by Ross Turner
Reaper had other ideas though, it seemed. He took several long, slow, striding steps forward, warning of his intentions all too clearly. His head was low and his gaze was level, focused, dreadful.
Marcii understood his concern, for she too was filled with apprehension and fear. But, nevertheless, she didn’t like seeing this new side to her dear friend.
It was a side of him that she had truly never known existed and it poured fear into her bones and into her heart. Though, it filled her with angst in a completely different way to that of the hated and beloved Tyran.
This was a much rawer, more natural fear, rather than something derived from conspiracy and malice and intimidation.
She supposed there was only one way to think of it.
It was simply the nature of the demonic.
“Reaper…” Marcii started, stepping forward cautiously to the enormous beast drawn up so terrifyingly before her.
He did not reply.
But then, just as Marcii drew breath to speak his name once more, the approaching figure crested the next hill. The young man’s gaze settled upon the monstrous demon and the tiny girl awaiting his arrival with such apprehension.
When Marcii exhaled, after a moment or so, for her breath caught tightly in her throat, it was not Reaper’s name that she whispered, but a different one altogether.
“Kaylm…”
The name hung in the air delicately, as if at any moment it might be swept away on the faintest breeze.
She couldn’t believe her eyes.
Even Reaper felt the sound cut through his anger, holding him so fiercely. His shoulders suddenly relaxed as he realised all at once that there was no threat to be had here.
Marcii had spoken to him of that name many times now, and every time she had her voice was filled with more love and greater adoration and deeper longing than the last.
Reaper even found that he recognised the boy, when he looked a little more closely. He had been amongst the troops who had attempted to kill him. Only now his young face was not so bruised and battered.
The great demon could only begin to imagine, at the hands of his fellow man, how much this poor soul must have suffered, just for the chance to see Marcii again.
The enormous creature softened his heart and turned to look upon his young friend Marcii Dougherty, outcast so awfully from her own kin.
Her eyes were all too clearly filled with hope and desire, and Reaper realised in that moment exactly how much Kaylm meant to her, even if she’d never said it out loud.
He’d felt that kind of love before.
The kind that is so vast it is simply uncontainable.
Love is the only emotion so unexplainable and unique, that not even the greatest of writers could hope to contain it within their meagre words.
There was no way Reaper was going to rob Marcii of the chance to feel such a thing, for he knew how boundless such emotions and passions were.
The poor demon’s only hope was that the cost of it would not be too great for Marcii and Kaylm: that being mixed up so deeply in such dreadful events would not come back to haunt them, for there would undoubtedly be dire consequences for their devotion to each other.
Chapter Thirty
“Marcii!” Kaylm exclaimed, overjoyed as she ran out from the ruins to meet him. The young Dougherty fell into his arms and squealed with delight as he swept her up in his tight embrace.
For a brief, blissful moment all of Marcii’s reservations about being human melted away and vanished. Her despair disappeared into an abyss so bottomless that she felt nothing but the simple joy and pleasure of connection with Kaylm.
Such a thing can usually only be felt with someone through deep, adjoining emotion, and that is something found all too rarely nowadays.
Reaper remained still, as he often did, and surveyed the sight with his jet black eyes like coal.
He felt both sorrow and happiness all at once.
Though naturally he and Marcii had grown close, their relationship would never be what hers and Kaylm’s was.
There was simply no way it could be.
Reaper could sense in an instant that what she and Kaylm shared was unrivalled, and such a thing was beautiful to see.
As he had so recently been reminded, Reaper knew exactly how such a love felt, and so he stayed put, giving them that precious moment and allowing Marcii time to invite Kaylm to meet him.
The enormous creature was a gentle, caring soul; Marcii knew that through and through.
But to look at, quite on the contrary, Reaper was a fearsome, beastly monstrosity, and he knew it.
People had always feared him.
Well, most people at least.
He didn’t turn away, but at the same time he remained unseen and unheard. Instead, he turned his eyes filled with blackness towards the endless sky and swallowed its vastness in his demonic gaze.
It was early in the evening and there were still remnants of the day smeared across the purplish expanse above them. Stars had already decided to simmer here and there across the cold cloudless canvas and, although the sunlight was still fading, the moon was already in full view. It cast brilliant white, luminescent light across the masterpiece, refracted undoubtedly through time itself from so unbelievably far away.
Reaper sighed heavily.
As he had explained briefly to Marcii, though admittedly he had barely touched the surface, he felt a connection to this world so strong that it was indescribable. In fact, the only thing he could compare it to was the very connection she and Kaylm shared.
But, at the same time, it was somehow altogether different.
He relied on the connection. He could feel the very earth and ground and rocks and trees pulsating through his body with his every heartbeat, surging through him like the blood that flowed through his veins. When the wind curved around his enormous body it seemed not to brush past him, but to entwine itself between his very limbs, caressing him as it moved.
