The Death Seer (Skeleton Key)

by Tanis Kaige

  “We have to look for it. Look, it’s daylight. We can travel without fear. Maybe we can go back to the Sisters and ask about the field.”

  Kord laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t know how to get back to the sisters, remember? I don’t know where we are. I don’t know how to get you home. The only place I could take you to right now is the edge of that cavern and throw you to the serpent, which at this point might be a merciful act.”

  I dropped his arm and backed up a step. “Don’t say things like that.”

  He stared at the place where the banshee had been and shook his head. “He had no business going out into the world like that. No business seducing her. No business siring me.” Kord turned to me, his eyes burning blue. “I can’t get you home, Brenna, but even if I could, where’s my home? Is this it? This place with its relentless red sky and mindless shells of living people. It’s all a damn pretend game, here. Nothing’s real! Even you…are you real, Brenna? Maybe I conjured you out of my imagination to give me some hope, some sense of purpose. And—” He stopped to laugh rather hysterically. “And even in my own imagination I can’t find any hope or purpose. You know why I can find my mother in that swamp so easily?”

  I swallowed. I had one foot in front of me, one behind me, torn between fear and a desire to take him into my arms.

  “I can find her because despair is never far for me. It’s always right there. I’m at that swamp more often than not. I kneel and look into it and wonder if maybe that’s where I belong. But then I remember you and our adventures and it’s just at the edge of my vision, this sense of hope. Like, I can almost see clearly the way everything is supposed to be, but never completely. Now…” He threw his hands up and looked up at the mountain.

  “Now, what?” I asked. “We start walking. We find someone who can get us back on track. We find the door, and we go home together. Nothing’s changed.”

  “I appreciate the invitation, my love, but I just found out I’m not fully…human.”

  “You’re human enough. Please, Kord, don’t give up on me.”

  He shook his head, still staring at nothing.

  I took a breath and moved to his side. My heart was pounding as I put my hand on his shoulder. He didn’t flinch or move. “When I was in there, when I thought I was going to die, I realized something. We played toy soldiers in your window sill. We played with action figures. We did not pretend to be Hindu monks in forbidden love. That wasn’t a pretend game. You remember things from other lives. Our other lives.”

  I moved a little closer and laced my fingers with his. “There’s a cycle to this. We get to go around again. And you and I are destined for each other.”

  He let out another bitter laugh. “I was not always Death’s son. He took me out of that cycle. He changed everything. I don’t get to find you and fall in love with you again and again.” He turned to me and cupped my jaw. “You’ll die alone. Or you’ll marry someone you don’t really love. You’ll die and live again and again and never find the one you’re meant to be with.”

  I hugged him and rested my cheek on his shoulder looking out into the barren landscape beside us. “We’re together now. Nothing stopped us being together now, did it?”

  “Did you see what he did to her? Did you see what loving him did to her?”

  “Kord—”

  “Do you know why you can’t save people from the swamp? It’s because they want to be there. She wants to be there. She chose that. She knew nothing but misery in life and so she chose it in death. That’s what loving him did to her.”

  I couldn’t answer him. I didn’t have any answers. I just knew we couldn’t give up hope. “Don’t I owe you a kiss?” I whispered.

  He was quiet for a moment. His arms tightened around my waist. He let out a laugh. “Believe it or not, I have not forgotten about that.”

  I smiled, still not looking at him.

  “Can I have it now?” he asked.

  “Sure.” I leaned back and smiled up at him.

  He stroked my cheek with his thumb. “Any kind of kiss I want?”

  I nodded.

  “Maybe I should save it for after we get somewhere safe.”

  I grabbed him by the hair and pulled him down for a kiss. He laughed against my lips for a moment and then took control. Up until that moment, I don’t know what I’d been feeling for him. Definitely attraction. Definitely kinship. But not this ancient, primal connection. His kiss was magic and it cast a spell I doubted I’d ever recover from.

