Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (45 page)

“What
happened with Nix?”

As
soon as the words passed her lips, she saw Rifter’s face twist, but it was not
in anger.  What she saw there was confusion.

“Nix?”
he asked, seeming utterly baffled.  “He’s dead.”

Her
eyes widened in surprise.  Her heart leapt once and then calmed again.  Dead? 
No, he was not dead.  He had just been with her!

Rifter
tilted his head toward her confusedly, trying to figure her out, but she
couldn’t quite guess why.  She felt the need to hide from him.  This was
certainly a very strange thing.  He thought Nix was dead, just as Nix had
thought
he
was dead?

“How?”
she asked.  Within, she began to feel hot and uncomfortable – nervous.

“I
suppose you’ve heard of our fight,” Rifter said, seeming disgusted at the
notion.  He paced toward the lip of the cleft, keeping silent as the sound of
his boots resounded around them.  “I searched for him for a long time, and I
didn’t tell the others, but I found him.”

Wren
was glad that he was not looking at her.  She knew her face revealed her shock.

“He
was dead.  Some nightmare had gotten him.”

They
stared at each other for quite a while, trying to guess the other’s thoughts as
the rain fell around them.  There were so many questions behind Wren’s mouth,
but she was suddenly afraid to ask him when they were alone like this.  In the
end, it was finally Rifter who relented to their stare-down.

“I
suppose I should go and see about the others, like you said.  One never does
know what will happen, does one?”

Wren
felt a lump in her throat.  Perhaps it had not been his intention, but she felt
that he had not been talking about the boys with those words.  He was talking
directly to her.  It was as if he was looking into her thoughts and heart,
seeing her sins.

One
never does know when the person they love will turn against them, do they?
  But she
couldn’t blame herself. 

If
so, why do I feel so guilty?

She
expected him to turn away then – wishing he would – but he stared at her
pointedly with his eyes burning into hers.

“What’s
wrong?” he asked, studying her.  “Have you changed your mind about me?  I’m not
so sure you’ve forgiven me.”

Wren
opened her mouth, wanting to answer, but the words were stuck in her throat. 
She wanted to tell him that she just needed the truth so that she could go
forward, but in this moment, she was not so sure who was speaking to her.  Was
this Rifter who was staring at her so harshly?

Or
the demon…

“You’ve
let the others get to you,” he said knowingly, nodding to assure himself. 
“They’ve turned you against me.”

He
stepped toward her and she could see that he was getting angry over his
assumptions – which were not so far from the truth.  She urged herself to
speak, but her throat had closed beneath his stare.  His blazing eyes caused
heat to flare within her, slowly rising inch by inch.  Her heart pounded, her
temples pulsed, and she grew lightheaded.

“
Wren?
”

She
heard his accusing voice, but it was distant from her now.  Wren’s eyes rolled
back and she felt herself slip away.  Deep in her belly, the demon fire rolled.

2

“This
is bollocks,” Mach announced disgustedly.  “Pure horse shit!”

 The
rest of them agreed silently.  They’d been forced into a cave, sitting
back-to-back with their hands and feet bound.  Pirates stood at the entrance,
pointing guns at them – and greatly enjoying themselves at that.  After years
of being off the island, this sort of thing was exactly what they had been
hoping for.  They told lewd jokes as they shared vials of liquor, reveling in
their victory.

Above
the cave opening, there was a burning fuse attached to several kegs of powder
over their heads.  When the explosion shook the air, rocks would pile in front
of the entrance and they would be sealed within.  There would be no light, and
there would be very little air.  There was no chance of escape now.  There were
too many guns.

“I
could get past them,” Finn said, for they were back far enough in the small
cave so as not to be heard if they spoke quietly. “They could shoot me and it
wouldn’t matter so much.  But that will not keep them from turning their guns
on the rest of you once I’m gone.”

“Why
do you suppose they haven’t killed us?” asked Toss. “We killed very many of
them, and they don’t want revenge?”

“They
have been instructed
not
to kill us,” Sly said simply.  Whether or not
he knew through prophecy, he sounded certain.

“By
who?” Toss asked.  “Do you think…?”

He
did not have to finish that sentence.  What he was thinking of was very clear.

The
Scourge.

“Perhaps,”
Sly relented.  “Without doubt, he has some role in this.  Yes, if he hasn’t
already, he will return.”

This
rattled them all, but they had no time to show fear.

“But
what good would possibly come from us being left alive?” Mach asked.

“Maybe
they want us to die
thinking
we’re going to live,” Finn suggested
grimly.

They
fell silent then, their ears taken by the sound of air rushing in and out of
the cave.  Was it pointless to think they would get out of this?  What if they
had stayed apart, had kept to their own places in the world and had never
followed Wren at all: this seemed to be on all their minds.

“Finn,
can you still see in the dark without your goggles?” Sly inquired, for the
pirates had taken their weapons and gear.

“Some,
but not too well.”

“I
can free us.  Toss likely could as well,” Sly whispered, already working his
claws on his own ropes. “But getting out of the cave after it collapses will be
a different matter.”

They
all paused and worked on this, sorting through strategies they had used in the
past to get out of difficult situations.  When they drew up nothing, they
started over.

“Maybe
Nix will change his mind,” Toss suggested.  “Maybe he will come looking for
us.”

“And
what are the chances he’ll find us since he won’t know we’re stuck in a cave?”
Finn asked of him, wriggling a bit in the ropes.

Toss
was silenced.

