Dreamscape: Saving Alex

by Kirstin Pulioff

  “Thanks for the wonderful gift, Goldy. I’ll remember that once we get out of here. Remember, there’s still much more of Lockhorn you haven’t seen. I know all its treasures.”

  “I bet you do.”

  “I’ll show them to you if we get out.”

  “When we get out.”

  “Hopefully sooner than later,” he said. “How deep is this pit, anyway?”

  “Not much further,” I said, glimpsing a glint of metal below me. “Not far at all.”

  Sweat dripped off my face. Now that I saw the spikes, time quickened. Every twitch of my fingers and slip of my feet created a new sensation of imminent death. One mistake meant game over in an instant. My palms slickened and my legs wavered, but eventually I made it to the bottom. The exit, a small opening in the side of the wall, lay right above the spikes. If I didn’t aim my body correctly, I’d be impaled.

  I pushed off, diving through the small opening and landing in a heap on the hard stones. Curled into a ball, I shook, heaving, letting the emotions overflow. Being face-to-face with death yet again was too much. Dark spots marked the stones where my tears fell, and next to them I saw imprints from the fresh wounds along my palms and knees. I convulsed on the floor, trying to convince myself I’d be fine.

  I didn’t hear Arrow until he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I melted into him. My head found its match in the curve of his neck, and my arms wound a path around him. His warmth surrounded me, and the slow beat of his heart calmed mine. We sat entwined, silent. His hands rolled over my back. Greed overwhelmed me.

  I grabbed fistfuls of his sleeves, not caring about the dust that covered us or the thought that I might stain his shirt. I didn’t care about anything. Every rational thought disappeared from my mind. At that moment, all I cared about was being alive.

  Arrow responded. His hands turned more forceful, pressing me closer to his chest. His eyes swept over me, a wild range of emotions flickering across his face—fear, relief, confusion. I rose to my knees, meeting his gaze with my own. He leaned forward, his lips parting, but my inexperience wormed its way through my desire, and I hesitated a moment too long.

  Arrow pulled back.

  “We better go,” I said, even though I didn’t mean it. I bit my cheek and brushed the dust off my palms.

  “Of course,” he said, tightening his lips and pulling his sleeves straight.

  Nothing I said could make what had just happened better. The last thing I wanted to do was admit that I hadn’t kissed anyone before. He had already accused me of being little more than a child when we met. Besides, it couldn’t work out. We were too different. And he wasn’t even real.

  I had my own mission that went beyond stealing these papers or aiding the rebellion. I couldn’t forget where I needed to go. Why was it so hard to remember sometimes?

  “Where do we go next?” he asked as if nothing had happened.

  “What? Oh, uh, wait here,” I said, running ahead to the doorway at the opposite end of the hall. Part of me still reeled from the adrenaline and our near-kiss, but most of me appreciated the distance from him. Right now, I needed to focus. I could almost touch the token at the end of the level.

  Sharp staccato beats echoed from the next room. I ducked back behind the doorway’s opening and caught my breath. If we could get through these next few rooms, we’d be at the baron’s chamber. I inhaled deeply and peeked around the corner.

  The opulence of the room overwhelmed me. The minimalism we had seen throughout the estate seemed out of place in comparison with this extravagance. Marble pillars lined the outer edge of the room. Cascading from the ceiling in a scalloped pattern, crimson velvet drapes covered the walls like flames. The edges swirled with the breeze. Perfectly framed within the window, the crescent moon winked, appearing and then disappearing behind a steady line of guards marching in formation.

  Their movements shook the ground. Dark, plated armor covered their bodies, and chains and leather masked their faces. Spiked helmets crowned their heads. What was I thinking? I knew I wasn’t the hero. I was a girl who freaked out over a bird! The guards would crush me without a second thought. This was insane.

  “What do you think?” Arrow whispered from behind me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. “I thought you were waiting until I had a plan.”

  He shrugged and peeked around me. “You were taking too long. How many are there?”

  “More than I’d like. I don’t know if this is such a great idea anymore.”

