The Twelve Stars

Chapter 4

I stepped aside for Finn who didn't look too well as he stumbled over the threshold.

"Finn, what are you doing here?" I asked. "The Guard, won't they come searching for you-"

"You did something to me," he growled. We backed into the small entrance of my home. "Prince or no prince, whatever you did, you need to fix it now!" I noticed then what was wrong with his right hand. It had been cut again just like mine and it was bleeding. He lifted a weary left finger and pointed at me, confusion on his pale face. "Your hand has the same cut?" he asked.

I looked down to see the scar that had replaced the bleeding wound that had not yet formed on his own hand. Unable to make sense of its origin, I went for the door behind him to close it. "Whatever is going on," I said. "It has to be linked with the Allcron Stone because you can be sure that it wasn't me."

"Yeah? Well, sorry if I'm having a hard time believing you," he replied sarcastically. "Speaking of the Allcron Stone, that doesn't belong to you-"

"Callyk?" Quentin called. I was thankful for his interruption. I let go of the argument in the midst of Finn's glare and headed back to my uncle's room. Finn followed. "Who's there?" he asked.

I entered the room to reveal Finn standing in the doorway. "Oh, it's you," Robyn said, her expression nonchalant.

Apart from Quentin's weak state, his gaze instantly hardened upon seeing Finn enter his room. "What's wrong?" Quentin asked. Under having met in the wrong circumstance, Quentin expressed no sympathy for him. His eyes locked onto Finn. "My patience for the Empire is running very low right now, boy. You came to us for help? Don't think for one second that you can enforce us into submission with the authority you have from being the prince." Quentin had surprised both Robyn and I with that firm, but fear driven threat towards him. He had never used that tone with me before, so it was a first for me too. "Let me look at your hand," he said, holding out his own. Hesitantly, Finn made his way towards the bed, but pulled back when Quentin requested to inspect his injury up close.

"No," he said. Quentin's eyes showed that he understood Finn's fear. The same fear that I used to have when I still had my curse. "Bad things happen when I touch people. I found that out the hard way when I shook hands with my father," he explained.

"The king is dead?" I asked.

"No, thank the gods. Just gravely ill. And I don't know why. I heal people. I don't hurt them."

"That's ironic because that was not the impression I had of you when you had your sword at my throat," Robyn said.

"Don't be so presumptuous, Lady Battle Axe-"

"It's Robyn," Robyn corrected.

"You were a Wielder this whole time," Quentin deducted.

"That should be the least of your worries," Finn answered. He turned back to me. "You are the Dark Wielder. At least you were. What happened back at the Vault? What did that stone do to us?" I didn't know what to say. I didn't have an answer for him.

"The Allcron Stone has many qualities," Quentin explained. "As I was just explaining to Callyk-"

"How do you know so much about the stone, old man?" Finn asked.

It was something I should have asked myself. Quentin hesitated. When he finally found the courage to reveal a part of his life to me that I had never heard from him before, I was hurt. I had tried asking about his past before, but every time I brought it up, he would refuse to talk about it. Back then, I didn't understand why he was so adamant to tell me. At least now I was about to understand why.