Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (30 page)

“Can
we
not
do this now?” Finn asked, but he was ignored.

“I
left Rifter’s side because he acted just as you are acting right now!” Calico
declared.  “I would not, for one moment, believe that he is responsible for
this darkness, but that does not mean that he was not cruel, self-centered, and
stubborn!  How can you say you hate him?  You are just like him!”

Nix
stared down at her with stern eyes, his lip twisting, yet she stood
fearlessly.  This would end now, however; he would be sure of it.  He stepped
towards her, looking into her face with an icy stare.  His fingers gripped her
shirt, pulling her face close to his.

“Say
it again and I’ll cut out your tongue,” he threatened.  “Don’t start something
with me if you don’t want it finished with
blood
!”

Then
he simply released her and turned away.  He held up the torch and began to
guide his way along the wall, leaving the two to follow him – if they dared –
into the darkness.

1

Sitting
in the silent alcove, Wren had retreated into herself, slipping away to guard
from the misfortunes of the outside.  This was a frequent action she had taken
on without her own knowledge, which had often taken the place of sleep in past
years.

Doctor
Witherspoon had called it a defense mechanism.  She had never been aware of it
herself.

Stray
memories, shattered dreams…

Wren
came back at the touch of fingers brushing against her cheek.  The lantern
beside her had gone out, leaving her with only the faint glow of the crystals –
and she was no longer alone.  She felt the soft touch drifting alongside her
face, perhaps in a gentle attempt to bring her back from wherever she’d gone. 
Though she did not know who it could be, she was too groggy to be alarmed.

“Rifter?”
she uttered.  But no, not Rifter.  He was not here with her. “Nix?”

The
hand retreated in an instant, drawing back from her skin. 

“How
do you know that name?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

Wren
shot awake, fully aware now.  She could almost hear her heart beating inside as
her thoughts fired off rapidly.  Who could this be?  Could she get away?  Did
she need to?  She dared not run through the darkness.  She sat motionless for a
moment, trying to think of something –
anything
!

“How
– do you know –
that name
?” the voice asked again in a threatening tone.

Wren
could think of nothing except to cooperate.

“He’s
a friend,” she said, making sure she didn’t give too much away.

A
light flashed and the lantern appeared before her once again, splashing light
on the large creature she had seen looking in on her before.  In the light, the
beast had a face – and it seemed to be a very familiar one.

“Wren?”
he asked. “Is it you?”

She
peered toward him, examining his muscular jaw and large frame.  His hair was a
mess, unkempt and dirty.  He had small, soft eyes of brown with freckles spread
over his cheeks like bits of dirt.  She knew him.

“Toss?”
she asked, trying to believe her eyes.

Toss
had always been large, but from what she could tell as he sat in front of her,
he had grown several good feet.  His body was muscular and barrel-like, but
leaner than it had once been.  His habit of overheating had seemingly been
cured in this time of famine.  He wore the skin of a black bear and kept the
beast’s maw as a hat, looking menacing on his head.  In truth, he looked like a
bear himself with his dark eyes and dark, disheveled hair.  Even so, he was
still a boy within there; she could see the same face she had once recognized,
even past the scrappy beard.

He
sat back from her, his flesh growing red.  He did not look her in the eye.

“I
feel so foolish,” he said quietly.  “I am so
sorry
, Wren!”

While
it was true that he might have been less than noble toward her if he’d not
remembered her, Wren was only glad that her face had struck a familiar chord
with him.  If he had not found her out just now, he would have forced her to be
locked away down in this tunnel, but she thought she understood why.  He was
lonely.  He’d thought she was a prize.  She was glad for his recognition,
however, and she found it within herself to forgive him.  She did not need him
feeling uncomfortable.  She needed him to come with her.

“Don’t
feel foolish,” she said. “I am glad you know me.”  Her face suddenly twisted
with urgency.  “You haven’t by chance seen the others?”

“Others?”
he inquired, finally brave enough to look at her once again.

“Yes. 
Nix, Finn, and Calico.  I’m worried that they fell down here with me.  Have you
noticed anything?”

“Finn
as well?”  Toss chuckled lightly, his freckled cheeks rising at the corners of
his smile.  “I haven’t seen any of my brothers in…”

He
paused, choking up a bit.  Soon afterward, he was blushing again.  “I’m sorry,
but I have not seen them.  Only you.”

Even
at hearing this, Wren was quick to shoot to her feet, never minding her
situation.

“You
must help me find them,” she insisted.  “They could be hurt or – but there
could be Vorks!”

 “Yes,”
Toss agreed readily.  “We need to find them before they get too far.  These
tunnels are confusing.  They could easily wander into the nests.  But we’ll
believe that won’t happen.”

She
was pleased with that, and Toss took a few moments to gather some supplies,
including a large hammer that he mounted on his back.  This was a weapon he’d
loved in the past.  She saw that the head of it was decorated with etchings,
and she recalled his artistic side, no doubt squandered now.  He took up the
lantern and was ready to depart.  Following his lead, she moved out into the
tunnels, carefully taking in anything so that she could to distinguish this
place from the rest, just in case they did get lost.  She kept her faith in his
sense of direction, however, and she did not ask about the
nests
.

“So,
you have made your home in a Vork tunnel?  I understood that Vorks were quite
dangerous,” she said. “Isn’t it jeopardizing to live down here with them?”

“These
are older tunnels,” he explained.  “Only a few of the creatures are still
around, but there’s still plenty of room to roam about freely.  You can hear
them well underground.  Trust me.  It’s much safer down here than it is up
there.”

