Episode #1 - "Torn": Star Chasers (Volume 1) (5 page)

    
“How do you feel?” Ty and Rhyess both asked.

    
“My head throbs, but I… I…”

    
Ty embraced her, whispered, “Truly?”

    
Shilastar pecked Ty on the cheek with a small gesture of thanks. She stood uneasily at first and with assistance soon gained stability. She gasped. “It’s night. We need to be away. How far are... ? A storm, Ty,” she remarked with reverence, regarding the sky and then the ruins below. “There, we must go there.”

    
The three picked their way down at a deliberate, guarded gait. As the wind sharpened, their prudent pace dissipated and became an all out dash. A large cleft was tucked away just in front of them, if they could only reach it. The sound of deluge came to them as if sifting to their ears from afar. None stopped to watch the cloudburst.

    
The downpour found them icy and bitter just before they attained their mark. It drizzled and poured all about them as they peered from a small recess, the detritus of a building and its roof. They would later discover this was where they had danced away the afternoon.

    
Water began to flood the low areas. A large pool formed beneath their feet, slowly growing until it was better than ankle deep. All warmth faded, even the heat of their bodies pressed together. Shilastar bundled her soggy hair into a braid, pulling its wet mass off her neck, and in its place she pulled her collar up full. The tender spot on the back of her head had lost its numbness. She rubbed it gingerly.

    
As the cloud cover above thickened, a darkness settled over them like a great blanket drawn up tight. They rested underneath its midsection as best they could while the water swirled around them. The sounds of night were their only companions. Each felt very alone. Rainwater poured down in hefty streams, splashing into puddles that swelled into lakes around them.

    
A mercurial lull came as nature reposed. The abrupt absence was unnerving to Ty and Rhyess, but Shilastar accepted it without further speculation. The waters ebbed and receded, and the obscured shadows followed suit. The stars returned. Amid these sudden wonders, they were still cold and wet. And the only cure was hours away.

    
They dreaded the return trek, yet they had no other option. A step at a time, they ventured forth, taking great pains to pick a path among the rough and often slippery ground. Once they crested the hill and its trough, the land generally leveled out, and the chances of ill befalling them dwindled. More than anything else, Ty wanted to rest his head on something soft and drift off to sleep someplace warm and dry.

When
Ty awoke, he felt he should linger in a world of sleep and dreams, and he did. It could have been hours or minutes, yet it felt like days. He was captured amid hundreds upon hundreds of tiny, shifting objects, which swarmed around him like insects fleeing from a legion of searing lights in a host of colors and magnitude. In the end as Ty woke, the vision faded and he was alone in a darkened room.

    
The house was quiet and seemed empty, so Ty helped himself to a hefty serving of gruel. Although he was tired of the stuff, he couldn’t drink it quick enough. Just as he slurped up the last spoonful, Phaylio wandered into the chamber and Ty guiltily looked up at him.

    
“Eat, eat, there is always more,” muttered Phaylio, pouring himself a glass of pinkish-orange liquid and quickly departing.

    
Ty considered partaking of another bowl but decided against it. He set to stretching his aching body, especially his legs. He didn’t much care for walking even though he knew it was good for him and he needed to do more. He scoffed off further healthy thoughts and devoured a second, but substantially smaller, helping.

    
Afterward, Ty looked in on Shilastar, who was still fast asleep. As he returned down the hallway, he happened to glace into Phaylio’s room through the partially open door. He saw Phaylio seated in a large wooden chair with high arms, leaning back and staring at the wall.

    
Ty gazed with astonishment at the chamber. In all the times he had visited, he had never seen the interior, nor had Phaylio invited him in. A bookshelf sprawled lazily from one end of the wall to the other. A platform desk ran the length of its lower level, but even underneath it, piled on top, and all around were books. Volume after volume lined the shelves. They were crammed in every nook and cranny. Ty saw huge stacks, many towering well above his head, seeming to teeter and wave with the slight flow of air.

    
Ty could resist no longer, he had to stick his head fully beyond the confines of the door. But as he did so, his view was blocked. Slowly looking up, he winced as his eyes met Phaylio’s. Ty expected Phaylio to be outraged at his lack of discretion, but Phaylio was the gracious host as always. He invited Ty to step in. However, he did slightly chastise Ty saying, “Never stand about in hallways. Enter a room or don’t.”

    
Ty was surprised to see a bed tucked into the far corner of the space. Still, he sat on a footstool and whittled away what remained of the morning listening to Phaylio, who sat stretched back in his chair. Phaylio was reserved in his speech. His voice held a different quality, perhaps sadness. Ty saw the gleam in the other’s eyes as he periodically looked about, occasionally glancing toward the spot he had been pondering before Ty interrupted.

