A Star is Born: The Coming Dawn: Book I (35 page)

“Is this what you want?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll see how long before you can no longer concentrate.” Ky was delighted; he usually showered
her
with pleasure.

“I like the warmth of your touch. I can stand hot things with your blood in me,” Cobaaron groaned. He grasped her hand, having her rub only his head and asked her to shine.

She brightened her light, but only in her hand. The new ability was a result of her light maturing. She wasn’t sure how she did it; shining was like flexing an invisible muscle that came as easily and naturally as breathing. With no effort, and only mild concentration, she maintained the warmth.

Amazingly, Cobaaron was able to do the same. His ability manifested after their union; they didn’t understand how his body could glow hot and even combust, but they were certain it had something to do with her magical Star blood.

Cobaaron groaned when she found the perfect rhythm. He went back to reading scrolls, though his eyes weren’t moving as fast as they were before.

Suddenly he sat up, and begged her to stop. “Love?”

“What?” Ky asked, seeing him speed-read. She sat up, and stared, waiting for him to share.

“This is it,” Cobaaron finally said.

Her heart leapt into her stomach. She watched him read it again. He brought the parchment closer to his face. When he was finished, his arm fell to his side, and he stared at her with a blank expression. He silently contemplated the scroll with a heavy heart, and then asked, “Do you want to know? If you knew you lived, would you want to read the scroll?”

“I know now. So, I guess that makes me feel better. Yes.” Ky gasped, covering her mouth at a dreadful thought. “You don’t die, do you? We both live, right?”

“Of course, love. You would never live if I died.” He kissed her with tenderness for showing concern; he obviously found her inability to cope with death endearing. “But it’s going to be hard. I’ll lose a lot of men. Do you want me to read it?”

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. “How bad is it?”

“I’ll read it to you,” he said, and then spoke aloud the written words:

“Long ago when The land was rich and plenty, a Curse fell on the earth.

Now, pass to days of darkness, fast forward, the Stars fall like scattered rain;

And one, she, Will unite with he, a man with a double edged weapon,

As an unconquerable warrior and an unconquerable reigning king.

Together they will Bring the light to pass the darkness as once before.

United at the passing of blood, many times, it keeps them both alive and pure.

For neither can die if their healing blood bonds and reconciles for fate’s design.

He will be transformed into a light like the son; his blood of pure silver.

Once they’ll fight, the walls of Siphrise fall first by the hands of the dead king,

And with a silent and unseen cry, he snuffs the first of the last three kings.

Twice they will fight (woe to the foe) who dies next. He’s right to revenge Death.

His words will curse many, celebrate his ignorance and firm and upright heart.

Kings will Tremble at the last quake; at the new City of Lights at the end.”

“So,” Ky mumbled and then nodded. “It
is
you. You’re an unconquerable warrior. You’re Cobaaron the Unconquerable. United by passing blood many times. You’ve stopped my blood at least five or six times. That’s a lot,” she guessed.

“I agree. And the last time you didn’t heal as rapidly. I’m sure I got a lot of your blood inside me after that.”

Cobaaron fell silent, lost in thought as he stared at the prophecy. “But this says he will be transformed into a light like the
son
. It’s not the sun that shines, but son as in boy. A light like the son?” He paused, while thinking. “This is a lot different than the archive read in the city. I wonder if this is a copy. I wonder if it meant sun. I’ll ponder that. It would be very disturbing if this prophecy was tampered with.”

“So are you like a Star? Is that why your chest and veins began glowing when we first made love?”

“Maybe. That would explain why the popping pine didn’t burn me, and I noticed before that I could touch fire. Mild heat doesn’t affect me, but when you went nova and the heat was too intense, it burnt me. But I don’t know Ky. I should consult Wyt on what he’s heard of Star lovers inheriting their qualities. He may know. He is wise in magic, and prophecy.”

“I only see one glaring flaw. It says our passing of blood keeps them both alive but we shared blood and you died.”

“Maybe it’s because the union wasn’t complete. At that point I may not have had enough of your blood either. At least we didn’t share blood
many
times before then. I only recently became a light, as this prophecy labels me. That is all a guess though. My skills are limited in deciphering prophecies. I should consult Wyt.” He read the archive again, and then gave it to Ky. “Look at this. The word death is capitalized.”