He found his demonic thoughts wandering as he stared up at the sky, realising that he knew nothing of the worlds that lay beyond his own. Every notion seemed to tumble headlong into the next as he pondered everything and nothing all at once.
Soon enough though his thoughts ran away with him completely and he sighed heavily once again.
The monstrous creature named Reaper supposed that, although it was near impossible to explain, the connection he felt with the world was a part of him. And, in just the same way, the connection that Marcii and Kaylm shared was unbreakable also.
It had probably been so for their entire lives, likely before they’d even known it themselves.
Without one, surely the other would also fall.
Reaper had experienced this himself. As Marcii had so repeatedly, though also unwittingly reminded him of late, he had once too felt such a connection, and to a human no less.
He vowed silently to himself, and to Mother Nature, who had so caringly filled the emptiness that had hollowed out inside of him after his loss, that he would do everything in his power to protect what Marcii and Kaylm shared.
Glancing back over, he saw the two of them approaching. He swallowed all thoughts of himself and focused instead on the young girl Marcii, whose life he had so selflessly saved. He looked upon her companion too. Kaylm had, in turn, so gallantly come looking for her, undoubtedly prepared to face down any demonic threat so as to save her life also.
It seemed that, against all odds, there were many who cared for the young Dougherty in this world, both human and demonic alike.
And then yet also, perhaps there were forces even greater than mere men and demons who pondered upon Marcii’s every move.
But enough of such thoughts for now.
The boy looked terrified.
Reaper did his best to ease their first meeting, crouching low to the ground and dropping slowly to sit, assuming the least threatening posture he could possibly manage for a creature of such monstrous dimensions.
“Kaylm…�
� Marcii began gently, taking the young boy’s hand in her own, for his face was white as a sheet. “This is my friend, Reaper…” She told him, as reassuringly as she could possibly manage, considering the circumstances. “He saved my life…”
After a few wary moments, still understandably unsure, Kaylm nodded quickly and nervously. He did not speak, though a little colour did just about manage to return to his cheeks.
Marcii smiled.
“Reaper…” Marcii said then, looking her enormous, demonic friend in his jet black coal eyes.
His expression spoke a thousand and more words, as it always did, and he smiled as warmly as he could manage, though the sight was perhaps not as comforting as he’d intended as his perfectly white teeth flashed in the twilight.
“This is Kaylm…”
Reaper turned his blackened gaze upon the boy Kaylm Evans. He smiled approvingly and slowly raised his hands to his chest.
His fingers wove and danced and flickered into motion, greeting Kaylm and welcoming him to Ravenhead.
The young Evans’ eyes widened in disbelief and all colour that had crept back into view upon his face swiftly faded to white once more. He realised all at once that, not only was this monstrous, ape-like creature indeed a friend, but that he could understand it.
Reaper’s hands continued to weave and trace invisible lines through the air and Marcii spoke with him at great length. Kaylm saw that the demon understood everything Marcii said, though he only ever replied with his hands, making not a sound.
And every time, somehow each of his realisations filled with more disbelief than the last, Kaylm understood exactly what the dreadful creature was saying too.
But perhaps what was even more incredulous, if that were even possible, was that the more that Reaper spoke, though he made not a sound, the faster Kaylm’s fears fell away from him. The terrifying demon reduced his high barriers to rubble, stripping him of his uncertainty, and within minutes he had found his tongue.
In fact, within less than half an hour, as darkness settled more fully over them, the bizarre looking company of three retreated from the cold. They delved deeper into the heart of the abandoned settlement Ravenhead and found shelter from the night.
As they spoke, unveiling all that had happened in such a short space of time on opposite sides of the same tale, Kaylm even found himself coming to like Reaper.
The demon was, to all extents and purposes, friendly. He seemed kind and he was clearly very protective of Marcii: a quality that the two of them certainly shared.
When Kaylm had first spied Ravenhead in the distance both he and Reaper had expected a fight. But now, quite on the contrary, they found themselves actually enjoying each other’s company.
It warmed Marcii through to her very core to watch her two closest friends grow into companions so quickly. Quite often throughout the evening she just sat back and watched them talking, occasionally allowing a satisfied, contented smile to creep across her face.
The night wore on and the air grew desperately cold, ensuring that they knew it was most certainly the thick heart of winter. By midnight a layer of sharp frost had settled upon the now not so desolate Ravenhead.
Kaylm did not last far beyond that however, for he was weary and hungry and exhausted from his journey. Reaper hunted briefly, leaving Marcii and Kaylm alone for an hour or so. By the time the enormous creature returned however, carrying the spoils of his endeavour with him, he found the pair of them fast asleep together by the fire.
It was the first night in a long time that Marcii had slept well without curling into Reaper’s warm lap.
The sight of Kaylm lay protectively beside Marcii warmed Reaper’s demonic heart.
Whistling with a shrill cry, the harsh evening wind cut through the long unused streets of Ravenhead like a ship parts the waves through heavy fog.
Despite the bite of winter however, contentedness lay upon the three of them for at least that brief moment in time.
