A Star is Born: The Coming Dawn: Book I (32 page)

“I can’t, my King. No one can bring back the dead.” Oella shook her head emphatically. Ky cried harder. Her only hope was shattered. She stared at Huntra with deep despair.

“No. Please try,” Ky protested with a plea.

“You can’t help if I kill you,” Cobaaron growled, pulling a blade from Laxis’s side. “I won’t hesitate to kill a witch. If you can’t help my partner I have no use for you.”

“
I can’t help him
!” Oella shouted firmly.

“You’re a
witch
. You can, and you will!”

“I can’t,” Oella yelled.

“I’m going to chop off your hand, and when I do, we’ll see who is lying.” As Cobaaron threatened, Laxis immediately captured Oella and stretched out her arm.

“Cobaaron, no,” Ky said, clutching his arm.

Without further warning Cobaaron swung. Ky couldn’t believe he had, and she screamed in protest. But at the last second Oella yelled, “
Alright
!” He stopped the blade, resting on her skin. Cobaaron looked triumphant. Oella yanked her arm from Laxis, and then went over to a nearby window. She smashed the glass, mumbled hateful oaths, and then took a large piece that fell to the dusty floor. She returned holding the glass out.

“Life for life,” she chanted and took a flat edge and suddenly thrust it toward Cobaaron. He grabbed her hand and twisted her wrist away, not letting the shard near him. “Blood for Blood.” She curled her wrist to the right; she scraped off the groupie’s stinking blood from Cobaaron’s hand that held her at a pained angle. She gathered a few drops, and then he let go of her.

The blood pooled at the flat edge of the glass. Oella then held the blood over Huntra. She wrapped her hand around the sharp glass and squeezed. The glass cut her skin, and her blood mixed with the groupie’s before trickling down onto Huntra. Nothing spectacular happened. He didn’t wake up. His cuts didn’t miraculously heal. The blood did nothing out of the ordinary. Some of it stuck to his hair while the rest beaded off, dripping to the ground. “Happy now?” Oella asked with scathing hatred.

“
Very
,” Cobaaron growled.

“But, Oella, he isn’t moving. Nothing happened,” Ky said as if no one else noticed but her.

“Well then why don’t
you
try it? He was dead too long,” Oella snapped sarcastically. “I’m not a powerful witch. I told you that.”

“Liar,” Cobaaron stated coolly.

“What makes you so sure?” Oella asked him.

“Because you’re a witch. You proved your power—so don’t deny it.”

“But nothing happened,” Ky repeated.

“He’s to bathe in water now. It’s water that gives him a second life,” Cobaaron explained, and Oella seemed scared for the first time.

“How…” Oella began to ask but Cobaaron interrupted her.

“I’m
a chief
. I’ll warn you now not to underestimate me. I
let
you live,” he said, and as he did, he thrust the shard between Oella’s ribs. She screamed in pain. Cobaaron jammed the glass even farther into her. Ky gasped, shocked Cobaaron could kill the only woman who tried to help them. “And I know your ways, witch. Don’t try to cross me
or what is mine
.”

Ky pleaded with Cobaaron in a panic, asking him to stop. Ky tried to pull him away from Oella. Why was he treating her this way? She helped them. Oella touched the tip of the glass as fury showed in her orange eyes that swirled to black. “Now your fate is tied with this animal. You’re bound to serve as it does, for
whom
it does. If you betray us, it will be to your own death. Isn’t this how the charm works? Life for life, blood for blood, bond for bond.”

“How did you know?” Oella asked.

“You’re not the first witch I’ve encountered,” Cobaaron said coldly.

Oella pressed the tip of the glass deeper. Her eyes once again swirled black. The glass sizzled and popped, and her skin grew over it. In a frantic hurry, Oella took more glass from the floor, then like a teapot she tipped it, and water gushed out. She drenched Huntra with water and washed all the blood away. He immediately lifted his head up and shook the water from his face, hating to be wet.

