Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (15 page)

“Nevermor
is without order now,” Nix went on.  “The land wreaks havoc on itself.”

“Because
of the demon, or because of the Scourge?” Wren asked, walking faster to keep up
with his stride.

“Because
of
the Rifter
,” Nix said darkly.  This wasn’t the answer she wanted to
hear.  “It’s because of all the promises he broke, the vows that snapped – with
us, with Whisper.  Everything that once anchored him to this world is gone, and
now it’s merely an ungoverned plane.  Rifter can’t fix it.”

“He
can
fix it,” Wren interjected.  “He said he knows how.”

“Yeah?”
Nix asked, clearly not buying into it.  “Well, we’ll see.”

Holding
her tongue, Wren followed him across the terrain.  Despite her greatest effort,
it was a bit harder for her than for him.  She stumbled over the rocky ground
while he almost seemed to float over it.  This did little for her pride, but
she came to accept the way she stumbled onward.  She might have blamed it on
her shoes, but they were only part of her problem.

They
passed on beneath the charred trees, and Wren wondered where they might go from
here.  She tried to remember the land as it had been years ago, but she did not
need to be reminded that it was different now.  Back then, she had been told
that the world could change and shift over time.  Perhaps the areas she had
once remembered had moved, and some may no longer exist.

“Where
are we headed?" she asked finally, climbing down from a rocky ledge as Nix
supervised, already past that obstacle. “How far to the Tribal camp?  Though,
first I suppose we should cover enough ground that we can search for the
others.”

He
waited patiently for her to finish, and it was only as she awaited his reply
that she realized she had asked several questions at once.

“I
don’t know anything about the others,” he said, and she believed there was a
bit of regret on the edge of his voice.  “I left them at the den, and later
when I swallowed my pride and came back, there was no one left.  They had all
gone.  Serves me right, I suppose.”

The
more she talked to him, the more she believed that Nix’s former anger had been
replaced by bitterness and guilt.  She couldn’t blame him, she guessed.  It was
likely that they all had regrets.  They had watched the world they loved fall
apart, after all.

What
had happened to Nix out in the world?  What had given him the sense of guilt
that had made him return home – to seek forgiveness?

And
what has given him a sense of compassion toward me?

“What
is it?” he asked, noticing her silence.  “You’re judging me, aren’t you?”

“It’s
just that you’re different now,” she confessed, examining his face as if she
could find the answer in his one clear eye.

“People
change, Wren,” Nix said simply.  “They grow up.”

Though
she was certain that just a few years ago, none of them would have said
anything of that sort, she thought she could accept it.  Maybe Nix was
different enough that they could bury the hatchet and come to an
understanding.  She considered asking him why he had been so hostile toward her
in the past, but she guessed it was worth ignoring.  She would deal with his
behavior as it came, and she would try to be civil.

“As
for where we’re headed, I can’t say where the land is going to take us,” Nix
said, shifting the rucksack across his shoulders.  “I haven’t been beyond the
border of the woods in a long time.  I don’t know how the world has changed. 
But if it were the past and we were going in this direction, I’d think it would
lead us out near Bleed Neck Bay.”

He’d
said that with a calmness she didn’t like.

Bleed
Neck Bay…  Does that seem familiar?

It
came to her then.  Years ago, she’d been given several warnings by Rifter and
the others, and one thing amongst those was that Bleed Neck Bay was a place she
should stay clear of.  The name alone was ominous.  Nothing good could await
her there, but she had never seen the bay herself, only taking it on their
word.

“Isn't
that where pirates are?  Must we go directly through there?”  She was surprised
at how evenly those words escaped her.  Inwardly, the thought of pirates was
terrifying.  She didn’t have much experience with those vile men, but what
little she did have hadn’t been good.

“I
haven’t seen it in years myself,” Nix admitted, refusing to slow his pace. 
“I’m not certain whether or not pirates remain.  I suppose we’ll just have to
find out.”

There
was a hint of pleasure in Nix’s voice when he said it.  Wren frowned silently,
but soon shook it away for a different matter.

“And
considering we can cross it unscathed, we still will not know what is on the
other side of it until we get there?” she asked.

“It’s
true that the ruins of the Tribal camp weren’t so far from the den in the old
days, but things changed quickly.  Within only a couple of years, the world
began to grow on its own.”

“So
it’s become different now?” 

“Theoretically,
there would be another stretch of woods beyond Bleed Neck that will lead us to
the mountains.”

“Mountains?”
she found herself repeating.

“Yes.” 
His voice was very tolerant – surprising to her.  “Beyond that is a canyon, and
then finally we’ll reach the plains, after which, if we're lucky, we'll find
our way to the old Tribal camp.”

“But
all of that is only definite if Nevermor hasn’t torn itself apart in places, or
shifted?”

“That’s
right,” he agreed.

“And
what is the good news in all that?" she asked, dejected.

“Well,
I suppose we’re in for quite an adventure, aren’t we?” A sly smile crept over
his mouth.

There
was satisfaction in his voice that made her feel sick.  She was not – and had
never been – interested in killing pirates or battling creatures.  She just
wanted to be settled in a nice house, to sew and make meals, to be surrounded
by the ones she loved, but different times called for different things, she
supposed.  She had survived Nevermor once, and she could push herself to do it
again.

“There's
also a better chance of finding more help if we travel the long way,” Nix was
continuing, though she nearly missed it.  “That is what you are doing after
all, is it not?”

He
stopped as he asked her this, turning to face her.  His one blue eye traced her
features as the other, empty and white, stared in her direction blankly.

“Of
course.  That is what Rifter asked me to do and I intend to do what I can for
him.”

