Chronicles of Waylon's Crossing - 5. Fire in the Hole!

Chronicles 5: Fire in the Hole!

In his tiny alcove within the halls of the Dark Court, Kynan sat on his bed and gazed at the drawing he had affixed to his wall. He chewed on the inside of his cheek for another minute or so and then crossed the small space and placed his hand on the parchment. The contact was so immediate that Kynan could almost swear he heard Alan's laugh. This scent differed greatly from before; this time, there was only Alan and not his father or any other traces to separate out. This scent was both amusing and delightful, and somewhat distasteful. He almost laughed aloud. Alan was a werewolf and his scent came to Kynan as wet dog, with a mental picture of a grin.

Closing his eyes, Kynan reached for the dreamscape.

The shadow city sprang up around him easily. He was well-rested and jogged pleasantly down the streets at a steady pace. So strong was Alan's trace that Kynan found him without half seeming to try. He was puzzled a little, too, for the form that Alan took within the shadow city was that of a floppy eared, big-pawed wolf-pup, a long-legged version of a kind of dog he'd seen once, he thought, perhaps.

The werewolf stood in a small room, staring out a window.

"Hi."

Alan jumped, spinning around, golden eyes wide. "Augh!" he shouted, staggering back against the window.

Abruptly, Kynan found himself back in the dreamscape as Alan and his dream vanished. He scratched his head and considered himself. Maybe next time he should leave off the weapons ....

The following night, Kynan tried again, trimming down his appearance to only his jeans, t-shirt, and boots. Cautiously, he stepped into Alan's dream.

The dream wavered, foggy-gray and semi-transparent. Kynan waved a hand in front of his face and coughed. "Alan? Alan, are you there?"

He coughed again and staggered, banging into something he couldn't see in the gloom. Starting to get irritated, Kynan pressed some boundaries onto the place, pulled out the sunshine and burned away the fog.

"Alan?"

He sat in a small boat in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. Everywhere he looked, in all directions, was just water. Even the sky seemed like just more water. He clutched the sides in a tight grip, closing his eyes for a minute. Nope, just the same as before.

Then a large, black head surfaced just inches away, arms reaching out to grab the sides of the boat. Kynan started, leaping to his feet. The boat immediately lurched and, arms flailing, Kynan tipped over sideways and into the water with a splash.

Opening his eyes to the darkness of home and the drawing, Kynan staggered backwards, breathing deeply for several minutes, swearing silently.

The third time, he was a little more cautious when he entered Alan's dreams.

He stepped forward a little at a time, first seeing what appeared to be a wide, grassy field with half-dug holes scattered all around. The place seemed eerily quiet, though, and he paused, just on the other side of the boundary, eyes scanning the slightly hilly terrain for a familiar wolfish head.

"Fire in the hole!"

"Uh, what?"

From off to one side, what appeared to be a glowing can was hurled through the air. Cocking his head to one side, Kynan stepped forward to investigate. What was going on? Surely, if a person hated canned food that much --

Kynan dived to one side as the can hit ground and exploded, throwing dirt ten feet in the air and raining down in clumps. He sat up again a little tentatively. So that was what was making all these holes ....!

"Uh, Alan?"

"Whoo-hoo! Did you see that? Did you see that?"

Two black ears appeared on the far side of the field, in the direction that the can had come from. The ears were followed by two golden eyes, half-hidden behind some sort of goggles, but still glowing in excitement. Putting his front paws on the edge of the hole, he peeked up a little further.

"Kynan? What are you doing in the blast zone?"

"Are you shooting at me?"

The little werewolf dissolved into giggles. "Get over here, silly, I got another one ready to go!"

Running hunched over, Kynan dove into the hole just as Alan tossed another of his glowing cans up and over. Grinning, he clapped his hands over his ears and crouched down. Kynan followed suit.

Another spray of dirt and Alan jumped up excitedly. "Did you see that? Did you see how high it went? Whooo! Yes!" He laughed again, eyes bouncing. "Hey, Kynan, you want to try?"

He stared at the aluminum can in his hand uncertainly. Alan reached over and touched his match to the long string protruding from one side. Then he sat back.

"Throw it, Kynan, throw it! Throw it!"

Kynan tossed, hit the ground, and covered his head.

Alan cried, "Fire in the hole!" and ducked behind the lip of their earthen bunker.

KA-BOOM!

"Whoo-hoo!" hollered Alan. "Isn't this fun? I can't believe I didn't think of this before! This is like ... like giant exploding bullets! Yeah! Oh, oh, here's another, go, go! Throw it!"

Staring at the grinning, tongue-hanging wolf, Kynan felt an answering smile spread on his face. He lobbed the can, shielding himself behind Alan as that can, too, exploded, raining down divots of dark dirt. Alan kept giggling and pretty soon Kynan was caught up in the fun. He manufactured some goggles for himself and they watched the dirt geysers together, pointing out the big ones or the short, fat ones, or the double-exploding ones, and commiserating each other on the duds.

Alan wiped his face. "So, Kynan, how are you in my dream? I am dreaming, right?"

"Yeah, you're dreaming alright. What are you doing?"

Alan grinned. "No idea, but it's pretty fun, isn't it? Hey! You didn't answer my question. If I'm dreaming, then what are you?"

"Just part of your dream," Kynan shrugged. "It's a talent I have."

"It's pretty cool. Hey, is this what you meant when you said you'd contact me?"

"Yeah."

"Dork!" He threw a handful of dirt at Kynan. "You scared the shit out of me! Thought I had some boogeyman in my dream the other night. Say, did you get to see the underwater-boat yesterday?"

"The what?"

"Wouldn't it be cool if you could travel, like in a boat, but under water? I woke up thinking someone had drained my bath. Was it you?"

"I ... what?"

"Nah, nah, never mind, it was a wacky dream anyway. So what do you want? I'm assuming you came here for a reason."

"I'm out of bullets."

"Oh, right. Okay, well I've got some. When are you going to come by?"

"I can't, remember? We need a go-between, or a secure place to trade goods."

"How 'bout the library? I go there all the time."

"No. The park?"

"Okay. There's a hollow trunk by the lake, I used to stick stuff in there when I was younger. Hmm, I wonder if there's any interesting 'treasure' in there now?"

"Guess you'll have to check tomorrow and see."

"Tomorrow? Oh, yeah, heh, I am sleeping, I guess, eh? Okay, tomorrow it is. Hey! You going already?"

"Yes."

"Well, when will you be back?"

"Don't know. Soon, I imagine. Good-night, Alan!"

"Bye!"

Standing up from the hole, ready to step away from the dream, Kynan called back, "You're a really weird kid, you know that?"

Alan's laughter was his only reply.