Starsinger

Vengeance

Aaron slept uneasily. His dreams kept shifting and changing, morphing one into the next in a hopelessly confusing series of images. A woman with flame-bright hair, stealing out of a castle. A young man bent over the body of another, weeping until his tears mingled with the lake lapping gently at their heels. In an instant they dissolved, and his mother's face swam into view.

Sleep tight, little one, she whispered. Be a good boy and the starsingers will keep the nightmares away.

Then he was back in the small stable, floating in the rafters, detached. A congregation had gathered around the unicorn, hushed and murmuring. They wore black hoods, except for an uncommonly angular young man in a russet cloak.

One of the hooded men let out a cry of ecstasy and fell to his knees before the unicorn, exclaiming over and over again, I see her! I see her! Behind him stood a hooded child, no more than five, watching the proceedings with bright, pale eyes.

The features slipped from their faces as the scene melted away before Aaron's eyes. Sapphire in a cell, Ezra pleading with her before he left.

What did they ever do to earn your loyalty? Ezra demanded. Abandon you, hurt you, mistrust you, use you? You are not their tool. You don't owe them anything. They've built a world where the best of us are beaten down, and told to be grateful for it. You can end the cycle of tyranny. You can make a world where no one like us is ever hurt again.

Fighting tyranny? She snorted. You've been kidnapping mages to steal their souls.

Only to find you. Follow the magic, we said, that's how we'll find her. Instead we found every other damn mage in this whole cursed realm. How did you keep it contained for so long? How much have you repressed? You should have awakened long before this. He shook his head. We were looking for you. Turning the mages into Ravens was a strategic use of failure.

I'm not your Shadow. I'm not your demon.

The only difference between heroes and demons is perspective.

The scene blew away like sand and Aaron grasped for it frantically, trying to hold the image of her face alive for just a moment longer. It fell away through his fingers.

Suddenly he was standing in Ellanoi City, outside his home. Rachel was calling to him, waving from the window. Ellie burst out the front door and ran towards him.

He swooped to embrace her but a cloud of darkness rolled in like fog. It swallowed up his home, then his street, then Ellie. Aaron dove into the shadows, searching desperately for his sister. He tried to shout her name but his voice made no sound.

The darkness spread until it swallowed up the sun. Somewhere he heard Sapphire scream in agony.

Are you important? echoed a sneering voice in his head. Aaron fell to his knees. Helpless. Helpless. Helpless.

"What do I do?" he cried, and this time his voice tore from his throat like a wild animal. "What can I do?"

Before him a shape moved in the darkness and Queen Tatiana stepped forward, resplendent in a suit of gold and silver armor, brandishing a jewel-encrusted greatsword.

"You can die," Queen Tatiana whispered, and she plunged the sword into Aaron's heart.

Aaron woke gasping and clutching at his chest. Ember reared her head up and stepped back from him.

He sat up and willed his heart to slow to a normal pace. There's no sword. No darkness. You're fine.

Ember's crystalline horn was glowing with incredible colors, shot with swirling crimsons and emerald greens, pockets of cobalt and violet flaring up at irregular intervals. As Aaron watched, fascinated, the colors slowly melted away until the horn was clear as glass again.