  He pulled back and smiled down at me. “We should do that some more.”

  I nodded, speechless.

  He kissed me again, this time lightly, more playfully. Then he took me by the hand, turned us so that our backs were to the mountain, and started walking.

  “There are always gates and doors, you just have to know where to look,” he said after the mountain was small behind us. Seeing it from afar, it became clear that it wasn’t a mountain range, but one single mountain jutting up out of sight into the sky. The rocky path we’d chosen was beginning to smooth out, and there were even trees here and there.

  “The trouble is,” he said, “if we do find a door or a shortcut, it’ll be risky taking it. We won’t know where it leads.”

  “Maybe we should update your map as we go.”

  He gave my hand a squeeze. “Definitely. Let’s survive first, though.”

  The trees became more dense. They were different from the ones in the forest where the Weird Sisters lived. These trees were black, twisted, spindly things reaching in vain for the sky. They barely had any leaves, but they were so closely packed together that they blocked out a lot of the light.

  Kord tensed a little at my side. He pushed his sunglasses atop his head and scanned all around us. “There’s death everywhere here,” he said.

  “What’s that mean?” I answered in a whisper.

  He shook his head, but didn’t answer. We walked more slowly for a few steps, and then he stopped. “Do you hear that?”

  I strained, but didn’t hear anything.

  “Come on. This way.”

  We followed our path until it branched off to the right. We followed the right path. I could hear it now. Music…a fiddle or something. Laughter…masculine, boisterous laughter. A thatch-roofed building appeared ahead with yellow light spilling out of the windows.

  We crept up to one of the open windows and peered in. There were men and women, and having seen one, I knew what these were. Ageless, timeless beings. One had platinum hair, wild like a lion’s main, and at least a six-and-a-half-foot frame. He stood in the center of the crowd. The fiddle player stopped. The man lifted a tankard of something frothy. “To Grim! May he find the peace he’s looking for!”

  “To Grim!” the rest of the crowd shouted. They all drank. The fiddle player resumed his music.

  “Reapers,” I whispered.

  Kord turned to me, surprised. “Yes. How do you know that?”

  “They look like Grim. Different from regular men, but not in a way I can describe.”

  “That’s what immortality looks like. You can see it on reapers and witches and angels. Let’s go knock on the door.”

  My stomach clenched. I wasn’t certain whether we should be afraid of these reapers. I was still technically alive, after all. Suppose they decided to make things official and finish me off?

  I didn’t have time to object, though, as Kord was pulling me to the door and knocking before I could arrange my thoughts. The music stopped again. Kord didn’t wait. He opened the door and stepped in, pulling me beside him. A roomful of faces turned toward us.

  “Good evening,” Kord said. “I’m Kord. This is my love, Brenna. We seem to have gotten lost and stumbled upon this place. Could one of you help us find our way back to the forest where the Weird Sisters live?”

  I was hung up on how he so casually introduced me as his “love.” No one else seemed to notice, though.

  “Look at him,” a tall, red-haired w
oman said. “He’s the spitting image.”

  There were murmurs and nods. The white-haired man came forward. “You’re the son of Death, aren’t you?”

  Kord’s jaw muscles ticked. “Yes,” he said simply.

  The man stared for a moment. Then he laughed. “Well, come in, then. Have some ale. Bring your lady friend right this way.”

  After having his hand shook and his back patted by pretty much everyone in the room, Kord and I wound up at a round table in a corner with two full mugs of ale, the white-haired man sitting across from us.

  “Name’s Sith. Sort of the unofficial leader of this lot,” he said, jerking his head over his shoulder at the revelers.

  “What are you celebrating?” Kord asked.

  “Hmmm. More like grieving. A brother of ours went in search of the great serpent. He seeks to end his existence. No idea if he’s made it or not.”

  “He made it,” I said. “He found me. Saved me from the swamp. Then threw himself to the serpent.”

