Stargazer

Chapter 13

In a miraculous act of quick thinking, I turned to the Prince and raised my sword at him as I stood next to Nova. It appeared Nova and I were both going to kill him, now, in one easy move.

As she sprang at him, I gave Nova a swift push backwards and right off the balcony. The King's guards charged at us, a mess of armored testosterone. I pulled out my dagger and threateningly held it at the Prince's throat, ready to slice. That stopped them and gave us a second to back up to the edge of the balcony.

"We have to jump," I said in his ear. "They'll be coming for you!"

"Uh uh, nope, not going to happen." I dug the blade at his side, cutting into him, but he wouldn't budge, so I pushed him over the edge as I jumped with him.

We fell into some shrubbery below and a thick slice of pain took me by surprise at my back side. I felt the hilt of a blade in my back with my other hand. One of the king guards must have thrown a dagger at me and I knew to leave it in and keep running.

There was no sign of Nova or Pierce, but I gave no chance for them to follow. We darted through all the intricately designed topiaries as I led Prince Drudo through with my dagger still at his side that pinched at him to keep moving.

We made it through the darkness across the street to the back of the Manor stables where the horse was. But where was the horse? The stables stood empty and I looked around in confusion.

"Looking for this?" We jumped around, in surprise, to find Pierce standing with the horse's reins in his hands. I needed that horse to get back to the bauble birds in the trees. "He's still alive? How unfortunate," Pierce said as he let the reins go and pulled a sword from his belt.

"Pierce, there's been a mistake. He needs to stay alive." I pleaded, my dagger still on the Prince to make sure he wouldn't run.

But instead of listening to me, Pierce, with his excessive ego, came down on the Prince using his full force with his sword.

I stopped him last second by having to use both hands pressed up against my small dagger, as the blade cut into my flesh.

The Prince fell backward in surprise and crawled behind a stable door as I looked to the sky, pleading with the stars. What now, oh great dove? I maybe haven't killed the Prince, but surely we're going to die anyway.

The sky was black, nothing returned my pleas but dark, misty clouds.

But, then, a shine from the sky gave me hope. A light so brilliant, a blanket of white shone over everything so powerfully, I almost had mistaken it for a sun. It was not a sun, but rather a moon, Yuna, who came out behind the clouds with such a light force that Pierce hesitated with his blade to look back at what was happening in the sky behind him.

I used the opportunity and, with the hardest hand I could muster, brought the metal hilt of my dagger down onto the back of his skull, causing him to collapse in the grass below me.

The hilt reflected a dark drip of blood and I truly hoped I hadn't killed him. The Prince still sat by the stable door, seemingly in shock. "Come on," I urged him, "we have to go now." I waved my dagger at him again, half threateningly but the energy in me was almost gone from the injury I carried, and I was starting to feel intense pain at every breath.

"Did you just do that?" He asked me with his dark eyes, widened in surprise. I nodded back, slightly confused. Had he not just seen me take out Pierce? Or had he been hiding his face too?

He stood up with me and went over to the unknown painted Stallion who patiently waited for its owner but received us instead. He climbed up on the saddle and looked down at me as I winced in effort to climb on. "You're hurt!" He realized.

"Na, just a bothersome knick is all. I'll be fine." Thankfully, he hadn't seen the blade sticking from my back, but helped up on the saddle anyway.

As we rode toward the entrance, a sudden realization struck me that the doors would be closed and I would need an excuse to get out. But as we rode nearer, the metal gate was up and no guards were near the entrance. I looked around warily as we rode through and I wildly kicked at the horse bringing us to top speed as we went through the precipice.

I wondered if there were other assassins here and, if so, where they were hiding in the shadows. Surely, I would be seen riding away with the Prince.

I could see the belt of trees in our distance beneath the light of Yuna, who still favored us with her light. Every gallop of hooves hitting the ground caused me to automatically wince in pain. I knew I needed to stop the bleeding, but there would be no help for that. We needed to get far away, first, where no one would know to look.

Luckily, I heard an angry shriek of one of the bauble birds, and found them as they gauged our approach, cautiously with their orange eyes. They smelled the air and snapped their beaks in response. I had no clue what that meant, but hoped they'd be receptive to us.

They still creeped me out, but I was beginning to realize it was because of the look of them, otherwise they were neat creatures.

"What the hell is that!?" The Prince whispered to me. I hesitated, concerned of who else might be there, but after a few moments, still didn't see anyone around. We would have to take the risk.

I slid off the horse and grabbed the reins of the bauble bird. "It's a bauble bird," I said to him as if no big deal, "and we're gonna ride it."

"No-no, I'm not getting on that thing!" I smiled at him and raised my eyebrows.

"You wanna bet? And don't be such a baby, you'll love the ride!" I pointed the dagger at him in reminder that he was a hostage, although part of me felt he had willingly come along, I just didn't know why.

He moved towards the beast unsure of its demeanor.

"It's okay," I reassured him, "he won't bite." Of course, I had no way of knowing that other than my one experience of not getting bit myself. He slowly stepped onto the unusual saddle that was slightly shorter in the back than a horse's. The bauble birds had an upright tail of plumage, like a chicken, that made their short bodies only go so far. But luckily, they were still very large and very strong bird beasts. We would both just barely fit. Once he was on, I put all my effort in one cringing jump and hopped on myself, behind him.

"Hold on...tight," I warned as I wrapped my arms around the Prince to hold onto the leather hoop and kicked the bauble bird's sides. He grabbed onto the leather hoop in front as well and just in time as we shot off. Everything turned into a seemingly dark blur around us. The Prince didn't make a noise but put his head down to keep his eyes from the wind.

I began to wonder as soon as we had started, where would we go? Which direction should we take? As I looked up to the sky to grasp a barrier of direction, Yuna went back behind the clouds and darkness overtook the valley, once again. For a moment, I almost stopped us, unable to see obstacles. But then I remembered what Nova had said about bauble birds being able to see in pitch black and I let ours guide the way. I would still have to pick the direction, though.

A set of stars stood out to me now, twinkling brighter than the others. It was the constellation, Oshea, the ruler of the seas holding her five-pronged conch shell. I knew she was in the north sky during our current season, and coincidentally, the largest coast to the sea also lay in the north. I had no idea our destination, but I believed that was a sign to begin heading north.

I was grateful for the ride being smoother than a horse's because of the bauble bird's aerodynamic run. It held its head set forward and wings pulled back as it flew across the ground.

We rode for a seemingly long time before anything was said above the roaring wind. The sun was now up and getting intense as the bauble bird continued its run, seemingly with no exhaustion evident.

“What’s your name?” He asked, waking me from a half-sleepy state. My back didn't hurt so much anymore and I began to feel colder all over as I drifted in and out of a daze. Perhaps trying to talk to him would help distract me for a while longer.

"Solé," I tried yelling back to him, wondering if he heard.

"Solé," he tried it against his tongue. "Thank you," He yelled to me. That made me stir from my daze and shake my head, wondering if I was hallucinating.

"For what!? I've tried to poison you, managed to cut you, pushed you from a balcony and now, kidnapped you! Why are you thanking me?"

"Because," he turned and somehow had a smile on his cheeks, "I don't understand everything happening, but I know you saved my life tonight. And probably more than once," he laughed and looked back in front.

Just then, darkness began sweeping over my eyes. I pulled on the reins for the baudle bird to slow, but felt the ground crash beneath me as I drifted into nothingness.