Vampire's Prey

Chapter 8: Murder

I'm awoken by a shuffling behind me.

"What's going on?" I try sit up in the sleeping pouch, but he rests his hand on my head.

"Shh," he says. I lay back down, and he keeps his hand on me as he climbs out the pouch.

I pull it tight around my frame before the cold air rushes in. It's late in the night, almost dawn, and my eyelids feel like they're glued together.

He fishes out a brass contraption from the bag and takes a seat on a nearby rock. Bringing the crescent-shaped device to his eye level, he peers through its sights. His finger clamps the small string hanging off the side, and he marks a reading on the rock.

Unable to contain my curiosity, I crawl out the pouch and stumble towards him in my tired state. The chilly air makes my skin feel like I've just dived into a lake. I take a seat next to him and curl into a tight ball to retain some warmth.

"What are you doing?" I ask with a yawn.

"Plotting our course."

"With that thing?"

"It is a sextant," he says, "It measures the positions of celestial bodies."

"The stars?"

He peers through its sights again and marks another reading on the rock.

"But how can the stars..." I trail off.

"Here," he closes my hands around it and lifts it to eye level. "Don't drop it."

I nod.

"Close one eye and line up both sights with Iotl High."

"Itol High?"

"Did your father not teach you basic navigation?"

"I didn't know him." He died before I was old enough to remember.

Rahlan leans in close and wraps his arm around my shoulder. "See those two star clusters?" He points at the sky. "There are two twinkling stars between them, all on their own, Iotl High and Iotl Low."

"Two stars with the same name?"

"The story goes that they were once one, Iotl, but she split in two from sorrow."

"Sorrow?"

"They say Iotl was once with the west cluster, but she fell in love with Nidon, a star from the east. They were to unite half way between them, but on the way there, Nidon died from the cold, and Iotl found herself alone in the middle."

That's tragic. The frigid morning air makes me shiver. My breath blooms in front of me, fogging up the sextant's sights.

A heavy weight lands on my shoulders. It's his leather coat. I thread my arms through the sleeves and button up the front. It's so big that my fingers barely poke out the ends.

I look up at him. His black buttoned shirt is much more prominent.

"That should help you hold the sextant steady," he says.

I nod with a small smile. On him the coat only went to his thighs, but on me it reaches down to my shins. It's lined with a soft wool-like material on the inside. The chest area is almost large enough to fit two of me. He must've had it tailored to him, and it must've cost a fortune.

I press my arms against my midriff, pushing the cold air out and allowing the fabric to make better contact with my skin. It's not as warm and fluffy as the sleeping pouch, but it's a hundred times better than being in just a bra and underwear.