THE DIAMOND STARS

THE DIAMOND STARS by Robert Zoltan, with audio by Timothy Menzel

 

A cool breeze caressed the stars of Plemora shimmering in night’s black blanket over the dreaming city of Merth. All but the most desperate revelers were tucked snugly in their beds. Only the most greed-driven merchants still blinked sleepy eyes to count coins and craft clever accounting. And only the most obsessed astrologers squinted at strangely aligned dates and calculated subtle configurations of planets and stars.

Even those two sometimes nocturnal adventurers, the slim poet swordsman Dareon Vin and his brawny Indari comrade known as Blue, would usually have been drowning in wine-sedated sleep inside their makeshift house at the top of Straight Street (the crookedest street in Merth) or performing plays of darkness with female bedmates. But on this night, their star-framed silhouettes—Dareon’s five and a half feet tall and Blue’s one foot taller—stood upon the flat roof of a three-story mansion in the Silver District, an area inhabited mostly by well-to-do merchants, if not by the richest nobles of the city.

“Bodyguards,” grunted Blue, sweeping his wild black mane back from his copper forehead. “I suppose there are worse jobs.”

“A multitude,” replied Dareon, tossing back his own dark hair. He gazed up at the stars. “And we aren’t guarding bodies, but diamonds. Although these diamonds do hang from the most beauteous swanlike neck of Lady LaCosta, whose body I have no objection to guarding. In fact, to her body, I have no objection at all.”

Dareon searched the sky for the constellation of The Countess with her own necklace of diamond lights, but she had already retired to her heavenly bed below the horizon.

“Have you ever noticed how much diamonds resemble stars?” asked Dareon, as if to himself. “Or is it the other way around?”

“Why does she think someone will steal her diamonds tonight?” asked Blue. “A thief could strike anytime.”

“Because someone people are unimaginatively calling the Diamond Thief has now snatched those earthly stars from at least five noble ladies, and someone with much more imagination noticed that the thefts each happened on the day of the moonless night. It seems this has been going on for months at least. Merth’s a big city with lots of diamonds, so no one noticed the pattern till now.”

Blue glanced at Dareon. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? You never tell me anything when you take these jobs.”

Dareon shrugged. “How would it help? All we have is a stupid name for the robber.”

“You mean to say, in all this time, no one has ever seen this thief or knows a thing about their methods? That’s—” The Indari stopped and turned his head away, as if looking or listening for something. A moment later, he turned back to his friend.

“Well,” said Dareon, “the Lady Arastolia is the only one who claims to have caught a glimpse, the briefest glimpse, of a tall slim shadow, caped, with only the hint of a face or mask. She swore that the perpetrator slipped through a closed window, and that its cape was, and I quote, ‘full of stars.’”

“What does that mean?” asked Blue.

“That she was still half asleep when she awoke from a starry dream, or that she was seeing visions born of one too many aperitifs before bedtime. Or both. See why I didn’t bother telling you? Don’t worry, you’ll know the thief when you see it.”

“How?” asked Blue.

“It will be stealing Lady LaCosta’s necklace.”

Blue growled. “It will be trying.”

Dareon surveyed the nearby starlit rooftops. They almost resembled the squares of a giant chessboard. A cool wind blew, fluttering the mantle of night, and it seemed that even the stars in their courses shivered. He almost expected to behold a giant androgynous figure with a cloak of stars rise above the parapet and step upon their game square. But he saw only the sterling stars undimmed by any lunar luster and a few lonely lamplights across the rooftops several blocks away.

A dog barked from an alleyway nearby. Then even the wind died and all became curiously still, as if Lady Night were holding her breath.

Dareon’s fox’s eyes scanned the darkness of space. The stars teemed in multitudes upon multitudes. Just above the parapet to his right they seemed thicker and closer than he had ever seen. Why, the air seemed almost choked with stars. Suddenly they seemed to move. He blinked and squinted. Now they were stationary again and less numerous. Forget aperitifs; he was drunk on too many stars!

Then he heard Blue shift quickly in the darkness.

“What is it?” whispered Dareon.

“Shh!” said Blue in response.

Dareon froze, allowing the Indari’s sharp senses to come into full play. His hand floated toward the handle of his rapier. For several breathless moments, he waited, watched, and listened. The light of the pristine stars revealed nothing more than before.

A woman’s scream came from the bedroom directly below them.

“Lady LaCosta!” exclaimed Dareon. Blue was already bounding toward the open doorway of the low tower behind them. Dareon followed. The two nearly flew down the stairs to the third floor bedroom. Blue whipped his longsword from its sheath with a hiss of sibilant steel and burst into Lady LaCosta’s chamber. Instead of drawing his rapier, Dareon instinctively thrust his hand into his pouch and pulled forth a small cloth sack that fit in his palm. Then he ducked into the room.

