Forsaken Dreamscape (Nevermor) (31 page)

“Wait… 
No, that was not how it happened,” Toss corrected.  “Nix reached for his gun,
but Rifter snatched it first!  They…  One of them struck the other.  Nix drew
first, I suppose, and cut Rifter’s eye – or was it the other way around?”  Toss
scratched his messy mop of hair with a large hand.  “I know I should remember. 
It seems like such an event!  But it’s all so blurry now.”

A
missing eye?
 
Nix had told her that he’d been in a fight, he just hadn’t cared to tell her
the truth of it.  So it was Rifter who had taken his eye.  It was no wonder Nix
hated him.

“It
was Rifter that struck Nix,” Wren explained.  “Nix is the one with the missing
eye.”

Toss
sighed, caught on that, but finally nodded.

“Yes,
that must have been how it happened.  It
has
been a while,” he
apologized.  “After the fight, Nix fled quickly with his wounds and Rifter just
sat down on the ground.  I went to him, but he told me to leave him alone, so I
didn’t question it; I did as he asked.  I told the others what happened, but we
didn’t see Rifter for the rest of the day.  The next morning, he was gone.  But
we assumed he would be back.  We waited.”

“Like
true brothers,” she said, brushing some strands of hair from her face.

“Yes.” 
Toss’ voice was growing tired and sorrowful now as he recalled it.  “We waited
a long time, but the situation only got worse, and Rifter didn’t come back. 
When he finally did return, Sly was so worn down by it all that he left not a
week after.  Nix and Sly always had differences in the past, but Sly had said
that if Rifter came back with Nix, he’d stay, but if he came back
without
him, he was going to leave and find the answers for himself – whatever it
took.  For some reason, Sly had set himself to that vow, though I don’t really
understand why.  That pretty well convinced the rest of them.  I mean, we all
questioned Nix’s motives, but who’s going to question Sly?  He was smarter than
all of us.”

Wren
had considered this before, but had not made mention of it.  She had grasped
that wherever Sly was, that was where her answers would be.  He would have the
facts and the reasoning to put it all together.  No doubt he had thought this
through, and he had known what he was doing when he’d left Rifter.  The
question was
why
, and she hoped she would soon find out.

“Did
Sly mention where he was going?” she asked. “I’d greatly love to speak with
him.”

“Into
the sun,” said Toss dreamily. “That was all he said.”

Into
the sun?
 
Wren did not like cryptic sayings, though Sly had offered her a few in the
past.  This sounded like one of them now.  The boy had been fascinated with the
sun, but he could not have literally gone to it, could he?  She hadn’t quite
wrapped her head around it before Toss spoke up.

“So,
you are recruiting all of us to meet Rifter?” Toss concluded. “This is
considering that all of us are willing to meet him, I suppose.”

“So
far, Nix is rejecting the notion, but I am determined to convince him
otherwise.  Finn seems willing – if only for curiosity’s sake – and you are
still completely loyal to Rifter, it seems.  Calico is coming along for now but
as far as I am concerned, none of this involves her at all.”

“That
leaves the twins and Sly,” said Toss thoughtfully, pressing on by the light of
the lantern.

“Yes,”
said Wren, stumbling a bit, losing her footing in a slight incline.  “I’m
trying to figure it out: do you think we’ll find the twins together, or
separated?”

“Your
guess is as good as mine,” he said finally.  “They did leave together.  Mach
seemed resistant, but Mech insisted, and eventually won out.”

She
sighed in defeat.  The lack of information was
killing
her!  Though Nix
had said she was leading this hunt, she felt that she was simply being dragged
along, almost as though her presence didn’t matter at all.  She was acting as
Rifter’s puppet, merely a familiar face, and every one of them that saw her
melted instantly and was forced to come along despite his better judgment.  She
didn’t like to think of it that way, but as of now, that was how she felt.

Toss
marched on easily through the dirt that crumbled and sank a few inches with
every step.  Wren tried to keep up as best she could, all the while
concentrating on Rifter and how bitter she was feeling toward him now.

2

Finn
combed the darkness.  He had moved on into the lead, the goggles guiding him. 
Nix and Calico held back, following his every step by the light of a torch that
did little good in the vast tunnels.  How much time had passed?  Finn did not
know, but the tunnels kept on going.  Still, he couldn’t help but feel that
they were coming closer to something, but he was not sure what.

The
air had gotten cooler as they moved deeper into the hollow of the island, and
Finn guessed that they were either headed to the mountain caves, or else directly
to the open wind – which was what he hoped for.  Whichever fate would have them,
they seemed to be on an acceptable path.

Except
for Wren…

Finn
cursed himself for not holding onto her.  He had released her when he’d fallen
and heard her hit ground, but he had continued to plummet deeper into the
dark.  His only guess was that she was on a higher level of the tunnels, but he
wanted to find her fast – as he was sure the others did as well.  It worried
him that the walls of the tunnels were worn.  Something large had been through
here recently, and all they could do was hope and pray that it didn’t come
back.

Finn
had been the only one to speak for a while, calling out things he made note of
as they passed through.  He stopped a moment to touch the dirt wall, running
his fingers through the grooves.

“It’s
incredible,” he muttered.

“What
is?” asked Nix, though not seeming too interested.

“These
markings.  They spiral on and on through the tunnels without stopping.  The Vorks
would have protrusions coming from their bodies and travel in a circular motion
to cut these tunnels.”

“And
here we always thought you weren’t capable of anything, yet now you’re starting
to sound like Sly,” Nix commented.  Finn turned back to him with a grin that he
may not have been able to see.