Ky was surprised to see he was himself again. It had worked. Huntra was alive. She took Huntra from Cobaaron and petted him as she stared dumbfounded at Oella. Oella pretended to be less than she was. She lied. And that entire time Cobaaron told her to not trust her. He knew she was more powerful and a liar. They fought over her. And all the time, Oella had a secret. Oella glanced at Ky as she clutched her side where the glass hid, clearly thinking about the bond to her, and resenting it.

“So am I her
slave
now? Because I thought this trip meant I was going to have a better life, have a child in another city where no one knew what I was.”

“You leave my partner and Huntra alone,” Cobaaron threatened. “I don’t want you anywhere near her or I will not hesitate to take your life. No doubt the cat will feel attachment to you now, but if you encourage a friendship I will kill you. Don’t think for a second that I’m at a loss to where Spaci got the poisonous dagger, you filthy witch.”

“That wasn’t me. I swear he didn’t get it from me,” Oella protested. But Ky no longer believed a word she said.

“Well, don’t bet your life on that dagger not originating from you.” He motioned with a nod to the glass inside her.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Huntra was eating healthily on a rat diet. The castle was teeming with them. They were as long as he was when small, but that didn’t stop him from growing to overpower them and feast. It warmed Ky’s heart to see him thriving. It seemed as if nothing happened to him. His belly was always full since the day they arrived at Elder. She liked that he made it his
job
to enter each room before her and rid the space of any rodents. He would then munch loudly in a corner, and sometimes even brought rats to her to show off his achievements.

It was disgusting but she always praised and petted him. Cobaaron willingly petted him, when Huntra did the same to him. “Good boy, now kill the rest of the groupie babies,” he would say, and Huntra would dash off. Cobaaron seemed to have a new fondness for Huntra, which never failed to amuse Ky. He was slowly showing more affection when they were alone. She liked his tenderhearted side, but never said so because she was sure he wouldn’t like her acknowledgment that the masculine personality as a warrior was changing into a devoted lover to Ky and friend to Huntra. He’d probably say it was emasculating.

Since they consummated their bond, Ky experienced adolescence mood swings as her body changed. She popped and then glowed as if she were a furnace that kept trying to ignite. With each crackle, she would bellow complaints to Huntra and Cobaaron. Cobaaron flared with a mild temper, too. Guessing it was a cycle Stars and mates went through after a union, they were forgiving about their snippety remarks.

This went on almost five days until one night she woke up sweating. Glittering silver flakes were all over her body. Ky glowed a pale pink, which never dimmed. She experienced no mood swings after that, and her light stayed at the brighter luminosity. They no longer needed to torch a room. She lit anywhere they went so brilliantly there wasn’t a shadow. Cobaaron kept telling her she smelled like a honey candle, which made her love the new change.

If they weren’t sleeping or making love, they were looking through the vast collection of archives.

“Here. You read these.” Cobaaron dropped several rolled-up scrolls in front of her. She scanned the room, and the daunting work ahead of them. They seemed to never make progress, though they had been looking for days in the enormous room. Large curtains concealed thousands of square cubbies. Each slot was labeled by numbers, and held several parchment rolls. Some prophetic scrolls were quite long, while others very short. They were looking for anything about a Star and a warrior union, and hadn’t found anything that resembled what they heard.

“It’s in this room. It has to be. This is the room of prophecies. We need to keep looking,” he said mainly to himself, but Ky once again mentioned that they needed help. It would take weeks, if not months, to find what they were looking for with only the two of them. “Ky, I can’t ask my men to look. It’s too important. We can’t let anyone else find it.” He paused to read before stating, “Oh, listen to this one. It says:

‘Where the sun now shines,

From the west to east.

Flowers grow like weeds,

Trees give up their fruits.

Fish will swim the waves,

Men catch them with ease.

The world is in peace.’

“I’ve read about a dozen of these. They all talk about the world restoring light. But annoyingly, it doesn’t say how.” He paused and peered at her. “Can you imagine a world of light? That sounds incredible.”

“I can imagine that rather easily.”

“How are all these archives unknown?” he asked puzzled, then read another.

“Oh. This one is sweet,” Ky said. “It’s about true love conquering evil…”

“Skip it. That isn’t what we’re seeking.”