“If
you say so,” she said, looking around at whatever the light would touch.  There
was a bit of water flowing in from a spring in the wall.  The bed beneath her
was made of grass and feathers, and there was a chest to keep food.  There was a
clothes line in the corner and a table with personal items on it.  It wouldn’t
have been Wren’s choice, but she supposed he had everything he needed here.

Yet
another member of the Wolf Pack, hiding in a hole in the ground.

“Everyone
is hiding from
something
,” she muttered to herself.

She
would love to gather them all and make them tell her everything that was out
there to threaten their lives, but sadly, she knew there was no time for that.

There
are simply too many dangers to count.

“So,
you’re here.  Did Rifter bring you back?” Toss asked, eager to learn.  She was
glad he had brought up the subject.

“Yes,
I’ve been trying to get the Pack back together.  Rifter asked me too.”

Toss
smiled in the light of the lantern.

“Good. 
He must have decided how to deal with all this.  I’ve been waiting for this
day.  Come on; there’s no use in sitting here,” he said, rising up.  “I’ll help
you find the others if you’ll tell me what Rifter’s plan is.  What does he need
me to do?”

Wren
smiled, but could hardly believe that he was so willing.  It was a pleasant
thing to discover, and she would tell him what he wanted to know.  It was time
to recruit another one.

As
they walked, Wren recounted the events to Toss, everything that Rifter had told
her, and on to how she had met up with Nix, Calico, and eventually Finn.  Toss
listened to it all, but unlike the others, he did not seem to be judging it. 
He merely listened and accepted it as it was.  She marveled that he did not
even try to ask her questions about any of it!  When he did not, Wren started
in on her own.

“They
tell me you were the last to leave Rifter.”

“It’s
true,” Toss admitted with a sigh, “and I didn’t think it was right to leave
when I did.”

“Why
did
you then?”

“I
would have stayed,” he told her honestly in his very sweet, deep voice, “but
Rifter told me to go.  I had wanted to stay, but he wouldn’t hear of it.  He
said it wasn’t safe to stay there with him anymore.  He told me that if he ever
needed me, he’d come find me.”

How
loyal
,
Wren thought, but made sure not to say it.  It was the picture of faith, but
perhaps unreasonable?  Could Toss not think for himself?

How
can I think that?  This is exactly what I had done and just what Nix tried to
warn me against.

“So
you don’t agree that Rifter acted differently than before?’ she asked.  “It
didn’t worry you that he’d changed because of the demon?”

Toss
didn’t stumble through his answer.  “Of course he was different, but
considering all that had happened, I guessed it was understandable.  I wasn’t
suspicious about him.  He changed as we all did, and when he came back he was
even
more
different, but I still trusted him.  I owed him that.”

“When
he came back?” she questioned.

“After
Nix went away, Rifter left the rest of us to go look for him.  He wanted to
make things right and ask him to come back.  He was gone for a long time –
months – maybe even a whole year.  He never found Nix, and when he came back alone,
yes, he was different.”

Ah
yes; Calico had mentioned this
.  This part fit with the other things
Wren had learned.

“The
rest of us hardly recognized him, but we understood it was the demon that had
changed him.  We knew that the corruption of the land wasn’t his fault.  That
had already started long ago.  But none of that was good enough for Sly, and
eventually, the rest as well.  I stayed – I would have been there still. 
Rifter may have been possessed, but he tried so hard to fight against it!  I
would never have been so strong.  I really believed that he was winning.  I
still wanted to believe that he could fight it.”

“And
he
looked
different?” she asked, interrupting his thought. “He looked
more like a demon when he returned, as if it had taken control over him?”

“He
was looking odd before,” Toss admitted. “I guess when he came back, he looked even
worse – his eyes, his teeth – but it had been a year.  He’d gotten older, and
he’d been through a lot.  Besides that, the corruption took a toll on us all.”

Wren
would admit she had not recognized any of them very well – and they had hardly
even recognized one another – but perhaps that was the island’s fault.  This
world had always been good at making their memories a bit hazy.  She recalled
Finn’s one fang and glowing eyes, the markings on Nix, the overall disarray of
Calico.  Now, here was Toss, such an incredible size!  A giant!

“Let
me see if I have it right,” she began in summary. “Rifter came back to Nevermor
with a demon inside him, and you know because he told you this?”

“That’s
right,” Toss confirmed.

“And
this darkness that no one can quite explain was setting in
before
the
demon was ever brought back to this place?”

“Yes!”
Toss agreed emphatically.  “That has been exactly my reasoning all along!  So
you see, Rifter – and Rifter’s
demon
– cannot be responsible!”

Wren
was pleased to have gathered this, at least.  It seemed that they all believed
that Rifter had not ruined the world, and this was the work of the Scourge in
some way that none of them could explain.  She was glad that Toss agreed, but
she was not done with her reconstruction.

“So,
then, Nix decided that Rifter was acting much too unusual because of the
demon.  He aimed to stand up to Rifter – confront him about the darkness – and
there was a fight?”

“I’d
never seen either of them so angry against each other.  You’d have thought
Rifter was fighting the Scourge!  I was the only one that saw the whole thing –
snuck out to watch while the others stayed away.  At the beginning, I thought
they were only sparring as they had often done, but I realized it was
different.  Nix was yelling, accusing him of things.  They fought with swords
for a long time, and then Nix drew his gun.  I wanted to stop it!  I knew that
it was going to end right there!  I rushed out…”

Toss
paused, and when Wren looked over at him, she saw that his brow was scrunched as
he struggled to remember.