“Something
had to give, right?  But what about you, then?  Have you changed
at all
?”

“No
reason to,” Nix muttered.  “I’ve only lost everything.”

Finn
decided not to go further with those comments.  Nix had always been hard to
deal with, but he was still family, and Finn wanted to patch that up where he
could.  He turned his thoughts back to Vorks, making a mental note to record
his findings when he got to civilization.  If they ever did find Sly, he’d be
very interested in these things.  Not only that, but perhaps if they had a
little information on the Vorks, they could figure out how to keep them from
spreading to the other regions.  He was content to think of these things.  It
allowed him to forget about their current problems.

But
it did not last long.  Their current problems were simply too big to ignore.

“So
Rifter has a plan,” Finn said thoughtfully. “What do you two say?  He must’ve
found a way to bring in new dreams, eh?”

“Impossible,”
Nix countered. “We tried that once before, remember?  There are too many
nightmares.”

Finn
did remember.  The new dreams had never settled to reform the land before the
nightmares had enveloped them.  After Rifter had lost his bond with the world,
to try again had simply been pointless.

“Why
must you always be so negative about it?” Calico scolded hatefully.

“It’s
just my way,” Nix replied, but he did not fly into a rage like before.

“It
must have something to do with reversing the world then,” Finn tried. “But
that’s…”

He
recalled this from so long ago when they had spoken of it – back when they were
still together, trying to discover the source of the darkness.  It had been
considered that Rifter might completely erase what he had done in creating
Nevermor and start again, but the idea of that was terrifying to them all. 
Would any of them have existed on the other side of that?

“Rifter
needs to reestablish his connection with the world again,” Calico said, “but
Nevermor does not have to be reborn.  There is another way.”

“Oh?” 
Finn could not deny himself the opportunity to press her if she knew something,
but at that, she hesitated.

“That
is not mine to tell,” she said lowly, refusing him, but Finn was not willing to
let her get away with that. 

“What
do you know?” he asked.

At
that, she hesitated, but when Nix’s eye joined in to pressure her, she caved as
much as she was willing.

“I
only know that we have to walk this path,” she sighed.  “In the end, it will
have been worth it.”

Would
it?  Through all the things Finn had seen, including the events at the treetop
village, he had to wonder if simply fixing the world was enough.  They could
not bring back the fallen, and pain sprung up again with every new death. 
Maybe they would all be better off as Rifter had once been.  Simply
forgetting
.

“Do
you hear that sound?” Nix asked suddenly, stopping in his tracks.

 Finn
became quiet and listened a moment.  Yes; he heard it.  He heard an unorganized
pattern of sound a good distance away, but couldn’t place it.

Not
a Vork. Don’t let it be a Vork.

Footsteps?
  He pivoted
slowly toward the noise and adjusted the scope on his goggles.  They slowly
began to cut through more of the darkness until finally he saw them – two
figures heading west.  One was a large hulk, but the other was a girl with
blond curls – unmistakable.

“It’s
Wren!” he exclaimed.  “I see her!”

He
didn’t wait for the others to acknowledge him before he took off running across
the unsteady terrain.  He didn’t need their approval to approach, merely pleased
that she wasn’t hurt.  If something had happened to her, it would have been his
fault, and he couldn’t have lived with himself knowing that.

3

Wren
was stuck in her own thoughts, considering what she and Toss had just
discussed, when she heard her name echoing down the tunnel.  The call shattered
the doubt that was forming around her, but when she lifted her eyes, she could
see nothing in the darkness of the tunnel.

“Did
you hear that?” she asked Toss quietly, listening, fearing that she’d imagined
it.  Was it a voice from the ones she had lost?

Please
say it again.  Let me hear it one more time
.  It was Toss’ voice that she
heard first.

“I
heard it,” he confirmed, moving the light in front of him to peer into the
blackness ahead.

Wren
felt hopeful.  She could hear footsteps pounding towards them now.  Either it
was an echo, or there was a group of people rushing closer in the dark.

“It’s
them!” Wren cried, her heart pounding with excitement. “I know it!”

“
Wren
!”
came the yell again.

“Finn!”
she called back. “Over here!”

Wren
could not see beyond the circle of light that the torch offered, and she hardly
had time to register Finn’s appearance before he had dashed in and snatched her
up, swinging her around.

“I’m
sorry I let go of you.  It was my fault…”

“I’m
fine,” she swore, shocked by his embrace.  “I had a rescuer.”

He
put her down and she indicated the tall one standing next to her, who had gone
completely unnoticed by Finn until now.  Finn seemed surprised to even realize
another person was there, but it only took a moment before a crooked grin rose
up on his face.

“Toss?”
he questioned incredulously.  “Good lord, how you’ve grown, mate!”

“You’ve
only shrunk,” Toss said with a smile of his own, placing his palm on the top of
Finn’s head to measure his height.

Wren
smiled as well to see the immediate link between them.  It was very different
from the way the others had reacted to each other.

This
is how things should be.

Nix
and Calico finally emerged from the darkness.  The Tribal girl was out of
breath, but Nix did not seem so taxed.  He looked down at Wren with concern,
but he did not touch her or offer any greeting.  She caught his gaze, reading
his mind.

“I’m
alright.  Just a little dirty,” she said.

“You
sure?”

“Maybe
a few bruises,” she admitted.

She
flashed an assuring smile and he quickly returned to his regular, stern self,
but Wren knew there was more to be said.

“Nix,
I’m sorry for lashing out at you before–”

“Forget
it,” he said, cutting her off.  “The past is sort of irrelevant at this point,
isn’t it?  I’m just glad you’re alright.”