Rise of the Reaper

by Lorna Reid

  ‘This way,’ Thom said, leading them up the carpeted staircase and along a passageway lined with portraits of winning Aquattrox teams, each holding a giant trophy aloft.

  *

  Everyone flinched as they emerged into the sunlight, and Thom placed a hand on Katrina’s shoulder. ‘You okay?’

  ‘Yeah,’ she said, trying to rouse a smile. He nodded and drew a breath.

  ‘You know that this is serious? I trust you, which is why you’re here. I know that whatever you saw must be terrifying, so I won’t make you tell it twice. Here …’ He led her to a plush blue sofa beside the Oracle, who nodded to her escorts. The women backed off, but not far.

  ‘Hello again,’ said Concessa. Her eyes sparkled with amusement, and Katrina’s voice froze in her throat. She felt her eyes fill up and dashed at them, feeling angry. She hated Thom seeing her cry.

  ‘You. I …’

  The Oracle gathered her hands, and her smile gave Katrina a tiny boost as much as it broke her heart. ‘Tell me. It came to you today, the vision?’

  ‘I … yes. I just … I broke a mirror and the pieces went everywhere. Suddenly it was like …’ Katrina struggled. The fear was burying her words and fracturing her ability to think straight.

  ‘Like misted fragments suddenly clicked into place and became clear?’ the Oracle said in a soft voice.

  Katrina nodded and wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

  ‘Tell me.’

  ‘I saw them attack you.’

  ‘Who?’ asked Thom.

  ‘I don’t know. They were wearing all black. It was like they came from nothing. From the shadows.’

  Thom shared a worried look with Knox, whose face had become even paler.

  ‘They?’ the Oracle said.

  ‘Maybe three, four? There was a big fight and … it’s hard to remember. Something about a candle. There was blood. One of them gets to you and stabs you. I saw you die, and I couldn’t stop it …’ The emotions boiled up and overtook her. All she wanted to do was erase it from her head, but instead it carried her away on a nauseating tide as she saw the beautiful eyes in front of her close for the last time.

  ‘You have to go,’ Katrina pleaded, ignoring the whispers from the others around her and the hurried, intense conversation between the Oracle’s escorts.

  ‘Where does this happen?’ Thom said, his voice sounding hollow.

  ‘I think it was night. I think it was in the rooms we were in. The furniture looked the same,’ Katrina said. She fought the terror and the grief, determined to find anything that could help, that could stop what she had seen.

  The Oracle sighed and sank back, still holding Katrina’s hand.

  ‘You don’t even seem upset. I’m telling the truth,’ Katrina insisted. How could the woman not even care? Did she think she was lying?

  ‘I know you’re telling the truth,’ she whispered. ‘I know.’

  Katrina felt the looks exchanged by everyone in the box.

  ‘We’ll arrange special measures back at the city. Guards will be posted outside and inside your quarters,’ said the escort in blue.

  ‘Against shadow assassins?’ said Thom, looking deathly white and more serious than Katrina had ever seen him. ‘You’ll need a fucking army.’

  ‘Shadow Mages aren’t immortal,’ snapped the green escort.

  ‘No,’ said Knox. ‘But I’ve seen what just one Shadow Mage can do and have never been more glad that he is on our side. You’ll need more than guards.’

  ‘Then what do you propose we do?’ snapped the woman.

  ‘Drop the attitude?’ muttered Poppy, making Danny snort. Thom shot her a lightning-fast wink that made her blush.

  ‘My father will take every measure, I can assure you.’ Isa stepped in, smoothing the situation and talking in a placating tone to the more aggressive escort about the proposed security. The woman calmed down and nodded brusquely.

  ‘We should leave and return to your quarters immediately,’ the woman said.

  ‘No,’ said Concessa, squeezing Katrina’s hand. ‘If I’m going back to face certain death, I’m not damn well missing yet another Aquattrox final.’ She gave Katrina a wicked little smile and, for a moment, the terror and sick fear that nestled in the pit of her stomach eased. The woman’s calm and humour in the face of what she’d heard had an odd ripple effect on everyone else.

  ‘Does that mean we can stay here and watch the game?’ said Airrell, who had been dividing his time between the conversation and the game below.

  ‘No,’ said Isa and the escorts.

