The Dream Sanctum: Beyond The End (15 page)

The other two nodded, uncertain of what to say. They were deviating from
their plan before they had even begun, something Kai did not find comforting at
all, and something he knew Kwin would not be happy about if she found out.

“They seem to be in the clear. Let’s go. Just follow me, don’t look at
anyone, don’t talk to anyone, and most importantly, act like nothing is wrong.”

“I think I’m picking up a conflict in our directions there,” Lindsay said
quietly, but Alan only smiled and led the way inside.

Kai was sure that his anxious demeanor alone would attract a lot of
attention, but he soon discovered that they were getting absolutely no
attention at all. Everyone they passed seemed equally intent on being
unnoticed; most of them shuffled slowly down the streets, blending in with
everyone else, faces looking down and hidden behind large cloaks. Kai tried to
mimic their actions and noticed Lindsay doing the same.

Alan, however, strode confidently ahead of them, walking very obviously
toward the prison gate Kwin Two had shown them earlier. Kai looked around,
wondering if anyone found it suspicious that three figures were moving directly
toward the prison, but still no one seemed to pay them any mind. Kris and Luna
were nowhere in sight, something Kai found strangely comforting.
Anyone looking for us probably went after
them first
, he thought.

However, a low voice from nearby instantly shattered Kai’s confidence,
and to his horror, he looked over to see none other than Devnon standing near
the staircase up to the balconies above.

“Ah, just the ones I was looking for,” he said smoothly. “Kai, Lindsay, I
need to speak with you.”

“Sounds good,” Alan started, but Devnon cut him off.

“Just the two of them will do. You do me a favor and see to it that the
fires in the east wing aren’t burning any buildings. The fire pits have been
dangerously close to setting the entire half of the city alight, and I don’t
think we need even less shelter to worry about.”

“Uh… sure, I’ll do that,” Alan replied uncertainly. As he started to walk
away, he mouthed, “
Play along
.”

Realizing they had no choice, Kai started to walk up the stairs after Devnon.
Lindsay trailed alongside Kai and grabbed his hand, and he could feel her
shaking with fear as they walked.

“We’ll be all right, he thinks we’re our copies,” Kai whispered. “Just
act a little bit and we’ll be able to get away.”

Lindsay nodded, but she didn’t look like she could speak at all, much
less act. Her face had paled from the shock of seeing Devnon so suddenly, and
Kai thought with grim amusement that she looked more like her copy that way.

They entered the main hall where a number of fires still burned, but it
was as empty as it had been the last time they had been there. Kai wondered for
what purpose the fires were kept burning, then realized Devnon probably had it
sealed off to all except him and his guests.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Devnon said as he sat down by one of the fires,
his voice echoing around the empty hall. “I am curious what you were doing down
by the prison, however.”

“We… wanted to check on the prisoner. You know, to make sure she’s still
there.”

“Of course she’s still there. I don’t know many grown men who can pry
apart steel gates, much less a little girl. No, we need to keep that area clear
of people for now. If we make it appear unguarded, the girl’s friends may be
more inclined to come after her.”

“What are you going to do with them?” Kai asked, trying to sound casual.

“The same as the others. We take their supplies and their ship, wait
until they can no longer wake up, then burn them alive. You two weren’t alive
the last time we got to do that, so you’re in for a treat.”

“Did… did you say… burn them?” Lindsay asked shakily.

“Of course, my dear. Now, I know you may have your reservations, but
don’t worry. This is a necessity.”

“Why?” Kai asked hotly. “Doesn’t that seem a bit extreme?”

Devnon sighed, and for a moment he wondered if his tone was too much. But
then Devnon smiled.

“You are young, so I cannot expect you to understand right away. It is
necessary to preserve the security of our nation. They come from a glamorous
world far away where everything is in abundance and everyone is free. If our
people hear too much about that, they might not want to stay. We need to give
them something to fear, something to distract them. We tell them they came to
corrupt our way of life with false promises, throw in something about being a
danger to women and children, and then we have total support for getting rid of
them in spectacular fashion.”

Lindsay started to tremble, and Kai was struggling to keep a straight
face. He held her hand tighter in his own, all the while attempting to figure
out how he could possibly respond. Luckily, Devnon decided to continue.

“For now, however, we just need to play nice. At the moment, they still
have the ability to wake up. We only need to keep them here until they lose
that ability, then they’ll be all ours.”

“Do you think they could really do so much harm? There are only five of
them,” Lindsay said. Her voice wavered, but Devnon didn’t seem to notice.

“Ideas are powerful. We don’t want the people getting ideas.” Devnon
sighed. “Surely they would think me an evil man, but the truth is it’s taking
all I’ve got to keep this world in one peace. We number in the hundreds, even
with new people arriving every day. Our food stores are low, are shelters are
dwindling and we have no resources to make repairs. You must understand, while
I openly admit to being bitter at these newcomers for their privileged way of
life, all I’m trying to do is preserve what we have. If even a quarter of us
left for better things, everything left here would collapse and we would all
die.”

“Then why not accept their help? There has to be a better way than
killing them,” Lindsay continued.

“Please. They don’t want to help. They’re celebrities who come here to do
a good deed or two so they can feel better about themselves before going back
to their life of luxury. No, it is impossible for them to do more good than
harm. So we will wait until the time is right and then burn them all, starting
with Kwin.”

Kai felt a chill run down his spine at these words.

“What do you–?”

At that moment, however, the doors to the main hall opened, and none
other than Kris and Luna jogged in.

“I thought we’d never get away from that creepy little kid,” Kris panted
as he shut the doors quickly behind him. “Trust Devnon’s brat to make this ten
times harder than it had to – oh. Oh, damn.”

