Starflower (36 page)

Authors: Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Tags: #FIC042080, #FIC026000, #FIC042000

It was so vast. Imraldera stood on its edge, peering into the shadows through which she could see so little. She felt as though she struggled to see her future, a future she had never imagined, more frightening than death. And yet she felt that now, for the first time, she lived. She was the Silent Maid no longer. She had a voice, and with it she would speak the truth, even in the very depths of the Gray Wood.

“What do you think, my girl?” Eanrin said, folding his arms. “Are you ready for another adventure?”

“I don't know,” she replied.

“Me either.” Eanrin grinned. “But the glorious unknown waits for no one! Shall we off?”

Imraldera's stern mouth relaxed, if only for a breath, into a smile. Then she strode forward, disappearing into the foliage. The poet meowled and darted after, and the two of them vanished into the shadows. Ãrfhlaith, standing a while on the edge of Rudiobus, thought she caught the faintest whisper of the poet's song:

“Oh, woe is me, I am undone,

In sweet affliction lying!

For though my labor's scarce begun,

It leaves me sorely sighing

After the maiden I adore,

Who marches bravely to Death's door.

Be bold, my heart! Now is the hour!

You've dared to love the Maid Starflower.”

A
UTHOR
'
S
N
OTE

M
ANY
OF
THE
THEMES
found in
Starflower
were inspired by a beautiful poem written by Francis Thompson. The poem is called “The Hound of Heaven,” and Thompson succinctly (after the manner of poets) expresses so much of what I want to say rather less succinctly (after the manner of novelists) in the story I just shared with you. I encourage you to read the poem in full but thought I'd include the first stanza for you here:

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Up vistaed hopes I sped;

And shot, precipitated,

Adown Titantic glooms of chasmÃ¨d fears,

From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

But with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbed pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beatâand a Voice beat

More instant than the Feetâ

“All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.”

A
BOUT THE
A
UTHOR

Anne Elisabeth Stengl makes her home in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she lives with her husband, Rohan, a passel of cats, and one long-suffering dog. When she's not writing, she enjoys Shakespeare, opera, and tea, and studies piano, painting, and pastry baking. She studied illustration at Grace College and English literature at Campbell University. She is the author of
Heartless
,
Veiled Rose
,
Moonblood,
and
Starflower
.
Heartless
and
Veiled Rose
have each been honored with a Christy Award.