Nevermor (52 page)

The tent was
simple in design, a cylindrical shape supported by wooden poles.  The floor was
of grass and straw.  All of this was foreign to the boys, who were used to the
underground.

On a woven mat
in the middle, an ancient Tribal was sitting.  One could nearly read a story
from the folds in his face.  Calico went forward to him and knelt at his side
as Rifter and Sly sat on their knees at the edge of the mat.

Calico spoke to
the old man quietly.  When he acknowledged her with drooping eyes, she looked
at Rifter, seeming very anxious when she spoke in their direction.

“This is the
elder,” Sly translated lowly.  “He has something he wishes to say to you.”

Rifter nodded. 
“I’m here.”

The old man’s
voice was uneven and difficult to hear.  It might have been a struggle even if
they were fluent in the language, but Calico was there to help them along.  Sly
let him go on for a length of time, Calico reworded the rougher parts, and Sly
explained what he could to Rifter.

“He says he is
saddened by what happened at the cliffside camp, but he is grateful to you for
stepping in to drive the enemy away.  He considers you a hero for that and for
saving their princess – who is apparently some relation to him also.  It’s very
interesting.”

 “Princess?” 
Rifter was confused by the use of that word.  Images of towers and dragons were
the only things that came to his mind.

“Calico,” Sly
informed him.

Rifter wasn’t
sure who else he might have been talking about, but the huntress was not quite
what he thought of when he imagined a princess.  She was dressed in skins and
feathers and teeth.  There was nothing royal about her, except perhaps the way
she held her head and shoulders.

Princess…  He’d
saved a princess.  That gave him a particular sense of pride that he’d never
felt.

He snapped back
when he heard Sly’s voice again.

“He knows who
you are.  He’s seen you in visions.  He knows the sort of evil you’ve been
fighting.”  Sly hesitated a moment, unsure.  “He’s talking about something he
calls ‘
the great shadow’
.  Whatever that is, he says it’s coming
closer.  He wants to warn you: don’t lose yourself to your desire for blood. 
Remember what’s important.  Don’t forget—”  He hesitated again.  “Don’t let the
memory be taken from you – or something like that.”

Rifter was
content to listen to that, but he felt he didn’t need any advice from an old
man.  He was capable of taking care of himself.  He didn’t need some shaman
making predictions about his grim future.

“Tell him thanks
for the warning, but I know what I’m doing.”

Sly hummed
thoughtfully.  “I think I’ll make it sound a little more humble than that.”

It was all the
same to Rifter.  Sly began speaking to the elder again, but Rifter let his eyes
drift toward the girl next to the old one.  She was gazing at him boldly with
deep black eyes.  He watched her stare at him, taking note of her appearance
once more.  Her skin was marked with blood and paint.  She was wearing the
spoils of her kills.  He knew just by the way she held herself that she was not
afraid of anything.  He respected her for that.  This girl – and these people –
were not so different from what he and the Pack were.

If Sly said anything
else in his direction, Rifter didn’t hear it.  He was stuck on a thought,
counting the ways that it was true.

She’s not at all
like Wren
,
he decided. 
Not at all.

This princess
Calico was a fighter.  She had chosen not to rely on the protection of men.  As
Sly would say, it was
interesting
.

“I’m ready to
go.  Has he dismissed us?” Rifter asked abruptly, completely unaware that he’d
cut into the conversation.

“Um, yes.  I
think it’d be alright if we left now,” Sly agreed.

Rifter stood to
leave, but the elder began to speak in rhythmic lines that caught Rifter’s
attention.  Even though the accent was poor, the words were in English, and
Rifter knew them by heart.

“
Remember, oh
child, do not forget.”

A cold chill
pierced him.

“As it began, so
shall it end.”

“Ask him how he
knows those lines,” Rifter demanded swiftly.  Sly turned to him, dazed.  “Ask
him!”

Sly tried to ask
the elder what he meant by this, but Rifter was already insulted.  He looked
back toward the elder as he explained himself, but then Rifter was caught
staring at Calico again, as if she would give him an answer.

She was watching
him.  No doubt, she had noticed the change in his behavior.  He had just now
noticed it himself.  His muscles were tensed and his breathing had grown
rapid.  Why had this affected him so strongly?  Not even he knew.

“He says that
those things are for you to know,” Sly told him, “but he says you should hold
onto what you have left, or else you might lose everything.”

Rifter
was not entirely sure what this elder had meant to accomplish by asking him
here, but he had definitely succeeded in making him angry. 
He'd had enough.

Without another word, Rifter turned to leave.  Why did everyone
think they could tell him what to do – how to handle his own situation?  Didn't
he know, better than anyone, what he was doing?  Wasn't he the expert in
knowing what his enemy was capable of?  Why did they all keep questioning him?

They have no faith in me.  They think I’m feeble, but they’ll see.

He
would show them the way of it.  Once he killed his enemy for good, he would
show them all.

2

Wren kept gazing
toward the elder’s tent, wondering what was going on inside there.  Were they
making some sort of treaty?  They must have been talking about an arrangement
for staying here, but Wren had to say that she was already anxious to leave. 
The Tribals were all casting a wary eye at her.  She couldn’t tell if it was
for the entire group or if she was being isolated, but she knew the truth: they
were not truly welcome here, despite what the huntress had said.

“I don’t see a
lot of girls,” she heard Finn say, drawing her back.  “These Tribals are all
men – and bare-assed hunters at that.  Not my type.”

“I’m sure that
if there are women, they’re asleep,” Nix said disapprovingly.  “It’s late. 
Honestly,
that’s
what you’re thinking of right now?”

“It’s all he
does think about,” Mach accused.

