The Wilds (Reign and Ruin 1) (24 page)

Cassandra wiped
her forehead and walked over to the discarded gun. As she bent over
to pick it up, she looked straight at us. I froze in terror, but
she dropped the eye contact a split second later, as if she knew we
had been there the whole time. She straightened up to empty the
ammunition and shook her head amusingly.

"Lucan, you can
come out now, you big oaf."

Lucan rose
slowly up and I followed, stepping out into the clearing behind
him. Cassandra was pushing the gun back into her holster and
regarding Lucan like an annoying sibling she'd just caught tagging
along.

"Cassandra,"
Lucan said lazily. Her eyebrow floated up in what looked like
pleasure and she licked a pair of full, amber colored lips.

"That's my
name. Welcome back." Lucan looked pointedly at the man on the
ground. Cassandra gave him a little kick with the toe of her boot
and shrugged. "He got too close to my outpost. Cirrus's scout or
the Council's, he was looking for you, no doubt." She leaned
sideways slightly to regard me standing behind him. "And who is
this green young thing?"

"Cassandra,
this is Maggie," Lucan replied. "
Maggie."

"I'm not deaf,
Lucan. I heard you the first time." She looked me up and down and I
stared solidly back. My chin rose up defiantly as I took in her
smooth, brown hair twisted practically into an elegant shape
hanging low on her neck. The streaks of green on her face matched
her tight, short-sleeved shirt, forest colored trousers, and
handkerchief tied high on her upper arm. I also couldn't help but
notice that it matched her eyes, which were striking and looking at
me as if I were a little girl. How did Lucan know this woman? And
why did I feel suddenly so stupidly jealous?

The edges of
her mouth twitched up, as if she could sense my train of thought.
"Looks hardly out of school," she said. She glanced sideways again
at Lucan. "Break her yet?"

"That is the
Painter's
niece
," Lucan hissed, taking a protective step
forwards. Cassandra rolled her eyes again and tightened the
handkerchief on her arm.

"I know, Lucan.
We're all here for the same reason," she snapped.

"And why is
that?" I spoke up.

Cassandra
looked at Lucan in surprise and laughed loudly. She walked over to
me, taking a pointed step over the dead man's body, and placed her
hand on my chest. Her palm fitted perfectly over the gold circle of
the dreamcatcher and her fierce eyes softened as we both felt it
flare up in a throb.

"You, my
darling. The Riders have come for you."

***

The phone for the
waiting room rang in Cirrus's office.

He sat up from
where he had been watching the seconds tick past slowly on the
grandfather clock in the corner. It could only be one of two
things. The treasured first possibility was that the Moth had
arrived with Maggie. She could be waiting for him right now in his
front hallway. Just the thought of seeing her again made Cirrus
feel like dancing, sending all kinds of delicious feelings shooting
up his legs. His face lit up in anticipation and he drew his hand
out to pick up the receiver. But the second dreaded thought made
him stop. It could be something else. It could be that the Moth had
come back empty-handed. Or perhaps it had lost control, fetched
back his salvation broken and lifeless in its arms. The excitement
he had felt just moments before was washed over in a wave of cold
dread.

"Yes?" Funny
how such a small word was so difficult to say without a quiver or a
quake. He heard a bit of static on the other end of the line, but
otherwise the voice coming through the receiver was quite
clear.

"Cirrus, this
is Cindy. The Moth has returned."

"Did it bring
back Maggie?" Cirrus asked swiftly, bracing himself against his
desk. She was on the other side of that door, he knew it. There was
a pause on the phone.

"It brought
back . . . something." Cindy tentatively said. Cirrus froze and
looked towards the door. Something? What kind of something? The
fire crackled softly and the static buzzed on the other end.

"Cirrus? Are
you there?" Cindy asked meekly. Cirrus cursed and pushed his
fingertips under his spectacles and into his eyes.

"Yes, Cindy. I
am," Cirrus replied through gritted teeth. "I'm not angry with
you."

"No, sir. Thank
you, sir," she tittered. "It's just that . . . what do I do with
him?"

"Him?!" Cirrus
cried. His head snapped up.
Lucan!

