Star-Crossed (7/10)
*****
Natalia was not happy. She was growing older by the second; the star’s Light had only granted her a small reprieve from nature and was not strong enough to counteract the amount of magic she had used since she began her hunt. She had lost the newest star, as her sisters were so quick to remind her, and each time she checked her runes, the reply was always the same-the star was airborne. She had been so close and then that damn prince had ruined everything; the only consolation she had from the entire Inn-debacle was that she had managed to kill the unicorn that had protected the star and took its horn. It would fetch a good price in any market, though the merchants would never advertise such a thing-she hoped enough of a price to hide her from the remaining prince of Stormhold’s wrath. The rumors of Prince Matthew’s cunning and ruthlessness were well known-and any man who’d been strong enough to kill her beloved as a boy was someone to be wary of.
Natalia felt no remorse or regret over killing the blond prince, even though he was technically kin of her beloved. She knew the tradition of Stormhold heirs and the killing of princes…she knew it well. That damnable tradition had been what stole her beloved away, and he would have made a marvelous king with her by his side. No, no regret; but it was troublesome because as powerful and set apart as witches and warlocks were, killing a prince was still a death sentence for them if caught. Not that she’d be caught so easily, but it did make hunting for the star harder when she could not wander the streets and markets freely. Especially now that word of the fallen star was starting to spread amongst the other witches and warlocks and from them to the merchants and common-folk.
She brushed back a thin strand of hair and did not look at her reflection in the coach window, a coach she had taken the liberty of removing from a dead prince’s possession. She knew she wouldn’t like what she found there and could only hope that there was enough of the star left after it brought her beloved back to restore some of her beauty. He deserved a beautiful queen by his side, not a weathered hag. She felt a white-hot stab of anger run through her as the star crept back into her mind. She had had it, had him, in her hands, completely relaxed and unaware of what was to come and it had all been ruined! She frowned as the events of that night filtered through her mind again-there was one factor she still could not explain and it infuriated her that it was kept from her Sight.
That boy. The boy that had crashed through the window with the unicorn and had flung himself in front of the star, and used the remnants of a Babylon candle to transport them both away from her. She had not been told by the runes or her sisters’ divinations that the star had already been found, that it had met someone who was so obviously willing to risk death for it. That troubled her, that this boy was somehow outside her realm of control and he had aligned himself with the star’s wellbeing. Hunting the star on its own had not been much a concern for her, but with a protector at its side…that complicated things.
The coach rolled to a stop, the horses breathing hard and shuffling outside the carriage she was brooding in. She pulled her hood up to cover most of her ravaged face and exited the coach, glancing up Cliffside to where the port town for skyships the runes had pointed her to. She flicked a coin at a pair of street children who were tending the roadside lift and left them to tend to her exhausted horses as she made her way to the lift that would take her up Cliffside and to the city. The operator was a Brother, not in the same sect but one nonetheless, and he nodded to her in acknowledgment before he closed the gates and channeled magic into the metal and pulleys that operated the lift. The Brother was young, younger than most she met and she assumed he was still apprenticing; his dark eyes and unusually thick eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he powered the lift. She studied his clothing and assumed based on the exotic colors and the slanted eyes, he was from the east.
They arrived atop the cliff and she exited without a glance back at the young warlock-there was a shop here, the runes had whispered to her, a shop that the star had stopped in. She would find out not only where the star was headed, but more about the boy who was protecting it. She wandered for a candlemark or so but as she passed by a dingy, closeted shop off the beaten path, she knew she had arrived at her destination. She smiled, hard and fleeting, and stepped into the shop, taking in the ramshackle shelves and illegal wares lining the walls; the owner, a large man with dark skin, stepped out and appraised her frankly.
“Yer lost, woman? Don’t got any potions or herbal creams in ‘ere.” She stared at him dispassionately and fished out a large, gold coin that could easily have bought half the shop’s goods. The ones that showed at least.
“I’m looking for something, someone actually, and I have it on good authority he was here.” The merchant stared at the gold coin with undisguised surprise and made to grab it. Natalia snatched it back and tilted her head to the side as if the merchant were a child. “Ah, ah, no goodies unless you prove helpful to me. Do you think you can?”
“Dunno, lotsa folks wander in ‘ere. Would help if ya knew a name.”
“I don’t have a name. I’m looking for two people, both young men and blond, one with glasses and the other with large eyebrows and green eyes. They would have been traveling together.”
The merchant’s eyes lit up in recognition and Natalia’s heart sang. “Oh yeah, I know ‘em. Pair o’ kids came in with Cap’n Bonnefoy, flies the Joan de’ Arc, two days ago. The one with the eyebrows was twitchy, but the Cap’n kept him close-the other boy nearly destroyed a stand of salamander eyes. Headed towards Market-town by the wall, Bonnefoy said. Somethin’ about a birthday.”
“You’re sure? Absolutely sure? Sure that you’re not lying for your dear captain?”
“Cap’n ain’t no friend of mine, just brings decent lightnin’. Wouldn’t lie for him and don’t know those other two-they be heading towards Market-town.”
Natalia studied him for a moment, feeling the words for truth just to be sure, before she flicked the coin at him and gave a curt nod of thanks. The merchant snatched it out of the air and gave her a stiff bow that may or may not have been mocking-if it was, Natalia didn’t much care. She had to leave; she had to get to Market-town as quickly as possible. She whirled out of the closeted shop and made her way back to the lift, strides long and hurried; they were headed to the blasted wall! The boy may not know what happened if stars crossed, and the star likely had no idea either, as they fell so rarely-if the star crossed the wall into earth-side soil, it would become nothing but a heap of metallic rock!
