Page 187 of Keeper of the Word

The Nay Moon night was tonight, and through StarSpeak, they pinpointed where they would rendezvous. Tara was to leave Asalle at the last possible moment, knowing that she would be unable to return.

What Tara had detailed had been madness. The sovereign’s madness. In his dying fever, the sovereign had decreed that the castle’s food stores be burned. The servants had compliantly obeyed until Tara stepped in. The castle was starving. But that was not the only thing Rian had ordered burned. Scores of scrolls from the Royal Library, the carcasses of the ravens, which he’d ordered killed, and all of Prince Dashiell’s possessions.

Worst, Rian regarded Ferika now as if he knew her not and had banished her from his side. Tara had intervened there as well, but Ferika did not wish to cause her husband further anguish, being that he was in so much pain and did not even know himself any longer. The queen’s heart was decimated.

Hux pocketed his spyglass. “What has delayed them so long? These armies, I mean. To arrive here.”

“The skirmishes they had along the way, no doubt,” Tolvarsupplied. “And although we know that Greenwood, Anscom, and now Norwell conspire against the throne, most of these armies are most likely misinformed or coming to, they assume, the sovereign’s aid.”

Elanna heard the stars’ voices above. “We cannot wait much longer,” she told the other StarSeers, who returned nods. “Keep watch for Tara. Send her to us,” she said to Tolvar.

The three walked an hour’s half, trading off who carried Maristel, until finally, they came to a spot in the green that felt like where they were supposed to be. Not far away, a copse of trees that had shed their leaves swayed in the autumn wind. The coolness of the nearby river hit their faces. Kyrie strolled the area, gazing up and then down.

“Here,” she eventually said. The others joined her. She stooped, pulling grass out of the ground.

“What are you doing?” Casta asked, crouching. Maristel also yanked grass, imitating Kyrie’s movements. Elanna knelt, too.

’Twas a large, flat stone buried in the ground, the surface of which was smooth and glittered like granite.

Once Kyrie had the long grass pulled up enough that ’twas clearly visible, she ran her fingers over the stone. “Give me one of the starstone coins, Elanna.”

Elanna withdrew one from her pocket, and Kyrie used it to chisel into the stone while the others studied her with curiosity. When she was finished, she blew the dust away and sat back.

She’d carved a five-point star into the stone.

Elanna’s fingers traced over it. Aye, ’twas as she had Seen.

Kyrie held out one hand to Elanna and one hand to Casta. “We can wait no longer. We shall have to hope that the stars will still bestow their prophecy on us.”

The four gripped hands and waited.

Daughters of Light,Elanna heard. But no more came.

“Come on, Tara,” she whispered.

The hours grew long, and only an hour or so remained of night.

“Tara, where are you?”

A commotion stirred in the distance, and all at once, the quiet that had been their companion transformed into something horrid, the din raking against them.

“Something is wrong,” Casta said and stood. “We need to return.”

“Nay, Casta, we cannot leave this spot.” Kyrie broke their bond and pointed to the stone.

Casta paled. Maristel hugged her arm. “Bad man,” Maristel whispered. Casta’s hand brushed along the back of Maristel’s head. “Bad man,” she repeated.

“We cannot leave this spot!” Kyrie said.

The din tilted into an uproar of a battle. Shouts. Metal against metal. Cries of death.

Stars. They could not leave this spot.

The din writhed closer.

Closer.

“To the trees. We shall hide there!” Elanna sprinted to the copse of trees, ignoring the fact that their thin trunks would certainly not conceal them. The others joined her. They backed themselves well into the trees, their eyes wide at what might approach.