I looked down at my hands, sticky wetness dripping off my fingers. It stained my skin even after I wiped them on my leggings. What had I done? The words screamed in my mind, but I didn’t understand. Nothing made sense to me. I floated from one dull sensation to another, lost in a nightmare that I knew was real.
I fell to the ground, the cool dirt soothing me for a moment as it coated my open wounds. Dark lines raced up my arm where the wet dust settled, hiding part of the red web of poison. I bit my lower lip, feeling it tremble as a stray tear slid down my cheek. This was it. What would happen when I died here?
Another voice joined in my cries. Through my blurry vision, I saw an arm stretch out. Thick, red blood stained her fingers. No, those were mine. I was imagining things. I dropped my head and heard the voice again. This time when I opened my eyes, I saw the wagon and the girls.
I wasn’t done. If I was going to die here, it would be saving these girls.
My fingers screamed as I dug them into the ground and pulled myself forward. It felt like ages, sliding inch by inch forward. When my hands hit the spoke of the wheel, I cried out.
My palms slipped along the bars of the cage as I hauled myself up and stumbled around to the door. I twisted the keys and leaned into the door, falling through to the floor of the cage. My eyes swelled. I couldn’t keep them open much longer.
The girls swarmed around me, their screams muffled as they yelled through the strips of rags binding their mouths. They lifted me back up to a sitting position. I understood their indecipherable moans perfectly. Their outstretched arms trembled as they waited.
I tried to untie the restraints from their wrists. My fingers fought against the demands of my mind as black crept in from all sides of my vision. The ropes tore new holes in my blisters, and my left arm began to tingle before numbing altogether. It became worthless. I bent over and bit into the rope, tearing with my teeth until I remembered my dagger.
My hand shook as I reached to my belt, but it wasn’t there. I stared at my blood-soaked hands, uncomprehending.
The tallest girl’s eyes widened as she poked me and nodded behind me to where the spear rested. With my last burst of energy, I pulled the rusted weapon inside the wagon and used the pointed tip to saw through the cord.
She fell into my lap as the restraints broke.
“It’s done,” I said, smoothing her hair, letting her dry her tears on my shirt. I leaned my head back against the bars and closed my eyes. “I won’t let them hurt you again, neither of them. You’re safe. I swear on the queen’s name, you’re safe.”
I held her until her sobs subsided, and then she moved to help the other girls.
I fell forward and hit the wooden floor. Through my swollen eyelids, I saw Arrow and his men walking along the highway. Arrow removed my dagger from the bandit’s chest as Boris tied the acid-burned man to one of the trees. Cale placed his hat over his heart and lowered his eyes. His mouth moved, but I heard nothing.
I surrendered to darkness.
Chapter Twenty
“Wake up, Alex, we’re here.” Arrow shook my shoulder.
“What?” I jumped. I didn’t remember falling asleep. One glance at Arrow’s heavy eyes and the girls sleeping a few feet over from me told me we had traveled longer than I’d thought.
I rubbed my eyes. “What happened?” My voice squeaked as I looked down at my arms, covered in vines and blood.
I tried to shake off the vines, and noticed a pile of withered ones beside me. My face paled. “Arrow, what happened?” I repeated more insistently.
He knelt by my side, covering my hands with his. “Shhh…it’s all over now,” he said, helping me untangle the vines.
I bit my lower lip, but couldn’t stop the tears from welling up. “I…I…thought I was…” The words wouldn’t come.
“I wouldn’t have let that happen to you. You know that, right?” he asked, tilting my chin up.
I wiped the tears with the back of my hand and nodded.
“When we saw the welts racing up your arms, we knew the acids in the dragon weed were in your bloodstream. We weren’t sure we’d be able to heal you. How do they feel?” he asked, looking at my arms, then my face. “You scared me,” he said, pulling me to his chest.
That was all I needed to hear. I fell into his arms and wept. Tears ran unbidden down my cheek. All my frustrations and fears blended together until every pain, sorrow, and question I had felt for the past month flowed out of me. My tears knew no discrimination, and I shed them until every ache that I held inside screamed at its release.
