Nevermor

by Lani Lenore

  The Scourge looked the same as he always had – not a day older than the first time they had drawn their swords against each other, and yet he was too old in Rifter’s eyes. That one blue, all-seeing eye peered out at him. The other was covered by a patch, but Rifter couldn’t say how he’d lost that one. Some enemy before him had cut it out, he guessed.

  A high collar shielded the man’s pale face. The dark coat he wore was broad across the shoulders, but fit well against his skin so that it would not hinder his form – important, since they would fight soon.

  Rifter had not failed to notice that the evil man was not alone. He was holding onto a young Tribal. Rifter recognized her, and even though he had only seen her from a distance, he would know her anywhere. She was something that had intrigued him, and he did not often forget those things.

  The huntress…

  He did not know her beyond sight, but felt obligated to make sure she stayed alive. She looked disoriented and she was bleeding, but was probably well enough to run away if he could convince the other to let her go.

  The Scourge stared at him, smiling to have finally seen him arrive.

  “There you are,” the Scourge sneered, visibly thrilled. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d come.”

  “Of course you knew I would,” Rifter said, clutching the hilt of his sword so tightly that his knuckles were white and bared. “But I have to say: I like it better when it’s just the two of us.”

  He was talking as much about the girl as he was her people that had been brought into this mess.

  “Perhaps that’s ideal,” the Scourge admitted, “but I had to invite you in. Consider that this was your formal invitation.”

  “Won’t you let her go?” Rifter asked, trying to sound indifferent. “You can’t exactly fight me with a sword in one hand and a girl in the other. That’s as good as a handicap.”

  “I was thinking that she made a rather beautiful meat shield. Don’t you agree?” He tightened his grip on her, pulling her scantily clad body closer against his. “But you don’t know how to appreciate the finer points of the female form, do you? You’re just a boy. I’m not even sure your balls have dropped yet.”

  “Fuck you,” he drawled.

  “That was an intelligent response.”

  “You think I’d care about cutting through some girl to get to you?” Rifter asked severely. It was a bluff, but he hoped his enemy didn’t see that.

  “Come at me then, if that’s your choice,” the Scourge welcomed. His ploy hadn’t worked. The Scourge watched him intently, but Rifter only laughed and took a few paces across the ground, stalling.

  “I just don’t want anything to come between us,” he said finally. “Our relationship is already so special without a woman in the middle of it.”

  Rifter knew that the Scourge could have slit her throat before he could blink, and maybe there was no hope that he wouldn’t kill her, but Rifter tried. That was all he could do. The Scourge had already killed so many others in this camp. What was one more? But as Rifter stared down his enemy, he saw the man relent.

  “I guess it’s only fair,” said the Scourge. “You’re right. There’s no sense in bringing a woman into this, is there?”

  He threw the girl down and drew his weapons – a sword for each hand. Rifter watched the Tribal from the corner of his eye to make sure she had crawled away, and then he was able to absorb himself fully in the confrontation that his heart was pulsing so hard for.

  Rifter moved a little closer to the dark man, and the two of them circled around, each sizing the other up. Not much had changed from the times they had fought before, but somehow the thought of looking on with new eyes had some sort of appeal.

  “You’ve called me here,” Rifter said finally, serious in his task. “So I’ve come.”

  A wicked curve came up at the corner of the man’s mouth. “I did all this just for you.”

  Rifter couldn’t help but smile impishly as he readied himself on his feet. Above them, the clouds had begun to swirl, and the sky had turned a deep orange. Thunder groaned above them, but still the boy smiled.

  “Then we both know why we’re here,” Rifter said, setting his jaw and his feet. “Fight me!”

  2

  When the Pack arrived, just a minute or two after Rifter had, they saw the scene clearly on the hill. The camp was ablaze, the huts and tents eaten by the fire. There were men fighting each other with swords and guns, spears and arrows. There were bodies on the ground, unmoving, and the living were running through the camp, shouting or crying in madness and fear.

