Children with Stars in their Veins (Chapter 25)

a/n: hey, thanks for checking out Starry Veins! This is the novel I wrote for Round V of LMS, and it's still a first draft! While I don't discourage any feedback, I prefer not to receive feedback on grammar! I'm not polishing this draft up yet, so I'm not as concerned about editing. I am, of course, open to all feedback, but I ask that you keep this in consideration! Thanks <3

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[Ember]

Ember gave a tug on the rope around her wrists. She was sick of being dragged around like a horse on a lead, the sun was hot and there was no breeze. They’d been walking for hours, and Alanna’s head was drooping so much she looked like a wilted flower. The only good thing that had come out of getting kidnapped was that they were being fed now.

The stranger glanced back as the rope was pulled in his hand. He gave a tug back, harder, and it rubbed against her chafed wrists, jostling her hands. She bared her teeth at him, but he only shook his head and turned back around.

Her hand brushed against her pocket, and that was when she realised she’d completely forgotten about the letter her parents had instructed her to grab.

Damn this random dude.

She leaned over to Rowan, who was closest to her right pocket, and grabbed their hand. They gave her a questioning look, and she pulled their hand to her pocket, eyeing the stranger all the while. Rowan stayed quiet, not that they could say much now with a gag their kidnapper had put on them.

Rowan frowned as their fingers brushed the leather-bound scroll, and carefully extracted it.

She moved the scroll in their hands, so it wasn’t immediately in view, then released them, and gave another tug on the rope.

“Who are you anyway?” she asked, gesturing to Rowan. Alanna watched them blearily, and Cassius was dredging beside Artemesa and staring off into the distance until she spoke.

The stranger didn’t look back, and Rowan began to unfurl the scroll.

“Are you really in a position to be asking those questions?”

She scoffed. “There’s no position I can be put in where I won’t ask questions. Besides, you asked a question. You’re kidnapping children, why are you allowed to ask questions?” she shot back. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Rowan begin to read through the letter quickly.

The stranger didn’t answer. He tugged on the ropes again, and she grit her teeth at the irritation. The skin was becoming raw now.

“I’m going to keep talking until you answer,” she said, pointedly.

The man sighed. “You’re going to keep talking even if I do.”

She beamed, even though he was not watching her. “Yes! So, you may as well tell me. What am I going to do with a name?”

“You can do a lot with a name,” the stranger said, irritably, but he didn’t turn around. “Enoch. Are you happy?”

“No,” she replied. “I’m bound as a prisoner with my friends by a strange, creepy man who means to sell us, and all I know is that his name is Enoch. Would you be happy?”

There was a stretch of silence. The meadow to their left, which eventually turned into forest behind them and in the distance, swayed and rumbled as if agreeing with Ember’s frustration. The tall grass quivered and shook, flaxen and glistening fronds the sun ruthlessly gazed upon.

She looked down at the road for a stone to kick, but the industrial roads were annoyingly flawless. There were no cracks in the polished, shimmering bricks, nor loose bits of their bindings.

Cassius was watching Enoch with a calculating sort of demeanour, eyes scanning up and down as if searching for something.

Then he tilted his head. “What’s a knight of Chromium doing all the way this far northeast, and kidnapping kids at that? Knights are supposed to be honourable.”

Enoch tripped, and then threw his head back to stare at Cassius. She glanced towards Rowan to make sure they could hide the letter. Rowan had it hidden against their wrist, and their face was startlingly bloodless. They stared aimlessly at the ground, looked more shellshocked then she’d ever seen them. Her heart skipped a beat.

“How do you know that?” Enoch demanded, his expression twisted into a half-sneer.

Cassius shrugged. “The crest on your sword,” he said. “It’s the royal crest of Chromium. The only people who ever have royal insignia emblazoned on their sword like that are sworn knights of their respective kingdom. Either you stole the sword, which is a highly punishable offence in itself, or it’s yours, and you’re a knight.” He wrinkled his nose, giving Enoch an unimpressed, dirty look. “I said I’m from the Chronicler’s Guild, didn’t I? It’s a guild of scholars.”

For a moment, Enoch scrutinised Cassius. Then, he turned around slowly. She eyed Rowan, but they were as unresponsive and distant as they had been moments before.

“Brilliant. I’ve got one who thinks he has a smart mouth,” Enoch grumbled.

“Hey!” she chirped. “Cassius is very smart!”

Alanna made a soft noise from her place on the other side of Rowan. “When?”

Cassius’ mouth and nose twitched, in an attempt to abort a smile. “Hey!”

The fake indignance in Cassius’ voice made her smile. Alanna, too, cracked a smile that she aimed towards the ground, the corners of her eyes crinkling a little.

But she had a point. Cassius had noticed the crest on his sword. “Knights are supposed to do the right thing. That’s not kidnapping children and— and their companions.” She shared a quick look with Cassius. Everyone seemed of the silent, mutual agreement not to reveal Artemesa’s true nature.

Enoch made a noise that was almost a laugh, but without any of the humour. “Did you read that in your books too?” he asked, and then shook his head and threw a quick glance over his shoulder. “Knights are just as bad as the rest of the sorry lot that trudge around this forsaken, twisted earth. They just get praised for it.” He made a low growling noise. “Bloody fucking annoying buggers,” he muttered.

“Language!” Alanna cried, and then immediately stumbled and held her hands up to her mouth, eyes wide.

She kept her eye on Enoch, who glanced in surprise over towards Alanna. And then he glanced away.

But not before she saw his mouth twitch. He thought that was funny! He doesn’t have a heart of steel!

Storing that mental note away for later, she gently bumped Rowan’s shoulder. They blinked, and glanced towards her, not looking quite at her. They held out the letter, rolled up once more, and stuffed it back in her pocket. They looked incredibly troubled.

They waved their hand in a dismissive gesture and glanced away again. Later.

Her stomach churned, although it could have also been hunger and not an ominous sense of impending doom of whatever Rowan had read in that letter.

But it was from her parents. How bad could it be?

word count:

1,113