“You’re going to be all right, Alex, I promise you,” he whispered, brushing the hair off the back of my neck.
I pulled back and looked into his eyes, wanting to believe the sincerity staring back at me. I nodded towards the vines. “Do you think you could help me with one more wrapping?”
He reached behind me to where a fresh pile lay. Seizing the moment, I wiped the tears away and blew my cheeks dry.
“Does that feel any better?” he asked, looking at me expectantly as he wound the vines up my left arm. My arms soaked up the healing salve of the plant, and I relaxed.
I shook my hands and pinched my skin, forcing a smile. Besides a faint tingling sensation in my left arm and in my stomach, I seemed fine. I brushed the pile of vines out of the way to stand up. “I don’t think we collected enough.”
“I don’t think the forest itself would be enough for you.” He laughed. The tight lines on his forehead eased as he offered his hand for support.
“You’re right. I’ll probably have to live closer to the Wounded Woods.” I matched his grin, and then my cheeks burned. What was I saying? Had I already forgotten where my home was?
“I’m sorry you had to fight those men on your own. I should’ve been there,” he said.
“It was my own fault. I’m the one that ran ahead. But it’s over now, and at least I’ve proven myself to your men.”
“You’ve nothing to prove. We believe in you.”
“Tell that to Cale,” I said. “Your men needed to see that I’m committed to them and to the rebellion,” I said, scrunching my forehead.
“Yes, but to risk your life—”
“You do it every day.”
“Yeah, but I’m their—”
“And I’m supposed to be their hero,” I said. “This at least paves the ground for them to accept me a bit more.”
He tilted his head and looked at me thoughtfully before speaking again. “You’re different than you were when you first arrived.”
I shrugged and looked down, balling my fists so I didn’t see the faded specks of blood. As the stupor that had clouded my mind wore off, I replayed my actions in my mind with vivid clarity. I had changed, and processing the differences hurt.
“You did what you had to do,” he said, cupping his hand over my shoulder. “You saved yourself and those girls. Don’t doubt yourself.”
I nodded but looked away. “I don’t want to talk about that right now,” I whispered.
He held out his hand to help me stand. “What about something a bit more pleasant?”
“I’d like that.” I smiled, taking his hand and stepping off the wagon, careful not to wake the other girls. Without the terror behind their eyes they looked younger than I’d first thought.
“Were those Berkos’ men back there?” I asked.
“Probably. This seems like the sort of things he has been doing for the past few years. Ever since he took control, our youth have disappeared—kidnapped, forced into slavery, and worse.”
“Worse?” I whispered. My heart overflowed with emotion as I looked longer at them. “I’m glad they’re free now. Where’d everyone else go?” I asked, noticing that the rest of Arrow’s men were nowhere to be seen.
“They’ve gone ahead to camp. I wanted to make sure you and the girls rested.”
I arched an eyebrow. “So you woke me up?”
“What can I say, I’m impatient,” he said. “Come with me—I want to show
you the camp.” He pulled me away from the cart.
“What about the girls? We can’t just leave them out here alone.”
“Don’t worry. I brought someone to watch them,” he said, pointing to a boy I hadn’t noticed leaning against a tree at the edge of my vision. “Everything’s taken care of. Now, let me show you the Grove.”
I glanced at him curiously and then at the dark forest in front of us. The eagerness in his voice intrigued me. Where exactly was he taking me?
“This time, I’ll follow you,” I said, stepping to the side of the trail.
He winked back at me. “Promise you’ll stay close.”
I crossed my fingers and tucked my lips together. My earlier angst disappeared when he smiled at me. He led me several hundred feet away from the cart, past where the boy sat.
Wispy branches intertwined and draped to the ground, creating a curtain of variegated greens. Arrow pulled the screen of branches to the side and motioned for me to step through ahead of him.
“May I present to you my humble camp, the Grove.” He bowed and held his arm out flamboyantly, letting the leaves fall behind him, blocking out the forest we had just hiked through.