    
Adorning that space was a portrait of a young woman. A smile was on her lips and a glint of light was captured in her eye just so. Her hair was dark, on the verge of brown or black depending how you regarded it; either way, it held a delicate contrast to the lush tone of her face, which bordered on fair. Barring all else her true beauty was in her eyes and their distinct liquid cast, from which Ty could hardly look away. As the two talked, his eyes roamed back to rest within the woman’s gaze.

    
Phaylio noticed Ty’s predicament and approved. His wife had been a beautiful woman in her time, but that is not how he remembered her. He could look upon the picture and the face, but he saw another image there. Only the eyes never changed. In later years, after birthing many children, to most she would have seemed ordinary and unremarkable and probably thought it best to recall her visage as she had looked long ago. But not Phaylio. He could remember her no other way: face lined with wrinkles, not of age but of love and tenderness; cheeks rosy and full, perhaps overly so; little puffy, dark circles under the eyes from too many long sleepless nights worrying about this or that and many lengthy years of labor; hair pulled back, cut to just above the shoulder. Phaylio saw what he had sought and adored the whole of his life.

    
Phaylio’s countenance suddenly changed as if a weight pushed down on it. He eyed Ty for a moment before speaking. “Ty, will you promise me something? It is only a small thing, really, but I want you to promise me you will keep your word.” Phaylio spoke with a hint of oration again that would draw you in if you let it. His speech often had that effect on Ty.

    
“You have only to ask,” stated Ty, not comprehending the scope of what was about to be asked.

    
“Ty, I have grown as fond of you as my own. I think of you as one of my fold, as my son. You know my father was the first to show me how to build and how to make things grow. You can till the land, but if you do not care for it your crops will not grow. My father was a builder and a farmer, like his father before him, and many more. ‘You cannot build a house of two walls or three, and sometimes not even of four,’ he said to me. And at the time, I must be honest with you and tell you I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I do now. And he says to me, ‘My boy, a house needs a roof and the yard needs tending, and never, never start a thing you will not finish.’ You know Ty, I built this dwelling with these two hands, and I did it one step at a time. Yes its true, the garden is gone know, but it stood once at the rear of my house. My father said to me, ‘Your time will come and it will go, but the land will be here long after you are gone.’... I haven’t had a garden in such a long time. I just don’t have the time anymore. It used to have flowers along the edge, red, yellow, blue, and even white...”

    
Ty’s eyes grew heavy and he fought to keep them open. He listened to Phaylio, but the words began to mingle in with sleepy thoughts. Such a thought sparked an image of Rhyess into his mind. Ty was supposed to meet him. Tomorrow Rhyess would leave, and similar plans were on Ty’s mind. He had lingered long enough, it was time to move on. Ty picked up a lull in Phaylio’s discourse and he began to listen again out of respect.

    
“... That’s what he said to me, and I believed him. You must do the same for me, Ty. Promise?”

    
Ty looked about quickly, and nodded. And then it hit him. What he had just promised? But Phaylio started in once more. Just then, a shadow shifted about in the room, and Ty turned to see Shilastar. He looked at her, back a moment to the wall, and then back to her.

    
“Are you coming?” she asked him.

    
“Where?” he asked quietly.

    
“To see Rhyess.”

    
Ty fixed her with an imploring stare, meaning,
I want to.
“Father,” interrupted Shilastar, raising her voice politely, “your lunch is growing cold.” Phaylio looked up surprised to see her and bobbed his head several times. His face became a mask of consternation and he poised his lips as if he was going to speak again, then he broke away scratching his brow. Ty grinned and followed Shilastar.

    
The mood was somber when the two found Rhyess. Time was spinning rapidly and seemed so far from their grasp. The three friends spent the day in idle talk, as good friends often do. Rhyess seemed to have a better knowledge of the world beyond Paliy than most, and he and Ty could talk about things Shilastar didn’t understand. Often she felt left out, yet other times she would turn their words around and bring them back to the sphere of her comprehension.

    
All too soon the evening meal was upon them. After eating and a short rest, they jumped back into heavy conversation again. But Shilastar noted the yearning on Ty’s face to be elsewhere as the hour grew late, and she guided his thoughts in other directions. Rhyess came to find Ty’s blank stare upon his own face, and then Shilastar knew she could do no more to keep them idle any longer.