He slammed the
phone back down and strode across the room to the heavy double
doors of his office. He gripped the silver handles and heaved them
open. They continued to fly backwards where they bounced against
the office walls and shook a small dusting of plaster from the
ceiling coving.

The Moth has
failed
, he simmered angrily as he marched down the hall.
And
all I've got to show for it is my pathetic excuse for a
brother.
The thought of Lucan with Maggie, of his arms snaking
around her slight frame, or whatever else he might have forced upon
her, made his head reel. He squeezed his eyes shut to expel the
image and bore down the rest of the hall like a bull. The shock at
the end brought him up short when he saw not Lucan, not Maggie, but
Leof lounging on a chair. Cindy sat behind the desk looking
positively terrified.

She stood up
with a squeak. He stopped her short with a firm finger and pointed
to the door. Her bun quivered like a scared pocket dog as she
quickly started to gather her things up. Leof and Cirrus stared at
one another silently as Cindy moved about them, her hands
fluttering butterflies, until she quietly and nervously closed the
front door behind her with a soft click.

Leof stretched
luxuriously, reaching his long limbs up to the ceiling and the
rotating fan fixture. The pointed toes of his cowboy boots scraped
along the rug, leaving a dusty trail of sand.

"Not the
welcome I was expecting, but as least you don't look too displeased
to see me." He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and
appraised the still figure of Cirrus. "Admit it, I'm second
best."

"Where is
Maggie?" Cirrus asked in a dangerous voice. Leof looked Cirrus up
and down, from the gleaming black of his leather brogues to the
crisp lines of his gray suit, and smirked.

"Wanted to look
pretty for your honey?"

"Where . . . is
Maggie?" Cirrus repeated. His eyes flashed under his spectacles,
shooting daggers at Leof.

"You have no
one to blame but yourself, Cirrus." Leof
tsked
. "It came for
her. It was this close to plucking her up and flying her like an
angel on a rainbow to your warm and completely unconditional
embrace." Leof laughed loudly and slapped his thighs. Cirrus
waited, his fingers flexing into fists, until Leof finished his
hilarity. The man's face settled into an expression of mock
pity.

"But unluckily
for you, it caught someone else instead. And now you're stuck with
me." He pulled out a piece of licorice from his pocket and slurped
the end with relish. "I don't have the symbol. Sorry about that.
But don't worry, I'm not bad to look at."

"So where is
Maggie now, then?" Cirrus asked, fighting back the disgust he felt
watching Leof tear pieces of the black candy with his browned,
cigarette stained teeth. Leof took a moment before answering.

"It was a real
shame. We all tried to stop it."

"What do you
mean?"

Leof looked out
the window and hid a smile. This was going to be his best kill yet.
Chaos, despair and definitely ending in fire.

He swiped his
face clean and sighed. Cirrus felt a sick nausea wrap around his
gut and flex. The face that turned back to Cirrus was resigned.

"There was an
accident with your Moth." Leof twisted the piece of licorice into a
knot and pulled until it broke away into two pieces. Cirrus felt
the ground fall away from his feet. "Something terrible has
happened to Maggie."

Chapter
21

Try and think of the most awkward moment of
your life. Picturing it in your head? Now take that moment, remove
your pants, walk in on your parents having sex and then double the
awkwardness of that moment. And if you've walked in your parents
having sex whilst wearing no trousers, fuck off and go throw
yourself a party.

The awkwardness
in question was the little pow wow we made, sat together around a
dry fire pit a few miles off of where we met Cassandra. She had
pushed the body of the scout into the bushes and made a passing
comment that ants were likely to do away with the evidence quicker
than burning. Which made me feel a bit sick.

No one said a
word as we trekked to her outpost. I was sure Lucan and Cassandra
had plenty to talk about – there were more than a few significant
looks – but they refused to explain anything and placed me smack in
the middle of the line. This meant that I had to keep up the pace.
Luckily, four days of walking and climbing and occasionally running
for my life resulted in me feeling a lot fitter. But hiking in the
forest still led to a lot of wet patches and itchy skin. The air
was packed with moisture and the warmth made it hard to breathe
after a few minutes. The water in my pack ran out after an hour and
by the time the sun was highest in the sky, I was gasping.

