Pilgrim by Sara Douglas

dignity.‖

Caelum shuddered with emotion. ―You said…you said in the forest, when last we parted,

that when you came back through the Star Gate all enchantments fell from your eyes.‖

Drago nodded.

―Then how is it, brother, that you can stand there and weep for me?‖ Caelum‘s voice

broke, and he had to pause to regain control of it, and of himself. ―How is it that you can stand

there and weep for me, when you know how foul I am?‖

―Caelum—‖

―How can you weep for me, when I did RiverStar to death?‖

There was utter silence and stillness in the chamber. Here, finally, surrounded by the cold

damp stone, the weight of the mountain upon them and Tencendor disintegrating outside, they

dared to speak and confront RiverStar‘s death.

And remember.

RiverStar turned, and hungered.

“I thought you would not come tonight.”

“I could not help myself,” Caelum said. “I needed you.”

She was on him then, her body tight against his, her hands daring, arousing. “Take me,”

she whispered hoarsely. “I demand it.”

He half-pushed her away. “You are in no position to demand anything.”

Her lip curled, hate and lust rippling across her face in equal amounts. “And are you ,

brother? How would Tencendor react, do you think, to know that their StarSon spent each night

deep inside his sister‘s body?”

“You foul-mouthed—”

“Oh!” she laughed, pushing back against him. “I can be much fouler than that, Caelum.

As well you know. Do you think Tencendor would be interested in knowing just how foul? Do you think Tencendor would like to know just what you do to my body, Caelum? How you use it? How

you scream and pant and sweat with every thrust?”

Now she had lifted one leg and wrapped it about his hip, lifting herself up slightly, and

rubbing herself against his groin.

“Do you think,” she whispered, her own lust now threatening to overwhelm her, “that

Tencendor would like to know how much of yourself you expend within your sister‘s body?”

“Bitch!” Caelum spat, and he shoved her against the table behind her, ignoring her

sudden cry of pain—and excitement—as the edge dug into her back. He slammed her along its

surface, one hand tangled in her hair, one hand fumbling with her clothes and then his, and then

he grunted and buried himself within her.

She laughed, writhing around him. “Do you think, brother,” she whispered, her words

barely audible above both their panting, “that Tencendor would like to know just how pregnant

you have made me?”

He stopped, appalled, still buried deep within her. “You lie.”

She wriggled against him, rocking her hips, intent on her own satisfaction, even if he had

abandoned his. “Considering the amount of SunSoar seed you have planted in me, brother, I

would be amazed if I did not give birth to a battalion of your sons.”

Her movements intensified, and as Caelum continued to stare at her, she suddenly

shuddered, then jerked, and cried out with hoarse gratification.

“You lie…” Caelum said.

“You must marry me,” she whispered, her face running with sweat. “Or else I shall run

to our parents and say that you raped me.”

Caelum jerked himself away from her, fumbling as he rearranged his clothes.

“I shall tell our mother,” she sneered, continuing to lay on the table with her legs

spread-eagled, “amid my tears of mortification, that you forced my compliance with savage

threats. That you ignored my screams of pain as you—”

“No!”

“Then marry me, Caelum!” She raised herself on one elbow. “Marry me! Imagine the

power we would enjoy together! Imagine the power our son,” she splayed the fingers of one

hand across her belly, “will enjoy! Imagine—”

“No!” Caelum screamed, and sprang forward. As he moved, music sprang into life about

them. Music and power, and suddenly there was the gleam of steel in Caelum’s hand, and then it

vanished as he buried the kitchen knife to its hilt in her belly.

RiverStar shrieked, and writhed in an obscene parody of how she had writhed against

Caelum’s body.

“No,” Caelum said again, in a strangely flat voice, and he wrenched the knife out only to

sink it into her belly again, and again, and again. And then he turned his attention to her foul

breasts and then to her throat although RiverStar had ceased to cry out long before.

As Caelum lifted the knife for yet another blow, a hand grasped his shoulder and spun

him about.