Kris had caught sight of the three sitting by the fire, and for a moment
time seemed to stand still as they watched Devnon look back and forth between
them, slowly putting two and two together.

“Clever. Remarkably clever. But what an unfortunate time for your ruse to
fail.”

As though to spite Kai’s feeling that things couldn’t get any worse, the
door opened again and Kwin Two walked in, looking very amused.

“I’m sorry to make things so difficult for you, but this
brat
has to do something to pull her
weight around here. I’m sure the prospect of doing any work is confusing to
you, so I’ll just say you won’t have to let that thought trouble you much
longer.”

As they focused on Kwin Two’s entrance, Devnon had moved over to Kai’s side.
Before he could utter a word, Devnon grabbed him tightly, and Kai felt the
chill of a blade at his throat.

“This unfortunate turn of events has led me to realize we may need to
start our plans earlier than expected,” Devnon hissed. Devnon was outnumbered
and likely felt backed into a corner, but there was no bluff his in eyes.
“Answer me, Lindsay, and speak quickly: where are your friends?”

“I don’t know!” Lindsay cried, wringing her hands. “I haven’t seen them
since…”

She trailed off. Kai heard a deep rumbling that was growing steadily
louder. The entire building started to shake, and shards of broken glass fell
from the window frames. It continued for another moment, still building in
strength, suddenly stopped as quickly as it had started.

And then, before anyone could speak, the entire building collapsed.

Lindsay’s shriek of surprise was lost amongst the roar of crumbling brick
and shattering glass. By some miracle, the side of the room on which they stood
appeared to be mostly intact, but the distraction was enough for Kai to escape.
Without a second thought, Kai grabbed Lindsay by the wrist and started to run.

“Let’s go!”

They made their way through the rubble and plumes of dust, frantically
looking for the stairway. Kai vaguely remembered which way to go and continued
on, stumbling over the ruins of the hall and trying to keep the dust out of his
eyes. Though Kai could hardly see where he was going, he knew that the dust
likely shielded them from Devnon’s sight, and he planned to take full advantage.

After what seemed like forever, Kai saw light filtering through the dust,
and he hurried out, still pulling Lindsay behind him. A crowd of people had
gathered to watch from a distance as the rubble and dust fall into the main
square. Kai started to make for the gate, intent putting as much distance
between them and the capital as he could, but Lindsay held back.

“We have to get Kwin!”

Kai hesitated for a moment, then nodded. As they ran back toward the
prison door, he felt a jolt in his stomach as he realized that the prison
itself was located under the main hall, and hoped against hope that the prison
hadn’t been damaged too badly.

They fought their way through the dust again, and to Kai’s relief, that
part of the building still looked mostly intact. However, before they could
open the door, another rumble shook the ground, this time accompanied by a
large burst of fire and smoke from within the hall beyond.

“What’s going on?” Lindsay cried, looking around frantically as people
screamed and ducked for cover.

“Earthquake!” a woman shouted. “The world’s gone mad!”

Whether the world had gone mad or was simply throwing a temper tantrum
was irrelevant to Kai; he had to find Kwin, and the area she was being held in
had not only collapsed, but apparently exploded as well. Feeling a surge of
near panic, he made to enter the smoke-filled hall, but stopped as someone
called to him from behind.

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you. There seems to have been some sort
of accident.”

He whirled around to see Kwin standing next to Lindsay. She looked tired
and her clothes were somewhat tattered and burnt, but she looked unhurt.

“Kwin! How did you–?”

“Later. Let’s leave while people still think the sky is falling.”

They headed back to the square where dust was now billowing out over
everything. Thinking it safe, Kai threw a quick glance back toward the main
hall. Most of the building upstairs had crumbled, leaving just a skeletal frame
of wood and brick behind. The rest of the castle behind, however, had remained
intact.

“Do you think we’re safe now?” Lindsay asked as they passed through the
gate.

“Yes,” Kwin replied simply. “After that fiasco I think they might be more
worried about – oof.”

Kwin broke off as Lindsay took her into a tight hug.

“We were so worried! Things were going fine until Devnon called us to see
him. I guess he thought we were our copies, and we were able to fake it until
the real Kai and Lindsay showed up. Then the building exploded and you were in
there, and… and you look so beat up. Are you hurt?”

“Minimally,” Kwin said dismissively. “What’s important now is that we get
out safely. They have lost their advantage, and we can simply leave once we
reunite with the others.”

“Where do we go?” Kai asked, leading the way down the path away from the
city.

“Let’s head for the ship. We’ll be safer there than anywhere here on
land.”

“What about Alastor and Elvia?”

“We won’t leave; we just need to move out to a safe distance. I’ll inform
Alastor of our decision later and arrange a time and place to pick him up from shore.
We just cannot afford to stay here right now.”

They walked off the path and into the trees, heading toward the shore and
Carpenter’s garage. It was mostly quiet, and Kai’s adrenaline started to fade
as he realized there was very little chance they would be followed after what
just happened.

Content with their safety, at least for the moment, he looked over at
Kwin to tell her what had happened.

“Hey, Kwin… while we were with Devnon he told us about his plans. He said
something about keeping us here until we can’t wake up anymore. Do you know
anything about that?”

“Even less than you, I’m afraid,” Kwin replied. “All I know is that the
less time we spend here, the better. If he says we will reach a point where we
cannot wake up, then Lindsay’s guess was correct; it’s something we’ll need to
look into, but first we need…”

She trailed off as they approached the shore, her eyes darting around,
looking for something that Kai could now see wasn’t there.