by Lani Lenore
“It came from the direction of the beach!”
“The way to the beach is clear!”
This was contradictory, and the twins looked at each other again in wide-eyed surprise.
“I thought we were facing the other way. And then the fire started toward the swamp?”
Nix observed them carefully a moment, but it didn’t take long before he nodded in understanding. “You little shits have been drinking, haven’t you? On the watch!”
“Of course not,” Mech protested.
“What do you take us for?” Mach added, but it was pointless to deny their faults. They didn’t have time to argue about it.
“The smoke is getting thick,” Sly said urgently. “We need to get out of here now.”
“If you came in this way, you must have been running in from the east,” Nix said. “If that’s so, then we run for the closest beach to the west. Got it? Get what’s important and be quick about it.”
They didn’t waste time. They went back to their rooms and started grabbing things that were important to them, putting on the rest of their clothes and gathering their weapons. Wren went for the only thing that was important to her. She grabbed a blanket and woke Max up, hurrying to wrap it around him.
“What’s going on?” he asked her sleepily.
“We’re going outside,” she explained, trying not to seem too panicked. “I want you to keep your eyes closed, alright? And don’t be afraid. I’ll be with you.”
The tired boy nodded and she scooped him up. She abandoned everything else that was in her room, including the sewing projects she’d started and the clothes she’d made for herself. Her gown was enough as long as she had her life.
She hurried back to the den where the others were gathering, strapping on satchels and as many weapons as they could carry. She appraised the group, noting Henry first and the rest of them second, but the main one of them was absent.
“Rifter’s not here,” she said worriedly.
“He’s not in his room,” Toss told her. “Guess he hasn’t come back from the search yet.”
“But we can’t worry about that,” Nix said, tightening his satchel around him. “We have to go. Everyone ready?”
He can take care of himself, Wren thought. Better he’s out there than down here. But he probably would have been an asset to helping them get out.
A count was taken, and once they were sure that everyone was there save for Rifter, they emerged from the underground through the cave mouth beyond the rabbit door.
The twins had spoken the truth. All around them, the forest was burning.
Wren couldn’t believe how the flames lit up the night, beautiful and terrible all at once. Tree branches, engulfed in flames, broke free and fell to the ground. How had this happened? What had started it? And how was it spreading so quickly? There was no time to figure out the answers.
The boys surveyed the flames, trying to decide which was the best way to turn.
“If we go back in, we can run through the tunnels to the other end,” Toss suggested.
“No,” Nix said. “We don’t know what’s happening on that side. We can still get to the beach through here. Let’s go!”
They didn’t have time to stand around and argue about it. Nix took off and the group moved after him, brushing past flaming bushes and trying to be aware of falling limbs. They moved together, as quickly as possible, though they were all weighed down by the extra bulk they carried. Wren was especially encumbered to be carrying a small person. She hadn’t gone far before her back was aching and the child was growing much too heavy for her weak arms. She simply couldn’t hope to run very far with him.
“Let me take him, Wren,” Finn offered. She didn’t protest.
“Keep your eyes closed, alright?” she told Max as she handed him over. “I’m going to let Finn carry you.”
“No, no!” She gave him up, even though the boy was whining, still reaching for her.
“Close your eyes. It’ll all be alright.” She hoped she wasn’t lying.
They moved on through the clearer path toward the beach. Wren tried to stay close, but couldn’t help looking up into the treetops which burned and swayed, making her feel dizzy. Where was Rifter? Had he not come back from his last search? She would have felt better if he was there with them. What if he came back and thought the worst? She would have at least liked him to know that they were alive.
She looked toward the sky, though she couldn’t say she hoped to catch a glimpse of him, but it seemed the only logical place to look. That was when something caught her eye.
What’s that?
She tried not to slow too much, but she couldn’t let go of the idea that she had seen something dark moving across the sky, blocking out the moon briefly. Some sort of eclipse? Surely not. Had she imagined it?
She hadn’t even realized that she had stopped until she heard the cracking sound, and by then it was too late. Wren was trying to find the source when the tree came crashing down in front of her.
She shrieked and jumped back, shielding herself from the burst of embers, but she was only lucky that the flames did not touch her. Even so, she was cut off from the rest of them. The branch was blocking her path and she couldn’t get around.
“Wren!” They were calling out with concern, but she didn’t want them lingering because of her.
I need to find a way around. Don’t panic. Even though she told herself this, it did not keep her heart from pulsing in her throat.
She turned to run, but she might as well have been blind. She searched for a safe place to cross, but the farther she went, the more disoriented she became. By the time she had decided to turn and go back, she couldn’t say where she had come from.
Nothing that Rifter had taught her about navigating the forest would come to the front of her mind. There was fire everywhere and somehow she had gotten herself turned around. The others were still yelling for her, but the constant roar of the flames was distorting the sound and she couldn’t tell where they were anymore.
Is this the end? She wondered. Am I going to die like this?