The young warlock was still there when she returned to the lift, playing with what looked like a collection of fireworks until he spotted her storming up. Natalia lifted a hand in negation to wave off any of his excuses about having to wait for specific times to take the lift down Cliffside. “I will pay you triple your normal rate, take this lift down now. I am on urgent business that cannot wait.”
The warlock studied her for a moment before he took the gold and nodded his quiet assent. The lift creaked and came to life as it began to lower back to the ground and all Natalia could think about was reach Market-town and the wall before it was too late and all her hard work was lost. She had to, for her beloved.
*****
Arthur was holding onto the railing of the skyship for dear life as Francis guided it down, most unsteadily and dangerously, to a landing on a large lake south of the Market-town. Alfred was right beside him, but was smiling and whooping in excitement as the ship made its shaky descent, as if it were some wild ride and not a ship crashing to the ground and an imminent fiery death. He had thought Angelique to be exaggerating when she shuddered at the thought of Francis flying the ship, but she had not been. Not one bit. Arthur clenched his eyes shut as the ship hit the lake with a loud smack and water whooshed up in huge waves, getting nearly all the deck and crew wet. Arthur wiped the water off his face and glanced over at Alfred, who had taken off his glasses and was shaking his hair out of his face.
Arthur glanced away when he caught himself starting to go slack from his staring.
“That was awesome! Did you see how the water just whooshed up, Artie? Man, that was so cool-don’t know why they don’t let Francis fly more often, that was great!”
Arthur grimaced and steadied himself against the railing for a moment. “Yes, absolutely spiffing.”
Alfred grinned and grabbed his elbow gently. “You’ve got wings and can fly and that bothered you?”
“I know how to use my wings, thank you very much. I can’t blame the crew for not letting Bonnefoy at the helm that often if that’s what they are subjected to.”
“Whatever, it wasn’t that bad. And we landed all right, right?” Arthur shrugged his arm out of Alfred’s hold as they started walking down the deck and towards the gangway. He loved Alfred’s hands, and he loved how they felt touching his skin, but it was becoming a necessity to his sanity to create space between them. Especially when everything was still so muddled and Arthur was warring with himself and his desire to go home and his longing to stay with Alfred as long as he’d let him. He gave Alfred, who was looking at the space Arthur put between them with an odd expression, a small nod in agreement, letting the conversation end.
They were both in new clothes and had spares in their packs, both of which had been supplied by from the crew and Francis. Arthur was more than a little disappointed to be leaving the crew-he had grown to like each and every member of Francis’ crew and was grateful for their discretion regarding what he was. And even though Francis annoyed the hell out of him with his stupid accent and his stupid knowing looks, Arthur could admit that his kindness towards Alfred and himself was something they had desperately needed. He didn’t know how to thank him, nor did he really want to say the words, so he let Alfred step forward and address Francis directly.
“You keep an eye on that one, you hear?” Angelique stepped forward and gave him a warm hug, mindful to not ruffle against his wings even though she couldn’t see them. Arthur returned her tearful grin with a small smile of his own. “Don’t let him just wander off into trouble!”
“If you need anything, just send us a missive from the post in Market-town,” Tino chimed in.
“And if that hag shows up again, you let us know and we’ll get down and show her a thing or two!” Soren fingered the edge of his giant axe as he slapped Arthur bracingly on the shoulder.
Arthur nodded and stepped onto the gangway as Berwald and Nikolai lowered it to create a walkway down to the path which would take them to Market-town. He turned and waved at the crew one more time and caught Francis whispering something to Alfred as he handed over a canister of lightning. They had helped catch that lightning two nights prior, and while it had seemed exceedingly dangerous, Arthur had to admit that he did like the thrill he got while doing it. Francis pulled away and patted Alfred on the shoulder, a smile on his face as he sent a wink Arthur’s way.
“Think about it, mon ami, and be sure to stick to this path. It’s a straight road into the Market-town.”
“We will, don’t worry!” Arthur nodded along with Alfred’s words as they walked down the gangway and stepped onto solid ground.
“It has been an honor and pleasure to meet you both, but please, if anyone asks about your stay with the nefarious Captain Bonnefoy and the crew of the Joan de Arc, tell them how utterly terrible and frightening we are, will you? You know what they say about reputations, a life time to build, only seconds to destroy.”
The crew let out hearty laughs and cheers before scurrying away and back to their duties on board before they could take off into the sky again. Alfred gave one more wave before he strapped the lightning canister across his shoulders and fell into step beside Arthur. He looked good in the clothes Francis had given to him, Arthur thought. Much better than what he had been wearing when they first met at any rate-the shirt and trousers were both simple in design but fit close to Alfred’s body and emphasized his the lean planes of his limbs and muscles. The creams and blacks of the clothes played off well against the dark blue jacket he had on over, a simple, curling design stitched in along the lapels of the coat which lay open across his chest. He looked dashing and confident and Arthur really needed to learn to stop staring at him like a loon just because he cut a good figure in clothes that actually fit.
“So what did the captain say to you?”
Alfred glanced over at him from over the frames of his glasses, his eyes unreadable for a moment before he grinned broadly. “What do you mean?”
Arthur gave him an unimpressed look. “I mean just now, what did he whisper to you before we left the ship?”
Alfred chuckled softly and shrugged his shoulders; Arthur couldn’t help but notice how his ears got red as he answered. “Oh, you know, just that we could use the lightning to get you a new bubbling candle. You know, barter for it.”
“It’s called a Babylon candle, Alfred, Babylon.” Arthur couldn’t help but return the smile Alfred gave him in response.
