Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (44 page)

4

Heading
up the slope, Sly and Finn stepped softly.  They were the eyes and ears;
perhaps that had been what Sly had considered when he’d asked Finn to come with
him.  Both of them together wouldn’t miss a thing.

The
camp was quiet, save for the rain that tapped against flaps of ragged hide
hanging from the skeletons of forgotten dwellings.  Their feet sank into the
soggy ground, but the faint sound of it could not be helped.  It was just inside
the camp where Sly stopped.

There
is something here
. 
Finn’s eyes peered about.

“Do
you see anything?” Sly inquired quietly from beside him.

“Actually,
Sly, I –”

He
did not get to finish.  A gurgling sound reached his ears, and when Finn turned,
he saw that Sly had his claws in the throat of a man who had not been there
before.  Blood ran down Sly’s arm from the wound as he held the man by his
jawbone.  Like a hooked fish, the dying one writhed and gasped before Sly
dropped him to the wet ground, clenching his fist and mashing the blood between
his fingers, performing this without any inkling of an expression on his face.

“Make
the call,” Sly said.

Finn
looked forward at what he was able to see with his goggles – man-shaped heat
detections scattered about the camp, coming for them now.

“
Pirates
!”
he yelled back to the others, and swiftly drew his gun.

5

Down
the hill, Mach and Toss did not hesitate to rush in when they heard Finn’s
voice, but Mach did take a moment to push Wren closer to the ground.  She’d not
been expecting it, but contained her shriek as she peered at him past her hair.

“Stay
down no matter what!” he instructed. “And don’t make a sound!”

Wren’s
eyes were wide as her mind began to race.  Pirates?  How could this be?  She could
not see over that hill from where she was crouched, but she could certainly
hear the noise.  There were grunts and yells, blows being delivered, gunfire,
blades clashing.  There was no way to know if the boys were alright.

They
aren’t boys
,
she thought suddenly. 
They’re men now
.  But in either case, she did not
want them to die.

Perhaps
she could help them!  No, that was ridiculous.  She could not fight an animal
off, let alone a pirate.  Lying there, Wren was frightened, but she couldn’t
stand not knowing.  Cautiously, she pulled herself up–

And
then something collided with her so forcefully that she was thrust upward from
the ground.  She screamed even though she knew that she shouldn’t.  What had
happened?  She struggled as she flew through the air, bracing herself for
impact, but she did not go down.  She went
up
.  She realized that there
were strong arms cradling her then, and when she turned her head, shattered
amber eyes were peering at her from within a deeply tanned face.

“I
missed you,” the white-haired boy said with a little smile.

“Rifter!”
she cried.

Her
heart lifted at his sight, and that pleased her.  She had not known what would
happen when she saw him, and she was glad for this reaction on her part.  It
meant she had missed him as well.  She wrapped her arms tightly around his
neck, refusing to let go – but then she remembered more important things.

“No,
Rifter, we have to go back!  You have to help them!”

“They
can fend for themselves,” he told her, not having to ask about the Pack’s
predicament.  “I have to make sure you’re safe.”

He
spoke so calmly; so certainly.

“What
if they are killed?” she pressed, quite aghast.

“They
will be fine,” he assured her.  “Just trust me like you always have.  I need
that from you.”

Wren
knew that arguing with him would do no good, but it did not cure the concern
that she felt.  He didn’t say anything else, and her eyes peered toward the old
camp as it slipped away.  She rested her head on his shoulder as her long hair
slapped against her face.  Wren breathed calmly, but she could not say that she
was at ease, even with his assurances.  Not at all.

6

“
Pirates
!”

From
all throughout the camp, pirates rushed toward the sound of Finn’s voice. 
There were dozens of them and only four boys, yet the pirates did not know
their secrets – the extent of how the darkness had latched onto them just as it
had taken the land.  These boys had been bound to it – to the world by Rifter
and by blood.  Of course the land would favor them.

The
dirty, smelling seadogs, slick with rain, approached.  The boys readied
themselves.

Mach
was the first to move.  His gun rose, aiming toward the advancing villains –
the enemies of their youth.  He was as swift as lightning, and his aim was
immaculate.  He’d emptied his cartridge and shot down seven pirates – two with
one bullet – in a matter of seconds.  He withdrew another cartridge and
attached it speedily.  All this before the pirates even made it in to the rest
of them.  He and his twin had both shared this gift of swiftness.  It was only
too bad that they were apart.

Finn
saw the advancing men as blotches in shades of orange and red.  From his belt
he withdrew two long knives, and though the pirates had swords, they stood
little chance.  He deflected their weapons speedily, slicing their hands before
cutting their throats.  He allowed them to clash their swords into him, because
it did not do damage.  The Tikilin helped, but in truth, Finn was thick-skinned
and hard to damage.  Even now, the horrible gashes made by the nightmare in the
cave had been reduced to scratches.  He sliced away unyieldingly, not caring
that he was splashing himself and the others with dirty, pirate blood.

Toss
wielded the large hammer, and while it would take an extremely strong man to
even swing the instrument, the large boy had no problem managing it with speed
and accuracy.  He was a gentle soul, truly, but if he could find it in himself
to hate any man, it was a pirate.  He smashed down with the hammer, and any
that happened to be caught in range was knocked from his feet, his bones
crushed.  Toss’ strength was impossible to measure, and because of his trusting
nature, it was the only thing that had kept him alive this long.

