Dreamscape: Saving Alex (28 page)

The tingles left by Arrow’s lips lingered. I
puckered, refusing to open my eyes and face reality. Even ‘now’ had an expiration
date, and I heard it ticking. Arrow must have sensed my unease and pressed his
lips against my forehead. I relaxed. Worry would do nothing but steal precious
seconds, and I had already lost too many.

Pulling back from the warmth of Arrow’s embrace,
my gaze strayed between his eyes and his soft lips. “What do we do now?”

He brushed a snowflake off the tip of my nose with
a kiss. “Nothing’s changed. We just continue.”

“Nothing’s…changed?” I asked. He was right and yet
so wrong. It had never been so obvious to me that everything was different.

“Nothing for me has changed, Alex. You stole my
heart the moment you soared through the air and pummeled that giant. I knew
then that everything I thought I understood or wanted was a soft whisper of
what I needed. I need you, and now that you’re here, committed, I plan on
holding on as long as I can. We’re doing this together.”

Together. I liked the sound of that. My negative
reaction to reliance on someone slipped away, replaced by a measure of comfort
and reassurance. My tongue tripped over the words I wanted to say, but it
didn’t matter. The swelling in my chest poured out of me, and I knew it showed
in my eyes.

“Together,” I whispered, and pulled him close for
another kiss.

He reluctantly pulled my hands from around his
neck, kissing each as he lowered them between us. “We still have a long way to
go, and I don’t want to risk these steep cliffs for much longer. Once we round
the top of the mountain, the terrain should even out, and it’ll be easy riding
until we descend into the foothills.”

“Easy?”

“Well, straightforward at least. After these
cliffs, we’ll go through Shadow Valley and then down the foothills.”

“What happens then?” I asked, looking down at our
hands entwined under the long sleeves of the cloak.

“Then…” he said. “Then, we’re almost there.”

“Oh,” I said, wishing I hadn’t asked.

“But that’s still a ways off, and we don’t need to
think about it right now. Now is about you and me, right?” He grinned
mischievously.

“Yes it is,” I said, grabbing his hand as we began
the long walk back up the trail.

A trance of new love covered us as we hiked back
to the horses and rode through the mountains. Snow glittered in the air, and
birds twirled in a majestic dance, their neon feathers streaking across the
blue sky. But more captivating than the panorama was the man riding at my side.
My eyes drifted over to him, no more than a few feet away, and I smiled.

The hours blended together and, sooner than I
expected, we had unloaded and set up for the night. Camping in the mountains
proved a challenge, with the only patches of dry ground pressed up against the
bases of trees. Even after clearing an extra few feet of snow and widening the
area for a fire and the horses, our quarters were tight. I didn’t mind.

I leaned back into his arms, finding the curved
spot at the nape of his neck. The warmth from the fire and his skin melted me
against him. I sighed. “This is nice.”

He smiled. “I’m glad you stopped fighting. I was
beginning to worry that I had lost my charm somewhere.”

“Oh no, your charm was always there. I just didn’t
know what to do with it.”

He chuckled and tossed a green branch into the
dwindling flames. Rich, thick smoke floated around us as the leaves crinkled
and hissed, succumbing to the heat. “I’m glad we figured it out.”

“You know what I haven’t figured out yet?” I
asked.

“What’s that?” He looked down at me with raised
eyebrows.

“Promise me you won’t laugh?” I scrunched my nose
and turned to face him.

“I promise,” he said, even more intrigued.

“Okay, how do I phrase this…” I hummed. “There are
certain similarities between the game I played and this world.”

“Go on,” he said, trying to hide a smirk.

“Well, some of the people I’ve met are similar,
the animals too…in the game, there were even fireworks when I completed a
level. Since I’ve been comparing this world to what I knew from the game, I
wondered…how do I compare to your history and the legend of the Golden Hero?” I
bit my lower lip and gazed ahead into the fire, almost afraid to hear his
answer.

“Ahhh, I knew you had been comparing me to the
game!”

“No, no, not you,” I said in a rush. “I never saw
you in the game, I promise. I would’ve remembered.” Heat rose to my cheeks.

