Messenger in the Mist (13 page)

Leer stood, his shackles clinking. “Wait.”

Valen rested his arm against the cell door and closed his eyes, but Star turned around and met Leer’s gaze.

Leer skimmed over her and looked at Valen’s back. “All of my grievances would be pardoned?”

Valen sighed but did not turn around. “If she’s brought home safely, then yes.”

Star thought the prince’s rewards were a bit much. Valen placed everything on the table for her quest. Although his extravagance made her angry, her heart swelled with wonder. He actually did believe in her.

Leer smiled at Star like she’d just granted him his every wish. “Done.”

Journeyman’s Voyage

Saying farewell was harder than Star thought. Two days had withered away since the conversation in Leer’s cell, and she was no more ready to leave Valen now than she had been in the dungeon, but every day she waited placed the fortress in higher jeopardy. The mist rose and the walls surrounding Ravencliff stood like a weak dam ready to crack under nature’s onslaught. Star wondered how the mist blowers coped with the worsening conditions back at her home in Evenspark. She hoped her parents were safe.

Since no journeymen had ever come back, there were no maps or charts of the territory in the north, only crude projections assumed by Ravencliff’s best geographers and cartographers. She planned to ride in the direction of the oncoming mist. Valen supported her plan, although he expressed his worries at her safety, and any path that got Leer out of his cell seemed agreeable.

Star stuffed her pockets full of matches. There were tinderboxes tucked into her belt, breeches, tunic and saddlebag. She was not going to take any chances that a pack might get waterlogged or fail to ignite. She also had a bundle of torch sticks tied to Windracer’s saddle, the best blazing torches in the land provided by the prince’s alchemists.

She thought it was wise to begin the journey when the first light filtered through the clouds to make the most of the day before darkness fell. Twilight hung in the air, heightening the suspense and anticipation fizzling in her veins. Soon morning would shine on the horizon, bringing with it a blazing sun. Star looked into the sky with weary eyes. In moments, the golden sphere’s rays would not be able to reach her. In a few nervous heartbeats, she’d be unreachable by everyone in Ravencliff.

At least she was not going alone. Star chanced a look over at Leer. He was saddling his horse, Wildfire, intently inspecting each fastening and every knot in the reins. She handed him an extra torch stick. “You’re sure she’s ready for a journey after lounging in the stables for so long?”

Leer quirked an eyebrow. “I just rode her last night and she’s got enough bundled energy to fly. Heck, she’ll give Windracer a run for it.”

Star resisted the urge to scoff at him. She didn’t like the thought of someone riding as fast as she could, especially after years of him dallying. “We’ll see about that.”

Leer took a step toward her and bowed his head so that his lips brushed her hair. His voice was barely a whisper. “I’d be more concerned about Valen’s safety. He looks as though he’s got the plague.”

Ignoring Leer’s proximity, Star watched Valen as he talked to the drawbridge guards. His expression turned grim and complex. Star could tell he was nervous by his shifting glances, his face ever changing as the weather on a windy day. She wanted to reassure him everything was going to be all right, but she felt awkward comforting him in front of Leer, and she wasn’t sure everything
was
going to be all right. It would be a false guarantee, an empty promise.

Valen ended his conversation with the guards and ran toward them. Leer spoke, his voice bringing her back from her wistful thoughts. “Gear is set.” He patted Wildfire on the hind leg. “We shouldn’t tarry much longer.”

“All right then,” Star agreed and looked to the guard. “Open the gate.” She took a step to mount Windracer, but Valen grabbed her arm and held her back.

“You don’t have to do this.” His eyes were sad, framed in dark circles from sleepless nights. They hadn’t talked much since the incident in the stairwell, partly because Star avoided his concerns and partly because she saw something blossoming between them, felt something that she’d never experienced before. It was frightening how much she wanted him despite the fact that it would ruin both kingdoms. She almost convinced herself he felt the same. She pushed the thought aside. It was better off this way.

Star pulled her arm away and mounted Windracer. “What else am I going to do? Where else am I going to go? My job is corrupt, my superior is the enemy. Who can I trust? To go back to Evenspark now would be far more dangerous than dealing with the Elyndra.”

