Starborn. Katie MacAlister

give Darius more credit than perhaps he deserves,” Hallow said judiciously. His own opinion of Darius was that the man was weak-minded, and weaker still of spirit, taking the easy path whenever it was presented to him rather than considering what was best for his fellow Starborn. He seemed to have little regard for anything but his own comfort, leaving the restructuring of Starborn society to individuals who weren’t equipped for such responsibilities.

      “Oh, I have no doubt that the man is an idiot,” Allegria said with a disgusted snort that delighted Hallow. “He wanted Deo and me killed, after all. Only someone lacking in even the most basic levels of common sense would want to eliminate the very people who saved his wretched hide.”

      The captain appeared in the road again, this time with his sword in hand, striding toward them with a purposeful look on his face. Penn, sensing that this time the captain had donned a corporeal form, stopped, and tossed his head in warning.

      “For the love of Bellias, you will not treat me as if I am a mere lackey, one who is unimportant in the functioning of Kelos and Genora!” The captain’s voice echoed off the broken buildings, stirring little swirls of the grey dust that covered everything around them. “You will heed me!”

      Hallow pulled his thoughts from the concerns that plagued him and turned his attention to the irate spirit. “What is it you want? I left you in charge—you can have no complaint that I have usurped your position by placing another spirit, perhaps one who doesn’t wave his sword in my horse’s face, in charge of Kelos.”

      “Ask the priest!” the captain said, crossing his arms despite the fact that he still held his sword. “She swore she would tell you after I allowed her access to the crypt so she could hone her skills, which naturally stirred up the Eidolon. I expect the thane will be speaking to you of her scurrilous actions.”

      Hallow raised an eyebrow at Allegria. “You went into the crypt to stir up the spirits?”

      She spoke a very un-priestly word under her breath, glared for a few seconds at the captain, then turned a smile on him. “Of course not.”

      “You didn’t go into the crypt?” he asked.

      “Well…yes, I did, but not to stir up the thane and his followers. In fact, the captain didn’t bother to tell me the ghosts down there were Eidolon. He just said that if I wanted more of a challenge than what his people provided, I could find seasoned warriors sleeping in the crypt. And since we’d talked about searching there—and decided against it, because Thorn said Exodius gave the crypt a wide berth, having no wish to deal with the powerful spirits who resided within.”

      She cleared her throat and cast another quick glare at the captain, whom Hallow couldn’t help but note was looking smug.

      “Since we talked about searching there, I thought I’d combine two tasks into one, and get in a little sword practice while also making sure that the moonstone wasn’t there.”

      The captain sniffed. “And after you woke up the thane’s entire contingent of soldiers and enraged them by attacking their king before their eyes, you escaped and swore you would relate to the Master our conversation.”

      Hallow went so far as to raise his other eyebrow at Allegria.

      “My heart, I assure you that you are more than proficient with both your swords and bow. Challenging the spirits who sleep beneath Kelos will only end with the thane and his people seeking to avenge themselves upon us.”

      “It wasn’t like that at all—oh, never mind. It doesn’t matter now that we’re leaving for Aryia.”

      Hallow sent up a little prayer to Bellias Starsong for more patience than he seemed to have of late.

      “The captain wants you to beg him for his help,” Allegria added with a little sniff of her own.

      “Does he, indeed,” Hallow said mildly, and turned his gaze back to the captain.

      “What is it you want?”

      “You need my aid,” the captain said, a stubborn set to his jaw.

      Hallow sighed to himself. He wished to be on his way. He had spent long months locating two of the three moonstones, and now that the time had come to act, he was anxious to be underway. “For what?”

      “That I cannot tell you until you seek my assistance.”

      “I think we should run him down,” Allegria told him. “He keeps saying things like that, and it’s extremely annoying. Or I could lop off his head. It’ll take him a good hour to recover enough energy to put it back on, and we should be a long way away from Kelos by then.”

      Hallow’s shoulders shook but he managed to stifle the laughter that he knew from experience would only enrage the captain.

      “I was addressing the Master, not you,” the spirit said with injured dignity.

      “Captain,” Hallow said with as much composure as he could muster, “your assistance in maintaining Kelos is vital—”

      “Not Kelos,” the captain interrupted. “I serve the Master, not just Kelos.”

      Hallow frowned at him, for once wishing that Thorn was present so he could ask him what it was the captain wanted.

      “As the Master, I appreciate your assistance, but we are hours later starting than I wish, and—”

      “It’s the stone, you insane arcanist!” the captain bellowed, waving his hands—including the one bearing the sword—around wildly. Penn tossed his head again, backing up a few steps. “I’m talking about the stone you seek! The third moonstone! You ask me for aid, and I will tell you how to locate the third moonstone.”

      “You know where it is?” Hallow asked in disbelief. “How?”

      “Exodius told me. He had no qualms asking me for my help.”

      Hallow turned his gaze to Allegria. She looked as astonished as he felt.

      “I had no idea that’s what he was yammering on about,” she told him. “He said something about a talisman, but nothing about the moonstone.”

      They both looked back at the captain. “Where is it?” Hallow asked.

      The captain stared back at them.

      Hallow sighed again, then handed Allegria the reins and climbed down from the cart before making a bow that his former master had told him would charm even the hardest heart. He said in a voice that belied his growing sense of frustration, “Please, captain, take pity on this poor Master, and lend me your aid in locating the third of the moonstones that Exodius hid.”

      The spirit smiled and reached inside his armor to pull out a small metal object. It was covered in strange runes and consisted of a gently curved narrow pipe strung on a hide thong. He offered the object to Hallow. “Find the one known as Quinn the Mad. He lives on the Cape of Despair, in the town of Aldmarsh.”

      “Does he have the stone?” Hallow asked, thinking that although Exodius hadn’t been the most mentally stable of individuals—all arcanists had a touch of madness about them—the old man wasn’t flat out crazy. Hallow doubted if he’d entrust anything so powerful as a moonstone to someone who wasn’t worthy of such an honor.

      “Find him. He is a traveler, one who has seen more battles than you can conceive of. He will guide you to what you seek,” the captain told him with cryptic finality.

      “That means he has the stone? Or does he know where it is?”

      The captain’s form shimmered as he returned to an incorporeal state. “Find him, and he will guide you to all you seek.”

      “What interesting runes it has,” Allegria said, taking the thong bearing the strange whistle from Hallow as he climbed into the cart again. She traced a finger along the delicate silver pipe. “I don’t know some of them, but this is a rune of clarity, and the one here is of understanding.”