Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (50 page)

The
Scourge stepped out of the cabin, a river of dark blood flowing closely behind
his boots.

1

Though
there had been a battle amidst the ruined structures of the former Tribal
settlement, and the bodies of pirates were littering the ground with their
blood feeding the soil, there was still suitable room to make fire.  There had
been far too much attention lavished on this place today, but all that had
passed.  Now it was quiet.  Away from all the death, the Wolf Pack made their
camp.

They
had been here before.  Years ago, it was the last place they had slept before
the end.

There
was a stream down the hill that had allowed them all to clean themselves of
blood and dirt – of the events of the day.  It was only mild refreshment, but
it was still much appreciated by all.  Treading back and searching through
fallen, half burnt tents produced a few skins and woven blankets that they were
all grateful for.  Scattered about the camp, they had arranged places for
themselves to sleep comfortably within the renewed shelters of makeshift tents,
but for now, they all gathered around the fire.

The
seven renegades of the corruption huddled together, eating strips of dried
meat, and having very little else to say that had not been previously
addressed.  This was not a time for accusations or quarrels, or even for
stories of tactics and survival.  This time was for silent reflection and rest.

Finn
was patching small nicks in his suit of Tikilin, and he’d offered to do so for
the others as well.  The precious mineral made everything stronger, but the
suits that held it were difficult to work with.

Mach
had been polishing his gun for a long time in a distracted fashion.  Being a
young man with such an untamed tongue, one may have thought that nothing would
disturb him enough to take silence as refuge, but he kept his thoughts to
himself, and he did not even look into the faces of his companions.

Beside
him, Toss was very different.  His small black eyes kept peering around at the
faces of those around him, though very few of them lifted their eyes to look
back at him.  He hated the silence, and wished one of them would break into
this space that he thought was so awkward, but he dared not do so himself. 
Though he normally could hold a great deal of food, he hardly ate, peeling the
meat into tiny portions.

Sly
had his face directed toward the fire, though where his attention truly was, no
one knew.  Calico sat beside him, looking at him regularly as if he would
speak, but he sat still and quiet as if he was not aware of her presence at
all.  Even so, she looked as if she wished to say something to him, but
couldn’t bring herself to.

Rifter
was going through the many weapons that he had with him, cleaning and
sharpening them all one by one.  By the look of things, it was going to be a
very long job indeed.  It was strange how, when one of them did glance his way,
he was certainly not Nix in their minds any longer.  He was Rifter, as if he
had never ceased to be called by that name.  He’d been Rifter all along,
steering them and guiding them as always, even without meaning to.  Now, he
hardly regarded his followers as he sat, not needing their attention or their
constant admiration as he once had.  He’d grown now.  He’d learned a few
things, and he’d become better for it.

Wren
was sitting beside him, staring at the flames.  She shifted just a bit, and he
sent his seeing eye to her.  Her arms wrapped around her knees, and when she
saw his gaze, she looked at him.  There were heaping mounds of thought behind
her eyes – he could tell that – but what exactly she thought about, he did not
know.  She, however, did not break her gaze away from him, and eventually he
understood.

“Perhaps
it’s time we all tried to sleep,” he proposed, gathering his belongings.

The
rest of them raised their heads when he broke their long-standing silence, but
perhaps some of them had been thinking the same thing.

“Yes,”
Sly said quietly, coming out of a trance. “I have a feeling that none of us
will get much rest tomorrow.”

None
of them asked him to elaborate.  Sly rose from the fireside first, moving away
without saying another word to any of them.  Calico watched him go, looking a
bit concerned, but she did not follow immediately.  Finn continued with his
work, but Mach gave up on his, hardly regarding them as he rose.  He blew out a
sigh and headed off to the place he’d made for himself to sleep, out of sight
of the fire, like all the others.  They’d thought it was best to scatter out
over the plateau, not only for peace and solitude for the night, but in case
danger did return here they would not be grouped all together as easy targets.

After
several moments, Calico could no longer sit still, rising up to go in the
direction Sly had gone.  Once Rifter had gathered his things, he and a
weary-looking Wren also left the circle.

Toss
looked over at Finn, wanting some sort of consoling discussion over coming
events, but Finn could not offer his brother that.  He did not know what was
going to happen any more than the rest of them.

“We
will see what tomorrow brings,” he said simply as the fire’s light flickered
across his face, making the line of his frown even grimmer.

2

Sly
wandered away through the village ruins, easily avoiding all obstacles despite
the darkness and his absent eyes.  Now was not time for sleep, but for
meditation.  There were many things to think of – to look into – and he needed
to do it in the quiet, still night with only the earth around him.  It would
help him to see.  The wind would whisper secrets to him, and tomorrow, he would
know what to do.

He’d
been aware of the footsteps before they were directly behind him, and the touch
of a hand resting gently on his shoulder urged him to stop in his trek.  He
didn’t turn back, but someone had stepped around to face him, overtaking him with
a soft kiss.

He’d
known she had followed him, but if he hadn’t, the feel of her lips was so
familiar that he couldn’t have mistaken it.  Calico’s hands cupped the ears
that were high on the sides of his head, urging him deeper into her kiss.  The
sensation was so pleasant to the whole of his being that he gave in to it
completely, unfailing to return every kiss back to her lips.  When her mouth
broke from his, he couldn’t say he’d wanted it to, but he knew kisses didn’t
last forever.  Nothing did.

