’s Star pulse once with warning from within me. “We should go back,” I say. “Ariadna’s Star is sending me a caution.”
“I heard it too,” Astralux says.
“There!” Vitegadium exclaims. “Dragons! So many of them!”
Astralux growls. “Vladykars.”
My heart skips a beat. Unable to open my eyes, I feel extra vulnerable.
“Vite, Astralux, call for the others!” Thorn shouts. “Head back!”
Astralux banks hard, and I feel a pulse from her and Vitegadium nearby—a dragon call. Kalteratem gives a vicious roar that echoes the plains in response. At least the other Wards aren’t far. I hadn’t even bothered to ask Astralux how far out her leisure flight had gone, partly because I didn’t think the Vladykars would attack us so close to Brixton. How wrong I was. Why wouldn’t they? Mortimer and Undabouclier are still in Adytol, and I’m recovering. No matter how well the fight went here at Brixton weeks ago, this is a prime time for the Vladykars to attack.
I feel the immense, good aura of Kaleratem headed our way. “Astralux, Vitegadium,” Kalteratem says, his voice booming over us, “get behind Giftigbun and me.”
“Is, is that Vladykar Malyncor?” Volkan asks from nearby, his usually confident voice hesitant. “And Noxmalum?!”
“There are a lot of Vladykars,” Neil says, his tone solemn. “More than last time, even.”
Oh Ariadna, have all the Vladykars come?
There’s a pulse of a dragon’s call. “Hopefully Undabouclier is close enough to hear that,” Kalteratem says.
“Wards,” Veremund says, his tone solemn. “Above all, Ariadna’s Star must be protected. Astralux, stay in the center.”
“Ariadna be with us today,” Vitegadium whispers.
I sense a cold darkness, and I cling to Astralux as the rushing of wind nears. I hear many, many wings flapping in the air.
“Ward Veremund, Kalteratem,” Vladykar Malyncor’s deep, eerie voice calls. “It’s been a long time.”
“Not long enough,” Neil mutters under his breath.
“We’ve come for Ariadna’s Star,” Vladykar Malyncor continues. “I’ll make this simple enough that even your thick heads can comprehend this—give us Ariadna’s Star, or we will destroy you and your Wards.”
“You already know our answer,” Veremund says stiffly.
There’s a deep, frightening chuckle. “Kalteratem, Ward Veremund,” a dragon says, his voice a grating bass. Strange, unnatural whispers echo when he speaks, just like Vladykar Malyncor, and I realize it’s Noxmalum. “Ariadna’s Star is ours—as is your little blind Ward. Hand her over, and we won’t destroy you and all these little Amenylian maggots that infest our domain.”
Rage bursts from Astralux through our bond to me, and flames start to spark on my hands. “Over my dead body!” Astralux snarls. I snuff the fire, wearing down already from even that small bit of magic.
“Stay back,” Giftigbun says from ahead of us.
“This is your last chance,” Noxmalum says. “And I’d advise you to consider my offer—I’d love ever so much to kill another one of your offspring. Especially this pretty one.”
Kalteratem gives a piercing roar so powerful I flinch in the saddle. “We will fight to our last breath for Ariadna!”
“Ariadna is a fool, a weak deity to be expelled,” Noxmalum says. “Aneiros will bring the eternal darkness to all of Zoi!”
His words strike something within me, and I feel Ariadna’s Star pulse with a ringing chime. I put a hand to my chest as it starts to burn.
“I feel the Star, from you,” Astralux whispers. “Like the toll of a bell. What is it doing?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “But fly higher.” I didn’t mean to say the last part, it just slipped out, but Astralux does as I ask.
“Are you giving up your bonded?” Vladykar Malyncor chuckles. “Have you had enough of this pathetic Ward, Astralux? Toss her away, and we’ll leave you all to enjoy your existence a little longer.”
Astralux’s anger starts to flare. But then her emotions grow still as Ariadna’s Star pulses through me again, sending not fight, not fear, but a deep comfort, a peace that calms everything. The heat of a roaring furnace ignites from within. I feel Astralux’s heart beating inside me, in rhythm to mine, mine in rhythm to hers.
“Astralux,” I say, chimes echoing around me when I speak now. “Breathe up.”
I feel Astralux lift her head, inhale, and then exhale.
A light that sears my vision through my closed eyelids explodes all around us. Ariadna’s Star bursts through me, through Astralux, exploding together, a chorus of chimes echoing across the plains.
Distantly, I hear shouting that fades away into nothing but Ariadna’s pure, blissful light.
…
Gentle voices draw me from a hazy landscape of icy darkness and burning light. Someone is shaking my shoulder.
“Estelle?”
“Veremund?” I whisper.
