A Breeding Darkness (Complete)

(20)

Lucy blinked a few useless times before rolling over and finding the lamp on her nightstand. She lit it with clumsy fingers and then sat up amongst her blankets, her eyes scanning the corners of her room for glowing red eyes and her ears straining for harsh whispers. The fear still fizzled in her veins, though she knew that there was no longer any danger.

Just as her breathing was returning to normal, a bang on the door startled her and almost made her knock the lamp from its stand. Subsequent knocks followed, and then a voice joined them. Fortunately, this one was not an echoing remnant of dreams, but instead the solid tones of Saul Ostovo.

"Lucy, would you open the door already! I know you're in there!" He knocked in quick succession afterward, most likely hoping that she would be afraid of annoying the neighbors who would already resent her presence if they knew she was there.

"Hold on, let me get a dressing gown on!" Lucy shouted back, swiping the sleep from her eyes and swinging her legs over the edge of her bed. But as soon as her foot landed on the ground, pain exploded through it. Gasping, Lucy looked down to see her boot shredded and her foot seeping blood onto the carpet.

This was impossible. No one had ever retained the injuries sustained in the dream world. Especially not the injury that had driven them to wake back up. All the bruises, scratches, and slices were gone from any Dreamwalker's skin when they awoke. And judging from what Saul had told her, Lucy was sure that the injuries never even manifested at all on their sleeping bodies. Which meant this wound should not exist, and that fact made Lucy uneasy as she stared at the bubbling blood.

"Lucy, come on," Saul's voice floated from the door. "Open the door."

"I said to give me a minute," Lucy called back, and then ignored the pain as she pushed herself to her feet and walked to her small wardrobe. She needed to gather supplies as soon as Saul was gone, which meant she needed to get rid of him as fast as she could.

Reaching into one of the drawers, she pulled out a spare nightgown and exchanged it for the suspiciously stained one she wore. She stuffed her ruined boots in the back and wrapped her wound in a sock, tight enough to stop the bleeding and some of the pain. But it was still obvious that she hid a wound, and she was forced to stuff her feet into boots that she'd meant to send to her sister.

After she was dressed, she threw a blanket over the bloody spot on her sheets from her foot, and wrapped a shawl over her shoulders as she walked to the door. Pulling it open, she saw Saul standing in the hallway with a lantern in his hand. His lips were tight and his nostrils flared as he looked down at her. He wasn't pleased at all. But Lucy didn't have time to work out why he wasn't in a good mood. She needed to get supplies and get back to Zerkalo as soon as possible. 

Because she was going back. She'd get Joon some clothes, gather some food for them, get a weapon to use as defense, and buy a new lantern with enough oil to last them for days. Maybe a real compass would work in Zerkalo. She could try. She'd just head north and hope that she'd stumble upon Joon. It was probably the worst plan in existence, and almost guaranteed to fail, but she knew she couldn't just forget Joon and proceed on her own. He was alone in the complete darkness with those demon dogs pinning him in a tree. She had to at least try to find him.

"I'm sorry, Saul," she said, weakly bringing a hand up to her mouth and faking a cough. "I'm feeling too sick to talk right now. I'll come visit you when I'm feeling better."

She attempted to close the door, but Saul blocked the door with his foot. Lucy's mouth popped open and she started to protest, but Saul ignored her as he pushed open the door and walked into her room.

"Saul, I said I'm sick."

"Well, it seems we're both liars now," Saul said, his jaw clenching. "Because that's the exact same lie I told Koshmar five hours ago when he tried summoning you to the palace."

Lucy's eyes widened. "He summoned me?"

"Yes, and he's getting suspicious that you haven't heard any of our attempts to rouse you from sleep."

"I'm sick. I was sleeping it off."

Saul exhaled in disbelief. "Yes, that sounds totally plausible, Lucy," he said. "I don't know what you were doing, but we need to get to the palace before Koshmar decides force is needed to bring you in."

Lucy wanted to protest, but she knew she wouldn't be able to help Joon if she was on the run from Koshmar and the royal guard. She'd have to go see what he wanted, and work around that to get to Joon as soon as she could.

"Did he say what he was summoning me for?" Lucy asked, turning to get a new dress from her drawers.

"You'll find out when you get there," Saul said, heading for the door. He grabbed the handle and stepped out into the hallway. As he turned to close it, he looked at her once more. "Make sure to pack enough essentials for at least a week away from home."

Lucy started to ask him why, but he shut the door and she was left in the room alone. She sighed in frustration, but quickly grabbed a carpet bag from underneath her bed and stuffed it with essentials. She also stuffed bandages deep into the bag, along with a bottle of extra lantern oil. She didn't have any men's clothes for Joon, but she'd find some later. For now, she at least had something.

Packed, she walked out into the hall where Saul waited for her. Together, they went down to the street and walked to the nearest carriage stop, and they made their slow way to the palace for the second time in less than a week. Most people in Krov Korol lived their entire lives just staring at the palace from below the hill, and here she was getting used to being carted to and from it.

"I hope you weren't doing what I think you were," Saul said, his eyes trained on the darkness beyond the windows in the carriage.

"What would that be."

Saul's jaw worked. "Koshmar has his reasons for banning travel into Zerkalo, Lucy. We should respect those reasons."

"Wait. What?" Lucy's eyebrows drew together.

"I'm only saying that Koshmar knows what he is talking about when it comes to the dangers the country is in, and we don't. Not really. If he thinks staying away from Zerkalo is the right thing to do, that's what we should do."

Lucy stared in disbelief at her manager. He stared back at her in perfect calmness, not a sign of a joke at all on his face.

"You've got to be kidding, right? You know what this ban will do to our business," she said.

"Our business isn't as important as the country."

This was not normal for Saul. His business was more important than anything. "Did you forget how much you shamed me for not going in back when this all started? You literally hounded me until just a few hours ago. You're not acting like yourself."

Saul rolled his eyes. "I am. I just realized, after a good night's sleep, that going against Koshmar is not what's best for any of us."

"No, it is, Saul. It is the only way we're going to defeat this darkness." She leaned close, keeping her voice down. "There could be someone in Zerkalo that is very import—"

Saul held up a hand to cut her off. "I don't want to hear anything about the dream world."

"But- "

"No more. We shouldn't be speaking of any of this." He turned to look back out the window.

Lucy clenched her jaw and crossed her arms over her chest. Saul ignored her for the rest of the ride, and when they climbed out of the carriage at the foot of the King's Brow, Lucy started walking up the path before Saul had even finished paying the driver.