The Book of the Reaper

by Eric Asher

  Vicky sagged back on her heels. “How in the fuck are we going to do that?”

  The innkeeper gave Vicky a small smile. “He should already be on his way. He’ll take you to the Abyss. He knows his way around there almost as well as me.”

  “Who?” Vicky gestured sharply at the ground. “It’s not going to matter if anyone gets me to Damian, if we can’t get through the colossus. I’m going to need help.”

  The innkeeper tilted her head to the side. “You mean to take Terrence.”

  Vicky blinked. The innkeeper had always been perceptive, but she’d pulled that right out of her mind. “I do. He’s the only one who’s gotten to Damian inside of that thing. I don’t care if the gravemakers move slower in the Abyss. I don’t think we’ll be fast enough to get through them.”

  “Go then. Take Luna with you. I don’t want her sitting in the corner for this ritual. And Vicky, when you reach him, carve the mark with your soulsword.”

  Vicky frowned and looked to where the innkeeper pointed. But all she could make out was shadows and darkness until two white tufts of fur appeared at the edge of the light, and Luna’s ears swiveled toward the innkeeper.

  Vicky cocked her head to the side. “When did you get down here?”

  Luna wrung her claws together. “I came down here as soon as you left the room. As soon as you told me you were coming.”

  “She was already here when I arrived.” The innkeeper smiled at the death bat. “I guess you thought I hadn’t noticed you.”

  Luna gave her an awkward smile.

  “No matter. Go with Vicky to Greenville.” She drew a slow line through the air, a wavering golden thing that swelled out into a portal. “This will take you to Greenville. You won’t have my hand, so you can’t return through the Abyss. That is also why I am sending you a guide.”

  “Are you going to tell us who?”

  “You will know him,” the innkeeper said. “Do not worry about that.”

  Vicky frowned. The innkeeper’s words sounded more formal, more like the Gaia she knew in the Abyss. She glanced down at the hand that Ashley held, and wondered what was going to happen when the Titan was reborn.

  She shrugged back into her pack and gestured for Luna to follow. The pair stared at the shimmering surface of the portal, then stepped through.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Between one step and the next, Vicky passed through Gaia’s portal. It was nothing like stepping into the Abyss, or returning from it, nothing like the Warded Ways, or any portal she’d ever traveled. It was smooth, and that smoothness was disorienting in itself.

  The delicate notes of a guitar moved around her with the swaying of the trees in the breeze. But even as she recognized those notes for what they were, they faded away, and one of those trees turned to face her.

  The harsh lines and gashes that formed Dirge’s face widened slightly, showing an unusual surprise.

  “Vicky?” Terrence asked, lowering his guitar.

  Dirge leaned forward, vines and bark flexing as he studied the new arrivals. “You are here with purpose. Speak.”

  Terrence glanced up at Dirge before turning back to Vicky and Luna. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

  Luna gave him an awkward smile.

  Vicky blew out a breath. “Well, Dirge is right. I need your help. We’re going to the Abyss. The innkeeper wants us to carve a sigil into Damian.”

  Dirge crouched so he stood only a few feet taller than the others. “She would not send you for such a dangerous task if it was merely a want, child. Tell us what has happened.”

  “It’s part of the ritual to bring Gaia back. The sigil has to be on Damian, too.”

  “As slow-moving as he is in the Abyss, that should be easy.” Terrence drummed his fingers on the edge of his guitar.

  “Yeah,” Luna said, drawing the word out. “It’s not that simple.”

  Dirge’s gaze flashed between Vicky and Luna. “You must place the sigil upon the necromancer himself.”

  Luna nodded.

  Terrence stood up straighter. “Inside that thing?”

  “I’m afraid so.” Vicky rubbed the back of her neck. “And you’re the only one who’s reached Damian inside the colossus. We need you.”

  Terrence shook his head. “But I didn’t reach him. He reached out to me. I don’t know if I can help you at all.”

  “Will you come?”

  The ghost strummed his fingers across the open strings of his guitar. His fist closed around the neck of the instrument and he held it out to Dirge. The forest god took it with care.

