A Quest for the Stars

A cruel stare slipped from Jean Starflower. The girl he despised so much was on her way out of the city for a job of a lifetime. And the people seeing her off looked so pathetic to him; an elven couple - his own kindred - were speaking to her as if she was part of the family, and even an honorable man of authority like Constable Richards was charmed by her Western wiles.

Something wasn’t right in the world when gifted prodigies such as himself had to make way for worthless foreigners. One day, he’ll humiliate her just like she did to him on that fateful day. It was only right for him to bide his time and let the girl build her reputation back up. Once his revenge was complete, everyone will hate her even more and he will force an apology from Gabrielle Bisset and force her to return him to his rightful place at the top.

“Hey, asshole! Don’t just stand there and let us do all the work!”

For now, Starflower had to get back to reality. He nodded at the inmate next to him and went back to work. Picking up the trash at the local park was not a suitable job for him. And black and white stripes for his clothes? Definitely not his style.

But this was his life now. The Helix City Jail was not only a place that held criminals awaiting trial; it was a community service center for them, and those who wanted to earn their freedom had to work for it. One week’s worth of community service earned the workers one minute off their prison sentence, once they received it.

Only an idiot wouldn’t realize the whole thing was a scam. Sixty weeks of community service would only shave an hour off their sentence and it would take 1440 weeks - 30 years - to take off a whole day.

“Hey, Jean!” Thomas cheerfully picked up the trash ahead of him. “This is fun!”

Ignorance was bliss for some.

“You’re still grumpy because we’re here? Come on, it’s not so bad!”

Starflower’s wastebasket made a metallic, crumpling sound when he dropped it. “Excuse me? I spoke with my barrister yesterday. Bastard couldn’t get me freedom in exchange for my resignation from the Guild. In fact, he said we’re both looking at 50 years, minimum! It’s all a matter of when, not if at this point!”

Thomas scratched his head with a frown. “I don’t see why I’m getting that much. All I did was trash the local apothecary for playing a prank on me.”

Starflower’s blade on a stick snapped in two, leaving him with nothing to pick up the trash save for his bare hands. “Are we forgetting the violation of your restraining order, your obscene gestures, and your attempts at dru-”

“Shhh!” Thomas's eyes widened as he looked around before lowering his voice to a whisper. “You don’t want us to get lynched by our jailmates, do ya?”

Starflower whispered back. “Why would they hurt me?”

“Guilty by association,” Thomas said with a cocky grin.

Starflower sighed and rolled his eyes. He was in no mood to deal with bruises today. “I only do this because I made a promise to your father, but if the two of us find a way out of this, we’re going our separate ways. I’m done covering up for you.” The disgraced headmaster grabbed the former student by the collar. “You couldn’t just stop being weird, could you? All you had to do was sit down and do your tests. Instead, you tried your luck with the girls because of those weird fantasies of yours. Have you nothing to say for yourself?"

“Come on, Jean. You and I both know I did nothing wrong. Besides,” Thomas tilted his head down and looked at Starflower from beneath his eyebrows, flashing a buck-toothed smile covered in braces, “do you know what my dad will do to you if he found out you abandoned me?”

Starflower took a step back. “Are you threatening me, boy? You’re forgetting I’m your superior.”

“Not anymore! We’re both just cellmates! Besides, it’s not like you can cast anything, not with those things on you.” Thomas pointed at the manacles attached to Starflower’s legs. They were inscribed with purple runes, which glowed from time to time.

Starflower gave Thomas a defeated look and just looked away from him. But something else grabbed his attention now. From the top of the hilltop, he could clearly see the insufferable girl giving a lad in armor a longing look. Smirking cockily, he called out to Thomas. “Say, Thomas. Isn’t that your girlfriend? Or was it Steiner? I keep forgetting.”

Thomas looked where Starflower was facing and his jaw dropped to the ground. A lad in armor helped Lenoria jump on a wagon, and moments later he jumped on the driver’s seat. “Lenoria, my sweet dove! Why are you leaving with him?” Thomas gritted his teeth. “That’s the brat who pranked me!”

