29 Zarev
It takes everything in me to not grab Rapunzel and try to shadow hop out of this clearing. I know the Queen’s tricks,however, and she could send that blood magic into the shadows with us, so Death would find us in another spot.
Even if I grab Rapunzel right now, too many seconds have passed. I let myself be distracted for one single second when she mentioned the Field of Thorns, and that might be the reason we both die here.
Midas is a testament to that. There will be nothing to reap when they finish with him, and it’s unfair compared to the torture he put his people through.
Rapunzel stiffens her shoulders, but I can tell it’s a show. Her voice isn’t as confident as it sometimes is when she confronts her fears. “So, you’re the Mad Queen.”
“My,” she replies, glancing at the dying King “Hair so bright but brain so dim. Is that any way to greet a royal guest?”
“When the guest kills the King and helps to murder an innocent baby, I’d say yes.”
“Oh, that baby is gone, gone, gone,” the Queen says dismissively, waving a hand. “Water under the bridge really. Or.” She chuckles to herself, pressing a hand over her lips. “A body in the thorns.”
Rapunzel snarls, moving to lunge at the Queen. But I use the shadows, shifting myself in front of her, and she crashes into my back. There’s a burning heat that hits at the top of my ribs, and I realize her hair must be glowing as brightly as her hands.
The Mad Queen tries to peer past me, her interest piqued. “Oh, Zarev! I haven’t seen you since you were flat under a rock.” She laughs to herself, but no one joins this time. “A princess with no family, and a man with no life. Perfect, perfect!”
“Is that all you can do? Make vague comparisons between us,” I snarl.
She shrugs, crossing her arms as she paces in front of us. Midas might as well be dead now for all the attention she pays him. “My, my, Zarev, you’ve changed since the last time I saw you. So handsome. Do you play like the last shadow man, maybe? I bet you do!”
He snarls. “Can’t say I have tested it out too much since we last met. Remember, when you were killing me?”
She waves a hand. “Oh, you don’t think that’s the last time I had an update, do you? That ice boy of yours, Ban? He can be bribed with some pretty coins and a bit of frost. Such a pretty, pretty boy!”
I frown. Ban is in the wind most days, and he doesn’t connect as often as the rest of us do. Certainly not as frequently as I talk to Ray. “Do you really expect me to believe one of the Reapers is an ally of yours?”
“Not at all,” she replies with a grin, giving me a little mock bow as she circles a hand in the air. “But bedmates make the best confidants. And his bed I like, I do! He likes to share all the juiciest stories after we fuck so I don’t lose interest and kill him. Dead, dead, dead.”
Now she’s bluffing. She absolutely has to be.
Snapping her fingers, she points at me. “Oh! I see, I see. He lied about telling all the Reapers that he sleeps with evil.” She spins, like the revelation is too much for her to simply stand still. “I was right! You can’t trust someone who bleeds for diamonds, can you?”
Rapunzel’s hands suddenly touch my arm and I have to admit the heat pulsing from her palm stings.“Whatever you did to my sister, you’ll pay!” Rapunzel screams from behind me, switching the focus back to her dead sibling. Her voice is loud and angry as she tries to barrel past, rage burning off of her. I think she really will scorch me if I don’t get out of the way, but instead of making it easy I hold out a hand and call my scythe to me.
It helps to block her path, and she cries out in frustration. I don’t know if I want to keep hearing the Queen’s maddening lies about Ban or if I should let Rapunzel have her way with the crazy lady.
“Little princess,” the queen mocks, “I did nothing to that girl except toss her body somewhere I needn’t worry about. Thorns, water, mud, it’s all the same! Body is a body when it’s laid to die. Rose, was it? The almost-dead princess.” I don’t think Rapunzel is processing every word from the Mad Queen, her rage is so great, but I snag one little detail away for later. Almost dead isn’t dead.
“Rosen,” she snarls, grasping my scythe. It doesn’t fade beneath her touch, and although I need to keep my attention laser-focused, it doesn’t escape me. I can feel it remaining solid in my grasp despite the pressure of her pushing on it, and that doesn’t make any sense.
