Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (43 page)

The
touch of gentle fingers wrapping around Sly’s hand brought him back.

“Tell
them the rest,” Calico urged.  Sly hesitated, but eventually he gave in.

“It
would not suit Wren for me to tell you this, but it is direly important that I
do.  We all have secret strengths brought on by this darkness, and most have
not wished to express the extent of those strengths.”  The other boys glanced
at each other. “I have revealed mine to her and to you; you may all do what you
will with your own.  Unfortunately, I find myself in a situation in which Wren
– our beloved Wren – is a threat to me.”

Eyes
roved around.  They did not understand.

“There
is a secret about Wren, and she would hate me for telling you, but she has been
touched by Rifter’s demon.  I can sense a fire burning inside her.”

They
looked back at him dumbly – appalled no doubt, but confused.

“What
does it mean?” Toss inquired when the others would not.

“Sly
is our only hope of restoring this land,” Calico jumped in passionately. “It
means two things.  It means that Wren is a threat to Sly in this state.  It
also means that if worst comes to worst, Sly’s life is far more valuable than
hers!”

A
wave of shock ran over them all from beginning to end.  How could they wrap
their minds around that?  Each of them felt a strong, instinctual need to
protect her.

“If
the demon has indeed taken over Rifter, and perhaps he might have some control
over Wren now, she could turn against Sly and try to destroy him,” Calico went
on.

“I
have no doubt that it will not happen that way,” Sly tried to assure them,
shutting her down. “I am quite capable of taking care of myself.  But I’m
afraid that no more can be learned at this time.  All that can be done now is
to go to that place Rifter has instructed us to go, and see what we will find
there.”

“What
will you do, Sly?” Finn asked pointedly. “If he tells us lies, will you let us
know?  Or would you keep it secret?”

“Rifter
would want us to be honest with him, but he would not like to be opposed,” Sly
started.  “By calling us to him, however, he must be prepared to meet some
degree of hostility.  I would take him on, but I fear I might not have the
chance.”

The
others watched Sly, quite perplexed and hoping he would explain.  He did not.

“I
cannot see it, but I have a feeling.  I say to you: when we go up that hill and
into the ruins, be on your guard at all times.”  Even though they could not see
Sly’s eyes, they saw his grave expression. “And do not tread those grounds
unprepared for battle.”

1

That
night in her absent, unconscious state, Wren had visions of hands.

Hands,
palms open, reached for her from every direction.  They were all around her, in
every place that her eyes fell, but they could not touch her.  There was some
sort of barrier in the way, and the hands and fingers pressed against it,
leaving dark prints but not reaching her skin.  She was frightened but froze,
unable to move or escape – until a pair of hands resting on the sides of her
face woke her.

She
gasped and shot awake, opening her mouth to take in air as if she had been held
under water.  In the darkness, she heard a gentle hushing sound above her.  She
was pulled up into a sitting position by a strong arm behind her shoulders.

Her
eyes adjusted slowly, and there she saw that the one who held her was Sly.  Her
eyes examined his delicate and tortured face – very close to hers.  Before she
could open her mouth to inquire about this, he spoke.

“We
have to go, Wren,” he whispered.

In
her groggy, sleepless state, the girl was confused.  “What’s happened?”

“You
didn’t tell me, but I knew.”

Knew
what?
 
She felt his fingers dig into her shoulder, and she remembered how his nails
had pierced her before.

“Rifter’s
demon has touched you.  They say they sense his fire and are afraid of it.”

What?

Sly
turned his face to the wall of the tent.  She followed his motion, and when she
saw it, her heart leapt in her throat.  There, showing through the hide, were
the marks of dozens of bloody handprints.  She had not been dreaming?  Who had
done this then?  These native people?

“They
have tried to bind you, even though I insisted it would do no good,” Sly went
on.  “At any rate, they want you to leave.  They will not harm you when I am
with you, but we must respect their wishes and go.  The others are waiting for
us.”

Wren
nodded and accepted when he helped her to her feet.  The thought of the prints
on the walls made her cringe.  She was very willing to leave.  But there was
one thing…

“Sly
– Nix left, didn’t he?”

