The Stargazer - chapter 7

upiter woke to a smouldering fire and a bed with no willow in it.1

“Bollacks!” He swore under his breath “Ragwort is gonna kill me if I lose her!” he started to desperately look through her clothes, and around the room when he noticed a strange, acidic smell…2

the smell became sharper, and he realised what it was, but by then , it was too late.3

Jupiter fell with a crash to the floor as the sleeping gas filled his lungs and the enchantment took over his body. “WOW!” willow exclaimed “how did you do that?!?” 4

The gremlin gave her a sidelong glance and replied “you’ll learn more advanced stuff when your brain can handle it” willow glared at him, and replied “may I remind you, mr gremlin, that I am your mistress, and so you have to treat me with respect”5

“Humph! I only give people respect if they’ve earnt it! Never before, and you haven’t earnt it yet!”6

“its not my fault that im not qualified!”7

“well, if you’d actually try to find your mother, then maybe you might have found out!”8

“that’s what im trying to do! But now I’ve lost my brother, and I’ve stolen horses and we have no money, and ive made friends with an ASSASIN gremlin! An assassin! this is such a mess. And its all MY fault!!!” she shouted, tears streaking down her face. The gremlin pattered over to where she was packing her things and pulling her clothes and boots on. “aww, come on, mistress! It can’t be that bad.” Willow glared at him and replied “well its just got worse with your arrival” she walked out the room and slammed the door behind her. The gremlins eyes glowed red, and Jupiter stirred-the gas was wearing off.9

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *10

Jupiter woke up with a splitting headache and sore back. Stupid, stupid Jupiter! He scolded and cursed himself under his breath. The first rule of the assassination-don’t fall for old tricks! And what had he just done!?11

He froze as quiet footsteps padded up the stair’s.  The door creaked open, and Jupiter pulled out his knife. Two green eyes appeared at the door, followed by a shock of [not very sly] red hair, which was braided  into war-style plaits. Willow smiled at him. “Hi” she whispered “thought I’d better come back for you”12

“Why?”13

“Well, you did save my life twice in one day, after all” she grinned and pulled him up. Jupiter looked at her suspiciously and let willow lead him out of the room.14

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *15

The gremlin waited for willow in the crisp night air, blowing red smoke out of his nostrils. It twisted around the moon and billowed out into thick clouds high above him. He watched lazily as it knotted itself into the shape of a horse, galloping with fire at its hooves and mane. He shifted his eyes once more, and it was gone, replaced by normal smoke. The reason for this sudden change, was that willow was walking, dragging Jupiter (who looked terrible, the gremlin thought with satisfaction) by his arm. “hurry up!” he hissed through his, very sharp, teeth. “sorry, he’s still a little groggy” willow through Jupiter up into the saddle of his horse, and herself mounted on Apollo (the black gelding). The gremlin kept a look out for people, whilst two bony wings slitted out of his back. Willow stared in wonder as he hovered, but she had come to expect many weird things in the last day or two. Jupiter didn’t trust the gremlin, she could see that, and she didn’t yet, she realised. And the gremlin obviously thought that Jupiter was a low-life, but what could she expect? After all, gremlins are renound for being mischievous, strange, but very loyal. And assassins are supposed to be cold-blooded murderers who hate and kill people they don’t know. And yet, willow thought, I must trust them both, for Jupiter has only saved my life so far, and the gremlin is my familiar-we will be together for life, and after. She shuddered at this thought, and Jupiter, thinking she was cold, handed her his cloak.16

They trudged on in silence, the gremlin leading the way. Suddenly, they caught sight of people---people with fire.17

“There he is!” an old woman screamed. “I saw him attack an innocent man!” the crowd lurched forward, and willow saw men and women screeching war-cry’s as they brandished their red-hot torches. She bit her tongue to suppress a scream as Jupiter leapt off spirit and sliced the air with an intricate sword, yelling in a strange and forbidden language.  The sword zinged as it whipped throught the air, and willow saw the gremlin shooting blue-red fire from…his eyes!18

She sat on Apollo as he danced on the spot and felt helpless. Suddenly, all her sword training came back to her in a flood of colour and melody. She drew Spellda and it sang the ancient song of the land. Willow leapt off of Apollo and charged furiously into the crowd which stared at her, surprised.19

