THE REAPER'S SCYTHE: THE LOCI CHRONICLES BOOK 1

by L P PATERSON

  I felt Cymon grab my arm and he hissed at me. "Apologise. Now." I dragged my arm away before the cold could seep into me.

  "For what?" I asked. "They're women. In the water. And you called them maidens. It’s an easy mistake to make."

  "Yes. It’s still a mistake though. So apologise. Now!"

  I didn't want to apologise. I hadn't done anything wrong. I looked at the maidens in the water and they all stared back at me. Faces scrunched up in anger, making them look even more unattractive. That alone deserved an apology. Not from me. I didn't cause them to look the way they did. But I would be happy to pass it on to them if it would make Cymon happy.

  "Sorry." I said. "I'm sorry I called you mermaids."

  "That's okay." shouted Sue as she beamed at me.

  "Yeah. It's okay" said Lyra, and the others echoed. They gave me silly smiles and instantly began to prattle again.

  I looked at Cymon wondering what our next move would be. I wasn't sure how the maidens would be able to help us so I waited.

  "Maidens." said Cymon. He moved closer to the edge of the path.

  "Yes Cymon." replied Lyra. She bobbed up and down even faster, her breath held as she watched Cymon with bright eyes.

  "Yes Cymon" said Myra as she gazed at him behind fluttering eyelids. Lyra immediately turned and hissed at Myra. Myra hissed back and I'm sure I saw fangs descend from her gums.

  "Yes Cymon," cooed Tyra. The hissing was now directed at Tyra who turned and hissed back at the other two. While this was going on, I saw Sue quietly make her way to the path, she propped her arms on the edge and gazed up at Cymon while at the same time reaching out to stroke his booted foot.

  "What's the matter Cymon?" she purred." Is it something that I can help you with?"

  Jesus help me! What was I witnessing here? I could not believe that these women were fighting for Cymon's attention. He was a reaper for Christ sake. Were they blind? I mean Cymon was in no way ugly; he was tall and definitely handsome, but way too thin and too pale and did I mention that he was a reaper! Someone who dealt in death and souls and all other stuff connected with the dead. Why were women who lived in the Thames interested? And even stranger, why were there women in the Thames?

  Without warning I saw Sue disappear beneath the water as she was violently pulled under. Myra surfaced with a face like thunder and immediately went under again. The water churned as the fight took place beneath. Ayra and Kyra moved closer to the path as I folded my arms and watched to see what would happen next.

  "What's going on Cymon?" asked Kyra.

  "Yeah Cymon." Ayra butted in. "What's going on? You don't look too good."

  "Yeah Cymon. You really don't. What happened Cymon?" asked Kyra.

  I really felt like slitting my own throat at that point. If I heard the name Cymon one more time I would scream. I spun round to stare at Cymon. My eyes narrowed and my foot started tapping of its own accord. My jaw clenched as I tried hard not to scream out at him. To his credit he didn't even blink in my direction.

  Cymon knelt down on one knee at the edge of the path. The two maidens looked at him with total focus. Like me they were waiting for information.

  "My scythe has been stolen." Cymon said.

  "Oh dear. That's not good Cymon." said Kyra.

  "No Cymon. Not good at all." said Ayra.

  "No wonder you look like shit Cymon." said Kyra.

  "Yeah. I bet you feel like shit too. Don't you Cymon?" Ayra asked.

  "Yes." said Cymon. "Yes, to everything."

  Myra, Lyra, Tyra and Sue surfaced at that point. It seemed that their fight was over. "Yes to what?" asked Myra.

  "Cymon has lost his scythe!" Kyra blurted out. I saw Cymon tense and his hands balled up into tight fists. I knew he was trying hard not to scream out and correct her that he had not lost his scythe but that it had been stolen.

  "Yeah." Ayra chipped in. "And now look at him. He looks like shit."

  I could tell that tact was not something that the maidens were aware of. Lyra, Myra, Tyra and Sue all glanced at Cymon. They still looked to be overcome by his mere presence and might swoon at any moment. Clearly Cymon still looked good enough to them.

