NightStars

*part viii*

That’s weird… it turned white…

Aliastra who was sleeping a few yards away ran over to Jasper, who was entering a strange state. He could see a place and he could see someone, but he knew it wasn’t where he really was.

He was sitting at a scrubbed wooden table and he was sitting next to a woman. Her brown hair was set in a bun and braid ran all the way around her head. She was wearing a brown checked dress and a clean white apron. Jasper knew it was his mother.

“Jasper?” she asked.

“Yeah?” Jasper muttered.

“I don’t think you should be here yet,” she told him, “hold on to it.”

“What?” Jasper asked.

“Keep a hold of your life, it’s not time for you to cross the sea yet.” She explained, in an echoic voice.

“What? I don’t understand.” Jasper told her.

“You’re not dead yet,” she told him, and smiled, but then Jasper landed back on earth and all the pain returned.

He could feel in a strange state of semi-consciousness blood pouring from his neck, nose, and chest. He didn’t open his eyes until Aliastra opened them for him, but as soon as he saw all of the blood he passed out.

Justin stared into the lids of Jasper’s eyes. He looked pretty bad. Totally covered on blood.

“How far to the next city?” he asked Aliastra.

She looked worried, “If I start right now, I can get him there by noon tomorrow, but we’ll go faster with just two. You can take Jasper’s horse and you and Slagen will just meet us there, okay?”

She pulled Jasper’s limb body up on to her horse and kicked it. It ran off at a fast gallop. Justin had not noticed Slagen standing right behind him, until Slagen yawned, “Come on, let’s clear this corpse out of here and find a different spot to camp.”

Justin nodded, and together, they moved the dead wildcat.

They moved down in the woods more, near the edge of the road. Justin was so tired he couldn’t fain sleep. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the ground.

And there was Chomanix. She was back to her brown dress and emerald belt. She looked paler and thinner then when he last saw her. Justin finally, for what seemed like the first time in months, found his voice.

“Um, can you hear me?” he asked.

She nodded.

“What do you want? What is this place?” Justin asked.

She picked up a stick and started writing in the dirt.

You are the only person who can save us now because you have the knife that will allow you to enter into my world. You are having these dreams because I asked the knife to be sent home because I knew that the king would come with it. The true king is the only thing that will save our people. We are being ruled by a man who acts like he is good, but in truth, he is evil. The only way to over throw him would be to bring our rightful king back and that is you. May I asked you name?
            “It’s Justin Eelie,” he told her, “Your name is Chomanix?”
            She nodded.

I hope I shall see you soon Justin, but it is hard to say, for I fear that you have a long and troublesome road ahead of you. Please do not die.

Justin chucked, “I’ll try not to, but I don’t really want to.”

She smiled, and wrote, I’m sorry but this is all the time I have, so farewell, Justin Eelie, until tomorrow night!

Justin didn’t bother to open his eyes, instead he let himself be lulled back into real dreams of nonsense and confusion.

The sunrise woke Justin in the morning. He didn’t even bother with food, he had to get going so they could reach Jasper and Aliastra in time.

It took much longer for Slagen to get up and he was extremely grumpy when Justin told him they were going to skip breakfast, and he got even grumpier when Justin started to ride off without him, but then of course, he had to follow him.

Justin’s horse bounced along the potholed, twisting, turning, and bending road. Slagen’s horse finally caught up to Justin. They road across the wild country side. Justin thought hard. If Jasper would have been attacked at about midnight last night, and they could reach the city by noon, then it would take them about twelve hours, give or take an hour.

They stopped for nothing, even though Justin was getting dehydrated and Slagen’s stomach’s growls were gradually getting louder. By about four o’clock in the afternoon they arrived at the next city, Appwerkzeug.

            Justin’s heart was pounding in his chest and his stomach was tentatively fluttering. The guard let Slagen in, who had managed to pass Justin off as is servant.