* * * * * * * * *  * * * * * * 20

It was over in minutes. Jupiter groaned as he felt the dried blood on his head. Everything swam, and he found himself breathing in the reek of unclean conditions-vomit, and sewage. All around him, people were groaning with pain. The mottled sunlight poured in through the bars of the wagon. He was in a slave wagon. Oh yes, he remembered now with a sinking feeling. They had lost the battle, even with willow killing everything in sight like she was possessed. He looked around him and saw the miles upon miles of trudging horses-no more than skin stretched over thin bones really- pulling wagons laden with heaving people and squat goblins armed with whips. He looked again, this time for willow and the others, and realised, with panic that he couldn’t see her, or her familiar. He very slyly searched his various pockets and found with satisfaction that though these people had searched him, they had only taken his obvious weapons-his sword and dagger, and his bow and arrows. Jupiter twisted himself round and noticed they had ground to a halt at a waterhole. He took the chance, and, searching through all of his training, spoke to the horse:21

“hello”22

the horse showed no surprise, but only turned its head very slowly, and stared him in the eye.23

“hello. Who are you, and why are you the only human who understands my language?”24

Jupiter hesitated for a moment; surely, this horse wouldn’t even know what an assassin was, let alone care?...25

“um, if you must know, my name is Jupiter and I learnt to speak beast in my….. apprentiship”26

“you’re an assassin”27

ah, perhaps he was a bit brighter than Jupiter had thought…28

“yes”29

he went on30

“and your name is?”31

“Conslovian materian sletmee borage sammendo ferget flesier”32

“sorry?!”33

“don’t make me repeat myself”34

“that’s your name?!”35

“yes”36

“well, can I just call you… conslo?”37

“if you must”38

“um, ok.” This wasn’t going very smoothly.39

The horse lazily started to turn his head away, but Jupiter, seeing his chance slip away, shouted (mentally)40

“wait! I need your help!”41

Conslo looked no more interested, but looked at him squarly and said “go on, assassin”42

Jupiter licked his lips. What exactly was he going to ask him? He hadn’t thought of that…43

“where are we going?, please”44

Conslo sighed through his nose and said “well, we’re going to Xavien, but we have to go through Namesake to get there, so if you want to stage an escape, you’d best do it there”45

“How did you know?”46

“you’re an assassin. You all hate being stuck in small spaces. You all hate being controlled. And you can never sit still.”47

Jupiter was rather taken aback at this remark---it was all true, but how did a horse know so much about the assassination?48

“many assassins have asked my help before now.”49

“oh. do you know what happened to willow?”50

“willow…willow…the girl with the gremlin?”51

“yes! That’s willow. Do you know where she was taken?”52

but the horse was muttering to himself “fighting like a cat she was, had to pin her down with five men, if the rumours are true.”53

“um, Conslo…?”54

“what? Oh, yes. Of course, ill just ask around and see what they did with her”55

Conslo suddenly pricked his ears, blew fiercely through his nostrils, and screamed a high-pitched whinny. Several horses neighed back, and nodded their heads, twitching their ears.56

“Apollo said that she was sedated, but her gremlin couldn’t be kept under control, and they were both tied up in the chamber”57

“the chamber?”58

“ah, yes. The chamber is the most guarded wagon, and it has no windows or doors.”59

“no windows or doors?!”60

“you heard. It is the most guarded because people like assassins or murderors are stationed in there. Your friend will probably be hanged when we get to Xavier”61

“Why?! She hasn’t done anything wrong!”62

“yes she did, she was with an assassin”63

“so they know who I am?”64

panic suffocated Jupiter’s heart. How was he going to get willow out of here without being caught himself?65

“no. they haven’t found the assassin yet. They don’t know that you are it. Yet. But they think that she may be one, because she was with you.”66

Jupiter laughed grimly “so they don’t know that there has never been a female assassin in the whole 3000 years that they have been established?!”67

“Obviously not. But theres always a first in everything, wouldn’t you agree, my young assassin”68

Jupiter wondered what he meant for a moment, but all too soon they were being yanked forwards on the rickety road.69