6 but the girl drove on to town
Dreams… Visions… The future… The past… Or was it all his imagination? Rhine saw again the things that made him shudder. The things he couldn’t describe or understand. They were the same things he’d seen upon first entering Peleos’ house. When he first touched that black curtain that hanged down.
“This world is not as it seems Rhine. There is more to this dry and desolate exterior than meets the eye.”
He saw a man standing there, heard him saying the words over and over. He was old and had dark black hair that hanged down. His eyes were brilliant green and he wore a black cloak. He stood in front of them: the things he couldn’t understand. The lights. The beautiful woman who’d saved him. The water that dripped out from the Pillar. The man with the badge who’d come for him and killed his men. Then clouds. He saw them all in the background behind the strange man. All surrounding an object, a door into darkness, and standing on top of the Pillar.
Rhine tried to run for it, to jump inside and see what it was. But he couldn’t move. His feet were stuck in quick sand. He was sinking deeper and deeper. The harder he struggled, the faster he sunk. First his waist went under, then his shoulders, and then his neck. He struggled to keep his head up, catching one final glimpse of the strange world before going under. The mysterious lights went out, replaced by something else. Something Rhine had never seen before. And then everything went dark under the mounds of sand.
Rhine breathed heavily and jumped up in the bed. He felt cold sweat dripping down his face, felt it freeze as it touched the chilled night air. He didn’t know where he was or how he’d gotten there. His mind was hazy from the dream, the nightmare that had felt too real. He rolled over and placed his feet on the cold sand. He was in his house, the one they’d given to him when he first came there. But how did he get there?
His head hurt, a throbbing pain that felt like a pulsing rock had lodged itself between his brain and his skull. He remembered being in a fight, remembered going somewhere with Onyx. Yes, he was taking him to see… the climbers. He saw Brutus, saw his muscled and bony fist smash into his face.
He knew Pillar’s Shadow was different, unlike any place he’d ever been before and he wanted answers. He knew he wasn’t liked by most people there, but why had Brutus hated him before they had even met? Why had he treated him so terribly? He’d told him if he’d ever see him again he’d kill him. You’ll see me alright.
Rhine filled with rage as he climbed up from the bed. He quickly dressed and ran for the door of the house, his mind struggling to find words for how angry he was.
“You’re awake,” Rhine heard a familiar voice say from across the room.
In the darkness he saw a shadow in the corner. She stood up and walked over to him.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked.
He grit his teeth at her. “That’s none of your business. Just stay out of my way.”
“I can’t let you leave,” she protested. “Just stay in here, don’t walk out that door. Not until morning.”
Rhine stepped towards her angrily. “Why did that brute attack me? I’ve never even met the guy before and he hated me. Onyx led me over there because…”
“Onyx didn’t know,” she said. She fumbled back, searching for the right words. “Brutus hates you because of me, because I saved you. You see, Brutus and I are… we’re engaged.”
Rhine shook his head. Each and every second spent there something happened that was worse than before, he couldn’t bear the thought of what could happen next, what he could learn. He had to go, to leave Pillar’s Shadow with or without Peleos’ blessing. No, he wouldn’t tell anyone.
“He’s just protective of me,” she continued. “He doesn’t want anything to happen to me and… well… I already told you people here don’t trust you.”
Rhine slouched back and sat on the edge of his bed, the pain in his head becoming unbearable. He felt suddenly very cold and very hot at the same time; very energetic and very tired; very hungry and very full. He was dizzy and disoriented, he wondered for not the first time since he’d arrived in Pillar’s Shadow if it was all a dream, if his body was still lying in the middle of a lonely dune, gathering more sand with every gust of wind.
“I’m sorry, Rhine,” she continued. “Now you see why I’ve been ignoring you, why I rushed away the other night; I’ve been trying to protect you from them.”
Rhine was amazed how scared people could be of something or someone they didn’t know or understand. Rhine was lost in thoughts about what he should do next. He wondered if things would change, if he would ever become one of them. Probably. But was that what he wanted?
He looked over at the woman, looked at her dark flowing hair, her brown eyes that reminded Rhine of the endless stretches of desert. He realized something after observing her a moment and smiled to her.
“I don’t know you’re name,” he said.
She gave a soft smile in return. “I’m Penelope.”
Rhine nodded, it was a beautiful name and he wanted to tell her so, but he figured he’d better not. It was also a name that was strangely familiar to him. “Penelope, you should probably leave now. Like you said, they wouldn’t want you talking to me.”
Rhine stretched out on the bed and turned over to face the opposite wall. Penelope’s smile vanished and her footsteps signaled her leave.
“Do yourself a favor and don’t go to the trial tomorrow,” she said just before exiting the house.
Rhine wondered what she’d meant by that, after all, he didn’t even know what the trial was.
He decided to get some sleep; that it would be best to decide what he would do about everything when his thoughts were clearer. But he couldn’t. He rolled around with his eyes closed, but he was unable to close his thoughts.
A few hours later he walked out from the house to watch the sunrise. Brilliant shades of oranges and yellows radiated over the sand dunes, mixing their hues and exploding up into the dark sky. The rays of light warmed his body as his eyes feasted upon the magnificent sight. He turned around to see the light rising against the Pillar, already casting a dark shadow upon part of the town. His eyes raced up the steep Pillar, stopping at the clouds that surrounded its peak, clouds that baffled him every time he saw them.
Rhine wiped the tiredness from his eyes. He thought he saw something. A large group of men walking out from the town, heading around the Pillar to the right. Rhine remembered what Onyx had told him. Whatever the trial was, Rhine guessed that it was about to start.