  "I saw your scythe Cymon." said Sue quietly. All eyes turned to Sue.

  Sue bobbed up and down in the water. Nodding her head vigorously as if that would confirm that she had indeed seen the scythe. Cymon could barely contain his hope and excitement as he watched her and waited for her to carry on. But she didn't. She just carried on bobbing and nodding.

  "Where?!" I shouted. "And when?"

  "Alright. Alright." replied Sue.

  "Don't shout at her like that. Who-" said Tyra,

  "Yeah. Don't you shout at her." Myra cut her off.

  "Yeah! Who do you think you are?" said Lyra.

  I threw my hands in the air and turned to Cymon. I couldn't take any more.

  "Ladies please." said Cymon, trying to calm the situation. "Sue. Tell me what you saw."

  Sue looked at the other maidens and then back at Cymon and me. She bit on her lower lip and then dropped her gaze. Still bobbing she lifted her hand to rub on her cheek and for the first time she looked nervous.

  "I didn't know it was yours when I saw it Cymon. Really. I didn't." she said.

  "Don't worry about that Sue. How would you have known? Just tell me what happened."

  "Yeah. How would I have known, right? I mean it's not as if it has your name on it or anything. Or as if it shouts out that it belongs to Cymon right?" said Sue.

  "Where did you see it Sue?" asked Myra.

  "Yeah Sue. When did you see it?" asked Ayra.

  I curled my own lips in, forcing myself to remain quiet. I didn't want to say anything that would cause another string of pointless babbling among the maidens. The sooner that Sue told us what she knew the sooner we could continue our search and find the scythe and get my world back to normal.

  "It was last evening." Sue continued. "I was coming down the Westbourne River and was just approaching the Knights Bridge. I saw it. A death riser had it."

  This information was met with a round of hissing from the other maidens. They circled Sue, as if trying to offer some support and comfort; some encouragement for her to continue.

  "I thought it was strange because death risers don't have scythes. But I didn't worry about it much. But it must have been your scythe Cymon. It must have been because no one else has lost theirs. Have they Cymon? Have they?"

  She asked this innocently and I knew that Cymon knew that. But I also knew that he didn't like yet another person implying that he had lost his own scythe. I stepped back and raked my hand through my hair, wondering how much more walking we had to do.

  "Where in Knightsbridge?" I asked. This was met with blank stares from the maidens who then proceeded to look at each other while shrugging their shoulders and totally ignoring my question. I turned to Cymon, who seemed to be on the verge of collapse. "Where in Knightsbridge?" I asked again.

  "He was on the bridge silly." said Sue. "On the Knights Bridge. Where else would he be?"

  I felt my eyebrows scrunch together and shook my head repeatedly. "No. No. No. There isn't a Knight’s Bridge crossing the Thames. Maybe you mean Battersea or Chelsea Bridge." I said as I nodded encouragingly.

  Sue nodded back while again stating that the death riser was on the Knight’s Bridge. I started pacing up and down as I felt my throat clam up. I couldn't bring myself to talk as I was so frustrated with these babbling fools while at the same time, I knew that Cymon and I needed information.

  Sue opened her mouth to add to her story and as she did so I saw something fly past me. A streak of silver shaped like an arrow entered the water a few millimetres away from Sue.

  Sue jerked to the side, her head shooting up as her eyes traced the path that the arrow had come from. Her eyes widened as they seemed to land on their mark and immediately, she disappeared beneath the water. Five more heads followed and disappeared beneath the waves. The river maidens w
ere gone.

  CHAPTER 16

  I turned. On the path along the river I could see shadows oozing from the verge and in the middle of the path stood the Necromancer. Nero. His arms still held high after releasing the silver arrow. I felt my heart thumping inside my chest and my hands felt clammy. My breath came in short gasps as I struggled to breathe. This man had tried to manipulate my mind a few hours earlier. My face was still sore where his fist had connected with it in the car park. I felt myself backing up as my feet instinctively moved to put distance between me and this threat.

  "Get into the water Audrey." I heard Cymon command.