  “Apparently I need some horse sense.” Terrence held out his other hand, and Vicky’s eyes widened as the ghostly rifle appeared in his grasp.

  “Well, that’s new,” Luna said. “You can just materialize your gun?”

  The ghost shrugged and slid the rifle over his shoulder. “I can do it here, but I don’t know if it’ll work anywhere else. I’d rather have it in hand if we’re going to do something stupid.”

  Dirge tilted his head to the sky. “A power approaches.”

  Vicky frowned at the clouds above, the glow of the sun lighting them from behind, casting the gray edges into a brilliant golden light. It took a moment before she realized it wasn’t the sun, as the sun was behind them.

  Terrence raised his rifle as Dirge’s fists grew into thorny wrecking balls. Vicky didn’t wait to summon a pair of soulswords. They had too many enemies, too many threats to wait and see what was coming.

  The cloud above pulsed into a brilliant light before a beacon punched through the other side, blinding them all.

  Luna snarled at the shadow descending toward them.

  “Peace, friends. Time is of the essence, and I have not a moment for subtlety.”

  A man, armored in golden fire and not much taller than Terrence, settled onto the earth beside Dirge.

  “Edgar?” Vicky asked, letting her soulswords expire.

  The light of the mage solis faded with the afterimages in Vicky’s eyes until she could see the golden helmet where Edgar’s bowler normally sat.

  “Come. I will get you to Damian, but I fear my power will not be enough to cut through the colossus.”

  Vicky frowned. “Why didn’t the innkeeper just tell us it was you taking us?”

  “Because there are ears everywhere, Vicky. There are green men and more around Rivercene she does not trust implicitly. Not all are as loyal as Stump.”

  “Traitors will be dealt with,” Dirge said. “They will not survive should they be revealed.”

  Edgar looked up at the forest god. “I have no doubt, but that does not mean they would be unable to stop us. We aim to resurrect a goddess and save a necromancer, and our chances of success are abysmal at best.”

  “Go,” Dirge said. “Resurrect the goddess. It is time for the fury of the earth to be reborn. I will journey to Rivercene and wait for your return. Nothing will stop Gaia’s return and the salvation of your friend.”

  Edgar hesitated at those words. Vicky suspected she knew why. To say Damian and Edgar had a rocky friendship would be like saying the Civil War had been a minor family feud. But time could change a great many things.

  “You have my thanks, Dirge.” Edgar turned to the others. “Shiawase has kept me informed of your situation, Vicky.”

  “Did you tell the Morrigan?”

  Edgar shook his head. “The fewer who know, the more likely the success. I’ve told no one else. Not even Koda or the remaining Watchers. Now, gather close. I don’t want to set any of you on fire.”

  Luna raised her eyebrows at that, ears locking onto Edgar. “Excuse me?”

  Edgar smiled at the death bat as a flare of power formed a sphere around his hand. “My arts can be somewhat fiery.”

  “Come on,” Vicky said, dragging Luna closer to Edgar. She narrowed her eyes at his brilliant golden armor. “How long does that take to polish? Do you have time for anything else?”

  Edgar’s smile morphed into the scow
l Vicky was so accustomed to seeing on the Watcher’s face.

  Terrence took a deep breath as he stepped up between Vicky and Luna. “Do we need to do anything else?”

  Edgar snapped his fingers, and the sphere arced out over their heads. The impossible heat threatened to ignite Vicky’s hair as the sphere dug into the earth, and everything went black.

  * * *

  It took some time before Vicky realized she wasn’t on fire, and the blackness around them had started to brighten with the golden stars of the Abyss. It had been sudden, jarring, and unpleasant.

  Luna’s claws dug into her arm. The death bat slowly opened one eye and exhaled as she took in their surroundings. “For a minute there, it felt like I’d cut through Fulvus again.”

  Vicky glanced at the bare patch of fur that still traced down the outside of Luna’s wing before turning her attention to the golden armor in front of them. Edgar’s attention was all for the Abyss and the dim path taking shape beneath their feet.

