The Dragon Star (Realms of Shadow and Grace: Episodes 1-3 of 7)

THE SEER - RANKARUS

FOOTSTEPS FOLLOWED shadows and dark corners, moving from street to alley to street to tree-filled park and back to street again, always avoiding people and light and open spaces.

"I see now why you did not wish to introduce me to your father." Rankarus clutched the box with the codex to his side as he walked through the streets, his other hand firmly entwined with Kellatra's fingers. He had nearly lost her moments ago and would not countenance the possibility of it happening again, even if she did terrify him in ways he never thought possible.

"I am a shame to him, and he is a sorrow to me." Kellatra stared straight ahead as they walked, her face tight with the effort to restrain her emotions.

"Are you certain we should not have left the book?" Rankarus glanced at the box beneath his arm, the source of so much trouble in their lives.

"We risked our lives to return it." Kellatra tightened her grip on his hand. "I will not leave such a prize with my father after his betrayal."

"Surely they will hunt us now. The council. Your father." Rankarus considered that others might pursue them as well. If Jantipur did not take his coins in silence. If he sought to double his bounty with a second reward for revealing what he knew.

"They will not find us." Kellatra's voice did not sound to him as certain as her words implied.

"Where will we go?" Rankarus pondered this question as he spoke it aloud. They must flee Juparti. Punderra seemed a bad choice now. To hide in the Tanshen or Daeshen Dominion while their mindless war still raged would be foolish. They could try Atheton. The strict religious codes would be a burden, but ones beneath which they could camouflage themselves.

"The pilgrims." Kellatra walked a little straighter as she spoke.

"Again?" Rankarus considered the idea. "To what end? They head for the free city of Tanjii and mean to cross the ocean to the Forbidden Realm. Would we hide in Tanjii? Make it our home? I suppose that makes sense. They are neutral in the wars, and a little more open to non-Shen peoples. We might build a life there again."

"No." Kellatra turned to him as her steps continued to snap across the cobbles of the street. "We need to go to the Forbidden Realm with the pilgrims."

"That..." Rankarus blinked, momentarily unable to form a reply. "I don't understand."

"The codex and the dreams and the star and the pilgrims are all connected somehow." Kellatra shook her head. "I don't know how, but they are. I feel it. I see the book in my dreams of the star and the temple and the rest. They must mean something."

"Many have the dreams, Kell. Even me." Rankarus ignored her sudden frown. "Maybe they are merely dreams. Perhaps the star is only a coincidence. It is possible it is all some form of delusion."

"You don't believe that," Kellatra said. "Not if you have the dreams."

"I don't know what I believe," Rankarus said.

They walked in silence, crossing a street and following a thin cobblestone lane through a small park, the wide, full branches of the trees draping the ground in shadow. As they came into a pool of moonlight spilling across the grass of an open glade, Kellatra stopped and turned to face him.

"I know that I have deceived you, that I have broken your trust." Kellatra looked up to him, her eyes welling with tears. "But you must have faith in me in this. I beg you. It is important. I sense it. Not simply to me. Not for the solving of the riddle of an old book. It is important to understanding the dreams and all that has happened since. It is imperative to our future and the future for our children."