They walked along in comfortable silence for a time, and after a few hours, their legs sufficiently exhausted, they came upon a sign etched into stone. It marked down a forked path that it was eleven miles to a small town called Berth, but sixty miles to reach Market-town and the wall. Arthur stared at the sign for a moment before he turned troubled eyes to Alfred, who was also staring at the sign but not with the same sense of alarm. “How long will it take to walk sixty miles, Alfred?”
“I dunno, maybe a few days?”
“We don’t have a few days, Mei’s birthday is tomorrow.”
Arthur turned back to the sign and worried his bottom lip-he missed the stunned expression and sort of breathless wonder that crossed over Alfred’s face entirely. “That’s-that’s right. It is her birthday…kind of forgot about it.”
Arthur shot him an incredulous look before they started down the path to Market-town. “How could you forget? It’s only the one thing you’ve been chattering about since you found me in that crater.”
Or, at least, it had been. Thinking back over the past few days, Alfred had not mentioned Mei once, which Arthur had been grateful for. For numerous reasons. He rolled his eyes when Alfred continued to just stare into nothing and tugged at his arm to get him moving as well. “We’re not going to get there any faster if you just stare in the middle of the road.”
Alfred glanced up but then focused his eyes behind Arthur and the next thing he knew knew he was being tackled into a bush and a hand was cupping over his mouth to muffle his surprise. He blinked and found Alfred practically lying atop him on the ground, sunlight coming in dappled through the small space between the bush branches; his breath hitched in his throat and ghosted across Alfred’s palm. Alfred made a shushing motion and lifted his hand off of Arthur’s mouth, his attention towards the path behind them, where Arthur could see a carriage going past. He swallowed in an effort to wet his dry throat and relaxed the grip he had on Alfred’s forearms.
“What are you-”
“I just don’t want anyone to see us when we’re alone.” Their words were no more than whispered breaths in the small space between. “I mean, I just don’t trust anyone, not after that inn lady. I-I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Arthur stared at him in quiet contemplation before the question he’d been wondering about for days came out. “Doesn’t it tempt you?”
“What?”
“You know, immortality. There are people who are willing to do anything, or pay anything, for a chance at that. But you-you’ve known from the beginning and even after learning what people will do in this world for that, you’ve never even seemed to care.”
Alfred met his eyes and shrugged as much as he could from his position over Arthur. “I just don’t see the appeal-I mean, it’d be pretty lonely, wouldn’t it? I guess if you had someone to share it with it wouldn’t be so bad.”
That was-such a naïve way of thinking it hardly made sense a man nearly grown was saying it, but because it was Alfred saying it, Arthur believed him. He could feel his Light flutter up and he looked away from Alfred’s gaze, biting his lip to keep all the words he wanted to say quiet and to himself. Alfred glanced back behind them before he crawled off Arthur and back to his feet, holding out his hand for Arthur to take, helping him out of the bushes and back onto his feet. They straightened themselves out and began walking again, Alfred’s eyes studying Arthur in a way that made him feel self-conscious.
“You know you kind of glow a bit, I just noticed.”
“Well spotted, Alfred.” He gave the young man a sardonic grin before he continued. “Let’s think about it for a moment, what do stars do?”
“Um, attract trouble?” Arthur smacked him and Alfred chuckled as he held up his hands in surrender. “Kidding, kidding! Jeez, you don’t have to hit so hard, you know. Can I guess again?”
Arthur arched his eyebrow at him and nodded his head shortly, a small smirk on his face. “All right.”
“Ok…how about, they’re best at knowing how to kill someone by food?”
“That was one time, Alfred! It’s not like I’ve ever attempted cooking before!”
“Tell that to my taste buds, I don’t think they’ll ever be the same after those cookie things you made.”
Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle along with Alfred, after he hit him again of course, and they continued walking in their comfortable silence for a time. When the next carriage came, Arthur heard it too and he ducked behind a large rock with Alfred-until he noticed the woman who was driving the garishly yellow caravan. It was the woman from the shop, the one that knew Francis and his crew; perhaps he wasn’t really up for trusting random strangers, but she had a large wagon and they needed to get to wall. At least she was friends with the one group of people who had treated him kindly.
“I know her, she was in the shop at that port, Alejandro’s shop. She knows Francis, I saw them talking.”
“Really? What does that-wait, you want to go talk to her? So, you’re saying we should just trust her, because Francis talked to her for like a minute? Are you trying to get your heart cut out?!”
“She has a wagon, Alfred, she could get us to the wall quicker than walking, and we don’t have a lot of options here.”
Alfred met his stare, his eyes stormy and clearly unhappy, but he nodded after a harsh sigh and stepped out, keeping one hand on the pommel of his long knife. He made sure to stay in front of Arthur. It was sweet…a little unnecessary and gallant, but sweet. The woman looked up and cocked an eyebrow at them. “Oi, you there, mind getting out of the road? People got to use it.”
“Oh yeah, well, I was kinda hoping that we could get a ride with you! Gotta get to the wall and we’ve-”
“That flower! That’s my damn flower, been looking for that for eighteen years!” The witch hopped off the wagon and strode angrily towards Alfred, who pulled out the knife in one swift, confident motion, eyes wary. A green colored bird on the wagon was chirping loudly from its perch.
Arthur frowned and stepped forward angrily. “Excuse your rudeness, but that is his flower, it was a gift from his mother!”
The woman made no motion that she heard him and eyed the knife Alfred had out before she stepped back and tucked a messy piece of hair back under an orange headband. “My mistake, my mistake, it happens when you get older, boy.”
Alfred glanced over at Arthur for a second before he put the sword away, eyes still wary and body still tense. “Ok I guess…it’s obviously important to you though, so what if I traded this flower for a ride into market-town?”
The woman studied him for a moment before she grinned. “Fair enough trade. I’ll even through in free food and lodging for your ride in.”