  “I lost my grip on you.” Terrance stepped closer to Vicky. “I thought that was the end. That I’d keep falling until there was nothing left.”

  Edgar glanced back at Terrence. “I’ve more skills than that, ghost.” He didn’t hide the edge of irritation in his voice. “Now come. I’d like to be out of this place before any less savory beings find us.”

  Luna scoffed. “Aren’t we looking for the biggest threat in the Abyss on purpose anyway?”

  “No.” Edgar turned and started down the path, not checking to make sure the others were following. “There are a great many things worse than Damian in the Abyss, child. Pray you never learn of them.”

  Vicky followed close to Edgar, eyeing the shadows that passed by just off the path. A few of them met her gaze, enormous black orbs set in gray flesh, and an uncountable number of teeth bared by one of the lamprey creatures, but most of the shadows remained nebulous.

  Edgar hesitated, then turned to the right, taking them past a pitch-black shadow that resolved into a tentacle like a tree trunk arching above them. But behind them, the path had branched. And before Vicky could ask about that aberration, the path forked again.

  “I thought this was a straight path,” Terrence said, hurrying his steps until he walked between Vicky and Luna.

  Edgar nodded. “You walked with the hand of Gaia. She travels along a singular path, one forged in the time of Titans with few branches. But the possibilities in the Abyss are as endless as they are dangerous.”

  Vicky frowned at that. “How does she take us to different places back in our world?”

  Edgar summoned a fiery sphere in his hand, casting it forward before deciding on their next turn. “We are walking on the paths through the Abyss carved in a time before any of the immortals remember. They do not change. Gaia’s path is different. Instead of choosing a new branch, she simply moves the path itself.”

  “Is that what’s above us right now?” Luna asked.

  Edgar glanced up. “Yes. That’s what we’re looking for. Hurry, before she moves again.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  They stayed close on Edgar’s heels, following the immortal down a hill that took them farther from Gaia’s path, until it didn’t. Vicky looked behind them, trying to understand what had happened. She was sure they’d been walking down an incline, but now Edgar stood at the edge of the golden path, with another flanking their own.

  Edgar turned to the others. “This is it.” He glanced between them. “Don’t hurt your brain in an effort to make sense of this. The Abyss and physics aren’t on good terms. When you step off this path, you’re going to drop.”

  “The path is right there.” Vicky gestured to it. It was barely six inches away.

  “Luna, carry Vicky, if you would. I will take Terrence.”

  Edgar held out his arm, grabbing Terrence before stepping to the edge of the path. “Now, jump.”

  Vicky didn’t have a good grip on Luna’s arm, because she assumed Edgar was exaggerating. He wasn’t.

  Her stomach rose into her throat as their feet left the platform, and six inches became sixty feet, Gaia’s path a narrow target below them. Confusion wracked her brain before Luna shouted, losing her grip on Vicky entirely at the sudden change in velocity.

  The death bat closed her wings tight, and dove. Her legs snapped around Vicky a moment later, so hard Vicky thought her ribs might break when Luna’s wings flexed, slowing their descent a split second before they slammed into the path.

  “Fuck,” Vicky spat as she rolled over, flopping onto her back. “What the fuck?”

  “Are you okay?” Luna asked.

  Vicky muttered under her breath. “Wonderful.” She felt her ribs, relieved to find them bruised but not broken. “You?”

  Luna rubbed at her knees and bobbed her head. “Barely. The ground came up kind of fast.”

  “As I was saying,” Edgar said, gliding in gently with his arm hooked around Terrence. “Be careful. Come. It’s not far now.”

  Vicky grunted as she took Luna’s hand and stood up. The path was brighter here, and it didn’t take long before that subtle glow was joined by a small shower of golden motes of light.

  Gaia slowly formed beside Edgar, matching his stride. “The hour is growing late, young immortal. It is time.”

  Edgar blew out a breath. “Not so young anymore, Gaia. Not so young.”

  The path curved and seemed to vanish into shadow, but as they approached the turn, Vicky could make out the towering form of the colossus, of Damian, just off the side of the path.

