The Moments Between

by Christina J Thompson

  “I’m coming!”

  Her mouth wouldn’t work and the words were barely audible. She struggled to open her eyes.

  “Wait for me, I’m coming!”

  “It’s too late.”

  The voice was right beside her now, the joy and laughter gone from its tone and replaced with bitter fury, and she could feel the hatred it held ebb into her very soul.

  “You did this, Laice. You did this to all of us.”

  Now her eyes flew open, only to find that she was standing alone in an empty, black void. She could hear faint sobs echoing around her, and she ran forward, her heart pounding with desperation.

  “Amy! Where are you?”

  “He needed you,” Amy’s voice cried. “How could you do this to us?”

  Her footsteps were hollow as she raced through the darkness, but there was nothing to be found in the shadows that surrounded her.

  She felt something sticky on her hands, and she looked down in confusion. Her fingers dripped with bright red blood, and she gasped in disgust and horror as she quickly wiped them on her tunic. The bloodstain spread, growing in size until her clothing was soaked through, then it moved to her skin, travelling up until it filled her hair and flowed into her eyes, blinding her as an anguished scream resounded in her ears.

  “How could you do this to us?”

  “AMY!” Laice shrieked, bolting upright. She glanced around in a panic; she was still in her tent, and she felt tears sting her eyes as she realized she was alone.

  Seph appeared at the door, his face and armor streaked with dirt and blood from battle. Her sword was clutched in his hand, retrieved from where she had lost it, and it clattered to the floor as he ran to her side. He grabbed hold of her shoulders, searching her face.

  “What’s wrong? What happened?”

  She gave him a blank stare, and he shook her, prompting her again.

  “What happened?”

  “N…nothing,” she finally managed to mumble. “I just…I…I was dreaming.”

  “Dreaming?”

  Seph’s face instantly darkened, and Laice’s heart skipped a beat at the sight.

  “Eli was here!” he hissed, glaring at her. “And you didn’t tell me?”

  “He wasn’t! I swear!”

  “You think you can lie to me?” Seph snarled. “You think I don’t know better? There is no rest here! There is no dreaming, not unless that bastard’s been about!”

  “But he wasn’t!” Laice insisted. His threatening demeanor scared her. “I didn’t see him, Seph, I’m telling you the truth!”

  He pursed his lips as he studied her face, then, after a long, tense moment, his posture finally seemed to relax. She breathed a sigh of relief; he believed her.

  “You need to be careful!” he chastised, his voice still tinged with anger. “You must always be on guard, there’s no telling when he might show up!”

  His shoulders shook as he tried to calm himself, and Laice tried to think of something to say.

  “I…I’m sorry I wasn’t much good out there,” she managed to choke out. “Did we win?”

  Seph sighed deeply and shook his head.

  “There is no winning,” he told her, his voice ragged with exhaustion. “All we can do is try to keep from losing as many as possible, that’s the only small victory we stand to gain.”

  Laice stared down as her hands as her mind flashed back to the creature from the battlefield, and she gave Seph a sideways glance.

  “What was that thing?”

  “What thing? You mean the enemy?”

  She nodded.

  “A creature of magic,” Seph answered. “The king’s soldiers, an army designed to destroy us without remorse.”

  “But why didn’t it hurt me?” she asked. “It seemed like it was…protecting me.”

  “Then you’re more of a fool than I thought!” he barked, his eyes filling with resentment and rage. “Protecting you? More like trying to keep you for himself! You would have been a special trophy, that’s for sure!”

  “But why, Seph? I don’t understand, none of this makes sense to me.”

  “I don’t know how to help you remember, Laice,” he said. “It’s too much to explain, and we’ve more important things to worry about. Like Eli sneaking about the camp.”

  “Just try,” she pleaded. “Try to explain, Seph, I need to understand! How is it possible to dream if it’s just a story from before, like you said?”