The Queen notices as well, raising a brow. “Oh! A living who can touch the blades of Death. I might just keep you. Such a pretty girl, playing with Death.”
“Over my dead body!” Rapunzel yells.
“That can be arranged, too. There’s much you can learn about the dead, Princess! So much to touch and see. But little Rose - Rosie? Rosen? I didn’t do much of anything with her. Nope, nope, nope. The body was too weak and already broken. She wouldn’t last. So I let her go.”
“You threw her away,” Rapunzel barks, her voice wavering. Talking about her twin, the sister she could’ve had, is really affecting her and I need to get her out of here before the rage completely takes over. Magic driven by emotion is the most dangerous of all. This isn’t taking vengeance on her mother. This is a literal queen of her element, and she will torture us if given the chance.
“Couldn’t be helped at the time, dear, tick tock. You should learn to let the past go. Out of time she was, you know.” The Queen’s eyes drift up to me, her bloodshot gaze as alarming as her next words, her finger spinning to point at me. “And you! Had you not admired Little Red so, I may have shown mercy! In the gardens, with my guards and your soon-to-be death.”
“What?” I snap, unable to help myself. There’s a blunt pull in my chest as Midas’ soul tries to slip away, and once he’s dead and out of the way, I assume the Queen will jump into action.
“Little Red, silly wolf. You do remember her in that dead brain of yours, hmm? My niece who betrayed you.” Rapunzel stiffens behind me. I guess the truth would come out sooner or later but I didn’t foresee the Mad Queen being the one to burst that bubble.
“Oh, she didn’t know,” the Queen coos, placing a hand against each of her cheeks. “How tragic! Silly Zarev never mentioned following Little Red like a puppy boy? Then he got bit and wolf he be, so wolves started to follow indeed. She was chased, the poor thing. And when they tried to hunt, Red knew what to do. She came to my court, so I did the very best thing to do.”
She grins at me, and I feel my heart tighten as she continues. “I sent the guards to kill his family. Messy situation, so much red! They left the pieces everywhere .” She shrugs with a devilish leer, dragging the visual I’d rather forget to the front of my mind again. “Too bad you had to go and hide, Zarev, my boy. Or dead, dead, dead you’d be too!”
Some of the rage in Rapunzel diminishes, and her fingers ghost over my shirt. Her voice is barely audible when she speaks. “Zarev…”
“No comforting him now, Princess,” the Queen barks, pacing towards Midas. He’s lost his golden glow, his skin turning pasty and pale. “You’ll be the one crying in a minute. Sweet tears to ring in the time. Tick tock, the King is dead”
She reaches up, patting Midas on the cheek. I tighten my hands on the scythe, knowing I need to act fast or she could catch and kill the both of us. I can’t risk Rapunzel experiencing that pain.
The Queen clicks her tongue when she stops touching the King, shooting us an evil smile over her shoulder before speaking again. “Actually, his family’s cries matched your sisters. Such sweet, sweet music. Then no more sad songs, of course. Only dead, so, so dead.”
Rapunzel gives a vicious cry, shoving around me. I use the shadows to catch her before she can move too far, and as a single force, the four men holding Midas in place rip their swords free. The King lets out a small gasp as he crumbles to the blood-stained earth, his body going limp.
And with a joyful cry, the Queen sends her magic straight at us, two orbs of energy turning to red, transparent swords that whirl towards us.
I push Rapunzel backward to force her into the shadows, but she won’t do it. Instead she holds out her hands, screaming madly as the rage and pain take hold.
The golden glow and heat I’ve grown accustomed to follows as her powers heat up the space, and I barely have time to slip the shadows around myself before her magic overwhelms her, twin jets of burning rage spewing from her hands.
It’s not a controlled burst. She’s driven by sorrow, and the two bursts of heat rocket towards the Queen. It catches her off guard, and she barely manages to block it.
Without missing a beat, the Queen spins and sends two more blades our way. My shadows and Rapunzel’s burning light canceled out the first two, but now she’s fighting out of vengeance. I lift the scythe and drag it down through the air in an arch, barely managing to block the tirade of magic screaming towards us.