    
Ty stirred to his feet and shuffled about the room, even as Shilastar implored, “Stay with me.” Her face saddened as Rhyess also stood and reflected Ty’s longing stare.

    
“Tomorrow morning, we will have some time,” promised Ty.

    
“Are you leaving too, then, Ty? It is so soon...”

    
Ty observed her as he spoke, “I think it is best... Do not worry, I will return when you least expect it. Come and look for me often.” Ty said quiet and subdued.

    
Ty and Rhyess started to leave just as Shilastar burst out, “If you go, I will have no choice...” Her words faded as the two disappeared into the blackness of night. As the door closed, Shilastar buried her face in her hands. “If you go...” she whispered, “I will have to choose another...” Her cheeks were flushed as she lifted her hands away from her face.

    
The door opened and then Ty stepped back in.

    
“Do not fret so, it does not become you. I will see you in the morning and so will Rhyess. I will come back, Shilastar. I always do, do I not?”

    
A myriad of thoughts passed through Shilastar’s mind. She wished she could tell him what she felt for him. She wished he know how much he meant to her. She said, “Go... go, go. Have a good time, and mind that sister of mine...” Shilastar even found a smile at the last, as she watched him go out the door. She heard Ty shout to Rhyess, “Off we go!” Then she listened as their footsteps fell from the range of her ears.

    
“Drinks are on me!” shouted Ty as he entered the bar. He winked at Triist and she obliged. He didn’t doubt what his indebtedness to her would bring him. He saw Friith’s shadow and wavered his head left and right to see around him, sighing when he only saw three stacks of dishes. For now he had other plans, but he always counted his options first. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small, square object.

    
As he did so something else also came out of his pocket, a necklace. Ty recalled he was supposed to give it back to Shilastar. He noted this as he shoved it back into his pocket. He sat down upon a stool.

    
“Sed... drew! It has been some time.” Ty had a guileful smile on his lips as he spoke, subtly setting the game on the counter and unfolding it. “What do you know...” Ty stated as if surprised, “Have you ever played before? Good, good, join me for one. I’ll even leave the wager up to you.”

    
“Wager?” asked Sedrew.

    
Ty quickly continued, “A wager is just a small agreement among friends, nothing but an offering, doesn’t have to be more than a pittance, a sum that is insignificant, paltry. Say, drinks maybe, drinks on the loser. Sound good? Sure it does! Here you can even go first...” Ty had set up the pieces as he spoke, quickly conferring the dice into Sedrew’s hand before he could object.

    
Triist came over and watched the two play for a time, winking at Ty as he won the first few games. Rhyess seemed to enjoy the game play and tried his hand at it a few times, and this gave Ty a chance to sit back and observe. He took the opportunity to disappear into the kitchen with Friith, helping as implied. He saw Aehrone and some others join in, and even Triist tried her hand at it once or twice.

    
Friith finally chased him out of the kitchen after he had attempted to taste test one too many items brewing on the stove. Sedrew was alone now. He assumed Rhyess had adjourned to the nearby rest room, and he didn’t really care where the others went, except maybe Triist.

    
“Try your luck again?” Ty asked.

    
Sedrew just glared at him, but decided to save himself the trouble and just bought Ty a drink. He eventually played another hand.

    
Hours slipped by, but Ty didn’t notice. He was enthralled by the game and his drink. He smiled and gave a little shout of glee as he claimed yet another victory. He was feeling quite liberal now and his mirth showed it.

    
“Do you really want to know the secret?” asked Ty in a slurred, heavy speech. “There’s not much to it, ya know... But it’s quite habit forming once you begin to partake of it.”

    
Sedrew couldn’t discern whether Ty referred to the game or the drink propped awkwardly in the hand.

    
“Its time to close,” implored Triist. “Are you almost finished?”

    
Ty looked from his hand to Sedrew, who offered no assistance. “Well, not quite, give us a few more minutes. What do you say, Sedrew? One last time?” Sedrew shrugged, but after the pieces were set up, he did indeed play again. In fact, they played several more times as Triist watched. Eventually, Ty challenged Triist, and Sedrew made clean getaway. He had an early morning ahead of him, and knew he would soon regret the night’s merriment and festivities.

    
It took both Friith and Triist to usher Ty from his stool and ferry him toward the door. After a drawn-out pause at the door, Friith finally waved Triist away to go watch out for Ty, knowing he couldn’t proceed on his own. As they came out among the night stars, Ty cocked his head up against Triist’s shoulder. He said in a mixed up drawl, “I’ve a mind to kiss you.” Triist rebuked him. “Mind yourself. I’ll not be a part of breaking Star’s heart.”