A Breeding Darkness (Complete)

(7)

Lucy's apartment stood in the slummy streets lining the snaking River Mulgo. In the dark, all parts of Krov Korol looked dangerous and unsafe, but the crumbling apartments on Ryba Street did not need the ominous blackness to render them terrifying and the very hotbed of crime. They'd been built by businessmen from the north, in the style of brick and glass windows, drawing those who could afford nothing better. It rose up, two stories into the sky, and leaned out over the river like a broken arm. More than once Saul had tried to entice her to move to the respectable boarding houses that most single young ladies lived in, but the extra three coins a month it took to rent such rooms was more than Lucy was willing to spend. Three coins for a room in the center of town was three coins away from her family.

Tonight, the place felt different. With the revelation that she was barred from a place she'd known practically her entire life, and the knowledge that the prince was well and truly missing, she felt unstable and unsure. The broken cobblestones of Ryba Street turned sinister and ready to trip her at any moment. The city seemed ready to trap her. She clutched her satchel full of the now banned Findings close and sped up her steps, her lantern lighting up the stairwell. The hallway smelled like cabbage and human waste, as always, and she nearly ran up the creaking steps the second floor, where her room sat at the end of the long hall. Her hands shook as she fit her key into the lock, but she wasn't fast enough to get indoors before a man stumbled up the stairs and paused when he saw her.

He reeked of alcohol, and his red-rimmed eyes and stained clothes spoke of long nights and no good. Weaving, he stared at Lucy until she felt like squirming. She tried again to fit her key into the lock, but he stepped forward and exhaled a rancid cloud of breath over her.

"You're one of them Dreamwalkers," he slurred. He flicked her coat with his finger, and she took a step back. "Why're you staying here and cursing our rooms? Ain't we got enough bad luck?"

Lucy bit her lip and glanced at her door. The man was now standing in front of it, his blood-shot eyes narrowed at her. She shuffled to one side, hoping to have him follow her and away from her door. "Sir, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Everyone knows you lot are touched by death," he hissed. "You should have gone on to the next life, but you didn't, did you? Like bad spirits, wandering around and bringing cursed items back from the afterlife for the high and mighty to show off with."

"That is not at all correct, sir. I think you should head home and get some rest," Lucy said as he stumbled forward to try and follow her as she edged down the hallway. The path to her door was now empty.

"Death wants you back. That's why the darkness has come," the man said, practically falling to the floor. He caught himself at the last moment, bent over and steadying himself with his hands on the floor. Lucy took the chance, and darted to her door, swiftly turning her key in the lock and opening it. The man shouted a curse at her, scrambling forward, but Lucy slammed the door in his face and threw all three of her internal chain locks.

She held onto the handle, her eyes squeezed shut as the man hammered at her door and slurred through every curse word known to man. His unintelligible ramblings lasted a few minutes, and then blessedly the hallway fell silent. She had no idea if he'd left, or if he'd simply passed out. Whatever the case, she could finally let go of the handle and head into her room.

Despite oil being a precious commodity, Lucy could not stand being awake in her apartment without all five of her lamps lit. Her living quarters consisted of only one room, but she banished every shadow from every corner. From the street, her windows must look like beacons of heavenly light, sending rays of yellow through the black sky. Inside, it did its best to make her forget what was happening in both worlds.

As she slowly changed into her nightgown and crawled into bed, she thought of Koshmar's words. He had claimed that the darkness had crossed over from Zerkalo through the Findings. Or even perhaps attached to the Dreamwalkers themselves.

She tried to get herself to sleep, but her mind came back again and again to Koshmar's accusation. It didn't make sense. At least, not entirely. If the Findings were to blame, why wasn't the eternal night afflicting the foreign countries that bought their goods as well? Though she couldn't cross into Zerkalo anywhere but in Krov Korol, it didn't mean the Findings couldn't work elsewhere. In fact, many of their neighboring countries were their best customers. The tiny island countries off the coast had taken shipments of Findings to sell to their own nobles, yet there was not a word of the darkness creeping across the ocean. Why was it contained to only Strana? It couldn't be only the Dreamwalkers. There had to be more to the puzzle.

The darkness was only in one other place beyond Strana. Zerkalo. The place it had first shown up. Which meant that, chances were, whatever was causing the darkness would be in the dream world. Whether she and her comrades were the ones spreading it to the real world or not, there was something that was creating the darkness, and the only chance the country had was to stop it.

But she was banned by royal decree to stay out of Zerkalo.

Lucy rested her chin on her knees and stared out her window at the black sky. The darkness would only become stronger the more Koshmar blamed others for its existence. If she could only find Prince Joon and convince him of the folly of Koshmar's law, perhaps he'd listen to her and allow the Dreamwalkers back into Zerkalo. But there was not a single clue left behind to indicate which direction he had gone, or if he had gone willingly or by force. It could have been An-Qi or Shinhama, greedy for the wealth of a nation that had climbed its way to the top. It wouldn't be the first time he'd run into trouble sent from those countries. Nor Lucy. But, of course, he could be hiding in an unknown Krov Korol inn, just a young man fed up with the weight of a crown and the expectations of a line of dead kings.

No, she couldn't rely on finding Prince Joon. He wasn't going to be their savior. Whatever was going to happen, it had to be done by Lucy. She had to find a way of proving the Dreamwalkers innocent of spreading the darkness and show it to Koshmar. If he lifted the ban, perhaps the other Dreamwalkers could help her find a way to defeat the darkness from within.

Unfortunately, the only way to prove her innocence and have Koshmar repeal the law, was to break the law in the first place. She needed to enter Zerkalo.