School of Deaths

by Christopher Mannino

  “We’re close,” she said. “I can smell it.”

  “Me too,” he admitted, “but that doesn’t mean we’re close. I’m sorry, Suzie. We tried. Maybe next time.”

  “There won’t be a next time, Billy. If we turn back now, Sindril wins. He killed Athanasius, and he’s been toying with me. If I do one thing in this world, I want to discover what is going on.”

  Billy stopped walking. “Suzie, I hear what you’re saying, but we don’t have enough supplies. I don’t want to starve to death out here.”

  “We’re already Deaths,” she said, only half-joking. “Besides, the ’Mentals will have food.”

  “They might not be friendly,” warned Billy. “Even if we do find them, what’s to stop them from attacking us? The ’Mentals started the riot at Styxia, remember?”

  Of course she remembered, but she said nothing. It was no good arguing. She started walking again, not turning to check if Billy was behind her. He’d follow, and she was weary. She stopped for a second.

  The bush beside her rustled. She listened and heard the rustle again.

  “Something’s in the bush,” she said. She put a hand on the leaves and the bush shifted, sitting up. She jumped back startled.

  “Suzie, look out,” said Billy, running to catch up.

  Two eyes appeared in the top of the bush and the foliage receded. Leaves and stems pulled back into skin and hair. A woman with green skin and yellow eyes looked at her, clothed only in other parts of her bush.

  “Two Deaths,” said the bush-woman.

  “We’re friends,” said Suzie. “Friends to the ’Mentals.”

  “Deaths are not our friends. Go away, before I call my sisters.”

  Sisters. This was exactly what Suzie had dreamt of. Other women, other females. The woman who stood in front of them was strange, yet somehow the most beautiful woman Suzie had ever encountered. It was impossible to tell where bush ended and woman began, unless she was the bush somehow.

  “We’ve been looking for you,” said Suzie. “I want to talk to you and your sisters. I’m Suzie.”

  “I know who you are,” said the bush-woman. “Better than you do.” She laughed. “You’re not old enough. Come back in a few years.” She turned and her hair flowed downward, sprouting leaves. Her skin grew branches, and she started to vanish into her own foliage.

  “Wait,” Suzie shouted. “Please, miss. We want to help you.”

  The bush laughed. “How can you help us?” Her voice was light and leafy, like a flower dancing in the wind. “No, Susan. It’s you who need our help.”

  “That’s true,” said Billy. “Please—”

  The foliage retracted suddenly and the green woman’s face emerged, her eyes pulsing gold. She glowered at them.

  “It has been one million years since a Death came into our village. Do you expect me to trust you?”

  “No,” said Billy. “You probably don’t. But we’re kids. We’re not even full Deaths.”

  The bush turned away, and some of her leaves dropped. Stems and leaves moved inside her skin, until only a few twigs stood in her hair. The green-skinned woman glared.

  “You stay here,” she said to Billy. She put her hand up and vines sprang from the earth, coiling around his legs like chains.

  “Hey,” he shouted. “I didn’t do anything.”

  “You alone may follow,” she said to Suzie.

  “I’ll be back soon,” Suzie whispered to Billy.

  “Be careful,” he said. “These guys are powerful.”

  “No harm will come to Susan,” said the woman. “She is far too precious.”

  The leaves faded into her skin, and the woman turned and started to walk away. Suzie followed, glancing back at Billy, who’d sat on the ground, watching her. His disfigured face looked strangely handsome as she walked away.

  “I am Lucina.” The bushes receded into Lucina’s skin, and Suzie realized that the green-skinned woman was nude. “The last Death who walked freely into our village was an ancestor of yours.”

  “An ancestor?”

  “A female Death, like yourself.”

  “Wait, you mean Lovethar? She can’t be an ancestor of mine,” said Suzie.

  “Her blood flows in you,” said Lucina. “Though it is thin and flows in others. I cannot sense it, I am a Foliate Elemental.” She turned to Suzie and smiled. Suzie glanced at the strange woman’s green breasts; then looked up at her bright golden eyes.

  “A Foliate Elemental?”

