Burning Star

Eric stared at the sky with a frown painted over his forehead. He was growing frustrated, not to mention, scared. Amelia hadn’t come back, and the soldiers he’d sent out to look for her had all arrived back empty-handed.

Joshua had commanded him to stay put. Eric’s arm was still healing, and it was necessary for him to rest. That didn’t mean he liked it, though. He was feeling restless, and he couldn’t sit still. Instead, he opted for pacing back and forth while screaming at any guard who sent him a suspicious look.

“Guardian Malcolm,” a guard said as he walked over to him. “Permission to speak?”

Eric frowned. He hated the formalities, something he’d learned from Joshua. At first, it hadn’t bothered him, but now it just seemed wrong. He realized the guard was still waiting for permission, and he nodded. “Speak.”

The guard held up a thin blue ribbon. “Found it near a dead oak, sir.”

Eric grabbed the ribbon out of the man’s hand. It was Amelia’s ribbon. She used to wrap it around her wrist so she’d always have something to tie in her hair. He cursed. “What else did you find?”

The guard hesitated to answer. Averting his eyes, he focused on a spot behind Eric.

“Tell me,” Eric pleaded. When there was still no answer, he lost it. Grabbing the guard by the collar, he moved closer and screamed, “Tell me!”

“T-there was signs of a struggle.” The guard gulped. “We have nothing else to report.”

“Why’d you stop looking?” Joshua’s voice came from the right. Eric glanced over, still holding the guard by the collar. “Eric, you can let go now.”

“But he—“

“Let go, Eric.” Joshua sent him a look and waited.

Eric cursed again, and then let go.

Joshua averted his eyes from him, then walked over and addressed the guard. “Why aren’t you out looking for the cause of the struggle?”

“We assumed—“

“You assumed?” Joshua’s facial expression changed. “Are you telling me that you stopped looking for Amelia—the blessed child of Yildun—who you are sworn by the Stars to protect because you assumed something?”

“It was near a cave where the fierce Star lions of this area tend to sleep,” the guard said. “We didn’t want to jeopardize our numbers by instigating a fight with the wild.”

“Give me—“

Eric didn’t finish the sentence before Joshua pulled back and punched the guard to the ground. Widening his eyes, he didn’t know how to react until he saw Joshua on top of the man, punching left and right.

“Joshua!” He ran over and pulled him away. “What in the name of Solem are you doing?”

Joshua pulled free and glanced at the groaning soldier on the ground. “You better pray she’s okay. Otherwise, you won’t be.”

“Can you give us the coordinates? We need to find her,” Eric said.

Eric tried to contain his anger—he honestly did. However, as the guard led them past the same tree for the seventh time in a row, claiming it was “near” now, he simply had enough.

There were no words known to man, which would be applicable for his need to express his frustration. He clutched Amelia’s ribbon in his hand, praying to the Stars for strength, hope and salvation. If something had happened to her, he wouldn’t forgive himself.

All of his feelings were a disaster waiting to happen. It was a dangerous mix, which was only highlighted by Joshua’s thoughts, as well. Normally, Joshua was the master at shielding his emotions and thoughts, but now he was a mess. The jumble of thoughts didn’t do anything to prevent Eric’s head from explosions.

“That’s it,” Eric said. “You’re leading us in circles, so I’m going to ask you one last time… Where is Amelia?”

The worst part of it all was that the guard probably didn’t know. The beating he’d taken from Joshua was starting to show, and if Eric had been in the same position, he’d be worried for his job—or even his life.

“I’m certain it’s this way, sir,” the guard said.

Eric nodded and gave him one last chance. With each step, he waited—hoped—for any excuse to jump at the guard; not because the man deserved it, but because he needed an outlet, something to take the edge off things.

“Over here,” another guard called. “There’s something here.

Eric whipped around on his heels and ran towards the source of the sound. What he found stunned him speechless. A man was laying on the ground, a dagger twisted into his ribcage. The most surprising thing was that he was still alive. The man’s breathing was strained, and his clear blue eyes searched around for something above him.

Running over, Eric kneeled beside the man. One of the guards pulled of their jacket and placed it beneath the man’s head. “Help is on the way,” Eric said.

It wouldn’t be there in time—he knew that. Judging by the amount of blood on the ground, this man was close to dying from sheer blood loss. Not to mention any internal damage that might have been going on. His brown shirt was soaked in blood, and it horrified Eric to see that even the long grey hair had been tarnished by a crimson color.

“Who did this?” he asked, fighting the urge to gag.

The man’s eyes roamed around until they met Eric’s eyes. He muttered something discernible and Eric leaned closer.