The wide-eyed Lady LaCosta was sitting up in her four-poster bed illuminated by the dim golden glow of a lamp on her bedside table. One of her slender hands held her blue silken covers over her comely breasts, and the other pointed toward the tall window on the other side of her bed.

Ever so faintly revealed by the glow of the lamp was a tall, slim, black ghost of a figure holding Lady LaCosta’s cherished diamond necklace. The thief wore something like a black cape glittering with diamonds, though to Dareon’s eyes it looked more as if a section of the night sky had been cut out and draped from the figure’s shoulders. The figure had spun toward them as they burst into the room. Its face was covered by an androgynous and expressionless theater mask—the right side silver, the left side gold.

The Diamond Thief turned sideways and seemed to shrink horizontally in an impossible manner, as if it were becoming a piece of black paper. It slid toward the closed window.

Blue shouted and ran forward with his sword. Dareon squeezed hard on the little sack in his hand to break its seal, and hurled it past Blue. The small missile left a faint glittering trail, like a shooting star, as it flew past the Indari. Just before the thief vanished from sight, the tiny sack impacted upon its body and exploded in a small cloud of glittering glowdust.

The Indari swung his sword at empty air. The Diamond Thief had vanished.

Dareon leapt past Blue, and unlatched and threw open the window. He stuck out his head and looked down. A phosphorescent glow gave the hint of an anthropomorphic outline that was swiftly descending the back of the mansion like a backwards-climbing spider.

“Come on!” shouted Dareon, running from the bedroom and down the stairs toward the mansion’s rear door with Blue hot on his heels.

They rushed out the door in time to see the silvery glow of a partial torso gliding down the alleyway.

“What did you throw at it?” asked Blue, as they launched in pursuit.

“Powdered scales of a Marinean Glowfish that I caught in the Succulent Sea.”

“Marinean Glowfish? I’ve never heard of it,” said Blue.

“You should go fishing more often,” said Dareon.

“I fish all the time,” replied Blue.

They soon found that the thief was easily as fast as they. It took to some stairs off of Gold Leaf Lane and crossed an arched walkway over the Street of the Seven Jewels. As they climbed up a trellis after the thief, Dareon felt the tickling of a shadowy memory, as if he were forgetting something important. They emerged onto a steepled rooftop in time to see the thief leap across to an adjoining flat-roofed building and disappear over the parapet on the far side.

“Follow it!” said Dareon. As Blue did, Dareon slid down a gutter that led to the street below in hopes of catching the thief in a pincer between him and Blue. He ran toward the cross street where the thief should have been descending. But when he reached the hard packed dirt street, he found it empty. Down to the left an alley branched off on the opposite side heading south, the direction he was facing. He now had his bearings. That would be Whisper Alley. The thief could have taken that, be hiding in one of many alcoves, or perhaps could climb so fast that it had already reached another roof. He heard a sound behind him, and turned to see Blue climbing down the out-jutting ornamentation on the side of the building.

“Did you see which way it went?” asked Dareon as Blue leapt to the ground.

“No,” said Blue. “As soon as I reached the edge of the roof and looked down, it was gone.”

Dareon frowned into the darkness and made no movement.

“We should split up,” said Blue. “I’ll go right.”

“Wait!” said Dareon.

Blue paused. “Why? We’re going to lose it if we haven’t already.”

“Shh…” said Dareon holding up a hand. Something had clicked in his mind and a door of remembrance had opened. “I know where it’s going.”

“Where?” asked Blue.

“To the Twilight Theater. Come on!” said Dareon. He jogged to the left and turned right when they reached Whisper Alley.

“How do you know?” asked Blue, jogging up next to him.

“Did you see it in Lady LaCosta’s bedroom?” asked Dareon.

“Well enough,” replied Blue.

“As did I. An expressionless theater mask, androgynous in appearance, one side silver, the other gold. Tall, slim, clothed in black from head to foot and wearing a glittering cape.”

“Yes,” said Blue. “And able to magically pass through a closed window like a ghost.”

“Exactly,” said Dareon. “The Phantom of the Twilight.”

“Phantom of the Twilight? I’ve never heard of it,” said Blue.

“You should attend the theater more often,” said Dareon.

“I hate the theater,” said Blue.

“Too bad, because that’s where we’re going. Our Diamond Thief exactly matches the descriptions of the phantom that people have seen in the Twilight Theater over the last ten years.”

“You’re saying they’re the same?” asked Blue.

“My gut tells me so,” said Dareon. “And that’s why it headed this way. We’ll emerge on Liar’s Court, and the Twilight Theater is only three blocks east.”

