Chapter 54 #2
She turned to Nori, who stood near the gallows with Gellen, the Sayhleen soldiers hesitating over whether to incapacitate their own people.
Nori still held the starbridges tight in her grip.
They were the Vendarans’ only way home, and they rested outside Aeliana’s circle of safety, a circle that was quickly growing smaller and dimmer.
Her shield flickered long enough that one of the Sayhleens fired an arrow.
It struck the shield just as the light flickered back into position, but all the Vendarans stood a little straighter, recognizing their time was limited.
“If you and Gellen still wish to return with us as ambassadors,” Aeliana said to Nori, “you are welcome. But we are not kidnapping you or taking you against your will. It has to be your choice. I can’t guarantee you’ll be able to return soon.
We’ve promised the starbridges to Orra, the grounded Star we told you about. ”
Nori’s eyes lit up, and even Gellen’s interest seemed piqued.
The two exchanged a glance, and when Gellen nodded, Aeliana caught a flash of hope in Nori’s eyes that held more than just gratitude.
Gellen reached for Nori’s hands, and together they stepped toward Aeliana’s light shield, the guards too shocked to stop them.
Aeliana tucked her dagger in her belt as sweat dripped down her forehead. Her starlock had faded to lukewarm, and she knew she couldn’t hold the shield much longer. She gripped Gaeren’s hand, then reached for Iris’, urging the others to follow suit.
Nori and Gellen stopped before Aeliana with the starbridges, but then Nori dropped Gellen’s hand, bringing hers to his cheek. Her eyes filled with tears, and as Aeliana dropped the shield to let them in, she barely caught Nori’s whisper. “You’ll understand someday.”
When Nori shoved Gellen to the dais floor, Aeliana was too stunned to notice Nori coming for her next.
When the other woman launched herself at Aeliana, the whistle and thud of an arrow met Aeliana’s ears just before the weight of Nori knocked them both to the wooden planks.
Bright light flashed all around them. Had someone used a starbridge without them?
“Nori?” she called out, her eyes shut against the blinding whiteness, but her voice was lost in the sea of shouts and confusion.
Nori still huddled over her, surprisingly heavy for her small frame, but she made no move to harm Aeliana or defend herself, which just left Aeliana more confused. Had the other woman been attacking her? Or…?
Realization dawned as her memory recalled the sound of an arrow. “Oh, no. No, please.”
She blinked away the white spots, rolling Nori off her to find wide vacant eyes staring back at her.
“No!” she screamed again before tearing at Nori’s tunic, looking for the wound.
“I can heal you.” The arrow had pierced deep through Nori’s chest, the location and lack of blood registering in the back of Aeliana’s mind as bad signs, but still she tried drawing the last vestiges of her starlock’s power from her own body and out through to Nori’s.
But it was like throwing energy at a brick wall until it bounced back at her.
Scaly webbed hands joined hers, but instead of trying to save Nori, they cradled her, pulling her away from Aeliana, who stubbornly refused to let go.
“I healed Marnok,” she murmured. “I can heal her too.”
A new set of arms pulled from behind, and Gaeren’s voice was at her ear. “That was Marnok’s magic. He gave you his magic. It’s too late now. Nori’s already gone.”
She still resisted, but Gellen’s grip was stronger, and as he sobbed and pulled Nori into his arms, a small object fell from Nori’s hand, a golden shell that looked identical to the pink one Nori had found in her mother’s box.
A starlock.
“Go.” Gellen’s voice came out raw. “The others won’t understand.
But she sacrificed herself for you.” He wouldn’t look them in the eye, but he shoved both starbridges across the planks toward them, along with a familiar clamshell—the one holding the gemstone gifted to Aeliana after their underwater visit to the Coral Cove.
His face contorted with his grief, and greyish scales surfaced.
“She had a reason, and that alone is proof that you need to return. All of you.” Then he turned away from them, burying his face in Nori’s neck.
The dismissal brought Aeliana’s pinpoint focus wider, making her realize the people around them were still in shock, the soldier whose bow was still raised turning white with his horror.
“I’m so sorry,” Aeliana whispered, her gaze catching Elder Algaen, who held his hysterical wife, his own tears evident on his scale-blotched face.
She snatched up the starbridges and shell, then turned her back on people she feared had become enemies as she passed the golden arrow to Gaeren and the silver fish to Cyrus.
Gaeren and Iris gripped her hands once more, and if Cyrus said the words, Aeliana didn’t hear them.
She gratefully let the bright light and the shift from solid ground to nothingness envelop her.