Priestess

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Bomin slammed the door behind Ara and Jarrer. It was the only real door she’d seen in the Miner underworld. “Why wasn’t I informed of this?”

This was the way Ara always imagined Bomin should look. Furious, dangerous. He jabbed his finger her way. She automatically took a step back. “She has the Nightstar!”

Jarrer crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “You should ask Essenia about that.”

Bomin eyes bulged like he’d swallowed a pear cactus without burning the thorns off first. “Essenia wanted this kept from me?” he asked in disbelief.

Jarrer looked steadily at him. “You know what this means. So did Essenia. It’s why we’ve said nothing.”

“But Jarrer,” Bomin pleaded, “she has a right to know. It explains everything.”

Jarrer stepped forward. “No. Essenia has forbidden it. But,” he glanced at Ara, “perhaps you should explain what it is.”

Ara stepped between them. “I have a right to know what?” When neither answered, she slapped the table. “Who is Essenia? What do you mean, it explains everything?”

Bomin sat heavily in a chair, his anger snuffing out like a fire denied fresh air. “The metal’s known among my folk as Mlythevere. It means “Earth Blood” in your tongue. It is the rarest known metal, for it flows through the seams of the earth. I know of only one Miner still alive with the skill to capture it, Essenia.”

Ara’s words spilled out in her eagerness, “Why does it ripple at my touch and why is it warm?”

“Because it’s alive,” Bomin responded helplessly.

“Alive? How could that be?”

“And the stone?” Jarrer prompted.

Bomin spoke as if he were revealing a great Miner secret—one akin to the Ipen light. “The Nightstar.”

Ara fingered the white star imprinted on her forehead.

Bomin shook his head. “NO. That’s the mark of the Nightstar.” He pointed to her necklace. “That is the Nightstar.”

Ara looked back and forth between Bomin and Jarrer. Bomin stared intently at her necklace. Jarrer wore a pleased expression—something she’d certainly never seen before. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

Bomin’s shocked gaze met hers. “You really don’t know what you have, do you?” He shook his head. “Deep within the Earth, a Miner was lost in a tunnel. So long was he down there that his Ipen had gone out. Knowing he would die, he cried out for light. It appeared. And he found the Nightstar—a star that contains the Earth’s soul.”

She gaped at her necklace, suddenly fighting the urge to take it off. “Nightstar,” she summated. “The Earth is alive?”

Jarrer snorted. “Of course. The Earth moves, it feels, and the fire within her breathes. If it were dead, we could not glean from atop its surface. It would cease to move, the fire within it would die, the oceans would burn or freeze, and so would we.”

Bomin took a deep breath. “Essenia will know what to do.”

Ara hardly noticed when Bomin left. He shook her gently at his return. “Follow me.” Numb, she shadowed him through a narrow tunnel—one she’d never been down before. There were no Miners, and it was strangely quiet compared the bustle of all the previous passages she’d trekked through.

“Here we are.” Bomin gestured to the second door she’d seen in the Miner underworld. “You’re the only non-Miner other than Jarrer to ever venture into Essenia’s quarters.”