Starborn Read online

  ‘It was an abdication of responsibility,’ the blind woman snapped, ‘and is better off destroyed.’

  Fury steamed from the crowd. Nediah now stood at Brégenne’s side, exasperation tightening the skin beneath his eyes. The closest townspeople made to charge Brégenne, but the woman raised her arms, threw back her head and screamed.

  Kyndra clapped her hands over her ears. People dropped their torches to do the same and the light in the crowd dimmed by half. The scream went on forever, its notes tearing the air above the town. Kyndra thought of a midnight lake and a wilderness beneath an unforgiving sky. Through her palms, she heard other sounds: the cries of black beasts, the paws of a wolf, the triumphant shriek of a hunting owl. Each creature was part of night’s song and behind Kyndra’s closed eyelids, the moon shone.

  When she opened them, the moon shone still. It pooled on Brégenne, silent now, in a silver shaft that reached to the parted clouds. The woman was brilliant, a shining pillar of frost. Her skin glowed, as if light welled from beneath it. Her eyes struck Kyndra, blazing white. With a wrench she felt to her bones, Kyndra pulled her gaze away.

  The crowd stumbled. ‘Witch!’ someone cried, part-way between accusation and dread. They retreated to a safer distance, leaving Kyndra alone with Brégenne. Nediah stared at his companion. Pride and something that might have been sadness kindled his eyes.

  ‘They will think you in league with us now,’ Brégenne said to Kyndra and indeed the people pointed as they backed away, hurling accusations of crimes she had never committed.

  ‘You saved my life,’ Kyndra said. Her voice shook badly. Her own people had turned against her. Her own people wanted to kill her. It was senseless.

  The shaft connecting Brégenne to the sky faded. Her skin still glowed, but the wonder she had been was lost. ‘And for that I am sorry,’ she said.

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  Nediah put a hand on Kyndra’s shoulder. ‘Now that the Breaking has begun, there is no hope for this town.’

  4

  ‘You’re wrong!’ Kyndra shouted at Nediah. The sympathy in the stranger’s eyes only made her angry. She wouldn’t believe it. She turned her back on them both and had only taken a step when a blinding flash made her stumble and cry out. Fire cracked across the sky and the lightning stabbed the roof of a house. Its thatch burst into flame. Straw fell smouldering to the wet street and part of the roof collapsed with a roar. The mob finally broke and ran, and the night filled with screams.

  A man dodged the flaming debris and wrenched open the door of the house. After a few moments, he returned with two children. The little girl at his side dashed to one of the waiting women and threw her arms about her waist. The boy in the man’s arms didn’t move. Small legs hung limply from his body and one of his feet was bare. The man cradled his son to his chest and howled at the black sky.

  ‘We must leave. I’ll call the horses.’

  Kyndra couldn’t take her eyes off the grieving man. The child’s body flopped grotesquely; each flash lit up the pale, smudged skin of his arms and legs.

  ‘Good. I thought we had more time, but it’s the same here as it was in the Karka Basin. The Breaking is growing stronger and gives fewer warnings.’

  The strangers’ words abruptly broke through Kyndra’s shock. ‘You’re just going to leave us?’ she demanded, rounding on them. ‘Surely you can do something!’

  Brégenne regarded her coolly. ‘Your town is beyond help.’

  ‘How can you say that? What have we done wrong?’

  The three of them stood in an island of relative calm. People ran haphazardly, crying to one another, scooping children up from the crowd. Lightning struck houses at random; more roofs caught alight. Hail bounced off the cobbles, doing nothing to douse the fires. How could waterlogged wood burn so fiercely? Kyndra thought, feeling the heat of the flames against her face. It wasn’t natural.

  ‘Not all will perish,’ Brégenne told her. ‘It’s not the Breaking’s way.’

  Kyndra stared at her, wide-eyed. Then she gave a strangled cry and darted past the strangers, dashing back towards the burning houses and the inn beyond, smoke thickening around her.

  Her body slammed into something. Dazed, Kyndra looked for the obstruction, but there wasn’t one. She put her hands up in front of her, feeling the invisible barrier. ‘Let me go!’ she screamed and pushed forward, kicking and punching. The force captured her limbs and held them, one leg outstretched, arms frozen mid-swing.

  ‘No,’ Brégenne said. ‘I won’t let you throw your life away.’