I watched
Cassandra's back ahead of me as she moved gracefully and lithely
through the trees like a tigress. She knew her way around the
forest - it was practically her Main Street - and walked forwards
with a confidence to match. It still irked me that Lucan refused to
be open about his other plan, but the fact that this woman was in
on it too annoyed me even further. They were all part of something
bigger than I knew and I was stuck on the outside. I wasn't part of
their secret club, the Riders, which was the stupidest name of a
resistance I had ever heard. Or maybe I was just bitter.

And now as we
sat in awkward silence, I sensed Cassandra watching me. One quick
glance told me she wasn't smiling and the look of reverence she had
displayed before with the dreamcatcher had long taken flight. She
was back to her hard self.

"So, how did
you and Lucan team up?" she asked, leaning back on a log and
letting her long, brown hair fall down from its twist. It shook out
as smoothly as spun silk and I felt my stomach clench in envy. She
was so unlike me.

"He was in the
Wilds when we met," I started to say.

"Emerged like a
stallion out of the dust, did he?" Cassandra asked with a
smirk.

"She saved my
life," Lucan interjected loudly. He was binding his hand in strips
of cotton. "No doubt you heard Cirrus had tied me up on that pole.
I was close to dying."

Cassandra
looked steadily back at Lucan, but the smile didn't fade.

"Yeah, I heard
you messed things up with that. Not the best timing, I hope you
know. You left us high and dry." She sighed and cocked her head to
the side. "We had no word for days. It all went dark."

"Sorry, but now
might be a good time to catch me up," I interrupted. They both
stopped talking quickly. Lucan shifted uncomfortably on his seat
and Cassandra started to braid her hair back. I groaned in
frustration. "I'm going through this blind!"

"How about a
quick recap?" Cassandra said. I glared at her.

"Fine." I
braced my feet against the ground and faced them both. "Tonight
will be the end of the fifth day, after which I will have only one
more day to find Cirrus and steal his symbol. If I don't and he
gets my necklace, he gets the throne – and me, thank you very much.
If I do get it by some act of holy mercy, I will be the queen of
some other dimension I didn't even know existed. And if we both
fail the symbols burn through our skin and eat our souls." It
sounded crazy coming from my angry mouth, but they were both
looking at me as if I were explaining a simple math equation. "And
the only support I've come up with is you guys!"

Cassandra
chuckled and my face twisted up in irritation. "Don't you dare
laugh. I half expected to wake up halfway through this ridiculous
nightmare, but here I am."

"I thought you
didn't dream," Lucan asked softly. Cassandra shot him a confused
look and we all waited. I looked from one to another in
expectation, but Lucan was now studiously inspecting the leaves on
the ground.

"We can't tell
you much, as I'm sure Lucan already explained." Cassandra frowned
in his direction. "That is, if he was doing his job right. But the
Riders have been aware of you for years."

"You mean the
secret rebel forces gathering speed to sweep me onto the
throne?"

Cassandra was
not amused.

"A special
group of people in Palet who don't believe this country can
flourish under the rule of Cirrus. We've been mounting an attack
for ages now, waiting for you." She paused. "So yes, we're on your
side."

"You're hoping
I win, you mean?" I asked. She grimaced and shook her head.

"Honestly, all
we care about is if Cirrus loses. And if you're the way to kick him
headfirst off the throne, then we're behind you. But if you lose –"
Lucan's shoulder twitched but Cassandra ignored him, "we have a
contingent plan. And Cirrus knows enough to be aware we're out
there. But not how many and not how close. And definitely not what
we're up to. If Cirrus takes you as his partner, we cannot have him
privy to that secret."

"So you are the
rebellion," I clarified, the words coming out a little more
sarcastically than I intended.

"We're fighting
for a free country and the end of tyranny," Cassandra said, her
voice flaring up with passion. She reached out and grabbed my hand.
"You are the key. And we're going to help you get to wherever you
need to be as quickly as you need to get there," Cassandra said. I
started to stand up but she gripped my hand tighter. "We move best
undercover and in darkness. So we'll have to wait for tonight."