Nevermor (15 page)

Did you think
this would be a perfect trade?  Did you think that you could come here and
there would be absolutely no adversity?
  She asked herself this, not knowing
the answer.  Perhaps she
had
thought that.

Presently,
another dark form was taking shape not far away.  The boys were growing eager,
working themselves into a frenzy, though they still did not attack.  Away from
the rest of them, Rifter was observing it all, but his eyes were affixed in the
distance, staring at the large dark blanket that was on the waves, coming ever
closer.

These small ones
were nothing to him.  He was waiting for the larger nightmare to arrive.

Several lesser
portions had washed up now, some mere droplets compared to others, and Wren
wondered if they were all separated parts of the bigger mass.  Once they had
begun a steady population of writhing creatures on the shore, the boys set to
work.

The nightmares
hatched, each one of them different.  The boys didn’t care much.  The creatures
released horrible screeching sounds as their dark flesh was met with blades. 
Wren clenched the knife in her fist, hoping that none got near her.

All around, the
boys were in top form.  They were slicing off black chunks of flesh with glee,
putting arrows and bullets through nightmare skin.  They moved with such ease,
jumping around and dodging with amazing swiftness, and yet she was too
terrified to move.

“Here comes the
big one!” one of them yelled, and as soon as he had said it, the black mass
washed up onto the sand.

It rolled in
with the waves, collapsing upon itself like a pile of sludge.  It did not take
long before it was growing limbs and gaining mass, and to her surprise, the
boys did not waste time with it.  They were already shooting it before it was
fully formed, but that did not halt its growth.

Rifter was
interested now.  She could see his fascination, and when he looked over at her,
his eyes were bright and shining.

“Time for some
fun,” he said with a smile.

“Do be careful,”
she pleaded, but she had to trust that he knew what he was doing.

“Just keep
yourself out of the way,” he warned, and Wren instinctively stepped back a bit
more.

Rifter drew his
sword and began to take steps toward the creature, but he was in no hurry.  Nix
and Finn were shooting the forming nightmare with guns while the twins were
sending arrows into it, one after the other without having to aim.  Toss had
not made a move yet, but he and Sly were standing there, carefully taking
measure of the thing.  Even Whisper was helping, floating over the creature’s
head to keep it confused and distracted.  More than that, she seemed to be
indicating places where they should shoot – points of weakness.

As Wren watched,
she gradually began to notice what she thought were effects of the fairy
blessing.  All of the boys could move unnaturally fast now – but perhaps not as
fast as Rifter had moved before – and they could jump uncommonly high.

Even for all
their effort, the beast still managed to stay upright.  It had grown much
larger now, rising up on legs like dark tree trunks.  It was still fully black
as shadow, but now it had a head as well as long, thick arms which it used to
swipe at the boys.  Toss and Sly finally ran in and began to attack it head-on
– Toss with a large hammer and Sly with some unusual clawed gloves – as the
beast roared with rage, but Wren found herself taking a step back.

There was no way
that she was involving herself in this fight.  It was too much for her.

I could run, but
what good would that do me?  I can’t always run away.

She had been
learning that gradually.  Lately, that was what her life had become – that
choice.  Was she strong enough to deal with this?  For these boys, this was
part of everyday life.  Could she accept it as being a part of hers?

Why should I
have to keep running?  Can’t I just stand still and be perfectly safe?

That was a
question she didn’t have an answer to.

2

Rifter had stood
back for as long as he could bear, watching the others hack away at the growing
nightmare monster, but he couldn’t be idle any longer.  He hadn’t had a decent
battle in so many nights, and he was itching.

The nightmare
should never have come here.  It was going to regret it.

He rushed into
the fray, one foot before the other until he leapt up and took flight, his
sword raised to strike the vile thing down – and a dark tentacle slapped him
out of the air like a fly.

He hit the sand
on one knee and slid back until he finally halted, but the sting on his flesh
did not deter him.  Within seconds, he was up and running again.  The nightmare
before him could not seem to decide what it wanted to become.  There were
several wagging tentacles, and it appeared to be growing a few different heads
as well, aside from the massive arms and legs.

The
uncertainties of what could be dreamed up out of fear never ceased to amaze
him, but it didn’t matter.  The abomination would die just the same.

He looked for
Whisper, who was best at figuring out where there was a weak point on the
enemy’s body, but he could see that she was still flying around as if lost. 
She hadn’t been able to pinpoint anything, likely because the nightmare had not
chosen its form yet.  The thing was already annoying him.  He hated
indecisiveness.

When in doubt,
there was one sure way to kill a nightmare which couldn’t fail if it was done
properly.  Rifter knew the secret of that.

“
Wisp
!”

She came to him
promptly, as he’d ordered.  He held out his sword and she landed on the flat of
it, knowing what he intended for her to do.  She put her tiny hands down onto
the metal and spoke a quiet prayer.  The blade began to glow with the power of
the blessing, shining gold, glowing in the dark.

“Keep it
distracted!” he ordered the others, and they had no intention of doing
otherwise.  All of their attacks thus far had been meant only to weaken it.

The tentacles
were flailing all around.  Toss and Mach were hit, knocked to the ground as the
breath was taken from them, but Rifter couldn’t pay them any attention.  He
leapt up and flipped over the creature, clearing its attempts to strike him
down.  He took himself from its line of sight and pressed downward with the
sword, burying it to the hilt in the nightmare’s flesh.

