Fractured Dreams

by Greg Alldredge

  “Run,” Verity screamed as she pushed Chastity to the door.

  Her feet would not listen to her commands. She wanted to run, but fear froze her in place. The pile of rubbish that buried Hope exploded. Shards of wood blasted into an invisible shield made of force Verity swiftly snapped up in front of them. Chastity was lucky the force of the attack was absorbed by her protector.

  “Die, bitch,” the older woman screamed.

  Tanner rose from the floor. Chastity would have sworn the ferocity of the attack should have killed a man, but the giant still rose, his eyes burning bright, not from anger but hellfire.

  Verity dropped her shield when Hope strolled from the rubbish. With her sister rose two demonic looking guards. All three showed the sickest yellow skin Chastity had ever seen a person with.

  Chastity didn’t believe her eyes. The skinny Hope had changed. Now in her place stood a woman taller than most men, taller than the two guards who stood before her. The muscles in her arms rippled, and the core of her body looked more like a warrior than the weak woman she was.

  Verity’s attack struck Hope and her guards at chest level. The broken furniture that surrounded them flew from the force of the blow.

  Chastity used her magic to slap Tanner back against the wall again. It barely slowed him down. She held him still while she watched the fight in horror.

  Her sister hardly flinched from Verity’s spell. She even laughed before she reached out both her hands and clapped them together.

  Verity burst into flame. The blast of the attack sent Chastity running for the door. Verity’s scream echoed in her ears, but stranger still, the shrieks of pain were accompanied by the howls of laughter.

  Chastity was certain she heard the sound of music playing as her friend burned and she fled for her life.

  “Get her, bring her back to me, she will make an outstanding host,” Hope shouted behind her.

  No matter how hard she tried, Chastity felt like she was running in sand. Her feet would not carry her quickly enough to save her. She could hear the three monsters that were once human bouncing off the walls behind her. Her only hope was to reach witnesses, lots of them, who might help protect her from her crazy sister and her pet monsters.

  Around a corner, she ran into two guards patrolling the hall. She ran past them as fast as her legs would take her. Their cursing and lives ended quickly. They never stood a chance when the monsters tore into them.

  The first open door offered her some place to hide. Slamming the door shut, she slid under the table that stood in the center of the room. Both knees left flesh on the stones when she dove for cover. With little choice, she curled into a ball and waited for her death.

  The door to the room shattered upon the monsters’ entrance. Chastity refused to look, her eyes screwed shut. She said a silent prayer to all the gods, not being too fussy which would help her in her time of need.

  The table she used for cover flew from over her. She expected to be snatched up and carried off to her fate, but all she heard was the creatures’ heavy breathing while they destroyed the room searching for her.

  The shouts of guards could be heard from down the hall. The voices of the demons changed while Chastity listened, from the deep gravel she heard while they chased her to a more normal human quality.

  Tanner said, “We need to return. The bitch could not have gotten far.”

  “How could she—”

  Tanner cut off the guard. “It matters little now. Return to the regent. Protect the regent at all costs.”

  Chastity risked opening her eyes. She lay alone in the center of the room. She didn’t understand why the monsters didn’t carry her away. In that instant she didn’t care. What she needed to do was escape the Citadel and run for the hills.

  She stood on shaky legs and staggered to the door. She walked out like nothing had happened. Ignoring all she passed, she went straight to her room, where she still kept her pack ready from the last time she had visited her half-brother Meyers.

  Now she traveled with a different purpose. She needed to tell him his mother was dead and their sister turned into a… demon.

  Chapter 21: Six

  The whore previously known as Six underwent a transformation. She knew a number of people might want her dead. She would much rather stay among the living, even if the prospects of that happening seemed to dwindle more with each passing day.

  When her gentleman caller nearly killed her, she left the city that night. Not by the docks as she should have nor the cliff face, the other obvious escape route. No, Six headed west. She followed the narrow pathways and back alleys that led to the end of the city. When the sidewalks ended, she continued walking, following the water and gingerly picking her way over the slick rocks during low tide.

  When the water threatened to overtake her position, she found a niche in the cliff face where she could sleep, satisfied in her safety from the breakers that crashed below her. After the tide receded, she kept her pace. It wasn’t as hard as some might think. Six had rehearsed this escape route several times a year. Once she became involved with the resistance, she traced out several possible ways for her to get out of Zar safely and quietly.

  Her disguise proved simple enough. She became a crazy old woman. The truth was many thought she was already that. She let her hair go uncombed, and her clothes were already torn from her escape. On the run, bathing regularly proved out of the question, so… she stank.

  To complete her disguise, she held a destination in her mind. Two days’ walk from the edge of Zar there lay a cave, and in that cave, an old hermit woman lived. She was a true crazy woman, but she had always been kind to Six.

  Six was certain the old woman knew her chosen occupation, but she never judged her or looked down on her. Then again, what was there to look down on? People all over the land did what was needed to survive. When the alternative was to lie down and die, what choice did people have? What Six would never understand was the people who chose to do evil for evil’s sake. They were the twisted ones.