  “Elementals have attributes, or abilities if you like. It is in our blood. My blood runs green. Like my parents and daughter, I am one with certain plants. Other Elementals possess different abilities. Kasumir, one of the Seers, first told of us of your presence in this world. She sensed a tie to Lovethar and her family.”

  They came to a small stream and crossed. The trees grew sparser as they approached a ring of small houses. Women clustered around the houses, pointing at Lucina. She didn’t respond, but led Suzie to the center of the village, past row after row of houses. Some had quaint gardens; smoke puffed from small chimneys in thatched roofs.

  Women, children, and men walked around the village, staring at Suzie as she passed. Each Elemental had eyes of strange colors. Some of the women were naked with bright green skin like Lucina’s. Two boys with wings instead of arms ran into the street, waved their wings, and hopped away. An old man brushed past them. He turned to Suzie with a goat-like face and eyes like Athanasius’s snake eyes.

  “Look out,” shouted a young girl. A massive rock flew through the air, and Suzie leapt out of the way. A second girl raised her hand, and the boulder froze in mid-air; speeding back toward the first girl. It looked almost like boskery, only these children weren’t using a ball, they were using a boulder. Instead of throwing, they were using some sort of magic.

  They kept walking and Suzie started when she saw an albino, who looked identical to the one who’d attacked her. The albino stared at her and Suzie froze. She remembered the terror, the fear in the forest… The Elemental turned away, walked into a house, and closed the door.

  “Come, Susan,” said Lucina. She led her to the heart of the village. A two-story wooden building with a thatched roof and large chimneys stood in the center of an open square. Lucina walked straight to the building, opened the doors, and ushered Suzie inside.

  The air was stuffy inside the timber-framed hall. Two skylights let light in through the ceiling above, and large bouquets of white flowers glowed brightly. Lucina led her to the front of the room where three Elementals sat on chairs. A woman with ivory skin and eyes darker than coal smiled. Her entire eye sockets were pitch black, giving her an alien look. To her right sat a woman with light blue stripes across her skin. Her eyes were entirely white. A man sat on the third chair. His eyes were closed, as if he was asleep.

  “May I present the female Death,” said Lucina.

  The man opened his eyes and Suzie took a step backward. His eyes glowed with green flame. The green eyes turned to her.

  “It’s you,” said Suzie.

  “I’m sorry?” said the man. “I’ve never met you before.” His voice was high and shaky. It was not familiar.

  “Your eyes,” said Suzie. “In my visions—”

  “Perhaps you have me confused with someone else,” said the man. “But we will have time to discuss that. We have much to discuss, don’t we Kasumir?”

  The woman with black eyes rose. Her hair and skin were white, and she wore a white dress. When she closed her eyes, she looked like an ivory statue. When she opened her eyes, the darkness of her eye sockets overwhelmed the whiteness of her skin. Her eyes sank like two pools of shadow into her alabaster face. With a start, Suzie realized the woman reminded her of a skeleton. Was she an Elemental or a Death?

  “Welcome, Susan Sarnio, daughter of three worlds,” said the raven-eyed woman. “I am Kasumir, the White Seer, as some call me. This is my sister, Hinara, and my husband, Giri.”

  “Hello,” said S
uzie. The hall smelled overwhelmingly of strawberries; it made Suzie’s head spin.

  “We’ve been expecting you,” said Kasumir.

  “My friend,” said Suzie. “My friend Billy was tied up and left behind. Why didn’t you let him come?”

  “No Death has entered our village in a million years,” said Kasumir. “Not since Lovethar. I can’t allow an exception for your friend. I am sorry. Yet you, Susan, for you alone we made an exception. We have much to discuss.”

  “No,” said Suzie. She was in no position to bargain, but what did she have to lose? For some reason, the Elementals didn’t frighten her. Even their strange powers were just another oddity of this strange world. “No,” she repeated. “I’m not talking or listening until you bring Billy here. He’s my friend, and he’s here to help me.”

  “Suzie,” said Hinara. “I don’t think you understand. This is something we cannot do. The village—”

  “I understand the ’Mentals hate the Deaths,” said Suzie. “I watched at Styxia. Billy’s face was disfigured because of it. I want to help you. We want to help you. We’re Deaths. Not just Billy, but me too.”