The Queen raises her arms to deliver another strike, and as she moves, Rapunzel zips into action. Instead of using her magic in the air again she screams and rushes forward, grabbing her long hair and throwing it wildly at the Queen. It’s enough to throw her off her game, and the hair momentarily wraps around the Queen’s hand. It moves faster than any normal hair, and without hesitating Rapunzel pulls hard on her locks, hard and sharp enough to twist the Queen’s wrist.
I’m stunned when her fucking majesty screams in pain. I can’t recall the last time someone truly hurt her.
My Golden Princess is a force like no other. And she fights like one too.
Two guards rush at her. The clover and the spade. I redirect my attention for a moment, sliding into the shadows and shifting just behind them.
The first I slash in the throat with my scythe, the second I stab through the jugular with my other blade. I haven’t gotten to truly fight with the living in quite some time, and now it doesn’t feel like the gold is keeping me from my strength.
Neither strike is enough to kill these superhuman men, and I didn’t expect them to. Taking hold of the first man's chin as he falls, I let the shadows free from my palms and rip his chin back forcefully.
The tearing sound of flesh is barely audible over everything else, and I leave his head partially attached when I feel his soul snap free of his body. Turning to the other, I twist my fingers in an arch and send the shadows forward, down , straight through his open mouth as he goes to scream. They surge down his throat, making him gape in horror.
I spread two fingers, stretching them, watching as he chokes around the feel of being stretched, stretched, stretched…
His body tears apart at the seams, the shadows stretching his skin and bones past their limits. It takes a moment longer for his spirit to separate, and I don’t bother dealing with their souls as I face the other two. I spare a glance for Rapunzel who stands against the Queen whose hands pulse with magic. Midas lies unmoving not far off, but the slight rise and fall of his chest explains why his soul still isn’t in my domain.
I quickly take out the man carved with a heart as Rapunzel does something I miss, and the two women scream bloody murder at each other. I go to grab the last man with the diamond scar, but he twists at the last moment, one of his swords catching me in the side of the head.
I miss his move because I’m watching her. Rapunzel spins around the clearing, alternating between her hands and hair a bit unevenly, dodging the Queen’s attacks. The Queen’s wrist is bent the wrong direction, and she seems to be avoiding using it now that Rapunzel broke it.
Stumbling from the blow, I twist and try to hit the man with the butt of my scythe. He’s more resilient, kicking hard at my side to knock me off balance, and he jumps over to land on top of me. I grunt, and he uses all his strength to grab the scythe and rip it away from me.
“Death to you, Reaper,” he snarls. “I look forward to taking your place.”
The words hardly register. If the Queen plans to replace the Reapers, she needs stronger men.
Losing the scythe isn’t the end, so I call the shadows forward and use their dark strength to squeeze his neck. He doesn’t have control of the darkness like I do, and I plunge the shadows through his nose, ears, and mouth.
Without warning, there’s a great shudder that suddenly echoes all around us, like the souls of many are screaming for help. The wall shakes in the distance, something I notice as the man above me succumbs to the dark, shadows leaking from his eyes just before I feel his lifeline snap and he slumps down against me.
I shove him off immediately, spinning to call my scythe to me. When we fell we rolled along the ground, and my scythe is too far to reach without calling for the shadows. It’s closer to Rapunzel than I am, and as she tries to dodge the Queen’s attacks she stumbles on the handle. True to her Mad self, the Queen takes advantage of the momentary slip and goes for the kill, sending me into a panic as I try to launch myself across the clearing to protect my golden girl.
My princess is stunning but still untrained. The Queen will use that weakness and exploit it.
When the Mad Queen lunges at her I use my shadows to push her backward, feeling my energy start to sap. I’ll be out of magic soon and even the cover of darkness won’t rejuvenate my energy quickly enough. Rapunzel is still out of reach, and the Mad Queen looks my way before she screams, rushing towards me as I call the shadows forth. At least now her attention is off Rapunzel.
We fall together, her hands moving to slash at me. She snags the tunic and tears before I can shove her off. Her sharp nails rake over my chest.
She’s going for my heart. The powerhouse of her control.
I throw shadows at her, and she deflects with her blood magic. She isn’t as beaten down as she should be, so I force more and more magic at her to keep her at bay.