  “Ah, Alex, stop worrying. We’ll be fine. I know you can get us in without too much fuss.” He lifted his fingers and marked the air as he counted the lines of guards. I wished I felt half as confident as he did.

  The rhythmic beat of their march grew faster, but it was still slow compared to my heart.

  “There are only fifty at most.”

  “Only fifty. You make that sound like it’s a good thing!”

  “Berkos has thousands. I’d say this is manageable,” he said, leaning further in as the last of the guards marched to the next hall.

  How could I argue with that? “Okay, let’s go, before they come back,” I whispered, pressing my back flat against the wall. Arrow mirrored my position on the other side of the doorway.

  “We won’t have much time,” he whispered. His gaze followed the guards out of the room, and then turned back to me. “Where do we need to go when we get in there?”

  “It’s down there,” I said, focusing on the small stone archway at the far end of the hall. Now if only we could get there without incurring anyone’s attention.

  Arrow didn’t wait. He jumped forward and disappeared behind the first marble pillar. A moment later he appeared and disappeared again behind the next. Something unexpected rose inside me—hope. Maybe we could get through undetected.

  I followed, pressing my hands against the smooth surface of the marble as I slid from one column to the next. Cautious, listening for footsteps but anxious to reach the end, we skipped ahead as fast as we could.

  Arrow had already passed into the next room when the metallic beat began resounding from the far side of the chamber. I held my breath and pressed my body against the pillar. Now that the guards had returned, I would have to carefully swing around the pillars, moving just enough to stay out of sight while they walked past.

  My palms slid down the marble. The guards moved down the center of the room. Red stamps covered the back of their armor, marking their kills. In the game, these marks had been simple dots, pixels of red. Here, they were figures, and I felt sick when I saw far too many small images alongside the full-sized pictures. Some things were inexcusable in any world. I simmered in silence.

  Arrow waved me forward as soon as the path cleared. He glared at the guards disappearing behind me.

  “Let’s get out of this place,” I said, dragging him behind me until the cloak of the stairwell’s darkness enveloped us. We ran up the spiral stairs two at a time until we reached an ornately carved wooden door. I covered my lips with one finger. We’d arrived. I fought to suppress my rising relief.

  A slit of light poured out into the stairway as I pressed against the heavy door. It protested with a deep groan, scraping the ground. We slunk through the small gap before the noise escalated. A pulsing rush of excitement and anticipation gripped me. We’d made it.

  Arrow crept past me, his steps smooth. He glided from the doorway we had entered to another at the end of the foyer. Before he disappeared into the darkness, he flashed a bright smile and a wink at me. I waved him forward. I had done my part in getting us here. The rest, securing the papers, depended on him. The quicker he grabbed those, the better. I wanted nothing more to do with this place. It reeked of murder.

  The quaint design of the entry room surprised me. After the extremes of opulence and minimalism we’d seen, I didn’t expect modest décor and an eye for artistry. Brief hints of luxury shone in the golden frames and elegant figurines, but the room possessed a richness I di
dn’t anticipate. Crisp, pristine furs lined the hand-carved benches sitting beneath each frame. Intricate scenes of horned-bits and winged monsters hid within the spirals and grains of the dark wood.

  “Horned-bits,” I whispered with a giggle, noticing the pointed antlers that were as big as the animal they belonged to. Arrow was lucky only his arm had been impaled. Why would he have ever wanted one for a pet? The thought of him brought me back to the present. Where was he? He’d had more than enough time to grab the papers.

  “Arrow?” I hissed, walking past the first few paintings. Familiar faces from the statue room glared down at me. Both in stone and in paint, the artist had captured the condescending sneer of the royals perfectly. I peeked around the far doorway into darkness, but heard nothing.

  “Arrow,” I whispered again as I stepped into the pitch black, fumbling around in front of me. I was scared. More scared than I could remember ever being before. We were so close to the end, and I just wanted to get out of there. “Where are you?” I turned the corner.