  It was a horrific sight. Wren immediately began to regret that she had come here.

  “We need to back Rifter up,” Nix said, commanding them in their leader’s stead. “Sly, you and the twins branch out and catch the stragglers. Finn, you move with me, head-on. Toss, you stay with the girl.”

  They all voiced their agreement and prepared to move, but Wren wasn’t paying attention to them. She was the only one who was watching how the sun had been blocked out by thick clouds, and she lifted her face to the heavens to observe it.

  “Why is the sky doing that?” she asked, and the rest looked up as if they hadn’t noticed.

  The rusty hue of the firmament was beautiful, but menacing. The clouds were swirling too fast, flashing with amber lightning and grumbling with strain. It was the most unusual thing she had ever seen, and she had seen her share since coming here.

  The pirates and Tribals who were doing battle on the hill began to notice it as well, and many of them abandoned their efforts against each other in order to flee. Once the area had cleared, there were only two figures left. Rifter was there, evident in his coat of leaves, and not but a few paces away there was a dark man brandishing a pair of swords.

  That’s him, Wren thought, pulling Max closer to her. It’s Him.

  She shivered when she looked at him, and she knew that the things the Pack had told her about this evil man – this Scourge of Nevermor – were true. She could feel his presence near her, on her flesh, even though he was a distance away.

  As they watched, the two figures on the hill began to move toward each other. They’re going to fight, she realized. When their blades connected, she felt the ground shake beneath her feet as if the earth had shuddered in fear.

  What? She looked down as if that would help, but it did not stop the quaking. In her arms, Max began to whimper, and her own heart was stricken with dread. With every clash of their blades, the ground shook until their attacks became so swift and frequent that there was a constant earthquake beneath her feet.

  What is going on! Her heart was speeding and she was beginning to panic, but she did not know what to do.

  “It’s happening!” she heard Finn yell, a twinge of excitement on the edge of his voice. “It’s happening now!”

  “Take cover!” Nix instructed them, abandoning his previous plan for action.

  “Come on, Wren!” She heard Henry’s voice, but it was far away. She felt someone grab her hand, but she stood there in a daze, watching as Rifter fought with the dark man in the midst of the camp. Mach took Max out of her arms and ran away with him. Wren just stared ahead as the wind picked up and the sky swirled.

  What…

  An urgent tug on her arm finally turned her around, and then she was running too. Henry was pulling her, urging her on, but she didn’t know where they were going. She merely fell in with the herd of them as they ran.

  The ground was shaking steadily now, breaking apart in places. Wren was watching her footing when she noticed the round shadows on the grass, steadily growing larger.

  When the first of the stones fell, she shrieked. She wanted to take cover under her own arms, as if it would help, but Henry had a hold on her wrist and wouldn’t let go.

  “Don’t stop! Come on!” he shouted at her.

  Don’t stop? She couldn’t even think about what her legs were doing. Her mind was scrambled. Stones were falling from the sky!

 
They dodged the shadows to avoid being crushed, but Wren only went where she was pulled. She was hardly aware of reaching safety beneath a rocky ledge, but only knew when she was allowed to stop. Max was whining and the twins were trying to console him, but these were only noises in the background. Thunder boomed and boulders rained down, and meanwhile the earth had begun to split.

  At the cliff, the Rifter and the Scourge did not seem aware of anything except their battle.

  Wren was terrified – but entranced. Against all thought, she began to step forward from beneath the cleft as if to get a better look, and she might have gotten farther if Henry hadn’t grabbed her arm again.

  “Are you crazy, Wren? Do you wanna get killed?”

  He pulled her back but he could not tear her attention away, and then the situation turned even grimmer – as if she could imagine it getting worse.

  A dark shadow passed over their heads, lifting their eyes from the battle before them. An echoing cry pierced the air as a large creature began to circle above.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me,” Finn exclaimed. “Now?”