  ‘Yes,’ said Concessa. ‘Please, I’d enjoy your company. I hear you’re quite the expert.’

  ‘Yeah … Hey, can you tell me who wins?’ he said, giving her a cheeky grin.

  Isa groaned and held her hands over her face. The green escort made the loudest noise of disgust Katrina had ever heard, which, for some reason, despite everything, made her giggle. The Oracle actually laughed.

  ‘They all die before the end of the match in a freak vortex accident,’ she said. Her face betrayed no emotion and Air’s face fell, his mouth cycling in a horrified barrage of evaporating words.

  The woman’s huge grin broke his uncertainty and he burst out in a cackle that had the stroppy escort huffing back to her chair. The Oracle shot Thom a wink and he flopped down beside her.

  ‘Love when people ask me stuff like that,’ she said in his ear. Katrina laughed. It was a different side to the Oracle and it had caught her off guard. Isa moved to the corner of the box and activated the mirror there. Her father’s face appeared and she began talking quietly. Everyone else seemed to relax a little, absorbing Concessa’s calm.

  ‘Aren’t you even scared?’ said Poppy, sitting down next to the woman.

  ‘Of course,’ she replied, ‘but there is little to be done at this moment. I very rarely get to visit the city and enjoy all it has to offer.’ Sadness stirred in her eyes. ‘I miss so much. It’s no proper life, so to risk the little I have for something real …’ She shrugged. ‘It’s worth it. I’ve long come to terms with the continued threat to my life.’

  Poppy shared a look of incredulity with Katrina. One look at Thom, however, showed them both that while the Oracle was at ease, he certainly wasn’t. He never stopped playing with the hilts of the sword and daggers at his waist.

  Katrina glanced at Poppy as she shifted in her seat. Rather than being engaged, like she had with everything thus far, she was distracted and frowning, looking lost in thought. Russell was trying not to be absorbed by the violent action below and also to not stare constantly at Isa, which Katrina found amusing. Danny was at the rail with Airrell, shouting and cheering, seemingly with barely a care in the world. It sent a stab of anger through her.

  It’s alright for him, she thought. He got what he came for. Kind of, anyway. All she’d got was a headache, some confusion, and a brutal dream about murder. It wasn’t the grand adventure she’d dreamed of. Bloodless fantasy worlds of her imagination seemed like empty, childish places now. It left her feeling hollow and sad and deflated. Katrina huddled up on the seat and rested her chin on her knees, wishing her mother was there and hating her own weakness.

  A touch on her hand roused her from bitter reflection and she looked up to see the Oracle watching her. ‘Try and enjoy the day. Not everyone gets to watch an Aquattrox final from this box.’

  ‘Yeah, do you know how many dignitaries she had to tell were going to be rich just to get tickets?’ grinned Knox, making Thom laugh. Katrina smiled, feeling somewhat more at ease, but unable to shake the feeling of being lost.

  ‘Come on, let’s get a closer look,’ Thom said, tugging her to the rail and allowing Knox to slip into his seat beside the Oracle with a smug smile. ‘Not a bad view from here. So, you came in through the old stores?’ he said, earning a surprised look from Airrell.

  ‘Who do you think made that entrance?’ he asked. ‘John and I did, bloody years ago. He’d love that his daughter used it to sneak in.’ He smil
ed at Poppy, who unfurled in her seat and joined him at the rail. He slipped an arm over her shoulder and kissed her head. ‘He was a Blades fan, in case you were wondering,’ he whispered.

  ‘I was,’ she nodded. ‘I wondered if he liked the game.’

  ‘He loved it,’ said Thom, grinning. ‘The dirtier the better. He’d have loved this.’ He nodded to the rough, often unsportsmanlike, action below.

  Katrina pretended not to notice Poppy wiping her eyes and fixed on the game, using it to drive back the fear and nightmares. Below, a Blades player was knocked off her steed by a Spine who held her under the water with his Aclys until one of her team came to her rescue by thumping him across the back of the head.

  Two Blades players sandwiched one of their rivals and then linked their Aclys across his path before slowing suddenly so that he was yanked into the water. They were reprimanded by a harassed-looking referee.