“Alex,” he said, turning me to face him. “I don’t
know what has caused you to doubt yourself. Nothing I’ve seen from you in your
actions, words, or convictions deserves such skepticism. I wish you could see
yourself as we do, not just as the Golden Hero, but also as Alex.”

“Oh, I’ve seen what they thought of me. Cale and
the other men made it pretty hard to forget.”

“Don’t stop your memories at that initial meeting
or gloss over the admiration and respect you earned afterwards. Our people
trust in you. I trust in you. Not because of a title but because of your action
and commitment. That’s what matters to us, and hopefully to you.”

“You’re right,” I said and leaned back against
him.

“But you asked about the Golden Hero. Let me tell
you some of the stories I heard as a boy. Granted, most of these were told by
entertainers in the castle, so I can’t vouch for the authenticity.” He rested
his head against the tree, and I resettled into his arms. “The first time I
heard about the Golden Hero, I was five. A traveler from the north visited the
castle with silks woven with the brightest gold. My mother loved them, and when
she asked him his secret, do you know what he said?”

“Hmmm?”

“He said his thread was spun from the head of the
Golden Hero. Naturally that had me hooked, and I hid in the shadows behind the
marble pillars, hoping to remain unnoticed.”

“Did you?”

“Oh yes, they never found me, but that poor man…”
Arrow stopped his story to shake his head. “He underestimated our love for
heroism and, before he could recant his story, he was thrown out of the castle.
He never peddled furs in Flourin again after that.”

A deep, rich laugh shook me. I covered my mouth.

“And then a few years later…”

I closed my eyes. The deep, rhythmic timbre of his
voice lulled me to sleep. His words mingled with pictures in my mind, and
reality and my dreams seemed to blur.

The sun crested the mountains, sending a stream of
light onto Arrow’s face. I watched his reluctant waking. The fluttering of his
eyelashes quickened, and his shoulders slumped at awkward angles as he exhaled
slowly and stretched. His right hand settled along the curve of my waist, and a
contented grin appeared on his face before he opened his eyes.

“I could get used to this,” he said lazily,
tightening his grip on me.

“I could too,” I said, nuzzling closer to him and
pulling the cloak up over my shoulders, hoping to stop my involuntary shivering
in the morning wind. “I wish it would warm up a bit though.”

“It will soon enough, I promise. Speaking of…”

“Don’t say it.” I cringed, already knowing what he
wanted to say.

“Not saying it won’t change it.”

“I know, and I know we have to go, but give me a
few more minutes just sitting here.”

“Anything for you,” he said, reaching for the
travel bags at my side. “Can you grab some food?”

The rolls and jerky were on top, and I handed him
a few pieces before grabbing two for myself. “What are the chances you packed
anything besides rolls and jerky?”

Arrow laughed and took a bite. “Not very good, I’m
afraid. We’re stuck with this unless we find something along the way.”

“Somehow I doubt we’ll have such luck.”

“You never know. I’ve seen stranger things happen
in these mountains,” he said.

“I thought you hadn’t been up here before,” I said
with a quizzical expression.

He looked at me with his crooked grin. “I
haven’t.”

I threw a roll and him, then hastily grabbed it
back. “I’m not strange,” I said, biting into the bread with an exaggerated
pout.

“Ah, Alex, you’re strange in the most wonderful of
ways. It makes me smile.”

I looked away and hid my grin beneath another bite
of bread, but a flush filled my face. He made me smile, too.

We ate in silence, our eyes carrying on their own
conversation until neither one of us could put it off any longer. We had to go.

We packed everything up silently and continued
riding along the narrow path. The trail inclined steeply, passing miles of jagged
crags. Behind the stone walls, on both sides, fog blocked the view.

“Shadow Alley,” I mused, looking at the outline of
the ridges and the darkness above the canyon.

Arrow frowned in
the direction of my gaze and nodded.

At the top of the first ridge, he jumped off his
horse and motioned for me to follow. My legs wobbled as I landed. Riding all
day took some getting used to. I followed slowly as he descended over the ridge
and disappeared behind a large outcropping of rocks.