“Are you mad , brother?”

Drago, his expression a mixture of fear and horror and anger. Behind Caelum

RiverStar’s body slid from the table to the floor with a sickening thud.

Caelum used his power to pull himself free from Drago’s grip, and he raised his knife as

if to attack his brother.

Then it suddenly stilled.

“No,” he murmured. “I have a better idea.”

Again music leapt into life about them, and Drago sank to his knees beside his sister’s

body, the knife magically, horribly, disappearing from Caelum’s hand and reappearing in his.

Enchantment flooded Drago’s mind, enchantment so powerful—and intrusive—he

gagged, then leaned over and retched.

A memory block. An enchantment so potent, and so different, that only a SunSoar with the

secret knowledge of how to manipulate the ring and the Star Dance could have wielded it.

A mind block, and a block that warped and rearranged Drago’s memory of his sister’s

death.

“And now,” Caelum said, waving his hand so that all blood about the room and on his

clothes disappeared, leaving the only murderous evidence clinging to Drago, “I must be off.”

He vanished.

And within heartbeats Isfrael and FreeFall had rushed into the room, only to halt in

disbelief, and stare at the treacherous, now murderous, Drago crouched over his sister’s body.

―Because of that, I will do as I must,‖ Caelum said very quietly. ―If you want me to

continue on in the pretence of StarSon, then I will. And I will rejoice in it.‖

Drago stared at his brother. Forty wasted years lay between them, forty years of lies and

denial. And yet were they a waste? Unbidden Drago remembered what Axis had hissed over his

cradle the first time he‘d seen his new son.

I will not welcome you into the House of Stars until you have learned both humility and

compassion.

Drago realised that if he had been born into the title of StarSon, with all the potential

power that entailed, then he would have been just another WolfStar, raging out of control.

The life wasted was not his, but Caelum‘s.

―Caelum…‖ Drago started, and was unable to finish. He had to turn aside slightly.

―Drago,‖ Caelum said. ―We must move on. Neither of us, nor Tencendor, has time for

regrets.‖

Drago nodded, composed himself, then looked down to the book. ―You will need this.‖

―Will you teach me how to use it?‖

―As much as I am able.‖

He stepped closer to Caelum, and opened the book. ―See these strange patterns? They are

the same as on my staff,‖ he indicated with a hand. ―They form a strange script, representing

music rather than words. This book contains Songs, Caelum, and I believe they are the Songs

that will aid in the destruction of Qeteb. I hope to all the Stars above that they are!‖

―But the Star Dance is dead.‖

―Caelum, I only know that this book will help. Here, feel it!‖ Drago passed the book into

Caelum‘s hands, and his brother‘s eyes widened with surprise. The book vibrated gently.

―Mayhap the Star Dance lives on in the book, Caelum. It was written by one of the

ancient Enemy, one of those who travelled on the craft, and he had many, many thousands of

years to absorb the Dance. The craft are powerful…and so is the book.‖

Caelum nodded. ―DragonStar,‖ he said, and this time his voice did choke with emotion.

―You are my brother.‖

―And you are mine,‖ Drago said. ―I love you, Caelum. I always have…I just had a cruel

way of showing it.‖

Caelum smiled slowly, then he put the book down and took his brother‘s shoulders in his

hands.

―This has been too long in the doing. Far too long,‖ he said, and he took a deep breath.

―Welcome, DragonStar StarSon, into the House of the Stars and into my heart. My name

is Caelum SunSoar, and I am your brother who loves you dearly. Sing well, and fly high, and…‖

Caelum hesitated slightly, ―may your heart and mind and soul soar with all the enchantment that

is your inheritance and your glory.‖

Without hesitation, and for the first time in his life, Caelum leaned forward and embraced

Drago. ―Welcome home, brother,‖ he whispered.

And for the first time in his life, Drago hugged his brother tight against him, and buried

his face in his shoulder, and wept.

48

Companionship and Respect

Outside the domed chamber people grouped in uncomfortable uncertainty, staring at the