  Sith’s expression sobered. He frowned deeply and nodded his head. “So be it, then. I don’t imagine he’ll be the last. Not much for us here anymore.”

  “Because of Father Death?” I asked.

  Sith nodded. “He abandoned us. Went looking for his lady, and I can’t really blame him, but he’s let down an entire world. We can’t reap souls without his giving us assignments. So I suppose people are just walking around in the Overworld, living forever. Meanwhile this world’s stagnated. Miserable place, now. Used to be quite lively.” He chuckled, probably at his own word choice.

  “We were given a vision,” Kord said. “Father Death was in a field with a door that could get Brenna back to the Overworld. Do you know which field he might be in?”

  “Can you describe it?”

  “It was just a field. With brown grass.”

  “Rye grass,” I said. “About hip-high. The sky was different, too. A little brighter.”

  “What’s this door, then?” Sith asked.

  “It’s my door,” I said possessively. “I inadvertently came through it a few days ago and I’ve been looking for it ever since. It goes with this key.” I frantically dug in my pack and pulled out the glass key.

  Sith took it from me before I could object. He turned it round and over and studied it. “You don’t see this every day,” he muttered.

  “What?” I asked. “What about it?”

  “It’s not from around here. Wonder where it comes from.”

  “How do you know it’s not from around here? What’s that even mean?”

  “Means it’s from somewhere else, is all.” He tossed the key back to me. I caught it and slipped it back in my bag.

  “So the field? Do you recognize it?”

  “I think so. Kinda hard to come by, though. It’s easy enough to despair and find yourself in the swamp. It’s a bit harder to have faith and find yourself in the fields.”

  “Have faith in what?” I asked.

  “Anything,” Kord answered, quicker to understand than me. “Death found it because he believes he can save her.”

  “So we just believe that we can get back home and we’ll end up in the field?”

  “That’s about the size of it,” Sith said.

  “Then let’s go, Kord! We could be home by nightfall.” I was already on my feet.

  Kord gave me a sad smile and rose more slowly. Sith stood and extended a hand to each of us in turn. “Good luck to you,” Sith said. “And if you find Father Death, tell him we mourn for the loss of him. Tell him the worlds need him. That he’s failing everyone just for the sake of this one woman.”

  We left. This time it was me grabbing Kord’s hand and pulling him along. I was going to get home. I was going to find the fields and find my door. I would make Father Death set things right. Then Kord and I would go through the door and live another life together.

  Hope filled me. I walked so fast I pulled away from Kord’s hand, and that’s when I stepped into the soft, tall grass of the field. My whole body trembled with the excitement of possibility. I was elated, on the verge of laughing for joy.

  “This is the best place ever!” I shouted, as I turned to Kord.

  He wasn’t right behind me. He was a few feet away, his feet planted on the dirt of the forest path, his lips turned up in a sad smile. “You’re there,” he said. “I knew it wouldn’t take you long.”

  I ran to him, or tried to. But no matter what I did, the distance between us stayed the same. “Kord, what’s happening?”

  “You’re going to put things right and go home, that’s what’s happening.”

  I shook my head. “Come with me. Let’s hurry before night comes.”

  “I don’t know what will happen to me if I cross over. What if I do to you what he did to her? And how can I leave her here?”

  “Maybe we can take her with us. Maybe she can be saved.”

  “No one leaves the swamp and the swamp leaves no one. It’s always there. I wish I could go with you, I really do. But I’m in this place for a reason, and that reason will never let us be happy together.”

  “This is utterly ridiculous. Come on, Kord. Believe in us. We’re meant to be together. We can do this.”

  He was getting further from me, and my heart was sinking. I looked around me. The field was fading. My feet were now on the dirt forest path. Kord’s expression twisted in grief. “No. No, don’t give up, Brenna.”

  “I don’t think I have a choice. I can’t go without you.”

  He came to me and brought me into his arms, kissing me on the head. “You don’t belong here.”

  “Neither do you.”