When they came to Liar’s Court, they turned left. A dark figure strode down the street in their direction. When it drew near, they could see it was a short stocky man with a wide-brimmed hat.

“Excuse me, sir,” said Dareon, raising a finger. The man barely spared Dareon a glance before proceeding at a faster pace down the street.

“So much for helping your neighbors,” said Dareon. “Of course, when it’s the dead of night and half your neighbors are thieves…”

“Dareon!” said Blue.

Dareon turned.

The Indari was crouched down, examining the cobblestones of the street.

“Something?” asked Dareon.

Blue brushed his fingers along the stones and stood. He held up his hand. Dareon could see the faintest traces of a phosphorescent powder.

“Looks like we’re going to the theater,” said Dareon. “Whatever’s playing this night, I hope it’s not a tragedy.”

They dashed down the street.

 

***

 

The Twilight Theater stood on the corner of Liar’s Court and Stargazer Lane, set apart from other buildings like a proud actor on center stage. It was a relic of an earlier, more romantic time. Built of carved wood trimmed in red, gold, and blue shades not discernable in the starlight, it was rectangular in shape with a gilded dome for a roof that had a round skylight open to the air, covered with canvas during inclement weather.

As Dareon and Blue circled the structure, an audience of carved wooden masks stared down at them from the beams and cornices with a plethora of emotions and expressions. They found a back entrance locked, and returned to the front double doors. Dareon saw no easy way to reach the roof, and realized he was without a rope and grappling hook, even if the skylight were open. Blue had seen no more traces of the Glowfish dust.

“I don’t know how it gained entrance, but I still think it’s in here,” said Dareon. “Perhaps we could find someone to unlock the doors, though it’s rather late in the—”

Blue stepped forward and kicked one of the doors with his booted heel. A snap was heard and the door swung limply inward.

“Or you could just kick the door down,” said Dareon. “You really do hate the theater.”

They drew their swords and stepped inside a dark foyer.

“Lead the way,” said Blue. “I’ve only been here once, when you forced me to come with you. I banished the memory of this place from my mind.”

Dareon paused and looked at Blue. “Oh come now, it wasn’t that bad. What did we see? I remember. It was The Sword of Denohvar.”

“Whatever it was, it made no sense,” said Blue.

“It made perfect sense,” said Dareon.

“To you, perhaps,” said Blue. “Real people don’t act that way.”

Dareon rolled his eyes. “They’re not supposed to act like real people. It’s a symbolic play.”

Blue snorted. “Why didn’t the hero just kill that bastard at the very start?”

“Because if he had killed him at the start, there would have been no play!”

“See? That would have been perfect,” replied Blue.

Dareon sighed and shook his head. “Come on.”

Even in the dark, Dareon could find his way through a curtain and into the wide short hallway leading to the main hall. He expected to have to navigate by starlight from the skylight, and was surprised to see a faint warm glow ahead.

“Someone’s here,” said Dareon. “Or they left the lights burning.”

They emerged from the hallway into an open space some fifty feet wide. The old wood smell brought back many happy memories for Dareon. He saw the two columns of dark rows of wooden benches where he had sometimes sat, lost in staged stories. Further forward on the left was the small pit for the musicians. Beyond was the stage with the closed red curtains that he had always seen fully lit. Now all that illuminated the performance and audience areas were two lamps hanging from sconces on either side of the stage. Over three stories above was the ceiling, crisscrossed with black beams, in the center of which was an open circle, where Dareon had sometimes gazed up at the stars or matinee sun when the play was slow or disappointing. On either side and behind him curved the audience balconies held up by pillars and railed with balustrades, from where Dareon had enjoyed performances, and sometimes, necked with girls in the top tier.

“Where could someone hide in here for ten years?” asked Blue, awakening Dareon from his brief reverie.

“If they’re a ghost that can walk through walls, anywhere I suppose.”

“Why would a ghost want to steal diamonds?” asked Blue.

“I don’t think we’re dealing with a ghost.”

“What then? A sorcerer?”

Dareon shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I think it’s something different than we have ever encountered.”

 “I agree,” said Blue. “It resembled a person, but something about it didn’t feel human. It had no scent in the bedchamber, but that might have been masked by Lady LaCosta’s perfumes.”

“We’ll find out once we snatch that mask from its face,” said Dareon. “Let’s check the dressing rooms first. That would be a sensible place to retire—if it needs to sleep, that is.”

“As with an animal, we need to find its lair,” said Blue.

They entered the first floor balcony section to their right and approached the empty stage in the shadow of the second balcony. The two lamps near the stage threw long vague shadows across the walls and floors. They scanned the balconies but saw no sign of movement. The main floor benches provided little place to hide.