As she looked death in the face, she realized that she had barely lived. She was much too young to die.
3
Rifter had been flying over the dark ocean, circling the island for any sign of light in the darkness, gradually widening his berth until he was several leagues out. If it had been the Scourge’s intention to hide, he was doing a fine job of it. Rifter had seen nothing of the ship. Even listening at the camp across the way and threatening a few of the dwellers had done no good. The longer he searched, the angrier he became, yet his wrath hadn’t helped him to be more productive.
He passed around to the far side of the island now, toward the forest where he’d made his home, wondering if he should stop this time. He could sleep for a bit, and maybe in the daylight, he would have better luck.
No, I can’t sleep. I won’t rest until I find him.
From the distance, he looked toward the forest and saw a hint of the light he’d been seeking. His muscles tightened as he readied himself – but this glow was not quite what he’d been looking for. Patches of trees were stricken by flames, and the bright orange aurora lit up the night.
No!
Rifter didn’t hesitate to abandon his mission. He rushed back toward his home, throwing weight into his flight to gain speed. By the time he reached the forest, a great portion of it had gone up. Had the trees been that dry? He thought he heard loud shots in the distance, but he could not focus on that. He had to know that the rest of them were alright!
He’d meant what he’d said to Wren. He did not intend to lose them.
He dove down into the trees, giving little regard to his own safety. Were the others still in the tunnels? Surely they had gotten out. Whoever was on watch should have seen the fire and alerted them all. But what if it hadn’t happened the way they’d prepared?
None of them would die if he could help it. Not this way!
&
nbsp; Rifter shot through the forest, searching. He saw fleeing wildlife, fairies, lesser monsters, but there was no sign of his Pack. He darted toward the tunnel exits one by one, thinking they must have retreated through one of them. When he had checked several and turned up nothing, he dropped down into the tunnels himself, but they were empty.
They got out at least. That consoled him a bit. Still, he had to find them. Where had they gone?
The beach. They must have headed there. It was the only other place they could have gone.
He flew onward and was eventually drawn to the sound of their voices as they yelled at each other, and this led him right to them. Some were still on the move, but a couple of them – Toss and the newest boy, Fang – were loitering. They didn’t need to be standing here. The fire was growing by the minute.
“Go!” he shouted at them. “What are you waiting on?”
“Wren’s back there!” Fang yelled to him.
Wren! Could he have forgotten her if she wasn’t standing in front of him? She had accused him of that. Rifter hated to admit it, but he almost had.
“I’ll get her!” he said as if he could make up for it, and they trusted him to it. The others gave in and ran toward the beach. Rifter turned and went back, flying low beneath the layers of smoke.
Wren. Wren. Wren… She couldn’t have gone far. He felt a bit of panic in his chest at the thought of not being able to find her. Hadn’t he promised that he wouldn’t lose her?
Where is she?
A flash of white caught his attention, and he had to be thankful for that. If she’d been dressed like the rest of them, he might never have seen her.
He spun himself around in mid-air and swooped back quickly to go after her. She was running the other way. He saw her trip – but he grabbed her up and pulled her in close. She recognized him without having to see his face, clinging to him tightly as he flew her to safety. Even once they had broken free of where the fire was strongest, he didn’t stop until they had gotten to the beach, out from beneath so many trees that had once sheltered them.
“Are you alright?” he asked her urgently as soon as they had their feet on the ground. “Are you hurt?”
He clasped her face and made her look at him, and though she was breathless, horrified and smeared with soot, she was safe. She wasn’t burned. Tearstains had left white trails down her cheeks, existing for the trauma she’d been through. He wished he could erase it, but knew he could not.
She nodded for him, but couldn’t say anything. Rifter wanted to hold her but the young one was reaching for her now, and Wren put the child’s needs first. She took Max into her arms, trying to hush him.
When they were all standing there, even though none had been left behind or injured, the Pack didn’t celebrate. They didn’t joke or congratulate each other on how fast they had gotten out. They only stared at the flames burning away at the forest, ruining everything that they had worked to secure. It was a low blow. Perhaps they had taken their safety for granted. They were welcomed to open their eyes now.
Rifter glared angrily up at the flames. They reflected in his eyes, mirroring his rage.
“I will not stop until he’s dead,” he said darkly and the rest kept silent. “No backing down this time. It’s war.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
1
“There were balls of fire crashing down from the sky!”
“We’re not lying!”
“It was like something that happens when Rifter and Scourge are fighting. They just came out of nowhere!”
The twins had a hard time convincing the others that this was what had happened. The rest of them felt that these two were untrustworthy – believing they would put themselves and each other before the group in a case like this. The other boys were convinced that the twins had been drinking the Firefly, being reckless with the fiery streams it could produce, and had caught the forest on fire themselves. Mach and Mech swore otherwise. They claimed it was an attack.
