Broken Path, Starless Tail - 24. Chapter 24

“Okay, it’s fine. You’re fine.” He wasn’t fine. Beckett hadn’t realized how quickly he’d come to rely on the guides that had found him wandering down the path after he’d been sent without a fucking clue through that weird ass portal thing by his best friend’s cat. Or mostly all powerful galactic being thing. Whatever he was.

He’d gone from wilderness to a city after days, possibly weeks of travel as everything blurred together. Beckett was exhausted and despite everyone’s assurance that he’d somehow just know what to do when he needed to do it, he didn’t have a fucking clue.

And now he was alone. The idea made him want to vomit, and Beckett cast another panicked look around the street like he’d somehow missed his giant dragon.

But no, everything was still silent and still and there was no one but him. How could no one have seen or heard the attack or Valrinda crash through the wall and come to investigate? Something fucking weird—or magical, which was the same thing—had to be going on.

And here he was, just standing in the street like a sacrificial lamb. “Dumbass,” he muttered. Stretching up, he grabbed the lower lamp off the hook on the street pole and hurried back inside the barn. At least in here, there were signs that the animals saw and heard the shit go down. The beasts in the stalls near them were antsy, stamping and calling out.

Beckett carefully set the lamp down so it wouldn’t tip over and start a fire. He hurried into the rest of his clothes and thrust his arms into his jacket, shivering once he realized how cold he’d gotten standing outside in just his thin shirt. Stamping his feet into his boots, he wiggled his toes.

Dressed with his pack and coin pouch, he picked up the lamp and then foundered… what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t leave to find Valrinda because he needed to find the star.

But he had no idea where the star was.

The wisps.

They’d disappeared and wouldn’t come close because Valrinda was pissed at them, but maybe he convince them to help now. Valrinda had said they were close. Maybe he could find them.

Beckett was cold, tired, and hungry from wandering the city without any luck. It had been at least an hour, and he was out of ideas. And completely lost. He’d tried to stay away from places that looked too sketchy, with dark alleys and run down buildings with cracked windows or frayed awnings, both for his own safety and sure that beings drawn to shiny objects wouldn’t go there either. At least it’d gotten light enough that he could put the lamp back on an empty hook and didn’t have to fear attack from a dark corner quite so much.

Spying what looked like a café with benches out front, he slumped down in front. Slipping a hand into the pouch out at his belt, he grabbed one of the crescents. He needed to get something to eat and drink, and he could see someone or something inside bustling around. He sighed, rubbing his forehead, then fisted the coin.

“Beckett?”

“We found you.”

“The shiny was hidden, but then we saw.”

Beckett jolted and opened his eyes, almost falling off his bench. He was glad he’d put his back to the wall of the building next to the inn or tavern he’d sat down at, or he would have been dumped down in the dirt with no way to get clean. The wisps were talking over each other, finishing each other’s sentences almost before another stopped speaking, but he’d gotten used to that while they traveled together. He waited for them to stop, then started asking his own questions.

“Where were you?”

“The black one was angry.”

“He would eat us.”

“Gobble us up!”

“He would not,” Beckett protested. At least, he was pretty sure that Valrinda wouldn’t have done that. He’d been angry, but angry enough to eat thinking, speaking creatures? No… he wasn’t like that. “Something attacked us last night, and now Valrinda is missing. I need you to help me find him.”

“Not the star?”

“It is shiny. Bright!”

“So bright it glows in the night.”

Wait, had they already found the star? “You know where it is?”

The wisps all crowded around him, pressing together. “We did, we did!” For once they spoke together.

“Shh!” he hushed them. Beckett looked around, but while the city was waking up and there were people starting to move around no one seemed to be paying attention to them despite the wisps acting crazy. Maybe it wasn’t crazy for them. “Where?”

“A keep, full of shiny things, locked up tight.” The wisps pointed behind him. “That way.”

“Shiny magic locks up the shiny things.”

Beckett groaned. “Fuck.” Of course whoever took the star had magic. It was a star, after all. How’d someone take and keep a star without magic? He should have anticipated that the star would be protected from being taken back by magical means too.

“We need Val,” he said. He had no idea how to counter magic. He’d probably need magic of his own, and he had no idea where to get it. “Can you find those chains that you gave him?”

“Hmm, perhaps.”

“Not shiny, but they were ours.”

“Still have traces, so we might,”

“Find him that way if we all focus.”

Them, focus? Damn, it really would be a challenge. “Where should we go? Do you have a place you were staying.”

“Yes, come, come.”

Before the innkeeper could even open the doors, Beckett was already on his feet and off again, no chance to buy anything to eat or drink. He sighed, but there’d be time for that later. Now that there was hope to find Valrinda, that was his whole focus.