Nevermor (16 page)

“Just admit you
made a poor choice!”

In a flash,
Rifter had taken a swipe at Nix with the knife, aiming at his head.  Wren
gasped and put her hands over her mouth in surprise.  Though Nix attempted to
dodge, and even with Whisper’s blessing, he rose up with a trickle of blood
along his ear.

“Next time, I
take the ear
off
,” Rifter promised.  He touched at the small amount of
blood on the blade and drew a short line down his chin.

“You want it
now?” Nix yelled, coming up in Rifter’s face but not taking his own weapon.  “
Go
ahead
!”           

“Please don’t!”
Wren shrieked.  None of the others moved, but she couldn’t let this happen. 
“Please, Rifter, don’t do it!”

Every one of
them was caught in the moment of tension, holding their breath as Rifter and
Nix stared at each other, that small trickle of blood slowly trailing down Nix’s
neck.

Each second was
heavy, filled with the weight of strain.  Neither could make a decision – with
Rifter pushing himself to act and with Nix silently calling his bluff – but the
moment passed when Finn noticed something down the beach.

“Uh, mates?” he
said, daring to interrupt.  “Look.”

It was with
reluctance that Rifter put the knife away, and then they were all free to look
where Finn had directed them.

They peered down
the beach and noticed the small figure at once.  A lone child was walking along
the shore, just beyond the tide.  It was a young boy, and Wren thought that she
recognized him.

Max?

It couldn’t have
been.  She had taken a couple of steps before she realized that this child had
much darker hair.  Her relief at the end of the confrontation did not last long
before she had forgotten it for her curiosity toward this new thing.

“A dreamer?” she
asked.

Wren glanced at
the others who were looking on at the little boy with somber expressions. 
Rifter’s was perhaps the gravest of all, and without a word, he stepped away
from Nix and began to approach the boy.  Nix did not protest to that.  Looking
at the young child, he seemed to have forgotten all else as well.

Wren was
confused and looked toward Sly imploringly.

“That’s not a
dreamer,” he told her.  “It’s a
wanderer
.  They don’t belong here.”

“He’s so young,”
Toss commented sadly from behind them.

Wren considered
these words, only to gasp when the thorn of understanding pricked her heart.

A wanderer…  A
ghost?
 
Could it be?  Was the child, in fact, dead?

Poor thing…

The others
stayed in place but Wren was compelled to go forward after Rifter as he
approached the boy.  She kept back a few paces, stopping when Rifter reached
the child and knelt down in front of him.

“Do you know
where you are?” she heard him ask the boy.  His voice was gentle, and she
didn’t think she’d ever heard him use such a tone.  It seemed a stark contrast
to how he’d just been talking to Nix.

The child looked
up with large innocent eyes, but he didn’t speak.  He shook his head.

“You’re lost?”
Rifter tried.

The boy nodded. 
Wren watched him, feeling very sad in the deepest, motherly part of her
emotions.  The child was so young to have met an end like this, yet Wren knew
that it happened to many children each day.  Still, she couldn’t help thinking
of her youngest brother as she looked at him.

“It’s alright,”
Rifter told him consolingly.  “I’ll take you to where you belong.  Will you
trust me?”

The child lifted
his eyes up past Rifter and settled on Wren, staring a moment as if he could
see through her.  She gave him a brave smile but felt a tear welling behind her
eye.  The boy didn’t show any expression, but he looked back up at Rifter and
nodded.

Rifter stood up
and took the child’s hand.

“I’m taking him
on,” he announced so that the others could hear him.  They didn’t say anything
to that, and then he directed his attention to Wren.  “I’ll take care of him. 
Don’t worry.”

She nodded,
putting her trust in him and his words.  Rifter pushed himself off the ground
as easily as if he was floating through water, and he and the boy went up into
the air together.  Whisper followed, leading them on as a light in the night
sky.

Wren watched
them until they were out of sight, feeling that she knew where they were
going.  The child had gotten lost on his way to the afterlife, and Rifter was
redirecting him on his way.  It gave her solace to know that the child – though
dead – was being taken to a better place.

And how generous
of Rifter to do it.
 
Her heart swelled with warm feelings of approval, despite the other things
she’d seen him do.

Behind her, the
others were quiet for a few moments after Rifter had disappeared, showing their
reverence.  Then, finally, one of them spoke.

“Hey, he didn’t
say what we should do about the girl.”  It was one of the twins.

“We’ll deal with
it later,” Sly said, mildly perturbed.  “Let’s just go home and get to sleep. 
I’m exhausted.”

“No one’s going
to sleep.  I call the council of the Talker,” Nix claimed, and the others groaned.

“Without
Rifter?” Toss asked.  “You know he won’t like that.”

“He’s not here
to say no, so we’re doing it.”  Nix cut a sharp eye at Wren.  “No offense, but
you aren’t invited.”

She was shocked
by his rudeness, though not sure why she should be.  She didn’t respond.

“Well, we can’t
just leave her,” Finn said.  “He’ll be even madder about that.”

“We’ll take her
home and she can wait in the other room,” Sly said, starting off with a yawn. 
“It’s not so hard.”

Wren wasn’t sure
whether she felt very comfortable going back with them without Rifter, but she
guessed she didn’t have much of a choice.  Before she could ask how long Rifter
was going to be gone, there was a twin on either side of her, and the group of
boys swept her away into the trees.

