A Wish Upon the Stars (Tales From Verania 4)

He couldn’t see me, but he watched the tree line for a long minute before turning back toward the people at the cliff’s edge. “Tell me. What did you hope to achieve? I’m told you infiltrated my ranks a week ago. What exactly were you looking for?”

“Kiss my ass!” the one to the rear cried. A woman. Younger, from the sound of it. “We’re not telling you anything.”

“Katya,” the other one growled. A man. “Shut your mouth and let me handle this.”

“Yes, Katya,” Caleb said, slightly mocking. “Let him handle this.”

“Let me at him!” Katya snapped, trying to get around the man. “Let’s see how smug he can be when I get my fingernails in his eyes.”

“Ooh,” I whispered. “I like her.”

Caleb laughed. “Amusing, little girl. To think you could ever touch me. You know who I am. Which means you know what I’m capable of.” He shook his head. “It’s a pity, really. You have such balls. I could have used someone like you.”

“I would never join you,” she snarled.

“No? You seem rather… firm in that decision.”

The man was struggling to hold her back and keep his sword up at the same time. “Let us go.”

“Or what?” Caleb asked, sounding curious.

“Or you’ll regret it,” the girl growled.

“And how do you figure that?”

“Katya,” the man said again. “Don’t—”

“He’ll come for us,” Katya said, defiant and angry. “I know it. Maybe not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but he will. And you’ll be sorry.”

Caleb blinked. “Him? Who are you—surely you don’t mean—” He threw his head back and laughed uproariously. The Darks at his side looked bemused, shifting on their feet like they didn’t understand what was going on.

Katya wasn’t having any of it. “Let me go, Brant! I’m going to stab him in the asshole.”

It was weird to have a straight crush o

n a lady. But I powered through it.

“So you’re the Resistance,” Caleb chuckled, wiping his eyes. “Oh my. Today… today is a good day.”

Resistance, I mouthed to myself. What were they resisting? The Darks? Dimitri hadn’t said anything about—

“Let me tell you something about him,” Caleb said, taking a step forward. Brant forced Katya to take an answering step back, her feet almost to the cliff’s edge. “You have placed him upon a pedestal that he does not deserve. I would know. He murdered my mother for doing nothing but wanting the truth to be shown to the world. He has abandoned you. He has left you to this life. The man you all think of as your savior is a ghost. Verania called out for help, and he turned his back on you. Not that I blame him.” Caleb shrugged. “You people shunned him. And then he left you all behind to suffer. Trust me. He’s not coming for you. No one is.”

“Sam of Wilds will come back,” Katya said defiantly. “And when he does, you’ll be sorry.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered into the grass. “She’s talking about me. I need to hug her so bad right now for at least fourteen minutes. Sweet molasses.”

When one stumbles upon people in peril accosted by repugnant villains and then hears one’s name said in reverence, one tends to get a pretty hard-core power boner. I knew that when I made my entrance, it was going to need to be epic, and I would have to have the best catchphrase the world had ever known. I wanted to make my superfans swoon.

“Sam of Wilds is no more,” Caleb said. “I tire of you both now. Whatever you’ve taken, we’ll just pick off your corpses. I’m thinking your sword will do just nicely. Jerome, would you please?”

One of the Dark wizards next to Caleb took a step forward. He raised his hands, fingers twitching, mouth moving with words I couldn’t hear. His brow furrowed a little as he muttered under his breath. I could feel the sharp ping of his magic gathering, and it was weak and sickly, but Brant’s sword still jerked from his hand, causing him to grunt in surprise. The sword flipped toward the Darks until Caleb caught it by the hilt.

“That was a gift,” Brant growled.

“Crudely made,” Caleb said, hefting its weight a little. “But strong. You have materials. Interesting. And unexpected. Your armor shows ingenuity. It certainly fooled the Darks for a little while.” He glared at Jerome.

“Um,” Jerome said, shifting from foot to foot. “Okay. I can explain.”