Reaper (The Dreadhunt Trilogy Book 2)

by Ross Turner

  “There they are!!” Somebody yelled, pointing down the street towards Reaper with a long, thick blade.

  All heads turned to bear their gazes down upon the witch and her demon. Suddenly, seemingly from the woodwork itself, there were a hundred and more of Tyran’s men pouring towards them.

  A spear flew through the air in a giant arc, launched by somebody shifting amongst the encroaching masses. Luckily, many of Tyran’s men were still fighting the wolves, else Marcii and the others would surely have been overwhelmed.

  The spear spun and hurtled and struck Reaper below the shoulder, threatening to bury itself down deep into his ribcage.

  Luckily it barely touched him, glancing off his thick hide like a heavy raindrop. More spears followed though and a flurry of arrows arced obediently through the air in their wake.

  Reaper turned to face his friends, shielding them from the raining attacks with his own body, as spears and arrows and even pitchforks spun off his hide relentlessly.

  Soon, undoubtedly, Marcii feared that something would get through.

  The swarming crowds were almost upon them.

  Like a pounding heart flushing racing blood through an icy cold body, the freezing cold winds suddenly picked up and lashed at man and beast alike in the narrow streets.

  Seizing his chance, Reaper scooped Marcii and Kaylm up into his arms, keeping them close to his chest, protecting them always.

  Marcii screamed Vixen’s name and craned her neck round to find the young orphan.

  They could not leave her behind.

  But Reaper’s expression, as it always did, spoke a thousand words and more as Marcii squirmed to look back with searching eyes.

  When she could not find Vixen, Marcii looked up to Reaper and realised all at once the hollowing truth.

  Vixen was not coming.

  She was gone.

  Suddenly Marcii’s eyes caught sight of something else: more arrows soaring yet again in high arcs through the air towards them.

  Only this time, behind them the arrows streamed trails of black, billowing smoke, flaming furiously as they hurtled towards their targets.

  “Reaper!!” Marcii screamed. “Look out!!”

  Chapter Forty-Three

  The flaming arrows rained down on Reaper’s head and back as he stooped over Marcii and Kaylm, protecting them. He winced as they burned his shoulders, singing his fur and scalding his rough skin.

  All of a sudden the closest of Tyran’s men were upon them, brandishing swords and clubs and pitchforks.

  Reaper saw them raise their weapons with an evil glint in their eyes and sprung explosively into action. Spinning and leaping all at once, the enormous demon ploughed directly through the approaching crowd, throwing people aside like ragdolls with his vast, tree trunk sized legs.

  Without breaking his step Reaper took off at a dead run, hurtling down the street, moving too fast for even Marcii to keep track, let alone for anyone to halt him.

  That didn’t stop them from trying however, as both men and wolves threw themselves daringly into his monstrous path.

  Hammering them with sweeping, one handed blows Reaper knocked the men harshly away, sending them flying two dozen feet and more, over and through buildings without a care.

  The wolves proved to be a tougher challenge, as they bared their vengeful, dripping teeth. But Reaper didn’t stop to think on their threats, idle only to him. He simply battered them with his massive fist as he ran through them, burying their heads into the cobblestones, smashing and shattering their feeble skulls.

  He was far too focused to allow anything to stop him.

  Fuelled by sheer, demonic adrenaline, he was getting Marcii and Kaylm out, and nothing was going to stand in his way.

  It was as simple as that.

  Almost before she knew it, Marcii glanced back as the icy cold wind whipped her hair about her face and saw that the lights and the screams and the howls of the Newmarket slaughter were far behind them.

  Reaper swept through the darkness of the still early morning wilderness.

  The sun was slowly rising on the horizon far to the east, creeping its head over the hills and lighting their way with glorious orange and red and golden rays.

  Marcii continued to look on, filled with a great, swirling mix of emotions. The sorry sight of the market town that had once been her home lit up the black sky with blazing firelight.

  Flames ate at buildings, presumably in an attempt to drive the wolves away, and the screams echoed through the night even still.

  It was not the same place it had once been.

  Once upon a time Marcii had called Newmarket home.

  But after all that had happened, she never would again.

  Now, as far as the young Dougherty was concerned, it was a forsaken place, torn apart by the ensuing war.

  Ruined, like so many other things, by the Dreadhunt.

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Reaper ran at a dead sprint for nearly three hours, maintaining a speed that was quite simply impossible, ludicrous in fact.

  Nonetheless, he did it anyway.

  Carrying the accused pair protectively in his warm embrace all the while, he scooped them close in his arms like children.

  Finally, after the great demon had covered many miles, and indeed also once Marcii had had ample opportunity to let sink in the gravity and immense weight of everything that had happened, he slowed his breakneck pace.

  Reducing his stride gradually to a run, then a jog, and eventually to a vast lope, ducking beneath the dense canopy, Reaper wove his way into the thick patch of woodlands he had been aiming for.

  It was much darker amongst the trees and immediately Marcii felt her enormous friend’s relief flooding from him as he merged into the heavy shadows.

  Deeper and deeper into the woodlands Reaper carried them, winding his way through the trees expertly, venturing as far as he could out of sight and out of mind.