“The boy?” Starflower’s mind got to work when a shocking realization dawned on him. Wishing to be absolutely sure, he pressed Thomas for more info. “How did he prank you, Thomas?”

“Lenoria was injured at the park last week. So I, being the gentleman that I am, tried to resuscitate her but that brat got in the way! He and Clara would have let her die if it meant I couldn’t be the one to save her!”

Thomas’s lies aside, Starflower grimaced at this revelation. He remembered his interaction with the Bisset family as if it had happened moments ago, but one part in particular stood out for him.

----------

“Ah, yes.” Gabrielle turned to meet the headmaster’s gaze. “A family friend had the ‘honor’ to meet your top student. Did you know that the student behind you was injured in the park close to the school grounds, and your top student tried to take advantage of the situation?”

“I can’t keep track of every student! If Lenoria had said something, she would have received my deepest condolences,” the headmaster lied.

“You called Lenoria a hurtful name out there. On top of that, you praised a predator and spoke about a potential victim dismissively under the same breath.” Gabrielle kept calm, but Lenoria could sense a storm beneath her words. "Explain yourself, Starflower."

The headmaster took offense to that. “I’m very sorry, ma’am, but Thomas is an outstanding student. Your friend would need hard evidence for this accusation.” The headmaster bit his tongue. “What’s going on? I didn’t mean to say that!”

"Are you calling my contact a liar?"

"N-no, ma'am!"

“My family friend just so happens to be a paladin devoted to the Hammer of Justice. I may not be a native to Helix, Headmaster, but if I recall correctly the Hammer is one of the more serious deities around here and he doesn’t take dishonesty lightly.”

----------

“A paladin serving the Hammer.” Starflower watched as the wagon Lenoria had gotten on drove away from the park. He clenched his fists until blood dripped from them. “He’s the witness who threw me to the dogs!”

“He got you, too?”

“The little brat won’t get away with it!” He grabbed Thomas by the collar again and reduced his voice to a whisper once more. “We’re breaking out of here.”

“How?”

“Just leave the planning to me. It’ll take days, but I swear to you that vengeance will be mine!”

“Y-you’re not gonna kill Lenoria, are you?”

“No.” Starflower released Thomas. “I believe spending the rest of her life with you is a punishment no one else can top. But you will help me kill the brat.”

“And Clara?”

“Leave Clara be. Soon she’ll see the error of mingling with humans like them.” Starflower picked his broken stick back up. “If she insists on her absurd aspirations, then she’ll receive the same treatment as the boy.”

“You know, I see you punks doin’ a lot of conspirin’ and not enough workin’!” One of the jailmates said impatiently.

“Hold your horses, just stay in your la-” Starflower turned around to find a man nearly a foot taller than he was. He was a horse of a man, having a long snout, strong white teeth, a brown coat, and a black mane. “Oh.”

“You tryin’ to be funny? I’ll show you what we do to pranksters like you,” the irritated man said as he pulled back his fist.

“This will end well.” Starflower braced himself, and before he knew it everything went black for him.

***

The former headmaster awakened in a small candle lit room. The bed creaked and his body panged with pain with each move he made. Most of the damage was made to his face, though he felt something on his ribs and right arm as well.

“What happened?” A muffled voice escaped from his mouth. He touched his face, then the rest of his head. “Bandages?” Next, he checked the rest of his body. Bandages were wrapped around his torso and right arm as well. “Last thing I remember is…oh.”

Footsteps could be heard down the hall. They stopped by his door, then…silence. Finally, a knock. “H-hello? Are you awake?”

A voice he didn’t recognize. A woman for sure, likely a nurse or officer. Anyone other than Thomas or the horse man was better company at this point. “Come in.”

“Oh, you’re awake!” The woman entered and closed the door behind her. She was dressed in a nursing uniform which appeared like a dress; there was a rose-colored blouse and long white skirt overalls on top of it and around her pronounced legs. Her black hair was cut in a simple, bobbed style. “J-Jan Starflower.” A set of many, many keys jingled as she approached the bed.

“Jean, as in ‘John’,” he corrected.

“Oh, I’m s-sorry.” The nurse read from the former headmaster’s chart. “O-oh, dear. You suffered a concussion and a broken nose. Then you were grabbed by the arm and were dangled like a pinata.”