  “You are a female Death,” said Giri.

  “I’m a girl, yes,” she said. “Who cares? I’m ticked off. I’m tired of people taking advantage of me. You get Billy in here now, or I’m leaving. Whatever big thing you’ve been waiting for will have to go on waiting.”

  For an awkward moment no one spoke. Suzie feared she’d said too much. It was a bluff. What would she tell her friends if she left? She wasn’t even sure why she’d insisted on getting Billy, but she hated to think of him tied to the ground. Had she offended the ’Mentals? Had she ruined any chance they might have?

  “Lucina,” said Kasumir. “Bring the boy.”

  “But, Madame Seer—”

  “Bring him. Now.”

  “Yes, of course.” Lucina bowed and ran out of the room.

  Hinara chuckled. “I like you, Susan,” she said. “The boy doesn’t matter. You don’t like being pushed around.”

  “Billy does matter,” she started.

  “Oh, I understand,” said Giri, “and I sense you are troubled by me. You said you’ve seen eyes like these before?”

  “Many times,” said Susan. “Green eyes that tell me things. I have strange, yet recurring visions. But it’s not your voice I hear.”

  “Only one other Elemental has eyes of green flame,” said Hinara, “and he’s missing.”

  “Missing?” asked Suzie.

  “My son,” said Giri. He glanced at Kasumir. “Our son. His name is Plamen. He wanted to work for the Deaths. It’s good money, though they treat us like slaves. He went to work for an old family friend of ours, an Elemental named Athanasius. Yet even before the revolt, we stopped seeing him.”

  “I met Plamen briefly,” said Suzie. “When I was first brought away from my world, they took me to an office where Athanasius had me sign a contract.”

  “It is standard procedure for all new Deaths,” said Kasumir. “How is my son? How is Plamen?”

  “I don’t know,” said Suzie. “I haven’t seen him since that first day, unless he’s the cause of my visions. I did see Athanasius during the revolt. I’m sorry to say he was killed.”

  “No,” said Giri. “Athanasius is dead?” He grasped Kasumir’s arm.

  “Hundreds died in the revolt,” said Hinara. “And many are still missing. Yet this is terrible news. Athanasius was my friend as well. He was a good man.”

  “Who killed him?” demanded Kasumir.

  Suzie tried not to picture the hallway, the blood. She couldn’t stop the screams.

  “Suzie?” asked Giri. “Are you all right?”

  “Sindril,” she said. “Sindril killed him right before my eyes. Athanasius was trying to save me. He tried to tell me something, but Sindril came.”

  Kasumir turned away, her white hair bristling.

  “But you swear you haven’t heard from Plamen?” asked Giri.

  “I still have visions,” she said, “but I don’t understand. A pair of fiery green eyes, like yours, always appears in them.”

  “Strange.”

  “Sir, if your son is the one sending me the visions, then why is he doing it? Why doesn’t he find me and talk to me? And what is he trying to say?”

  Kasumir faced her again. “I can answer that,” she said. “It is an answer I have observed in my visions. The powers of an Elemental develop from birth and are hereditary. Plamen must have inherited some of my gifts, even if we did not foresee that. He must have realized some of the truth as well.”

  “What truth?” asked Suzie.

  “You’ve heard of Lovethar?” asked Kasumir.

  “The only other female Death,” said Suzie. “They compare me to her. They say she was burned to death, but I thought if a Death is killed they fade from memory.”

  “You are wise,” said the black-eyed seer. “Lovethar came to this world at a critical period. Since the dawn of time, the Dragons had been responsible for bringing souls from the Mortal World to the Hereafter. The Dragons, as a race, are older than the Living World, or any species here in the World of the Dead. They carried souls before man stood up in the jungles on your world. And it was that rise that changed them.

  “With such a number of new souls, the Dragons needed a place to process them. They wanted a place for souls to wait, while they flew one soul at a time to the Hereafter. This was before that fancy door, the College, or the In-Between. The Dragons dreamed of all those things, but had no capacity to build. Thus, they created the Elementals. Using fire and magic, they formed living creatures to help build them a city, which is now the College. The Elementals built the World of the Dead, and the Dragons were happy for their help.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Suzie. “Where were the Deaths?”

