“Emmett first. Hurry,” Keiran said, motioning quickly for him. Emmett knelt and crawled through the opening on what felt like a stone floor. Keiran handed the lantern to him and jumped back outside, urging the couple in.
Emmett reached out a hand and helped the young woman stand up just as the other young man crawled through. She was shorter than Emmett and probably in her early twenties. Her eyes were swollen red with crying, her pale complexion and button nose framed by medium-length blonde hair. She continued to sniffle, rubbing her nose as tears tumbled down her cheeks. The young man put a comforting arm around her, slightly taller than her with a similar complexion and his hair cut short across his forehead.
“Some help, please,” Keiran said through gritted teeth. Emmett handed the lantern to the young woman and reached an arm out to Sebastian, who Keiran was easing in through the low entrance with great effort. Sebastian cried out in pain, finally letting go of Keiran and collapsing against Emmett. Keiran quickly slid through and pushed back the boulder, returning it to its place.
By the lantern’s light, Emmett could see a deep tunnel bored into the earth. Structural beams framed the entry, and sconces along the tunnel wall held unlit torches. A wet, refreshingly clean wind blew out from the tunnel with the vaguest hint of falling water somewhere in the distance.
“In we go.”
Still supporting a labored-breathing Sebastian, Emmett looked at Keiran with incredulity. Even with the shock of the attack on Silvan Dea and the deaths he had already witnessed, he could not help but stare into the darkness with dread.
Oh, joy. More cave.
Keiran surveyed the room, resting his eyes on the young couple that stood holding each other. “May I have that, please?” Keiran asked the young woman, pointing at the lantern.
She nodded numbly, handing it to him. “Cheers,” he said with a forced smile, beads of sweat following down his angular cheeks. Even in this moment of great flight and despair, Emmett found Keiran’s presence a momentary comfort.
“What are your names?” Keiran asked with a deliberate, if forced, tone of reassurance in his voice.
The young woman said nothing, her eyes staring at the ground. The man looked up from her to Keiran, his expression a mixture of terror for himself and fear for the woman.
“Troy,” he mumbled. “This is my baby sister, Ellie.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Troy and Ellie. I promise we’ll get out of here.”
Keiran turned and opened the lantern window, withdrawing the wick with some effort and holding the flame aloft. Guarding the flame with his other cupped hand, he leaned against one of the walls. A brilliant flame emerged like a phoenix, streaking into the cave down a narrow aqueduct-like channel carved high along the wall. After a moment, the flame returned, streaking down the opposite wall.
Keiran blew out the flame in his hand and dropped the spent wick. He walked to Emmett and nodded at Sebastian, lowering his neck so Sebastian could reach an arm around.
“Come on, mate, not much farther,” Keiran whispered, Sebastian clutching still at the wound that freely bled through his soiled fingers. Perhaps the pain of his wounds cut through the despair of watching his twin die, for he was quiet and still now but for the hissing gasp with each movement.
“Just leave me. I can hold them off.”
“Keep it up and I bloody will,” Keiran gritted as he lifted Sebastian forward. “Emmett, come on, mate. Lead!”
“Uh, right, come on,” Emmett said to the couple. Swallowing his own claustrophobia, he led them down into the tunnel. The thin line of fire illuminated the corridor with soft, dancing light. He looked behind him to see that the young couple tentatively followed, the man wrapping his arm around the trembling woman.
“The tunnel bends to the right, Emmett, and crosses over a river.”
“Got it,” Emmett answered, continuing down the earthen corridor. After several yards, the corridor did bear right, its floor descending with a mild grade. With the turn, the wind grew colder, wetter, and the dull, hollow sound became rushing water. The floor curved up in a low arch like a bridge. On either side were wide openings in the floor, through which Emmett could see a river as clear as an untouched spring rushing underneath.
“I see the river,” Emmett called out over the loud noise of the rushing waters, finding that after he passed over the tunnel abruptly ended.
Keiran turned the corner still supporting Sebastian’s weight.
“Now what?” Troy asked, staring down into the river.