  Candles flickered in glass jars on either side of the room. The baron’s private chambers. I slowed my approach to half-speed, exaggerating my steps.

  What was taking Arrow so long? I looked at my wrist out of habit, but my watch wasn’t there. It didn’t matter. I didn’t need it to tell me what I already knew from counting the beats of my heart. Too much time had passed. Something must have happened.

  I tiptoed closer to the next room and held my breath. Even the whisper of my breathing seemed to echo. As I breached the doorway, a flash of light blinded me. I covered my mouth and screamed as the knife’s edge flashed in the candlelight.

  “No!” I yelled, stopping Arrow before he plunged his blade into the baron’s chest.

  Arrow glared at me as the baron stirred in his bed. Despite my protests, he raised his knife again.

  “You can’t kill him,” I said, grabbing Arrow’s free arm and pulling him towards me.

  Baron Marix’s eyes flew open, and as he sat upright, he pulled his sheets up to his chin.

  “Didn’t you just go through that manor?” Arrow said, clipping each word, shifting his gaze between me and the baron. “Didn’t you see the faces of the men?”

  I stared at him. He was right. The man deserved to die. There was no justification for anything he’d done. The stamps on the back of his guards’ armor showed the atrocities he allowed.

  Arrow’s hand shook as he held the knife high. It wasn’t that I didn’t want the baron to die. But I didn’t want it to haunt Arrow. I didn’t have time to explain, though. While we locked eyes, the baron pressed an emergency alarm, and a bell sounded throughout the room.

  “We have to go, now!” I shouted, pulling him away from the bed.

  I ignored the ‘I told you so’ glare Arrow shot at me and ran down the steps. The ringing of the bell followed us. An invisible threat tightened around my heart. Our time ran short.

  Behind us, the baron’s incoherent shouts almost drowned out the increasing rumble in front of us—the rhythmic marching of the guards.

  “We’re stuck,” Arrow said.

  Obviously.

  I pressed my body against the far wall. My hands slid against the stone, stopping against something warm. I looked down at Arrow’s hand under mine and met his expectant gaze.

  “What now?” he asked.

  My eyes widened. I had never had to find a way out, just a way to win. The levels usually ended once I got the token. “I don’t know. Did you get the papers you needed?”

  “I have them.” He nodded and patted his vest pocket, where I could see the rough edges of worn parchment.

  I nodded and looked past him up the stairs. That wasn’t an option. I had already stopped Arrow from killing the baron once. The echoes of the armor alerted me to the guards. They moved more quickly than I remembered.

  They raised their swords as they approached. Moonlight flashed off their smooth helmets, and an idea hit me. It was a long shot, but it seemed like the only chance we had.

  “Do you still have a packet of vines?” I asked Arrow, keeping my eyes on the glinting helmets, counting down their approach.

  “Yes…”

  “Enough for the both of us?”

  He tightened his lips and nodded.

  “Then follow me, and whatever you do, don’t stop!”

  I ran back up the stairway about ten steps and turned around, facing the entrance. Energy pumped through me. Just as the first guard crossed the threshold, I jumped, flinging myself forward. My feet connected with the smooth helmet of the first guard, knocking him backwards into the guards behind him. I jumped again before he collapsed to the floor and catapulted off the next guard’s shoulders, leaping from one person to the next.

  Before they could raise their swords to attack, I was already where I needed to be. With the last of my strength, I grabbed the velvet drapes and swung through the open window, waiting for the openness below me. Letting go, I dropped two stories to the ground.

  My legs jammed and buckled underneath me as I landed. The ground shook when Arrow landed next to me, and I realized that I couldn’t move. Breathing took all my energy. I knew that the moment I shifted, I would regret it.

  “Did we really just jump over Marix’s guards?” he wheezed, scrambling through his bag.

  “I told you not to worry.” I struggled to get the words out, wincing. I was right about regretting movement. “Vines?” I rasped, grimacing.

  “Almost,” he said. “I will never underestimate you again.” And then he gave me that smile. The kind that made me weak from the inside out.