  ‘It’s my home!’ Kyndra yelled. She pushed against the force that held her and felt it give a fraction of an inch. Brégenne grunted, as if in surprise, and Kyndra turned to look at her. The woman’s face was pale and her mouth slightly open. After a snatched glance at Nediah, she waved a hand and the force released Kyndra.

  ‘You must come with us,’ she said.

  Kyndra sucked smoke into her lungs and coughed fiercely. It was getting hard to see. Brégenne moved closer to her and extended a hand. ‘Come with us,’ she said again. ‘We can help you, Kyndra.’

  Kyndra stared at that slim, outstretched hand. ‘Never,’ she said and threw herself down the street. She expected to feel the force encircle her again, but it didn’t. She ran into the night, leaving the strangers in the storm.

  ‘Mother!’ she called. ‘Jarand!’ Her voice joined the chorus of those searching for their families and friends, cries that mingled to become one panicked refrain. Smoke from the burning buildings rolled over the rooftops and Kyndra wiped a sleeve across her watering eyes.

  In the hellish light, she ran headlong into Reena. Her mother cried out and threw her arms around her. ‘I found you!’ she choked. Her face was smoke-stained, hair wild and wet on her shoulders.

  ‘Have you seen Jarand?’ Kyndra shouted over the roar of wind and fire.

  Reena shook her head. ‘I saw Tessa,’ she said, and her voice was dazed. ‘She went back into the house, after Fedrin died … and she stayed there. It was burning. I couldn’t get her to come out.’ Tears ran down her mother’s face and Kyndra hugged her again. She tried not to think about Tessa’s fate.

  ‘Why has this happened?’ Reena asked the thick air. ‘What did we do to deserve it?’

  ‘We need to find Jarand.’

  ‘I haven’t seen him since he tried to reach you. How could they …?’ Her words died, but Kyndra knew what she meant to say. How could the people of Brenwym turn on her? How could Colta betray her after all the years they had been friends?

  Kyndra pulled her mother in the direction of the inn, slipping on the wet cobbles and dodging debris torn from houses to either side. They turned down lanes where the water came up to their shins. Reena ploughed on beside her, white lips pressed together. Fear was in her eyes and Kyndra hoped Jarand had had the sense to go back to The Nomos to wait for them.

  When they reached the inn, its roof was ablaze. Reena shrieked and Kyndra held on to her firmly. The garret where they lived would be an inferno. All their clothes, their possessions …

  ‘My book!’ Kyndra gasped. She must’ve left it lying on the table in the corner. It wouldn’t be long until the fire found it. ‘I have to get it,’ she told Reena. ‘You stay here – don’t move!’ and before her mother could stop her, Kyndra flung herself through the inn’s door.

  The common room looked almost normal, except for thick curls of smoke that hung in the air. Kyndra darted between tables, kicking abandoned tankards out of her path. The flask of wine still sat on the strangers’ table along with one empty goblet. The book was gone.

  ‘They took it when you left.’

  Kyndra whirled. The common room was empty.

  ‘I had my eye on them soon as they came through the door.’ The voice was harsh, choked, but Kyndra recognized it. ‘I’m sorry,’ Jarand said. He lay slumped against the back wall. In one hand he held his customary bar rag, stained a shocking red. The other clutched a shaft of wood bu
ried in his chest.

  ‘Oh no, Jarand …’ Blood stained Jarand’s shirt and the hand curled almost protectively around the shaft was slick with it. Kyndra had never seen that much blood. Her mouth opened, but she couldn’t push any words past the lump in her throat.

  ‘I’m glad you’re safe.’ Jarand’s eyes were different, as if some spark were leaving them. ‘I tried to reach you.’

  ‘Mother’s outside,’ Kyndra managed to say. ‘She’s fine. She’s looking for you. I’ll—’

  ‘I don’t want her – to see me like this. It’ll be over soon.’

  ‘No.’ Kyndra’s eyes felt dry and scratchy. ‘Don’t say that. You’ll be fine.’

  The ceiling creaked a warning and they both looked up. ‘It isn’t safe for you here,’ Jarand said. ‘I came back … when I lost you in the crowd. But …’ His eyes dropped to the awful wound in his chest.

  Kyndra shook her head. ‘I’m not leaving you.’

  I’m only asking you to help the man. Kyndra drew in a startled breath. That’s what Nediah had said when Fedrin was dying. Perhaps Brégenne could – ‘That woman,’ she said. ‘What if she could help you?’

