The Wayward Astronomer: Chapter 12

[Chapter 12]

Marcus led Hal out of his stateroom and into the dimly lit halls of the church. They slowly weaved their way through corridors and down staircases, heading seemingly deeper into the labyrinth that served as Marcus' new home. Hal's energy was spent, and he leaned heavily on his cane with each step, his head sagging with fatigue. His eyes, however, remained alert as they walked and he did his best to mentally map the route.

Marcus walked calmly and patiently, leading Hal by half a step. His footsteps carried little weight, and only the light taps of his own cane marked the time and distance spent. Those sharp yellow irises glanced sidelong at Hal. “It's fortunate that you are here, brother.” Marcus' voice broke the cadence. “I've been in a difficult position ever since Vanir brought Miri back with her.”

“What, is she too much for you to handle?” Hal half-smirked, but his dry wit lacked the normal keenness hidden behind the words.

Marcus sighed. “I can't trust her, Hal. She's an unwilling accomplice who already knows far too much about my operations.” The eyes angled away again. “If she got out... she could interfere greatly with the plans I've been working for years to lay down.”

“So she's a prisoner.” It wasn't a question.

“For now...” Marcus turned the corner and led Hal down another staircase. “In truth, I would have preferred that Vanir had shot her, and brought you to me instead. Things would have been simpler.”

Hal grunted in displeasure. His tail bared the slightest flash of its fangs. “You don't seem to have a problem with violence. Why didn't you just kill her if she's too much trouble?”

Marcus stopped at the base of the stairs and turned towards Hal, blocking his path. “Because, Hal, I'm not some lunatic murderer. Killing is a very final and decisive choice, and as defiant as she is, she is still useful in certain ways.” He stared directly into Hal's eyes for a few heartbeats before leading him onward. “I need you to convince her to join our side.”

“Our side?” Hal snorted. “I'm not on anyone's side, Marcus. I just want to be free to go on my way and live my own life.”

“That's precisely the problem, Hal.” Marcus gestured with his free hand towards the air. “In this world we live in, we don't actually have the freedom to live as we choose. To embrace the powers that make us who we are. Until that changes, none of us will ever be free.”

“I'm not a revolutionary, Marcus, or a politician." Hal shook his head. "I don't want to be involved.”

Marcus' voice dropped a few notes. “We often don't have a choice when we discover who we must be.”

The gravity of those words sustained a silence between them that continued until they reached their destination. They were now somewhere in the basement of the church, and in front of a plain looking door another robed man seemed to be standing guard. “Here we are.” The guard seemed about to speak up, but Marcus silenced him with one hand. “You can stay the night here; This is Miri's room. In the morning we can talk more about where to go from here.”

Hal swallowed, a sudden dryness settling over his mouth. Anxiety seemed to tighten every tendon in his body. “Am I a prisoner now, too?”

“You're my brother, and our guest. I'll make sure my people know this.” Marcus glanced over at the guard for a moment. “But I need you to stay here for now, until we can work things out. There are a lot of things we need to discuss... once we're all rested and ready.”

Marcus nodded towards Hal's holstered weapon.  “To prove to you that I'm willing to start things over, I'll allow you to keep your springer. As long as you don't start shooting, my men will do the same. Causing trouble isn't in anyone's best interest right now, and you won't get far if you try.”

Hal frowned, but nodded his understanding. The events of the past few hours had been so overwhelming, he didn't have the will to debate Marcus over his odds of survival. “I'll... see you in the morning then.”

Marcus nodded and reached for the door handle. One taloned hand curled around the polished metal, and with a gentle sigh the door pulled open and Hal was ushered in.

“Damn it, can't you people ever kn-OH!!!

And there she was, dressed in the same style garb as the other Celestials, her last word halting suddenly with the sharp cry of pure astonishment. “HAL!!!!???”

A flood of emotion welled up with a sudden paralyzing rush, and Hal could barely manage a trembling smile. He tried to speak but all that emerged was a barking cough that quickly devolved into a sob. Miri nearly tackled him as she wrapped her arms around him, and they each stood there crying, heavily and freely, as they embraced.

The door shut behind them, dimming the room a shade as the two were left alone to cope with a reunion neither expected to be possible. For a few minutes there were no words, only the shared exchange of happiness, relief, and saline. Eventually, the flood subsided enough for Miri to speak, her voice half-muffled, buried in his shoulder. “Hal.... I can't believe you're still alive. I can't believe it...”

“Me either...” Hal inhaled deep shuddering breath. Just the subtle scent of her hair and the reminder of her voice triggered a flash of forgotten memories through his mind. Cold nights out among the wind and snow. A sky dripping with starlight. A gentle laugh and a wry smile.

She took a half step back and finally wiped the tears from her eyes, looking Hal over as if she doubted what she was seeing. “It is you, isn't it?” Miri coughed up a relieved laugh, still blinking away tears. “I thought you were dead....”

“Depending on what you believe... I was... for a while.” Hal nearly keeled over, his energy stores now completely expended by the outpouring of emotion. Miri helped catch him, and her face twisted into a worrisome frown as she absorbed some of his weight.

“Whoa.... are you ok? You look terrible.”

“I don't know...” Hal was helped to sit on the edge of the small bed, and Miri reached over to the end table and shook at the glo-orb sitting there. The jar of bioluminescent liquid became more energized by the sloshing, and it spilled a little more warm light into the cool room. Only then did Hal even have the chance to take notice of his surroundings.

