Disclaimer: I don't own anything it is all mostly from the movie!

Chapter Four

Alexandra lay asleep on the ground behind her while the star sat up, still attempting to remove the chain from her wrist. Thinking on it, she even tried to bite it off but to no avail. With a frustrated tug, the chain jerked Alexandra's hand that was holding the other end enough to wake her. Rousing from slumber, Alexandra glanced at the star before sighing. "Don't you ever sleep?"

"Not at night! It may have escaped your notice, genius, but that's wen stars have rather better things to do. They're coming out, shining, that sort of thing," the star replied in irritation.

Alex sat up further and looked at the star in slight annoyance herself. "Yeah, well, it may have escaped yours, but you're not in the sky anymore. Coming out is off the agenda."

"Well its too late for that, I came out long ago and seems you did to," the star mumbled under her breath.

Alex narrowed her eyes, "What was that?" When she didn't get an answer she surged on. "Shining has been suspended until further notice. Oh, and sleeping during the day is O-U-T. Unless you have some magical ability to sleep while you're walking."

"Have you not got it into your thick head yet? I'm not walking anywhere!" The star exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.

Alex furrowed her brow before standing up and gathering her coat she had been using as a pillow. "Fine! Sit in a crater. I've had enough of you anyway. I was gonna put you back in the sky once I'd brought you to my Victoria, but clearly, you'd rather sit on your own in the middle of nowhere forever."

The star rounded on her with narrowed eyes. "And just how were you planning to get me back to the sky?"

Alex smiled slyly and pulled out the Babylon candle. "I find the fastest way to travel is by candlelight."

The star's eyes widened as she stared at the object in Alex's hand. "You've got a Babylon candle!"

Alex nodded, "Yeah, I have a bubbling candle."

The star raised an eyebrow as she looked at her in amusement. "A Babylon candle."

Alex seemed to realize her mistake but was not about to show it to her. "That's what I said."

The star shook her head, "No, you said 'bubbling'!"

Ale choose to ignore this comment and continue on with what she was saying originally. "Anyway, I was going to give what's left of it to you."

Still believing that the girl before her was a bumbling idiot, she rolled her eyes. "Well that barely had one use left."

Alex rolled her own eyes, "So be grateful I'm not using it right now to get us both back to the wall. Unless you have a better way of getting yourself home."

Both of the girls stared each other down before finally the star sighed and broke their staring contest. "Fine! Help me up!" Instantly a smile came to Alex's face as she offered a hand to the girl on the ground. Once up, she set off allowing the star to follow behind her.

Looking back and realizing just how slow the star was walking, Alex bit her lip. "And you are gonna have to walk quicker than that. Otherwise, I'll never get you back to Victoria in a week."

The star simply glared at Alex as she walked on. "Don't push your luck."

A small cottage sat in a valley next to a small stream. The cottage was small, made of stone with a roof of hay and a small fence running around the outskirts of the house. Small path led from the house to a larger road that extended as far as one could see. A woman's voice broke through the serenity, scaring birds that were resting in the long dead tree outside the house. "Don't take less than a florin for him, Bernard! You understand?"

A young man with bright orange hair stood outside the house, tying a white goat up with a rope in order to lead it into town. The boy didn't even look up as he replied to the woman inside the house. "Yes, Mother."

"No dilly-dallying! And don't even think of stopping at the tavern, Bernard, or you'll be sorry!" The woman continued to yell as the boy continued to leash the white goat.

Once he had finished, the boy turned towards the road only to find a middle-aged blonde woman standing there looking at him with devilish green eyes. "A florin for your goat, boy."

Bernard looked down at the goat before glancing over at the black chariot that obviously belonged to the mysterious woman. "Oh. He's a bit small to pull your cart."

The blonde woman looked between the goat and the black chariot before smirking at Bernard. You're quite right." The woman raised her hand and pointed her index finger at the boy's forehead. A green flame shot out from the tip of her finger and hit him in the forehead. Instantly the boy began to shrink and morph until in his place stood a goat identical to that of the one he had been trying to sell except it was bright orange. The woman smiled evily at the duo, "That's much better."