“So, it’s true then? Your story about the Angel of Death is true?” Ky asked.

Cobaaron shook his head, not sure. “This is incredible; hard to believe. But it seems to have a double meaning.”

“There is more than one word capitalized. There are six.” Ky pointed out as she laid the archive so they could both look. She read them aloud and in order: “The curse will bring death—tremble.”

“It’s equally mysterious. Why would it warn twice of death, and really make it an emphasis? It can’t be saying a warrior is coming with a curse. Maybe it is Death that brings a curse of death,” Cobaaron speculated.

“I’m nearly convinced. There are stranger things in this world.”

“One thing is very clear. The first fight is in Siphrise. We will have to go there. That is where one of the kings lives. We will have to move fast in order to surprise him; it’s our best hope to catch him off guard—if we can. This king has gone mad, though. It may be relatively easy to go after him. Honestly, I don’t know what will happen. No one has ever gone after a king to kill him like this, and not declare war. No one has ever gone after the kings. It’s suicide.” He grinned at Ky. “Until you changed me.

“It’s likely he knows we’re coming, and he’ll see us approach because of your glow. Your light doesn’t softly flicker anymore, but if it goes out you die. Seeing a battle like these described. I don’t know how you’ll survive, but it says you do. Maybe my will for you not to depress easily has made you stronger. Then your character is naturally strong.”

“The prophesy says your blood keeps me alive.”

As if he didn’t hear her, he continued. “But you were distraught over Huntra’s death.”

“But he’s my pet. Your men hate me and think I’m a witch. I’m not attached to anyone here but you and Huntra. I won’t be devastated by their passing.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do I need to remind you how upset you were after you went nova?”

“I was adjusting to this world. I’ve never seen death until your fight on stage and then I killed... Of course that was all hard. But I’m fine now. What hasn’t killed me has made me stronger.
Anyway
, I survived this world so far,” Ky grumbled.

“Yes, it’s beside the point,” he said. “It’s a long way to Siphrise, and I don’t know how we’ll get there. We can’t march up. He will see us coming. He has scores of magical instruments, and too many ways to stop us. He may even already know the prophecy and has scouted out for a warrior and Star union. It’s possible, considering the numerous night squawkers that were outside the city when we left. It’s not often a Star attempts to leave a city she’s born in or near. And a Star has
never
traveled alone—even if it was on the back of a snow tiger.

“If we have a chance to surprise him, I don’t know how it would be done.” He paused and thought as he stared out the black window. “The wind is in our favor, since it has changed to the south where the king lives. We could sail the ships, but we wouldn’t get far before we’d have to walk, and our women are painstakingly slow. No, there has to be another way. Maybe take the women first to a city. The birds are already south; they’ll be coming north in less than a month. So, we couldn’t fly…”

“Fly. Fly, Cobaaron. Yes. I have an idea,” Ky blurted out that she was a Star, as if that explained everything. “The winds are in our favor! I’m a Star. I can get hot! We
can
fly. In a hot air balloon—a really big hot air balloon. It would be silent, and I’d heat it up. I’m so hot, that I’m sure it would work.”

“A what?” he asked. Ky explained by drawing a picture, and as she drew she explained how it flew. When she finished he gaped as if he’d never seen her before. “That is like...magic,” he said in amused fascination. “And it could lift my men? By the thousands, there’s five hundred.” She nodded, and supposed it was at least worth it to try. “But where would I get all the materials?” He thought for a moment. “We could use the ship’s sails and ropes, but that would certainly make it hard for us to leave if this doesn’t work.”

“It will work. We have to try.”

He was skeptical. “I don’t know. A flying hot air balloon of cloth? It’s very strange. That’s like magic.” He laughed: “My men will definitely think you’re a witch.” His laughter subsided and he took a deep breath, sounding hesitant. “I don’t know. That would be really big, and risky. It would be a lot of work. We would have to modify your drawing to accommodate so many men. But,
nothing
like this has
ever
been done before. Maybe that is why he may not see it coming; if he does, he wouldn’t know what it was, or how to stop it until it was too late. It might work.” He still didn’t sound enthused with the idea, but he shrugged and agreed it was the best plan they had.