Sly
was not afraid of dirtying his hands, and he’d best not be if he wanted to
live.  He threw his claws about accurately, slicing flesh.  The sharp nails
shot forward, penetrating skin and muscle, ripping organs.  His eyes were gone,
but he could see
everything
.  He saw what was in front of him and what
was behind him.  He dealt with them accordingly.

He
was grasping a string of bloody guts when something strange came into his mind.

Something’s
happened.  Something’s changed.

He
searched around as best he could while being attacked, trying to place this
feeling he felt.  He found it when he found Wren.  She was not where they had
left her.  Sly felt the demon.

Rifter
came for her
.

At
that moment, his ears caught a sound, a whispered chant penetrating his mind. 
It resounded, catching all their attentions.  Though the boys and pirates alike
knew what it was, it seemed impossible.

Whisper
, Sly realized,
aware like the rest.  Though the wisp’s presence seemed completely out of
place, none of them had ever known where she had gone after Rifter had banished
her the final time.  Perhaps they had assumed she was dead, but the truth was
that they hadn’t given much thought to her until now.

But
she had returned!  Would her purpose be to help them?  When the blessing fell
over them, they received their answer.  Sly felt it like the rest.  He felt
himself growing weaker.  The pirates, on the other hand, seemed to move with
fluidity, as if they were fully synchronized.  They cleared a distance from the
Pack, which had somehow compressed into a circle – back-to-back, every one of
them.  There were metallic sounds of disturbance to the rainy day as all the
pirates stepped back and drew guns, surrounding them.

The
Pack hesitated.  Corpses of fallen pirates lay at their feet, but there were
still a few dozen standing there holding guns at them.  Where had they all come
from?

“Drop
your weapons!” one man ordered, and others chimed in, shouting their demands,
cursing and spitting at them.

Out
of breath, the Pack was uncertain.  Sly lifted his voice enough for them to
hear.

“He
came.  He took her away.”

Finn,
Toss, and Mach were not sure if they felt relief or fear, but they knew what he
meant.  Wren was gone – safe, hopefully – and they were only to worry over themselves
now.  Looking down the barrels of these guns, what other choice did they have
but to obey?

“We
should,” uttered Mach.

Standing
there silently in the rain, they dropped their weapons into the mud.  The
pirates began to chuckle, several of them stepping forward to bind their
captives’ arms and legs.  Wet and conquered, they shamefully withstood the
ropes.

“This
is a dark day,” Sly said quietly.

1

Rifter
took Wren a safe distance away, in an area surrounded by large rocks.  Here,
she would be hidden and safe, but the girl would not stop looking over her
shoulder toward the cliff-side, worrying over the rest of them.  Rifter guided
her beneath an overhang so that she would be protected from the rain, but she
felt little relief.  Only guilt.

“Now
that I am safe, you should go help them,” Wren insisted adamantly as soon as
she was out of his arms.

Rifter
shook his head, water dripping from his soaked tendrils of hair as he knelt
beside her.

“There’s
no need.”

“What
do you mean, no need?  They’ll be killed!”

She
knew she was looking at him frantically, but he was calm and tolerant.  That
frustrated her.

“I’d
been waiting for all of you for a short time already.  When the pirates began
to show up, I hid away.  I knew that somehow they had guessed our venture. 
They knew that you and the Pack were going to meet me here.  I heard them say
they were to take you as a captive and barricade the boys in a cave.  That way,
they could not interfere further when they came after me.”

“Yes
but – !”

He
silenced her.  “Trust me, Wren.  I know where they are going to take them. 
Once they realize you’re gone, the battle will end.  It was you they wanted –
to lure me in.  But it is truly best that I wait here with you and then go
after them later when there are fewer pirates about.”

She
wanted to protest, but he did not allow her to.

“They’ll
be fine.  I
promise
.”

He
seemed so sure that he was telling her the truth.  She, however, was not so
confident.

Before
she got the chance to protest, he touched her face.

“I
missed you so much,” he confessed.  It took her off guard.  His strange eyes
stared into hers, his lips smiling at her gently.  “I felt bad about leaving
you alone.  I worried about you constantly.”

He
brushed her nose with his, and all the bad things around her seemed to
disappear.  Her fingers stroked his face, unable to help herself.

“I
worried about you, too.”

His
lips moved gently to hers, but then, behind her eyes, there was someone else
aiming to kiss her lips.  There was someone else with his hands against her
back – someone who had kissed her before and she had
wanted
him to.  He
had lowered his lips to hers.  She’d felt a desirous need deep within her at
his closeness.  He’d barely let her feel the sensation of that kiss, but then
he’d stopped.  He’d said–

“No,”
she said suddenly, jerking her face from Rifter’s as if she might have been in
pain.

“What’s
wrong?” he asked, searching her eyes.  For a moment, she could not look at him
directly, but she resolved to be brave, forcing herself to look into his
strange eyes.

“I
wasn’t able to bring all of the boys, like you asked,” she said with regret,
but all the while she watched him, gauging his reaction.  At this, he did not
seem disturbed.

“I
know you gathered the ones you could,” he said tolerantly.  “The others, well,
perhaps they were unavailable to be gathered.”

This
struck her.  “What do you mean?”

“I
think you know,” he responded.  He was being vague, and not just to spare her
feelings.  He was hiding from her like the rest of them.

“I
need to ask you something.”  Her eyes studied his face.  “It’s important to me;
please tell me the truth.”

Wren
bit her lip, wondering how she might speak of it without making him angry, but
in the end, decided to be forward.