“What is that place? That’s more than shadows,” I
said, ducking behind him as translucent creatures floated towards us,
materializing from one cloud and blending into another. I swallowed hard. An
unending haze of fog filled the crevasses between the mountains.

“That’s our shortcut. It’s the one place I’ve
never wanted to explore.”

I looked at his guarded eyes and then back at the
wisps of darkness covering the sky.

“We need to be careful when we’re in there.
There’s a spell that keeps most shadows off the path, but one shout or false move,”
he said, raising his eyebrows, “and it’ll be broken.”

“What happens if it gets broken?”

“I don’t know for sure, but they say that the
shadows will devour you, making you one of them, cursed to remain in this
valley forever.”

“Game over,” I whispered. Dread prickled down my
spine. “So how do we get through it?”

He looked at me for a moment and winked. “Why
don’t you tell me? The shortcut was your idea.”

“That’s not funny, and you know it,” I said,
squeezing his hand.

His good humor soured. “You’re right, but I
honestly don’t know. Not many people attempt this route. We’re on our own in
here. All I can promise is that I’ll be by your side through it all.”

My heart beat uncontrollably as his rough lips
brushed my cheek. It wasn’t quite the reassurance I was hoping for.

“Let’s go,” I said, pulling away and tucking the
cuff of my sleeve over my wrist. I clambered back on my horse. I needed to go
before my nerves caught up with me.

The stillness haunted me like the eye of a storm.
Whispers of wind pressed against me, and the pit in my stomach dropped. The top
layer of snow slithered off the pathway, swirling in mysterious symbols before
dispersing with the breeze. Our footsteps disappeared as the wind picked up,
moaning. Strong gusts sent my hair flying, blinding me as white crept in from
every angle.

The mist rolled in,
claiming every blade of grass and shrub beneath its shimmering shadow. I
watched the landscape change, trying to memorize the twisting path.

“Stay on the path,
right behind me. And don’t make a sound,” he warned. “You’ll see their shadowy
figures and hear their cries, but they aren’t allowed to touch you unless you
scream.”

His tense tone
alarmed me. “I’ll be right behind you,” I said.

“They’re fast but
not stealthy.” He pointed towards the first of the ghostly figures approaching
us. “If you listen closely, you’ll hear them rattle as they move.”

Sure enough, when I
slowed my breathing and quieted my mind, I heard the tell-tale rattle. “They’re
like
rattlesnakes,” I said, giving Arrow
a small smile.

“What’s a
rattlesnake?”

“Just something
from my world,” I said, hurrying to shrink the distance between us. Barely into
the canyon and I had already slipped behind.

“You can tell me
all
about
it when
we get out. Hand me your reins. I don’t want the horses to get spooked and run
off with you.”

I dismounted and
handed the reins to him. Normally I wasn’t claustrophobic, but as the fog
crowded around us, the air tightened and my chest refused to breathe deeply. I
didn’t notice that I had stopped walking until Arrow became a faint shadow in
the distance. The fog surrounded me, and I jumped ahead before he disappeared.

I had to stay
focused. That was twice in such a short period of time that I had almost lost
him.

A rattle jumped out
on my left, followed by a pale, disembodied face. Arrow’s warning flashed in my
head, and I choked back the scream in my throat. I squinted, hoping I could
forget the hollow eyes and sunken cheeks, and walked around, making sure she
didn’t follow me.

By the time I
turned back to the path, it was empty. Arrow had gone too far ahead. My heart
raced as I looked around at the nothingness.

“Arrow?” I
whispered.

The mist clung to
me
like
a spiderweb, shrouding me in its
cloak of mystery. I brushed at my shoulders,
feeling
the viscous substance grope at me. The metallic taste
of blood filled my mouth as I bit into my cheek. I wanted to scream for Arrow
to find me.

The white crept up
from
all
angles until I couldn’t see
anything
. Not the shadows, not the snow, not Arrow. My stomach
knotted, and I dropped to my knees, watching my hands disappear under the layer
of snow. I looked around, not knowing which way was up.