Bonus Content
Written September 18, 2016 by Jon Verrall
“They’re gone?”
Starlight Dove held her breath, listening to receding footsteps, and then let herself relax against the cool rock floor of the cave. She looked back at the crouched figure and answered her. “They’re gone.”
“Well done. You did the right thing.”
Starlight Dove’s response was caustic and uncharacteristically vulgar.
“Now, now. You probably saved their lives. Isn’t that what you’ve been trying to do all along?”
“You know there’s more to it than that.” Starlight Dove gritted her teeth, propping herself up to a sitting position, still feeling every one of her wounds. “But we’ve been arguing over this for a long time. I doubt we’ll come to an accord today, Velvet.”
Velvet clicked her tongue and gradually unloosened her drawn arrow. “No. You’re right. But I hope that, when this is all over, you’ll understand why I’ve done these things. For you.”
“Like shooting me?”
“I see you clutching Final Beat. You’d have done the same.”
Starlight Dove thought for a second and then nodded ruefully. “If it meant saving them.”
Velvet scoffed. “Save them, doom Creation? Never mind. Come on. I’ll tend to your wounds. Don’t draw on me, I won’t draw on you. A truce.”
Starlight Dove nodded, unstringing Final Beat. “A truce. I’d like that.”
“I thought you would, Mother. I thought you would.”