  He held me tightly for a moment, but then started to let go. I didn’t, though. I held on. A surge of hope began coursing through me again. “You’re coming with me,” I said. “Or I’m not going.”

  He wouldn’t keep me here. If he could get me back to the Overworld, he would. I had no doubt about that.

  “What if I hurt you?”

  “The only way you’ll hurt me is if you don’t at least try. What harm could come from trying? Maybe it will work. Maybe we’ll cross over and the world will go back to normal and you and I will live a long, fruitful life together. Maybe we’ll die in each other’s arms. Or maybe I’ll die and you’ll carry me back through. Maybe we’ll get to be here together again. Or maybe some place even better. You don’t know, Kord. Maybe Death’s actions won’t change our cycle. Or maybe they’ll change it for the better. We have to try.”

  My eyes were squeezed shut, and he didn’t say anything, but I knew the minute he finally believed in us because I felt the grass brushing against my legs. I waited a moment to be sure, then I let go and stepped back. “Let’s go,” I said.

  He nodded, his smile brighter this time. We walked, and then we ran through the field, somehow sensing the direction we should go, fueled by the pure joy and excitement this place infused in us.

  The door appeared ahead of us. At first, I thought Father Death had gone. But as we approached, we saw he was only sitting in the grass next to Kord’s mother. Her body twitched. Occasionally she cried out.

  Death’s back was to us, but it stiffened as we approached. He stood and turned to us. Sith was right. Kord looked very much like him.

  “Son,” Death said in greeting.

  Kord didn’t answer. He walked past the tall, dark figure, and knelt next to his mother.

  Death stared at me. I suppose on the surface, he looked like any other man. A shaggy, unkempt man, but handsome nonetheless. But because of the nature of who he was—what he was—I felt a terror deep in my soul. It’s perfectly normal to be afraid of Death, everyone is at some point in their lives.

  “I hope you have the key,” he said to me.

  I nodded, but didn’t produce it.

  “Will you take her with you?” Death asked.

  “Are you sure that I can?”

  He nodded. “I got special permission. Since it’s my fault she’s here. It’s my f
ault he’s here.”

  “And me?”

  “That’s my fault, too. Please, take them both back over and set this all right.”

  I swallowed and looked over at Kord cradling his mother’s head in his lap, shushing her and whispering to her like he must have done a thousand times before over the past ten years. “Of course,” I said. “But when I do, will you go back to the reapers and send them out to take the souls of those who are asleep? They’re all lying about, waiting, unable to cross over.”

  Death nodded. “I’m sorry for it. I got lost in the swamp. Lost for ten years. But I’m out now. And she’ll be safe. So I’ll go back to my place, back where I belong, and do my job.”

  I let go of a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. “There are two candles on the floor of your cave. They weren’t meant to go out, just yet. Can you relight them?”

  “I will have to ask. But yes, I think I will be able to get permission for that, since it was my negligence that caused it.”

  “Good,” I said. “And what of Kord? He’s your son. How will that affect him?”

  “He won’t die. Not like you will. He can come back here when he chooses. It’s easy to get back here. Not so easy to get back there. I recommend he stay there until he’s very certain that he wishes to cross over. I have a feeling that will be on the day that you die.”

  A breeze blew through the field toward the door. It was as though it was nudging us into action. I broke my gaze away from Death’s. “Lift her up, Kord. I’ll unlock the door.”

  While he gathered his mother into his arms, I dug the key out of my bag. I went to the door, but glanced back at Death, who looked so sad, and was yet so full of hope.

  I didn’t ask a question, but he answered anyway. “You want to know why I’m still standing in this field even though I’m losing everything? It’s because I know I will see her again one day. Tell her to live her life. Tell her to love freely, and that when she awakens here in this world, I will be waiting, and I will make her my wife. Tell her that, please.”

  I stared, heartbroken for him.

  “Unlock it, Brenna,” Kord said softly.

  I turned my attention back to the door, inserted the key, and pushed open the door.