  I knew that Cymon was trying to get me away from any possible harm. I also knew that the river was the only option for this. But the other thing that I knew was that the river was dirty and stunk, plus if I got in, I knew with absolute certainty that I would drown and die! And it would not be a vision like earlier in the time sphere. There was no way that I was getting in. I would fight or run but I was not getting in that river. No way.

  "You got to get in the water Cymon." I turned to see Kyra bobbing in the water. Her face drawn in anguish. I also noted that her concern related only to Cymon.

  "Yeah Cymon. Get in the water." This time Myra sent out the plea for Cymon to think about his safety.

  The shadows crept closer and as I had seen them do before they started to clump together to take vague human like shape. The necromancer raised his bow and turned to face us. His long face pale and his mouth stretched to reveal sharp long teeth. I backed up some more but I was at the edge of the path and almost in the river. I turned to Cymon who was already facing me. I looked behind me where I could see more shadows forming.

  "You need to get in the river Audrey." he said. "It's the only-"

  The only what? I looked at Cymon as his mouth still hung open slightly and his eyes opened just that little bit wider. His body tensed as he lowered his head to look down. I followed his gaze and saw the tip of a silver arrow protruding from Cymon's chest.

  "No." I stuttered. "No. No. No." This could not be happening. This was not fair. I heard a chuckling coming from the path and looked up beyond Cymon to see the satisfied smug look on Nero's face. The shadow wraiths seemed to be waiting. He controlled them.

  "Cymon!" I heard the scream come from the water. The maidens were frantically splashing and I couldn't tell which one had screamed or if they all had. I watched him stagger backwards to the edge of the river bank. He held out a hand as if beckoning for me to follow, before falling into the water. The maidens quickly grabbed him and they all disappeared beneath the water. And I could still hear the chuckling. The senseless laughter of the evil being standing on the path in front of me.

  I was clenching and un-clenching my fist repeatedly and I could hear a pounding in my ears. A deep heavy rumbling which I could hear in the air around me but which also seemed to be coming from deep within. And I still heard the derisive chuckling, as if Cymon didn't matter. As if it was okay to just let loose a silver arrow at my friend and then laugh about it. My periphery vision closed in until I was looking at the necromancer through a long tunnel, and in that tunnel, I saw numbers. Numbers and equations and mathematical symbols. I recognised them but I could not comprehend their meaning. They glowed a vivid gold in front of me, so vibrant that I felt I could reach out and touch them. They started to vibrate and intensify and as they did, I felt my pulse quicken and my breathing became rapid. I felt the blood rushing through my body as my arms raised themselves and my palms flattened. The chuckling stopped and I saw the slightest change in Nero as he slowly tilted his head to the side and gazed at me.

  But the smirk was still there. I could still hear the rumbling. It sounded closer now, but I was concerned with the heat that was rushing through my body and I felt as if I was filled with an energy which was so hot and bursting to be released, that if I didn't let go, I would instantly combust. So I released it. I just let it go. A wave of energy left my body and travelled straight towards Nero. His eyes opened wide as he saw the energy burst heading towards him. My eyes were opened wide too as I realised that this thing had built up inside me and was now physical. It was like watching a cloud of wavering hot air travel across the space between us. I watched and waited for it to land on him but he anticipated this and put out his own hand to swat the wave away. I was too astonished at what had just happened, what I had just done and what was about to happen next. He was not smirking anymore.

  Nero took two quick steps forward and raised his hand. A bolt of energy landed in the centre of my chest and I felt my feet leave the ground as I flew back landing hard on the path. It felt like all my bones had cracked at the same time. I quickly rolled onto my stomach and scrambled towards the edge of the path. The water was only a few feet away and did not look that dirty anymore. My chest was burning like if it was on fire as I tried to crawl to safety, but Nero had other ideas. I felt him grab my foot and pull. I screamed and kicked out with my other foot. It connected with something and I heard a soft grunt but he held on to me tightly. I felt dizzy as numbers swam into my head again and a burning sensation ran from my head down my arm and into my hand. I reached back and planted my hand on Nero's grinning face. He screamed as heat sizzled the dry skin of his face and I kicked again with my free foot. This time I managed to loosen his grip on my captured foot and I turned to get up and run. But I wasn't quick enough. Something hard and heavy landed in the centre of my back and I pitched forward smacking my face into the path. Pain raced through me as I felt grit and dirt sink into my skin and a dry gasp escaped my mouth. The water was inches away but it may have been a whole mile. The numbers were not coming anymore and I had no energy left.