When they reached the stage, Dareon directed Blue to take one of the lanterns. “Even with your Indari eyes, we wouldn’t be able to see in the pitch dark of the back rooms. Unless those are lighted as well.”

Blue grabbed the lantern. They leapt onto the stage and Dareon led the way to the center of the drawn red curtains. Dareon drew his rapier and parted the curtains. Blue shone the lamp in. They saw some hanging ropes and a painted backdrop of a landscape, half-raised. Dareon motioned Blue off the stage to the right. The offstage area led onto a corridor to their left.  They stalked down it and stopped before the first door on their right. A sign on the door marked it as the main dressing room. Dareon tried the knob. It turned. He pushed open the door and stepped in with his rapier raised. Blue strode in behind him.

The lamplight revealed chairs, a dresser with a mirror, a larger full-length mirror, a small bed, and several large wardrobe chests. They shined the lamp into every corner but could see no one in the room.

Dareon took the lantern from Blue. He held it near the first of several framed documents hanging on the walls.

“What are they?” asked Blue.

“Some of the theater’s historical records,” replied Dareon, easing his way along the wall.

“Are they relevant?” asked Blue, keeping an eye on the door.

“Might be. They’re fascinating, that’s for sure. The Phantom has waited ten years to be caught, so it can wait a few seconds more.”

Blue grunted.

“Here’s one of the first ever playbills from the theater,” said Dareon. “And here’s the original handwritten script of The Countess in Spite of Herself by Amarius Dolandar!”

Blue sighed with impatience.

Dareon passed several documents without comment and then stopped suddenly.

“Ah!”

“What is it?” asked Blue, turning.

Dareon read in silence for a few moments. “See for yourself. You can read the common Amerin script well enough.” He stepped aside and handed Blue the lantern. Blue read:

Dearest (though not MY) Dominia,

It is clear now that my love leaves you unmoved, as a wave crashes futilely upon a rocky shore. Passion does not end simply because it is unrequited. But the pain thus caused may twist that passion into a grotesque form. And so I leave you, while there is still the memory of love in me, with two gifts that will make you as eternal as your shining beauty and talent:

A mask of Silver and Gold for the Goddess of Drama (to hide true emotions), and a Cape of Diamonds (your greatest love) to enwrap you in Night’s Starry Embrace.

Remember me as you swim among the stars for all eternity.

Yours in Love and Anguish,

Draxilon

“What do you think of that?” asked Dareon.

Blue raised an eyebrow. “His gifts describe the garb of the Diamond Thief.”

“The garb of the Phantom of the Twilight,” said Dareon. “Note the date of the letter: the very night that Dominia Rabon, considered the greatest stage actress of Merth to ever live, disappeared from her dressing room without a trace. It says here that the letter was found on her dresser. And within a year, the first alleged sighting of the Phantom of the Twilight occurred.”

“Who is Draxilon?” asked Blue.

“He was an alchemist and magician who disappeared from Merth soon after Dominia. He was rather infamous for his obsession with glamorous women. And his reputation was of one not afraid to dabble in the darker arts. He was connected indirectly with several crimes, supposedly providing the perpetrators with dangerous devices or potions to enable their criminal acts. But nothing was ever proved. He was mad about Dominia. The story goes that she returned his affection for a time, but then grew fickle. She may have only been playing with him in order to receive her true love: diamonds. She once said, ‘Diamonds last longer and are far harder than any man.’”

Blue raised his brows.

“Yes,” said Dareon. “She was known for her provocative statements. And you see, Draxilon was her perfect admirer, for he was supposed to have developed an alchemical process for turning lesser stones into diamonds, though some say it was trickery and the diamonds were actually stolen.”

“What does it all mean?” asked Blue.

Dareon frowned. “I’m not sure. Whoever or whatever the Phantom is, it seems to be connected with Dominia and with these objects Draxilon gave her. Perhaps the Phantom is Dominia. Perhaps it is Draxilon or some entity he summoned. As I said before, we will find out the answer when we remove that mask.

“And there she is!” exclaimed Dareon, waving at the next frame, which held a painting of a bold-featured dark-haired woman whose charisma emanated even from the painting itself.

“A beautiful creature,” said Blue.

“Captured wonderfully by the brush of the incomparable Tantian.” Dareon frowned. “I hope she isn’t the Diamond Thief. But how could she be? She would be past middle-age by now.”

“The thief certainly didn’t move like an older woman,” said Blue.

“No. But magic can do strange things.” Dareon’s glance strayed over Blue’s shoulder. Framed for a split second in the darkness of the doorway was the gold and silver mask.

“Blue!” shouted Dareon.

Blue spun.

“To the right!” said Dareon, as he ran out the door with Blue following behind.

