The Wilds (Reign and Ruin 1) (22 page)

When this day
ends, there will be two days left.

The sun seemed
about to set but lingered above the horizon like a television on
pause. The red leaked down a sky saturated with yolk yellow and the
air picked up a breeze with an edge of chill. It fluttered our hair
around our faces and cooled the salty sweat framing our brows.
There seemed nothing else to do but hope Cirrus had taken Leof's
bait. If he came looking for us in the Wilds, we could end this.
And with only two more days left to go, the tactic of playing
‘chicken' wasn't going to hold up for too much longer. One of us
was going to have to let themselves be taken and the chances of
stealing the symbol by anything other than force would be nearly
impossible.

With Lucan, I
stood a chance, at least. Without him, I had about as much
possibility as a dragonfly underneath a kid's magnifying glass,
plucking my wings off, one by one.

***

It must have been an
hour later before I felt the necklace give a sudden pinch of heat.
I hissed sharply and pulled the chain away from immediate contact.
There was a small swollen patch of skin, tender to the touch, which
faded away just as quickly. Either something was happening that was
important or the countdown was ticking away in earnest. How could
we tell when the sun wasn't moving?

Neither of the
guys looked concerned: Leof had his eyes closed and Lucan was
reading some letters he had pulled from his pocket, letters he
refused to show me.
For my own good
, as always.

But they were
both so unconcerned that I was the first to hear the faint buzzing
in the air. "Do you hear that?" I asked softly. Lucan cocked his
head and listened intently.

"Yeah, I do.
It's very far away, though." He shrugged and went back to his
letters. "Cirrus's cloud doesn't buzz. The only thing I can think
of is that it's another dream."

"Yes, another
dream," I said haltingly. The buzzing seemed to become louder, as
if the object making the sound was getting closer. "What type of
dream buzzes?"

"How should I
know? A dream made of bees?" he said distractedly.

"Something's
wrong," Leof interjected suddenly, sitting up. "We're being
tracked."

"Excuse me?"
Lucan said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm a hunter.
I can sense these things. There's an energy and an intent." Leof
sniffed the air and nodded. "Adrenaline. The air is rife with it.
It must be close."

This had to be
a trick. I wouldn't trust Leof any further than I could throw him
into a giant pit of molten lava. But then I followed his eye line
and saw it. The oncoming dream . . .

Well, that was
a bit of an exaggeration. What I really saw was small gray speck,
no bigger than a gnat far away in the distance. It wasn't exactly a
scary beast. The breeze was silent and the buzzing was gone. It
looked as if it was hovering in midair. And it certainly didn't
look dangerous.

There were a
few seconds of quiet . . . and then the buzzing started up
again.

Leof reeled
around with wide eyes. A grin stretched from side to side across
his face like a knife gash. "Ok, fucks. Time to either untie me so
I can run with you or throw me over those hulking shoulders. We
need to move, and fast."

"What is this?"
Leof sighed, throwing me an amused look. I shrugged.

"No time! I
will explain on the way. Unless you want to wait and see if it's
simply asking for directions?" Leof threw his head back with manic
laughter and the buzzing got faster, but this time with a definite
purpose.

In that same
moment my dreamcatcher erupted in a fury of heat, and I shrieked.
My muscles seized up in pain and my knees hit the sand. I had no
control. It was like the gold was burning a hole through to my
heart.

"Come on, don't
make it easier for him!" Leof said, still grinning. I gasped as the
fire died down and looked up at Lucan disbelievingly. Without
saying a word Lucan scooped Leof up in his arms like a sack of
potatoes and started to run across the sand. I threw myself after
them, keeping pace as best as I could with the buzz a faint
electric current around my ears.

"So what if
you're right? Can you explain . . . a bit more . . . about why
we're running away?" I yelled with difficulty at Lucan's retreating
back. Leof had been tossed over Lucan's shoulder and could hardly
draw breath as he bounced up and down with each stride. "If it's a
dream we want to stay and meet it!"

"Not this one,"
Leof huffed. "It looks like Cirrus rose to your challenge, after
all." The buzzing grew even louder. "But he sent a third party to
do his dirty work. Take a little look-see, honey."