“Really? Well that’s great.” Alfred beamed at Arthur, who was still confused as to why the woman hadn’t so much as looked his way yet, and handed over the small, snowdrop flower he had tucked in his jacket pocket. The woman took it and gave him a patronizing look.
“You really had no idea what kind of thing you traded away, did you? Not that it matters, I keep my promises and I intend to get you to Market-town in the exact condition you are now. Just as a future note though, this little flower has a powerful protection enchantment on it, protection from magic that it is. In fact, it would’ve been the very thing that would have prevented me from doing this.”
She poked Alfred on the nose and the next thing Arthur knew, Alfred was gone and a large, floppy-eared bunny was in his place. The woman clucked her tongue and picked up the rabbit gently, carrying it towards the back of her wagon-Arthur followed once his shock wore off and was replaced by white-hot anger, the likes of which he had never felt before. He tried to rush the woman, hit her, kick her, and yell at her, but it was if there was a barrier in between them and she could not see him at all. She opened the wagon doors and stepped inside, placing Alfred in a wire cage on the table.
“There you go, food and lodging, just like I promised.” She clucked her tongue at Alfred the rabbit before shuffling back out of the wagon, brushing straight past a fuming Arthur without even a glance.
“If I’m correct in the assumption that you can neither see or hear me, then let me just say that you smell of piss, you look like something you’d puke up after a hard night, I believe birds could nest in that thing atop your head you likely call hair, and I swear if I don’t get Alfred back the way he was, I will be your personal poltergeist. You may not be able to see me, but that doesn’t prevent me from tearing your wagon to pieces!” The woman hummed to herself and Arthur had just a moment to hop in before she closed the doors; he fumed at the door until the wagon lurched back into motion, forcing him to steady himself onto a chair. “Bloody, fucking woman, I will ruin your sanity, I swear it, if you keep him a bloody rabbit!”
He received no response, apart from the bird’s chirping, and sighed, turning his attention to the floppy eared rabbit. “Alfred? Alfred if you can understand me, give me some sort of sign. A hop or a nod or something.”
Alfred the rabbit wiggled his nose and looked over his shoulder to where a small bushel of carrots was resting on a counter. Arthur groaned and broke off a small piece of one of the carrots and put it inside the cage through the bars. Alfred the rabbit took it immediately and began to nibble with single-minded determination, leaving Arthur to do nothing but stare at him in half-amused, half-mournful silence. He did a cursory glance about the wagon, at the small, narrow bed wedged on the opposite side of the kitchen area, at the heaps of dirty clothes and stacks of books in a corner. It was certainly not the lodgings one would expect for a woman-but any woman who looked like the witch did fit right at home with the caravan’s messy state.
Arthur reached his fingers through the wire cage and stroked at the small bit of Alfred the rabbit he could reach, not bothering to hide the melancholy expression that he usually worked so hard to keep out of sight. He hadn’t wanted to bother Alfred with his problems, not when he was already risking his life under threat of witches and warlocks to keep him safe. Besides, he may not have been on the ground very long, but he had watched long enough to know it was bad form to tell someone you were in love with them when they loved someone else. At least, it was bad form when the other person could understand you-Arthur looked at the rabbit and took a deep breath.
“This is completely mental…I’m confessing to a man turned into a rabbit that’s more concerned about a carrot than anything else. But this-this is probably the only opportunity I’ll have to say anything, and you’re supposed to feel better after you’ve gotten what’s troubling you out, right? Not that I would even know-stars aren’t exactly closed off to our brothers and sisters-and we don’t generally fall in love. That’s as good of a way to say it I suppose; I have to say all those silly stories on demonstrations of devotions and spouting off ballads to declare your love are all quiet tedious. You should just say what they mean, not get lost in the spectacle of it all.
“I’m talking about you, you know, or I suppose you don’t and it doesn’t even matter because you’re a rabbit who doesn’t even understand what I’m saying at the moment, but it doesn’t change it. I do, I love you and I have no idea why or even how it happened, but it’s the only explanation why I feel the need to both kiss you senseless and beat your head in simultaneously. I may never have felt love before, but I’ve seen so much of it, Alfred, so much before I fell and-and it nearly kills me to think that after finally feeling what I always dreamt of, you don’t even love me back. You love someone else, some girl that you wax on about how pale her skin and how shiny her hair is and it takes all that I am to not-I don’t know, scream sounds much too dramatic. Something though.”
Arthur sighed, pulled back his arms, and buried his head in his hands on the counter, not catching that the rabbit was no longer nibbling on his carrot, but watching him. “I don’t even want to go home as much anymore. I mean I do, but I-fuck me, this is all wrong and I hate it and feeling this way and feeling that whenever I’m around you my heart just beats and beats so hard my chest can barely contain it. Like it doesn’t belong to me anymore, like it’s yours and the only thing that would make me happy is if you accepted it-and gave me yours in return of course because otherwise I’m miserable…and heartless. Christ, this is getting ridiculous; I’m not even making sense anymore!”
He lifted his face back up and swiped at his eyes and the wetness collecting there, a mix of frustration, sadness, and exhaustion, before he gave Alfred the rabbit a wan smile. “Well that was a crock of shit, I don’t feel any better now that I said everything-oh well, not like it would have made any difference anyways. Maybe this is for the best, you’ll return home and get your lass and I’ll go home too and file all of this away as just a bad dream. Once you help me find a Babylon candle of course.”
He sighed and rested his head back down, letting the push and pull of the caravan lull him to drowse-Alfred the rabbit, in his little cage beside him, crawled up close to the cage and rested his little nose against Arthur’s fingertips as he fell asleep.
