Sapphire

  The next morning everyone in the village was busy with some task or another, but they all found time to talk to their guests. Shawna had explained a lot during the celebration, their quest, the realms, and despite their initial fear everyone was very kind and hospitable the next day. The children and young men were especially interested in Shawna, so she couldn’t go anywhere without being surrounded by a small crowd. It made her somewhat nervous. She wasn’t used to so much popularity.

  “Can I see your sword?” said one little boy, holding muddy hands towards her crystal sword.

  Lula gave the kid a scorching look, and he jammed his grubby hands into his pockets, withering under her glare.

  “You know, I make swords,” boasted a teenaged boy.

  “No you don’t!” said another young man.

  “Well, I’m learning! I could make a scabbard for that sword, if you like?”

  “Do you really believe in the unicorn-lord?” another child said. “Cuz I don’t. I think it’s just a story. My daddy says you have a ‘fool’s mitten,’ and there’s only the Great Golden Wolf that howled at the stars and called them down and that’s how the wolves got here from the stars to protect us from the—”

  “Shut up, Talba,” said the teenager. The child pouted at him. “It’s on a fool’s mission, not mitten, dummy.” He turned to Shawna. “You’re really going on this journey because of what that dragon told you?”

  “Yes.” She was surprised at herself for not hesitating.

  She hadn’t really ever believed in anything before, except maybe Santa Claus when she was five, but now this quest was the only thing that made sense. She didn’t quite understand it, she just felt it. The need to keep going, to keep believing in something, whatever it was.

  “Um…I need to go find Antares,” she said, hoping this would deter her admirers, which it did.

  Though Antares hadn’t eaten anyone yet, no one seemed quite at ease around the large lightning wielding predator. He was her only safe haven at the moment. Lula had flown off to find a certain flower one of the women had mentioned bloomed in the area. Mira was—somewhere—and Orin was even more popular than herself right now; he was very popular in fact. As Shawna walked by, she held her head up and gripped her sword when she saw his posse of pretty village girls tittering around him like chickadees. He glanced at her as she strode past, she glanced back, and they both immediately looked away.

  “Tee-hee-hee,” she mocked to herself, making a blank face. “Oh my! Your arms are so strong. Can you help me lift this piece of straw? It’s so heavy.” She was making exaggerated gestures and expressions while she walked. “And can you help me look for my brain? It’s so small that I keep losing it. Wanna see me giggle and flip my hair? Wanna see me do it again? Cuz that’s all I can do. Oh did y—”

  She stopped abruptly mid-sentence. Antares was staring at her like she had lost her brain. She glanced around like she hadn’t been doing anything weird, threw back her shoulders, and walked up to him. He didn’t say anything. He was focused on a nearby pickling barrel.

  “Have you seen Lula?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “Are we leaving soon?”

  “No.”

  “But we have to find the third realm. Those molochs are coming! Aren’t you worried?”

  “Perhaps.”

  She took a very deep breath, trying to stay level-headed. It would do no good to annoy him and have to put up with the village-mob again.

  “So, I wanted to ask.” She paused, but he just stared at the barrel. “Do you believe in the, um, prophecy?”

  “I believe in staying alive.” He continued to watch the barrel as if it was about to scuttle away.

  Shawna gave it a puzzled glance. “Um. Okay. Do you believe I’m the right…one, then? That I can do this?”

  “Only if you stay alive.”

  “Oh, right. Well, where’s Mira?”

  “Talking to Faolan,”

  “About?”

  “The molochs coming this way.”

  “She is?! But—”

  “Circumstances have changed. The third realm is closer than we realized.”

  “It is?” Her heart skipped a beat, but before she could ask him to elaborate he changed the subject.

  “These humans,” he snarled. “They patrol and protect the village with—” He seemed at a loss for words, twitching his tail. “Shiny belts.” He spat the word out like a bitter taste. “Trinkets they think that will ward off evil.”

  “Oh, that’s what was on his waist.” She suddenly remembered the reflective objects Faolon had had jangling around his waist that day on the mountain trail.

  Antares flexed his claws. “Bits of metal and cloth won’t protect them.”

  She was surprised at how upset he sounded since he had been trying his best to avoid everyone.

  He continued to grumble about it. “These humans are pathetic. Their warriors should be scouting along with the wolves, ready for an attack, and everyone else should be retreating to the mountains. They’ll all be destroyed when these molochs reach the village. There are too many this time. Even the wolves won’t be powerful enough. Fools.”

  Then she saw why he was so upset. Antares’ whiskers twitched at the barrel, then he leapt at it with a ferocious roar, enwrapping it with his huge paws. There was a high-pitched squeal of delight from within, and two tiny hands reached up towards his sparking whiskers. He batted the barrel over gently, and with hysterical giggling little Mia crawled out of her hiding place.

  “So,” said Lula. “He likes his children pickled first?” She flew up and hovered around Shawna.

  They watched Mia climb all over Antares and go rolling head over feet every time he swatted her, more for her amusement than his it seemed. Antares yowled when Mia pulled on his whiskers, then he picked her up in his mouth by her grubby little dress, and trotted towards the calls of her mother. Her mother, Parla, had eventually come to like the big static fur-ball as much as her daughter did.

  “You got a new dress!” said Shawna, admiring Lula’s orange-pink petal attire.

  “You like it?” She twirled around in mid air, showing it off. “They’re Sunset Kisses. They open at sunset to kiss the sky with their colors.”

  Shawna suddenly wished she had something more lovely to wear than her dirty old clothes and silly pink boots she’d been wearing since Capella’s hovel. Maybe Orin would notice her more if she didn’t look like a shabby nest of weeds.

  Lula noticed the downcast look at her torn and stained clothes. “Come with me,” she said.

  Before Shawna could answer, Lula zipped away in a cloud of gold, making a confused Shawna dash after her glittering trail.