“Trust…” the man rasped. “Only… Tom…” the voice was low, and Eric struggled to hear the three little words. He frowned and opened the mouth to ask for an explanation. To no avail, the man had passed away.

Eric closed the man’s eyelids and muttered a small prayer. “May the Stars mercy on your soul.”

The incident sparked off an entirely new type of fear in Eric. He took a closer look at the dagger, pulling out to examine it. He didn’t recognize the pattern, but it didn’t look human made.

‘You okay?’ Joshua asked inside his head.

Eric shook his head. ‘No. I’m minutes away from losing it.’

The death of the man added sadness to the havoc of feelings inside Eric. How was anyone supposed to contain so much? Eric didn’t know, he only knew that it pained him: inside and out.

‘Just breathe, mate. We’ll find her.’

Eric nodded. He had to keep believing that. ‘We better start moving on again.’

‘Yeah. The soldiers are just scouting the area now. We’ll return once the rest of the group arrives here.’

“What’s this?” a guard on the opposite side of the corpse asked. Eric looked over to see the man hold another dagger. The guard turned it over in his hand, surveying it. “Seems like the murderer was cut too—there’s blood on it.”

Eric eyed the knife. It was too small to be of any fatal damage, but it could have been used for protection. He looked over the corpse once more. The small weapon obviously didn’t help this man. He reached out a hand, waiting for the guard to hand it over. When he had the weapon in his hands, he could feel something change in the air. The knife was made of something similar to his own sword, and he wondered if it might have been a fatal wound anyway.

After inspecting it for a moment more, he asked the guard, “Is there any signs of where the other person must have gone? Signs of escape or something like that?”

The guard frowned and gestured around. “Doesn’t really look like it—does it?”

His attitude annoyed Eric, he needed to know if the attacker had gotten away alive, or if it’d been a black hole which disappeared when struck by a star blessed blade. Of course, he couldn’t explain that to the guard as the man probably wouldn’t understand the importance of the dagger. “Keep looking,” Eric said. “I want to know everything.”

The time moved on slowly after that. They stayed in place until the rest of the group caught up with them. It was hard for Eric to stay put when he knew Amelia was in danger. If the forests were riddled with black holes, how could she survive?

“Guardian Malcolm,” one of his soldiers said. “Our group has arrived. You better follow me.”

Eric agreed, and finally he left the corpse. He’d been near it, in the hopes of picking up anything that could help him find Amelia. When he arrived at the clearing where his men had gathered, he saw a new arrival.

A man, dressed in dirty rags, stood among his men, with a smirk on his face. The face made Eric scowl. He didn’t want to have any more troubles now.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

“This,” Joshua answered. “Is apparently a man living in the woods of Astron. He claims he was just passing by, hunting a deer for dinner, when he ran into Guard Hales.”

‘Do we trust him?’ Eric asked in his thoughts.

Joshua didn’t react, simply kept staring at the man. ‘In my experience, men living in the woods tend to be a bit sketchy. But I know that since the borders went down, there have been reports of groups of people in the forest.’

Eric pondered about it for a while. “What’s your name, stranger?” he asked.

The man grinned. “Your armor is so shiny—I’m Tom,” he said and extended his hand to greet them with a firm handshake. Neither of the guard took the hand, and the man awkwardly pulled it back again.

Tom… Eric recognized the name. He glanced in the direction of the corpse, then turned to Tom. “Do you live here alone, Tom?”

“Nay,” Tom said. “I tend to travel with my brother—he’s a bit more buff than me.”

“Can you describe him for me?” Eric urged on. He needed to know if this were the right Tom. If it were, Eric had to explain what happened with the man.

“Around ’ye high,” Tom said and placed a hand above his head. “Blue eyes like a bright summer night—he gets that from our mother—and a bit old. His hair color faded into a grey early.” The man laughed at his small stabs at his brother.

Eric gulped. He had to tell him, and it wouldn’t be pretty. He glanced at Joshua; they weren’t blood related but if he died, Eric wouldn’t be able to carry on.

“What’s wrong?” Tom asked.

Eric averted his eyes, and tried to come up with a way to break the news to the man. He hated the fact that’d he’d have to, but it was needed. He just needed to find an appropriate way. When he found none, he panicked. His foot was making circles in the soil, and his arms crossed over his chest.

“Tom,” Joshua interrupted. “I need to tell you something. Can you please come with me?”

Tom frowned but agreed. Eric watched as they left together, closing his eyes to avoid seeing the reaction. ‘Thanks,’ he thought.

‘No problem,’ came the reply.