Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (40 page)

Wren
listened anxiously.  Someone was finally going to reveal their true thoughts
and reasons without thinking they had to hide them from her?  Honesty, such a
thing was nearly unfathomable at this point.

“Far
be it for me to explain the behavior of Rifter and the thoughts of his mind. 
After all that happened, I believe you know him better than anyone, even though
I had tried to discourage you from it.  Surely you must already have guessed
what he was like once he returned from that ghastly ordeal with the demon
within.  He did not tell us at first – not about what Whisper had done or about
the demon.  He tried to hide it, as Rifter so predictably would. 
Poorly
. 
We were not unaware.  Something was troubling him.  This was after we had
already begun to grow older.  We had all changed and become more reliant on our
own thoughts.

“As
time passed, we began to resent Rifter for his secrecy.  We had noticed the
changes in him, but he insisted on remaining distant from us, becoming violent
on a whim.  His mood and personality would shift without warning.  A few of us
kept our thoughts secret on the matter, but some – Nix and Mech in particular –
voiced their opinions very openly until finally Rifter let his defenses fall
and was forced to tell us the truth.

“He
revealed to us what Whisper had done, and he had felt that her actions toward
you were his fault.  He was torn up inside.  Though he’d never gotten his old
memories back, he’d sworn he would never forget the things that happened here,
even if they were terrible, and what she had done was a betrayal he could not
afford to forget or forgive.

“When
Rifter returned with the demon, and it struggled to be free inside him, he
realized what he had done by bringing it here.  He could not in good conscience
have released a monster like that into this place – what with the darkness
already making a home here.  He decided to keep it inside himself and hold it
as if his body were a prison.  The demon, quite unhappy with this, fought
against him with all its might, and I believe that in the end, it defeated
him.”

Wren
gasped.  One thing she hadn’t wanted to believe had just been addressed.  Could
it be true that a demon was pulling the strings – that Rifter was not in
control of his own body?  But why, if the demon was not responsible for the
corruption?

“I
cannot prove these things, mind you,” Sly admitted.  “Be
sure
to mind
that.  I do know for a fact that Rifter has been touched by some sort of
darkness – but whether it is the demon or the corruption, I do not know.  I’ve
had many theories.  I once thought it would take going back to the beginning to
fix this world, but that place no longer exists.  Over time, I have learned
that there is a new way.  I have not lost my faith.  Perhaps we can never have
back what we had, but I do believe it can be restored.”

At
that, Wren’s heart soared with joy.  Somehow this belief held more weight
coming from him.

“As
for the rest of us,” he went on, “perhaps you might have noticed how we are
all
a bit twisted.”

Sly
raised his hand, and before she’d decided what he meant, he clenched his fist
roughly, digging his own long nails into the flesh of his palm, drawing thick
red blood.  Her eyes widened as she looked at his hand.  Wren was so shocked by
this sudden thing – so frightened by him – that she could not scream or
protest, but just as quickly as it had happened, a miracle took its place.

Sly
shifted and pressed his hands together.  She stared at the bandage on his face
and toward the place his eyes should have been, but when he opened his palm
again, she could look nowhere else.  The blood remained, dripping on the grass,
but Sly’s palm was whole again, healed instantly.  She gasped with awe and
fright.

“As
for me,” he began a bit darkly, knowing he had her fullest attention.  “I
gained something special.  Back then, I did what I promised I would do.  I was
not necessarily prepared to leave simply if Rifter did not return with Nix.  Of
course I had said that, but when he returned after a year, and still without
Nix, it was actually the look of his face that made me go.  He had changed so
very much, and the way he smiled without any guilt or shame…  It was as if he
had forgotten why he had left us to begin with.  He was no longer the boy I had
known.  I knew that the demon had gotten to him.  And so when I left, I went
with the intention of finding some way to release him.

“Yes,
I went to the sun.  I knew that power and knowledge rested there and that I
needed to get to it.  I used fairy ash and flew as high and as fast as I could
until my eyes were burned out of my head.  But I never reached the sun.  Much
like Icarus with his makeshift wings, I too was repelled.  I fell, and to this
day I do not know why I didn’t die.  Perhaps I did and I just do not remember. 
But it was the Tribals who found me, and they somehow managed to save my life.

“I
do not know what they did to me, but I fully believe that it was the sun’s gift
that allowed me to live.  It may have taken my eyes, but, Wren, it allowed me
to see!  Coupled with the rituals passed over me by these amazing people that I
have surrounded myself with, I can hear the earth.  The spirits of the land
have touched me, and that is why I look as I do.  But I do not mind it for the good
things it allows me.  You have perhaps noticed how fertile this land is, but it
is only around this camp?”

She
nodded because she could not find words.

“Well,
it is because I am here.  I am the land’s master, Wren.  It obeys.”

He
sat back a bit from her then, giving her a moment to absorb everything he had
said.  Even after all that, Wren thought only of his hand.  He had abused it
and healed it once again with nothing but a touch.  According to that, he could
heal this land?  He had the power to reverse the way the Scourge had killed it?

“I
do not mean you harm, Wren,” he said finally, breaking the silence in the
dark.  “I am very sorry if I frightened you.  I wanted you to understand.”

“Oh,
I – yes I can understand that,” she said, though keeping her hands away from
his, wiping her palms on the grass absently.  “But what you told me is
unexpected.  If what you say is true, then Sly, you have the power to restore
this place to the way it was!”

What
an incredible thought!  To think that one among them could restore glory to the
island!  This excited her. 
This
was progress in the proper direction.

“That
is true,” Sly admitted.  “I do believe I have that power.  Unfortunately, the
darkness and whatever has brought it here must be removed.  This camp only remains
so untouched because I have chosen to reside here.  If I left, I know that the
darkness would claim it once again, and everything would die.”