  “How can you not understand something so simple?” he snapped, giving her a condescending look. “Think about it! Does it not make sense that something the king took away would be possible when his prince is nearby?”

  She pursed her lips; it did make sense, albeit in an odd way.

  “Stay on guard, Laice,” he said, turning to leave. “I need to go tend to my men. Call for me if the bastard comes back!”

  As she watched Seph disappear through the door, she couldn’t help wondering why she always ended up with more questions than answers. Neither he nor Eli spoke in anything other than nonsensical riddles, and she was growing increasingly sick of the constant confusion she felt.

  “You must leave, Laice,” Eli said, and she looked up to see that he had returned. Her lips moved soundlessly as she tried to think of what to say, her frenzied thoughts mixing together in an incoherent jumble.

  “You lied to me!” she finally managed to blurt out. “You said you didn’t want to capture anyone, but I saw the men getting carried away!”

  “They aren’t men,” he told her. “They aren’t what they appear to be.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” she cried in frustration. “Why can’t you make sense? Why can’t anything make sense?”

  “I’m trying to help you understand,” he reassured her. “But it’s impossible as long as you’re here. Your mind is bound in darkness, you cannot see in this place. You must leave before it’s too late.”

  “Why should I believe you? I don’t even know you! Seph tells me one thing and you tell me another, who am I supposed to trust?”

  “I am here to help you, Laice,” he told her, taking a step towards her and reaching out his hand. “You must hear me, you must leave this place.”

  Her heart wavered as she considered his words.

  “And go where?” she asked weakly. “Where am I supposed to go?”

  “Home.”

  Home. A sudden urgency rose up within her the moment he spoke the word, and she felt something tug at her very soul.

  “Where is home?” she breathed. Eli smiled as a look of longing appeared in his eyes.

  “There is a mountain hidden within the earth,” he said. “Home lies above its peak.” The words felt like music playing over her skin, and butterflies filled her stomach.

  “How do I get there?”

  “Go through the cave,” he told her. “You already know where its entrance lies. Stay to the left paths and the way will be easy, do not step foot on the right. Go to the mountain, Laice, you don’t have much time.”

  Then, before she could open her mouth to respond, he vanished.

  Alone and stunned speechless, Laice sat down hard on her chair, her mind reeling between Eli’s sudden departure and what he had told her.

  Her thoughts flashed back to the mound of earth she had seen when she had first awakened in the camp, envisioning the moonlit opening cut into its face. She shuddered at the idea of venturing out alone into the dark wasteland that stood in between, but she would have no choice if she believed what Eli had said.

  “Do I?” she whispered to herself. “Do I believe him?”

  Trying to decide seemed near impossible; believing him would require accepting the utter insanity of what he had told her, but the thought of ignoring his warnings held an unknown risk that burned her heart with uncertainty.

  The confusion was unbearable; she felt like she was trying to make sense of an entire world after only seeing a cupful. She shifted in her chair, catching sight of her reflection. The ugl
y bruise on her throat seemed to scream at her, reminding her of her unanswered questions, and she stood to her feet with sudden determination.

  Taking hold of her sword, Laice stepped towards the mirror. She put the blade to her neck, lining up the sharp edge, and took a deep breath.

  With one quick motion, she slashed through her bruised skin. Her sword clattered to the ground as she instinctively reached up to clutch the wound, gagging and choking as blood poured into her lungs. She forced herself to stay calm, resting one hand on her knee as she leaned over to keep the blood from spilling down her shirt. She squeezed her eyes shut, fighting through the panic that filled her mind.

  The pain faded as the wound disappeared, and Laice used the bottom of her tunic to wipe the blood from her neck. She leaned in, lifting her chin to inspect her throat. The skin had healed, but the bruise remained unchanged.

  What if he’s telling the truth?

  Everything Eli had told her flooded through her mind in a single torrent, and her vision began to swim as the walls of the tent started closing in on her. She suddenly couldn’t breathe, and she staggered towards the door, throwing it open and stumbling outside. As the acrid air burned her lungs, she gazed out on the barren landscape before her.