Next Chapter
******
The apprentice warlock = Hong Kong
Natalia was not happy. She was growing older by the second; the star’s Light had only granted her a small reprieve from nature and was not strong enough to counteract the amount of magic she had used since she began her hunt. She had lost the newest star, as her sisters were so quick to remind her, and each time she checked her runes, the reply was always the same-the star was airborne. She had been so close and then that damn prince had ruined everything; the only consolation she had from the entire Inn-debacle was that she had managed to kill the unicorn that had protected the star and took its horn. It would fetch a good price in any market, though the merchants would never advertise such a thing-she hoped enough of a price to hide her from the remaining prince of Stormhold’s wrath. The rumors of Prince Matthew’s cunning and ruthlessness were well known-and any man who’d been strong enough to kill her beloved as a boy was someone to be wary of.
Natalia felt no remorse or regret over killing the blond prince, even though he was technically kin of her beloved. She knew the tradition of Stormhold heirs and the killing of princes…she knew it well. That damnable tradition had been what stole her beloved away, and he would have made a marvelous king with her by his side. No, no regret; but it was troublesome because as powerful and set apart as witches and warlocks were, killing a prince was still a death sentence for them if caught. Not that she’d be caught so easily, but it did make hunting for the star harder when she could not wander the streets and markets freely. Especially now that word of the fallen star was starting to spread amongst the other witches and warlocks and from them to the merchants and common-folk.
She brushed back a thin strand of hair and did not look at her reflection in the coach window, a coach she had taken the liberty of removing from a dead prince’s possession. She knew she wouldn’t like what she found there and could only hope that there was enough of the star left after it brought her beloved back to restore some of her beauty. He deserved a beautiful queen by his side, not a weathered hag. She felt a white-hot stab of anger run through her as the star crept back into her mind. She had had it, had him, in her hands, completely relaxed and unaware of what was to come and it had all been ruined! She frowned as the events of that night filtered through her mind again-there was one factor she still could not explain and it infuriated her that it was kept from her Sight.
That boy. The boy that had crashed through the window with the unicorn and had flung himself in front of the star, and used the remnants of a Babylon candle to transport them both away from her. She had not been told by the runes or her sisters’ divinations that the star had already been found, that it had met someone who was so obviously willing to risk death for it. That troubled her, that this boy was somehow outside her realm of control and he had aligned himself with the star’s wellbeing. Hunting the star on its own had not been much a concern for her, but with a protector at its side…that complicated things.
The coach rolled to a stop, the horses breathing hard and shuffling outside the carriage she was brooding in. She pulled her hood up to cover most of her ravaged face and exited the coach, glancing up Cliffside to where the port town for skyships the runes had pointed her to. She flicked a coin at a pair of street children who were tending the roadside lift and left them to tend to her exhausted horses as she made her way to the lift that would take her up Cliffside and to the city. The operator was a Brother, not in the same sect but one nonetheless, and he nodded to her in acknowledgment before he closed the gates and channeled magic into the metal and pulleys that operated the lift. The Brother was young, younger than most she met and she assumed he was still apprenticing; his dark eyes and unusually thick eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he powered the lift. She studied his clothing and assumed based on the exotic colors and the slanted eyes, he was from the east.
They arrived atop the cliff and she exited without a glance back at the young warlock-there was a shop here, the runes had whispered to her, a shop that the star had stopped in. She would find out not only where the star was headed, but more about the boy who was protecting it. She wandered for a candlemark or so but as she passed by a dingy, closeted shop off the beaten path, she knew she had arrived at her destination. She smiled, hard and fleeting, and stepped into the shop, taking in the ramshackle shelves and illegal wares lining the walls; the owner, a large man with dark skin, stepped out and appraised her frankly.
“Yer lost, woman? Don’t got any potions or herbal creams in ‘ere.” She stared at him dispassionately and fished out a large, gold coin that could easily have bought half the shop’s goods. The ones that showed at least.
“I’m looking for something, someone actually, and I have it on good authority he was here.” The merchant stared at the gold coin with undisguised surprise and made to grab it. Natalia snatched it back and tilted her head to the side as if the merchant were a child. “Ah, ah, no goodies unless you prove helpful to me. Do you think you can?”
“Dunno, lotsa folks wander in ‘ere. Would help if ya knew a name.”
“I don’t have a name. I’m looking for two people, both young men and blond, one with glasses and the other with large eyebrows and green eyes. They would have been traveling together.”
The merchant’s eyes lit up in recognition and Natalia’s heart sang. “Oh yeah, I know ‘em. Pair o’ kids came in with Cap’n Bonnefoy, flies the Joan de’ Arc, two days ago. The one with the eyebrows was twitchy, but the Cap’n kept him close-the other boy nearly destroyed a stand of salamander eyes. Headed towards Market-town by the wall, Bonnefoy said. Somethin’ about a birthday.”
“You’re sure? Absolutely sure? Sure that you’re not lying for your dear captain?”
“Cap’n ain’t no friend of mine, just brings decent lightnin’. Wouldn’t lie for him and don’t know those other two-they be heading towards Market-town.”
Natalia studied him for a moment, feeling the words for truth just to be sure, before she flicked the coin at him and gave a curt nod of thanks. The merchant snatched it out of the air and gave her a stiff bow that may or may not have been mocking-if it was, Natalia didn’t much care. She had to leave; she had to get to Market-town as quickly as possible. She whirled out of the closeted shop and made her way back to the lift, strides long and hurried; they were headed to the blasted wall! The boy may not know what happened if stars crossed, and the star likely had no idea either, as they fell so rarely-if the star crossed the wall into earth-side soil, it would become nothing but a heap of metallic rock!
