Stardust: Chapter 8 Summary & Analysis

Septimus walks up the mountain pass, leading a pony. He finds a small chariot, a dead goat, and a dead boy. He then finds Primus’s corpse. Primus’s ghost, standing with his other dead brothers, watches. Septimus will now be the 82nd Lord of the Stormhold, though Quintus notes he still needs the Power of Stormhold, and Secundus notes that he must avenge Primus’s death first. Septimus, speaking like he can hear the ghosts, is annoyed Primus didn’t wait until Septimus could kill him. The ghosts sigh that Septimus will be the next Lord of Stormhold—but Quintus points out that they shouldn’t get ahead of themselves. Septimus casts his brother’s runes, and Primus curses him to choke on them if he doesn’t avenge Primus’s murder.

Meanwhile, Tristran and the star sit on a soft, cold cloud. Tristran pushes his hand into it, which soothes his burnt hand. He laments that he messed everything up, but the star notes that he saved her—though she still hates him. This is mostly because now, according to the stars’ laws, she’s bound to him and is responsible to him, just as he’s responsible to her.

Tristran suggests they start over and introduces himself. The star insults him and refuses for a minute, but finally says her name is Yvaine. Tristran shows her his burnt hand when she asks, noting that she’d be dead now if he hadn’t burnt it. He lists all the ways things are going wrong right now and all the danger they’re in—they could fall if the cloud disappears—but then he shrugs and suggests they enjoy the view while they still can. Yvaine declines to join Tristran due to her broken leg, and she agrees not to run away. Tristran trusts her.

Morwanneg is no longer young and beautiful. Her hair is gray, her face is dull and wrinkled, and she has an ugly scar on her shoulder. She drives the black horses hard. When she reaches a particular rock formation, she stops the horses and opens the carriage door to reveal the dead unicorn. Biting her tongue until it bleeds, Morwanneg spits onto the unicorn’s tongue and tells it to move. The unicorn stumbles to a depression at the base of the rock formation and kneels. Morwanneg slices the unicorn’s throat, and when the blood doesn’t flow fast enough, she hacks its head off.

When Morwanneg has made a pool of blood, she stares through it at the other two Lilim. They scold her for wasting the last of the previous star’s heart, and Morwanneg snaps that she can’t locate the star. The other two say she’s headed for the Market at Wall—they all know that if she crosses the wall, she’ll become a rock and they’ll never get her heart. Morwanneg decides to go Diggory’s Dyke, as everyone passes through there to get to Wall. She takes the unicorn’s head with her, as the horn has magical properties she and her sisters can use.

Tristran sits high on the cloud, wondering why none of his “penny dreadful” heroes were ever hungry. He’s tired of this adventure, though of course it’s nice to be alive. Somehow, it seems as though his problems are all far below him. He begins to shout “Halloo,” just in case there’s anyone to hear and help. When he returns to Yvaine, he suggests that after he gives Yvaine to Victoria, they should get Yvaine back up into the sky. Yvaine insists that’s impossible, but Tristran says if she believes, maybe she could be the first. As Yvaine says it's as impossible as someone coming to rescue them, they hear a voice above, offering assistance. He’s in a small, flying ship, and he tosses down a ladder for Tristran and Yvaine to hold onto and pulls them up.

When Tristran and Yvaine are safely on the deck, the man introduces himself as Captain Johannes Alberic of the Free Ship Perdita. They’re on a lightning-hunting expedition. He calls for Meggot to attend to Tristran’s hand, and then the entire crew of seven eats together with Tristran and Yvaine. Long after Tristran’s journey is over, he thinks of his journey on the Perdita—and the rest of his trip through Faerie—as an extremely happy time. Life on the ship is exciting.

Eventually, the captain informs Tristran that the ship will stop soon, and it’s time to let Tristran and the star off. They’ll still have to travel about 10 weeks to get to Wall, but the star’s leg is now nearly healed. Then, the captain admits in a conspiratorial manner that he’d been looking for Tristran; he’s part of a fellowship of sorts, and he draws and then erases a castle. Tristran realizes the small hairy man is part of it, too. They all want to see Tristran return safely to Wall. The captain also suggests to Tristran that to fool others, the star should at least pretend to eat. A week later, Meggot takes Yvaine’s splint off, and though Yvaine continues to limp, she can walk well. Two days later, they disembark with gifts from the crew. Somehow, Tristran feels like he’s losing something as he returns to the ground.

Tristran and Yvaine travel west. Sometimes, Tristran works for an afternoon at farms in exchange for food, and sometimes they room at an inn. Once, Tristran recites several classic poems from memory in a tavern, which causes the townsfolk to try to detain him as their bard. Another evening, Yvaine sings. The music is almost magical, and when she’s finished, Yvaine explains that she and her sisters used to sing together. He apologizes for everything, but Yvaine says that she’s still alive—and she feels lucky that she fell in Faerie and met Tristran. Still, she continues to stare up at the skies.

Tristran is looking for breakfast one morning when he comes across a large, brightly-colored bird in the undergrowth. It’s clearly terrified, and Tristran approaches slowly and unwinds the silver chain attached to the bird’s foot, which is stuck on a root. When it’s free, Tristran tells the bird to go home, but it won’t go. It just stares at him. As Tristran bends down to pick the bird up, something stuns him, and an old woman begins shouting threats at Tristran. Tristran explains that he merely freed the bird, and the woman allows him to go. He returns to Yvaine, who’s sore from all the walking and now cries at night. Though Tristran hopes the moon might send another unicorn, he knows it won’t.

A while later, as Tristran and Yvaine are walking along the road, the old woman and her mule-drawn caravan pass them. She calls Tristran to her, apologizes, and declaring him “honest enough,” offers to take him to Wall if he works in her flower-stall. She introduces herself as Madame Semele. Tristran and Yvaine confer, but when the two of them return to Madame Semele, the woman doesn’t seem to see or hear Yvaine. Tristran offers to pay for his and Yvaine’s transport to Wall, but he won’t work in her stall. Madame Semele begins to leave—but then, Tristran pulls out the glass snowdrop. Madame Semele wants it, but Tristran says it was a gift from his father and is very important to him. After deliberating, Madame Semele suggests they can come up with something.

The bird appears from the caravan, and Yvaine asks why Madame Semele keeps it chained. Ignoring Yvaine, Madame Semele offers to take Tristran to Wall and to neither harm him nor let anyone else harm him. Tristran agrees, though he doesn’t trust her, and he hands over the glass snowdrop. She reveals that the snowdrop is powerful, and she passes it in front of Tristran’s face. Suddenly, the world becomes huge and blurry, and Madame Semele picks up Tristran—now a dormouse—and puts him in a cage in the caravan. Yvaine follows Madame Semele inside, asking where she’s going to travel, but the woman continues to ignore her. Yvaine realizes that Madame Semele can’t see or hear her. Madame Semele tells the bird that she’ll turn both Tristran and the bird into humans at Wall—and that Tristran’s flower is even better than the one the bird gave away.

Yvaine spends her days sleeping in Madame Semele’s bed and her nights staring at the stars, sometimes with the bird. The bird ignores her when Madame Semele is awake, though. Yvaine also cares for Tristran. When they encounter other travelers, Yvaine tries to stay hidden—but she also finds that even if someone addresses her or asks about her, Madame Semele still can’t perceive her. Weeks pass as the caravan travels toward Wall.