“Cobaaron, it’s in the archives; you can’t stop the future. What could go wrong?” Ky asked.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The northerly breeze was cool and a dark overcast sky of thick clouds was a perfect camouflage, concealing the colossal hot air balloon. They couldn’t have asked for better conditions. As they flew silently, Ky was strapped into a welded swing made for her. Not far below Huntra lay quietly in his metal crate much like a birdcage. His eyes were closed, hiding, as if not seeing meant it wasn’t happening.

Thousands of men were beneath Ky, sitting in swings attached to thick ropes of different lengths, dangling from metal rings affixed to the base of the balloon. No one spoke, and the women were quiet since their lives depended on it. While suspended from ropes, everyone was uneasy about the height, and Ky noticed some warriors were frightened, obviously believing the rumors she was a witch.

Ky tried to ignore their stares as they drifted. They passed the Mounts of Rion hours ago, and despite the cloud cover Cobaaron said they were getting closer, now that they were floating over the Black Forest surrounding the king’s castle.

Ky was relieved to hear the news. Though it took little effort to glow, Ky didn’t realize how long she would have to stay awake. Cobaaron ended up asking Ambrosia to charm Ky to keep her awake, but the charm didn’t cure her exhaustion. The weight of carrying so many men was great, and Ky shined nearly the entire trip to keep them aloft. Shining for days made her fatigue crippling; Ky felt like she ran for miles. Her drained body seemed to be playing mind games.

Several times Ky swore she saw dragons swooping under them. Long black tails, spiky lizard bodies, colossal wings, and some even had two heads with crowns of horns; they buzzed silently underneath. They would fly so swiftly she would almost miss them. The clouds even churned behind the creature as if it were really there. But she couldn’t have been seeing them, because no one else was saying anything of the danger. It had to be her fatigue. But again and again something flew under them until she was convinced it was there.

“Dragon!” a woman screamed. Two enormous wings flapped, as the dragon flew swiftly toward them. Ky could see its head looking down, blowing fire below them. Clearly, it was another beast, because this dragon had only one head: gray with black spikes. The dragon spun gracefully around to his back as it flew through their ropes. Lines strained and snapped as ropes caught in its wings. When warriors fell, they quickly reached out their arms as other men seized their comrades. But the dragon wasn’t fazed as the balloon was violently dragged until the last ensnared ropes broke. The balloon swung to the right and lost control. Everyone clung on as they were thrown around wildly.

“Take us higher,” Cobaaron ordered. “It will be coming back.”

Ky ignited hotter as the balloon continued to whirl out of control. When she lit up, her heat steadied the craft. The balloon started to rise.

“Make your sword ready for me, Balkan,” Cobaaron told the warrior directly below him. The warrior nodded, and then removed his long sword from his belt. Seconds later, Cobaaron pushed off his swing.

He plunged straight down. The warrior dropped his sword as Cobaaron was about to pass him. Cobaaron quickly fell a few more feet, before reaching out for the weapon. He clutched the iron handle as if he’d done it many times before. He continued to dive between the warriors, who pulled ropes to avoid him.

She watched in horror as he fell over a hundred feet in seconds. Just then the dragon soared between the ropes again. The screaming women became frantic. This time, warriors were ready, and jumped ahead of time to get out of the way. Octavos slammed into Athaya, the only woman in the direct path of the dragon, when he pushed her out of the way. He wrapped his arms around her, and they toppled backward off her swing. She screamed as they fell several feet before being caught. The dragon missed them by inches.

Ky no longer saw Cobaaron when the dragon jerked the entangled ropes, and the balloon lost control again. “No!” terror-stricken, she screamed as she searched below. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen within the thick clouds. Her light burst… she was horrified. Did he land on the dragon? She hoped, more than believed he was okay. If he missed, they were at least five hundred feet above ground, and he wouldn’t survive. Ky felt a viselike squeezing of her heart. The balloon lost altitude as it spun, because her thoughts were on him.