  When he felt that he’d gone far enough, however far that might have been, Marcii didn’t know, Reaper finally wound to a halt. The young Dougherty jumped down from his arm and he laid Kaylm carefully down upon the soft, mossy ground at the base of a stout oak tree.

  Immediately Marcii set to work dressing Kaylm and Reaper’s wounds. She had only very limited provisions and resorted once again to mud for Reaper’s burns.

  She could not use that to treat Kaylm though. Instead, with help from her demonic friend, Marcii managed to find an ice cold brook that babbled through the dense trees. The water did not bring miracles, but it certainly helped.

  Marcii managed to clean Kaylm up considerably. He even came to for just long enough to take a drink through his dreadfully swollen lips.

  He soon fell into unconsciousness again though, and Reaper insisted that Marcii rest too.

  It had been an awfully long night and she had barely rested since the night before.

  He knew she was exhausted.

  Complying, Marcii laid her head down beside Kaylm’s on the moss, just a few feet from where Reaper sat up against the towering oak tree.

  A harsh wind cut through the sea of trunks that Marcii hadn’t noticed before whilst she’d been busy tending to her friends.

  It whistled annoyingly as it barraged them and seeped cruelly through the ocean of bark.

  Away from Reaper, having just spent so many hours in his arms, immediately Marcii felt the harsh grasp of the wind cutting through her.

  “Oh stop it!” She muttered under her breath without thinking, turning away from the gust and shuffling closer still to Kaylm.

  She was so tired that the young Dougherty was asleep in moments.

  Far too quickly to notice that the wind died in an instant, as if on her command.

  Of course, Reaper was not asleep, for that was something he needed not, and he most certainly did notice.

  The enormous demon’s expression spoke a thousand and more different things all at once. Most prominently of all though, it showed quite clearly how
profound that moment seemed to be, whether Marcii had noticed it or not.

  He looked on respectfully at the young Dougherty.

  He smiled with great care for her, as he always did. His eyes however were filled with something else.

  Something that resembled an even greater understanding.

  Hopefully, in time, it would be an understanding that Marcii in turn would share.

  He could feel the time approaching, drawing nearer by the moment. There were too many traces of it to be very far off.

  All he could do was continue on.

  But he was patient as ever.

  Soon she would also discover what he’d come to realise. Or, perhaps more likely, what he’d known all along.

  Either way, it didn’t really matter.

  The time was drawing near.

  There wasn’t long to wait now.

  But wait he would.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The day drew out, long and clear and quiet as Marcii rested.

  Nightfall eventually came and the young Dougherty stirred into wakefulness, accompanied too by Kaylm as he roused. He was young and strong and determined and, though his body was gravely damaged, he was recovering quickly.

  As Marcii awakened she saw that Reaper had not moved even an inch since she’d fallen asleep. She smiled warmly up at the monstrous demon who had watched over them so caringly while they’d slept.

  His expression was mixed however, she noted critically.

  He looked to be lost in thought, as if he was considering something so deeply rooted and significant that there were simply no words to explain it.

  Emerging from the treeline, heading westerly once more, Reaper scooped Marcii and the now conscious Kaylm into his arms, setting off at a steady pace.

  The air that night wasn’t just icy cold, it was bitter and harsh. Gnawing at Marcii’s exposed face and fingers, it bit at her skin relentlessly.

  She looped one hand into Kaylm’s almost without thinking. Interlocking her fingers with his she squeezed tightly, taking comfort from his touch.

  Marcii felt safe and content knowing the three of them were going home, and that finally, at long last, they would be safe.

  As ever, little did she know.

  Occasionally the winds picked up, repeatedly barraging the three of them as they went. Every time though, yet again, Marcii quelled the elements with barely more than a whim.

  Amidst all of that, Marcii spent hours staring up at the stars in the blanket of coal that lay above her. She stroked the back of Kaylm’s hand with her thumb, their fingers still entwined whilst he intermittently dozed and recuperated.

  The night drew on and over time clouds swarmed in and shrouded Marcii’s view of the lifeless, thriving ocean above.

  She frowned a little in disappointment and immediately the clouds parted and revealed the treasures they had concealed from her once more.

  Somehow, though it had been of her own doing, Marcii barely even noticed the unbelievable feat she’d just undertaken. She merely smiled peacefully and settled even deeper into Reaper’s thick fur, rubbing Kaylm’s hand continuously as she gazed wistfully up at all those other worlds once again.

  Reaper’s expression turned imploring, though Marcii did not notice in the darkness.

  Usually, beneath the moonshine and stargaze so bright, Reaper would have been concerned that his silhouette was too obvious in the night.

  However, seeing Marcii’s contentedness, without even realising herself what she’d done, Reaper simply pressed on, taking the chance.

  To say that these unbelievable feats Marcii was performing were significant wouldn’t even have come close to the truth.

  Tomorrow would be the day, Reaper decided.

  He didn’t know exactly what would happen.

  Had he done, he would have been overjoyed beyond belief.

  As it stood though, even still he thought only of Marcii.