I slid down the
side of a sand dune and glanced back. The dream, or whatever it
was, was indeed close. I could see its shape and how much faster it
was than either Lucan or me. And as it drew nearer and nearer, I
could also see that it was terrifying. Actually, terrifying was an
understatement. Try shit your pants, crawl into your parents' bed
after watching Ringu as a grown-ass woman type of terrifying.

Its skin was
slate gray and corded in wiry muscle that glistened, shone with a
sheen of slime like a maggot under a rock. Arms thick as small tree
trunks stretched forward in the beginnings of a lover's embrace and
the fingers were clenching open and shut, open and shut. Worse
still, the body tapered down into a worm's point with no legs to
speak of, carried forward on huge, translucent insect wings.

But on the
hairless, glistening gray head there was no face. None at all.
Whatever creature this was had risen out of its horrifying muck
with no eyes. No mouth. No ears and no nose. Its features seemed to
have been sanded down until nothing was left. And yet still it flew
at us, fingers grasping at the air, itching to grab someone and
squeeze until their face turned the same cold gray as its own.

And if I could
see as much as that, we needed a hell of lot more room between
us.

"It's too
close!" I screamed, pumping my arms harder on either side. Lucan
cursed and grabbed my hand to pull me faster, but we both knew that
there was nowhere to go. The Moth was relentless and the sand just
went on and on, reaching far off to meet the bottom of the
horizon.

"Lucan, I can
take this bastard!" Leof yelled. His eyes were wide and crazy. I
suddenly wondered who I should be more terrified of: the monster
behind us or the lunatic in front?

"And why would
I trust you?" Lucan huffed. I was inclined to agree, although I
didn't want to waste any breath saying it. Leof whooped with
laughter and slapped Lucan's ass.

"This has
nothing to do with trust. I want his severed head for my bedroom
wall."

"You have got
to be kidding me," Lucan said. His breath was harsh and his grip on
my hand loosened. He stopped, skidding a shower of sand into the
air, and threw Leof to the ground.

"Wait, Lucan,
what are you doing?" I screamed. Ignoring my loud protests, he
grappled through the man's kicking legs to the ropes that bound up
his hands. With one swoop of his knife he cut through the cord like
a hot blade through butter and stood back to let Leof scramble
up.

"What in the
hell –" but before I finished my argument Lucan picked me up and
kept running. It was all over in less than five seconds.

"I can't
believe you fell for that shit!" I cried.

"This is a
war," Lucan grunted defensively. "If anything the monster will take
him first."

"And what if
the next heads on his wall are ours?" I shouted as Lucan hoisted me
higher on his shoulders. "Did you ever think of that?!"

I strained my
neck up where I expected to see Leof screaming bloody murder. What
I actually saw made my mouth drop open like a broken oven door.

Leof hadn't
run; he was facing off the Moth like a god damn rodeo cowboy.

"Come on, you
big ugly thing! Over here!"

A surge of
admiration swept through me, or perhaps it was the adrenaline Leof
spoke of before – I mean, I was pretty sure I still hated him; but
either way, the bastard was braver than we were and that was worth
a mention in my history books.

The creature
reared up in front of Leof furiously. Somewhere from out of its
body rose a horrible clicking sound, so insect-like it made me
retch. It reached forward to make a snatch, but Leof dodged
backwards, pulling a large knife out of his boots. Slightly
worrying we hadn't found that when we searched him . . .

"You gray son
of a bitch, what are you gonna do? I'm gonna skin you alive and let
your flesh dry tacked to the side of my barn. Good thing you can't
look in a mirror, you're so ugly. But you can smell me, can't you?"
Leof do-se-doed nimbly around the Moth and it was all too surreal
to take in.

Lucan looked
back at the commotion and his feet ground to a halt. He stood
frozen in astonishment as together we watched Leof lead the monster
in circles. The Moth grasped wildly at the air, always at the place
where Leof had just been. The clicking grew faster and more
angry.

"My scent is
aniseed. And tobacco and a good fuck, so let's make this fun. Come
on, you repulsive bug, where am I now?!"

Its faceless
head turned towards me and my blood froze. All sounds stopped. Its
neck jerked.

