A Star is Born: The Coming Dawn: Book I (28 page)

He quickly got off of her. Blood sizzled on the rocks behind her, and scorching heat blistered her back.

“Ky.” He rushed to her but she struck him hard in the groin. He doubled over. Ky felt blood oozing from her back, but she ran. “Ky,” Cobaaron airily gasped with pain.

She dropped to the hillside in pain. “Don’t touch me. Don’t
ever
touch me again. I can’t believe you are doing this to me! You barbaric bastard!”

She could feel hot lava trickling down her back. “Hold still!” He pressed her back, while searing heat scalded her until she was growing weak. It was so painful Ky could barely breathe. Then slowly the pain began to ease, until it subsided.

Cobaaron released her and let her scurry up the hill. When she realized he let her go Ky spun around and faced him. “You stay away. Why would I love you after threatening to rape me? You’re cruel and have done nothing but fight me and scare me. So, we managed to get through one meal without killing each other, big deal. The truth is, without this union, I wouldn’t be the least bit interested. What is there to like? Muscle? Your looks? That isn’t love. Or maybe it’s the way I think you’re going to kill me when we fight. Or maybe I’m in love with the idea of someone telling me to submit all the time, like he’s my father and I’m a stupid little eighteen-year-old girl. Yes that
must
be it.” She pushed herself up off the ground. “You stay away from me. You’re more dangerous than anything else in this world, with the greatest potential to hurt me, because I trust you. You betrayed my trust!” She reached down, felt a rock, and then chucked it at him, but he avoided her dismal attempt.

He stared at her. “I wasn’t going to touch you like that. This was a spar. I would never force myself on you.” He shook his head, looking hurt. Ky didn’t care what he said. She didn’t believe him. “You don’t mean any of that. You’re simply young and haven’t practiced communicating often enough. Tell me you don’t mean it, Ky.”

“I do mean it! Why don’t you read my thoughts and find out for yourself if you’re so sure!”

“I...I don’t think I will.”

“Good. Stay out of my head. I’m sick of you scaring me!” she snapped, and threw another rock, which she missed by a long shot because she was so emotional. “And since I’m giving you a list of things I don’t want, I don’t want you to talk to me ever again. We’re finished. Put some distance between us, because I’m through. I’m staying at the next city, and I’m
never
going to give you another thought again.”

He nodded. “I got it, Ky. You couldn’t be clearer. You don’t have to injure me further to make your point.” He stood there for a few heartbeats. He then veered and climbed the hill.

Ky sat on the cold earth and sobbed. She wasn’t sure if she was glad to see him willingly go without a fight, or not, but she meant every word. Huntra trotted toward her. He must have heard the commotion and her yelling. He was still as small as a house cat, and his belly was fuller than she had ever seen. He came and sat on her lap. She petted him in long sweeping swipes. She was glad to be with Huntra to keep her mind off Cobaaron. Once again, Huntra was her only friend in the world.

Ky sat for so long that her butt became numb. And she didn’t dare get up until her temper cooled off. Apparently her temper was worse than his, if he could stand there listening to her frustration, have rocks thrown at him, and not have a single argumentative reply that matched her tone.

Huntra hopped off her lap and began to expand. Ky shot up to her feet and nervously searched, expecting a dangerous beast. “What is it boy?” she whispered. He grew to three times her size before slipping his nose between her knees and flipped her onto his back. Ky saw nothing alarming, but then that didn’t mean anything. Her heart pounded, as the saddle bubbled around her. Huntra climbed the hill with unhurried steps. When they reached the top of the hill Ky discovered why Huntra had taken her. The warriors had begun their march. She glared when she saw Cobaaron leading his men. They were leaving
without her
. Abandoning her was the final insult.

“What...a...jerk.” She glared, and decided she definitely made the right decision breaking up with him.

Huntra caught up to the formation. He was about to go to the front of the line, but Ky told him to linger back. Soon several men surrounded them.

Just then her saddle bubbled adding another seat. And Noxis jumped up onto Huntra, sitting in front of her.

“What are you doing?” she asked him.

“What does it look like? I’m escorting you. It’s orders.”