  Debris and gore floated nearby, as if someone had chummed the waters, looking for sharks. It wasn’t until one of those masses of flesh turned enough that she could see the shattered beak of a leviathan that Vicky understood the colossus had torn something apart.

  “You know what must be done, child.”

  Vicky looked up at Gaia at those words. “You told me, under the house, by your body.”

  “That is not—”

  “I know, Gaia. Pieces of the whole, but you’re all Gaia.” Vicky turned back to the colossus. “I only hope you can help him.”

  Luna’s claws clicked together. “How will Ashley know when to start the ritual?”

  Gaia turned her gaze to the death bat. “The innkeeper …” she glanced at Vicky. “I will tell her when the time has come.”

  Vicky nodded. “Terrence. You’re up. Find him in there.”

  The ghost stepped forward. “I need to be closer. We need to be on him. The pull is too weak here.”

  Vicky exchanged a glance with Edgar before turning to Gaia. “Can you move the path so we can reach Damian’s back?”

  Gaia splayed her fingers, and though the glowing light beneath their feet looked to be moving at a snail’s pace, it threw the entire group to the ground with a violent movement.

  When the movement slowed, Vicky scrambled backward, the flesh of the gravemakers that formed the colossus boiling and surging along the edge of the path. They weren’t moving with the impossible slowness of the Abyss, but they were sluggish compared to what she was used to.

  “I cannot help you further. He is somewhat restrained, but the danger to all who walk upon the colossus is dire.”

  Luna grabbed Vicky’s arm. “I’ll come with you.”

  “No. Terrence and I have to do this alone. I don’t want Edgar to accidentally burn us all to ash.”

  The sun god crossed his arms. “I have more control than you give me credit for. But, I admit, my powers are somewhat unpredictable in this place.”

  Vicky nodded and flashed Edgar an awkward smile. “I won’t complain if you come save us, though. That would be fine.”

  Edgar gave her a small laugh. “We’ll be ready.”

  “Starting to wish I hadn’t left Jasper with Sam,” Vicky muttered.

  Terrence held out his hand to her. “Come on. Let’s go save our friend.”

  Vicky hesitated, and then squeezed Terrence so tight she worried she might hurt him. Then she remem
bered he was a ghost. Vicky paused and then stepped onto the writhing gravemakers.

  * * *

  To her surprise, the gravemakers didn’t attack immediately. Bits of them rose up, tangling around their ankles, but the flesh broke away like dry and brittle branches. Some part of her had hoped Damian would know they were there and help them reach him like he had with Terrence.

  But time had passed, and Gaia had told them Damian’s time was growing short. For all they knew, it was already past the hour of hope.

  Terrence grabbed her hand until she met his eyes. “It’s not the same as it was. The pull isn’t there. I can’t …” The ghost stopped talking, his gaze wandering away as he let go of her hand and pulled the rifle off his back. “Follow me.”

  She trailed after Terrence without effort at first, glancing behind them only to realize they were standing on the back of the colossus now, nearly parallel to the path. Vicky couldn’t remember stepping off the arm of the colossus or transitioning to its back.

  “What the fuck?” She turned to Terrence, and hurried to catch up. He sprinted across the gravemakers another twenty feet in front of her before freezing in place.

  “Here.” Before she could understand what was happening, Terrence stabbed the bayonet into the craggy flesh of the colossus. Gravemakers writhed around them, splitting apart until Terrence started to sink into the tear he’d cut into the colossus.

  Vicky rushed to his side and stared down into a black chasm near the shoulder blade of the colossus. There was no Damian there, only the broken, ruined helm of the Fae called Hern.

  Terrence slashed at the colossus again, and more flesh parted, absorbing the helmet as it rolled away from them.

  “He’s in there, Vicky. I can feel him. But there are so many surrounding him.”

  As if in response to the ghost, a terrible crackly groan echoed up through the flesh around them, sending the gravemakers into a savage wave. Vicky stared in horror as the blackened bark rose, slowly tipping toward them like an inevitable storm surge.