by Lani Lenore
“No, I want to go,” she protested. She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to be involved this time. For all of their hunts that she had avoided, something told her that she needed to know what was going on now. She needed to see what this Scourge was all about.
“It might be too dangerous,” Toss warned.
“We can’t leave them here by themselves either,” Sly said. “What if it’s only a trap to lure us away? We have to be careful.”
Nix sucked his teeth loudly. “This is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about,” he said, shaking his head as he started off, but he didn’t comment further.
They all seemed unsure, but finally it was Rifter’s voice that cleared the matter. He hadn’t gone so far away after all.
“No,” he said, his voice coated in darkness. “She needs to see it. She comes with us.”
The sharpness in his eyes was startling, as if he was no longer the same boy who had once smiled at her. Directly after he’d said it, Wren shivered and began to doubt her resolve. Did she really want to do this? It was too late to back out now. She didn’t want to be that sort of fickle girl.
I need to see it. Yes. I need to be there with him and understand this.
The trek might not be safe, but if it was part of what she had to do to understand this world and him, then she would agree.
They all gathered their things, loading themselves with weapons – more than usual – as if they were indeed going off to war. Maybe they were. Wren went to retrieve Max and led him out, holding his hand tightly as if she might lose him. She didn’t want to take him into danger, not knowing what they might find, but she could not leave him alone.
As they began to walk in the direction of the smoke, Wren came to a terrible realization. She should have known it a long time ago, but she hadn’t wanted to believe it. The truth was clear to her now. No matter which world she was in, there was no such thing as a safe place.
Chapter Twenty-Four
1
As far as the order of powers in Nevermor, the Tribals had very little to fear. They were hunters by nature, masters of the land within their own territories. They stayed away from the Rifter and his Pack, and they were far enough from the coves that they had little trouble from the pirates.
The largest tribe had a settlement beyond the mountains in a sacred place. On the edge of a cliff, it was well-protected with only one direction from which foes could attack, and only a fool would try.
A few days prior, a group of hunters had traversed from the main settlement and made their camp on the edge of the swamp. These hunters were the very same that Rifter and the others had met on the day they’d slain the nightmare creature. On this day, the party was on their way back from scouting when they, too, saw the smoke. It was far too much – more than might ever be seen on a normal day from the small fires that were lit throughout the camp. It struck fear in their hearts, but more than that, worry.
There was a girl among them – one of the very few female warriors of the clan. She was the one that the Pack called the painted huntress, but her given name among her own people was Calico. She was the Great Bear’s daughter and only child. As such, she should have been a prize for the strongest warrior, but her spirit would not allow her to be subdued. She had chosen to fight, not be a wife, and this was what she would continue to do until the end of her days.
When she had seen the smoke, she was stirred with more anger and passion than the rest of them. They all had obligations to their people, but she felt in her heart that hers was greater. It was common for her to put this load upon herself.
She was strong, and she had more zeal than so many others who had forgotten that there was more to their existence than mere survival.
Fearing danger, she rallied the others and urged them to hurry on, but even when they arrived back at the cliffside camp, they could not stop what had already been done. They had not been expecting an attack, and yet their village was on fire.
Women screamed as they tried to flee with their children, only to be thwarted by pirates, cut down or abused. Gunshots echoed across the canyon and over the plains beyond. It was not a completely one-sided battle, however. Many of the invading pirates fell by the spear or arrow. The fighters among the Tribals were strong and vicious – some of the fiercest in the land – but the pirates had one thing on their side that the natives did not.
They had a greater power – one of two that the world had to offer.
There was a black figure in the midst of them who walked freely through the camp, observing the chaos and despair that he had brought here. All those who dared to stand against him were cut into pieces, sliced into quarters. Their blood fed the soil.
When Calico laid her eyes on him, there was no question of consequence. She wanted to kill him, and even though she knew that he would probably kill her instead, her rage wouldn’t allow her to turn away.
It was with pure ire rushing out of her mouth that she ran toward him. She didn’t hear the others calling for her to stop, begging her to wait. The Scourge was out in the open, unprotected, and she would not lose the opportunity.
Taking her hatchets, one in each hand, she didn’t hesitate to attack – didn’t give him time to focus on her – but he still managed to deflect her every attempt, even with a blind eye. She struck with all her power, but she could not hit him – could not even graze the fringe of his coat. There was only the clang of metal against stone as he deflected her hatchets with his sword, one by one in rapid succession.
Calico fought with all that was in her. She tried, but it was not enough. Her opponent was more than she could handle.
He kicked her in the stomach and knocked her backward into the ground. She rolled and pulled herself back up, despite how her body was bruised, crouching low, but didn’t rush in again before eyeing him carefully. He watched her as well.
Deep in his throat, he laughed. Calico saw that he was amused. By what? Her youth? The fact that she was female? She knew he could have killed her by now if he’d only acted, but yet he continued to entertain her.