  By now, most players were bloodied and bruised, with some painful-looking injuries, but it didn’t stop them from charging through the water like torpedoes, chasing, weaving, leaping, fouling opponents – Aclys clashing, flashing in the sun. The ball zipped back and forth, and vortices flared red and silver as points were scored.

  It was a hard, fast, rough sport, but thrilling, and with Thom beside her and the crowd’s enthusiasm infecting her, Katrina started to push away her more negative thoughts. The Oracle was right – when would she get the chance to do this again?

  She flinched when the players avoided the sinister black vortices by a fraction, and grinned at Russell as Danny got right into it, shouting along with Airrell as players were crunched against barriers or smacked with Aclys. Almost everyone had moved closer to the rail now, except for the Oracle, Knox, and the two escorts. Even the guards had drifted nearer.

  ‘The Blades are going for a Tredecim,’ explained Thom over the noise from the crowd. ‘If they manage to score a point in each separate vortex without the other team scoring in between, they get a bonus of thirteen points and one Grade point. It’s not often done.’

  ‘Not crucial to the match, but it’s a nice boost. Not much time left, though,’ said Isa.

  ‘What happens if the Spines score in between?’ asked Katrina, dragging her eyes from the field for a moment.

  ‘Then the Blades’ colours vanish from the vortices and they have to start again. Well, if that’s their strategy, anyway. It’s not essential.’

  The Spines, however, didn’t seem prepared to let this happen and tripled their efforts, stealing the ball and racing over the water as their rivals closed in. In a swift move, a Spines player hurled the ball back over the heads of his pursuers to a companion who had suddenly surfaced. The man caught it and leapt his Delphan up, spray shimmering, as he flung the ball.

  A split second after he had jumped, a Blades player also rose from the spray, stretching his Aclys upwards as his Delphan turned in the air. The flat of his Aclys knocked the ball away from the edge of the vortex to howls of fury and cheers of victory from different parts of the crowd, and both players plunged down.

  The Blades retrieved the ball and deftly scored another point – eleven vortices now swirling with their colours. The Spines players made their displeasure known, and elbows and Aclys were flung about with abandon.

  It seemed to Katrina that the referees had their hands full trying to keep up with the volume of bad sportsmanship from both teams. It seemed that they only stopped the game for more serious offences, or there would never be more than a few minutes played at a time.

  While two referees were distracted by two Blades shoving an opponent into a vortex, the Spines had got the ball. A Blade raced to intercept, and the Spines player who had been thwarted at scoring swept alongside him and flung out his arm, catching the man in the chest and knocking him into the water.

  ‘He only knocked him off,’ said Katrina when a referee halted play.

  ‘No, he had a knife or something,’ said Danny. ‘I saw it glinting.’

  Everyone looked horrified.

  ‘A switchblade, probably.’ Isa shook her head in disgust. ‘Some players have hidden blades built into their arm or leg greaves, which they can pop in or out.’

  ‘He’s been disqualified!’ said Airrell as two referees led the culprit away.

  ‘He’ll be banned for that. Hallfern looks bad,’ said Isa, watching two medics pull the injured player from the water.

  ‘He’s arguing with them!’ said Russell as the man pulled away and struggled back onto his Delphan, his uniform stained red.

  ‘Only a few minutes of play left!’ said Air.

  The match resumed, and despite the efforts of the depleted Spines team, they were outplayed and the injured Hallfern scored a point in the final black vortex.

  The vortices flared silver and blue as the team cheered along with the shrieks and applause from the ecstatic spectators. The Blades had just enough time to score another point in a freshly black vortex before the clock hit zero and a siren shrilled over the field.

  Airrell’s scream nearly deafened Katrina, and half the stadium came to its feet. She was about to be carried up with the momentum when a tingling feeling raced up her arms. The air felt fuzzy somehow, even charged, and it made the back of her neck prickle. Whatever it was, she didn’t like it, and instinctively reached for Thom. His hand was on the hilt of his blade and he and Knox were scanning the box.

  Isa had broken away from the rail and moved to join Thom, while the Oracle’s escorts closed on the woman. No one else at the rail seemed to have noticed. ‘What is it?’ Isa asked Thom.

  ‘Something. Maybe nothing.’ He shook his head.

  ‘It’s not nothing,’ said Katrina, although she couldn’t explain why she thought that. Thom whirled around as the shadows in the far corners of the box moved.

