A Shadowlander’s Dream: Book Three - Rules of the Flesh
Written by Kathryn K Williams
Chapter Fifty-five
Amber set a large rectangular wooden suitcase on the ground under a small window and flopped down upon one of the benches in the small compartment of the airship. The man from the carriage had attached a tag around her neck and handed her the case without a word before she was handed over to a stewardess who proceeded to lead her to this compartment. She was almost certain that she finally found her father only to loss the man once again. She glanced out the window to see hundreds of people gathered outside, fighting to get onto the blimp. She wondered if this could be a dream about one of the World Wars, but who could be having such a vivid dream like this. It made no sense at all. She let out a sigh and rubbed her head as she tried to figure out how she was going to find Sarah or April. As the thought raced through her mind the door to her compartment slide opened and a boy was ushered into the room. The boy protested for a moment with the stewardess before the door slammed in front of him and he sat with a huff across from Amber, arms crossed and hat falling in front of his eyes. The boy lifted the hat with his thumb and stared at Amber, blinking a couple of times before jumping from his seat excitedly.
“Amber wasn’t it?” The boy exclaimed as he flopped down on the bench next to Amber, a leg curled up under him as he held his ankle with both of his hands, “I’m so glad to find one of you are here. This dream is beginning to drive me crazy.” The boy removed his hat and shook out his short golden blonde hair, his powder blue eyes glittering in the sunlight.
Amber stared at the boy for a moment longer then she started to recall where she saw this teenager before, “N… Natalie?” She stammered, embarrassed for confusing the girl for a boy.
Natalie scratched the back of her head and neck as she nodded, “God, it is hard to get used to short hair.” She stated as she placed the cap upon her head again, “At least I like the cap.” She lifted the leg that dangled off the edge of the bench, “I could do without the hideous shorts mind you, and at least I remembered to shave the other day.” She said while showing off her bare legs.
Amber tried to stifle a laugh, “I’m glad to see you too. I was beginning to think I was alone in this insanity.” Her eyes shifted to the window and she stared out at the blue sky, “I’m afraid. I lost Sarah somewhere along the way.”
Natalie patted the girl on the leg, causing Amber to look back at Natalie, “I know how you feel. I thought I was alone here too.” She admitted with a small smile.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” She inquired trying to make some sense of the situation.
Natalie shrugged, “One moment I was in this horror scene with blood everywhere and then I was here.” She glanced at herself, “I’m just glad to be my proper age again, even if this time I appear to be a boy.” She suddenly grabbed at her crotch, “At least in fashion.” She said with a sigh of relief, causing Amber to giggle a loud this time. Natalie glanced around the tiny room, small brass rungs with leather straps where over two benches covered by thin cushions took up either side, a suit case sitting against the wall under a small square window to her right and the door she entered through to her left. It reminded her of a small passenger compartment of a train, but from the sight out the window she knew they were well above the ground.
“Say, have you see a young girl with short brown hair around here?” Natalie inquired worriedly, “She was with me before I was pulled into the tub and now I can’t find her. I think she said her name was Caitlin.”
“Caitlin!!” Amber’s eyes grew wide with shock, “She is here too?”
“So she is a friend of yours?” Natalie got to her feet and tried the door to find it locked and kicked at it lightly.
Amber nodded, “She’s one of my sisters from the foster house we used to live in.” She explained.
Natalie nodded as she took in the information, “The one that Jessie and Penny are from?” She knelt and peered into the keyhole.
“Yeah,” Amber said, “She and April were inside the clinic when we last saw her. A girl called Amy was watching over her. I’m told April nearly drown, she didn’t look too good when I left.”
Natalie smiled up at Amber, “Amy is great. She will find out what is wrong with your friend and help her, I’m certain of it.”
“We need to find the others and get out of here quickly.” Natalie said urgently, sticking her finger into the keyhole.
Amber nodded, “But where do we start? We have no idea where they could be?”
