A Star Has Fallen

When I came home and retired to my room, I instantly rubbed the emerald bracelet. Ignita's face appeared in the largest of emeralds.

"Well, what's that? A test?" she smiled.

"Not exactly. I was thinking if I could run away from here right now – I have the Babylon candle, after all."

"Oh, no, no, you'd better not. Lamia will search for you and find you, and life will only get worse. Wait until a star falls and the three of them get concerned with it, you'll be able to disappear without anyone noticing."

"Alright," I had to admit she was right.

Another two centuries passed. Though, they were easier to cope with – while biding my time and waiting for the star, I often called Ignita using the precious bracelet. We actually became good friends – as she had once remarked, I reminded her of Mom in her first, real youth. I was glad but I subconsciously feared to turn into present-day Mom in a thousand years or so. When I told Ignita about it, she laughed and assured me:

"Nonsense. You will not become Lamia's copy, at least because you don't need to hunt down stars."

So, two hundred years went away. And one day – or, better to say, in the middle of the night I was awoken by Mom knocking on the table and shouting:

"Mormo! Empusa! Illusia! Wake up! Now!"

"What is it?" my aunts yawned.

"A star has fallen," Mom announced triumphantly.

"Oh!" Mormo and Empusa jumped out of the bed. I followed them in a moment.

Mom was already making her way to the cupboard.

"Where are the Babylon candles?"

"Illusia used the last one, Lamia, two hundred years ago, and you were unable to find a fresh supply – do you not recall?" Mormo snapped angrily.

"Perhaps we can obtain another," Empusa suggested. Mom turned to her:

"Has your mind become as crippled as your face, Empusa?" she hissed. "You speaks as though such things are really available!"

They ignored me, as usual. That was fortunate, because my hand was trembling and clenching the candle I had in my pocket. I barely heard their conversation – they decided to go after the star on foot and drew lots to find out who would go. Mom won, naturally.

"Are you going to take Illusia with you?" Empusa asked. Her face expressed hope that they would be free from a burden like me for some time.

"Probably," Mom shrugged. "She can help me. Fortunately, we don't need to share our prize with her."

Oh no. I never want to kill anyone…

"Illusia, pack your bag, and we'll leave," Mom commanded.

"Yes," I curtsied and ran to my room. There I took a charcoal from the fireplace and wrote a message on the wall:

I am sorry, but I don't want to be a murderess. I'm leaving. I promise I will never harm you, and, as for the star, you know I don't need it at all.

I quickly thought about where I would like to go. I rubbed my emerald bracelet to consult Ignita, but instead of the witch's face in the largest emerald I saw a reflection of a gravestone.

I couldn't hold back my tears. The only friend I had in the world was dead – most certainly killed by some other magician… I had secretly hoped she'd allow me to live with her, but now I was alone in this world again.

For a while I considered going to the sky and becoming a star, but then I realized it would be ridiculous. I didn't know any of the stars, they wouldn't have considered me one of them. I'd have been alone up there, just like here.

After a while, I figured out I'd go to the fallen star and warn her about her planned fate. I sighed, put the candle into the fireplace and felt the familiar sensation of being swirled in a yellow tornado.

"The fallen star, the fallen star…" I murmured.

When the wind calmed down, I found myself sitting in a crater, with my hand covered in black wax. By my side I saw a young blond girl in a silvery dress, wearing a topaz necklace. She was staring at me, terrified.

"Hello, Miss Star," I said awkwardly.

"Yvaine," she corrected. "How do you now I'm a star?"

"I'm an enchantress," I told her. "I came here to warn you. There's a witch seeking you to cut out your heart and eat it."

Yvaine's face blanched.

"How can I escape?" she whispered.

"I'll try to protect you," I said. "Don't worry, I won't harm you. I'm immortal and forever young anyway, so I don't even need to eat your heart."

"What am I to do?" the star asked.

"Er… right now we must go as far as we can in the west direction. The witch lives a hundred miles to the east, and she doesn't have a Babylon candle. On our way we might figure out how to get you back to the sky or hide you safely."

"The only way to get me back is to get a Babylon candle ourselves," Yvaine said sadly. "But maybe there are some kind wizards on Earth who will hide me. By the way, Miss…"

"Illusia."

"Miss Illusia, can you find me a shelter?"

"No," I shook my head. "The witch that's searching for you happens to be my mother, and the only shelter I have is my house, which is her house."

Yvaine was going to say something, when, suddenly, a yellow sphere flew to us from the sky. I recognized it: it was the light of a Babylon candle. When it faded, we saw a startled boy of no more than eighteen years of age.

"Mother?" he asked, confused.

"What? I'm not your mother!" Yvaine and I said in unison. His eyes widened with shock, until realization dawned upon him and he whispered something like that:

"Oh… light the candle and think of me… I was, I was thinking of my mom… but then Victoria and the star just popped in…"

He looked at us.

"Uh… excuse me, this may sound silly, but has any of you seen a fallen star?"

"What do you need one for?" I inquired suspiciously.

"I'm going to bring it to England, as a birthday gift to Victoria, my true love," the boy announced proudly. Yvaine was enraged. She wanted to say something, but I stopped her and spoke:

"This girl, Yvaine, is the star. But you can't bring her to England. If she crosses the Wall between Stormhold and England, she'll become just a lump of metallic rock."

"But Victoria…" the boy muttered.

"I doubt she'll marry you if you tell her that you have killed a perfectly innocent helpless person," I said. The boy was lost. I pitied him: I've read many fairytale about love. Finally, I came up with a solution:

"Why don't you take, for example, a lock of Yvaine's hair? Or even better – the stone from her necklace? It is whitish and sparkling – just like a tiny star."

"An excellent idea! Thank you so much!" he clapped. Yvaine took off her necklace, and I used my knife (I had to carry one to assist Mormo with her vivisection) to pull the stone out of it. The boy took it:

"Thanks again. Do you have a light…"

He suddenly stopped and stared at the gem. I rushed to him to see what had fascinated him.

The gem grew scarlet in his hand.

"Was it your necklace, Yvaine?" I asked.

"No, in fact, it came from Earth and knocked me out of the sky!"

"Then the stone must be the Royal Stone of Stormhold!" I exclaimed. "But it turns red only when held by a man from Stormhold's royal family!"

"Stuff and nonsense!" the boy cried. "My name's only Tristan Thorn, I'm a son of Dunstan Thorn, an English farmer, and a florist girl from the market town in Stormhold. I'm not connected with any royalty."

He handed the stone back to Yvaine, and it whitened again.

"But a red stone isn't like a star at all, so what can I do now?"

I thought for a while again:

"Oh, Tristan, why don't you take me to your Victoria? I have some star's blood in my veins, but I was born an earthling, so I can cross the Wall."

"If you don't mind, then yes," Tristan's face lit up.

"Let's do it this way. We'll use the Babylon candle to get to the gap in the Wall. Yvaine needs protection, so we'll leave her there – there's a constant guard at the gap, isn't there? You and I will go to your Victoria, but as I'm a living person, Victoria will probably let me go after only having a look at me. I'll return to Stormhold, and then I'll take care of Yvaine."

"Agreed," Tristan nodded. Yvaine reluctantly admitted that the plan was the best one possible so far.

We took each other's hands, and Tristan took his candle out. Suddenly, he saddened again.

"What's it?" Yvaine asked worriedly. "Nothing dangerous?"

"No, just… we don't have any fire here."