The
blind boy nodded solemnly, feeling her distress over it.  She looked at him and
her mind trailed away.  Nix had abandoned her and she felt horribly wronged,
but she knew she was also to blame.  In that moment, she wondered if she had
made the right choice in letting him go.  Even if she could fix the world and
find some way to deliver Rifter from his demon, could she deny that there may
have been another path she might have taken?  Could she forget about ideas of a
future with
someone else
?  Nix was an able protector.  She could have
gone back with him and forgotten all this, tried to make some sort of life
without–

Without
Rifter?  But don’t I still love him?
  She looked firmly toward the bandage
covering Sly’s absent eyes.

“Am
I doing the right thing?” she asked doubtfully.  She believed he knew what she
was speaking of.

“That
is not for me to say,” he responded.  That was all.  Taking her hand, he led
her from the dwelling.

A
light rain had begun to fall from the heavens in the twilight hours of early
morning.  Many Tribals stood by, watching Wren intently as she was led out of
the camp.  There were hunters with spears, elders and children glaring at her
sternly.  Yesterday they had embraced her, but today they might have burned her
if given the chance.  Sly did not veer from her side, and she tried to be
brave.

The
Wolf Pack – as it was now – was waiting near the edge of the camp, and Wren was
pleased to see that they were dressed in their finest – each one wearing their
satchels and weapons.  Finn was fully assembled in his odd suit of Tikilin
beneath the guise of a hump-backed creature.  Toss wore his usual fur and stood
there with the rain soaking his hair.  On his back was the large hammer.  Mach
had his strange gun at his side, wearing his goggles just as Finn, and he
peered off into the direction of the old Tribal settlement.

Calico
was there as well.  When they approached, Calico drew a cloak around Wren’s
shoulders and pulled up the hood, protecting her from the rain.  Wren was
surprised by this act, but the huntress said nothing.  There was no exchange
between them.

Looking
at them all, they seemed very grave as if they were to be a funeral
procession.  Wren could not say she was any different.

“We’d
best get going while the going’s good,” Finn commented flatly, turning off to
lead.  Toss and Mach followed him.

Wren
felt hesitant.  She was very aware that one of them was missing.  He was the
one who waited for her – the one that made sure her head was on straight.  Now,
Finn, Toss and Mach were going on without her, and here she was standing
alone.  She remained rooted to the spot, frozen by her thoughts that were as
dreary as the day.

Nix,
I’m afraid to face him alone.

Rifter…please,
don’t disappoint me.

From
behind her, voices drifted to her ears, and because the conversation was a more
pleasant thing to notice, she focused on it.

“I
cannot believe you are insisting that I stay here.”

Wren
stole a glance at the scene.  Calico was tying cloak strings at Sly’s throat,
and even though he did not need her to do this for him, he allowed her to. 
Perhaps he understood that it was nervous behavior on her part.

“I
would not like for you to come,” he told her. “You should stay here and ease
the tribe’s thoughts.  They need you to help them prepare.”

“But
what if
you
need me?”

Sly
seemed touched by her words.  He smoothed her damp hair lovingly.

“I
will always need you,” he told her, “but I believe this is something that my
brothers and I must do.  You’ve already been through quite enough for my
taste.”

Listening,
Wren recalled the ordeal at Bleed Neck Bay.  She wondered if Calico had told
him, or if he had seen it simply by being near her.

“If
you would have me go, just say the word,” Calico urged him.  “I would give my
life one hundred times for yours.”

“I
believe that you would,” he said, touching her face, “but it would be quite
unnecessary to do so.”

The
girl began to protest, but he hushed her.

“Things
will turn out well enough.  In the end, it will be as I promised.”

Calico
looked at him hopefully, but there was still a bit of doubt in her eyes.  He
smiled consolingly and embraced her.  She held him tightly, savoring his touch
as if she might never feel it again.

“We
have to go,” he said finally, gently.  His lover nodded as he pulled away.

How
strange to think of them together
, Wren thought.  Calico was doubtlessly
fickle in her choices about men, but she had been attracted to strength.  It
had not been such a jump from Rifter to Nix, but from Nix to Sly?  They were
completely different.  But perhaps this was right.  Maybe his calm demeanor was
what she needed to counter her volatile moods.

This
entire time, Calico had been with Sly, every day wishing to get back to him and
never speaking a word of his whereabouts.  In that moment, Wren could not
wonder why.  She was too jealous of the concern and affection that they had for
each other.  Where was her comfort?  Why was she so alone?

She
turned away before they saw that she was watching, and shortly afterward she
felt a light touch as Sly took her arm.  Wren turned to his gentle expression,
glistening with drops of rainwater.