“You
need to know that I love you,” Calico said quietly, pressing her forehead
against his.

“I
do know that,” he assured her.

His
clawed hands slipped to her back, holding her close, and when she breathed, he
could feel a shudder within her.

“You’re
afraid,” he said, as if it were some great revelation. “I don’t want you to be
afraid.”

“You
did not say: ‘You don’t have to be afraid’.”

He
smiled at the sound of her observation.  She was right.

“Many
things could happen in the next while, and many other things can alter those
things.  It can be complicated, but everything will turn out as it should.”

The
girl was silent in considering this.  He knew what she was thinking.  It was
the same thing she had been concerned about since she’d heard it.

“If
there’s a chance that she will hurt you, I
will
kill her.”

Calico
was talking about Wren.  Sly wanted to assure her once again that she need not
be bothered with that possibility, but his mind somehow managed to wander
elsewhere.  Why did she feel such a strong need to result straight to violence
against Wren if it was a question of his life?  He knew the answer, and it
saddened him.

“If
I did not have these powers…”  But then he stopped.  How had those words gotten
out of his mouth, slipping past a trained tongue?

He
could not see the look on her face, but he glimpsed it just the same.  She was
hurt and confused, looking toward his covered eyes.

“What
are you saying?”

He
shook his head, unwilling to go further with this.  Perhaps he’d already gone
too far, damaging her feelings and breaking her resolve to defend this love of
theirs.  He had to admit, she’d been loyal to him.  She’d gone out of her way
to please him – risking her life to retrieve Wren for him.  He could see what
she’d endured during that endeavor, but he did not want to look.  She’d been
captured by pirates, tortured, abused –
more
than abused.  It hurt his
heart to think of it.  But that did not change the fact that she’d only gone
through those things for the island and not for him.

After
several moments of her stillness, he felt her throw her arms around his neck. 
She hugged him tightly, and he was grateful for her action of forgiveness.

“It
is important,” she said, “what you can do if you are allowed to.  I have to
make sure that happens.  It’s true that I know the value of your powers, but I
would never want death to come between us.  Even so, I would rather die for you
than be left without you.”

She
pulled back and examined the delicate shape of his face, and her fingers slid
upward from his chest to his neck, continuing on across his cheeks until they
had slid beneath the strip of cloth that covered his sightless eyes.  He did
not stop her from lifting it, and she was left staring at the scarred flesh
where his eyes had once been.

There
were no longer holes there, only disfigured flesh.  How only his eyes had been
touched and the rest of his flesh had not, he did not know.  He could only
assume that it came from the secret gift that the sun had given him.  There
were black symbols burnt into the already dead flesh of his eyes.  Calico’s
people had put them there.  When they’d found him, burned and broken on the
ground, they’d used every magic they knew to restore him.  They’d bound his
soul back into his body by these markings, and what they had done with their
earth magic – coupled with the sun’s power – had turned Sly into what he was.

His
ears and tails had grown gradually.  For a while, he’d had a difficult time of
it all, with painful visions and sleepless nights, and it had been during some
of those nights that Calico had fallen in love with him.  She’d watched him
secretly – he’d known it – and she’d seen him down by the lake past her
people’s camp.  He’d spent hours there at night, engulfed in darkness,
practicing fighting alone, moving as gracefully as a limber feline.  There had
also been times when he’d simply sat on the ground, or would wade out into the
water.  That was when she’d first seen what he could do.

He
made the grass grow, the water pure, and the air cool.  He knew, ultimately,
that it was his power that had drawn her to him.  They’d spent time together,
talking of ways that they could rid this world of evil.  They’d shared
languages and taught each other many things.  They had come to need each
other’s company.

The
first time she’d urged him to touch her, he knew he would never desire anyone
else.

Even
if she had cared about someone else first.

With
the burned flesh of his eyes exposed, she kissed him again, and in return, his
arms enveloped her.

There
are thoughts to be had
, Sly tried to remind himself, but it did little to
fight against her insistent touch.

The
human side of him knew that it was no time to think of anything but the pending
war, but the animal side of him could
not
think without having her
first.  He peeled away her clothes efficiently – carefully – pulling her warm
body against his.  She was blind in this moment as well, closing her eyes to
concentrate fully on his perfect caresses.

They
made love on the barren ground, with the soil, wind, and sky coming to life
around them.  Calico stretched out her hands to dig into the hard earth, but
her fists instead gripped lush tufts of grass.

3

Away
from the fire’s light, Wren was resting on the ground, wrapped in the thick
warmth of an old blanket beneath the cover of a slanted tent.  She’d thought
that she would have a better chance of finding rest if she gave herself a bit
of distance from the others.  She’d
thought
she was tired, but that did
not seem to be it at all.  In fact, she was extremely restless, and it was
his
fault.

She
lent her gaze to Rifter, seeing that he was sitting with his back to her,
working once again on his weapons.  He was smoking that forsaken pipe – as if
he might have immediately kicked the habit he’d forced on himself.  He was
acting no different than he had been before – when he’d pretended to be Nix –
so how could she be surprised that he hadn’t changed his disposition?  Still,
she couldn’t understand why he didn’t want to be near her.  The
false
Rifter had shown her more affection than this.  She knew his secret now, so why
wouldn’t he come near?

As
if he had heard her rapid thoughts, he turned his head just slightly to peer at
her.

“You
should really try to get some rest.”