  Eventually the young Dougherty slept. Subconsciously she pulled the clouds back in again and knitted them together to conceal the three of them as they crossed the canyon and the fields and the rolling hills in the dark of the night, making as ever for the shelter of the abandoned, ghostly citadel Ravenhead.

  None of them knew what was waiting for them however, and it would surely prove to be more astonishing than any of them could possibly imagine.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Sunrise encompassed the land, beckoning the day in a desperate, longing sort of way. The shadowy blanket hovering above half the world gave way to a lush, sapphire ocean filled with birdsong and wind chill.

  It was the first time Marcii had heard any animal calls whilst she’d been in Ravenhead, though whether that was noteworthy or not, she didn’t know. She didn’t see the birds however, and the thought of them slipped just as quickly from her mind as it had come.

  Kaylm seemed to have recovered considerably. Though his body was still bruised and battered and cut all over, once he’d eaten, probably more than he’d been fed in days, he seemed immediately stronger.

  Even managing to find his feet, for he felt his will returning in great flurries, Kaylm walked with Marcii for a short while. In the early morning sunlight through the still abandoned streets of Ravenhead they roamed.

  At first they didn’t speak, for it seemed there were no words for what they needed to say.

  They simply held hands as they wandered, oblivious for a time as to the momentous change that Ravenhead had undertaken in their absence.

  As of yet, though Reaper sensed that something was amiss, even he hadn’t fully comprehended what was happening.

  Aside from the chirping birdsong, all was quiet. Reaper could not settle however and he found himself cutting from street to street, looking for something, though he had no idea exactly what.

  Eventually, after having missed each other at least a dozen times, Marcii and Kaylm’s path crossed Reaper’s.

  They all stopped abruptly.

  None of them spoke.

  Marcii’s eyes found Reaper’s, deep like jet black coal. She saw they were filled with something that she too could feel.

  Something was happening.

  Or had already happened.

  They weren’t sure which, as neither of them could put their finger on it.

  Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, a flicker of movement caught Marcii’s eye.

  In reality there had been no movement at all: but that’s exactly what had drawn Marcii’s attention.

  Reaper and Kaylm followed her gaze and the enormous demon even managed to look shocked, wondering how she’d sensed it before him.

  Perhaps as expected, Marcii’s eyes found their way up to Raven’s Keep, settling heavily upon the tower and staying there.

  Of the three of them, Kaylm’s expression was the most confused.

  But then, that was only natural.

  He was the only one unable to sense what Reaper and Marcii could both feel.

  “What is it?” Kaylm asked, keeping his voice low, though he wasn’t sure what made him whisper.

  At first Marcii didn’t reply, and when she eventually did her voice too was hushed.

  “Up there.” She breathed.

  Reaper nodded slowly, but other than that neither of them moved.

  Kaylm wanted to speak, but felt for a moment for some reason as if he shouldn’t. As if the words were forbidden.

  Eventually though, not knowing any better, the young Master Evans eventually breathed his next question.

  “What is it?” He asked. “Should we go up?”

  Marcii looked at him for a moment as if she couldn’t believe he’d asked that question, and perhaps more to the point that she hadn’t thought of it herself.

  Their footsteps were slow and cautious as the three of them ascended Raven’s Keep. Reaper’s strides were long and seemed to be in slow motion. As Marcii and Kaylm followed him their hearts were filled all the while with uncertainty.

  The room at the top of the
staircase was as wide and round and desolate as ever, all except for one small detail.

  Raven was waiting for them as they appeared, looking on at them with her aged, luminescent violet eyes. Marcii and Reaper’s gazes both fell upon her, whilst, just as before, Kaylm’s eyes passed straight through her.

  Instead, Kaylm’s gaze fell immediately upon the other figure waiting for them at the top of the tower: the only one he could see, and his mouth dropped open when he saw her.

  “Malorie!?” He gasped, shocked at the sight.

  Marcii saw her too, though she wasn’t sure for some bizarre reason whether she’d been expecting her or not.

  The mysterious woman’s expression was filled with a profound mix of emotions, revealing everything that she felt in her own bright, violet eyes, churned together all at once.

  But she was dead.

  Why only Marcii and Reaper could see Raven, the young Dougherty didn’t know.

  The fact that Kaylm could see Malorie and not Raven was unnerving.

  It was perhaps proof that Malorie was real and Raven was not.

  Unbelievably, she had survived the river.

  Somehow she had escaped.

  And now, impossibly, she was here.

  Alive.

  This couldn’t have happened.

  It just wasn’t possible.

  Regardless, it had happened anyway.

  The look on Reaper’s face was a sight beyond description.

  Without a word Malorie rushed forwards and Reaper swept her up into his arms joyously.

  He scooped the unbelievable woman into his loving embrace, encompassing her tiny frame completely. His deep, jet black coal eyes were filled with more love than Marcii had ever seen in her life.

  The expressions on both their faces didn’t need interpreting, for it was clear as day that Malorie and Reaper meant the absolute world to each other.

  Marcii’s hand unconsciously found Kaylm’s as they looked on in awed, respectful silence.

  She had not expected this.