Keiran extracted himself from underneath Sebastian, leaning him gingerly against the wall. He looked down into the water and began removing his shoes.
Emmett’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding, right?” he asked skeptically, watching Keiran throw his shoes against the wall.
“We can’t go down that!” Troy yelled.
Sebastian coughed, his voice rasping. “Either you hold your breath or wait for the Revenants to find you.”
Ellie wept loudly, Troy in a state of complete shock. Emmett had already seen more than he could have believed possible and, understanding what their pursuers were capable of, recognized his only option.
“The water is like ice this time of year, but I can sort us on the other end,” Keiran said.
Troy let go of Ellie, who held onto herself and leaned against the wall. An expression passed between them as if they knew they had no other choice but to comply. He tentatively inched forward, leaning over to look into the wide openings in the floor. With one hand against the tunnel wall, Troy leaned down to run his hand in the rushing river, its churning spraying a fine mist of cool water up through the openings.
“It’s cold,” Troy said, turning to look back at Ellie. “But I think we can do it.” She whimpered, hiding her face in her small hands.
Keiran stepped around the couple, leaning in close to Emmett and motioning for Sebastian to join them. “All right?” he whispered, gripping Emmett’s shoulder.
Emmett nodded knowingly, their eyes exchanging unspoken fears. He watched Sebastian hobble along the wall to them in the corner, hissing sharply as he cradled his arm against the gash in his chest.
“Can you do this?” Keiran asked.
Sebastian clenched his jaw. “I’m going to lose a lot of blood in there if you don’t seal it up.”
Keiran pushed Sebastian’s hand away and forced his own against the wound, the dark blood seeping out between his fingers. “Emmett, help me hold Sebastian up.”
“I hate this part,” Sebastian growled as Emmett swung Sebastian’s other arm around his neck. Feeling as if he were being embraced by a silverback gorilla, Emmett prepared for the unknowable worst.
Keiran closed his eyes and intoned something low. Almost immediately, the awful smell of burning flesh suffused the area as a hissing sound filled the room. Sebastian gasped, his wide frame jerking against the pain as Emmett struggled to hold him despite his growing nausea. He held his mouth shut to keep himself from yelling, though as the hissing sound continued, his muffled cry soon grew as shrill as a child’s.
It eventually ended, Sebastian’s bucking frame going limp. His breathing was labored as he tried to settle himself. Keiran withdrew his hand tentatively, and Emmett was startled to see the wide, gaping wound had been cauterized completely underneath a painfully long scar.
Emmett looked at Keiran, who looked at him with resolution. “We need to leave now.”
“And Amala? We just leave her?”
Keiran’s green eyes became glassy, withdrawn, and to Emmett it seemed that some measure of strength had drained out of his face with the effort of healing Sebastian’s wound. He bit his quivering bottom lip and looked away, tilting his head closer to Emmett to whisper in his ear. “She’ll find us when it is safe to do so.”
“No!” Ellie screamed hysterically, a wrenching, painful screech that echoed down the corridor. Keiran and Emmett looked up in time to see a robed figure turn the corner swinging a wickedly curved blade. Troy threw
an arm up to shield himself from the blow, but the blade sliced through his arm and into his neck.
Keiran leapt in front of Emmett and Sebastian, raising an open palm toward the Revenant. He cried out a loud, discordant note. The man was hurled violently back against the tunnel wall. The limp body slipped to the ground, a swath of blood smeared along the wall.
Ellie screamed, nearly collapsing against Sebastian, who reached up through his own overwhelming pain and tried to hold fast to her. She flailed madly, screaming hysterically for her brother, whose mangled body fell forward, detached mostly from his head, and disappeared into the rushing water.
With his arm still outstretched, Keiran collapsed backward. He steadied himself against the cavern wall, and Emmett could see that Keiran was terribly drained. His unfocused eyes and slack jaw took several moments to return, during which time his body jerked spasmodically.
“Keiran! Are you okay?” Emmett shook him.
Keiran finally responded with a loud cough, rolling forward and heaving deeply as he lowered his head over his knees to steady his breathing “No more time,” he croaked.
