The Lonely Star -- Chapter 4

[mark12_30]

The evening of the rescue was supposed to be a normal evening, but with Esta gone, starting a game of Candlestones would be no easy task.
Before dinner Phura gathered his command team, what was left of it; he was joined by Loremaster and the elders, and "We need a game of Candlestones to finish the planned preparations," Phura warned. "Gamba can't do it. I don't think Azraph will play. But we still need a game, or there'll be nothing to distract the guards. The raids on the tool storage areas and the beginning of the main assault won't be made any easier by the lack of a game."

Corby frowned. "I'll miss Esta, terribly, " he said. "We all will."

"Believe me, I know, " Phura replied through sudden tears. "It will be hard for all of us, but we've got to somehow make it look like we've gotten used to people disappearing, and we're determined not to let it stop our lives. And we can't. She would want us to go on, to do everything just as planned. We can't let her down by not doing it."

Corby nodded, and looking up, caught the gaze of Mika and Kima, and sent to talk to them. Word spread slowly through dinner, and as the meal progressed, a grim determination weighed down the main cavern.

Gamba sat down with Phura briefly and said little, staring at his bread crust. He left it uneaten, and looked haggard and exhausted. Then he slipped into the study and spent the hours after dinner quietly watching the children. Tuka did not come to visit.

Phura watched Gamba from where he was sitting, and suddenly he realised he had a large problem; who would be willing to take Esta's job and light the candles?

He made his way to where Azra, Nitir, and Azraph were sitting, and spoke with Azra. She frowned. "Won't people resent me?"

"Perhaps, " Phura replied, honestly. "But this whole thing will be over one way or the other, after tonight. And if somebody resents what you did for all of us, then I'll deal with it later-- if we all live through this."

Put like that, Azra could hardly refuse. "What do I do?"

"When someone extinguishes a candle, you light it again. Stay out of the way of flying rocks. And when a champion is named at the end of the night, they might want a kiss from you."

"That doesn't sound too bad, " Azra replied cheerfully, and Phura had to laugh.

The game commenced, slightly subdued, after dinner. The guards gathered, some with a trace of sadness, but others shouting and betting as enthusiastically as ever. Some guards clamored for Gamba to appear, but several disagreed, saying, "Have pity on the boy." Azraph was also missed, but she stayed in the study with Gamba as he watched the children. He sat as numbly and as still as if he hardly heard the game at all.