A Breeding Darkness (Complete)

(4)

Sweat covered Lucy's face as she still instinctively looked down at her palm. It was perfectly unharmed, of course. The wounds never stayed with Dreamwalkers when they woke. But she always felt the sting of her slice for a few hours after waking.

Everything was peaceful around her. The fire pit had burned down to coals and was covered by an iron sheet, the screens were fastened over the windows, and the blankets underneath Lucy comforted her still shuddering heart. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, and shook her head to free of it of the residual fog.

Strangely, Saul was no longer at her side. He normally sat there for as long as she was away, making sure that nothing happened to her body. Yet, now he was nowhere to be seen and that unnerved Lucy. Saul never left his investments up to chance. Something had happened.

Grabbing her scarf and wrapping it securely around her neck and mouth, Lucy made sure her lantern was still secured to her waist before heading for the door. She pulled it open, stepped out into the hallway in one motion, and nearly ran straight into Saul's chest. He took a step back, his hands flying up and his eyes wide.

"Lucy!" His eyes darted from her face to the room, as if he was avoiding her. He straightened his leather suspenders on his white shirt and cleared his throat. "Why are you awake so soon?"

Lucy's mouth was dry and she still felt the weakness in her limbs when she remembered the talons of the raven. "Long story," she said. "Let's just say that I told you it wasn't a good idea to mess with the darkness in Zerkalo."

"Ah. Yes." He cleared his throat again. "Bijal told me that the darkness was also getting out of hand in Zerkalo."

Lucy cocked her head. "Wait. When did you see Bijal?" Bijal being Saul's self-declared arch nemesis, as well as Alisdair Reve's manager, made contact between the two rare and always unsought for.

"Bijal?" Saul asked, looking surprised. "Did I mention Bijal?"

"Yes," Lucy said, eyes narrowing. "What's going on here. Why are you acting strange?"

Saul exhaled long and slow before answering. "I was just meeting with her to see what Alisdair has told her about Zerkalo."

"You don't believe me about the darkness even after it's spread to the entire country?"

"It's not that I don't believe that it's there. I just wonder why Alisdair's been able to continue his supply of Findings when you refused to even enter the place."

Lucy frowned. "Alisdair's territory was still lit. He didn't have to spend hours in the blackness." She didn't mention the true reason she avoided the dream world once the darkness had spread onto her territory. It felt embarrassing to admit, but the darkness made her feel almost physically sick with worry. No matter what she felt like in the light, as soon as she stepped into the darkness her breath hitched and she couldn't stop an unnamed fear from building in her chest until her heart felt heavy. She hated it, and no matter how much she tried, she couldn't figure out why the sensation wasn't as intense with the other Dreamwalkers or the normal citizens.

"All right," Saul said, placing his hands up. "I'll accept that, for whatever reason, you can't go back to gathering the same amount of Findings as before. But please tell me that you found something, at least."

Lucy nodded, tipping her satchel to let him see the items. "Just a few, but hopefully enough to split between us." She started to hand the bag to Saul, but he shook his head.

"There's something else," he said. "While I was talking to Bijal, a royal messenger came looking for us."

"A messenger found you all the way out here?" Lucy asked, slinging the satchel back over her shoulders.

Saul nodded. "He said he'd been searching high and low for Bijal and me. Wasn't the politest about it, either."

Lucy frowned. "What did someone from the palace want from you?"

"It wasn't me they wanted. He only wanted me to relay a message to you."

"I don't understand."

"He specifically wanted me to tell my Dreamwalker to report to the palace by three this afternoon." As if anticipating Lucy's next question, he pulled his pocket-watch out and flicked open the lid for her to see that it was ten before two. "He asked Bijal to tell Alisdair the same thing. Looks like someone is assembling Dreamwalkers."

"Maybe they want Findings," Lucy said, hopefully clutching the ball of letters in her pocket. "But I'll have to get a carriage to get there in time. Are they going to pay me back for racing to get there?"

"Probably not," Saul said. "But I wouldn't risk being late."

They walked together out to the lively main room where customers still roared for more rice wine, and Yon scampered back and forth to fulfill orders. Thankfully everyone seemed too lost in their cups to notice Saul and Lucy slip past them and out the front door.

Outdoors, Lucy trudged over to a lantern hanging on a post just on the edge of the light coming from the Trickster Fox. This one, unlike the industrial and sturdy streetlights, was made of thin paper and reeds, shaped like a lotus. When she lit the wick of the candle inside, it sent out a ruby signal amongst the orange pools of normal lanterns. Carriages knew to stop when they saw the red dot on the horizon.

"Do you think we'll find out anything about the prince?" she asked, keeping her eyes trained on the pavement and her hands busy adjusting her scarf.

Saul let out a breath. "The prince again? You never stop talking about him."

Lucy blushed and cleared her throat. "I don't. I just think any good citizen should be worried when their monarch disappears overnight."

"Right. Except you've always found a way to talk about him since I've known you."

"That's not true!" Lucy protested.

"Why you want to talk about him is beyond me. He's probably the coldest human being I've ever had the displeasure of knowing about."

Lucy frowned. True, Prince Joon was about as friendly and warm as a block of ice, but she'd seen a different side to him that one night, so many years ago. One he probably would hate to know someone had witnessed. In all the time between then and now, she hadn't spoken a word to him or gotten closer to him than any other citizen. But she still held the memory close, wondering if it still crossed his mind as well.

"I don't know if they'll have any news about his whereabouts," Saul said. "But perhaps we'll find out if this darkness has anything to do with him vanishing."

Lucy rubbed her temple. Once Prince Joon had disappeared, it was almost like a thrown switch. The darkness that had been building in Zerkalo appeared in the real world as well. As the citizens of Strana awoke to news of the throne sitting empty, the blackness seeped out of the castle walls, washing into Krov Korol and further with each passing day. It was a coincidence too convenient to ignore, but Lucy couldn't figure out why or how it made any sense. How could something that haunted the dream world make it to the real world? And why did it take Prince Joon disappearing to trigger it?

All she knew for certain was that Prince Joon was nowhere to be found in all of the kingdom of Strana. The palace had sent hundreds of soldiers out looking for him, only to turn up not even a single trace. Wherever he had disappeared to, it was going to take a massive effort to find him. 

If he even was alive for anyone to find.