  Six reached the cave after making record time. Her practice paid off, and the threat of certain death if captured spurred her to travel quickly. She was happy to find the cave just as she expected.

  “I see you are still alive?” the old woman asked when Six stepped into the opening.

  “As are you,” Six replied. The pair had used the same call and response for several months now. What started as a sick joke had turned into a ritual.

  As normal, the hermit woman sat looking out the opening over the water of the crack. “How are things in the city?” The question, however, was out of the ordinary. The old woman never cared about the city.

  Six moved to where she had stored a few items she would need for her escape, namely some food, clothes, and a small pouch of gems she saved here for her old age. “Why do you ask? You have never cared about the city before.” Her hands ran over the contents, mentally taking inventory.

  “I care now because things are different. The old gods have awakened.” The old woman said the words with the emotion of “pass the salt.”

  Six wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Might you explain a little more?” She really didn’t have time for this. She needed to gather her things and head inland. The wall and the safety beyond it called her name.

  “For too long, humans have forgotten their past. The evils that lurk deep inside the earth have awakened. Soon they will sweep life off the shards and into the cracks.” The manner in which the old woman spoke forced chills to run up Six’s spine. She’d never heard the old woman speak like this. The hermit continued, “I have heard their cries in my dreams. The demons come.”

  She glanced up from the pack, satisfied everything remained in its proper place. “I am leaving for the mountains. Do you want to come?” She wasn’t sure why she asked the woman, certain she would only slow her down and depress the hells out of her with her talk of demons.

  The hermit shook her head slowly. “The mountains are the l
ast place I want to go. You would do well to avoid them. Monsters lurk there.”

  “I don’t think you understand the monsters that hide in the city. I think I will take my chances with the four-legged kind.”

  “As you wish. In your travels, remember this: fire is what protects us from the night. The gods, both old and new, care little for your survival. The only person you can trust is yourself.” The old woman bowed her head.

  Six thought, What the hells does that mean? “Thank you?” She didn’t know what else to say. She moved to the cave opening. The water looked calm, unlike her troubled soul. Her mood more matched the cloudy sky that threatened even more rain. “Do you need anything before I leave?” She stood scanning the horizon.

  “No. Good luck,” the hermit said with the same noncommittal tone.

  Six stepped from the cave and made her way down to the edge of the water. Each of her interactions with the woman had been strange. The last one had to rank at the top of the strangeness list. Six doubted she would ever see the woman again, but she didn’t slow her pace. If captured with the old woman, her presence would seal the old woman’s death. Better to be far from anyone she cared about.

  Not far from the cave, there stood a fissure in the cliff face. Long ago, steps had been carved into the gap, allowing access to the top of the cliff and the green fields beyond. Still inside the wall of Zar, this was considered one of the safer, more remote places inside the influence of the city. Once on the far side of the wall, the troops no longer came to the aid of settlers.

  Former slaves once tried to come out here and make a living, but without a cooperative of farmers to back them, it quickly proved difficult to break into the markets. In many ways, Zar forged new ground for the freedoms of its population. In others, it worked hard to keep the poor down and the elite at the top.

  That was one of the things that enticed her to the rebellion in the first place: a reset of the rules. Unfortunately, she became certain the old tyrants would only be replaced with new and improved versions. Power proved too seductive a force to be given up freely.

  At the top of the stairs, she slowly made her way across the plains to the wall. Better to be over the wall and unseen than on the city side. She knew, once over, she should be safe from the city guards. From the others that chased her… no matter how far she ran, she would never be safe.

  It had been three days now since she ran from the comfort of her home. The only person she spoke to in that time was the crazy woman in the cave. She didn’t crave news from Zar, but she did need information. She left on the verge of a revolution. She was supposed to be a part of the uprising. It would be nice to know if the rebels hunted her for running or if the city chased after her for conspiracy. Regardless of who took power, she knew her mystery man was out there searching for her. She couldn’t see him ever forgiving her.

  Her eye caught the whiff of smoke from the distance. At first, her reflex was to swing wide of the proof of life and head deeper into the unknown, but something drew her to the thin column of smoke, a sign that life and civilization might still be out there. She could survive being cold, wet, and dirty, but she needed information on her—dare she say—friends that wanted her dead.

  She slinked toward the cabin and stopped to scan the area from behind a small thicket of trees. The first thing she spotted was two young children playing outside. It was a good sign but not proof all was well. She had run into too many children who would kill you for a slice of stale bread. She spotted an animal loaded with belongings. That meant either robbers with a haul or a family running like she was.

  The sun sat high, even if obscured by the constant overcast. She had nothing but her life to lose if she reached out to this group for information. She would stay outside. Hopefully they would not see her as a threat and kill her outright or find her an easy mark too tempting to let slip away.

  A poorly built fence surrounded the homestead. She stopped at the gate and called out, “Is there an adult here?”