As if to prove her point, the wheels of the drawbridge turned. The rumble of the gate had begun.

Valen took a step toward her. “You could stay here.”

Star looked at the lowering drawbridge, failing to meet his eyes. “My life was back in Evenspark. What could possibly be left here for me?”

She clamped her mouth like she’d said too much all at once. Valen took a breath to speak but held his words back as if a sudden thought gripped him. Instead, he offered her meager words. “Be careful.”

Star pulled a stray wisp of hair back over her ear. “I always am.”

The drawbridge hit the ground with a muffled thump. Leer sat on Wildfire, pacing before the gate like a leopard in a cage. He shouted over his shoulder, “Come on, Miss Adventure. You don’t want to miss your appointment.”

Star rolled her eyes at Leer before looking back to Valen once more. “I will get to the bottom of this. If there’s a way to halt the mist and stop the Elyndra, I will find it.” She gestured to Leer with a flick of her eyes and her voice fell to a whisper. “I’ll also find out who is behind those plans. If Leer knows anything, I’ll get it out of him.”

“Just return home safely.” Valen stepped back to allow Windracer room to gallop. His cloak fluttered in the breeze around his ankles, shifty like his own varying affections.

Leer yelled out a cry, spurring Wildfire into action. Star snapped her reins and Windracer took off seconds later. It was too late when Star realized she’d left yet again without saying good-bye.

* * * *

Riding with Leer was like dancing with a partner who whisked her off her feet. Star had never experienced anything like it before. Windracer and Wildfire encouraged each other, weaving in and out of one another’s paths, racing head to head. She found it exhilarating and, if the countryside wasn’t so dangerous, it would have been great fun.

“Come now, you can’t go any faster?” Leer called over the din of hoofbeats and wind roaring in her ears.

“I was going easy on you!” Star spurred Windracer forward with a kick of her heels. She realized she had underestimated Leer. Although he weighed more than her, Wildfire stood an inch higher than Windracer, able to carry the load as easily as Windracer supported her weight. It was a magnificent sight to watch the horse’s muscles heave in synchronicity with Leer’s rising and falling muscular figure.

It was only when the earth grew jagged they were both forced to slow down. Unlike her runs between kingdoms, this time there was no beaten-down path. They were going where few had gone before and from where no one had ever come back.

Unlike the marshes in the south, the north sprawled out into moorland, sprinkled with tufts of dry grass and slabs of granite jutting out in spiky protrusions like the ridged backs of dragons. Although the terrain was lonesome, Star had the distinct feeling they were being watched. Each step brought them closer to the Elyndra’s turf, making them trespassers in a hostile land. The mist grew thick as old molasses, clinging to everything it touched. Star could feel the coolness of the wisps on her face and the moisture dampening her hair.

They rode throughout the day and into the darkening twilight, staying close to Ravencliff’s mountains as if they were the lifeline to their countrymen and their home. Star hoped they could find shelter within the crooks of the crags.

Leer roamed the perimeter of the mountains, searching for any crevice where they could take refuge from the oncoming night as Star watched the sky with a blazing torch in hand. She brandished the flames, challenging the darkening sky and searching the mist for any sign of life, but there was only emptiness around her.

“It’s all right, girl, he’ll be back soon.” She ran her fingers through the tangles in her horse’s mane. Her voice sounded weak against the backdrop of thickening mist and shadows.

When hours had passed and Leer had not come back, worries crept into Star’s thoughts. The evening had given into night and the darkness pressed in on her. She thought she heard whispers on the wind, guttural utterances speaking an archaic language she did not recognize or, perhaps, her imagination conjured up.

Star swung her torch in wild arcs but could see nothing beyond the mist. She tried to remember how she got there in the first place and Leer’s face as he explained he’d return as soon as he found shelter. A clinging doubt deepened in her mind. She felt as though she had stumbled into the afterlife and was trapped in the place between the living and the dead. The desolate countryside was made for devilish nightmares. Had she truly made it this far? What if she’d fallen and hit her head, only to be picked off the earth by an Elyndra? What if she joined the dead?