  What if it isn’t real?

  Seph’s voice wafted towards her, and her entire being cringed when she turned to see him approaching, a burning lamp in his hand. She needed to be alone, she couldn’t talk to him right now.

  Spinning around, Laice darted away towards the rear of the camp, moving quickly along the outskirts of the circle of tents until she lost sight of Seph’s figure. She ducked behind a boulder, then leaned back against the cold rock, reeling as her racing thoughts consumed her.

  What if it isn’t real?

  CHAPTER SIX

  The question echoed through Laice’s mind over and over again, forcing her to listen as she sat alone in the dark. She furrowed her brow in dismay as she stared down at her hands.

  “What do I do?” she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears; she could feel the weight of an unknown fear bearing down on her, crushing her inside, and she was helpless against its power.

  Her vision blurred, and Laice sniffled quietly as she wiped her face. As she lifted her gaze, she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye, and her head turned, her eyes zeroing in on a flickering, red glow just a short distance away. It seemed to be hovering a few inches above the ground, a phantom light floating amid the shadows, and she gazed at it for a long moment before dismissing it and returning to her thoughts.

  But try as she might, she realized that her concentration had been broken, and she found herself glancing up every few seconds until she finally gave in. Her tears momentarily forgotten, she stood to her feet, her curiosity aroused.

  Laice made her way towards the light, quickly crossing the rocky ground that separated her from what she quickly discovered to be the entrance of a small cave. As she stood at its mouth, contemplating whether she should go any farther, she felt something in her heart prod her forward, and she took a deep breath.

  She tiptoed through the passage, inexplicable anxiety roiling in her stomach. As she moved deeper into the cave, sounds began echoing towards her, faint cries of pain that grated in her ears and reverberated through her bones. She paused, her heart wavering as she considered turning back, but she couldn’t dismiss the voice in her mind that that shouted for her to continue.

  Dread began building in her chest as she started walking again. The dim glow that had lured her in became a bright red light, its heat warning her that she was reaching the end of the tunnel, and Laice’s throat ached as she gulped back the sudden wave of nausea that washed over her. The sound of screams grew louder with every step she took, and when she reached the end of the path, she let out a gasp as her legs went weak.

  Before her, as far as the eye could see, was a massive, open cavern that contained an endless, barren field of rock, millions of blazing pits carved into its surface. Suspended above each pit were flayed corpses, their bodies split down the middle and the ragged edges of their torn flesh skewered on sharpened, wooden stakes that stretched them wide open so the flames could reach deep inside. Long, terrifying screams filled the air, tortured wails that trailed off into tattered threads of raw anguish as smoke from the burning flesh carried the sound up and up until it became a swirling mass.

  Limp, broken limbs twitched as spasms passed through each blistered form, every cry of pain sending a wave of convulsions shuddering through their exposed muscles. They were still alive, still conscious, and Laice’s chest tightened as she tried to keep breathing, almost unwilling to believe what she was seeing.

  She closed her eyes, holding her breath.

  It isn’t real, Laice! It isn’t real, you’re dreaming again!

  But the cries of the endlessly dying told her otherwise, and when she opened her eyes again, the brutal, heartwrenching scene remained in all its horror.

  Everything in her screamed to do something, anything, but it was too much, there were too many. She felt impossibly small and helpless, rendered completely irrelevant in the face of the sheer scale of the horror before her, and she collapsed to the ground, dizzy from the sudden, sickening weight that had appeared in her stomach.

  A gurgling, strained voice caught her attention, somehow ringing out above the screams that filled her ears.

  “It’s not too late!”

  Laice managed to lift her eyes, struggling to focus long enough to search for the source of the cry.

  Her gaze swept back and forth, trying to single out one voice amid thousands, when she locked onto a figure right at the edge of the field of corpses, a hollow, emaciated face staring at her with crazed, bloodshot eyes.

