Chapter 35 Zarev #2
“It’s okay,” Neve says pleasantly, walking beside Ban. Odette’s on Neve’s other side, and I’m walking a bit ahead of them because the trio already takes up a lot of space along the barren path. The trees might have been burned down to little more than stumps, and only the scorched carcasses remain.
Scanning our surroundings, I keep my eyes peeled for Camelot spies. I don’t know if we should be worried about Lancelot himself making an appearance, but anything to do with Camelot seems like something we should stay away from.
“No.” Odette sighs. “I should know this by heart by now. Give me a second.”
She begins mumbling names, and I chuckle to myself. Ray won’t know what to do with himself when she’s back and able to fret over him again. At least she’ll have something to focus all that energy on besides reading.
The closer we get to the tavern, the more tensions rise.
I really want to shadow hop ahead, but we agreed to wait until we’re close so there’s no reason to rest in between.
We are all eager to see what’s happened, and I really want to know why Rapunzel hasn’t been speaking with us.
Even if Ray’s battling depression over his brother, Rapunzel held strong and tried to communicate.
I hope the depression hasn’t found her, too. Tom’s ailing health was worrisome before the beanstalk adventure, and I get the feeling that nothing’s improved.
We’re a few minutes from the spot Ban and I discussed when an explosion rocks the ground. It shakes the earth, and I use my magic to keep my balance. The others behind me are able to stay on their feet, and I whirl around toward the noise.
The tavern.
“Ban! Bring them!” I don’t wait for his response, knowing he can move the three of them to the tavern on his own. It might be slightly slower, but if something dangerous has happened, I’d rather find out before all of us drop in.
And I need to know Rapunzel is okay. Everything else falls to the wayside as fear grips me, and I shadow hop at lightning speed toward the tavern.
Once I get there, travelers are fleeing, but not in the way I expect. People keep looking over their shoulders, but no one’s running for the hills. Half of them appear torn about going back.
The tavern itself seems to be fine, which doesn’t explain the noise or the rumble. Glancing at the beanstalk, everything seems to be in order there, so I move on to the tavern itself.
All my thoughts stop when Rapunzel stumbles out of the tavern, looking as though she’s in a daze. Her long hair blows in the breeze like a sheet of gold around her, her golden eyes blank as she steps barefoot into the dirt.
I’m by her side in an instant, gripping her shoulders. “Rapunzel?”
Her eyes move to meet mine, but the joy of seeing me again isn’t there. I want to drag her into my arms and hold on tight, but there’s a lifelessness in her gaze that leaves a hollow feeling in my stomach. “I tried.”
“I’m sure you’re doing great,” I say, frowning. The groups fleeing the tavern have lessened, and I don’t hear anything immediately concerning within. That’s almost worse. “Tell me what happened.”
Rapunzel’s eyes are unfocused when she looks at me, desperation leaking off her.
“I tried. I tried to keep pushing the magic, but he wouldn’t take it anymore.
His body wouldn’t accept the magic.” She looks down at her hands, like she doesn’t believe the words herself.
“I tried to fix him. But I ran out of time.”
“Thomas,” I say, despair hitting me. We’ve reaped souls along the way here, and while Neve couldn’t see them, Odette did. The feeling was the same as before; we were fulfilling a duty. But here and now? There’s something lingering. It almost feels like a spirit, but it isn’t.
“Rapunzel,” Odette says, cutting in before I can say more. She steps up to us, grabs her hand, and frantically starts looking around. “What’s happened? Where’s Ray? Tom?”
Her gold eyes lift, still hollow. “Tom is gone. Ray is too.”
“What do you mean Ray is too?” I interrupt, giving her arm a gentle squeeze. “Rapunzel. Tell me what’s happened?”
She starts to shift her eyes, frantically looking between us. “He’s not himself. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” She tears her arms away, wrapping them around her middle. “He blames me, and he's right, but he’s, he’s…”
Her voice trails off, and I don’t need her to explain what she means. In the next moment a devastated wail carries from within the new tavern, followed by more sobs.
Crying. I recognize the loudest to be Dahlia, even though I’ve never heard her cry before. Even when Jacob died. Her voice is distinct, carrying the pleas of hysteria with it.
