Nevermor (42 page)

In the
underground den, Nix was the first to wake up, yet he was surprised that he’d
slept at all.  The storm must have calmed enough that he’d drifted away.

But it wouldn’t
have if it wasn’t for her.

Despite what he
had said about the girl, she had proven her worth last night.  He didn’t know
how she had done it and he didn’t care, but if she was able to put Rifter at
ease when no one else could, then Nix would have to admit that she wasn’t
completely useless.

Doesn’t mean I
have to pet her though.

He rose up
without waking the others, who were sleeping all over the den, deciding to go
on his own to survey the damage that the storm had done.  They might have a
long day of work ahead of them, and none would be pleased to hear that.

He left down the
tunnel and emerged through the cave mouth, but stopped immediately on the other
side when he saw a figure standing there.

Rifter was
staring off through the trees, caught in a trance, unmoving.  His shadow mimic
was stretched out just the same, woven across the dewy blades of grass.  Nix
gave no attention to the fact that he was naked.  That was nothing to them.

“Rifter?  What
is it?”

His brother
snapped out of his daze and turned his face toward Nix.  He looked haggard and
worn, his eyes reddened from lack of sleep.  How long had he been standing out
here?  Nix had thought he was still in his room with the girl.

Rifter parted
his chapped lips.

“He’s back,” he
said darkly.  “I can feel it.”

Nix knew what
that meant.  He didn’t need an explanation.  The hairs on the back of Rifter’s
neck were already standing up, and his shoulders were tensed and ready, but
aside from any concern this might have brought on, there was an undeniable
layer of excitement beneath.  Though Rifter was disturbed and agitated, a smile
was twitching at the corner of his mouth which promised he looked forward to a
confrontation as much as he dreaded one.

After an
absence, his enemy had returned, and Rifter was hungry for his blood.

Was the world
ready for this again?  Nix never knew the answer to that, but he gave a short
nod.  He already knew his part in all this, and he would see it through as he
always did.

“I’ll wake the
others,” he agreed.

2

Wren woke up in
Rifter’s bed, but she was alone.  She couldn’t quite say why, but that
disturbed her.  Perhaps it was for the voices she could hear drifting to her
from within the tunnel, echoing and distorting before they got to her ears.

It was not
difficult to tell that they weren’t voices of contented chatting.  They were
serious in tone and had an urgency that she couldn’t mistake.

What are they up
to?  What’s happened?

She rubbed her
eyes, hoping to trick herself into waking up, but all she could do was yawn
into her hand and think of falling back over onto the bed of feathers and
leaves.  She lifted her eyes to the ceiling, stretching her neck, but she froze
when she noticed something there.

Her brow
furrowed as she looked upward, surprised to see that there was a bit of writing
etched in the stone.  Words were inscribed precariously, jumbled, but in the
center of it all, there were larger words, traced over so many times that they
were deeply imprinted.

Remember,
oh child; do not forget

When
storms roll in and darkness sets,

Though
truth be heavy, keep it still

As
fire will burn and swords will kill,

What
happens once comes ‘round again.

As
it began, so shall it end.

Had Rifter
written this?  Where had this rhyme come from?  Wren couldn’t say, but she knew
she had never heard it before.  Perhaps the boy had made it up.

She turned her
attention to the other words scattered around, over the ceiling and walls. 
Most of them didn’t mean anything to her, but she recognized a few because she
had seen them before.

They’re names
.  At least,
some of them were.  She recognized them from the cave wall where the boys had
recorded the names of the fallen.

He hasn’t
forgotten after all!  He wrote them down!

Maybe there was
hope for him yet.  He hadn’t forgotten the ones who had died.  He’d just chosen
to keep them in his own way.

She was happy to
see that and pulled herself up immediately to go find him.  In the midst of
that, however,
she
had forgotten something.  She didn’t remember the
voices until she’d come out into the tunnel, and she hesitated when she once
again heard the tone of the conversation.

It may have been
none of her business – and probably wasn’t – but she had to go see what the
trouble was.

Wren did not
find the boys in the den.  They were in the room where the Pack had first
retreated from her when they’d brought her here – the room where they’d held
their council.  If they had hoped that a simple cloth across the doorway would
keep their voices from her as she drew closer, they were mistaken.

“We can’t just
go look for him,” Sly said calmly.  “We need to wait – make plans.”

“Yeah, mate, we
just need to stay put for now,” Finn agreed.

When Wren peeked
inside, she saw the group of them huddled there together – Henry included. 
They were standing around the pillar in the middle of the room which had the
large, vicious skull on top of it.  They were taking turns putting their hands
on it to speak.

It was clear
that the discussion was heated, but this time, it was not Nix who was arguing
with Rifter.  He was standing aside quietly, listening as a few of the others
tried to reason with their leader.

“What am I
supposed to do?”  Rifter asked them, pacing in his leaf coat.  “Just wait
around until he starts blowing holes in the world?  You know that’s the first
thing he’ll do.”

“He might not,”
Mach tried.

“After last
time?  Yeah, he will,” Mech assured him.

“I can’t believe
he even came back,” Rifter muttered angrily.  “I thought I made it clear.  This
is
my
world.  He has no place here.”

“What’s going
on?” Wren dared to ask, breaking in.