  “Mine is gone, but yours remains!”

  The words were punctuated by gasps of pain, and something about their urgency pulled Laice to her feet, pushing past her fear and forcing her to move. She took a step, and another, the broken voice calling her forward until she found herself standing beside the living corpse. The flames from the pit scorched her face as she gazed up at the mangled body, and she gasped, now able to see every detail of suffering.

  It was a woman, her naked body stretched open face-down high above the fire. Her insides were laid bare, and Laice could see her lungs heaving as the heat blistered the fragile membranes. The pale flesh turned red, sizzling from the flames, then a ripple passed over its surface as it healed only to instantly bubble up again. It was an endless cycle of perpetual death that played out over and over as the seconds passed, and the woman’s face contorted with agony, her dark eyes impossibly wide as she stared at Laice.

  “Yours remains! Don’t you see?”

  The woman’s voice cracked as blood frothed from the corners of her mouth, and Laice fought against the sudden urge to flee. She inhaled sharply, aghast as she stared at the woman’s heart beating in her chest.

  The woman coughed violently, babbling nonsensically. She gagged on the mucous that began pouring from her nose, her lungs and stomach expanding and growing swollen and distended as she drowned in her own fluids. The sacs of tissue split open, drenching the fire below with the thick mucous, and the woman’s body shook as she fought to breathe. Her burst flesh closed itself back up a moment later, and she drew a haggard, wheezing breath.

  Laice swallowed hard, her hands trembling as she tried to think.

  “I don’t know how to help you,” she whispered, her voice breaking.

  The woman began to sob, her cries of pain dissolving into forlorn screams.

  “This is the price! My hope is gone, but yours remains!”

  Her voice was frail with exhaustion, trailing off amid violent coughs before returning in a frantic, rasping whisper.

  “Choose, before your time runs out!”

  A glint of gold caught Laice’s attention, and she glanced over to see an object dangling from one of the stakes that held the woman over the pit. It looked familiar, and when she l
eaned forward to get a better look, her heart stopped.

  It was a gold watch, identical to the one she had in her pocket, but the hand rested on zero. As the open case spun in the air on its thin chain, Laice could see a name etched on the back in the same elegant calligraphy as her own, and a deep, hollow sadness welled up in her throat: the woman’s name was Eva.

  As Laice stared at the name, a new kind of panic instantly surged through her veins. She glanced from pit to pit and the bodies that hung above them, quickly realizing that there was a watch dangling beside each one.

  She turned her eyes back to the woman’s face, pointing at the watch as an unknown fear began seeping into her chest.

  “Where did that come from? What does it mean?”

  Eva’s muscles tensed as she stiffened her body, twisting her head around to gaze at Laice.

  “For life to leave, for death to come! You must choose!”

  “I don’t understand! Choose what?”

  Eva shook her head, her face crumpling as tears began streaming down her cheeks. She struggled to speak, fighting to form words, but no sound came from her moving lips.

  “Please, you must tell me!”

  Reaching up, Laice gently brushed her fingers against Eva’s hand, prompting her, only to be met with an ear-piercing scream of pain as the woman’s skin instantly began to smolder beneath her touch. Laice jerked back, her eyes wide as she watched ripples of fire radiate across Eva’s hand, cascading over the entire surface of her body like the embers of burning paper.

  The scorched, bleary eyes were even wilder now, darting back and forth with panic.

  “Never again!” she shrieked. “No comfort, no rest! Trust, before it’s too late!”

  Her voice was shrill and piercing, setting Laice’s teeth on edge with the depth of sorrow it held. Eva focused on Laice’s face as she gasped for air, her dark eyes full of desperation as the wave of fire on her skin dissipated.

  “Choose,” she whispered in a gurgling hiss, and Laice felt a hot flash of anger wash over her, mingling with the fear that was bursting in her heart. She stamped her foot as tears of frustration stung her eyes.