Starborn

Chapter 10

STARBORN

CHAPTER TEN

Soon, I find myself face-planting into a hardwood floor. We've been taken to a warm room with the smell of sulfur in the air. The room is greatly lit by a burning blue torrent surrounded by a blackened cage. Metal pipes branch across the walls and into the ceiling and floor, all leading from that caged inferno. A large pair of doors lead outside, and a sign reads CORE CHAMBER engraved on a gold plaque over the door.

A gate is shut over the flames by a gloved hand, and standing before us is a fellow with a rough complexion- the man I saw on the airship, only he's much shorter than I assumed he was, about a head's length from me. His arms are muscular but not girthy, though they don't look nearly as strong to wield the giant ax strapped to his back. His long orange hair is braided behind his back, and he's wearing a fur-laden tunic fit for a hunting master. He looks young, closer to Ameline's age than mine.

"Oi there," he says. His voice is hoarse but youthful. "The name's Kenric. I'm the quartermaster of this rig."

"You? But you're just a kid."

"Yeah, what of it? She's still in one piece, so I must be doing fine." He judgmentally looks me up and down. "Besides, it looks like I'm the only one here with some meat on me bones!"

Alistar groans a bit while splayed out on the floor. Then, he starts holding his eye in pain.

"Doctor... I need a doctor," he pleads.

"'He's in rough shape," Kenric says. "Shadowhearts got him, eh?"

"Can you save him?"

"Ye', ye'. C'mon, follow me under the deck."

Kenric then hoists Alistar up on one of his shoulders. We scurry out the door, and Kenric leads me through a grand foyer with wood walls and floorboards everywhere I look. There are round portholes that break through the wall to see the clouds and the night sky outside. Two easy chairs and a table rest near a lit fire, and on the other side is an empty hook-shaped bar with ale of all assorted colors along the back bar. We go through another door that trails down spiraling wood stairs. When we reach the bottom, we're in a hallway with rooms on either side.

Kenric leads me to the second to the first room on the left side, marked with the words INFIRMARY engraved in gold. He abrasively opens the door, and inside is a room with golden walls instead of brown. The walls are decorated with curtains and stringed lights, with one large torch hanging in the center. Only one bed is against the wall, and Kenric lays Alistar down gently on top. I put the thin white blanket over his body as Kenric starts swabbing Alistar's head with a cool rag from a wash bin in the corner. Then he goes to a small barrel and pulls out two vials- a small black bottle and an even smaller red one.

"Drink this," Kenric says. "It's our last remedy, but it'll null the pain. This's gonna hurt."

Alistar quickly gulps the liquid and makes a strange face- it must've tasted horrible. Then, the door swings open, and there is another new face. It's a lanky old man with a trimmed gray beard and wearing monastic robes. He comes in carefully, but he stops and looks at me with a twinkle in his eye.

"Greetings," he says with a smile. "I am Rayburn, former Herald of Alabstram." He kneels at Alistar's side. "You should've brought this boy to me first."

"Ah, he'll be fine," Kenric says. "Found no trace of darkness in his body. But I suppose if you wanna feel useful, go ahead and recite."

"Rude..." Rayburn says before he clasps his hands.

Then, Kenric pops open the black vial, slowly pouring a viscous fluid into Alistar's left eye. He starts screaming immediately, saying his face is burning. But the old Herald softly whispers, and he grabs Alistar's hand and sighs briefly.