“How
do you know that?” she asked, even though she had no right to question him
after what he had said.

He
smiled at her patiently.  “I might lie down on the barren earth and sleep for a
night, and when I rise up in the morning, there would be a bed of grass beneath
me.  But if I leave that spot for the day and return, the grass is gone.”

She
nodded in understanding.  “So your efforts will do no good until the corruption
has been forced to retreat.  Then the land might be replenished?”

He
nodded.  The news lifted her, making her heart pound faster.  Despite whatever
else she might discover, it was comforting news to know how the land might be
restored once all was said and done.  This, however, did not keep troubling
thoughts from resurfacing in her mind.

“There’s
something that I have to ask you,” she started.  “Finn told me that Calico had
a vision recently, and I was a prominent figure in it.  The vision apparently
upset her, and that in turn has me feeling upset.  What does it mean?”

“I
wouldn’t be too concerned, Wren,” Sly said, but it came out almost too
quickly.  “The prophecy has twisted everyone’s thoughts.  Dreams and visions
cannot always be trusted.”

“What
is this prophecy everyone keeps speaking of?” she asked.  “I’ve heard of it,
but no one has told me what it is or where it came from.”

“It
came from me, I’m afraid,” Sly admitted.  “After I fell – after I’d received my
gift – I saw and spoke of things that I can’t even remember now.  It came in
four verses, and I was not even aware of what I spoke.  But my words were
recorded by the people who watched over me, and were written on great stone
rocks.  As time has gone on, others have embellished it.  They have given it
their own meanings.”

“What
does it really mean then?”

“It
is vague, but yet clear in the outcome of things.  It promised how the land has
died and goes on to proclaim how certain events will lead to a war, after which
all will be set right again – though the question of what is right may be
different to some.”

Once,
Rifter had made his own prophecy of sorts.  It had come in the form of a poem
that he did not understand, but it had been the answer to everything in the
end.  Perhaps that worked in the same way as this prophecy of theirs.

“Is
there anything definite that you can tell me?  Anything at all about Rifter or
the Scourge or…”

Please
let him know something
, she thought. 
Please let the others have been
right about him.

“I
regret that I cannot,” he said with a shake of his head, and she felt her heart
sink, “but I have not given up.  I will speak with the others, but I wanted to
speak with you first and
alone
.  I wanted you to be the first to know
that, even though mine is an amazing gift, my visions have been jumbled as of
late.  There are so many different things, and many of those seem to not
coincide with one another, but because I have seen them, I must believe that
every one of them is true.  I cannot reveal them to you, for to do so would
cloud your own judgment, but I will meet with the others once we return to the
camp.  I will gather their accounts and try to sort through them, matching what
I can.  Perhaps, that way, I can put the pieces together.  I am sure they would
be willing to meet with me.”

“Yes
– yes I’m sure they would.”

There
was a pause in her voice, and Sly’s catlike ears noticed it – if his mind had
not already told him that she had doubt in her words.

“Mach
and Mech are not here with you,” he said.  “And you are thinking of excluding
Nix.  He is here?”

She
looked at him in surprise.  “For now.”

“Hm,”
Sly considered thoughtfully.  “He would not like me to look at him.”

Wren
stared back in confusion, but she could think of little to do but listen on.

“He
will leave,” Sly predicted.  “Is this true?”

Though
Wren might have liked to avoid that answer, she knew the one she had to give.

“I
believe he will.”

Sly
was silent for a time.  It was a shame that she couldn’t watch his eyes to know
what he was thinking.

“After
everything, I really cannot say that I blame him,” he said finally.  “While his
account would be valuable, I fear that he would not speak.  I also believe that
his thoughts would be too harsh and tangled that I could not get a hold on the
truth.  He would try to hide from me.”

With
a sigh, Sly stood, folding his legs from beneath himself nimbly and then
reaching down for her.  She allowed him to help her up.

“Rifter
desires to see us, isn’t this correct?” Sly asked as they walked back along the
path to the settlement. “I knew that he would; only I do not know what he will
say.”

This
thing seemed to vex the lean boy.  His face twisted a bit.

“Calico
did tell me of her vision, and while she could not see clearly, I do not doubt
that the dream does hold some weight.  Try not to dwell on it, but we must
tread carefully, Wren.”

His
words gave her a chill, but she knew he spoke the truth.  He would talk with
the others now and gather from them, and then, hopefully, he would not keep his
deductions from her.

When
they reached the camp again, the celebration was finally dying down.  Calico
awaited them, standing anxiously at their approach.  And what was that in her
eyes?  Wren saw it, but she did not recognize it until, as they passed, Calico
gripped Sly’s hand.  He stopped for her and Wren saw a look of concern in the
huntress’ eyes.  Sly did not speak, but he directed his face toward her, so
that, if he had eyes, he would have been looking into hers.  But Wren did not
doubt that, in some way that no one else could understand, Sly
could
see.

After
a moment, the look fell from Calico’s face and she gave a short nod.  Her dark
eyes rose, seeming to just notice Wren.

Calico
opened her mouth to address her, but she did not have to go further.  Wren had
already caught sight of the boy who stood there, holding a satchel on one
shoulder, peering at her from beneath a sheet of dark hair.  At the admission
her gaze gave him, he stepped forward.

“Mach,”
she said with as much surprise in her voice as in her eyes, “I thought you had
wanted to stay behind.”

“I
did
want to,” he admitted, nodding his agreement, “but I couldn’t. 
After you all left, I couldn’t stop wondering what I might have found out, had
I come with you.  I knew I would kick myself if I didn’t get involved in this. 
So, here I am.”