“This
is bollocks,” Mach said again. “We don’t have Wren, we don’t have a plan, and
we don’t have a leader!  The only one out there that can help us is gone!”

Within
Sly’s mind, something clicked.  He began to roll through this notion over and
over again, wondering if it was real.

“You
are speaking of Nix?” Sly asked.  The others were stopped by his question,
thinking that it was a ridiculous thing to ask.

“Yes;
Nix.  He was with us, you know.”

Sly
shook his head.  Yes; he was certain he saw it, but what did it mean?  “Nix
could not help us.”

“Because
he’s a self-centered
ass
,” Finn commented.

“No,
it’s because he’s dead.”

There
was an uncomfortable silence after that in which only their thoughts were loud.

Dead? 
Nix?  It’s not possible.  He’s much too capable.

“Since
he left us?” Toss asked finally, fearing that they might have sentenced him to
death by letting him leave them.

“No. 
Years ago,” Sly said with a shake of his head.  “I-I see it now…”

Impossible! 
They had all seen Nix except Sly, and who was he to judge?  Each one of them
had spoken to Nix, and he was very much alive.  They had seen him fight.  They
had heard him make demands.  They had watched him protect Wren.

“Are
you sure the air to your brain isn’t already cutting off, Sly?” Finn asked,
fairly agitated. “I’ve been walking with the bastard for days!”

Sly
sliced through his ropes, still holding his hands behind him.

“So,
you are meaning to tell us that the man we’ve been looking at this whole time
is a ghost?” Toss asked.

The
ears atop Sly’s head perked up at the notion.

“Yes,”
he said, his face lighting up in a way that none of the rest could see.  “Yes,
that’s exactly it.”

The
animal boy laughed, unable to hold it in.

“What
the hell, Sly,” Finn said with a shake of his head.

“And
what other reason do ghosts have to linger,” Sly asked shrewdly, a wide smile
on his face, “than if they are
not finished
!”

It
was clear that Sly understood what he had said in some private way that amused
him, but it was lost to the others and none could bring himself to ask.  Sly
seemed to have slipped off into a world of his own that could not be broken
through.  The others put it away from them.  There were more important things
to think of other than Sly’s apparent lapse of sanity.  Figuring out how to
escape would be a good start.

Above
them, a muffled explosion rattled the air.  Dust and rock fell down across the
opening that let in the gray daylight, piling up until nothing could be seen of
the outside world.  They were left in darkness with the sounds of pirate laughter
ringing in their ears.

1

Across
the ground, Calico’s woven shoes trekked through mud.

What
had she been thinking, letting Sly go on without her?  She had done too much to
protect him to give up now.  She’d taken special care not to reveal his
whereabouts to the others until it was time.  It had been because of him that
she had put herself on that ship and gone to Bleed Neck Bay.  That was near
where he had seen Wren in his vision, and Calico had gone to bring her to him. 
He had advised her not to go, but she had not listened, even though she knew to
take his warnings to heart.  But that was behind her now.  There was danger
ahead, and she had let him go off to it.

He
should have known she wouldn’t be able to stay behind.  Perhaps he
had
known that.

The
rain had stopped by now, but the sky was still dark.  She halted at the incline
that would take her into the old Tribal camp – her former home before a battle
between the Rifter and the Scourge had destroyed it.  Now the structures were
in ruins and the earth had been torn apart by quakes.  It had once been a place
to connect with the spirits, but the land had been scarred, and it was no
longer sacred.

Everything
was quiet now.  The ruins dripped steadily with old rain.  It made her shudder,
knowing that the black clouds lived here.

Her
mind was screaming for her to turn back, but she could not.  Sly had come here,
and so it was where she belonged as well.  Cautiously, listening all around
her, she made her way up the slope toward the cliff, but somehow, she knew that
she was not going to find them all here.  But if not, where would Rifter have
taken them?

Reaching
the top, she nearly dropped her satchel at the sight of the bodies.

Calico’s
heart pounded, fear overtaking her breath.  Without taking heed to any danger,
she rushed over the ground, glancing down at mutilated corpses of pirates,
looking for the one she loved – for any of them!  There was a bit of ground to
cover, but she found neither hide nor hair of the Wolf Pack.

Where
could they be?  There must be some sign!

Calico
stopped, becoming still as she listened.  Had she just heard a sound?  No,
perhaps not.  She looked down once again, seeing a paling pirate corpse, guts
spilling out from his torn stomach.

Sly’s
work
. 
She recognized it easily enough.  Though the sight disgusted her, she knelt
over the body to think.  She felt she had known this was going to happen, but
how
had
it happened?

“They’re
not here.”

Calico’s
muscles jerked at the voice, growing taut.  She pulled a dagger swiftly from
the corpse’s belt, facing upward to defend herself, but gasped at who she saw.

He
was soaked with rain, his hair flattened against his head and face, his coat
thoroughly soaked.  He had left, hadn’t he?  They had said he had gone back! 
So how on earth had he beaten her here?

“You– 
How did you?”

Nix
crossed his arms, peering down at her with that one stern eye. 

“No,
I don’t know where they went,” he said, ignoring her. “But something definitely
happened.”

Calico
did not have to look around at the corpses again to grasp the unnecessary
nature of his words.

“I
have to find Sly,” she informed him, turning away.  She wasn’t sure if she
should have expected a confrontation about a relationship between her and one
of his lost brothers, but she did not get one.

“Well,
he’s not here.”  That was all Nix said, but it was enough to rub her the wrong
way.