“It is not. 
It’s only one of three things I think about,” Finn corrected.

“Yeah,” Mech
laughed.  “Food, sleep, and soft round –
Ow
!”

Nix had slapped
him on the back of the head just as Wren snapped around to glare at him.

“Don’t say shit
like that in front of a lady,” he scolded, and she could hardly believe he was
defending her.

Mech only
shrugged as he massaged his scalp where the blow had landed.  “It’s just Wren. 
She doesn’t care.  She’s one of us.”

At another time,
she might have only rolled her eyes, but tonight, this insulted her.  She was
not like them near enough to be thrown in with the group.

“I can’t believe
you’re even talking about things like this right now,” she countered.  “Don’t
you know the situation we’re in?  We’ve lost our home to the fire and have
nowhere to go!”

“We’ll find a
new place,” Mach said carefully.

“Yes, it’s
alright, Wren,” Toss offered in an effort to assure her.  “Don’t be upset.”

They all stared
at her as if they couldn’t understand her distress.  Maybe they didn’t care if
they had a place to call home or not.  It was just another part of the
adventure
to find somewhere else to be.  The blank look in their eyes was suddenly too
much for her.

She rose up and
tromped away from them, toward the tent, leaving them dumbfounded.

3

It’s all a game
to them.  If they can’t take this seriously, then maybe there’s no hope for
anything else.

Wren was on her
way up the hill when she saw Rifter emerge from the elder’s tent.  Sly exited
as well and met two warriors at the door, but she was focused on Rifter.  She
expected him to come back toward the group then, but he was led away by the
pair of natives, who took him over the hill and showed him to another tent. 
When they reached it, Rifter went inside alone.

Now what are
they doing?

She was so
focused on him in the distance that she didn’t notice what was happening
directly in front of her face.  There was movement; someone was approaching.

Wren looked up
to see that the young huntress had come to meet her, looking her straight in
the eye.  Her head was angled so that she looked down her nose at the pale
girl.  Wren wasn’t sure what to do except look back at her, but she felt
distinctly small, even though she was taller.

Calico opened
her proud mouth and spoke, but Wren didn’t know the meaning of the words;
however, she could tell by the tone that it was meant to be very snide.

“I’m sorry,”
Wren apologized.  “I don’t understand.”

The Tribal
princess repeated what she’d said, but of course it didn’t help.  The words
were wasted on her.

“She’s asking if
you’re Rifter’s
woman
,” Sly translated, appearing behind Calico.  He
hadn’t been far, on his way back after leaving the tent.  “Not to be
eavesdropping, but I believe that’s what she said.”

The huntress
stood there, looking at Wren but ignoring Sly, because he was not the one she
had been speaking to.  Wren was embarrassed, not only by the question, but
because of how the girl standing so near to her was dressed.  Wren could see
the full stretch of her stomach – could outline all of her ribs.  Was Wren the
only one in this world that had any shame?

The haughty Tribal
continued to stare at her.  She was waiting for an answer.

“Why is she
asking me that?” Wren asked Sly quietly, as if her whisper was less likely to
be understood by the other girl.

He spoke to
Calico and then looked back to Wren.  “I won’t pretend to know how her mind
works, but I thought it was best to tell her that you are.”

Wren wasn’t sure
if she wanted it to be said that way, but she wouldn’t have denied it either. 
She was with Rifter, yes – at least she considered herself to be.

Calico spoke
again, sounding just as spiteful.  Sly interpreted, but he was more hesitant to
deliver the message this time.  Wren didn’t know if it was because he had a
hard time understanding it all, or that he was beginning to regret entering
this conversation.

“She says that
you should go to him – that a woman should stay close to her warrior, or else
another might come and take him away.”

Wren’s eyes
widened and her face grew red.  When the native girl saw that, a slight smile
rose up on her beautiful mouth.  Wren wanted to come back with something
poignant, but she was not that quick.

“Tell her I
appreciate her
concern
,” she sneered, and stormed away.  She left the
savage maiden behind, but the heat of humiliation stayed with her.

Would the blows
never stop coming?  Everyone was out to ruin her – first the fairy, then Nix,
and now this girl!  Wren wasn’t sure what to do with the threat, but she was
not going to let it keep her away from Rifter.

She had just
reached the tent when the flap swung back and the one she had been seeking
emerged abruptly.  She jumped back, and likewise Rifter was shocked to see her
standing there.

“Oh! I was
looking for you,” she said once she’d regained herself.  “What did the elder
say?”

“They gave me a
tent,” he said with a shrug.  “They say I’m a hero.”

Was he rubbing
that in her face?  These people thought that he was a hero for standing against
the Scourge?  She had scolded him for it.

“Rifter, I—”

She quieted when
he stepped nearer to her.

“I want you to
stay with me,” he said, and she felt her chest tighten, squeezing the air out
of her lungs.  He wanted her to stay in the tent with him?  Alone?  She thought
of saying how it wasn’t proper, but then couldn’t see how she could think that
was inappropriate, since she had already stayed with him once before.  After
what the huntress had just said to her, perhaps it wasn’t a bad idea if she
stayed close.

“There’s no
reason you should have to sleep out in the open,” he added, creating a truth
for his reasoning.  “Tomorrow, well, we’ll think about that when it gets here. 
For now, we all need our rest.”

“I want Max with
me,” she told him.  “I can’t leave him alone.”

Rifter was
silent as he considered that, looking in her eyes, and then nodded.  “Go ahead
and get him.  I’ll be here.”

“Aren’t you
going to talk to the others?” she asked.  He looked down the hill where the
boys had built their fire, but she wasn’t sure he could even see them through
the fog that seemed to have clouded around his senses.