Free The Star Plume by Kae Bell Page B

Certainly, she didn’t want to sit here during
a star storm.
    She nodded, took Zav's hand, and hopped up
onto Blaise, who leapt expertly off the star, heading for the
horizon’s dark edge.
    *******
    Blaise flew for a long time across the black
night sky. There were no stars out this far. Princess Cressida
could not see her hands in front of her but she could feel the wind
on her face and smell the sweet stardust carried on the celestial
currents.
    Suddenly, they turned a sharp corner in the
Star Plume and the sky was filled with rays of brilliant white
light flashing back and forth.
    “Whoa Blaise.” Wrangler Zav urged Blaise to a
stop a good distance from the gathered stars. “What do we have
here?” he asked.
    There were hundreds of stars gathered on the
edge of the dark sky, in bright clusters. More stars appeared,
shooting across the sky to the growing gathering.
    Princess Cressida had never seen so much
starlight. The stars were every size, massive bursts down to the
smallest points of light, and not only white starlight either but
all different shades of yellow, red and blue, glowing hot and
angry, gases swirling around them, mixing and forming.
    The combined brightness hurt her eyes.
    “When will they jump?” she asked. She thought
it sounded like a fun event to see from a distance, even if it was
illegal. The Senti were so restrictive lately.
    Tearing his gaze from the quickly growing
numbers, Wrangler Zav glanced back at her, his face dark with
fear.
    “Blaise was wrong. These stars aren’t
planning a jump. They’re getting ready for battle.”

Chapter Two
    Wrangler Zav steered Blaise behind a
long-dead dark star. From behind the cold craggy rock, they watched
the scene unfold.
    “A battle,” Princess Cressida whispered.
“Against whom? I don’t see anyone here but the stars. And us,” she
added, her face white with surprise. “They don’t want to fight with
us, do they?” She eyed their numbers and their sheer size. “I think
they would win.”
    Despite the uncertainty, Wrangler Zav
chuckled “No, not us, thank goodness. Don’t think a human has ever
won a battle with a star before, though probably not too many have
tried. No, I’m not sure why they’re gathering for. But I imagine
we’ll find out sooner than we’d like.” He scratched Blaise between
the ears. “Huh, Blaisy?”
    “How can you tell they’re here for battle?
They seem to be milling around randomly.” Princess Cressida watched
the gathered stars shift and twinkle, flying left and right in
front of her.
    “You can tell by the light. When stars are
happy, like when they star jump, the light above them is blue
tinged. But you see there,” he pointed at the swirling vapor cloud
above the gathered stars. Stray rocks and dust kicked up from the
stars, swirled in the gaseous mix. “The star halo is red. That’s a
battle color.”
    “I didn’t know stars battled.” She thought
longingly of her placid stars back home in the night sky over her
kingdom. She doubted her stars had ever battled or even could.
    “No, it’s rare. That’s why we need to sit
tight. For them to gather like this, it must be a serious threat.
Odd, as I’d not heard of coming trouble. But maybe…”
    “It seems like nothing could defeat this much
star power.” Princess Cressida interrupted him, confident in the
stars’ collective strength. She could not imagine a foe so
great.
    “Well, that’s the thing, I’m not rightly
sure. I’d heard rumblings and rumors at stops along the Star Plume,
but that’s all I thought it was. People make up stories when
they’re bored. But what I heard made no sense, because…” Wrangler
Zav stopped himself and looked into the night, then back at the
Princess. “Anyways, can’t do much but wait it out.”
    As more stars arrived in increasing numbers,
the starlight grew brighter, filling the sky with light in every
corner. Some stars left trails of dust and light that burned bright
roads across the night