Obsidarian was gone when I returned to Mají-jalio. I did not speak as I approached my captain, standing next to him in the darkness while I waited for him to acknowledge me.
“I hate to admit it,” he said. “But Obsidarian made a valid point while you were gone. It is time for you to learn of this world. You need to understand what you are up against, what to expect as this year passes by. Take a walk with me Gittoran.”
He led me across the common area, slowing his pace for a moment so we walked side by side in the soft light from the heavens. He paused near the center of the field, stopping completely to look up at the star-dazzled sky.
“Beautiful isn’t it?” he whispered.
“Breathtaking,” I agreed, surprised to hear the longing in his voice.
“Have you begun to recognize the constellations yet Gittoran?” he asked.
He looked down from the stars and met my gaze, studying my expression as I watched the pinpricks of light dance through his eyes.
“Lie on the ground with me,” he said slowly. “Let me teach you about this world.”
He flopped down in the grass, stretching out and tucking one arm behind his head before motioning me down to his side. I knelt beside him, lowering myself onto the earth in a way that would be close to him without touching him. He tucked his other arm behind his head and I did the same, taking in the full glory of the night sky for the first time. There were no city lights to hide the millions of sparkling diamonds; they seemed to shimmer across the expanse, going on forever in every direction the sky took.
“The game was not always divided like it is now,” he began quietly. “The worlds were one; divided into regions where we travelled freely and lived together. The Griffon placed constellations in the night sky to guide all of us home at the end of the year. These four constellations glow brightest the night before the summer solstice, the day we must return to Effugere, and our parents.”
He pointed to a star in the left portion of the sky, “Which star do you think that is, the boldest and brightest?”
“The North Star,” I whispered.
“Of course,” he said. “Can you find the dipper from there?”
I searched the heavens, looking for the familiar pattern among the lights.
“No…” I said quietly, feeling foolish at my failure.
“That’s because it’s not there,” he said, laughing for a moment at the disappointment in my voice. “The North Star is part of a constellation we call Warrior. The star is the tip of his sword, held straight above his head in triumph. He represents the Northern Heroes, fierce and overly noble people. The heroes were well trained, driven to destroy the lawless and protect the innocent. They hunted us to near extinction... Those were the dark times; when pirates lived in fear as the last of our kind. We tried to laugh as we hid in the squalor of our dens, tried to make it into some sort of game. But all feared that we would share the same fate as the pirates of old.”
I spoke out eagerly, “What all happened? I didn’t know there were other camps, are there more than just pirates and heroes?”
He laughed softly, shifting so his arm was behind my head and our faces were upturned in the same direction. “Here, let me show you.”
YOU ARE READING
FireSweet
Fantasy"My name changed before my eyes, the paper before me read "Welcome Gittoran Scarlet", I felt a searing pain in my left shoulder and the world spun around me. I dropped to the floor, and blacked out." Gittoran was your average party-girl with attit...
