The Blunt Reaper

The blue lanterns of the Eighty-Sixth Bastion disappeared one by one behind them.

For a while, neither Rook nor Mara spoke. The road leading away from the ruins remained uneven beneath their feet, broken paving stones gradually giving way to hard soil and patches of black grass. Rook kept the lantern low and walked ahead, following a route only he appeared capable of seeing. The coffin shifted against his back with every step, its chains giving the occasional muted clink.

Mara followed close enough that the pale contract between them remained little more than a faint line of light. She had spent most of the journey to the Bastion complaining about the chain whenever it tightened. Now, she kept glancing at it with an expression Rook had learned to distrust.

He endured the silence for several minutes before Mara smiled.

Rook did not turn. "Whatever you're about to say, don't."

"I haven't said anything."

"You made a face."

"You can see my face from there?"

"I can feel when you're preparing to become irritating."

Mara quickened her pace until she walked beside him. "You came back for me."

Rook continued forward. "No, I didn't."

"You did."

"I was standing there the entire time."

"The contract was broken. You could have left whenever you wanted."

"And leave Voss standing?"

"You could have killed him without worrying about me."

"That was the plan."

"It didn't look like it."

Rook glanced at her. "What did it look like?"

"It looked like you stopped the moment he threatened to snap my neck."

"He was surrounded by his Reapers. Charging in would have been stupid."

"You've done considerably more stupid things since I met you."

"Which means even I thought that would be stupid."

Mara's smile widened. "You protected me when the contract wasn't forcing you."

"I was trying to ruin Voss's day."

"By saving my neck."

"Your neck happened to be involved."

"And then you allowed me to stand behind you."

"Because you had stolen a bottle of Abomination lure and were holding it like a drunk with a thunder charge."

"You told the others to stay away from me."

"I didn't want them knocking the bottle out of your hand."

"You warned Voss not to touch me."

"I wanted to be the one who killed him."

Mara nodded thoughtfully. "You seem to have an explanation for everything."

"I've had three hundred years to prepare them."

"That almost sounds like an admission."

"It sounds like you should walk farther behind me."

The chain brightened when he tried increasing the distance between them. It tightened around his blackened arm, pulling Mara forward half a step before Rook reluctantly slowed.

She looked down at the pale light and laughed.

Rook scowled at the road. "I hate this damn thing."

"We're bound again." She smirked

"I didn't know whispering two words into my ear would bind us again."

"You would have known if you had listened when the rules were explained."

"I was there when the rules were written."

"And you still fell for it."

"I didn't fall for anything. You abused a poorly worded contract while holding an entire district hostage."

"It worked."

"That doesn't make it intelligent."

"It worked on Voss."

Rook could not argue with that without lying more obviously than he already had. He adjusted the coffin across his shoulders and continued through the darkness. Mara remained beside him, wearing the satisfied expression of someone who had no intention of allowing the subject to disappear.

"Admit it," she said. "You would have protected me even without the contract."

"No."

Mara waited for him to elaborate, but Rook continued walking without offering another word. Eventually, she looked ahead and smiled to herself.

"Whatever helps you sleep."

"I don't sleep."

"Of course you don't."

The road gradually disappeared beneath the grass. Low hills rolled through the darkness ahead, their shapes visible only when Rook raised the lantern. Nothing moved among them. No cries travelled through the distance, and no Abomination emerged to follow their light. Compared to the ruins behind them, the open land felt almost peaceful.

Mara looked back once more at the faint remains of the Bastion. "That Fourth Rank was underwhelming."

Rook stopped so abruptly that Mara nearly walked into the coffin.

"What?" she asked.

"You watched it cut through several Reapers, regenerate an arm and nearly split me into pieces."

"The Third Rank in the long grass was scarier."

"The Weeping Child?"

"The third rank ate other abominations like they were nothing, compared to that, The Fourth Rank got tied it up, Voss tore its muscles apart, and then you hit it in the head with an axe."

"Twice." He added.

"That doesn't improve its reputation. It still got taken care of quickly."

Rook resumed walking. "Ranks measure corruption and spiritual condensation. They don't decide how frightened you should be."

"So the Fourth Rank wasn't strong?"

"It was strong enough to kill every Reaper in that field if we had faced it under different conditions. There were too many of us surrounding it. Every time it attacked someone, three others had an opening. Once the ropes were around it, the fight was over. It just hadn't realized yet."

Mara considered that. "And the Third Rank?"

"We were alone. I couldn't Cull it, you couldn't fight. That made it more dangerous to us."

"It still felt more focused. At least while eating."

"It was." Rook shifted the lantern toward the ground, watching the grass ahead for any movement. "The Fourth Rank was confused. There were too many memories inside it, too many deaths and too many voices trying to control the same body. The moment it recognized me, it stopped fighting properly."

"It nearly killed you."

"Improperly doesn't mean harmless."

"It kept shouting different things."

"Because different pieces of it remembered different things. Some hated me. Some didn't know who I was. Others were probably reliving their own deaths and had no idea where they were. It was confused, it was lost and unable to properly use its instincts. We were lucky."

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