10 an unfolded blanket of light
Brutus didn’t die, but he had suffered a broken rib and a broken arm, forcing him to stay in bed for a few months. It didn’t take long for what Rhine had done to circulate among the entire town and become common knowledge, a fact that didn’t help his reputation there in the slightest. Instead of staring now, as Rhine walked by, the people moved away from him in fear or occasionally gave him very nasty looks. Onyx tried to defend him, tried to tell everyone that Brutus had provoked Rhine, but it didn’t seem to help.
Rhine didn’t know what to expect after the Brutus incident, but he knew it wouldn’t be good for him. He figured the other climbers would jump him or strangle him in his sleep eventually, but it hadn’t happened yet. Rhine wondered if maybe the other climbers secretly hated Brutus. It wouldn’t have surprised him, but he also wondered what Penelope would do when she found out. It had been two days and she was still gone.
When Rhine met with Peleos, he’d expected a scolding or possibly a beheading. But to his satisfaction neither of them came right away.
“You know,” Peleos said plainly, “you still haven’t told me anything about your dreams. Everyone here has dreams and they all mean something. Are you still having them?”
Rhine was surprised by the question. “What about you? What do you dream about?” he replied.
The old man smiled. “Mostly about the Pillar. But occasionally other things. A while back I dreamed that a man would come in the desert. He would be strong and able. He would climb the Pillar and reveal the mystery to us all.”
Rhine nodded. “When do you think this man will come?”
Peleos smiled at Rhine.
“Me?”
“And why not?” Peleos replied. “I have heard you’re a good climber and you came from the desert, just as my dream said you would. These dreams don’t mean nothing. That’s why I want you to tell me what you see in yours. If you told me I could know for sure if that is your destiny.”
Rhine shifted in his chair and leaned back uncomfortably. The old man eyed him.
“What is it?” Peleos asked.
“I want to leave this place,” Rhine replied. “I want to leave today.”
He shook his head. “You can’t. Penelope is missing and you have beaten up the head climber so bad he won’t be able to climb or even walk for months. You are not allowed to leave, I have told you that before. Nobody leaves.”
“What about Penelope?” Rhine asked furiously. “And that Brutus had it coming. He attacked me.”
“Penelope is a stubborn girl and she has always been that way. If you wish to die fine, you may go, but not until after you’re punished for what you have done. Despite who attacked first, all the people see is an unharmed newcomer and an almost dead climber, how do you think that looks?”
“Like one of them knew how to fight and the other one didn’t,” Rhine replied.
“Either way, there must be a punishment for you. We haven’t decided yet what that will be, but in the meantime you aren’t allowed out of your house.” Rhine shook his head but the old man continued. “Penelope will be back in a few days, she always returns. I’m not sure why she left this time, but something tells me it has something to do with you.” He eyed Rhine skeptically. Rhine tried to intercede but Peleos cut him off. “So, you are also not allowed to go near her. You have lost whatever trust you had, and it will be a while before I allow you to go near her again.”
“Why? Why her and not the other women here?”
“Because,” he said with narrow eyes. “Penelope is my daughter.”
Onyx was waiting for Rhine as he left Peleos’ house, but Rhine didn’t feel like talking. He was furious with the old man and the decision he’d made without hearing his side of the story. He was also angry he had the nerve to ask him about his dreams again, to act all soft when he wanted information and then slam him with accusations and orders.
Penelope was Peleos’ daughter? It made sense why he never told Rhine who she was, he was protecting her from the dangerous and crazy man who’d come from the desert. Rhine was beginning to get extremely upset with the situation he was in. He’d done nothing wrong except defend himself and now he was forced to stay in his house and stay away from the one person he liked in the Shadow. No, she wasn’t the only one. He looked down at Onyx who was struggling to keep up, the young boy who’d done nothing but try and help him ever since he arrived.
“Thank you, Onyx,” Rhine said. “But I can find my way on my own. Hopefully this will all blow over soon.”
But it wouldn’t, Rhine knew that, and looking into Onyx’s eyes he knew that the young boy felt the same way.
That night, the dreams returned. But this time they were different. Penelope, she was there. She was standing on top of the Shadow motioning for Rhine to join her. Rhine wanted to, but his feet were stuck in something. He looked down and saw that from the knees down he was covered in sand, sand that was pulling him down.
