by Lenore, Lani
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.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
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.
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 swif
tly 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.