I stared at him, and then back to the camp, and then back at him again. “A grove is a simple gathering of trees. This…this…” I stumbled for the right words. My composure slipped away, and my knees buckled.
He jumped to my side and held me steady for support. “This…is my home.”
“Arrow,” I whispered. “This is amazing.”
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“I’ve never seen something so incredible,” I said, squeezing his hand.
He beamed, and I knew I had said the right thing.
I wasn’t lying; I hadn’t seen anything like it before. Hidden within the forest, Arrow’s camp blossomed in the shadows of the trees. Built around the base of each tree, quaint cottages welcomed us. Worn by time, their white paint had begun to peel, and moss grew in the small spaces between the wooden planks. Delicate flowers and trailing vines cascaded over broken window boxes, and small rounded stones at the doorsteps finished the charming entrances. On the rooftops, ladders stretched high into the canopy above, where a suspended bridge system weaved through the forest. My feet prickled with a desire to climb those branches.
He must have read my mind. “Over here,” he said, leading me over to one of the houses.
“What are you doing? You can’t just walk through someone’s house,” I said, resisting his pull.
“Alex, your concern is sweet, but this isn’t a house.”
“It’s not?” I asked with a raised eyebrow, looking over at the flowers and welcome mat. “You expect me to believe this is what, a store?”
“No,” he said, amused. “I just expect you to believe me.”
“I, uh, I’m sorry. You’re right,” I stammered, feeling the blush rise in my cheeks.
He laughed and opened the door beside him. “You can see for yourself, it’s empty.”
“No, I believe you,” I said, but the dark room behind him eased my fears.
“Now, come on. Trust me. There’s so much I want to show you.”
“Up there?” I asked, trying to hide my confusion.
“Alex, when are you going to trust me?”
I didn’t know how to answer him. Didn’t he already know I trusted him? I pursed my lips and frowned. “Right now,” I said.
His footsteps sounded behind me as I climbed the rough ladder. Twine and vines twisted together and wound around long sticks, creating a crude stairway. The ropes creaked under my weight, swinging through the narrow opening in the ceiling.
I propped myself up and paused as I breached the opening. My hands slipped along the moss growing on top of the wooden roof, and I fell backwards.
“Whoa,” he said, grabbing my waist, pressing my legs onto the small edge of the ladder. “You okay?” he asked.
I looked down at his arms encircling my waist and suppressed the butterflies flitting inside me. “Yeah, I’m fine,” I murmured, unable to speak above a whisper.
Everything seemed heightened here—every emotion, thought, and touch. My gaze lingered on his hand before I pulled myself back through the ceiling and onto the roof. I wished I could pass it off as an ordinary slip, but it was more than that. Maybe it was what had happened with the girls, maybe it was the beauty of the Grove, but everything I saw threw me off center. The simplicity of the game-world I knew from home had disappeared, replaced by something as real and complex as anything I’d known before.
“This is the only way to see the Grove properly,” he said, gliding across the wooden planks to an archway of tangled branches. Beyond the threshold stood a wooden bridge suspended above the ground, a walkway through the trees.
“I see what you mean.” Walking past him, I grabbed ahold of the vine railing. My palms slid over the slick vines, and the wooden planks creaked with our movements. I looked skeptically at the old strips of wood holding the bridge together and the gnarled limbs and branches that twisted to make a railing. Despite Arrow’s confidence, I wasn’t sure I trusted the strength of the vines and branches.
“This gives you a better idea of the camp without getting lost in the details,” he said, leaning over the edge of the railing. “I forget that sometimes.”
His words struck me. I let go of the railing and furrowed my brow as I stared at him. That was exactly why I loved climbing so much, but I never knew someone else would feel the same way. I took a step closer to him and noticed the people wandering around below us. I let out a happy sigh and met his grin. “Show me more,” I said.
I found myself matching his enthusiasm as we walked along the bridge. The creaking faded away when we moved deeper into the Grove, replaced only by the soft rustling of leaves. The trees thickened, and larger branches held the bridge in place.