If I could get to Rapunzel, we could shadow hop away. But the moment I’m not a target the princess is, so we have to slip into the darkness together.
I crack the Queen’s head back with the shadows, but she’s intent on only one thing. Without the scythe I don’t have my most powerful weapon against her, and even when the shadows grip her chin, just like they did the guard, she surges forward and digs her hands into my flesh..
In me. Through me. Her hand slides into my chest, burning a path to her destination, and I hiss when she clenches my heart.
“Oh, right,” she snarls, laughing humorlessly. “Reapers hold no heartbeat.”
She squeezes, ready to rip it from my chest and drink. I dig my hands into her wrist, enjoying the brief moment where the shadows overwhelm her power and make her feel true pain.
It won’t be enough, but maybe Rapunzel will get away.
“Zarev!”
I can’t look while the Mad Queen is trying to rip out my heart, but her eyes shift behind me and widen. Instead of squeezing and ripping my heart from my chest, she releases it to roll and dodge to one side.
A glancing blow catches her cheek, leaving a deep cut as the blade misses a fatal strike. I whip around to stare, watching as Rapunzel gasps for breath, heaving up the scythe for a second time.
No fucking way. Only those touched by Death can wield a weapon of the dead.
But her father once gave her the Golden Touch, and it was almost too much for her soul to take. Perhaps that’s the moment when she became like me.
Or maybe we’ve always been this way, two halves chasing the desire to be one whole. Because I’ve never seen something as beautiful as the golden haired princess, slicked in dried and fresh blood, hefting the weight of my scythe to attack the Queen again.
And like the coward she is, the Queen uses her magic to strike the blade. It throws Rapunzel off balance and she staggers as the Queen jumps up, lifting her hand to her face.
It comes away red. Rapunzel actually cut her.
I throw shadows in her direction, and the Queen snarls as they push her back. I shadow hop to her side, helping Rapunzel heft the blade, and together we hold it facing the Queen.
When she smiles, her teeth are stained as red as her eyes. Glancing blow or not, it’s affecting her.
Another great roar of pain echoes all around us, and I feel Midas’ soul pulling me towards him. The Golden Magic is fading, because the wielder is dying. I’m impressed he’s lasted this long, and it must be in part due to his Golden Touch.
“Princess has some use after all,” the Queen jokes, shaking her head at the two of us. “But you are in my way, Golden Princess, so your time has to be up! I’ll have to wait to enjoy hanging your corpses from my tower. Such a shame! So pretty you would be, blowing in the breeze.”
She blows us a kiss, and the hearts that form on her palm are edged in blades and fly towards us. Using both hands, I swirl shadows into a shield and shove it in front of us just before the hearts can strike.
From behind the barrier the Queen laughs, and I know things are coming to an end. More of the spiked hearts fly across the clearing, and I only have so much magic left to call upon.
“Until next time,” she screams, and I dissolve the shield enough for us to see. On the other side she’s standing on the fountain's edge, giving us a bloody smile. “I’ll bring down every tower! Tick tock!!” Her manic laughter ceases when the fountain shakes, before gold sparks along the base. It’s weak, but it creates a crack at the bottom.
A crack.
“What have you done,” she growls, her voice dangerously low. Where he lies, Midas managed to roll over enough to press his trembling hand to the fountain, sending the last of his magic into the stone and snapping it. It’s too much for the old rocks to handle, and that crack sends the gold tinted water leaking from the bottom. She stiffens, torn between getting into the emptying fountain and going to strike Midas instead.
He speaks in a voice I can barely hear, digging my fingers into Rapunzel’s arm once more to keep her there. This time she doesn’t fight against me, instead listening to her father’s choked words. “N - now, we’re both fucked.”
He gasps for breath, and the lifeline he’s clinging to stretches tight. Rapunzel’s eyes are filled with resignation as she watches her father take his dying breaths.
The Queen throws herself into the water as it happens, soaking her skirts. In the next breath Midas takes his last, and she’s already undoing the process of appearing in the water. Her body melts and fades, going back to her domain. Other than our labored breaths, for a moment it’s blissfully silent.
And then the wall explodes.