The young warlock was still there when she returned to the lift, playing with what looked like a collection of fireworks until he spotted her storming up. Natalia lifted a hand in negation to wave off any of his excuses about having to wait for specific times to take the lift down Cliffside. “I will pay you triple your normal rate, take this lift down now. I am on urgent business that cannot wait.”
The warlock studied her for a moment before he took the gold and nodded his quiet assent. The lift creaked and came to life as it began to lower back to the ground and all Natalia could think about was reach Market-town and the wall before it was too late and all her hard work was lost. She had to, for her beloved.
*****
Arthur was holding onto the railing of the skyship for dear life as Francis guided it down, most unsteadily and dangerously, to a landing on a large lake south of the Market-town. Alfred was right beside him, but was smiling and whooping in excitement as the ship made its shaky descent, as if it were some wild ride and not a ship crashing to the ground and an imminent fiery death. He had thought Angelique to be exaggerating when she shuddered at the thought of Francis flying the ship, but she had not been. Not one bit. Arthur clenched his eyes shut as the ship hit the lake with a loud smack and water whooshed up in huge waves, getting nearly all the deck and crew wet. Arthur wiped the water off his face and glanced over at Alfred, who had taken off his glasses and was shaking his hair out of his face.
Arthur glanced away when he caught himself starting to go slack from his staring.
“That was awesome! Did you see how the water just whooshed up, Artie? Man, that was so cool-don’t know why they don’t let Francis fly more often, that was great!”
Arthur grimaced and steadied himself against the railing for a moment. “Yes, absolutely spiffing.”
Alfred grinned and grabbed his elbow gently. “You’ve got wings and can fly and that bothered you?”
“I know how to use my wings, thank you very much. I can’t blame the crew for not letting Bonnefoy at the helm that often if that’s what they are subjected to.”
“Whatever, it wasn’t that bad. And we landed all right, right?” Arthur shrugged his arm out of Alfred’s hold as they started walking down the deck and towards the gangway. He loved Alfred’s hands, and he loved how they felt touching his skin, but it was becoming a necessity to his sanity to create space between them. Especially when everything was still so muddled and Arthur was warring with himself and his desire to go home and his longing to stay with Alfred as long as he’d let him. He gave Alfred, who was looking at the space Arthur put between them with an odd expression, a small nod in agreement, letting the conversation end.
They were both in new clothes and had spares in their packs, both of which had been supplied by from the crew and Francis. Arthur was more than a little disappointed to be leaving the crew-he had grown to like each and every member of Francis’ crew and was grateful for their discretion regarding what he was. And even though Francis annoyed the hell out of him with his stupid accent and his stupid knowing looks, Arthur could admit that his kindness towards Alfred and himself was something they had desperately needed. He didn’t know how to thank him, nor did he really want to say the words, so he let Alfred step forward and address Francis directly.
“You keep an eye on that one, you hear?” Angelique stepped forward and gave him a warm hug, mindful to not ruffle against his wings even though she couldn’t see them. Arthur returned her tearful grin with a small smile of his own. “Don’t let him just wander off into trouble!”
“If you need anything, just send us a missive from the post in Market-town,” Tino chimed in.
“And if that hag shows up again, you let us know and we’ll get down and show her a thing or two!” Soren fingered the edge of his giant axe as he slapped Arthur bracingly on the shoulder.
Arthur nodded and stepped onto the gangway as Berwald and Nikolai lowered it to create a walkway down to the path which would take them to Market-town. He turned and waved at the crew one more time and caught Francis whispering something to Alfred as he handed over a canister of lightning. They had helped catch that lightning two nights prior, and while it had seemed exceedingly dangerous, Arthur had to admit that he did like the thrill he got while doing it. Francis pulled away and patted Alfred on the shoulder, a smile on his face as he sent a wink Arthur’s way.
“Think about it, mon ami, and be sure to stick to this path. It’s a straight road into the Market-town.”
“We will, don’t worry!” Arthur nodded along with Alfred’s words as they walked down the gangway and stepped onto solid ground.
“It has been an honor and pleasure to meet you both, but please, if anyone asks about your stay with the nefarious Captain Bonnefoy and the crew of the Joan de Arc, tell them how utterly terrible and frightening we are, will you? You know what they say about reputations, a life time to build, only seconds to destroy.”
The crew let out hearty laughs and cheers before scurrying away and back to their duties on board before they could take off into the sky again. Alfred gave one more wave before he strapped the lightning canister across his shoulders and fell into step beside Arthur. He looked good in the clothes Francis had given to him, Arthur thought. Much better than what he had been wearing when they first met at any rate-the shirt and trousers were both simple in design but fit close to Alfred’s body and emphasized his the lean planes of his limbs and muscles. The creams and blacks of the clothes played off well against the dark blue jacket he had on over, a simple, curling design stitched in along the lapels of the coat which lay open across his chest. He looked dashing and confident and Arthur really needed to learn to stop staring at him like a loon just because he cut a good figure in clothes that actually fit.
“So what did the captain say to you?”
Alfred glanced over at him from over the frames of his glasses, his eyes unreadable for a moment before he grinned broadly. “What do you mean?”
Arthur gave him an unimpressed look. “I mean just now, what did he whisper to you before we left the ship?”
Alfred chuckled softly and shrugged his shoulders; Arthur couldn’t help but notice how his ears got red as he answered. “Oh, you know, just that we could use the lightning to get you a new bubbling candle. You know, barter for it.”
“It’s called a Babylon candle, Alfred, Babylon.” Arthur couldn’t help but return the smile Alfred gave him in response.
They walked along in comfortable silence for a time, and after a few hours, their legs sufficiently exhausted, they came upon a sign etched into stone. It marked down a forked path that it was eleven miles to a small town called Berth, but sixty miles to reach Market-town and the wall. Arthur stared at the sign for a moment before he turned troubled eyes to Alfred, who was also staring at the sign but not with the same sense of alarm. “How long will it take to walk sixty miles, Alfred?”