Ky blinked. Maybe Cobaaron wasn’t such a jerk after all.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

It was a two-day, hard hike, with little rest to get to the ships of Tigrinia. If Ky didn’t have the endless jerky and never-ending water flask to share with Huntra, the journey would have been worse. She tried to carry Huntra as much as possible. But the boredom made traveling hard. There was nothing to look at except hills and occasionally, they would all stop when enormous flocks of birds flew overhead.

Noxis wasn’t much company when he was riding on Huntra. The few sentences he said were barking orders. No wonder people accused warriors of acting like dogs; they growled and snarled a lot. Noxis daily snapped: “Get some sleep. You’ll have to walk now. Get down and stay quiet. Carry Huntra. Eat. You’ve marched enough, rest.”

Seeing the ships was sweet relief. The fleet floated at a long dock that stretched for miles. They were outside an abandoned, above-ground city. For some reason, it was strange to see a city built above-ground and eerie because the windows were as black as the constant night. By the time Ky reached the dock, the first ships had left; the substantial sails swiftly moved them onward. The ships were identical: brown sails, covered in black tar, and so low in the water that Ky thought they could easily roll over. On further inspection, the boats weren’t made of wood, but tightly woven long grass mixed and slathered in tar; this made her even more nervous to sail in such rickety ships. Noxis said the grass was more forgiving than wood, and because of that the ships were safer. Ky wasn’t convinced.

Noxis dismounted Huntra, and told Ky to do the same. “Cats hate water. You’re going to have to carry him aboard and he won’t like it.” He pointed to a ship. “Go get onboard. I’ll be right behind you.”

He left her, heading toward a group of warriors that protected Oella and a few other women. He began barking orders saying only fifty men could sail with him, while everyone else needed to assemble three hundred men onto each ship.

Huntra began to shrink as she pleaded. “Don’t freak out, okay? You don’t want me scratched and bleeding everywhere.” She picked him up, held him firmly to her chest keeping his nails away from her. She crossed the narrow beam over the water toward the boat. Huntra squirmed. She held him as tight as she could. He was so frantic; he was acting as if he thought she was going to throw him overboard.

“Huntra, stop!” she yelled, which only made it worse. Her tone scared him. Huntra began to swell. “It’s okay. It’s okay,” she whispered, deciding it was better to be soothing. She hugged him tighter, and tried to hurry across the beam. His weight soon doubled. There was no other choice but to set him down and point him in the direction of the boat. He shot off at incredible speed to get far away from her. He scurried down the deck and disappeared behind long benches with oars.

“He’ll be fine,” Noxis griped, while coming up behind her unexpectedly. “Keep going.”

She walked across the plank with several warriors at her heels.

“Follow me,” Noxis commanded gruffly.

He walked the long deck, opened a trapdoor, and spat, “Jump down.” She blinked and stared at Noxis a moment, wondering if he was serious. The inner cavity was so dark she couldn’t see the floor which meant it was a long drop. “Jump down!” he repeated, exasperated, and then gave her a strong shove. His force was all that was needed to make her fall below deck. She landed hard, falling face down. She slowly got up, catching her breath.

The large, dark cavity of the ship was huge and creepy. She couldn’t see the end, which made her nervous. In the center of the watercraft was a round wall slathered with thick layers of tar that made a well. The hull had sea water sloshing around inside, and by the depth of the water Ky could tell that most of the ship was under water. Uncomfortable hammocks hung every few feet. Tiny portholes let in fresh air, and the faint light of the brown moon.

“Here, take this.” Noxis held out his fist through the door overhead. He was holding a crystal. “Hang this in the holster. The moon will charge it with light, and then it will brighten the room. I’ll bring you food later. Just stay down here.”

“For how long?”

“Till I say,” he challenged. “And don’t let anyone else in here except me.”

He closed the door. She could hear footsteps above her as she put the rock in a small rope holster that hung in front of a window. The strong grass creaked like wood as warriors boarded the ship, and walked above. A second later the door swung open and a hand tossed Huntra into the room. He hissed when he landed on the floor with a heavy thump. She hurried to him. “Are you okay?”

He backed away, and sprinted around the room, but there was nowhere for him to go, or hide. Ky knew it was best to leave him be, and not make him think she was chasing him. She decided to sit and let him calm.