Whilst frost set about blanketing the land, the young Dougherty slept soundly in the protective arms of her lost Evans.
As ever, Reaper sat motionless and watchful. He had some inclination of what might follow, for he had seen much of this before.
Although, as is usually always the way, there was still undoubtedly much more to come that he had never before witnessed.
In fact, there was much to come that nobody had ever before seen, regardless of how many times these events had recurred.
Chapter Thirty-One
“They forced me to join the hunt.” Kaylm explained to Marcii as they wandered through the empty streets of the mysterious Ravenhead.
“I know.” The young Dougherty replied.
Kaylm looked confused for a moment.
“What do you mean?” He asked her, and Marcii realised she now had to somehow explain her strange visions.
“I saw you…” She began, though perhaps not in a way that made it easy for herself to explain. “I saw you in the street, in Newmarket…” She attempted.
“When?” Kaylm asked, confused.
“When the two women with black hair were being taken to the square to be executed. But I wasn’t actually there. I was just, watching…” Marcii replied, blarting the whole thing out in one go, reasoning that there was only so much confusion she could instil with a single breath.
“I don’t understand…” Kaylm replied, even more confused, naturally.
“It was like I had a vision…” Marcii tried again, attempting to elaborate on her explanation, which had been sketchy at best. “I went all dizzy, my head was spinning, and then the next moment, when I opened my eyes, I was back in Newmarket.”
“Right…” Kaylm replied, waiting for more.
“It’s happened quite a few times…” Marcii went on. “The first time it happened I saw the two women. You were watching them being dragged to the square, but you wouldn’t go with them…”
Kaylm looked shocked, but he said nothing, allowing Marcii to continue.
“So then, when I saw you at the cave, and your face…” She trailed off at that point and her lip quivered slightly at the memory.
“I understand.” Kaylm finally intervened. “You saw my face and you knew I’d been forced into it?”
Marcii nodded, taking a deep, shuddering breath as she did so.
“I knew it was my best chance of seeing you again…” He admitted, even a little sheepishly.
Marcii smiled gratefully.
“But how did you know your vision was real?” He asked her then. “I mean, how did you know it wasn’t just a dream?”
“I didn’t.” Marcii admitted. “But it didn’t feel like a dream…”
“What about the others?” Kaylm asked. “You said it had happened more than once?”
Suddenly Marcii’s eyes widened and Kaylm saw her very soul quiver inside of her.
“Marcii?” He urged. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
But she could not speak, for it came flooding back to her all at once. She’d tried so hard to forget it all that she thought she almost had done.
Almost.
“Alexander…” She breathed.
Kaylm’s face turned a ghostly white.
“You were there?” He whispered, after a few moments of silence had quivered between them.
Marcii nodded for a moment, but then her tongue took over.
“Well, no…” She interrupted her own reply. “I suppose I wasn’t, but I saw what was happening…”
Truly now they both realised that these visions, whatever they were, were indeed most significant. Marcii had spoken of truths to Kaylm that she surely could never have known, and vice versa, he had confirmed for her that Alexander’s death had indeed taken place.
Or, perhaps more accurately, his murder.
It had not been simply a figment of her imagination, and that terrible truth threatened to rear up and swallow Marcii whole.
Reaper had not accompanied Kaylm and Marcii, and instead sat al
one with his deep, demonic thoughts.
Within the sheltered confines of an old house with no roof, Reaper sat with his back pressed up against the cold, hard, stone wall that was the rear of the building.
In many ways it reminded him of his cave.
It was cramped, yet at the same time spacious. It offered shelter and security, whilst simultaneously being completely open to invasion.
But there was one thing that the roofless house gave Reaper that his cave never could: a window into his past.
It was something that had lived within him always, for Ravenhead was the very place he had come into existence.
His memory of it had never faded and he had never longed to be here any less.
But now that he sat staring up at Raven’s Keep, swimming much deeper than just up to his waist in thought, he realised all at once why they’d never returned here.
He had always known it would have hurt her more, so much more, than it could ever hurt him.
Things had changed now though.
She had been taken from him, and he felt both of their pain tenfold.
With endless pity and sorrow in her eyes, a ghostly figure looked down upon Reaper from the very top of the tower, meeting his gaze with long lost recognition.
Her deeply lined faced showed her many years evidently, though she was still a very attractive woman. Her dead straight, jet black hair, streaked here and there with grey, framed her aged features perfectly. With luminescent violet eyes she stared down at the enormous creature Reaper, seeing that he had finally come home.
But the sight of him with his two companions brought nothing but pain afresh into the ghostly woman’s heart and soul. For these two he had with him, a young man and woman no less, could never replace the two she had lost.
No matter what happened, or even if Reaper had returned with the intention to stay, it would make no difference.
In her endless grief, she would surely mourn them for all eternity.
All of a sudden, overwhelmed by emotion, as we pitiful beings usually are, Marcii thanked Kaylm elaborately for coming to find her.