1

Wren’s
introduction to the underground home was not quite what she’d expected to get. 
The boys brought her into the tunnels and led her down a long, dark corridor
until finally the narrow way opened up into a cavern that was part rock and
part dirt, where the tree roots were reaching in like twisted fingers.  There
was not a lot of light inside, though there were patches above where moonlight
was streaming in past some of the roots.

The boys left
her here without preamble and closed themselves up in another section of the
tunnel in order to have their meeting away from her.  She knew that she was to
be the subject of discussion, and wondered how she felt about that.  She tried
not to feel upset, but it didn’t sit well to think that she wasn’t welcome.

She had wanted
to be here so terribly that the thought of being forced out made her feel sick.

Left alone, she
looked around the room where she found herself.  There were a few tree stumps
that served as stools and one from a larger tree that looked like a table. 
There was a hearth built into one of the walls with a hole for ventilation
above it, but overall, there was not much furniture in the place.

Yet even for how
sparse it was, it was cluttered.  There were articles of discarded clothing and
animal bones littering the floor.  There were skins and mounted heads all over
the walls, hung crookedly in a disorderly way.  There was a furry rug of some
sort beneath her feet, and she assumed it was animal skin as well.

I guess there is
really nothing to do except wait – wait for them to finish talking about me and
wait for Rifter to come back
.

Wren found
herself thinking about Rifter at that.  He was not like any boy she’d ever met
– that was certain.  Though her first mission was to get her brothers here, she
vowed that her second objective would be to figure the Rifter out.  Perhaps she
would have to be very devious about it, but she had made up her mind that he
might at least be tricked into answering questions about himself.  How had he
first arrived in Nevermor?  What about the fairy that was always trailing
around after him?  How was he able to go back and forth at will?  What did he
think of her?  Did he think she was a waste?  Did he think she was pretty?

She blushed as
she thought about that, though there was no one around to see it.  There was no
reason she should have been thinking about a secret crush, though she might as
well admit to herself that she did have a special liking for him.  Perhaps he
was a bit arrogant and maybe a tad too violent, but she could not subtract the
idea that he was also brave and strong.  He had held her hand.  He did chide
her a bit, but he had been so caring with that poor little boy at the beach. 
And his smile…

Don’t be silly,
Wren.  This is not what you’re here for.

She was here to
claim a new life, not look for romance.  There were more important things to
do.  She still had to decide how she could approach Rifter about her brothers
again, after all.  She had not done so well tonight in convincing any of them
that she was fit to stay, yet she still wanted it so terribly that she could
feel it all through her – in her fingers and toes and the roots of her hair.

I have to make
this work.
 
But nothing could be done until Rifter came back.

Unable to find
anything else to do with herself, she sat down on the rug and looked around,
wondering how long it would be before the others came back to hand down their
judgment.  She would try to stay awake until then, but she hoped that Rifter
came back first.  If they decided to do away with her, he might have been the
only one who could stop them.

2

“The pirates
have women and the Tribals have women; I don’t see why we shouldn’t too.  There
are seven of us, so one lady is enough, right?”

Finn plopped
down onto the floor in the underground room where the rest of them had gathered
for the council of the Talker.  At his comment, Sly looked at him through
narrowed eyes.

“I don’t think
you know what you’re saying.  Besides, you can’t give your opinion yet.  You
don’t have your hand on the skull.”

In the middle of
the room, there was a pillar with a skull mounted on it.  It was the head of
one of the most vicious nightmares they’d ever killed – a mind-reading beast
that they’d called the Talker, which could detect all of their blows before
they’d even tried them, not to mention that it had jaws that could clamp easily
around a man’s head.  They’d kept the skull as a trophy, as they often did, but
it also served as a tool for times like these, when they wanted to have an
orderly discussion about a serious matter.

“I called the
council and so I’ll start,” Nix said heatedly, placing his hand on the skull. 
“That girl out there does not deserve to be one of us.  I tried to bring it to
Rifter’s attention when he first brought her here, but he wouldn’t listen, as
usual.  But all of you saw what happened at the beach, just as well as I did. 
She can’t take care of herself.  She didn’t even try!  She’s only going to be a
burden to us if she stays here.  We have to bind together and make Rifter understand
this.”

Nix did not
often have a lot to say, but when he believed firmly in something, he could be
as stubborn as Rifter.  When he paused and looked around at them, no one
seconded his motion, even though he allowed them an extra moment.

“Surely you
agree with me, Sly,” Nix entreated, desperate for any support.

Attention turned
to the boy who was always so quick to correct them when they were wrong, but
Sly just shook his head.

“I don’t have
anything else to say about it,” he said.  He took a deep breath and opened his
mouth as if to say something else, but Finn motioned – with a smile of
self-satisfaction – that he should put his hand on the skull.  Sly did so
begrudgingly.

“We’ve already
talked about this,” Sly went on.  “I’ve already said what I thought.  Now,
she’s here.”  He shrugged.  “Rifter had his reasons for choosing her.  If she
dies, I suppose that is just the way it will be.”

Nix didn’t seem
at all happy with that answer.  “It won’t happen that way though, and you know
it.  She’ll be Rifter’s prize, and when he’s away, it will fall to us to
protect her – and if we fail, he’ll have our heads.”

“You think it
will be that serious?” Toss asked, sounding concerned.

“Didn’t you see
the way he looked at her?” Nix asked.  They all looked very confused – except
Sly, who only looked bored.

“You’ll see that
I’m right eventually, so you might as well trust me now,” Nix warned.  “She’s
going to ruin what we have here.”

“I like her. 
She’s definitely something to look at,” Mech said.

“Yeah, we don’t have
many pretty things,” Mach agreed.