She was relieved beyond words when Leer’s torch became a growing glow in the distance, followed by the sound of Wildfire’s hoofbeats. The comfort of a familiar image brought her back to the tick of time itself. After collecting her rambling thoughts, she mounted Windracer and met him halfway. Star covered her diminished composure with an accusation. “You were gone for so long.”

Leer shifted his weight in the saddle. In the firelight, Star could see the weariness in his features. Perhaps he had not had the easiest time alone either.

She let her indictment drop with a sigh. “What did you find?”

“There is a cave several hundred feet from here. If we build a fire by the entrance, we should be safe for tonight.”

Eager to get out of the maddening mist, she stared at Leer like he’d given her salvation. “Wonderful. Let’s go then.”

But Leer was not so enthusiastic. His eyes were dark and guarded. “You will not be so cheerful once you see what is inside.”

“Is it dangerous?” Star pictured a cavern with Elyndra hanging from the ceiling like bats.

Leer shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Star had to work to suppress her frustration.

“Let’s just say that we weren’t the first to find the hiding spot.”

His words haunted Star all the way to the cavern. She wanted so badly to inquire further but respected his silence. If he had trouble speaking of it, then it would be easier for her to wait than cause him more discomfort, even if he was a rogue. Besides, she found it hard to talk to him. Silence fit him best. To pull words out of him would be to make a one-legged man dance.

Leer had found the cavern out of sheer luck. Hidden behind an outcrop of tangled weeds, the entrance was but a slit in the mountain’s edifice.

“How did you ever find this?” Star dismounted, immediately thinking of the secret tunnel outside the fortress. Maybe she’d found the spy.

“I followed his marks, scratches in the rock wall.”

“Whose marks?”

Star walked inside and Leer moved to stop her. “Star, wait.”

“I’m tired of speaking in half sentences. If you won’t tell me what’s in there, then I’ll have to go and see for—”

Star froze in her tracks and screamed. Hunched against the side of the cavern wall was a skeleton, clothed in tattered travel gear, its bony fingers holding the remnants of a leather-bound journal.

Although she’d seen a great flying beast, a pool of blood and an assassination letter all in the course of a few days, Star was unprepared for her first look upon the dead. She stood above the corpse, covering her mouth in both hands, her eyes wide. It took long moments for her to regain control of her emotions.

“What? You’ve never seen a dead man before?” Leer appeared to be amused.

“You didn’t tell me that he was in here.” Star hugged her shoulders, trying to get hold of herself.

“I said you wouldn’t like it.” Although Leer wasn’t offering an apology, she could see a glint of guilt in his eyes. Maybe now he’d have more to say instead of keeping every word to himself.

“Well, I’m not sleeping in this cave with this corpse.” Star pushed by him to the entrance of the cave and looked away. “You’re going to have to move him.”

Leer shrugged off her remark. Instead he pulled the journal from the body and held it out for her to see. “Look, he was a journeyman. It’s written in their distinctive shorthand.”

“I can see that.” Star’s emotions waged inside her body, the curiosity fighting against her queasy stomach. She had learned their script when she studied to be a carrier in Evenspark. Zetta insisted every carrier study the journeyman’s handwriting in case anyone ever received a letter from one of them. Star had always thought of it as irrelevant and frivolous busywork. The journeymen’s language had died out since none of its writers ever came back. Tonight she was glad she’d paid attention. She took the dusty book in her hands.

“He probably got stuck in here.” Leer looked out of the staggered opening. “Unable to leave and find food or water.”

“I wouldn’t put it above the Elyndra to have trapped and kept him here in an eternal siege.” Star flipped through the pages. Each journal entry was dated approximately one hundred years back, ending at the turn of the last century.

Leer led the horses in, securing them to an outcropping in the wall. “Well? What does it say?”

“Not much. Just weather recordings and charts south of here.”

“Does it say what happened to him?”

“I’m getting to that part.” Star turned to the last entry. She was silent for a long time, reading. Leer approached behind her, glancing over her shoulder. She blinked and squinted. “I think he went crazy. He talks of strange sightings, people scurrying around in brown robes.”