59

Reluctant Allies

XAVIER

I was stirred awake by a faint, jingling bell.

The swell had been so crystalline and pure, I hadn’t known if it came from the darkened car of beds or my dissipating dream.

Groggy, I sat up, searching the car for the source of the sound. Our team slumbered softly, save for Jaq who snored like a Bonedragon that had lost its protective armor of bones, but that metallic quiver had faded into silence from my ears. Perhaps I had dreamt it. Or…

I remembered something and fished into my pocket. I pulled out the ribbon and bell I’d slipped in there after changing. I’d forgotten to return it to Willow.

I sighed and slipped out of the bolted bed, squinting against dim lights of everyone’s scythe-spheres to find Willow’s mattress on the other side of the aisle.

She wasn’t there. The sheets had been ruffled and thrown asunder, left abandoned on the vacant bed.

Had she crossed cars? I shuffled through the aisle of my sleeping comrades and stepped through the connecting section between this car and the next.

Once in the empty hallway, I found light spilling from a single, private compartment. I walked over and turned the latch, sliding open the door.

Willow was startled by the sudden noise, but settled back in her seat after seeing it was only me. Jewel fluttered from her head, chirping in greeting at me.

I propped an arm against the doorframe, shifting weight to my uninjured ankle. “Darling?” I asked. “What are you up to in here?”

“I suppose…” She lifted her bare legs onto the seat as her gaze drifted to the window. “Hiding.”

She wore a borrowed, silken nightgown, compliments of my mother. It didn’t quite fit her, since Mistress was a tall woman and Willow… was not. But she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she didn’t seem to mind anything around her, at the moment.

She lapsed into a silence, and I exhaled, sitting beside her. “Hiding from whom?” I asked.

A pause. “My… dreams,” she said, hushed.

“Ah. And what dreams would those be?”

She glanced at me, as if debating whether to be defensive or relenting. It seemed the former had won. She returned her attention out the window in lieu of answering.

I sighed and offered her the bell and ribbon. “You dropped this, in Lindel. Thought you’d like it back.”

Her eyes brightened at last, taking the items from me. “Thank you. I shouldn’t have been so careless…”

“You were focused on keeping a psychotic Sentient at bay. I’d say that takes priority over a Bloody ribbon.”

She chuckled. “I suppose it does…”

We watched the mountains pass in the distance, a crescent moon looming under a sea of tiny, stationary lights. I still couldn’t wrap my head around these ‘stars’. If they didn’t come from the clouds, like ours in Grim, then where were they made? How far did this sky climb? Did it even have an end?

“Xavier?” Willow murmured, leaning into me.

I countered her weight, enjoying the warmth, and gave a tired hum. “Yes?”

“What happens now?” she asked. “Lucrine is dead. Cilia’s disappeared. She’ll rebuild her army, if she truly plans to kill the Relic Bloodlines. How do we prepare?”

“We’ll have to wait and see how things unfold, I suppose.” I rested my head against hers, the scent of spiced apples clinging to her hair as my lids fell heavy. “I’m afraid we can’t control the future.”

“No… but we can See it, if we watch close enough.”

I nearly nodded off, but she slipped out from under me, taking the spiced fragrance with her, and she went to the doorway. By the time I rose to my sluggish feet, she’d paused and turned back to me, her expression muted with worry and fingers fiddling with the amulet around her neck.

“This war with the demons…” she said. “What if it goes farther than we think?”

I scratched my neck, yielding to a yawn. “Farther how?”

She took a separate breath, then seemed to decide against it. “Perhaps I need more rest… I fear my dreams may be getting the best of me.”

She wished me good night, and left.

I went to follow after—but bumped into her. She’d stopped outside and was staring ahead in shock.

“Willow?” I walked around her. “What is…”

I flinched.

A lion-tailed man had appeared in the hall. It was that same, scarred warrior who’d been cropping up since we surfaced. That Healer woman was behind him also, clinging to his back and peeking round to see me.

“H… how did you get in here?” I demanded uncertainly. The other Death Knights had been ordered to keep passengers out of these last few cars. How could they slip past their notice? “Who are you?”

The warrior denied an answer, and instead gave a proposition. “We request to join your party.”

I exchanged a skeptical glance with Willow. “Excuse me?” I asked.

His stern face refused to soften. “I need not ask again.”

“We don’t even know who you are. Why have you been following us?”

“It was not by our will that our paths have crossed so frequently. Neither was it our choice to overhear your dilemma.”

I saw Willow tense beside me, and my hands balled. “How much have you heard?” I demanded.

“Enough.” His gaze narrowed. “After killing the dragon, we watched you make the Bloodpact with the ghost. We heard your tale and learned of your co-existence within your twin. And now we wish to assist in your search. Do you accept or decline?”

“Why do you want to help us?”

He glanced back at the woman clinging to him. “It was not my decision. She feels we must aid you.”

I craned to face the lioness. She blushed, ducking behind him. “Why?” I questioned.

The woman whispered something in the man’s ear, and he relayed the message. “She believes you both are important.”

I prodded, “Because?”

She whispered a reply, and he repeated it with a begrudged sigh. “An oracle told her you would bring back the rightful heir of Everland. She wishes to see that day come.”

Willow took in a breath beside me. “You’re part of the rebellion?”

Hesitant, he looked to the lioness for approval. She nodded. “We are,” he affirmed.

I groaned, setting a fist at my side. “Bloods, more of you? We’re already housing two rebels, both of whom are just as delusional about ‘visions’ regarding the Land Relicblood. I’d say that’s more than enough for us.”

“This oracle…” Willow glanced at the woman thoughtfully. “In the market the other day, I overheard you mentioning King Dream. My Grandfather. Is he the oracle who told you this?”

The lioness blushed again and shrank behind the man, but nodded.

“So, I’m not the only one he sent to find you two…” Willow muttered to me.

The warrior’s lion tail twitched behind him, and he murmured. “If Dream was correct, we wish to join you. We know your secret and know the Death Princess travels with you as well. We’re prepared to confront the Death King with this, should you deny our entry. Now, do you accept or decline?”

Death. My teeth gritted. Was there even a choice in this?

“Fine,” I growled. They’d been helping us through this utter Void since we surfaced anyway, I doubted they had any ill intent. The worst risk, it seemed, would be to turn them away given what they knew. “We don’t know anything about the ‘lost heir’, but… we accept to house you in exchange for your silence.”

The man extended his thick hand to me. “A wise choice. I am Kurrick Everstien, of the Old Kingdom. And this is my companion, Anabelle. We thank you for your… generous hospitality.”

I scowled, but took his hand, muttering, “No, no, the pleasure’s all mine… I simply love attracting lunatics…”

Nira, please don’t let this be a mistake.