  “The Deaths,” said Hinara, “came from the East, beyond the sea. How they came to this world is a mystery. Some suspect that the Dragons created them as well and forgot. Others say it was an accident, when a Dragon mistakenly brought a living man from the Mortal World. And others claim that whatever god created the Dragons, formed the Deaths as well.”

  “The men Hinara mentioned were called the Donkari,” said Kasumir. “They were an ancient people from across the sea. The Donkari were all male, and vicious. Every few years, they raided villages in the Mortal World, recruiting new Donkari. They believed only males were worthy of being raised as Donkari. And as you’ve probably guessed, they crossed to the Mortal World using blades from their homeland, the first scythes.”

  “We didn’t learn any of this in History,” said Suzie. She found herself sitting, overwhelmed with new knowledge. She thought back to the ancient books in the secret library. She’d seen pictures of ships, and she did seem to remember the word Donkari. What did it have to do with her?

  “I assure you, this will make sense, and it does connect to you personally,” said Giri. She found it hard to meet his eyes. They were familiar, those twin pools of green flame.

  “At first the Donkari wanted peace,” said Kasumir. “But when they discovered the power of the Dragons, they became jealous. They renamed themselves Deaths and started a war. They could cross to the Mortal World, and they wanted to ferry souls. They believed if they transported souls, they would have the powers of the Dragons. They were wrong, of course.”

  “That’s when Lovethar arrived,” said Hinara. “By all accounts it was an accident. During a raid to get more Deaths, they accidentally snatched a young girl from a village, mistaking her for a boy. By the time she arrived here, it was too late. The Deaths raised her, even as they threatened war on the Dragons.”

  “They taught us a little about her,” said Suzie. “They said she betrayed the Deaths, and that’s why she was killed.”

  “In a sense she did,” said Kasumir. “Yet her sin was the same as my own. She fell in love with an Elemental.”

  “Suzie, are you all right?” Billy’s voice filled the hall
behind her, and she turned to watch him come in.

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Are you okay?”

  “Fine. Did you ask them? Are they going to help?”

  “We will help,” said Hinara.

  “I—” started Suzie. “I didn’t even have the chance. I mean, you were telling me.”

  “It is important that you understand where you come from, and why things have become tense,” said Kasumir.

  “Does this have something to do with the Dragon Key?” asked Suzie. “I keep hearing about it.”

  Giri looked at the other Elementals and then turned to her. His eyes blazed in a familiar, yet strange way.

  “Perhaps,” he said. “I have heard rumors, but nothing more.”

  “Tell her, Giri,” said Hinara.

  “Lovethar was a curious girl. As she grew older, she explored far beyond the College. She walked the same path you did. She met a young Elemental named Orryn. Orryn impressed Lovethar by making rocks fly through the air and stop suddenly. He had been practicing a game many of our kind play.”

  “They were playing when I was brought through the village,” said Billy. “Looked like boskery, only magical.”

  “Magic,” laughed Kasumir, “is a word used to describe things you don’t understand. Yes, fire and magic formed the Elementals, according to the old songs. Yet, we don’t think of ourselves as magic, simply gifted with abilities. Orryn was an Earth Elemental and could manipulate stone and metal. He was also a threat to the Deaths, since Lovethar left the Deaths to live here. The Deaths accused her and Orryn of plotting with the Dragons. Some claimed that Orryn forged a Dragon Key, using stolen metal from a scythe and his own power as an Elemental. The Dragon Key was supposed to be more powerful than the scythes; it was supposed to even unlock the Hereafter itself.” She laughed again. “No one has proof, and I doubt such a key ever existed.”

  “But the Deaths believed it did,” said Suzie. “They wrote about it a lot.”

  “The Deaths cared about Lovethar,” said Giri. “The war with the Dragons started, and she was here. Since the Dragons formed us, Deaths assumed we were natural enemies in the war. The Dragon Key story was an excuse to punish her. They captured her and did burn her on Widow’s Peak.”