Rifter listened, but had eventually decided that there was only one way to know. From the beach, he went up into the sky to get a better view of the island as a whole, and there he saw that the forest was not the only thing that had burned that night. He found that there were several clear fires across the island, and not just in areas where there were trees.
This had made him feel so angry – so guilty – that the others couldn’t do anything with him. After a while, he’d simply wandered away down the beach, leaving them alone.
Wren had watched all of this play out, holding Max in her lap. She tried to comfort the boy but at the same time it was a comfort to herself to have him close. Her thoughts held nothing but sadness, not so much for herself but for the others. They had a stronger connection to all this than she did, and her sorrow was for their sake. Everything that they had built was gone. They couldn’t go back to see what was left – at least not yet. For now, they could only say goodbye to their possessions and assume that they would never be seen again.
The group sat quietly within the rocks, content not to look as the forest burned. They didn’t need a campfire because of the heat, and they didn’t want to draw attention to their presence.
Wren tried to rest but she could not. She kept having notions that the ground was shaking beneath her and she would snap awake again. In one instance, she dreamed that the Scourge was standing over her, a shadow in a dark cloud, reaching down to grab her. She woke up again. This time, she felt she could do nothing else.
Max was looking up at her, wide awake.
“Can we go for a stroll?” he requested.
“Probably best if we don’t,” she told him, and there were so many reasons why.
“But…” She could tell that he was squirming uncomfortably then, and she finally understood what this was about. She didn’t have much choice.
“Alright, we’ll go,” she agreed.
Sly was still awake, sitting nearby.
“Yell if there’s trouble,” he said, resting his head back.
Wren took the child out from beyond the rocks, insisting that they shouldn’t go farther than just beyond the cluster, but he insisted on going a little more, and that she shouldn’t go with him once he had chosen a spot behind a rock. After she’d given him as much time as she thought she should, she looked back to see that he was walking away from the rocks, farther down the beach.
“Max, where are you going? We have to go back.”
“Let’s go to the water!” he said, and he didn’t wait for her to answer before he was running down the slope.
“Wait!” He didn’t heed her, and she felt a rush of panic as she went after him, considering all that might happen.
The nightmares will get him. But the beach seemed clear. Once she had chased him down to the edge, she still felt uneasy, but the water appeared undisturbed. The others weren’t far if she needed help. She supposed she might appease him for now.
“Alright, you can play for just a moment but then we have to go back.”
Max walked along the edge of the water, trying to leap out of the way as the frothy white waves came in – just as she’d imagined him to do – but it did not make her smile. The beach was alight with the glow of the moon and the orange twilight of the fire behind them. She remembered the story of Lot’s wife and tried to pretend that the same was true for her – it was forbidden for her to turn and look. She kept her eyes peeled for signs of trouble instead.
The boy seemed completely untroubled by the tragedy. She wondered if she ought to try to explain it to him, but perhaps she should have been grateful that he was unaware of what had happened because of the fire.
“I’m not afraid,” he said suddenly, his tone resolute. The way his young face was set so firmly startled her.
“No?”
Max splashed in the water with both feet as if trying to smash something. “If anything tries to hurt me, I’ll kill it!”
“Where did you get that from?” she wanted to know, but of course she a
lready did.
“Rifter said it’s good to protect others, and that you can’t be afraid when you do that. I want to protect you, Wren.”
She was at a loss. He sounded so grown up, and yet he wasn’t supposed to be taking on ideas like that. Wasn’t it part of the Vow that he didn’t have to grow up – that he wouldn’t have to take on heavy worries?
“You’re not supposed to protect me,” she told him. “I’m supposed to protect you.”
“How can you do that without a sword?” he asked. He gazed at her questioningly, wanting a response, but only one thing would come to her mind.
“A sword’s not always the answer,” she tried to tell him, but he didn’t seem to believe her.
He went back to splashing in the water, and Wren wondered if all of her influence on him had been washed away like the sand beneath their feet. There were so many other boys around, and he wanted to be like them instead of remaining as she wanted him to be – young and carefree.
This world was confusing. It was a complete contradiction within itself. Perhaps the body didn’t grow older physically, but the mind aged nonetheless – unless one was lucky enough to forget the horrors once they had passed.
She was not that lucky.
2
Rifter sat alone on a rock, staring out at the water as he had done on so many nights before when his mind was troubled.
He could hear the crackling of the forest as it fell apart, but he didn’t wish to look at it. He had to ignore it – wished he could forget it but it would do him no good. As soon as he turned around, he would know the truth again.
He knew this was his fault. He’d been out looking for the ship and hadn’t been at home to keep an eye on things.
How could you have stopped it? He couldn’t answer himself.
Rifter sat there, staring over the endless water and sky until he had confused himself with which one belonged on top. That was when he became aware of the light behind him.
He felt her there before he saw her, but he always knew when she was close.
“I’m glad you’re alright,” he said to the pixie that was hovering there. She took that as an invitation to come forward, but he hadn’t meant it that way. He could feel her light on his face, but he refused to look at her.