  ‘No,’ Jarand said harshly. ‘She’ll have a price, Kyndra.’ He coughed and cried out. Fresh blood flowed around the wood. A trickle oozed from the corner of his mouth.

  ‘I’ll pay it, then,’ Kyndra cried and dashed to the door. There wasn’t time to consider. There was barely enough time to find the strangers.

  ‘I was coming in for you!’ Reena gasped when Kyndra burst outside. She darted frantic glances at the roof. ‘It’ll come down any minute.’

  ‘Jarand’s in there,’ Kyndra said shortly. Where could she find the strangers? Somehow she knew they were still in town. They won’t leave without me.

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s dying,’ Kyndra said and blinked at the unbelievable word as it left her mouth. ‘I’m going for help. Don’t go in there, it’s too dangerous.’

  ‘No!’ Reena cried, her eyes wild. She ran to the inn. The smoke rolling out of it had grown thicker.

  ‘Mother!’

  Reena ignored her and dashed inside. Kyndra spun to stare at the dark. Where were the strangers? What if they had left? No, they wouldn’t go without her. She’d overheard them talking about that place … Naris. It was obviously a secret. The strangers would want to make sure she didn’t tell anyone. Perhaps Brégenne had let her escape deliberately. Perhaps she knew Kyndra would come back begging for her help.

  As if called by that very thought, the blind woman walked out of the smoke. Despite her small stature, she looked oddly impressive silhouetted against the fiery night. Nediah stood at her shoulder.

  Kyndra stared at her. She tried to swallow the fear and the anger that bubbled just beneath it. ‘Jarand is hurt. Will you help him?’

  ‘You shall come with us,’ Brégenne said, white eyes shining starkly amid the shadows of her face.

  A life for a life, Kyndra thought. For a moment she was so afraid, she couldn’t speak. Then she pictured Jarand, as the blood drained out of him. She imagined her mother, heard her ravaged cries as clearly as if Jarand were already dead.

  ‘Yes,’ she whispered and led the way into the inn.

  Brégenne coughed in the smoke clouding the common room. Barely five minutes had passed since Kyndra first found Jarand, but the heat had spiralled unbearably. Reena crouched on the floor, holding her husband. Tears glinted on her cheeks, but her face was set. She looked at Brégenne with a mixture of hope and distrust. Jarand’s eyes were closed, every breath he drew laboured.

  ‘Step away from him,’ Brégenne said and Kyndra’s mother reluctantly let Jarand rest against the wall.

  Brégenne’s skin became moonlight. It shone through every pore, as if there were a hundred moons inside her. Silver ran like veins down her forearms and concentrated in her fingertips. She glanced once at Nediah and something seemed to pass between them. Then Brégenne nodded and placed her glowing hands on the injured man’s chest. Jarand opened his eyes. The look he gave Kyndra was full of sadness. Then he screamed.

  Before Kyndra could leap forward, Nediah grabbed her arms. A gush of blood pushed the wood up out of Jarand’s chest. A pearlescent sheen hovered over his exposed skin. It spread to the ragged hole the shaft had left and welled into it like quicksilver, cauterizing the edges as it went and knitting the torn flesh. Jarand’s scream of agony cut off and he shuddered and groaned. Awe mingled with fear on Reena’s face. She gripped the apron she still wore with white fingers.

  Brégenne removed her hands and stepped back. Although weariness darkened the skin around her eyes, she seemed taller. A faint aura outlined her body and Kyndra caught an echo of the night song she’d heard earlier.

  Jarand sat up and placed a wondering hand on his chest. The gaping wound had become an ugly red scar.

  ‘My healing skill is rudimentary compared to Nediah’s,’ Brégenne said. ‘If you strain yourself, the wound will reopen. You’ve lost a lot of blood.’

  ‘Jarand!’ Reena gasped. She tried to embrace him, but Jarand held her back.

  ‘We have to get out of here,’ he said roughly. His face was bleak.

  A crash shook the inn. Cracks spread through the ceiling above their heads. Kyndra and her mother each seized one of Jarand’s arms and helped him to the door. The strangers had already moved outside.

  The five of them stood and watched the flames race over the building. Kyndra felt oddly detached. The roof of her childhood home caved in, its sturdy beams eaten by fire. Her possessions were burning, everything she had ever owned. Perhaps her trove would survive, concealed beneath the window seat. She hadn’t even thought of rescuing it.

