Starkeeper of the Fractured Crown

My heart had started racing again. So fast, I was sure it was about to implode. I wasn’t breathing, my mind had stopped. “I have to save my brother.” And I slipped into the crowd before he could grab me again.

Was I sure he was here? No. But that doubt was enough to fuel me.

Avoiding being run over by scrambling people was easier with the years of experience I had thieving. The only problem was there was no pattern in a crowd this size.

People were predictable until something like this happened. Their patterns changed. Before they would have gone right, now they were going left. Multiply that by a few hundred, and I kept running into people, kept getting shoved back, pushed around, hit.

It was horrible.

Everyone was trying to avoid those in white robes, but why white? And what were they doing to the people they captured?

I couldn’t stop long enough to study, I had only one goal and then I would leave.

“Mark!” I called, looking around frantically. There was a chance he could have gotten away. A chance Mom hadn’t even brought him. She hated crowds. It was theone thing we had in common.

But what if she had decided to come today? “Mark!”

A scream sounded to my right. A child’s scream.

I skidded to a stop, someone running into me at full speed causing me to land on the side of my ankle, flaring up the pain that had only just gotten a little better that morning.

I spun around, breathing through it.

Through the darting people, I saw her. A little girl, no older than six, screaming and sobbing.

Not Mark, but still an innocent kid. I couldn’t just leave her.

With a quick look towards the throng, a simple scan for a boy with wild hair, I started my way towards her, shoving and stumbling, no one caring about anyone else. “Hey,” I finally said, crouching down in front of her. “Hey, where are your parents?”

She sobbed, gasping, choking, unable to give me an answer.

I forced my breathing to calm as I pushed my hood back enough for her to see my eyes clearly. I wasn’t going to leave her, just as I hoped that if someone found Mark, they wouldn’t leave him. “Do you know of the shop two blocks down? Desiray’s Ice Cream Parlor? Ever heard of it?”

She sniffed, wiping under her nose, eyes flicking behind me.

“No,” I instructed, reaching out and gently turning her face back. “Don’t look at them, look at me.”

Her big blue eyes found mine again.

“Do you know of it?” I asked again, trying to keep myvoice light and gentle.

She gave me a nod, still whimpering, but calmed down enough to communicate.

“Good, that issogood. I’ll tell you a secret, okay? But you can’t tell anyone else, understand?”

She nodded, her interest growing.

“Desiray and I are friends. She helped me a long time ago, so I know that she’ll help you too. So, if you run straight there as fast as you can, not only will she keep you safe and help you find your parents, but she’ll give you a big ‘ole bowl of ice cream too.”

The little girl straightened. “Ice cream?”

I smiled and nodded. “Yeah. But you have to run there fast and don’t look back, not for anything. Tell her that Therian’s Thief sent you, okay? You’ll be safe.”

She sanded her hands together nervously. “I’m scared.”

I nodded, wiping away a stray tear. “I know, me too, but that’s okay. It’s okay to be scared. I’m gonna tell you what I always tell my brother, okay? I tell him that fear doesn’t have to make you weak. Fear can make yousostrong, you just have to flip that switch. So run as fast as you can. Just run and you’ll see your parents again before nightfall.” I prayed to the dead gods that it wasn’t an empty promise.

She watched me a moment longer before finally nodding, albeit hesitantly. “Okay.”