“I dunno, maybe a few days?”
“We don’t have a few days, Mei’s birthday is tomorrow.”
Arthur turned back to the sign and worried his bottom lip-he missed the stunned expression and sort of breathless wonder that crossed over Alfred’s face entirely. “That’s-that’s right. It is her birthday…kind of forgot about it.”
Arthur shot him an incredulous look before they started down the path to Market-town. “How could you forget? It’s only the one thing you’ve been chattering about since you found me in that crater.”
Or, at least, it had been. Thinking back over the past few days, Alfred had not mentioned Mei once, which Arthur had been grateful for. For numerous reasons. He rolled his eyes when Alfred continued to just stare into nothing and tugged at his arm to get him moving as well. “We’re not going to get there any faster if you just stare in the middle of the road.”
Alfred glanced up but then focused his eyes behind Arthur and the next thing he knew knew he was being tackled into a bush and a hand was cupping over his mouth to muffle his surprise. He blinked and found Alfred practically lying atop him on the ground, sunlight coming in dappled through the small space between the bush branches; his breath hitched in his throat and ghosted across Alfred’s palm. Alfred made a shushing motion and lifted his hand off of Arthur’s mouth, his attention towards the path behind them, where Arthur could see a carriage going past. He swallowed in an effort to wet his dry throat and relaxed the grip he had on Alfred’s forearms.
“What are you-”
“I just don’t want anyone to see us when we’re alone.” Their words were no more than whispered breaths in the small space between. “I mean, I just don’t trust anyone, not after that inn lady. I-I don’t want you to get hurt.”
Arthur stared at him in quiet contemplation before the question he’d been wondering about for days came out. “Doesn’t it tempt you?”
“What?”
“You know, immortality. There are people who are willing to do anything, or pay anything, for a chance at that. But you-you’ve known from the beginning and even after learning what people will do in this world for that, you’ve never even seemed to care.”
Alfred met his eyes and shrugged as much as he could from his position over Arthur. “I just don’t see the appeal-I mean, it’d be pretty lonely, wouldn’t it? I guess if you had someone to share it with it wouldn’t be so bad.”
That was-such a naïve way of thinking it hardly made sense a man nearly grown was saying it, but because it was Alfred saying it, Arthur believed him. He could feel his Light flutter up and he looked away from Alfred’s gaze, biting his lip to keep all the words he wanted to say quiet and to himself. Alfred glanced back behind them before he crawled off Arthur and back to his feet, holding out his hand for Arthur to take, helping him out of the bushes and back onto his feet. They straightened themselves out and began walking again, Alfred’s eyes studying Arthur in a way that made him feel self-conscious.
“You know you kind of glow a bit, I just noticed.”
“Well spotted, Alfred.” He gave the young man a sardonic grin before he continued. “Let’s think about it for a moment, what do stars do?”
“Um, attract trouble?” Arthur smacked him and Alfred chuckled as he held up his hands in surrender. “Kidding, kidding! Jeez, you don’t have to hit so hard, you know. Can I guess again?”
Arthur arched his eyebrow at him and nodded his head shortly, a small smirk on his face. “All right.”
“Ok…how about, they’re best at knowing how to kill someone by food?”
“That was one time, Alfred! It’s not like I’ve ever attempted cooking before!”
“Tell that to my taste buds, I don’t think they’ll ever be the same after those cookie things you made.”
Arthur couldn’t help but chuckle along with Alfred, after he hit him again of course, and they continued walking in their comfortable silence for a time. When the next carriage came, Arthur heard it too and he ducked behind a large rock with Alfred-until he noticed the woman who was driving the garishly yellow caravan. It was the woman from the shop, the one that knew Francis and his crew; perhaps he wasn’t really up for trusting random strangers, but she had a large wagon and they needed to get to wall. At least she was friends with the one group of people who had treated him kindly.
“I know her, she was in the shop at that port, Alejandro’s shop. She knows Francis, I saw them talking.”
“Really? What does that-wait, you want to go talk to her? So, you’re saying we should just trust her, because Francis talked to her for like a minute? Are you trying to get your heart cut out?!”
“She has a wagon, Alfred, she could get us to the wall quicker than walking, and we don’t have a lot of options here.”
Alfred met his stare, his eyes stormy and clearly unhappy, but he nodded after a harsh sigh and stepped out, keeping one hand on the pommel of his long knife. He made sure to stay in front of Arthur. It was sweet…a little unnecessary and gallant, but sweet. The woman looked up and cocked an eyebrow at them. “Oi, you there, mind getting out of the road? People got to use it.”
“Oh yeah, well, I was kinda hoping that we could get a ride with you! Gotta get to the wall and we’ve-”
“That flower! That’s my damn flower, been looking for that for eighteen years!” The witch hopped off the wagon and strode angrily towards Alfred, who pulled out the knife in one swift, confident motion, eyes wary. A green colored bird on the wagon was chirping loudly from its perch.
Arthur frowned and stepped forward angrily. “Excuse your rudeness, but that is his flower, it was a gift from his mother!”
The woman made no motion that she heard him and eyed the knife Alfred had out before she stepped back and tucked a messy piece of hair back under an orange headband. “My mistake, my mistake, it happens when you get older, boy.”
Alfred glanced over at Arthur for a second before he put the sword away, eyes still wary and body still tense. “Ok I guess…it’s obviously important to you though, so what if I traded this flower for a ride into market-town?”
The woman studied him for a moment before she grinned. “Fair enough trade. I’ll even through in free food and lodging for your ride in.”