Looking down at her arm, Lamia gasped noticing the age spots and wrinkles forming once more on her right hand. Her use of magic obviously taking its toll on the little amount of star energy she had left. Leaving that to worry about later, Lamia roped up the two goats in front of her chariot. Before long both goats were ready as she cracked a whip upon their backs causing them to take off at a fast trot away from the small cottage.

As soon as the chariot was out of view, Bernard's mom stuck her head out of the cottage in alarm. "Bernard! Bernard!" Giving up on finding her useless son, she returned inside without a care.

On the other side of Stormhold, Septimus took off along with some of his men on a group of black horses. Not too far behind was his brother Primus, driving a black chariot without any help whatsoever. The dead brothers slept on inside the carriage, all but Tertius sound asleep and snoring. All the while, Alexandra and the star were trekking across the land in order to reach the wall and show Victoria what the fallen star really was.

Soon Lamia's chariot happened across a familiar looking yellow carriage, one that had a familiar, orange haired hag sitting out front tending a fire with a dead rat roasting upon it. Jumping off the chariot, Lamia approached the hag who scrunched down farther on her seat as if to make herself look even more pitiful. "Who goes there? What do you want with me, a poor old flower…"

Lamia rolled her eyes and cut the hag off. "Oh, do shut up. I know what you are and I swear by the ordinances of the sisterhood to which we both belong that I mean you no harm this day. I wish to share your meal."

As she spoke, the hag straightened her back and got an impassive look on her face as she eyes Lamia carefully. "Well, one can never be too careful. Sit down. I'll get you a seat." With a snap of her fingers, a blue bird with a chain around its foot that was perched atop the skull of an old bull flew down, transforming into the very same woman who had captured Dunstan's attention all those years ago. The woman grabbed an old crate and set it down for Lamia to sit on. Turning towards the hag, the woman looked at her in disgust as she spoke. "Anything else?"

"Nope!" The hag called out as the woman turned and transformed back into the blue bird, once again perching herself up on the bull's skull. Now turning to her guest, the hag gestured with a stick towards the rat, pointing at each end as she spoke. "What's it to be? Heads or tails?"

Lamia smiled as she sat down, "Heads."

Once both women were eating a plate, the old hag struck up a conversation. "So, stranger, where are you headed off to on this fine day?"

With a smug smile Lamia began to explain. "I seek a fallen star. She fell not to far from here. And when I find her, I shall take my great knife and cut out her heart while she still lives. And the glory of our youth…shall be restored," as she neared the end of her monologue her voice started trailing off, immediately she looked down at her food.

Oblivious to her guest's suspicion, the hag gained a wistful look upon her face. "Fallen star? That's the best news I've had in ages. I could do with losing a few years meself. So whereabouts did you…"

Finally Lamia was able to tell exactly what had happened as she jumped up, throwing the plate down on the grass and glaring at the hag in disdain. "Limbus grass! You dare to steal truth from my lips by feeding me limbus grass? Do you have any idea what a big mistake you've made, Ditchwater Sal?" At this Lamia loomed over Ditchwater Sal with a furious look on her face.

"How do you know my…Who are you?" Ditchwater Sal said with an almost impassive look on her face, as if she were growing bored of the conversation.

Lamia snarled at her, "Look again." At this Lamia's face transformed, growing scales as her eyes turned a bright grin with black slits, her mouth curving down into a vicious snarl showing a row of sharp, jagged teeth.

Immediately Ditchwater Sal threw herself down on the ground onto her knees, her face falling into fear. "I shall not seek the star, Your Dark Majesty. I swear."

Lamia's face turned back to normal as she pointed her index finger at Ditchwater Sal and green flames shot out and wrapped around the old hag. "Seek all you wish. You shall not see the star, touch it, smell it, or hear it. You will not perceive her even if she stands before you. Pray you never meet me again, Ditchwater Sal." With that she turned on her heel and stalked back to her chariot, leaving Ditchwater Sal a heaping mess of sobs on the ground.