  I blinked my eyes to keep the tears from falling and looked up as a firework burst across the sky. “Look at that. It’s beautiful.”

  “We don’t have much time. The baron’s men will be out searching for us soon,” Arrow said, slicing the vines open.

  I nodded and refocused on the sky, watching the fireworks blur under my tears. Relief overcame me as the first vine took effect, and I closed my eyes.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I nuzzled into the warmth of a wool cloak, enjoying a moment of comfort. I refused to open my eyes, no matter how intense the sunlight was on my lids or how pervasive the sweet song of the birds. Sweet song? When had the oppressive chirping ended? My eyes shot open.

  Arrow stilled my scream with a smile. “Good morning, Alex.”

  Good morning? Oh no. How long had he been carrying me? “Good morning,” I mumbled, hiding my face in his chest.

  His warm laugh doubled my mortification. What if I had talked in my sleep, or worse, drooled on him? Ugh.

  “Hey, hey, just relax, Alex,” he said, tightening his grip as I shuffled in his arms. “I’m carrying you for a little bit.” The tone in his voice told me not to bother arguing. He had made up his mind.

  He sped through the trails of the forest, twisting around low branches and high-stepping fallen logs, clearly in his element. Above us, the birds circled, following us with their melody as we moved out of the thick woods into lush meadows. Pockets of honey flowers and dragon weed intermixed in the field. Long ombré blades of grass gave way in the wind, moving in gentle waves.

  Nothing seemed to slow him, not even carrying a damsel in his arms. I cringed at the thought. The years of Mom’s lectures about being strong and independent came back to me. Surely saving his life kept me out of that classification. I hoped.

  I sighed and melted into his arms. I won’t lie. It felt good. His warmth, the way his muscles hugged me, and the steady beat of his heart, all put me at ease. I had never felt this way before. It confused me, even more than the whole ‘not being real’ thing.

  Doubts rose to the surface, unsettling me. I couldn’t shake them. No matter how much I tried to fade them out or pretend this was all an illusion, I found myself in the same predicament. To survive, I had to be part of the game instead of simply playing it. I looked up at Arrow and noticed the slight smile that rested on the edge of his lips, the dark hair swooping
over his eyes. Being part of the game was more dangerous than I wanted to admit.

  A contented sigh escaped my lips, and even though he kept his face forward, I saw the corners of his lips rise even more.

  “I can walk now,” I offered halfheartedly.

  “Are you sure?” Arrow asked, his brow furrowed.

  “I’m much better,” I said, kicking my feet to show him, feeling for the first time the vines spiraling up my legs. I reached down to touch them out and frowned. When had he tied them? So much of last night melted into a fog, except the moments I wished I could forget.

  He let me down gently, but kept his arms around my waist, looking at my downcast face.

  “Alex?” he asked, tilting my head up to meet him. “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing,” I said, shaking my head, the thoughts twisting me up. “So… about last night…” My voice trailed off.

  “Last night?” he asked, tightening his grip around my waist, swinging me around. “You were incredible!”

  I brushed the stray blonde wisps out of my mouth and met his gaze. “What?” He obviously remembered something different than I did.

  “Last night. The way you led us through the estate. I’ve never seen anyone be so brave or innovative.”

  I let out a low chuckle. “I suppose you could call it that. I was thinking more along the lines of crazy.”

  “Well, that too,” he said. “But worth it.” He pulled out a packet of rolled parchment.

  “Are those what you were looking for?” I asked, staring at the yellowed scroll.

  He nodded. “Thanks to you, we got them. Thank you.”

  “Can I take a look?” I asked, curious to see what had almost cost us our lives.

  “Sure, just be careful.”

  I took the papers and scanned them quickly. “These are just names,” I said, disappointed.

  “They’re more than just names,” he said, pointing to the first on the list. “Paulin Jons is a butcher from the south. Larson,” he pointed to another name down the list. “He’s an innkeeper in Lindle. And…no,” he sighed deeply. “Perkins was an old friend.”