Page 3 of A Dream Shrouded in Fury
Our lives were contained, but they were safe.By day, we stuck to our rooms—little more than nooks carved off the main cavern—and by night, we made the most of what we had.We fucked, we fed, we laughed and cried and found petty dramas to lose ourselves in.But after fifty years, I hadn’t found anything that occupied me more than hunting.
It was the only excuse I had to escape the drudgery of seeing the same faces and hearing the same voices night after night.Everything shared, everything given back to the fury.Nothing that was mine.
Thorn was right about one thing—I needed to get out of here.
Before I left, I crossed the market and slipped past a strung-up curtain on the other side of the cavern.The dark tunnel led to a split a few metres down, and I took the first turn on the left, a route as familiar to me as if it led to my own room.
“You decent?”I asked outside another curtain.
“Never,” Cliff replied, and I took that to mean Ria wasn’t currently impaled on his cock.
When I entered his room, I found him sitting on his bed lacing up his boot, getting ready for tonight’s mission.
“Are you all right?”Cliff asked, setting his foot on the ground as he took in my face.“You look like you walked in on Madri and Colette having sex again.”
I wrinkled my nose.Sex was as common an occurrence around here as pulling weeds out of the garden, but those two made it a contact sport.It was better to keep one’s distance unless you wanted to get punched in the face.
“Not tonight,” I said, throwing myself onto the bed beside him.The thin, straw-stuffed mattress barely shifted under my weight.“Though maybe it would have been less brutal.Thorn rejected my request to scout farther out.”
Cliff huffed a laugh.“You knew she would.”
I had, but it didn’t take the sting out of her refusal.“She suggested I take some time to myself.Figure out mypriorities.”
“Priorities?”
“Apparently my desire to see more of the world than dragon-tainted rock is a problem.”
Cliff sighed and shoved his hand through his thick brown hair.“What exactly did she say?”
Damn insightful bastard.“She suggested I would be happier if I found interests outside hunting.”I snorted.“What does she think I’m going to do?Start making blankets?Twig would kill me if I tried.She owns the monopoly on blankets in this fury.”
Cliff nodded.“Yeah, don’t mess with her.”He tugged my braid, then returned to his untied laces.“You know she’s just looking out for us, Kalla.She’s spent the last however many decades ensuring we stay hidden.Whatever she’s suggesting, it comes from a good place.”
“I know.It’s just…” My shoulders sagged.“Everyone else might have found a place for themselves here, but I’m still looking for mine.I’m not about to run out into the sun, naked and screaming for any wanderers to find me.Why can’t she understand that I want a glimpse of something other than trees and mountains?”
Cliff propped his elbows on his knees.“If that glimpse got you killed, would it be worth it?”
“If staying cooped up here slowly drives me to madness, is that better?”
He chuckled and nudged me with his shoulder.“Do what Thorn said.Go to the haven and take some time to think about it.It might not be blankets, but maybe you’ll come home with a new passion for… I don’t know, poetry or something.”
I rolled my eyes.“Right.Because enforcing weekly poetry nights will endear me to the fury.”
“I’d rather hear your poetry than have you attempt another fiddle.”He grimaced at the memory, and I elbowed him in the ribs.He laughed and put his arm around my shoulders.“Happiness doesn’t have to be so hard to find, Kal.You just have to stop being miserable.”
I swallowed around the lump in my throat.“That’s deep.”
He laughed again.“Thank Ria for that shit.She’s always on me to listen more.”
“Thank her for me, then.”I pushed myself to my feet and kissed his cheek.
“You good?”he asked.
“Always.I’m going to go.Shake off all this sentimental bullshit.”
He chuckled, but his gaze was serious.“Be careful out there tonight, Kal.With the potential fighting, make sure you’re paying attention.”
I offered a strained smile.“Promise.”