Dareon emerged from the room and dashed to the right. The corridor angled left, running parallel to and behind the stage. As Dareon and Blue turned the corner, they saw a glow of phosphorus and the glint of star-like silver points. The corridor turned to the left again. A short hallway continued forward on their left, and two stairways just to their right led up and down. A trail of glowing dust and stars went up the stairs. It paused at the top. They saw the gold and silver mask stare back at them like some emotionless dream-wraith. Then it was gone.

“The entrance!” said Dareon, pointing to the left corridor. Blue took that route in the direction of the main hall on the ground level. Dareon bounded up the stairs to the right after the thief, trusting to his instincts and dexterity in the darkness. He emerged onto the second floor balcony. The Diamond Thief was just ahead of him, making its way toward the front of the theater. Dareon gave chase. He could see Blue below running across the main hall seating area to block a possible escape through the front doors.

Then the Phantom slipped over the rail and dropped out of sight. Blue had stopped just short of the front exit from the main hall.

Dareon ran to the rail and leaned over. The Phantom was sliding down one of the support pillars. He was afraid that if it doubled back, it would reach the rear entrance before they could and be lost in the night. Without another thought, he dropped his rapier and hopped up onto the rail. He balanced for only a moment as the Phantom reached the floor. Then he tensed and sprang. He hurtled down toward it, feet first. Either the Phantom would break his landing or Dareon would break his legs.

Just below, Blue had deposited the lantern on a bench and moved to intercept the Phantom. The Indari looked up just in time to see Dareon spring like someone jumping into a lake. Dareon’s body made a subtle arc toward the Phantom. When Dareon was almost upon it, it spun around, as if alerted by some sixth sense. Just before Dareon collided with the Phantom, it threw its cape in front of it like a wing as if to shield itself. Dareon plunged straight into the cape and vanished.

“Dareon!” cried Blue.

The Diamond Thief turned and dashed toward the stage. Blue paused only to make sure that Dareon had not somehow ended up on the floor. When he saw no sign of his friend, he sprinted after the Phantom.

 

***

 

It took Dareon a moment to recover from the shock and disorientation of not impacting a body, a planked floor, or for that matter, anything at all. Once he was back to his senses, he was further shocked and disoriented to find himself turning in an extremely slow somersault, still in midair, but no longer in the theater. Not only was he no longer in the theater, he no longer seemed to be on the world of Plemora. In fact, neither his nor any other terrestrial globe was even in sight, but only an endless blue-black expanse in every direction filled with what seemed to be stars.

He instinctively waved his arms in an effort to right himself, though which way was right was impossible to tell. He felt the weight of his body only in relation to himself, as if he were the center of the universe. Of course, he had always suspected he was!

Though he had no leverage and nothing to push against, nonetheless his attempt succeeded and his turning slowed. This made no sense, but that was consistent with everything else about the situation.

He seemed to be breathing normal air and could feel the movements of his eyelids as they blinked. The temperature was neither hot nor cold. Now he could see his hands in the dim silver starlight that came from every direction. Was he in some magical world, transported through the Phantom’s cape? Or in the cape itself?

He waved his arms to turn his body in every direction. Nothing but stars. Or were they stars? He was not so sure. Perhaps they were diamonds reflecting some hidden light, and just perhaps, they were not as far away as they seemed. It was an odd thought, but it seemed to fit with the idea of the Diamond Thief, Draxilon’s alleged alchemical secret, and Dominia’s obsession. Was this where he would spend eternity? Or would he die from lack of food and water? Somehow, he doubted he would. Despite his bodily awareness, there was a strange sensation or apprehension of eternity in this place. Alone for eternity with nothing but diamond stars for company…

Even as he thought this, he noticed that one of the stars or diamonds or whatever they were seemed a bit more amorphous in shape and was oscillating or fluctuating in some way. And as he stared, it seemed to grow larger. No, it was drawing closer. He could have sworn he noticed a graceful undulation, and now, the definition of limbs. Human limbs! In a few more moments, he could make out a female form swimming toward him through this heavenly ether. A star swimmer!

He reached out his hand and measured her to be about the height of his thumbnail. It would not be long before she was close enough to touch him. A chill crept over his body. He wondered at first if this were a premonition of danger, but then he realized that the chill was physical and came from the direction of the swimmer. Several moments later, he reached his hand out to measure again. If she were standing upright, she would now be about the height of his thumb. He could see that she was wrapped tightly in a light dressing gown. Moreover, he could almost discern her features in the silver light, though it seemed the illumination should not be sufficient. He finally concluded that the radiance was coming from the figure itself, as if the woman had taken on the same nature as the lights. Then he noticed that it was the same with his own hands: the light he thought was shining upon him from the surrounding stars or diamonds was now shining from within himself, as if starlight were coursing through his veins and emanating from his skin.