Claccccckkkkk .
. .

"Lucan, you
asshole, stop distracting the game!" Leof yelled at us. "Get a move
on!" Lucan swung around, his feet finding footing in front of us at
last, and ran again across the sand.

"Lucan, it's
not working!" I yelled. The moth had given up on Leof and was
gaining ground behind us. Lucan roared and pushed his legs harder
up the approaching slope but the escape becoming laborious. The
sand under Lucan's feet began to make us slide down and I squealed
as we pitched dangerously backwards.

"I'm sorry –"
Lucan heaved and dropped me onto the ground. He pushed me forward
and I struggled up, my fingers digging into the sand as I neared
the top of the hill. I was about to reach the top, triumph bursting
from my ravaged lungs, when Lucan snatched my ankle tightly and
shouted.

"Maggie, watch
out!"

I reeled back
and nearly hurled us both back down the slope. Quickly swallowing
my heart in a painful gulp, I scrambled out of the Lucan's arms and
crept up the few remaining feet.

There was
nothing. I mean literally, nothing. The sand ended five feet in
front of me and fell off an overhang. The sky was cut off above my
head and seemed to change to a backdrop that hung on the other side
of the pit. Looking down all I could see was a deep and endless
white; a void that was more dooming than the monster closing the
distance behind us.

"The horizon .
. ." I whispered.

We stood stuck
on the edge of the drop, Lucan holding his heaving ribs and the
necklace pulsating softly on my chest. The Moth was only twenty
seconds away, its fingers clawing in desire. It sensed we were
trapped.

"Lucan, we
could just let it take us," I murmured. My fingers found the gold
circle and held it tightly.

"What the hell
are you talking about?" Lucan wheezed.

"Cirrus sent it
to find me. Fine. It will carry me to him and I can end this."

Leof threw his
boot and it bounced harmlessly off the Moth's head. But it
succeeded in slowing it down for a few seconds. He whooped in
triumph and did a little jig.

Lucan turned to
me and grabbed my shoulders.

"He would have
the upper hand then, Maggie. We need to meet on neutral ground. And
I need to be with you!"

"We're running
out of time!" I said through gritted teeth. The dreamcatcher spiked
in temperature and I reeled again at the sudden stab.

The heels of my
shoes touched the edge of the cliff, pushing sand off into the
gloom where the whiteness swallowed it.

The Moth was
ten seconds away and a breath of air pushed against my face. It
blew more sand off the cliff and my hair away from my eyes.

This was it,
then.

"Maggie, no,"
Lucan whispered and laced his fingers through my own.

Five seconds
away and I saw the beginnings of a purple cloud gathering in the
distance.

"I am not worth
your personal vendetta," I whispered back.

Three seconds
away.

Two seconds
away.

"You're worth a
lot more than you think."

One second away
and I let Lucan's hand go, reaching up my arms towards the sky. My
fingers stretched to touch the blues and grays of the dry, painted
heavens.

Come and take
me, you blond bastard. Give it your best fucking shot.

The end was
nearly upon me when the heavy weight of Lucan's entire mass pitched
my body backwards as he threw us both off the cliff. And as we
fell, the desert dropped away and receded above my head until there
was nothing left.

And as the
shock let go of my lungs, I screamed out into the white.

***

Leof watched the
nightmare claw into the empty air as I fell down the horizon. He
picked up his stray boot and listened to my terrified scream grow
distant and give way to the muddled buzzing of a failed Moth.

"Well, I'm
going to make this fun," Leof murmured, feeling the chaos boil in
his veins. And he gave no resistance as the Moth swept him up in
his strong arms and flew him up towards the purple cloud and into
the clear cold of the higher edge of the sky.

Chapter
20

Silence followed my initial screaming hysteria.
It took a few seconds, but the initial shock of being pushed into a
potentially fatal fall eventually gave way to anger and I started
to hit out against Lucan's arms violently, like a panicked baby
bird. We grappled for a minute or two until I realized that a
minute or two was all it likely would have taken to hit something
solid and be squashed into a bloody pulp. So I chilled out. It must
have been somewhat safe, unless Lucan had a crazy suicide bid.
Which didn't seem to match his general habit of keeping me
alive.