Hearing
that, Nix turned from her and walked on.  She followed closely behind him,
dismissing his strangeness. 

“Of
course.  That is what you
promised
Rifter,” he began, but let his voice
trail off.

Wren
thought she caught a hint of the boy she had once known.  He had taken many of
Rifter’s decisions with a grain of salt, and in ways, perhaps he had been right
to question back then, but she could not simply let this one slip.

“What’s
that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,”
he said, flatly, dodging.  “Never–”

At
the abrupt failing of his words, she looked at him confusedly, finding that his
pace was drifting to a halt.  He held his arm out to the side, blocking her
path until she was forced to stop as well.  Nix did not speak, staring out
ahead and Wren did not disrupt her own confusion – for a short moment.

“What
are we–?”

He
silenced her with a motion of his hand.  She quieted, yet didn’t hear anything
except the crackling branches that had started to burn up above.  To her
untrained eye, nothing seemed out of place across the ashen landscape. 

Wait...
  As she looked
on, she realized that there was something different.  Closer to the ground, at
the travelers’ own level, a few of the charred trees burned anew.  There were
marks on the forest floor and tiny embers where the ash had been reignited,
singed black.  Wren suddenly remembered the smoke smell in her nose.  She
coughed.

Future
inquiries were stifled by her companion’s grip on her arm, pulling her away
from what she had seen and not understood, off onto a different path.  She
wondered through this but had come up with nothing to satisfy herself by the
time Nix stopped again.  She did not have to ponder it further.  Now, she
saw
it.

Moving
slowly through the trees was an enormous creature of three or four times her
size.  She did not recognize it for what it was at first glance, but eventually
it came to her.  This beast was a bear, but it was nothing like she had ever
seen in picture books.  The creature was walking slowly, seemingly calm and
docile despite the fact that its coat was
on fire
.

No,
the bear’s fur is not on fire, it is fire!
  Wren watched the flames rage as
they consumed whatever had once clung to the large skeleton.  The beast was
nothing but fire and bone.

It
was only by the insistence of Nix’s hand that her feet were obliged to move
after him.  The two of them passed through the dead trees slowly and quietly,
trying to edge away from the fiery creature, for it blocked their path.  What
was this beast?  A nightmare?  Or perhaps it was simply a product of the
corruption. 

“When
I came upon you in the woods earlier, I’d been hunting this,” she heard Nix say
quietly, “I’ve been tracking it for days.”

Wren
heard his words, but wisely made no reply.  She was unable to take her eyes off
the thing, and somehow she managed to think that arrows and bullets wouldn’t be
any good against such a foe, but she could not bring herself to be concerned
for the sake of his sport.  She only hoped to get away from this beast.

They
did well to avoid the bear’s notice as Nix guided her through the ash – but
then the smoke was in Wren’s nose once again.  She knew she could not allow
herself to cough, yet because of that, she felt the urge even stronger.  She
stifled the first with her hand, only to choke on her own breath.  She could
not keep herself quiet then.  She coughed aloud because she could not breathe.

Before
she was even able to look at Nix apologetically, he had drawn his gun.  Without
fail, the sound of her cough had caught the massive beast’s attention.  It
turned its fiery head in their direction, recognizing them as something other
than trees.  The flaming outline burned into Wren’s eye.

In
a motion that she wasn’t ready for, Nix twisted her arm and spun her around,
disorienting her.

“
Run!
”
he barked.  With little choice, she obeyed, setting herself off on an unknown
course.  Her feet crushed the ash beneath her into smaller bits that stirred up
as fine powder, polluting the air.

Wren
knew she had no weapon worth defending herself with.  She had the dagger, but
it was nothing.  What good would it do against a beast that wore fire as fur? 
Nix'’s footsteps were behind her, but beyond that, she could hear the pounding
of much heavier feet coming in her direction.  Out of panic and helplessness,
she let out a scream.  Was she to be chased by monstrous creatures all the way
to the ruined Tribal camp?

How
could I expect anything different?

The
sound of gunshots came from behind her, but she did not turn to see if they had
done well.  There might have been a bit of hesitance in the bear’s pace, but
she couldn’t be sure.  What if it fell upon them? 
No.
..  But how long
could they possibly run?  Where did the stretch of forest end?  No doubt the
creature was gaining on them constantly.

“Just
keep running!  Don’t stop!” she heard Nix urge her.

The
insistence was clear enough.  It only made her feel an ounce more comfortable
to know that Nix was between the beast and her heels. 

Wren
ran on.  She did not stop until suddenly her feet were wet up to her ankles,
submerged in water. 

She
had run several steps into a pond without seeing it, and she had not seen it
because the dead surface was covered in a layer of ash. 
Water!
  Surely
it was the answer!  But this was portentous, dirty water.  She was hesitant
about going in. 

Before
she had the opportunity to decide for herself, Nix had rushed upon her, grabbed
her up by the waist and splashed into the water with her.  The temperature of
the liquid was neither hot nor cold, but rested in between at a very sick,
uncomfortable lukewarm.  The pool was not so deep that her feet couldn’t touch
the bottom, but her gown was soaked gradually the farther she went, and Nix did
not allow her to stop until it was up to her waist.

He
kept her steady and she moved closer to him for support in the muck, her heart
racing and breath rushing out in pants.

At
the edge of the pond, the bear with the flaming pelt paced, angry that its prey
had escaped so cleverly, but it was clear that the creature recognized the
water as its bane, and did not attempt to join them.  Wren only clung to the
boy with her, gasping for breath and watching with wide eyes until the bear
finally realized that it was thwarted.  In the end, it had no choice but to
turn away, for it could not reach them.