  This can’t be happening, she thought. But it was.

  In the midst of everything, the Ren had come. It had found her again.

  3

  The Rifter and the Scourge were oblivious to the world around them, locked in battle as they were. The stones that fell from the sky were not a threat to their fight, merely falling around the two of them in a wide circle. Even the lifeless rocks were afraid to interfere. The ground shook, but it seemed to move with their feet, even though Rifter didn’t always care to stay rooted.

  It was with complete absorption that they fought each other. Nothing else mattered.

  Both of Rifter’s hands were on his sword as he struck down with all his might. Scourge deflected his attacks and lashed out with a blade in each hand, but neither managed to cut into the other. Their swords connected and they leaned in with all their weight, each trying to force the other down, but it did no good. Neither of them gained any ground, and eventually the Scourge pushed the younger one away.

  They stared at each other, slightly winded, but far from done. Rifter was like a feral dog, bristled and agitated, but smiling as he glared from beneath his darkened brow. The Scourge found a smirk at the corner of his own mouth, but he did not let his guard down.

  “How do you think it will end this time?” he asked the boy before him.

  “Maybe I’ll kill you,” Rifter said without hesitation.

  The Scourge laughed. It was a deep chuckle in the back of his throat. “You’re a cocky little bastard, as always. It’s good to see that nothing’s changed since I’ve been away.”

  “You shouldn’t have come back.”

  “Oh, but I had to,” the Scourge assured him. “I couldn’t go without finishing what we started all those years ago.”

  For a few stray seconds, neither of them moved nor spoke. Time was frozen between them, and it could be guessed that, in that moment, both of them felt that they had been here before. That wasn’t such an unusual feeling. They’d crossed paths more times than either of them could count.

  “Don’t you want to ask where I went?” the Scourge asked, but the Rifter was done talking.

  “I don’t care,” he said. “I’ll see you to hell soon enough!”

  Rifter attacked him, hiking himself up in the air to strike down hard at his foe, but the Scourge only pressed up against the blow with one sword and did not go down. This battle was nothing and he knew that. It was one of so many and didn’t amount to much in the end. This was not their final fight. It was merely a diversion for what he truly had in store for this one that he loathed.

  And when he is finally dead, I will drink his blood – savor it to the last drop. This world will forget him, and it will be mine to ruin. All mine.

  The Scourge could barely stand to be patient, but he knew it was crucial. That was a virtue he had learned over time, which was one advantage he had to his rival.

  “I have several years on you, boy!” Scourge spat as their blades clanged and hissed against each other. “Whether or not you want to believe it, you can’t get the best of me!”

  “You’re just confused, old man,” Rifter growled. “I won’t stop until I’m dead, and you can’t kill me!”

  Their weapons connected and they glared at each other over them, straining as they pressed with formidable strength, but neither could budge the other.

  “Maybe not today, but we’ll see how smart your mouth is once I take all of your friends from you.”

  Rifter snarled, but the Scourge drew power from his anger. “I’ll kill them all, and you’ll be alone. You know I’ve done it before. Their blood will be on your hands and you won’t be able to stop it! And then you’ll die, pathetic and alone – just as you started!”

  “Like you?” Rifter shouted. The boy’s teeth were clenched. He was boiling with rage, but the Scourge was only amused.

  “That is your greatest fear, isn’t it,” Scourge questioned, knowing that he had weakened his foe mentally. The Rifter was strong and his body was young, but it wasn’t hard to outwit him. “You can’t hide from me, boy. I know all of your nightmares!”

  Rifter’s eyes were blazing, but the Scourge wore a smile. They didn’t notice the dark shadow circling over the camp now, engrossed in each other as they were. The Scourge stared at Rifter, thinking of what a pleasure it would be to finally run him through – skewer him like a piece of meat – but a spot of white in the distance killed those thoughts.