Soon the woman was close enough that he could see her smiling with a wild excitement. And he himself felt a paradoxical combination of fear and arousal. But was that so odd when women were involved?

 The air grew colder at her approach. And now he knew that the chill he had felt was not just physical. An apprehension of deadly danger was growing in his heart, as if he were a ship being approached by an iceberg. His attraction was overridden by fear. Again, instinctively, he waved his arms in a backstroke, and felt a subtle sense of drifting away from the star swimmer.

She was now no more than thirty feet away. Suddenly, her face seemed oddly familiar, as if he had seen her in a dream, or in a time long ago. And then he realized that he had.

She was Dominia Rabon.

Why he should fear her touch, he did not know. But he did. And though he swam with strong even backstrokes while facing her, she still seemed to be gaining on him very slowly. Was it due to the skill she had developed, being trapped here for the last ten years, swimming this sea of stars? And yet, if it were Dominia, perhaps these really were diamonds after all.

As if to confirm this, as she passed one of the stars that had seemed so far away, she reached out without pausing in her swimming stroke and snatched the tiny light. She moved that hand to her mouth, clearly ingesting her catch, whether star or diamond. Her form seemed to shine a bit brighter, so that now he could even see the gleaming of her teeth. Then she swam with renewed vigor in his direction.

Dareon waved his arms and kicked his feet to retreat with all his strength and speed. He seemed to be matching her, for her proximity now remained constant. But how long could he keep it up? And where was there to go?

 

***

 

The Phantom leapt through the middle of the two stage curtains. Blue ran after and was about to plunge through the fabric. But either his instincts or a slight movement of the curtains caused him to shift to the side at the very last moment. It was the only thing that saved his life. The Phantom burst back through the curtains from the other side with a swipe of its right arm. Blue felt the movement of air as if a blade had passed near his face, and a lock of hair was shorn off just behind his left ear.

He stumbled, grasped at the curtain for support, and righted himself. Then he turned with his longsword raised.

He saw the Phantom tumble across the wooden floor, come back to its feet, and spin around. It held its cape up like a shield with its left hand, and by the faint glimmer of the lamplight he could see what seemed to be a thin, nearly transparent sword.

The Phantom made a sudden long lunge. Blue leapt to the left and swung his sword. There was a clang as it met the ghostly blade. The Phantom spun around and struck at Blue in a horizontal arc. Blue parried and leapt away.

The Indari shuffled backward. Now that the Diamond Thief had somehow disposed of Dareon, its intention was clearly not to escape, but to dispose of him as well and protect the secret of its lair.

The Phantom danced forward, feinted a thrust, and lunged again. Blue anticipated its attack, parried, and swung his sword in a sideways slash that should have taken off the thing’s head. Instead, the Phantom dropped down into the splits, and then kicked Blue’s legs out from under him. The Indari rolled backward and came to his feet just in time to parry a series of slashes and thrusts. It avoided Blue’s next strike by arching backward at an impossible angle, as if its bones were made of rubber, or as if there was nothing beneath the black garb at all.

But after Blue dodged another stab by the Phantom, he clawed out quickly and was able to grasp its sword arm. Although thin, it felt solid enough. Blue thrust his sword at the Phantom’s unguarded chest. The Phantom raised its cape at the last moment. Blue’s longsword pierced the cape, but with no apparent effect. In fact, he felt no resistance at all, as if his sword had been thrust through an open window into the night air.

The Phantom twisted like a snake and freed its arm.

Blue saw an opening in the thief’s guard, but hesitated, and the chance passed. He suddenly realized that if he killed the Phantom, Dareon might perish as well. But the Phantom had no such compunction. It danced forward and made a series of thrusts and swipes that put Blue again on the defensive. As he narrowly avoided a lunge that threatened to graze his ribs, he knew he was doomed to lose a defensive fight. And his mind and limbs were growing weary while the Phantom seemed indefatigable. The long invisible sword whipped and whistled ever nearer. It was only a matter of time.

 

***

 

As Dareon backstroked away from the strange image of Dominia Rabon, he noticed a glint of movement off to his right that was quite different and more pronounced than the glimmer of the surrounding diamond stars.

He jerked his head in that direction and saw a peculiar sight. The full length of a longsword appeared in the dark space between the stars and then disappeared as if it had been pulled back through a hidden door or a dark fold in space. And now Dareon felt a wind in the preternatural stillness blowing from the direction of where the sword had appeared. The wind was temperate, but felt warm compared to the chill radiating from Dominia Rabon. Was her heart made of ice? Or did the chill radiate from all of the cold diamond stars she had consumed?