Ellie was alternating between fits of hysteria and catatonia, and Sebastian’s trembling body had drained away most of the color from his dark features. Emmett stepped over Keiran and lifted Ellie off the ground. She kicked and screamed incoherently, but Emmett persisted and raised her over the floor opening. He had no way of knowing if she would live or die. But an icy prickling was already crawling up his spine. He knew what was coming, understanding the approaching paralysis and dread and seeing that neither of the Bards with him had much strength left.
“Take a deep breath,” he said to her as he lowered and released her into the rushing river. Her screams died away just as she disappeared in the torrent of water.
His muscles began to constrict, his movements slowing. Sebastian and Keiran were barely moving. There would be no help arriving, no special powers to protect him from the approaching Underdweller.
He grabbed Sebastian by the arm and heaved him over to the floor openings. He nodded to Emmett, drawing a deep breath just as Emmett pushed him headfirst into the river. Emmett then put his arm around Keiran’s waist and pulled him up. “Come on,” he struggled, lifting him to the water. Keiran was trying to speak over his continued coughing, but Emmett pushed him headfirst into the river.
Emmett took a step forward just as the Underdweller rounded the corner. He felt his body become rigid, his mind screaming against muscles that refused to comply. Drawing a deep breath, Emmett fell into the floor opening, his frozen form engulfed by the icy-cold waters rushing around him. Within moments the world was dark again, his body hurtling face-first down a smooth, wide tunnel.
CHAPTER 11
As Emmett was swept away, the distance from the Underdweller somehow returned some control over his body. He struggled to roll onto his back, gasping for air in the exposed tunnel. The water careened sharply to the right and then to the left before straightening downward. Emmett had no conception of the river’s direction or the distance he had traveled.
His descent slowed as the tunnel floor leveled off, emerging into a waist-deep riverbed. Gasping for air, he felt a strong hand grab onto his arm and pull him from the water until he was sitting upright on a sloping, muddy bank. “Up you go, mate.”
Emmett saw that they were in a heavily wooded inlet with a wide embankment and thick evergreen canopy on both sides. They stood at the base of a towering mountain range, at the bottom of which was located a large hole that water steadily poured from. Beside the river was a small cove. Sebastian was resting against a large boulder, his skin so pale that Emmett feared he might soon die. Ellie was huddled against the wall with her knees drawn up to her cradling arms as she rocked rhythmically in mute terror.
Keiran hobbled past Emmett into the cove, opening a crate seated inside underneath a pile of dead shrubs. He pulled two lanterns and matches out, lighting each and setting them down. “I’ve got enough left in me to sort Sebastian,” Keiran said, returning from the crate with bundles of towels and clothes. “There’s a small boat with a motor kept here. The Columbia River is downstream. We’ll use the boat to put a safe distance between the Revenants and us.”
“Where are we going?” Emmett stuttered through chattering teeth.
“Somewhere safe.”
“Okay,” Emmett accepted, noting how Keiran deliberately looked away and said nothing else. “What do you need me to do?”
Keiran turned to him with a smile, pained though it was by the obvious weakness in his face. It was an expression not only of confidence but appreciation. “Get Ellie to dry herself off, and then come help me with Sebastian.”
As Emmett turned his head and followed Keiran’s sideways glance, he saw for the first time what was floating in the water in front of Ellie. Emmett’s stomach turned inside out at the sight of the headless corpse, the surrounding water muddied with the blood and insides that radiated outward from the body.
Emmett barely breathed as he looked to Keiran. “Shouldn’t we do something with his body?”
“I don’t want to be caught defenseless while digging a grave.”
“But Keiran,” Emmett said as he lowered his voice.
Keiran glanced at Ellie once before looking solemnly into Emmett’s eyes. “Life is for the living, Emmett. We have to be getting on.”
Emmett finally nodded, taking the towels and clothes and walking to Ellie. Her hair hung dripping against her face, her tiny body trembling under heavy, soaked clothes.