Odette steps away, trying to work around her. “What’s happened to Ray? No, no matter. I’ll figure it out myself. Everything is going to be–”
A figure shoves open the door, nearly crashing into all of us. He’s without a cloak, his hair disheveled, and there are black shadows clinging to his body when he all but takes the three of us out on the doorstep.
I slide into the shadows, appearing on the other side of Rapunzel, blocking Odette, too, which is more of an afterthought than my intention. “Ray.”
He doesn’t act like Ray. In fact, minus the shadows, I don’t initially recognize him. There’s a wave of despair that rolls with him, and he’s barely looking at any of us, his head downcast as the magic swirls around him.
I’ve never seen the shadows react like that before. They don’t just circle around him; they cling to him, almost creating a second skin. He’s holding his head as he peers around, his eyes wide and–
Red. I rip my scythe out of the shadows when I see it, and a few paces away, I can sense Ban doing the same with his staff. “Raymundo!”
He barely acknowledges me. Grief overwhelms him. The red, unnatural eyes pulse with his magic, and he turns that manic gaze to Rapunzel behind me. “You let him die.”
His voice is all wrong; deeper, like he cried until his throat was raw, and has only just found his voice again.
“I tried to save him–”
“You let him die!” Ray screams again, and I brace the scythe between us. He sneers at the sight, but I’m not going to let him get any closer.
Ray isn’t carrying his weapons. No arrows, no blade. But his shadows pulsate in time with his labored breathing, and I know he’s going to spiral out of control if he keeps this up. “Step back, Ray. Rapunzel did all she–”
“Rapunzel did nothing!” he cries, and that broken voice doesn’t belong to my friend. “Thomas is dead, and she stopped using her magic to save him. She stopped caring!”
The shadows roll over him, almost creating a second, bigger Ray. It’s eerie, but I have to bite back the anger that he’s blaming my princess for this and find a way to respond. “Ray, you’re grieving the loss of your brother. This isn’t you.”
“You’re letting your magic control you,” Ban calls, and it isn’t enough to get his eyes off Rapunzel behind my left shoulder. I can feel Odette on my other side, and he’s not even sparing her a glance. Everything in him goes toward hating Rapunzel, and my hackles rise in defense.
Ray hisses, his eyes flashing with power. Black and scarlet, then just crimson pupils, and back again. I’ve never seen our magic react to anything like this.
You reapers are spirits too.
“You have to pay!” Ray yells, and I swipe at him with the scythe to keep him away. Instead of blocking it, the blade cuts through the layers of shadows on his arms, and he cries out.
That isn’t good. The blade is meant to fight enemies, and specifically, dead enemies. I’ve never tried out the blade on my fellow Reapers before, but I don’t think it’s supposed to react like that.
“You can’t blame her for your brother,” Ban calls again, trying to get Ray’s attention off us.
If he looks away, I could move them out of danger, and we could figure out how to deal with our Hell Brother together.
He’s not acting like himself, and I fear what that means.
“It is not her fault that he was injured. Do not place the blame where it doesn’t belong. ”
“You don’t know anything!” Ray shrieks, his voice cracking with grief. Still, he takes a step back, gripping his head again. For a moment, the red in his eyes fades.
“Odette,” I hiss, “say something reassuring.”
“Uh, okay.” She clears her throat as his eyes flash red again. “Thomas made his choices, Ray. He fought proudly to protect your home. You won’t want his death to be in vain. Hold his memory sacred.”
“There shouldn’t be a need to hold his memory!” Ray roars, throwing his hands at us. The shadows leech from his palms, trying to slam into the three of us, and I put up a barrier to block them.
But these aren’t normal shadows. They are strong, bearing down on my shield and pushing the three of us back in seconds. There is no reason his magic should be so overbearing when we have always had similar power levels.
In only a few moments, he’s bringing me to my knees just to keep the barrier in place. I grit my teeth, glancing toward the doors then in Ban’s direction. I have no idea where the rest of Ray’s family is, or if they are hiding out from this.
How long ago did Thomas die? Minutes, hours, or days? This grief feels fresh, new, and I can sense a spirit nearby. My heart breaks a little realizing it’s Thomas.
Ice slams into Ray’s side, and I half expect it to be Ban defending us. “They tried to help you! Stop punishing them!”
Of course it’s Neve. She is always willing to jump into the fray and call people out. It might be endearing if it wasn’t always so goddamn poorly timed.