“Really? Well that’s great.” Alfred beamed at Arthur, who was still confused as to why the woman hadn’t so much as looked his way yet, and handed over the small, snowdrop flower he had tucked in his jacket pocket. The woman took it and gave him a patronizing look.
“You really had no idea what kind of thing you traded away, did you? Not that it matters, I keep my promises and I intend to get you to Market-town in the exact condition you are now. Just as a future note though, this little flower has a powerful protection enchantment on it, protection from magic that it is. In fact, it would’ve been the very thing that would have prevented me from doing this.”
She poked Alfred on the nose and the next thing Arthur knew, Alfred was gone and a large, floppy-eared bunny was in his place. The woman clucked her tongue and picked up the rabbit gently, carrying it towards the back of her wagon-Arthur followed once his shock wore off and was replaced by white-hot anger, the likes of which he had never felt before. He tried to rush the woman, hit her, kick her, and yell at her, but it was if there was a barrier in between them and she could not see him at all. She opened the wagon doors and stepped inside, placing Alfred in a wire cage on the table.
“There you go, food and lodging, just like I promised.” She clucked her tongue at Alfred the rabbit before shuffling back out of the wagon, brushing straight past a fuming Arthur without even a glance.
“If I’m correct in the assumption that you can neither see or hear me, then let me just say that you smell of piss, you look like something you’d puke up after a hard night, I believe birds could nest in that thing atop your head you likely call hair, and I swear if I don’t get Alfred back the way he was, I will be your personal poltergeist. You may not be able to see me, but that doesn’t prevent me from tearing your wagon to pieces!” The woman hummed to herself and Arthur had just a moment to hop in before she closed the doors; he fumed at the door until the wagon lurched back into motion, forcing him to steady himself onto a chair. “Bloody, fucking woman, I will ruin your sanity, I swear it, if you keep him a bloody rabbit!”
He received no response, apart from the bird’s chirping, and sighed, turning his attention to the floppy eared rabbit. “Alfred? Alfred if you can understand me, give me some sort of sign. A hop or a nod or something.”
Alfred the rabbit wiggled his nose and looked over his shoulder to where a small bushel of carrots was resting on a counter. Arthur groaned and broke off a small piece of one of the carrots and put it inside the cage through the bars. Alfred the rabbit took it immediately and began to nibble with single-minded determination, leaving Arthur to do nothing but stare at him in half-amused, half-mournful silence. He did a cursory glance about the wagon, at the small, narrow bed wedged on the opposite side of the kitchen area, at the heaps of dirty clothes and stacks of books in a corner. It was certainly not the lodgings one would expect for a woman-but any woman who looked like the witch did fit right at home with the caravan’s messy state.
Arthur reached his fingers through the wire cage and stroked at the small bit of Alfred the rabbit he could reach, not bothering to hide the melancholy expression that he usually worked so hard to keep out of sight. He hadn’t wanted to bother Alfred with his problems, not when he was already risking his life under threat of witches and warlocks to keep him safe. Besides, he may not have been on the ground very long, but he had watched long enough to know it was bad form to tell someone you were in love with them when they loved someone else. At least, it was bad form when the other person could understand you-Arthur looked at the rabbit and took a deep breath.
“This is completely mental…I’m confessing to a man turned into a rabbit that’s more concerned about a carrot than anything else. But this-this is probably the only opportunity I’ll have to say anything, and you’re supposed to feel better after you’ve gotten what’s troubling you out, right? Not that I would even know-stars aren’t exactly closed off to our brothers and sisters-and we don’t generally fall in love. That’s as good of a way to say it I suppose; I have to say all those silly stories on demonstrations of devotions and spouting off ballads to declare your love are all quiet tedious. You should just say what they mean, not get lost in the spectacle of it all.
“I’m talking about you, you know, or I suppose you don’t and it doesn’t even matter because you’re a rabbit who doesn’t even understand what I’m saying at the moment, but it doesn’t change it. I do, I love you and I have no idea why or even how it happened, but it’s the only explanation why I feel the need to both kiss you senseless and beat your head in simultaneously. I may never have felt love before, but I’ve seen so much of it, Alfred, so much before I fell and-and it nearly kills me to think that after finally feeling what I always dreamt of, you don’t even love me back. You love someone else, some girl that you wax on about how pale her skin and how shiny her hair is and it takes all that I am to not-I don’t know, scream sounds much too dramatic. Something though.”
Arthur sighed, pulled back his arms, and buried his head in his hands on the counter, not catching that the rabbit was no longer nibbling on his carrot, but watching him. “I don’t even want to go home as much anymore. I mean I do, but I-fuck me, this is all wrong and I hate it and feeling this way and feeling that whenever I’m around you my heart just beats and beats so hard my chest can barely contain it. Like it doesn’t belong to me anymore, like it’s yours and the only thing that would make me happy is if you accepted it-and gave me yours in return of course because otherwise I’m miserable…and heartless. Christ, this is getting ridiculous; I’m not even making sense anymore!”
He lifted his face back up and swiped at his eyes and the wetness collecting there, a mix of frustration, sadness, and exhaustion, before he gave Alfred the rabbit a wan smile. “Well that was a crock of shit, I don’t feel any better now that I said everything-oh well, not like it would have made any difference anyways. Maybe this is for the best, you’ll return home and get your lass and I’ll go home too and file all of this away as just a bad dream. Once you help me find a Babylon candle of course.”
He sighed and rested his head back down, letting the push and pull of the caravan lull him to drowse-Alfred the rabbit, in his little cage beside him, crawled up close to the cage and rested his little nose against Arthur’s fingertips as he fell asleep.
Next Chapter
******
The apprentice warlock = Hong Kong