  The two children screamed in fright and ran into the home. Six nearly turned and ran the other way, but curiosity forced her to stay. A man stepped from the door, a bow held at the ready. Even from this distance, it was plain to see his hands shook. This was no killer. He simply wanted to protect his family. His eyes constantly moved, searching for the attack to come. “Go away. We have nothing for you.”

  “I am alone. All I want is information… if you can spare that. What is happening in Zar?” She held her hands high. At that distance, she was certain his shot would go wide if he lost control of the bow.

  “Zar? The city is dead… The rulers are dead or have fled the city. Gangs run the streets now. Sickness is everywhere. We left two days ago. You would do well to not go there.” He motioned with his bow. “Now we don’t want any trouble. Move along and you won’t get hurt.”

  The man’s words confirmed her greatest fears. All the signs pointed to the destruction of Zar’s ruling classes. The rebellion must have worked. What the uprising didn’t kill, it seemed sickness took care of. Civilization in the city fell.

  She backed away from the gate, her hands still held high. The path back to the copse of trees was a good stretch, but every backwards step made the likelihood of his shot hitting her less. “Thank you for the information. I will be on my way,” she called, still backing away.

  The man never answered, but she didn’t expect him to.

  The risk of her life provided useful information. If people fled to the wall, things must be bad. The ships in the port must have sailed, leaving those trapped no option but to head inland. It would take dire circumstances for a family to head into the unknown. Things must be bad.

  This made life harder for Six. She had hoped to find an abandoned cabin and spend some time lying low until she could work her way back to the port and book passage away from Zar. Perhaps travel to Perdition or some other safe city-state. It seemed that option was taken from her. Many of the cabins would be full now.

  Against her better judgment and the warning from the hermit, it seemed she had no choice but to head for the hills. The woman’s warning about the old gods waking meant little to her.

  From the safety of the trees, she headed north, away from the cabin and toward higher ground. She had learned from clients that hard men and woman made a living in the wilds by trapping and hunting animals, that several small structures dotted the hills to give safety and warmth from the cold mountain nights.

  Six knew where none of these fabled hideouts where. She would need to hope Harper, the god of chance, provided for her. That meant she would probably die from exposure before she found safety.

  That night, she fought to sleep without a fire, out of fear of being set upon by the worst sort of humanity. Sleep escaped her for most of the night. A creature of the city, she was unaccustomed to the sounds the woods made. The cries of hunting animals did little to calm her nerves. She was certain if she dozed off, she would wake to being eaten by some monster.

  Her only protection from the cold was the blanket she carried. With no cover and wet from her day of walking, she nearly froze from the cold. She had barely made her way into the foothills.

  The next morning, the snow-covered mountains lay covered in the fog. She realized her plan held one deadly flaw. The higher she climbed, the colder it would get. She would be dead from the cold long before she reached any sort of safety. Her body would still provide a good meal for the animals that called the forest their home.

  At the first ravine that headed down, she turned south to the warmth of the lower elevations. A small stream ran down the center of the gorge. It ran free, no ice formed on the surface yet.

  As the canyon widened, she happened upon a small lean-to. Built into the side of the canyon wall, it might be larger than it appeared. It must be warmer and drier than the outside. It looked abandoned. No signs of life as she crept up to the open door that slapped against the wall in the breeze.

  She stopped at the opening. Something
wasn’t right. The sound of snoring reached her ears from deep inside the structure. It didn’t sound human. It didn’t sound like anything she had heard in her life, save perhaps in a nightmare.

  Before she could leave the sleeping monster, it woke up and charged the door from the dark depths of the hut. Shocked at the ferocity of the attack, Six fell backward over her own feet and knew she was dead.

  The monster leaped to the door and reached out into the dim overcast light with a paw to grab her leg and pulled back, screaming in pain. On her butt, she scooted away from the open door of the cabin as best she could. She found it hard to believe, but the scales of the monster’s leg smoked when it hit the sunlight. The demon’s cry sounded like the sounds she heard the night before. These things hunted at night.

  The growls of the creature grew intense. It was plain to Six this monster saw her as its next meal, and the daylight kept it away from the intended feast.

  Safe for the moment, she glanced down the ravine she traveled and knew she would be fair game once the sun went down. She searched her pack and her few possessions, pulling a vial of clear liquid from the small bag.

  With a quick shake, she mixed the contents of the vial and threw the bottle at the wooden structure. The contents sprayed over the dried wood when the glass shattered on impact. She mumbled a few words, and smoke sprang from a spot near the dirt. From the smoke sprang small flames that quickly spread over the dry wood structure.

  The demon inside screamed so loudly. Six covered her ears to protect them from the sound. She would have liked to stay and make sure the monster died, but between the sound, the smoke, and the smell of burning flesh, she grew certain something would be attracted to the scene.

  She grabbed her pack and hustled herself down the hill to the warmth and perceived safety of lower altitudes. “At least they seem to burn,” she muttered to herself as she trotted away.