“Is that all you’ve got?” he asked from behind his collar. “Is that all the rage in your little heart? Surely you’ve got a bit more for me. I crave that.”
He was taunting her – she understood that – but she wouldn’t respond. She hadn’t understood all of his words, but she could read him by the look on his face. He thought all of this was funny. He had killed her people and he thought it was a grand joke!
Calico leapt at him again, caring about nothing but slicing his flesh, cutting through his bone and making him pay for what he had done. She aimed at his head as well as the full part of his body, but he was constantly beyond her reach.
She wasn’t quite spent before he had grown tired of her. The Scourge let his blade run along her arm, drawing blood from a lengthy gash, and she dropped one of her weapons.
Calico backed away, clenching her wound but not daring to look down to see how serious it was. Blood was oozing over her fingers, and that was all she needed to know. She would not take her eyes off of him, but it didn’t matter. He was too fast and too skilled for her.
His blade met her remaining axe, chopping it cleanly in half, leaving her defenseless and injured. She staggered back, but it did her no good. He was upon her before she could run.
He pressed her back against the side of a hut, wedging his arm against her throat. He’d taken her weapons away, but Calico would not accept defeat. She reached for him, clawing at his coat like a wild animal, trying to get to his face.
Calico was not afraid of death, even if she was to see it in the next instant. She would meet her end with her head held high, and she would fight to her last breath. That, at least, was her intent. Yet once he had pressed a bit harder against her throat, her reaction was to grip his arm and try to pull it away, protecting the path to her lungs above all else.
The Scourge leaned in close to her, but she did not cease to stare boldly into his eyes, even if she co
uld feel his darkness on her skin. She shivered beneath her anger, but she would not let it get the best of her.
“You’re a wild one,” he whispered to her, brushing his nose against the side of her face. “I like that in a woman.”
She struggled against him but she could not slip out of his grip. It was too tight, unnaturally solid.
Calico was not a fool. She knew what her fate would be since she had stood against him. None of the others had tried to help her, and she did not look for them now. They had been caught up in battle or else were too afraid to interfere. That had been the problem with her people for too long. They were afraid to fight.
Calico waited for what he would do to her – whether cut out her eyes or rip into her gut – but he stopped suddenly.
The Scourge lifted up his head, his eye looking out across the land that he had attacked, toward the trees in the distance as if he had completely forgotten about her.
His blue eye was wide and fixed, and a smile began to rise up on his mouth.
“He’s coming,” the man hissed, but of course the savage did not understand. With a jolt she’d not expected, he hit her in the side of the head with his fist, knocking her to the ground.
2
The Rifter and his clan moved hurriedly toward their destination, drawing closer to the smoke. This time, their own woman and child were in tow, which was a new burden for them, but since Wren and her brothers were going to stay, they had to learn to move with the group. So far, they were doing well. The little one was quiet beside Wren, and she kept herself in line as they moved.
They were all a long way from Rifter, even though he was just in front of them. In his mind, he had forgotten them all. He had already projected himself beyond the trees where the smoke was billowing, and he was standing in front of his enemy.
I should have killed you the last time. But the truth was that he had never quite managed to do any real damage to his rival. They fought each other tooth and nail – had been doing so for years – but they were too evenly matched. Neither had been able to kill the other, even though it had come down to that a few times. They would wound each other and break away to heal, and then it would start all over again. There was no end.
Rifter wanted the man dead, but at the same time, he couldn’t deny how he enjoyed the wars that they raged – as long as the Scourge left the rest of the world out of it. They could have fought on a daily basis and Rifter would have never tired of it. There was something about it that satisfied him – cleared his own conscience and made him remember that nothing he did was wrong because he was not the villain.
One day, I’ll hold your heart in my hand and then everyone will know that this is my world, not yours. That thought made him smile to himself.
The closer they got to the smoke, he felt the blackness even stronger, swirling around his heart. It clenched him – pinched tighter. He wanted it out! He wanted to cut it from himself, and there was only one way to do that.
“He’s close,” Rifter said suddenly, licking his lips as if he could taste his enemy’s blood. “He’s close!”
He couldn’t overcome the degree of agitation and excitement he felt inside. All the rest of them seemed to disappear, and suddenly he and his rival were the only two people in the world – they were the only two that mattered.
“Rifter, wait!”
He didn’t hear them, and they couldn’t stop him. Rifter took flight and shot off through the trees, rushing toward the presence he felt gnawing at him.
3
“Rifter, wait!”
The rest of them were yelling after their leader but he didn’t seem to hear them at all. He had flown off through the trees and was gone in an instant, leaving them behind as if they hadn’t been there with him.
“Dammit!” Nix yelled, flinging his satchel down onto the ground. Everything seemed to stop. The boys loitered as if the group was suddenly without a destination.
“Now what?” Finn wanted to know.
“We go after him, that’s what,” Nix said as if the answer should have been obvious. He began to dig inside the pocket of his knapsack, withdrawing a much smaller bag. Even through the cloth, it glittered faintly.
