Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 22: Paddle drum

Another rock was forcefully pushed under the cart's wheel with little result. The wheel was still firmly stuck in thick mud and the soldiers soon gave up on trying to pull the cart up once again. Deshayes stood on the side, partly calming and partly enticing the horse attached to the carriage with some grass. They wouldn't unfasten it from the cart just yet. A horse should be strong enough to help pulling it out of the mud after all.

A lot of swearing and orders about more rocks or twigs were shouted and men quickly scattered around the camp. The prisoner trio followed them with their gazes and Noah licked his swollen lips before continuing his story.

"And that's how we ended up with a big tar stain on our parlor floor. We covered it with a new carpet of course. So when I came downstairs that morning Father was dashing about, probably having sent Vincent and a servant to look for Luna while the others cleaned up the mess."

"But you're telling us your sister got engaged to Finn? Not you?" Cassius interrupted.

"I never said I got engaged to Finn, we just..." Noah trailed off, his brow furrowing. "I'll... Get to that."

"You went behind your sister's back and did stuff anyway," Winton concluded with a huff. Noah shook his head violently.

"No, Luna knew what was going on with me and Finn. She just didn't care much. Finn wasn't her type to begin with and the arrangement didn't exactly make him seem prettier in her eyes. Besides, after what..." He stopped, clearing his throat. "Now anyway, if I may continue, after I got downstairs—"

"I have a question," Winton interrupted, and Noah exhaled through his nose.

"What?"

"What was Finn's reaction to your ghost stories?"

Noah's eye only twitched briefly before attempting a frustrated smile.

"Not you too, Winton. Enough with Finn."

Cassius couldn't help but laugh at this, and Calvez suddenly turned around where he stood.

"Oh, funny, huh?" He began stomping over and Cassius bit his lip.

"No, that wasn't what I was—"

Calvez slapped him across the face.

"I cannot understand when you talk like that! Why not talk normally, you toothless slut? You think cart being stuck is funny? Well I hope you had a good laugh!"

Calvez readied his fist again and Cassius raised his shoulders to prepare for the next impact. Noah wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to explain the situation but he doubted it would matter at this point.

Another hit landed against Cassius' jaw and he let out a yelp. Winton turned his head away and Noah considered doing the same. They couldn't make the situation better; only let it blow over as smoothly as a beating could. Cassius glanced over at him, eyes full of fear and dread and Noah gritted his teeth.

He wanted to support him somehow, but how? Smile? Smile while he took another punch to his face? Would a sympathetic expression be any better though? Calvez placed his boot against Cassius' face and pushed, smearing mud over his cheek and nose. Then he looked over at Noah.

"You into this or what? The way you keep staring. Maybe you'd like a taste?"

Noah didn't reply as Calvez stepped away from Cassius and grabbed his shirt.

"Always the fancy ones, isn't it? The most fucked up of them." He grinned widely, showing gums and yellowed teeth. Noah finally averted his gaze but Calvez wouldn't let him off that easy. "Hey! Answer me!"

"Get back here and help out, Calvez! We deal with them later!" Marteau called from the stuck cart and Calvez turned back briefly to spit Noah in the face.

"Lucky."

Noah exhaled as the man joined the other soldiers again. He looked over at Cassius and noticed he was on the verge of crying; breathing heavily and blinking to fight it back. Noah would not have any crying. Not if he could help it.

"Hey, Cas? Remember that, uh... That time during formation practice when Dover managed to knock nine people in the head when turning around with his rifle? Winton and Alexei included."

Winton scowled and Cassius nodded, taking a shaky breath.

"And—And Ivan was so annoyed at the end, he yelled at anyone who spoke to him regardless of what they said for the rest of the evening, and people were so scared. Well, imagine that same Ivan sipping tea in a fancy parlor." Noah finally let on a smile.

"I mean I grew up with it, I was actually more shocked to see him yell at people like that at first. Well... Not that he never had outbursts when we were smaller, but I... I think he toned them down specifically because he was around children. Still, I—I imagine for the two of you it'd be quite the sight."

Cassius took another, calmer breath and nodded once again, urging Noah to continue.

"Anyway, if I'm not wrong Father never really told me of Luna's whereabouts, I think... So when Alexei and I couldn't find her I asked him to come along to the house instead. And uh... Well, Alexei did try to be supportive but he never really caught on to the whole supernatural interest like Luna and I... Probably because he didn't have much to do with it... Uh, yeah so he wasn't very convinced when I told him about the house. Though... In retrospect I think he was a bit spooked about going into a murder house where there were potential ghosts."

"Vieryshkin's kid? Scared of ghosts?" Winton raised a skeptical eyebrow while shaking a fly away from his shoulder.

"Well we were barely seventeen. Give him a break. I told him about my theory of the boy being alive and... I guess I made him feel guilty if he wouldn't follow along and make sure any possible survivors were safe. How I admired him putting his own safety first and all that."

"So you... Guilted him into coming?" Cassius asked, his breath almost having returned to normal and he'd straightened his back.

"Yeah, I suppose." Noah chuckled softly. "So, we got to the house and went around the back so people wouldn't notice. I recall Alexei still trying to talk me out of it but I... Guess I was just really stubborn that day. Somehow we could enter without a problem. I guess the doors were never locked after the incident. And as... As soon as I called out into the house, it was as if a breeze went through it. I remember it pretty vividly now that it's coming back. It was so odd. Not like some regular breeze, just... Odd. And we didn't get much further than the kitchen before Alexei alerted me of something behind us. He almost scared the life out of me but it turned out it was just a toy."

"A toy?"

"Yeah I know, it wasn't too weird at all. At least not at first, but it hadn't been there before. Not as far as we'd noticed. Alexei just looked around and suddenly it was there on the floor. It was one of those... Drum kind of things? Like..." Noah made a short attempt to gesture with his hands before remembering they were tied behind him. "... Like a paddle with two strings on each side. And small balls attached to the strings. The strings seemed to have been cut off on this one though, so it didn't work."

Winton sighed.

"Why is this important?"

"I'm— Again, I'm leading up to things. Be patient. After we noticed this I naturally called out again. I reckoned the boy was still hiding but kind of... Wanted to be found since he dropped the toy behind us? And there was another uncanny breeze before we heard a loud thud on the upper floor, followed by heavy footsteps. And well... They were not footsteps of a small boy. I—I guess I let the fear get to me as well at that point, and we rushed out of the house. I even forgot I was holding the broken drum. Alexei pulled me away from there as quick as possible but I... I guess I still wanted to know what was going on in there. So I decided to fix the thing."

"The drum?"

"Yeah, we went home to fix it. It wasn't exactly an advanced project, so the drum was as good as new soon enough. But the strangest thing happened when I tried it out." Noah looked up at the sky, thinking back. "Everything, and I mean everything, went completely silent around us.