As we moved closer to the center of the village, I noticed streams of braided fabric flowing through the air, tied to the largest branches and to the supports of the bridges. Waves of purple and blue turned the Grove into a blossoming garden of color.
Arrow pointed out the buildings and tents as we walked—homes, shops, and medical huts. The camp had everything they needed to survive. He even pointed out the training fields, where I saw the familiar faces of his men mixed in with strangers. I picked out Cale from the crowd immediately. I couldn’t ignore him if I wanted to. Smoke rings encircled him like a bull’s-eye.
It seemed everything had been accounted for, even the mobs of people. Without notice, the simplicity of the quiet homes exploded into a flurry of activity, men racing through the camp below.
“I don’t understand. How is this all here?” I spun around, watching men weave in and out of buildings and tents, their arms full of supplies. “How does a village like this stay hidden in the middle of the forest? Not just a village, but an army?” I listened to the rhythmic pounding of a blacksmith forging armor and the clanking of metal as swords and shields were stacked along the outer edge of the longest building.
Arrow shrugged. “It had to, I suppose. Necessity forced us to rise to the occasion. Do you remember what I told you about Flourin?”
I thought for a moment and nodded. “About it being the capital, or Berkos destroying it?”
“Both. You see, after Berkos burned down Flourin, most of the people had nowhere to go. They were afraid to regroup in the big cities, so we offered refuge here.”
“That’s an amazing thing to do,” I said.
He shrugged. “Not really. It’s just what we had to do. It’s not that special.”
“It is,” I said. “You just don’t understand that. I’ve never seen such teamwork or generosity.”
We stood in silence for a moment, watching the flurry of activity. I finally broke the silence. “Thank you for showing me all this. I mean it. This camp, your home, it’s truly special.”
“You’re welcome. But there’s more.”
“More?” I asked.
<
br /> He answered my question with a mischievous smile. “Much more,” he said, leading the way to the nearest tree and grabbing ahold of the rope ladder. He climbed down through a small opening between the bridge and the tree and looked up at me. “What’re you waiting for?”
I shook my head and climbed down after him. The noise increased to a roaring din around us. I nudged Arrow and plugged my ears.
“Another reason why I enjoy it up there,” he yelled. “It gets loud down here, especially now with the preparations.”
“Preparations?” I asked.
He pulled on my sleeve, bringing me closer.
“On your right,” a man yelled, carrying an armful of shields as he clanked past us.
I twirled and saw more men scurrying by with piles of armor and weaponry, the elders barking out orders. Sweat rolled down their red faces as they stacked boxes and rolled barrels in front of the stockrooms. Children barely old enough to walk followed the older boys, dragging spears behind their wobbly legs. Everyone seemed occupied with their tasks, but none of them were so busy that they couldn’t stop to stare at me.
“Don’t forget, we all got word that you were coming. They’re naturally as excited as I’ve been.”
I bit my lower lip and regarded them more closely, noticing the smiles tugging at their lips and the way they tried not to be obvious with their stares, quickly turning when I met their gaze.
“Don’t make that look,” he said. “You knew this was coming.”
“Yes, but…”
“I told you that you’d have all the support you needed. This should put you at ease.”
I swallowed hard and forced a smile. “You’re right. It’ll be fine.” But everything inside me screamed that I was in over my head.
“Now let me finish showing you camp. Over there, next to the practice meadow, is the stables, and on the other side are the quarters.”
“Uh-huh,” I said, trying to listen to everything he described. Half his words slipped over my head as I soaked in my surroundings.
He grabbed my hand and raced across the pathway to the other side of the camp. The practice meadow was an open field surrounded by hay bales, stacked two and three high, with old wooden barrels overflowing with spears, arrows, and swords. At one end, a group of men gathered, adjusting their bows, while at the other end, two younger boys adjusted new targets—hand-painted caricatures of a man with a dark mustache and black crown.
Dreamscape: Saving Alex Page 20