  She wanted to cry for what she had lost: her Inheritance, her friend, her home. She’d almost lost Jarand. But, as always, the tears would not come. She’d never cried once in her life, not even as a child.

  Kyndra turned at a light touch on her shoulder. Nediah stood there. He whistled and the strangers’ horses trotted obediently into view, tranquil despite the fires that raged all around them. Brégenne caught the reins of hers and swung smoothly into the saddle. Kyndra turned to her family. Uncertain, she opened her mouth.

  ‘You’re going with them,’ Jarand said in the same bleak voice. Rain ran down his cheeks and soaked into his short, dark beard.

  ‘What?’ One of Reena’s arms lifted, as if to take hold of Kyndra, but then she crossed them over her chest in a pose Kyndra had long grown to recognize. ‘What’s this?’ she demanded. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I made a promise,’ Kyndra said, trying to smother her fear. ‘She saved Jarand’s life.’

  ‘Nonsense!’ Reena said, a dangerous light coming into her eyes. ‘You are not leaving. You owe these people nothing!’ Her voice wavered on the verge of hysteria and Jarand put a weary hand on her arm. Reena must have sensed something in the touch for she gaped at her husband. ‘You’re not agreeing with this?’ she asked him, eyes blurring with tears. ‘We don’t even know these people. We can’t trust them!’

  ‘Rest assured your daughter will be safe with us,’ Nediah said. Kyndra looked at him, wondering whether the words were a lie.

  ‘What could you possibly want with her?’ Reena asked. ‘This is her home. I’m her mother. She belongs here.’

  Brégenne tilted her head to one side, as if to regard Reena. The white gaze was penetrating and Kyndra’s mother shifted uncomfortably beneath it. She didn’t look away, though, which somehow seemed to matter very much to Kyndra.

  Brégenne had to raise her voice over the roar of the storm. ‘Do you truly believe that?’

  Perhaps it was only the lightning that brightened the next moment, but Kyndra thought her mother’s face drained of colour. Reena’s anger faded and she seemed suddenly uncertain.

  ‘Time is short,’ Brégenne continued. ‘I would advise you both to get out of this town.’ She turned her head towards Jarand. ‘Will you waste your second chance at life?’ />
  ‘But where are you taking her?’ Reena cried. ‘I don’t understand. When can she come back?’

  Brégenne’s face was impassive. ‘When she is ready,’ she said cryptically.

  ‘No!’ Reena screamed, her grey-blue eyes widening, as if she had seen something in the blind woman’s face. ‘You can’t take her, you can’t!’

  ‘Mother.’ Kyndra caught up her hands. ‘If these people want me to go with them, I don’t have any choice. They saved Jarand. How can we ever repay that?’ She tried to swallow the tremor in her voice.

  ‘It’s foolishness,’ Reena sobbed. She looked up at Brégenne. ‘Ask for something else, witch, anything. Money – we can pay you.’

  ‘I think not,’ Brégenne said coldly. It was evident that she didn’t appreciate being referred to as a witch. She inclined her head towards the burning inn. ‘It seems to me that you have nothing left to offer.’

  In that moment, Kyndra hated her.

  Reena’s hands clenched. ‘I will come back,’ Kyndra promised.

  ‘It’s not safe for your daughter here,’ Nediah said and all four turned to look at him. ‘Tomorrow, people will remember what happened. They’ll look for someone to blame.’

  ‘They wouldn’t blame Kyndra,’ Reena said weakly, but Jarand’s face hardened. Kyndra relinquished her mother’s hands and Jarand turned her around to face him.

  ‘I saw them, Reena,’ he said. ‘They were seconds away from attacking her. First the Relic and then the Breaking. It’s easy to link disasters together and people need someone to blame.’

  Reena shook her head, but the fight had gone out of her. She addressed her next words to Nediah. ‘You will keep her safe?’

  Nediah’s rain-washed face was sober. ‘I swear to do so, as does my companion.’

  ‘I will only take your word, sir.’

  Nediah bowed his head.

  ‘I’ll come back,’ Kyndra said again. She couldn’t bear the look on her mother’s face.

  Reena clasped her fiercely, and as her wet hair pressed against Kyndra’s cheek, Kyndra felt a terrible surge of sorrow. When Reena finally let go, Jarand took Kyndra’s hands in his and then hugged her tight.