“Ellie?” he whispered, kneeling down to eye level. “We need to get you out of those wet clothes. Can you stand up?” Her stare was unresponsive. Emmett followed her eyes to her brother’s remains. She nodded vacantly as she slowly stood.
Emmett considered the awkwardness of the situation and placed the clothes on the ground, unfolding the towel in front of her. Looking away from her, he said, “I’m going to hold this up while you change, okay?” Emmett turned his head and watched Keiran whispering to Sebastian, cradling his limp neck in one hand as his other passed over his midsection. Keiran was singing a low melody.
Sebastian gasped aloud, his body buckling. Keiran continued his song, closing his eyes and straining to hold Sebastian’s body. Sebastian kicked his feet and coughed founts of blood into the air, his arms continuing to thrash in Keiran’s strong embrace.
After several moments, Sebastian’s body fell limp. Keiran’s melody waned until Emmett heard only the nocturnal movements of the forest. He cleared his throat, chancing a glance down to see if Ellie’s exposed legs were covered yet. He felt the towel taken from his hands, and he finally looked to see Ellie wrapping it around her hair, wringing the water out with a lifeless expression.
He stepped back to Keiran, who sat with his back to the cove wall with Sebastian in his arms. Keiran’s face was unrecognizably tired. At Emmett’s approach, Keiran looked up to see Ellie drying herself off, wearing the overalls provided.
“I managed to pull out the poison that was on the blade that cut him. Help me get him changed.”
Keiran lifted Sebastian’s massive torso, and Emmett helped remove his torn clothes. His arms were both encircled in thick, tribal tattoos beginning at the wrist and wrapping all the way up past his shoulder and around his neck. Their patterns were varied and complex. Blood stained a torso crisscrossed in slashes—some new, others old and already scarred over. The tears along his midsection were closed underneath a layer of scarred, burnt skin reaching from his navel down his pelvis.
“I wish I could have done more, but I’ve expended too much energy tonight. He’ll have to mind the scars,” Keiran said, motioning to Sebastian’s stomach. Emmett thought of the deeper scar, of Sebastian losing his twin, the man who finished his thoughts with words that flowed in tandem with his own.
As they dressed Sebastian, Ellie returned to an upright fetal position against the cove’s far wall, staring blankly out into the forest with unfocused, lamenting eyes. K
eiran laid Sebastian down on the ground as he slept.
Keiran stepped behind Emmett and quickly pulled his pinstripe slacks off. Emmett held a towel up, averting his eyes out of modesty. Keiran stretched his back with an audible sigh before shaking his head and running his hands through his wet hair. As Keiran pulled an identical coverall over his body, Emmett caught a fleeting image of similar tattoos—deep, tribal patterns swirling in dark inks—around and contrasted against Keiran’s athletic, if pale-skinned frame.
“I’m going to get the boat ready and put Sebastian inside. There are dry socks and shoes in the trunk.”
Emmett waited until Keiran had left before changing, his skinny body feeling overly exposed in front of so many strangers. He changed quickly, drying his floppy hair. He found several pairs of soft shoes of various sizes with wool socks. Once dressed, he put his wallet into his back pocket and grimaced as he pocketed his soaked phone.
“One last thing,” Keiran said, stepping over to the crate and withdrawing a phone from it. “I hate these bloody things,” he mumbled, turning the phone on and taking pictures of each of them.
“What are you doing?”
“We need identifications,” Keiran said, squinting his eyes as he scrolled through the phone’s menu. “Ah, here we are, then,” he said, pressing a button and waiting a moment before bending down and smashing the phone onto a rock.
“Let’s get moving.”
Keiran navigated their boat along the shallows with a single oar for twenty minutes, the river eventually deepening enough that he could use the motor. Lying between Keiran and Emmett, Sebastian slept with effort, the occasional moan escaping his lips. Ellie hunched at the bow, staring blankly out at the passing trees before also falling into a coma-like sleep. Emmett’s mind numbly recounted the evening’s events as a silent, black and white picture show in his mind. He glanced at each person in turn, feeling selfish that his mind rebounded back on the direness of his own situation.
The Waking Dreamer Page 11