            This city was dirty and strangely quiet. The cobblestones were cracked and the decrepit buildings that lined the streets looked strangely empty.   

            Justin didn’t like this city. It gave him a very bad feeling, like something was about to pop out and kill him.

            After tramping through the city for about an hour they finally saw Aliastra’s horse. It was tethered outside a white building that said, ‘Doctor.’

            Slagen eased the door open very carefully. It looked a bit like a small hospital. There were a few rows if empty beds, several tall white cabinets, and an operating table. Aliastra was sitting next to a bed, biting her lip.

            Justin raced over and looked at Jasper. His neck was bandaged and his face was free of blood. He was extremely pale, but he was snoring softly.

            “He’s not dead!” Justin breathed.

            Aliastra nodded, “Doctor says he’ll let him go day after tomorrow.”

            Aliastra and Slagen exchanged a nervous glance.

            “Are we staying here tonight?” Justin asked, looking up from Jasper’s pale face.

            Aliastra nodded, “Doctor said he’s got enough room.”

            Justin yawned, “I’m going to go to sleep, I’m pretty tired.”

            Aliastra nodded, “Yeah, we should all get some rest.”

            The three each chose a bed and changed into their pajamas. Aliastra was exhausted. After a whole day straight of riding accompanied by several long hours of worrying, she gratefully went to sleep.

            By the time it was midnight she was awake again. Something was not right. She could hear voices coming from the front door, and banging. She smelled smoke and saw flickers of fire. It looked like Justin’s entrance into the city had not gone unnoticed.  

            The old doctor sidled over the door and half yelled half whispered to the crowed of at least thirty people outside, “Okay, I’ve the little bugar Justin here. He doesn’t know I recognized him, and I’ve got three of his friends too-“
            Aliastra did wait to here anymore. She quietly got out of bed and swiftly walked down two beds, where Justin was sleeping. She gently placed her cupped hand around Justin’s mouth. He woke with a start.

            “Shut up, we’ve got company,” she hissed.

            Justin got up immediately and Aliastra dashed over and shook Slagen and hissed in his left ear, “Looks like the good doctor has betrayed us. Do you think you can manage Jasper?”

 Slagen very carefully picked up Jasper’s limp body and flung him over his shoulder. The three raced to the back of the ward pried open the heavy oak back door and found their horses, waiting for them in the stable. Aliastra flung the doors open and the four mounted their horses and raced off at top speed. All four of them were in pajamas, and Justin vaguely wondered how strange they looked. Four people on three horses, one unconscious, all galloping down the street, dashing for the gate.

            Once they had reached it Aliastra leapt off her horse and clubbed the guard on his head with the butt of her short silver sword. After a few whacks he was out cold.

            “Get the gate!” she yelled at them.

            Justin and Slagen heaved against the gate with all their might, until Aliastra yelled, “Got the key, here!”

            She threw the large gold key and Justin caught it. Slagen forced the key into the battered

lock and turned it. The gate creaked open. Aliastra had already leapt back on her horse and Justin

and Slagen were soon following her out of the city, deep into the woods.

            They stopped by a creek, deep in the woods and virtually untraceable. Justin collapsed

next to Jasper and checked his pulse. It was still beating and he was still breathing.

            Aliastra pried open one of Jasper eye lids, “It seems that the doctor may have drugged

Jasper with his evening dose of medicine, but at any rate, we’re alive.”

            She slid Jasper’s shirt off to check the scratches from the wild cat the previous night. It seemed so far away to Justin. Millenniums, even eons could have passed since the attack.

            The wounds were no longer bleeding and they were slathered in a poultice that seemed to

be healing them.

            Justin laid his head down on the grass, staring up at the starry sky. Aliastra yawned. She looked so tired.

            “I’ll sit with Jasper,” Justin volunteered.

            Aliastra smiled, “Justin, I don’t know if you will take this as a compliment, but you are absolutely nothing like your father.”