In any case, Dareon shifted his stroke in the direction of the wind, even though this would shorten the distance between him and Dominia. Dominia veered to intercept him. She might even reach him before he could reach…what? Anything seemed better to him at the moment than eternal banishment in a cosmic diamond sea. The sword he had glimpsed could have been Blue’s sword—there had been no way to tell from the distance and dim light—or it could have been the sword of some warrior from a world a million miles away. Who could say with such mindboggling mysteries? Even if the sword had been Blue’s, could it have pierced a doorway through the Phantom’s cape back to Plemora? It was Dareon’s only hope.

And now in that spot where the sword had appeared, he saw a glow like a torch, warm honey in color as opposed to the icy blue of the diamond lights. Dareon’s hope surged. He swam with renewed gusto. But then he glanced back. Dominia swam with even greater passion and velocity. It seemed she had been holding back until now, perhaps eyeing him as a woman would a new diamond before possessing it. Dareon calculated speed and distance. He might reach the warm glow before her or he might not. In any case, if it did not provide an immediate exit, he would soon find himself in her cold embrace. As if sensing the latter scenario to be inevitable, Dominia grinned. Her eyes shined like two frozen pools in moonlight, and her teeth glinted like shards of ice.

Drenched in sweat, his endurance at an end, Blue would have fled had it been in his nature. But he could not abandon Dareon if the poet swordsman were possibly still alive. Almost as if Dareon were indeed present, his voice came into the Indari’s mind: “We’ll find out once we snatch that mask from its face.”

Blue took a step back and pretended to falter. The Phantom lunged forward. As it did, Blue batted its invisible blade aside and dropped his longsword as he pounced forward with both hands outstretched. The Phantom recoiled, but even its unnatural speed and flexibility could not save it from the Indari’s reckless leap. As he crashed into it, the thief was able to clutch Blue’s right hand, but his left clawed at its face. They tumbled over the theater floor. Blue felt his left hand grip the metal of the mask. He tore at it with all his strength as the thief twisted free.

Blue lay upon the floor, the mask held in his left hand. He looked up at the Phantom.

 

***

 

Dareon faced forward and swam with all his strength toward the vertical slit of warm golden light from whence the wind whispered through the starry diamond wastes. As he glanced back, he saw that Dominia Rabon had closed half the distance between them. If such measurements meant anything in this realm, she could not have been more than ten feet away and gaining with every sweep of her pale lithe arms and every kick of her long slender legs. The golden rift that Dareon hoped was an exit from this world and an entrance back to his own was about as far from him as she was.

He exerted all his strength and will, focusing only on reaching the warm light. Behind him, he could feel the frigid chill upon his feet and legs. At any moment, he expected to feel her touch. Suddenly, the wind that had been gently brushing his body reversed and swept him inward toward the golden gap, increasing his speed. He rode it as he would a current in a river. The rift was now close at hand, and he dimly saw the outlines of architecture. The Twilight Theater!

The golden portal was now just an arm’s length away. He felt the chill like winter air upon his feet. As he gave one last tremendous stroke that hurled him toward the gap, he could not resist twisting to look back in the final moment.

Dominia Rabon was almost near enough to touch. She no longer smiled. Upon her face was an expression of desperation. Her mouth was open in a silent appeal and her wide eyes pleaded with him. As he felt himself sucked through the gap, she reached toward him.

At the last second, Dareon reached out to her. She clutched his wrist and her fingers were like frozen fire. Then he was yanked from the starry darkness and through the portal.

 

***

 

Blue watched as, for a single instant, the Phantom stood faceless as a silhouette with a cape of stars. Just before it collapsed in a black heap of empty clothes, two bodies seemed to emerge from the cape and tumbled across the stage floor.

Blue retrieved his sword and ran back to the pile of clothes. He nudged them with his boot. They were lifeless. He poked them with his sword and saw something glitter amidst the blackness. He reached down and lifted the glittering mass. It was Lady LaCosta’s diamond necklace.

The Indari then turned and was relieved to see his poet friend struggling up from the stage floor. “Dareon!”

Dareon spared Blue a quick glance and nod before turning to the still form beside him.

She lay upon her back, completely still, eyes closed, clothed in a golden dressing gown. Her entire body glowed like a dim star. Dareon put his ear to her nostrils. He heard no sound and felt no breath. He then placed his ear to where her heart should have been beating. Even through the gown, her skin was too cold for him to linger there for long, but long enough to know that no heart beat within that breast. He did not even try to revive her. She was cold and lifeless as a stone in winter.