  I heard the chuckle again. Nero had won. I couldn't move. I felt his hand grip my ankle and pull. I didn't have the energy to resist or even turn over. He flipped me over and I saw his long face looking down on me. Cold hard eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

  "Well Loci. What now?" He had the same sing song voice, but this time I did not feel drowsy at all. He wanted me fully awake for my end. "The Reaper is dead. He will never survive that arrow. You should have gone home like I advised you to."

  "Cymon is not dead!" I shouted back at him. I refused to believe that.

  "You poor Loci." He squatted down to my level, I tried to inch back but the river trapped me. "It has been a while since one of your kind has walked in our world. You cannot even control your power and you have no knowledge of our ways, and so you have no idea what my silver arrow can do to the Reaper." He grinned again and stood, raising his bow and arrow as he did so. This was it. The arrow was pointing straight at me and as I watched my chest rise and fall in panic, I realised I was taking my last breaths.

  Nero drew back the bow string slowly and a grin spread across his face at the same pace. He was going to shoot that arrow and it would pierce my chest and kill me. Fear tightened my throat and tears stung the back of my eyes, but I refused to cry. My eyes remained open and focused on him. As the bow string reached its final point my stare wavered only slightly and I turned my head just a fraction as one tiny beat of fear pumped in my heart. In that instant I saw Nero fly backwards and crash into the embankment wall. He fell to the floor and like a white spider, he scuttled backwards to join the shadow wraiths. He hissed as he looked around to find the origin of his sudden crash, and as he looked upwards, I saw him shrink into himself and blend further with the wraiths and they melted away.

  I looked towards the top of the embankment wall and I saw a tall woman looking down on me. Dark eyes shone as they pierced into mine and I felt a sharp pain lance through my head. I wanted to scream but instead I gritted my teeth and felt my lips draw back. She smiled, and as she did so her pale brown face creased into a fragile dimpled beauty as she casually backed away and disappeared from view.

  I was still laying on the ground, too exhausted to think. My face was stinging, my chest was burning and my arse was beyond sore. I couldn't move but I still needed to get to Cymo
n. But the water, only inches away was too far.

  I forced myself to roll over onto my stomach. I dug my hand into the dirt and pulled, dragging myself to the bank. I reached out again and pulled myself a few inches further. My chest was on fire and screamed in protest. My head was still throbbing but I reached out again. One more would do it. My hand came down again but before I could dig the dirt and pull, another small yellow hand reached out of the water to grab mine, and pulled. I felt myself being dragged forward and then the icy, dirty water engulfed me.

  CHAPTER 17

  The water was cold but my bruised and battered body welcomed the soothing effect. I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened as my lungs ran out of air for the second time that day. It was dark and murky and I felt the presence of another being beside me but I could not see anything. I flung my arm out trying to grab onto something but it just sliced through the water. Panic took hold as I struggled to keep my mouth closed. I wanted to scream but my jaw, thankfully knew better, and remained clamped shut. I longed to take a deep breath but I knew that this would only result in water rushing down my throat as I had felt in the time sphere. I felt my hair floating in the water and the strands flowed and wrapped around my face. I was drowning. Again!

  I felt a hand grab my wrist and suddenly I was being pulled down. The hand was warm on my cold skin and it was strong, I was being pulled down at a rapid speed and I fought to keep my mouth closed. Water rushed past me and I felt as if I was pushing against a solid mass. My head felt heavy and tight as the pressure increased as we descended further. I tried to struggle against my captor but my energy was failing. As I kicked out at where I thought the body belonging to the hand that held me might be, I felt another hand grab my free arm. I was now speeding downwards through the water like a bullet. My head felt like if it would burst open and my lungs were about to collapse as there was no air to inflate them. Any second my mouth would open even though I knew that there would only be cold, stinking water to fill it.