“We
are all with you, Wren,” he said, assuring her that she was not alone as if
reading her thoughts.  He probably had been.

She
turned her gaze toward their destination, seeing that the others had stopped
when they found she was not following.  They looked toward her, waiting until
she would join them.  When she did, they would go forward.

I
have to do this now.  It’s time
.

She
took a step forward across the wet ground, leaving her neglected paths and
choices behind her.

2

Beneath
the rain, Nix trailed away into the quiet distance.  When he had left during
the night, he’d trekked out a couple of miles and slept on the ground until the
rain had awoken him, signaling that it was time to move on.  The day would be
dawning soon.  If he kept walking, he could reach the canyon in a relatively
short amount of time.  Once past that, he’d pass through the caves and try to
find a way into the mountains to avoid the Vork tunnels.  After that, it was
only to go back the way he had come, meeting with whatever adversity he would–

His
thoughts fell off and he stopped in his tracks, drawing his gun and aiming it
toward the ground.

“Don’t
move,” he commanded.  Seemingly, he was speaking to nothing, but the one he addressed
recognized the command.

Down
on the flat ground, his shadow stopped its struggle.  Even when he could not
see the shadow itself, he could feel it rebelling against him.  Now that it was
cast upon the ground by the light, its squirming had caught his attention.

At
his threat, the shadow mimic stood still and let its shoulders sink.  The
damned thing had been angry ever since he had parted from Wren’s shadow,
wherever it had gone.

Pathetic
imp.  Did it not know that women were trouble?

Yes,
women are trouble.  They only make problems between brothers
.

He
didn’t mean to, but he thought of Wren then.  He thought of the look on her
face when he’d turned and left her.  Why did she have to haunt him so?  No,
never mind that.  He knew why.  He shook his head, trying to free himself from
her.  He didn’t need Wren.

No,
I don’t need anyone.

Nix
looked toward the distance in front of him.  He had nowhere to go fast, and no
one was waiting for him to get there.  He’d told Wren this was what he wanted,
but was it?

It’s
too late to reconsider
, he reminded himself, and left it at that.

He
took a few more steps with an obedient shadow beside him.  Then once again it
began to tug, trying to free itself.  He stared down at it disapprovingly, but
the shadow grew bolder.  As if there was light shining on Nix from different
angles, the mimic duplicated itself around him several times.  The clones were
still connected to his feet, worn thin from separation, but every one of them
mocked him by doing exactly as he did.

This
angered him deeply.  He did not like to be mocked.  He aimed his gun at one of
them, and they aimed shadow guns back at him – and wherever else they felt was appropriate.

He
laughed aloud, at himself as well as his situation.  What was he doing,
worrying over shadows?  After so long, he had finally gone completely mad,
hadn’t he?  It was long overdue.  Loathing himself as much as his mimic, his
lip curled.

“Fucking
bastards,” he growled.  One by one, he began to shoot them.  The sounds
traveled for miles over the land.

3

Hours
of walking had finally led Wren and the others to the place they had been
seeking.  There was an incline to clear, but then they would be among those
fire-ruined structures that they could see on the hill before them.

They
had made it to the cliff-side Tribal camp which Rifter and the Scourge had
obliterated so long ago.

Rain
pattered against their heads, but everything was quiet.  Much too still, in
Wren’s opinion.  But why should it not be quiet?  The place had been abandoned. 
Had Rifter arrived yet?  Or maybe he was hiding here?  Wren moved on toward the
uneven terrain, marred by splits and fissures, until she was stopped abruptly
by Sly.

“I
want to have a look first,” he said.  The words sounded amusing coming from
him, but no one made any blind jokes.  “Finn, would you care to join me?”

“A
pleasure,” Finn obliged, passing the others.

Wren
watched them – both of them looking very much like creatures – moving up the
hill.  They were checking for what?  Rifter?  Danger?  Both as one and the
same?  She took in a shaky breath of the damp air, pulling her cloak tighter
around her.

When
she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder, she jumped, startled, but it was only
Toss who was looming over her.

“It
will be alright, Wren,” he assured her. “I’m sorry if this all bothers you.  I
tried to tell them that letting you see us with these weapons would upset you,
but Sly insisted.”

Wren
managed a smile – albeit a poor one.  She didn’t say anything, just turned
away, but in her mind she knew she was glad that they had brought these weapons
with them.  Somehow, she knew they would need them.