“But, it’s sweet. Don’t you want to hear it?”

“Not really. I read several sappy archives already about an elf and girl. I’ve had my fill.”

“Fine.” Ky slid it aside. She picked up another scroll and began to read. “Oh, this one. There might be something to it. Listen to this:

‘When the great city stands,

The world is in his hands.

Upon hills of strong stone,

He’s king upon that throne.

Night turns to light. It’s won.

Then there comes the new sun.’

“That talks about light returning,” Ky said.

“I’ll take it. It sounds like it might be part of what we’re looking for.” As Cobaaron took the archive he rubbed his chin, in thought. “It reminds me of something. The reference to
the great city
. It reminds me of…” His voice trailed off.

“What?”

“Well,” he said slowly, “there’s a story I’ve heard. It’s a legend—a really
old
legend.” He paused and set the scroll down and looked at her while he spoke: “I warn you, it’s most likely not true. I don’t put stock into any legend. I’ve always thought this tale was just a story that engendered fear in people of the three kings, and warned not to trust witches. It crossed my mind the first time I heard it that people wanted an explanation for women having such a hard time bearing children. I thought maybe that is why the story was made up. But this prophecy mentions this great city.

“A long time ago,” he began, “the Stars all lived among the people under a brilliant sun in the City of Lights—the great city. It was the greatest kingdom in the world and stood since the beginning of mankind. The earth was living in peace and ease, and all was good and right.

“A son was born to the king of the City of Lights. He told a witch to bestow a gift for the son, wanting her to make him the greatest king the world would ever see. But the witch, being prideful, hated to be told what to do and cursed the child.

“The Angel of Death came to smite the infant. His parents, who loved their son, hid the boy. The angel searched the world for him. As death sought the boy, the god killed all the children he came across.

“Finally, another witch defied the god, saying she was disgusted by all the death, and she made an offer to the king and queen. They trusted the witch because she allegedly hated to see so many young die. The witch promised to make two sets of twins of the boy, hoping that the Angel of Death wouldn’t know which child was truly the king’s son. The king and queen quickly agreed, despite the witch performing dark magic and wanting to keep whichever of the three boys that survived. The witch miraculously copied the boy four times.

“When the Angel of Death found one of these boys, he slew the child. The angel was satisfied, and left the world, but his anger remained. All women were cursed with barren wombs, because he knew the witch tricked him. She herself was barren, but the god cursed all for her deception, knowing the great pain it caused her.

“Years later, the true boy died at an old age, as King Brock the Great. Yet three other boys remained. Their bodies were not frail or old, because their mother protected them. The witch loved the three children she made, and carefully kept them to live long, healthy lives with her.

“The witch taught them to be proud and the three kings hungered for power; having mastered skills over the length of numerous lives, they lusted for wealth and authority. They discovered they could rule the world forever, and sought anything that would make them invincible. They waged a war against all cities and all people and pillaged cities, taking anything that was magical.

“They pillaged a small village in the West Camos and destroyed it by fire. A woman, a mother of a small girl, the first child born in over a hundred years, saw her daughter burning in the fire. She called the Angel of Death by slitting her wrists, and pleaded with the god. She asked the angel to spare her daughter and take her instead. Death obliged, and saved the girl. The woman willingly went with the angel.

“The kings saw this, and took the child. Then they entered the City of Lights. The people and Stars were waiting for them. A great battle was fought, and when it was evident the three kings were nearly defeated, the kings’ mother possessed the small child and sent her out to win the war. The city saw the girl, and let her into the safety of the walls. She opened the gate to the great city, as everyone slept. The kings killed the people and the Stars, leaving the city in ruins. They took the child to the south.

“Years later, one of the kings fell in love with the girl. He used his wicked powers to keep the girl young and from death. Once again the angel came for the girl when death knew she would be old and ready for him. When the god found the girl still young and beautiful, he too fell in love with her. He was angry the king was keeping her from him. Death cursed the earth, and the world went black. But death made a mistake and could no longer find his people to take them away in the darkness. The men of the earth grew very old. The beasts of night grew strong, and the forests began to change.