“Oh praise Ariadna!” Neil exclaims.
“Drink,” Veremund says.
A cup is pressed to my lips, and I down the cool water. Then I slowly open my eyes. It takes me a bit of blinking and squinting, but I make out Veremund’s face. Peering to the sides, I discover that I’m back in my recovery bed, and the Wards stand around me, staring wide-eyed at me. Distantly, I feel muted joy from Astralux, like she’s asleep but having good dreams.
“What…what happened?” I ask.
“I think you and Astralux summoned Ariadna’s Star,” Veremund says. “Astralux breathed but it was the same light we saw from Ariadna’s Star, when it first came to Zoi.”
“It blinded us a bit, but it hurt the Vladykars something awful!” Volkan says. “The Vladykars fled from it!”
“They left?” I ask. “Oh thank Ariadna. And Astralux? She feels okay.”
“You both passed out once the light stopped,” Veremund says. “Astralux has already woken, though she’s resting again. But you weren’t fully recovered for that.”
I shake my head. “I feel so weak.”
“Here.” Thorn sets a tray in my lap. “You should try to eat.”
It’s a hot chicken broth vegetable soup and I happily sup at it, feeling stronger with every bite. “This is helping.”
Veremund slowly exhales. Then he chuckles. “Well, I suppose now that I know you’re going to be okay, thank you.” I look up at the leader of the Wards and I’m surprised by the tears in his light blue eyes. “While I would never give up, I truly thought we weren’t going to make it.”
“Ariadna did that, not me,” I say.
“Still! You have brought a hope to my soul that I haven’t had in some time.” Veremund takes my free hand and encloses it with both of his. “Thank you, Estelle, for being the bearer of Ariadna’s Star.”
I struggle with my words for a bit. “I’m happy to carry the Star,” I say at last. “But I don’t understand why it won’t come out of me. It doesn’t need me, or Astralux, to create that light. It did it on its own before.”
“Ariadna works in ways beyond our understanding,” Veremund says. “For now, her Star resides in you. And, perhaps in Astralux now too.”
“What?” I rub my chest but still feel the smooth, eight-point star mark just below my clavicle. Although I don’t feel its coursing power, Ariadna’s Star’s still radiates with a warm, assuring presence inside me. “What do you mean?”
“Astralux now carries the same mark that you do,” Veremund says. “In the same place, in fact.”
My mouth drops open. Then I sit back. “Does she feel the Star?”
“I’m not certain, she wasn’t awake for long,” Veremund says.
“I’m really confused,” I say.
Veremund chuckles. “While the Star remains a mystery, we are glad for its aid, and your—and Astralux’s—willingness to be its conduit.”
Stunned, I finish my soup in silence, pondering this strange state.
“Unfortunately,” Neil says, “the Vladykars seem intent on doing what they can to get Ariadna’s Star back.”
Veremund nods. “I’ve been thinking the same thing—while the Star was able to drive them back, what happens if Estelle and Astralux are unprepared, or even asleep? Can it be contained?”
“Given what happened in the Malum Palace, I would think so,” Thorn says quietly. I shudder, and Thorn puts a strong, reassuring hand on my shoulder. “It did seem to stifle your magic, and Ariadna’s Star.”
I nod. “The Star was busy simply keep me alive. Almost like, it couldn’t do more without killing me.” I tilt my head. “But if I’m limiting the Star, again, why does it reside in me?”
“I don’t know,” Veremund says. “Nonetheless, it has chosen you, and Astralux, and as Wards we must see to it that you’re protected.” He stands up and looks from Neil to Thorn to Volkan. “We can’t assume that the Vladykars will be so obvious in their next attempt. If anything, I suspect they will attempt to infiltrate. We will keep a guard on Estelle at all times. It doesn’t have to be one of us, but I tell you so that you’re on the lookout as well. In the meantime, I will speak with King Mahlir about assigning bodyguards to Estelle on a regular basis.”
“But an unbonded? Against a Vladykar?” Thorn asks, his tone skeptical.
“There simply aren’t enough Wards to be that vigilant,” Veremund says. “We’ll tell them that their best response to danger is to summon one of us.”
Neil crosses his muscular arms, his lips pressed tightly together. He glances at me then at Veremund. “I’d still prefer that Estelle remain with us as much as possible.”
“I do too.” Veremund looks to me. “I am going to ask that you and Astralux stay within Brixton, near us, for the time being.”
“I understand,” I say.
Volkan suddenly chuckles. “Astralux might have a much different response—she’s not going to like being all cooped up in this city.”
I smile as the other Wards chuckle. Maybe it’s inconvenient to be “stuck” within a city, but we’re all alive and free another day, and Ariadna’s Star remains with us—I’ll take it.
