Again, WHAT’ Zara’s mind was in shambles. She just sent the souls of not one, not two, but six men to their Homes with the Stars, and this boy was joking with her? He looked at her confused as if he expected her to understand the joke he just made and laugh. Who was this boy?

“What are you called?” Zara clarified. She was getting angry at how he was talking to her, joking at a place of death.

He thought for a moment “I don’t call myself. Others call me.” He replied matter-of-factly

All right. He is crazy. Or he is messing with me. Zara thought.

“Don’t joke with…” she started to say when the boy interrupted her.

“I answered two of your questions. Now you answer two of mine.” He said.

How old is he? Is he playing a game? He is obviously not from around here. But everyone on the Wing knew that turning a body up was common curtesy to the dead.

“Umm…” she started “I was turning the men so their souls could find their place with the Stars.” She explained.

He gave her a confused look then his expression changed to one of understanding.

“I freed the men.” He said “So they would have found their way to where ever they wanted to go. No need for you to play with their shells.”

What in the names of all the Stars was he saying?

“So what were the other words mean? I am still learning, but I never heard those words before.”

Zara bit back a retort. This boy was obviously crazy. And when she looked to his waist he was armed. An unadorned sword hilt and scabbard adorned his waist. Crazy people with weapons were dangerous.

“Those were Star names.” She answered, than quickly added “How do you not know this? The whole Wing worships the Stars in one way or another.”

The boy cocked his head again, this time to the other side, then answered. “I come from the Wing over the spine. I do not bind myself to things like stars.”

Well he wasn’t crazy. Zara thought. Even the crazies know that there is no land beyond the Dragon spine. So he must be lying. But why lie to her? And why so lie so obviously?

She decided to find out. How she found the courage to question someone with a sword and herself standing within striking distance, she did not know. Maybe she felt disrespected by this boy who would so blatantly lie to her face.

“There is no land beyond the Spine.” She said, anger rising, “Do not lie. What are you doing here?” she took a step towards him. Some basic instinct to try and intimidate the shorter boy into taking her seriously.

“I do not lie.” He said. He looked offended. “Lies forge strong chains that are difficult to break.” His face said he returned to his neutral curious demeanour. “I found that I could not learn anything new from where I come from so I travelled here to help me be free.”

“Free from what? You seem pretty free to me.”

“That’s because you are not free. If you were you’d see how free I am, and how much more free I could be.”

“I am free!” Zara was furious again. She didn’t dupe a whole castle and its guard for some pipsqueak to tell her she wasn’t a free woman. She stepped towards the little irritant, but then she remembered his sword.

For his part the boy didn’t react. In fact he looked at her with pity in his eyes. And not just any common pity, the kind of pity the Acolytes of the temple would give her when she forgot the Star names they thought her. He looked her up and down once.

“Running away from something doesn’t mean you are free of it. It just changed the nature of its chain on you.” He said in a soft reassuring tone, almost like a father trying to console his daughter.

No. Zara thought. No! She was a prisoner for too long. She escaped Him, He had no power over her, He could not harm her. She was free of Him! She. Is. FREE! Her hand moved before she realised, and when she did it was half way from her side and to the boy’s face. She pushed harder, she would teach this little prick his lesson.

She didn’t even brush his nose. The boy moved his head back just as she was sure he didn’t even notice her swing at him. The momentum of her fist spun her around, the shame of such a colossal whiff fuelled her anger to new heights. She was steadying herself and going for another attempt at his patronizing face when the grizzly scene that started this whole day filed her vision again, and something clicked in her mind. All the rage left her, so did her breath and blood. They were hunting a poacher, they were killed, not by claw or fang, but by a blade.

She slowly turned back. Absolute fear filled her. She knew what the boy was going to do. Zara made him angry, and He showed her what happens to her for small slights against His ego. Two years of abuse and experience thought her body how to act to save her life. Even if her own pride broke and crumbled every time. This was a new for her, though. She never attacked Him.

She was ready to fall to her knees. To beg and grovel and even go further for her life. In those few moments it took for her to turn towards a killer of six men, her own mind left her body. She could see herself turning towards the blade that would come and cut her down any fear filled breath now. It didn’t come. He looked like a child that came up with a new game to play. He was beaming at her.

“I know what I will do! I will teach you how to Walk Freely like my master thought me, and I will learn from your path so that I may reach the ultimate freedom my master could not. This is perfect.” The boy said.