Star Mother by Holmberg Charlie N

Author:Holmberg, Charlie N.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 47North
Published: 2021-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

We rose early the next day. I took a quick wash in a nearby creek and ate a breakfast that was half-foraged. My thoughts were still tied into knots, so I was not good conversation until after noon, when I finally let questions of family and the afterlife and Ristriel slip away and found myself rambling about how wool was spun and various dying methods, as well as merchants I remembered who’d come through town with more rare supplements like indigo and turmeric. Ristriel listened contentedly enough, though I don’t think I succeeded in furthering his interest in needlepoint.

We were still walking when night fell suddenly, not yet to the town Ristriel was hoping to give me shelter in. It was my fault, for I had taken an extra break and slowed us down, foraging for elderflower and chokeberries. Ristriel, ever patient, had not complained once about my dawdling. Indeed, he’d begun to make me feel guilty for ever doubting him or his intentions.

“It isn’t far.” He walked a step ahead of me, cemented by darkness into the form of a man. “Just over that rise.”

I could barely make out a rise up ahead, and knew it was solid land and not sky only because it was a piece of uneven blackness without a single star. The night was so absolute, so dark, that while searching for Surril, I tripped on something and stumbled into Ristriel.

He steadied me with cool hands, then wrapped one of them around one of mine. “It isn’t far,” he repeated, and I sensed a smile. “I forget that you cannot see in the dark.”

I gripped his hand tightly, grateful for the anchor of his presence. “I’m not entirely incapable,” I countered, but it was very dark. As Ristriel led me across the field, toward the rise, I looked up at the sky, searching.

Pulling back enough to make him slow, I said, “Where is the moon?”

He stopped, scanning the heavens himself. Not a single cloud marred our view; half the world was filled with stars. But it was not time for a new moon—last night the moon had been at her third quarter.

I was marveling at the beauty of the star scape when I heard a clamor somewhere . . . I couldn’t pinpoint where. Like the crashing of two bodies, but it echoed across the field, followed by the scraping of metal and a distant shout.

Ristriel’s grip tightened. “We need to go back.” He spun me around and began running back the way we had come, using his free hand to relieve me of one of my bags. “Hurry.”

I didn’t doubt him and ran as fast as I could, but a full day of travel and my bags made me slow. “What? What’s happening?”

Another clamor, like hammer against anvil. Or sword against sword. Distant voices made me think of the crowd of people outside Shila’s home after my return to Endwever had been made known.

Only, these voices were angry.

Ristriel didn’t answer, only tugged at my arm, urging my legs to move faster.

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