That would explain the injured arm.

“What were you thinking, sir? Everyone knows it’s a death sentence to use horse analogies around Horseface.” The nurse removed some of the bandages on Starflower's head, exposing his mouth and eyes.

“Horseface?”

“The man who pummeled you.”

He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but Starflower decided to keep his mouth shut. He lied back down and let his hand rest over his eyes. “Is he sensitive about his looks?”

“Yes, he’s the only equinefolk I know who is. He was a mob boss down on his luck and the last thing he needed is someone pushing his buttons.”

Starflower’s eyes reopened immediately. Mob boss? He sat back up and relaxed on the bed frame behind him. “Should I be afraid? Mafia bosses normally have contacts outside and I’m worried for my family.”

This, of course, was a lie. Starflower left his forest home decades ago and has not kept in touch with his family. In order for the nurse to trust him, he must first appear vulnerable and harmless.

“I-I do know his gang doesn’t hurt the families of their opponents, but I worry for the Constable. Horseface hates officers who can’t be bribed just as much as people who make horse puns and analogies.” The nurse covered her mouth. “I-I said too much!”

The woman had said more than enough for Starflower to begin brainstorming. He counted himself lucky for concocting a plan to escape to be hatched this early into his arrest. The first step would be to make some choice allies, and the first that came to mind was Horseface himself.

The nurse appeared timid and inexperienced, yet her age would suggest otherwise. Was she merely putting on an act? If not, she could play a key role in his escape plan. The waters needed to be tested, and to do so he must push her boundaries without actually crossing them.

Starflower gave her a warm and gentle smile. “Don’t worry. I can keep a secret. In return, would you mind releasing me from these shackles around my ankles? I’m afraid I’m a bit sore.”

The nurse puffed her cheeks. She lowered her clipboard to conceal the keys attached to her belt.

“My apologies, I should have known better.” Starflower brushed his hand in the air. “At the very least, may I ask for your name?”

The nurse seemed rather perplexed by his question. “Batu Sarnai,” she answered.

“Thank you. It’s only fair that I knew yours, since you already knew mine.” He placed a fist under his chin and made sure their eyes locked before continuing. “Tell me, ma’am, where do you hail from? You have quite the unusual name.”

“E-eh?” The nurse raised the clipboard over her face so that only her eyes could be seen. “W-well, I was born on the Great Plateau, but my family and I immigrated here when I was a little girl. We don’t have surnames there; Batu is my father’s name and Sarnai is my actual name and that’s what everyone calls me.”

Starflower saw red. The rage he felt earlier returned. All he could associate with the word “plateau” was the student he hated so much. All he pictured was her sneering at him at his state of misfortune.

He was wise enough to keep his anger concealed, however. The little girl would pay for the sin of exposing him, he swore to himself. The nurse was merely unfortunate enough to bring such emotions out of him, but thankfully she was blissfully aware of the vortex of negativity in him.

With a slightly higher pitched tone in his voice, Starflower forced a smile. “Oh, I see. It’s a great naming method.”

“I-I’m sorry, but I need to get going.” The nurse walked over to the nightstand and gently placed a corked vial on it. “Your wounds are minor. Drink this after eight more hours of rest. You’ll feel good as new.”

“Alright. It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Sarnai.”

The nurse seemed like she wanted to say something, but she decided against it and hurriedly left the room. Starflower lied his head back down and closed his eyes. This time, he sported a sinister grin.

The seed had been planted and the plan was officially in motion. Breaking out of jail would be ten times easier if he wasn’t shackled, so he had to make do with what he had in hand. As he noted, the first step was to make choice allies. Horseface was his next target, and acquiring enough muscle to bust out required him to swallow his pride and appease the beastfolk in jail. This wasn’t prison; everyone was confined to cells for the majority of the day, meaning the only chance he had to make contact was to speak to the boss during community service hours.

The second step was securing his own freedom. And for that he needed to woo the timid little rabbit who had just left the room.

(We return to Lenoria in the next chapter! Though if you wish to see more Starflower chapters in a row, let your voice be heard in the poll below and in the comments section!)