  Thom’s blade slid from its sheath before Katrina could blink, and, in a heartbeat, cloaked figures darted from either side and swarmed toward them. Blades glinted, but the shout of warning from Thom was swallowed in the continued roar of the crowd.

  Magic burst past Katrina and a shimmering barrier leapt up, cutting Danny and the others off from the danger. Knox reached behind his back and drew a blade in one easy gliding motion, cutting one man off before he could reach the Oracle.

  Two guards engaged one of the other attackers, while Thom and the escorts clashed with two more. Katrina was left huddled next to the Oracle, who looped an arm around her, short blade in hand, protecting her, despite her life being in mortal danger.

  Somewhere through the noise of the crowd, Katrina could hear Danny’s voice, screaming. Not in excitement this time. Terror. He was screaming at Thom. Russell, Poppy, Airrell – a glance told her they were safe but helpless. Danny was hammering against the shield, as scared and furious as the rest of them. They seemed muted somehow – Katrina didn’t know whether it was the fear or the magic. Even the crowd sounded far away. Only the sound of blades was sharp.

  Knox was a blur of steel and goading, sarcastic jibes, his small frame able to dart and dodge with almost mischievous ease, while Thom and Isa fought in their corner. Some other time, Katrina would have fantasised about being like Isa – powerful and skilled, her blade slicing and parrying while she remained cool and collected. Now, reality had punched a hole through her imagination and was seeping in, stealing her breath.

  There were several bursts of magic, one of which smashed Knox’s sword from his hand. Before his assailant could get close, the Time Mage slammed a fistful of raw magic into his face, blasting him across the box, where he smashed into the railing, his sword flying over the edge, and slumped to the floor.

  Someone yanked Katrina’s arm, and there was a faint scream, which sounded like Poppy. The Oracle was on her feet, swinging Katrina behind her, as two more would-be assassins burst from the shadows, leapt the seats, and came at them.

  To Katrina’s shock, the Oracle slammed one off his feet and pinned him against the wall with a shard of lilac-tinged magic while she parried
the thrust of the other’s thin blade and kneed him in the stomach. Two vicious punches to the face sent him reeling, and a slash of her blade saw him stagger back, clutching his neck as blood pumped between his fingers. She moved to finish him off as Isa closed on the one pinned to the wall.

  ‘Katrina!’ Danny screamed. She spun as the man who’d been unconscious on the floor lunged toward her, blade in hand. In terror, she flung her hands out, trying to instinctively stop him, knowing, with stomach-dropping fear that the blade was going to hit her.

  And then he froze. His face creased in surprise, and she looked down, expecting to see a blade sticking out of her stomach. Instead, it was hovering and jerking in the man’s hand, centimetres from her own.

  The black blade rippled. It looked like nothing she’d seen in life, in books, in videogames. It was there and wasn’t, like smoke, but more defined.

  The hilt of a sword slammed down onto the man’s head and he hit the floor, leaving Thom standing over him. After sucking in a breath, Katrina realised that the fighting was over. No one was celebrating.

  The shield was gone, but Poppy and the others only stared. At first she thought it was at the Oracle, and then she realised it was at her. She looked at Thom, who looked at Knox. Something passed between them and then the Oracle spoke, breaking the ice.

  ‘Well. I hope we’re not going to be docked for a cleaning deposit.’

  Katrina glanced around. Bodies lay sprawled on the plush carpet and one downed guard was being tended by an injured companion. Blood was smeared up the wall, and the chairs and sofa were either smashed or on their sides. Knox laughed.

  Katrina was swarmed by the others, Danny giving her a surprising hug and then breaking away, looking nonchalant, while Russell went red and looked embarrassed. Poppy hissed, ‘How did you do that?’ before Thom nudged them away.

  ‘You okay? I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have had to go through that. I’m so sorry.’ His words tumbled out, and he held her hands, smoothing the backs as if trying to rub away imaginary injuries.

  ‘I’m okay, I swear. It’s okay.’ Thom nodded and pulled her into a hug that she wished would go on forever. Just his reassuring warmth, his soft aftershave, his strength, made her feel safe again. And through his closeness to her mother, it was as though she was there, too, holding her.