When he awoke, he felt the familiar cold sweat dripping down his cheeks and covering his brow. Rhine wondered again at what was happening to him. The longer he stayed there the more he agreed with the people there; Pillar’s Shadow was no ordinary place. Peleos had said that the dreams meant something - that the Pillar is trying to send you a message. But a rock can’t send a message. But his dreams, he knew they weren’t coming from nowhere. He’d never dreamed like that before.
It was late at night, while he sat on his back thinking, that he heard a noise outside the house. He wondered if it was Brutus’ men. Had they finally come to finish him off and get their revenge? Rhine was surprised it hadn’t happened already, he knew the authority Brutus commanded over his men and knew that Brutus must have hated him even more after what had happened. Maybe they would kill him? Drag him off into the sand dunes and bury him. It would be an easy lie. “The crazy outlander ran off into the dunes alone. Who knows what the man was thinking.”
But it wasn’t Brutus’ men. The footsteps drew nearer and soon a dark figure appeared in the doorway. Rhine squinted and jumped out of bed. He stood in the sand, ready for a fight. The figure stepped closer, it wasn’t until she had moved all the way inside that Rhine saw who it was.
Penelope stood with tattered clothes and wild eyes staring into Rhine’s. She looked incredibly tired and her lips were dry and cracked.
“What?” the word jumped from Rhine’s mouth. “What happened?”
She looked so badly that Rhine’s mind raced in all directions. He wondered if she’d been punished, or if Brutus, whom she was engaged to, had sent his men to attack her instead in his anger.
“Rhine, you have to listen to me,” she said, her mouth dry and raspy. “I have come to tell you something. I was out in the desert…”
“Why did you go?” Rhine asked. “I figured you’d just gone out into the dunes and Brutus thought I’d done something to you. Why didn’t you at least tell him you were going?”
“Because I can’t trust him. But that doesn’t matter now, I have something I need to tell you.”
“Of course it matters!” Rhine shot back. “I nearly killed him when he attacked me and now I’m a criminal here. And what do you mean you can’t trust him? I thought you loved him?”
“I never loved him,” she said, eyes darting down to the sand at her feet. “You just… you don’t understand my circumstances… I had no choice…. We were supposed to be together, since I was little. I’ve never wanted it, but as I grew older I had to pretend to like him… It was the only way I could climb, the only way I could find out what’s at the top of the Pillar.” She shook her head, wiping away tears. “But none of that matters now, I’m not the one…”
“You’re right,” Rhine interrupted. “I don’t understand, and maybe I never will.”
“I will end it with Brutus… I never loved him, it had been arranged since we were young and woman aren’t supposed to climb, but Brutus agreed to let me in secret. You must understand… I am not like the other
s here… I want out from this place… I want answers. That’s why I go out into the desert and that’s why I climb. Those are the only ways to find answers, and tonight the desert gave me one.” She widened her eyes and stepped closer to Rhine. Rhine eyed her suspiciously. She looked like she was on death’s doorstep. Rhine wondered when she’d last slept, wondered when she’d last drank or ate anything. She looked mad and delirious and she was repeating herself. “You’re the one. You have to climb the Pillar.
“What are you talking about?”
“I saw it,” she said, staring at him, her eyes welling up with tears. “I had a dream… It came from the Pillar… I saw you climbing all the way to the top and discovering the secret. That’s why you’re here. That’s why I found you. It was meant to happen. The Pillar told me, I don’t know how it works, but I saw it. I saw you standing up there at the top beside a woman. The lights were behind you.”
Rhine had tried to block her out until he heard her mention the other woman. “What did she look like?”
“She was pale,” Penelope said, trying to calm herself. “Short dark hair. She was… beckoning you to come towards her.”
“And,” Rhine came closer. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her body from falling. Slowly they both came to the ground, Penelope’s head resting in Rhine’s lap. “Did you see anything else?”
She nodded. “I saw another man. He was standing beside you both.”
Rhine took in a deep breath.
“Did this man have something on his chest? A metal star?”
Penelope looked up at Rhine astonished. She nodded again.