Natalie glanced around the room for something, “There is a man on board that I think is connected to all of this.” She explained, her eyes moving to the suitcase, “Is that yours?” She inquired pointing at it.
Amber shrugged, “It was with me when I got here.” She stated uncaring. Natalie pulled the suitcase on its side and unbuckled the leather belts that held it closed and then it open to find it filled with clothes, “What about this man?” Amber asked.
“He got onto the ship with me and then I was taken here with the other children.” Natalie explained as she sifted through the case, “He claimed to be a doctor so I suspect he is in first class somewhere, probably with his own compartment.”
“What makes you think he is connected to this?” Amber inquired curiously, “There are hundreds of people around, any one of them could be an apparition or a person from reality.”
Natalie looked up from her search, her hands upon her lap, “You know a lot about this stuff.” She said in awe.
Amber struggled, “I’ve lived half my life inside one nightmare after another. I learned how these places work, to an extent.”
“Do you know anything about your friend’s Caitlin or April?” Natalie inquired softly, closing the suitcase with a look of defeat upon her face.
Amber sighed, “Less then I would like to know it would seem.” She stated sadly, “April was a shy quiet child who never spoke much and Caitlin wasn’t much better. They got along extremely well at the foster home, but they kept pretty much to themselves.”
Natalie thought to herself for a moment, “That would explain why I found Caitlin in that apartment. It must have been April’s memories or something.”
“What apartment?” Amber asked eagerly, “Did you get a glimpse inside of their dreams?”
Natalie nodded with a shutter, “I saw things that I never want to see again. I thought my nightmares were bad, but those images are something out of a real horror movie.”
Amber placed a hand on one of Natalie’s shoulders and forced her to turn and face her, “What did you see? I want to know every detail.” She demanded, desperation in her eyes.
Natalie’s eyes grew wide, “You don’t want to say that.” She insisted and trembled at the thought of that apartment again.
“You don’t understand.” Amber protested, “I need to know, I need to be there for them.”
Natalie shook her head, “Listen, when I was little I discovered my parents dead in their bed, their killer still hovering over them.” She stated coolly, as if none of this affected her, “He did things to me that I wish to never discuss, promising that if I uttered a sound he would do the same to my little sister. Now what I saw in this person’s dreams was far worse then what was done to my parents. I can only hope that the monster did not do anything to her, but I fear from what I saw that she is more scarred then I am.”
“Scarred…” Amber mumbled, a trembling hand moving to her mouth, “April has cut marks all over her back, long and deep ones. You don’t think…” She glanced up to see the terror that filled Natalie’s eyes. The girl suddenly spun around on her heels to face the lock again, “What’s wrong?” Amber inquired anxiously.
“We have to find April before he does.” Natalie stated urgently, a hint of fear in her voice. She studied the lock and snapped her fingers.
“He who?” Amber asked, “The doctor?”
“He said he was a mortician…” She took off her hat and rubbed her forehead with her sleeve, “God, if you saw what he did to her family… We have to get to her before he does?” She insisted more urgently before, snapping her fingers a couple of times and staring at her fingers in frustration.
Amber slid off the bench to kneel next to Natalie, watching the girl curiously, “What are you doing?”
Natalie glanced down at her hand and put it down in embarrassment, “Alyson taught me a few things about dream worlds.” She stated with a nod towards the door, “I’m trying to create a lock pick for this door.” She said nervously, “I can create knives all I like.” She demonstrated by flicking her wrist and producing a several small throwing daggers between her knuckles, “But this is giving me troubles for some reason.” She returned the knives to her sleeve.
A smile appeared at the corner of Amber’s mouth, “That is because you are trying for something too complex.” She produced a skeleton key from the folds of her gown, “Try something simpler.”
Natalie stared at the key in disbelief then grinned, “Why didn’t I think of that?” She took the key from Amber and turned it in the lock to hear a satisfying click. She paused before opening the door and looked down at her arm.
“What is it?” Amber asked, following the girl’s gaze.