  He looked beyond the Rifter, letting his eyes focus on that spot of purity in the distance, seeing that it was a girl in a white dress. She was staring forward at them, affixed on their battle. One of Rifter’s boys was trying to pull her back into hiding, but the Scourge had already seen her.

  The determination fell from his face and an icy shard pricked his heart. She was new to him. He had never seen her before and yet –

  She seems familiar…

  Seeing the girl affected him in a way that he could not describe, and without meaning to, he had let his guard down. It was only the smallest bit of weakness, but his enemy had detected it. Then it was too late.

  Rifter leaned back, threw up his foot and kicked the man in the chest. The Scourge tried to guard as he staggered back, but he did not manage it with the perfect rhythm he had before. Rifter brought his sword down just a bit faster than the man could raise his blade to block.

  The boy’s sword struck him in the elbow, slicing through flesh, muscle and bone.

  4

  Rifter saw the blood spurt from the amputated arm. He couldn’t lie; the vibrant color of it excited him. He had marred his foe! For the first time in so many years of battles, he had done some real damage!

  Finish him! Finish him now!

  Grinning madly, Rifter raised his blade again, but even though the Scourge was wounded, he was not beaten. He was losing blood quickly, but he had found his focus. He stood and blocked the blow that Rifter delivered down on him, catching it against the sword that was still in his remaining hand. He fought back with the resilience of a man who insisted on living – but that was not all that was going on in that moment. Rifter was aware of it now.

  There was commotion behind him. He recognized the voices. Nix… Finn… A few of Scourge’s men had seen how their commander had been wounded and were rushing back into the fray, aiming guns in Rifter’s direction. On top of that, there was a gigantic form circling overhead. It was the Ren, come seeking the girl that it had gotten a taste for.

  A taste… Rifter was struck by an idea.

  The first gunshot rang out and he heard the rapid tumbling of a bullet that whizzed by him. He couldn’t stay in this spot any longer.

  Stooping quickly, he grabbed the Scourge’s dismembered arm and shot up into the air. The aerial beast was already diving down toward Wren and the others, who were shooting at it and fighting off pirates at the same time. Their attacks weren’t stopping it, but R
ifter had the solution.

  He flew down in front of the creature swiftly, dangerously close to its sharp teeth, and released the bloody arm into its open maw.

  The dreaded nightmare changed directions immediately, but it did not react as Rifter had anticipated. He'd meant for the creature to be thrown off Wren’s trail once it had a new taste in its mouth, but even a small piece of something as evil and wretched as the Scourge had proved too much for it.

  The beast roared, a guttural cry of pain. It recoiled and began to retreat, but Rifter had seen the way its flesh had begun to turn gray as ash, and he was sure that it was dying. Had the Scourge’s flesh poisoned it? The Rifter couldn’t say he was surprised, but he’d accomplished what he’d meant to and nothing beyond that concerned him.

  The monster had retreated, no longer after Wren. His enemy had fled into the sea of natives that were chasing the rest of the pirates off their land. The Scourge’s escape was regrettable, but Rifter couldn’t deny his pleasure in the fact that he’d wounded him. It was a start, and it would have to be good enough for now.

  I wish I could have kept the arm. Would have made a fine trophy. But he had to let that go as well.

  He could see the Pack down below – his family – waving their arms at him to draw him down. He was glad to see them there but didn’t give any thought to how he’d run off ahead of them before. He only hoped that they’d seen what he’d done.

  Rifter landed near them and it was an immediate uproar of amazement and congratulations.

  “Rifter! That was fucking amazing!”

  “Incredible!”

  “You cut off his arm!”

  “How did you know to feed it to the monster?”

  There was one among them, however, who did not look so pleased. Wren was standing there with the little one, staring at the ground and lost in her own thoughts. She should have been looking at him. She should have been smiling. He would have liked her to be happy, especially after he’d been so victorious. Couldn’t she be joyous for that?