The room was small but well furnished for a de facto prison cell. The floor, walls and ceiling were all the dark featureless shadows of cold stone. They sat on a comfortable but narrow bed nestled in one corner of the room. Along the opposite wall a handsome wooden desk sat stacked with assorted scrolls, paper, and books. The path between the two was joined by an elegant throw rug which offered a warm alternative to the heat-leeching earth. There were no windows, and the only way in or out was the single heavy door.

Miri watched Hal quietly as he seemed to catch his breath. She didn't say anything, but in her eyes he could sense the question that was waiting to be asked. She squeezed his hand that had been resting empty on one knee, a gentle encouragement to share his story. What happened? How did you survive? They were difficult questions to answer completely.

Hal seemed to understand the expectation of an answer to the unspoken questions. He took a deep breath. “The river carried me all the way to the southern edge of the Eridu delta. A farmer's family found me and pulled me from the water.” He shook his head slowly. “I was dead, Miri. I didn't have any heartbeat. I didn't dream. There was nothing...”

Miri's face was pulled into a concerned-looking frown as he continued. “But before they could bury me, my heartbeat returned.” Hal hesitated for only a breath. “One of the bullets shattered the meteor fragment I had in my pocket, and it embedded the shards in my chest. Now... now it's a part of me. It's merging with my body, and it is the only explanation for why I was able to come back.” He rubbed at the scars under his clothes. “I can feel it spread a little further as each day passes. It feels like it's lifting me up and yet killing me all at the same time.”

“No...” Miri's concerned stare had now become a look of devastation, as if she was realizing her greatest fear had come true. Tears once again started to well in the corners of her eyes. “No... this can't be happening... ”

“I'm sorry...”

Miri shook her head violently as if trying to deny reality. “No, Hal, you don't understand. The meteor is dangerous! It's powerful beyond anything we have seen before, and Marcus is obsessed with it! He's using it as a weapon and raising his own secret army. He's planning to start a war!” Miri half-sobbed, “And now you're telling me it's permanently embedded inside you? Does Marcus know!?”

Hal looked away. “Yeah...”

“Damn it, Hal!” She punched at his arm, sobbing in frustration. “Now he's going to try to use you in all of this madness! As if keeping me here was bad enough, now he has you too!” He felt her tears dampen  his side. “This is terrible...”

Hal wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face in his shoulder. “It's ok, Miri. I found you. We're going to get out of here.” He gave a gentle squeeze. “It's going to be ok.”

She pushed him back with a shove, disbelieving anger in her glare. “No, Hal! It's not 'going to be ok'!” She waved her arms in exasperation towards the remainder of the small room. “What did you think would happen when you came here? That we would be reunited, everyone would be happy, and then, what, we just walk out the front door?”

Hal was at a loss for words. What had briefly been a happy reunion was now spiraling down into a heated argument. Miri continued, wiping away tears. “This isn't some fairy tale, Hal! You're not the knight in shining armor, this isn't the tall tower, and I'm not your damsel in distress! We can't just ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after; This is real life! And we are in some really really deep shit right now!”

A dense sadness wrapped itself around Hal, resting heavily on top of the fatigue that already cloaked him. He didn't know what to do next. The day was completely overwhelming, and now the girl he swore to save was throwing reality back in his face.

“Oh, don't look at me like that Hal... it's breaking my heart.” Miri's anger faded, and all that remained was a shadowy silence that dimmed the air between the two of them. They both looked at the ground for a while, neither knowing what words to say. After some time, Miri's hand reached out to find his, and her voice was much softer. “Why didn't you tell me about Marcus? About your family? ...You know I would have listened to you...”

Hal grimaced. The memories flashed through his mind, and he blinked them away. “What do you want me to tell you, Miri? They're memories I've been trying to forget for a long time. It was the worst day of my entire life; I lost everything I thought I knew and loved.” Hal's head drooped lower. “It's not something I wanted to talk about.”

“But no one should have to hold onto that pain on their own. You can't possibly keep it bottled up forever...”

“Not easily....”

Miri gave him a sad looking half-smile and rested one hand on his shoulder. “You're as stubborn as ever... but... it's good to see you again.” She gave him a hug, which he manged to scrounge up enough energy to half-return.

“It's good to see you too, Miri.”

Miri pulled back, looking Hal over. He couldn't see himself, but Hal judged from her reaction that he was not the easiest sight to behold. “Spirits, Hal, you look tired.”

He managed a smirk. “Is it that obvious?”

“You could say that.” Miri sighed, and patted the bed with one hand. “Here, lay down. You should rest.”

Hal looked over the bed, judging its size. There was enough room for the two of them, but just barely, if they didn't mind sharing sharing body heat. “I can sleep on the floor. It's not a prob-”

“Hal.” Miri gave him that all-too-familiar 'you're an idiot' stare. “You look like you're about to die from exhaustion. Lie down before I force you to lay down.”

He snorted. For some reason he could never win the staring contests with Miri. “Alright...”

He kicked his feet up onto the bed and shuffled over to one side, easing his way down onto the pillow. The simple act of being horizontal flooded him with a sense of relief, and only then did he realize just how completely tiring the day had been. The cushions seemed to leech from him all the anxiety that had built up, and his eyelids closed without command.

Hal's mind was able to register the soft touch of a hand resting on his skull before the world started to melt away, and within seconds the world disappeared entirely as he settled into a deep, dream-filled sleep...

[End Chapter 12]