Natalie raised her arm and pointed her fist towards the window. With a flick of her wrist a long double edged blade sprung forth with a sharp snap and whisper of steel against its housing. Natalie nodded at the blade, “Good I still have it.”
Amber stared at the blade, it was now her time to be impressed, “That is handy.”
“I gift from Alyson.” Natalie remarked as she placed the point of the blade upon the floor next to her and pushed the weapon back into it’s place under her sleeve, “But sometimes it doesn’t appear in dreams… I don’t understand why yet.” and then placed her ear against the door. When she was sure she did not hear anything she signalled for Amber to follow and slipped out into the hall, keeping her head low.
Amber began to follow when she spotted something through the window of their compartment. For a moment she thought she saw something move passed the window, just a shadow of a black form, but it was certainly someone. She shook her head of the image. There was no way someone could be outside the window; they were high in the air after all. Silently she slid the door to their compartment closed and crept after Natalie.
******
Caitlin stumbled down a long corridor with many wooden sliding doors to both side and a long red carpet rolled out beneath her feet. She hurriedly tried one door after another only to find them all locked. Finally she came to one door that slid open on its rollers and she entered, quickly slamming the door shut behind her. The room was dark, the rolling blinds pulled down allowing only sliver of light to enter. She turned around to find that she had cornered herself in a passenger compartment with a fold out bed to her right, a bench to her left and a small closet in the far back. She considered crawling under the bed when she noticed a lump moving under the rumbled blankets and a strange sound emitted from its folds.
Caitlin approached the bed cautiously, unsure what could be under the blankets. Whatever it was it was not very big, the size of a small animal and it appeared to be struggling to free itself from its confines. Forgetting about her pursuers for a moment she reached out and carefully pulled back the blanket only to instantly drop it to the ground and stumble back against the wall, shoving the side of her hand in her mouth to stifle back the screams that threatened to burst free. Before her, surrounded by sheets soaked in blood, lay a small tabby cat, which at first appeared to be dead. Shocked and revolted Caitlin turned to leave the room when she heard the cat emit a gurgled meow. She looked down at the cat in horror as she realized it was still alive. The cat tried to crawl towards the girl, however it has been cut open from neck to stomach, its entrails dragging along behind it. It meowed again and a bubble of blood formed at its mouth and burst.
Tears formed in Caitlin’s terrified eyes and she headed for the door, wanting nothing more then to escape the sight of the dying creature. She stopped in her tracks upon hearing footsteps behind the door and the mumbling of voices. Panicked she spun around, avoiding looking at the cat, finding the open closet and prepared to climb in when she remembered the blanket on the floor. With eyes shut she picked up the blanket between her fingers and dropped it back over the cat, then quickly turned and jumped into the closet. Just as she closed the door behind her she heard the compartment door slide open and someone enter.
“You are sure they are here?” A muffled voice inquired eagerly, “Both of them?”
“I’m not sure about both, but one for certain.” Another voice said.
“We need those girls, Charles.” The first voice instructed, “We have little time for games. If you know where they are then hand them over.”
“But their fear is so delicious.”
“You can do with the others all you like, but I want that Child.”
Caitlin could see the shadow of one of them cross over the cracks in the closet door and scrambled away from the door.
“Did you hear that?”
“I think we have company.” There was a twisted hint of pleasure to the voice this time, “I wonder who it could be.” The door began to slowly open and Caitlin stared in horror at the two shadowy shapes that stood before her.
*****
To be Continued . . .
*****
Note: The world of the Shadowlands, Its stories, Characters and ideas are a copyright of Kathryn K Williams.
This story is based upon my manga of the same name. If you wish to view art from this series please visit my deviant arts site at: http://shinigami-shimai.deviantart.com/
For more of my stories visit my deviant hearts site at: http://www.devianthearts.com/viewuser.php?uid=159
Also if you spot any typos or other errors please contact me at katwilliams @ rogers.com
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