He held on and the
blessed sword began to work its magic, spreading across the black skin like a
disease – drying it up, turning it to ash.  The nightmare’s movement slowed,
became lesser, until finally it was finished.  Rifter didn’t pull the sword
free until the creature began to break apart.

The nightmare
collapsed as a shapeless black mass, and finally Rifter took his sword and
leapt down, splashing knee-high in the water.

“Whoo!  I didn’t
even get hit that time!”  Finn shouted.  “Mech got knocked down
twice
!”

“No,” the twin
corrected, “that was
Mach
!”

Rifter barely
heard them.  The glory of the kill was like nothing else, and all of them could
agree with that truth.  He stood at the edge of the tide, closed his eyes and
took a deep breath, waiting for the adrenaline rush to fade so that his heart
would be still again.

That was when he
heard the shriek, and he could hardly describe what that did to him.  His chest
clenched and his eyes shot open, and then he was searching for the source.

Wren… 
He couldn’t
stand the sound of a girl’s scream.  It reminded him of something, but he
couldn’t say what, because he just didn’t remember.

Even so, he
couldn’t quite forget.  He knew one thing about it, however.  He didn’t need a
new memory in place of that old one.

3

As the battle
had raged on before her, Wren could feel herself slipping away – growing
distant – even though her feet weren’t moving.  She didn’t think she could wish
herself out of here, but she thought of trying.  But where would she send
herself?  She didn’t want to be back at the orphanage as much as she didn’t
want to be here right now.

Sometimes things
might be unpleasant, but it will be worth it in the end.  Be strong.

Not far away, a
smaller black blob had sloshed up on the sand, and almost immediately it began
to writhe and shift as the nightmare contained inside broke free.  Wren’s eyes
locked onto it.  The atrocity was close – much too close to her – but she
wasn’t sure if she should run.

She shifted her
gaze toward the others, who were caught up in the battle.  None of them were
paying any attention to her.  She was just a few paces from the thrashing
creature that was trying to break free of its gelatinous egg, and she held the
knife in her fist, remembering it.

If it comes
close, I’ll just do what I have to, like at the factory.

She hoped it
didn’t come to that.  She was so busy staring at the blob, making sure that it
didn’t come near her, that she wasn’t paying attention to what the larger
nightmare was doing.

She was caught
by surprise when a thrashing tentacle threw her back onto the sand with so much
force that the wind left her.  A sharp pain in her lungs wouldn’t let her have
it back.  She felt a dull ache where she landed, though she might have been
thankful for how the sand cushioned her.  The knife flew from her hand since
she had not been holding it tightly enough, and by the time she looked back up,
the smaller nightmare creature was upon her.

The dark mass
had sprung up from the egg, taller than her, with elongated arms and abnormally
long fingers.  A sharp beak had formed on its face, ready to pick her apart.

Wren didn’t know
what to do, and so she did the only thing that her instincts would allow her. 
When she found her breath, she screamed.  She shielded her face with her arms
so she would not have to watch as it killed her, yet she could not quite close
her eyes.

They were open
just enough that she saw a large figure slam into the advancing nightmare,
tackling it to the ground.

Get up!  Get out
of the way!
 
Wren crawled back and got to her feet, her eyes wide now, seeing everything,
and she saw that it was Toss who had come to her aid, and Finn was not far
behind him.

The grounded
nightmare flailed and complained, but Toss held it down as Finn stabbed it
through the chest with one of his blades.  It gave one final shriek and then it
was finished, crackling and turning to ash that blew away in the breeze.

It’s alright,
she told
herself. 
It’s over.  You’re safe.

She felt a light
touch on her arm and jerked around.  Rifter was there with his fingers on her
arm, and at her turn, she was within his grasp.  He looked her over to see if
she was injured, and yet didn’t say anything when he looked in her eyes, but
his expression was firm.

He’s
disappointed in me
,
she thought, and she could no longer look him in the face.

“Are you
alright?” he asked her finally, and she was able to breathe again.  She sighed
out her relief, not only for the end of the battle but for knowing that he
hadn’t completely dismissed her because she hadn’t been able to protect
herself.

“Are you
alright, Wren?” Finn asked anxiously, and she looked up to see that he and the
twins were standing there to the side, peering at her with concern.

She opened her
mouth to assure them, but a sharp accusation from across the beach cut her off.

“You weren’t
supposed to defend her!” Nix growled angrily.  “She’s supposed to defend
herself!  Those are the rules!”

Nix tromped
heatedly toward them, his gun still in hand.

“I said she
wasn’t taking the test, Nix,” Rifter reminded him.

“Doesn’t
matter,” he went on, shaking his head.  “In a situation like that, she should
have defended herself.  She didn’t!”

Rifter heard
what the other was saying, but he didn’t respond – he didn’t get a chance to
before Toss had spoken up to give an account of his actions.

“I’m sorry,
Rifter, but I just couldn’t let her get killed,” Toss claimed, and Wren was
surprised to find that he looked menacing for the first time.

“Yeah!” seconded
Finn.  “Leaving her to get slaughtered like that wouldn’t be very gentlemanly,
would it?”

The twins looked
at each other and then nodded their heads in agreement.

Rifter didn’t
look as though he held any of them at fault.  He didn’t say anything toward it
as he went to recover the knife that Wren had dropped but, seeing this, Nix couldn’t
let it lie.

“She’d have been
dead if they hadn’t stepped in.  She has to go!”

Rifter stepped
heatedly toward his defiant brother.  “This is not up for discussion, Nix.  I
told you that.”