She sat in the dark, and watched the crystal slowly brighten. The stone was soothing and mesmerizing. It glowed a soft white, until finally it was a bright blue. When the crystal was fully charged, Huntra calmed down and finally lay on her lap, wanting to be petted.

Hours later, raw fish was tossed in. Ky couldn’t stomach the smell of fish, and discarded whatever Huntra didn’t eat into the open well. Small bioluminescent fish with bulging eyes, and enormously long fantails came to nibble. She watched as they swarmed and devoured the meat. They soon covered the morsel as they tore at the flesh. She was amazed how fast they ate the meal. Then as quickly as they came, they left.

Noxis occasionally checked on her before locking her up again. Thankfully, she had the never-ending water flask but she lost her appetite. Once Noxis saw the flask, he didn’t check again for days.

Ky’s mind became restless. She obsessively recalled her fight with Cobaaron. She didn’t remember how their quarrel started, only how it bitterly ended. Now that she wasn’t so angry, she knew that he only intended to spar with her to burn off sexual frustrations. She was upset that she accused him of wanting to ravage her. How could she have ever thought that? She deeply regretted telling him they were finished. He was probably trying to forget her. She wouldn’t blame him.

She was constantly thinking the worst of him, when his intentions were never as corrupt as she assumed. From the beginning she distrusted him, even though he was only trying to protect her. Of course a warrior would spar to burn energy to keep tension from boiling over. She wasn’t deluded to think he was perfect, but neither was she.

She was equally as headstrong, if not more so. He did have a point. It was foolishness to ignore his knowledge of the world he grew up in. He also needed her to hold her tongue in front of his men, and approach him in private. His request wasn’t unreasonable to ask especially when he needed his men to respect him.

She wanted to make things right and apologize. She cleared her mind hoping to plant a thought in his head. “I’m sorry.” There was no reply. “Talk to me.” She tried for five minutes to talk to him, even groveled, but he never answered.

Ky studied her palm. His name was no longer etched with beautiful calligraphy. She put her palm over her heart and sobbed. He wasn’t talking to her, and their union was gone. She pushed him away hard enough that he had no desire to return to her. It served her right.

Huntra saw her pain as she cried. He knew her tears were shed from sadness. Ky knew Huntra was keenly aware of her sorrow because he sat on her lap, stretched up her chest, and licked her face. He meowed with stinky fish breath, and kept nudging her hand until she petted him. “I made a real mess, Huntra.”

*****

Noxis dropped down into the belly of the ship. “It’s another week until we reach the walls of Elder. I thought you should know. It helps to know when it ends, so you don’t go crazy with the boredom.”

She couldn’t look him in the eye. He reminded her too much like his brother. When she didn’t say anything, he hoisted himself back up to the deck before closing the door.

By the next day Ky was seasick. She constantly had her head leaning over the well. Her unsettled stomach felt worse each time fish came to eat anything she vomited, until it was a vicious cycle.

By the fourth day she could barely keep water down. It alarmed her how sick she was, and how weak she felt. She just wanted the rocking to stop, and be on land. Gladly, she would take a day in the swamp over another day in the ship.

To make matters worse, Ky worried she was losing her mind. She kept thinking that she saw the walls leak, as dripping water rolled down from a crack in the tar that she couldn’t see. However, she only saw the water a few instances, and each time she went to touch the droplets, it was dry and there was no water.

For what seemed like the tenth time, Ky tilted her head, and once again watched a drop of water slide down the tar. Slowly, she stood, sure she saw it. She walked over to the wall. Her hand reached out. This time the surface was wet. She wasn’t imagining it.

Without warning, an enormous gash ripped end-to-end on the side of the boat. Water gushed into the main hold. Ky screamed. In seconds she was engulfed in cold water. She saw the boat snap in half. Thousands of white bubbles surrounded her and obscured her vision. Then she saw Huntra swim to the surface.

Someone grabbed her.

“Ky!” Noxis yelled. He slapped her hard across the cheek. Ky gaped at him. “What’s wrong? You’re screaming.”

Ky was standing in the undamaged hull; nothing was wrong. She stared at the spot where it burst open. There was nothing: no water, no dripping, and no gash.