 

***

 

The stars of night still glimmered as Dareon and Blue set off from the lonely pier in their sloop, The Red Witch, and sailed due west away from the coast. None were about, for it was too late for any fishermen to be returning from sea and too early to be setting forth. The body of Dominia Rabon rested in the bottom of the boat, wrapped in an ornate queenly robe they had found in one of the wardrobe chests.

Dareon stared at Dominia’s face in silence as Blue piloted the craft. She resembled some strange alabaster statue. The otherworldly glow had faded. She seemed completely at peace, almost a subtle smile playing about the corners of her wide mouth.

The eastern sky lightened to a pale rosy pearl, making a silhouette of now distant Merth. Although exhausted, they sailed the blue-black waters until they were almost out of sight of the coast. Finally, Blue gave Dareon a questioning look. The poet swordsman nodded his head. Blue lowered the mainsail. Then the Indari took the strange emotionless theater mask and the cape whose jewels now seemed only dead quartz crystals from a sack and dropped them into the sea. The black cape melded with the black water and was lost to sight. The theater mask stared with hollow eyes as it receded into the marine darkness.

Dareon kissed Dominia gently on her cheek. It was now the normal cold of a corpse. They lifted her body and the rock they had tied around her legs.

“You’re sure about this?” asked Blue.

Dareon gazed at Dominia for a moment. “Yes. No one would believe last night’s play. She was gone from Merth. She’s still gone. But her fame lives on.”

 They lowered her gently into the water. Her feet sank first, pulled down by the weight of the rock, and for a moment, her face turned upward as if she were somehow gazing at them through closed eyes. Slowly, she sank. For some time, Dareon could see the pale face receding into the darkness. Finally, she faded and vanished for a second time from the world of Plemora.

Dareon stepped to the bow of the sailboat, gritted his teeth, and suddenly let out a savage cry. Then he sighed and his shoulders slumped. He took some deep breaths of fresh sea air and forced himself to speak, as he preferred shedding words to shedding tears.

“I saw her perform once, you know.”

Blue sat and stared at him silently, listening as the waves lapped against the side of the hull.

“My father brought me to Merth from Damarand on one of his business trips, meaning gambling. We went to the theater and sat very near the front of the stage. The whole place seemed like a magical dream world, with Dominia Rabon as queen. When she stepped onto the stage, she looked like a pearl in a shadow of moonlight. And after the play’s end, while she was taking her final bows, she actually smiled at me. I fell in love with her as much as a little boy can.”

Dareon sat down as if he had finished performing a monologue. Blue set sail, turned the skiff back east, and headed toward the coast.

Dareon held up his left wrist in the first rays of dawn. The white finger marks that had burned his skin still showed, but were fading along with the pain. Part of him wished they would remain.

About halfway back to Merth, he told Blue the full story of what had happened after he had disappeared into the cape. “I think that she had dwelt in that starry diamond realm for so long that it was the only place she had life. Or maybe the shock of returning to this world killed her.”

 “It was that alchemist that killed her,” said Blue. “When he sent her that cursed mask and cape.”

“Draxilon,” muttered Dareon.

“But I don’t understand,” said Blue. “Who was the Diamond Thief?”

Dareon shrugged. “Whatever it was, it was created by Draxilon’s magic. My theory is that it was a manifestation of Dominia’s lust for diamonds given form in this world through the cape and mask while she was imprisoned for eternity in that other world. But I’m no sorcerer. Only Draxilon knows for sure. And he disappeared from Merth many years ago. Luckily for him, for if ever we meet…”

Blue’s strong brows furrowed and his blue-gray eyes stared into the distance. “Something strange about all of this: your seeing her when you were a child, her smiling at you from the stage, how much she meant to you, and then many years later, Lady LaCosta hiring you for this job. It’s almost like it was all meant to happen.”

Dareon frowned and again fought back his emotions. “I feel like I failed her in the end.”

“You didn’t fail her, you saved her,” said Blue.

“Perhaps,” said Dareon.

Then he turned and faced the rising sun as The Red Witch skipped across the emerald waves toward the awakening city of Merth, and toward Lady LaCosta, who slumbered, dreaming of her diamond necklace.

 

________________________________________

Robert Zoltan is a Los Angeles-based writer of literary and speculative fiction. He was a Semi-Finalist in the 2019 Writers of the Future Award. Robert is also an award-winning composer and music producer, audiobook drama producer, illustrator, and host of Literary Wonder & Adventure Show podcast. He is author of the Rogues of Merth and The Incomparable Quill series and owner of Dream Tower Media.

Previous adventures of Dareon and Blue in Heroic Fantasy Quarterly can be found in The Blue Lamp and A Night in the Library.

 

Timothy Menzel is a life-long science fiction and fantasy enthusiast from central Iowa. His narrations appear on PseudoPod and Heroic Fantasy Quarterly.