Ray and his shadows whirl around, staring Neve down. He shoots shadows from his fingertips toward her, which Ban blocks. Neve stays rooted there with her hands out, ready to block him. He won’t take the two of them out easily.
Standing, I grab Rapunzel and push them toward the tavern again. “Go!”
“Don’t go!” Ray snarls, turning toward us once more. By now, the shadows have taken over his whole body, and he looks at us with those red eyes again. He doesn’t look like Ray anymore.
My breath catches. He looks like a wraith.
“Someone must pay!” he screams, the noise loud enough, the whole tavern seems to vibrate. “Tom is gone!”
“Don’t blame her!” Ban barks again, and I wish, if he felt the need to speak up, he would say something more worthwhile. “Blame me.”
Keeping my scythe aimed at Ray, I’m only slightly annoyed to find Rapunzel and Odette still lingering by the door.
At this rate, if I expect them to seek shelter, I’m going to need to put them inside the tavern myself.
They’re too stubborn for their own good, and we don’t know what we’re dealing with.
Odette’s too emotionally invested in Ray to think clearly, which is going to be a problem for me and Ban to contend with.
“You’re not who I want!” Ray yells, and my grip tightens on the scythe. If he wants Rapunzel, he’s going to have to go through me. I’ll cut him down first.
“Yes, I am,” Ban snaps, slamming his staff into the ground. Nearby, Neve stands at the ready, and part of me is mildly curious if the queen could stand against a monster like this. “You want someone to pay. She tried to help you. Hate me instead.”
Ray shakes his head, and I have to agree. Ban isn’t making a lick of sense.
“No,” the shadowy monster hisses, that uncertainty reminding me of my friend. “You, you haven’t done–”
“You want someone to be mad at,” he interrupts, holding up a hand. “To take your anger and hate out on. So go on, fight me.”
“Why?”
“Because I brought the giant down from the Frostlands,” he says coolly, and my grip on the scythe slackens in surprise. “It followed me down here and killed your father. So if you want someone to hate, Ray, hate me.”
I do a double take, unable to believe what Ban just told us. I always thought the timing for the giant was strange, arriving shortly after Ban did into our lives, but there were never any real signs that he had anything to do with it.
And then I recalled how he acted so strangely when I mentioned the giant in the clouds.
All that negative energy leaching off Ray simmers, and for the first time, he straightens, giving Ban all his attention. His tone is scathing when he speaks. “What did you say?”
Ban shrugs, putting more distance between him and Neve. It’s a good idea as I see Ray’s arms fly out, the shadows morphing into a bow and arrow. He notches the arrow, and I start pivoting in a wide arch behind his back, circling on the other side from Ban.
This is going to get messy.
“It was a mistake,” Ban says carefully, the ice twirling in his hands. He’s not dropping his guard, which is a good thing because Ray looks ready for a fight. “I thought it fell down the pass, trying to follow, but it came to Sherwood anyway. I never knew what became of it. I still don’t.”
“I know what it did!” Ray screams, turning the conversation on its head. “It killed my father. A beast killed him, and magic killed Tom.”
His words stab right into my gut, and I have to dig my heels into the ground to keep from going to look myself. Where’s Dahlia? Or any of Ray’s siblings? Rapunzel didn’t say much about them, but they have to be here. Surely, they are mourning like him.
Ray hisses, his aim dropping as his shoulders hunch.
I frown and pace around him, keeping both Ray and Ban in my line of sight.
Neve still stands separate from the two princesses, and part of me wishes she would back up.
She’s a capable fighter, but when it comes to the dead and shadows, she doesn’t seem to have the sight like the rest of us.
A guttural scream rips from Ray’s throat, the shadows flying out all around him like his cries have called them forward. I swipe through the magic with my scythe easily, and across from me, I can see Ban doing something similar with his staff. Ray’s magic is explosive, but manageable.
Until he spins and looks into my eyes. I take an involuntary step back, surprise shooting through me as those red eyes lock on me.
They’ve completely taken up his eyes at this point, and the inky blackness surrounding him clings to his body.
The shadow arrow and bow become a part of him, and his voidless eyes seem to almost peer through me.
When he speaks, I’m not completely certain whether he means to address me or Ban. “You wouldn’t understand. You don’t have a family.”