“What is that?” Sly asked accusingly, but he knew what it was. The glowing dust that Nix spilled out into his palm could have only been one thing.
“You shouldn’t have that stuff,” Toss said, clearly prepared to resist. “Rifter would skin you.”
“What Rifter doesn’t know won’t hurt him,” Nix said. “Isn’t that our motto? But we have to look out for ourselves. You know that. This time, if we want to help him, we have to go against his rules. Now take some.”
The twins were first in line to get theirs, always glad to rebel. The others reluctantly went forward, but Wren was left standing there, confused.
“What is it?” she asked, wary of the sparkling substance.
“It’s the alternative to a blessing when you can’t get one,” Sly said, taking his own small portion. “Fairy ashes. It’s what’s left of the wisps when they die, but it’s still potent.”
“Rifter doesn’t like us to have the stuff,” Finn added. “He says it’s unclean.”
“But that’s easy for him to say,” Mech said, wiping the portion of the ash on the soles of his boots. “He can fly all of the time.”
“It works if you need it, and we don’t have much of a choice,” Nix said, stepping up to her. “Take it.”
He held out his hand to give her some of what was left, but she looked down at it and shook her head. If Rifter didn’t want them to have it, there must have been a reason – aside from it seeming completely irreverent to use the ashes of the dead for something like this. Nix remained solid, however.
“Take it or we leave you here. We don’t have time for this.”
Beyond him, Wren could see Henry falling in with them, doing as they did. He had taken some of the dust and was rubbing it on his shoes. He had sided with them without thinking – without even asking her what she thought.
“Nix, we’re going on,” Sly told him, and the rest of them began to shoot away. They weren’t quite flying, but more like hovering over the ground, yet it made them as fast as shooting stars. They kept low as they hurried off in the direction Rifter had gone.
Wren was still unsure. Aside from her hesitation to use the magical substance, she didn’t know if she wanted to go with them anymore. Was she doing the right thing? She needed to know what all this was about, didn’t she?
Isn’t this what you wanted? You asked to be included, she reminded herself.
She stood there, debating within until Nix sighed.
“Rifter would be upset if something happened to you,” he said in the softest tone she’d ever heard him use. Still, it was not quite friendly. “But he’s not himself right now and he needs our support. So, do you care about him?”
She wasn’t sure why, but the question nearly knocked her backward. Even so, she had to answer it honestly.
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to for the people you care about.”
Wren stared at him, wondering if they had just met on the same level. Hadn’t she already learned that lesson?
Have I?
Max was quiet, looking up at her with large eyes, waiting for what she would say. “Let’s not stay here, Wren. Let’s go with them.”
She looked back at Nix, who was still waiting for her response. Finally, she nodded.
“Only me. I’ll carry him,” she said.
She dipped her fingers into the glowing ash and rubbed it across the soles of her slippers like the rest of them had, trying to forget what it was. Nix did the same. Wren didn’t feel much different afterward, but she trusted that this ash would work as it had for the rest of them. She lifted Max up and was glad when he didn’t protest.
“Follow me,” Nix said. “Try to keep up.”
“Close your eyes,” she told Max, and whether
he did or not, she wasn’t sure.
Nix took off through the trees and Wren was quickly after him, following his path around the tree trunks so that she would not slam into them. She had only run a few steps before her feet lifted off the ground and she no longer had to move her legs to go forward, using her own weight to push herself on through the woods as if she was falling continuously. She did not marvel at how fantastic it was, for she had a good idea of what was going on in the distance.
Blood. Death. War.
She remembered Rifter’s words from earlier. She needs to see it. That had her concerned. Whatever he had intended for her to see, she was already certain that it wasn’t going to be pleasant.
But I have to know. She knew that her curiosity would not allow her to let it lie. She needed to piece the truth together for herself, and this was just another ounce of it. The feud between the Rifter and his enemy had everything to do with the state of the world. Since she was part of it now, she had to go forward.
If the Scourge was there, she needed to see it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
1
Rifter didn’t stop until he saw the fire. Wild and destructive, it was oddly beautiful to him, and yet he hated the way it engulfed everything that the Tribals had built for themselves. It consumed their lives and devoured their past in an instant. Grinding his teeth against it wouldn’t solve the problem, however. It was already done. He didn’t try to put out the flames, knowing he couldn’t. He had other things on his mind.
Where is he? Where!
As soon as his feet touched the ground and he skidded to a halt in the dirt, he drew his sword. His heart was pulsing heavily, his blood burning in his veins. He was rabid – driven mad by it.
His enemy was near. The Scourge was waiting.
You started without me, old bones? Where are you? I know you’re here.
The Rifter waded through the chaos, killing a few of the pirates who were too preoccupied to notice him. His eyes were wide and searching, and finally he saw the one he had been looking for, standing on a black spot of ground. The malady was spreading, killing the grass and turning it to ash. Rifter was going to put a stop to this disease.