The way they all
looked at her made her want to crawl back into her corner and hide.  Their
glares promised that she was not welcome in their conversation, and for the
first time in so many days, she felt that they had turned against her.

None of them
spoke, and finally Rifter took a deep breath.

“Would you give
us a few minutes?” he asked.  She found she couldn’t do anything except agree.

She backed out
and went to her own room where Max was sitting on the floor, busily playing
with a wooden man that one of the others had made for him.  He did not take
notice of her distress, but she was glad, at least, that her room had not been
ruined or flooded in the night, even if she could not give proper focus to it
now.

She sat down on
her bed quietly, but as she mulled over what had just happened, she began to
feel insulted.  Hadn’t she taken the Vow like the rest of them?  Shouldn’t she
have been included?  Given the right to know what was going on?

Wren crossed her
arms and pinched her lips together.  The longer she sat there, the angrier she
became.  It was true that she didn’t fight alongside them, but there was no
reason she should have been kept in the dark just because she was a
girl
. 
Perhaps she was physically weak, but she wasn’t that fragile.

When someone
finally came back for her, it was not Rifter.  It was Finn.  Unfortunately for
him, she had been ready to lay into whoever she laid eyes on first.

“What was that
about?  I thought I was one of you now,” she accused.

“Some things
are, well, they’re sensitive,” he said.  “Can I come in?”

Wren nodded,
even though she wished that Rifter had come to talk to her instead.  She would
rather hear it from him, and there were other things she wanted to talk to him
about – the poem and the names, more about last night.  That would have to
wait.

Finn came
inside, leaning back against the table there, but didn’t say anything else.  He
watched Max for a bit, staring absently until she called for his attention.

“Are you going
to tell me?” she asked after he had hesitated for a long time.

“Do you remember
what we talked about that day?” he asked.  “About, you know,
him
.”

Wren tried to think. 
It seemed like a long time ago, but she did remember having a serious
conversation with them the day that they had walked through the snow.  They had
told her about the others – showed her the wall in the cave that was homage to
them.  They had told her about—

The Scourge.

“You mean—”

Finn held up his
hand, stopping her before she said it.  She closed her mouth and waited for the
rest.

“Rifter’s
certain that he’s back.”

The same
question came to her mind that she’d had before, the first time they had
mentioned this
Scourge
to her.

“Where had he
gone?”

“That doesn’t
matter,” Finn assured her, and she knew she was seeing a different side of him
than what she was usually exposed to.  He was serious now, very careful. 
“Listen, Wren, there’s something you should know.  When
he
comes around,
Rifter gets a little, well,
different
.”

“Different how?”

He wouldn’t
answer her directly – or perhaps he couldn’t.  “It does something to him.  Just
try to bear through it, and with any luck, it will all be over soon.”

What would be
over?  The way she had heard them talking, Rifter was urging them to arrange
some kind of attack.

“So, they fight
each other.  They’re enemies.”  She knew that much.  “What started it?”

“That’s just one
of those questions, isn’t it?” Finn said with a nervous laugh.  “All I know is
that it’s been going on for as long as I can remember.  They fight, the Scourge
retreats after a while, and then later, he comes back.  He always comes back.”

“
Finn!  Where
are you?
”  One of them was calling for him, and he jumped up immediately to
go as if he’d been shocked.

“Just between
us, right?” he reminded her, and at that, he darted back out into the tunnel.

The Scourge was
back, and they were going to make her sit here like this?  No.  Wren was not
about to stay put.  The least they could do was let her listen.  She needed to
understand it, whether they wanted to accommodate her or not, and she would not
take no for an answer.

3

“There’s a fire
out there alright,” Sly said, his eye to the scope.  “But I can’t tell what’s
burning.”

They were all
standing outside when Wren emerged, staring at a pillar of thick smoke
billowing in the distance.

“Maybe one of
the natives’ camps?” Nix suggested.

“The pirates
wouldn’t attack them.  They know better,” Mach said.  “Besides, the Tribals
have nothing they want.”

“Well maybe
they’re trying a new tactic – with Scourge back at the helm.”

That seemed to
put a fire in Rifter’s belly.  He was clearly agitated, moving around and
unable to be still. 

“We can’t let
this happen.  He can’t think he can get away with this!”

“Maybe it’s not
the Scourge at all, Rifter,” Finn tried to reason.  “Maybe the natives have a
bonfire or something.”

“First thing in
the morning?” Sly asked rhetorically.  “Not likely.”

“No,” Rifter
said firmly.  “It’s him.  I know it is.  I feel him; I smell him!  He’s
here
!”

“So we’re just
going to run in there and attack?” Finn asked.  “Remember, the Tribals don’t
like us as much as the pirates don’t.”

“It’s a long
way,” Toss commented.  “We don’t have Whisper anymore.  On foot, we wouldn’t
get there before it was over.”

Rifter didn’t
like these excuses.

“Do you want me
to fly out and see
alone
, or are you going to come with me?” he asked
them pointedly.

They all looked
at him as if the answer should have been clear, and they were insulted that it
wasn’t.

“You say we go,
so we go,” Nix said.  Though he must have known that the others were stating
the truth, at the end of the day, Nix did know where his loyalty was.  Wren was
amazed at that, surprised he didn’t have a separate opinion to share.

Nix looked over
at Henry, who was standing there as resilient as any zealous new soldier.