The Blunt Reaper

Mara reached for the scythe buried in the creature’s forehead and closed her fingers around the handle.

The mermaid’s remaining eyes turned toward her.

It released Rook’s throat with one arm and seized Mara by the wrist. Its outer jaws opened, allowing the second mouth to unfold from within and extend toward her hand. Several rows of narrow teeth snapped shut as Mara released the scythe and pulled back, missing her fingers by less than an inch.

That moment was enough for Rook.

He released the grave-rope with one hand, caught the scythe’s handle, and twisted. The curved blade moved through the mermaid’s skull, splitting one turquoise eye before tearing through the bone surrounding it. The edge curved behind the creature’s outer jaw and burst from the side of her mouth. Rook continued pulling until the blade ripped through both sets of jaws.

The mermaid convulsed, and her human arms finally released him. A scream passed through the water without producing any sound. Mara felt it as a shudder against her teeth and deep within the bones of her face.

Rook kicked free from the creature’s divided tail and caught the grave-rope again. He placed the handle of the scythe between his teeth, seized Mara by the front of her coat, and pulled her toward the line.

For a moment, they hung together beneath the moving boat.

Then the water around them shifted as the nearest shapes took notice.

A worm-shark turned first. Its long body curled through the water, and the circular mouth at the front of its head opened. Two smaller creatures followed it, both pale and narrow enough to resemble severed arms until jaws unfolded along the entire length of their bodies.

Rook began climbing. He wrapped the grave-rope around one forearm and pulled himself upward, using the constant tension to drag both of them toward the surface. Mara climbed beneath him, although her legs had grown strangely heavy. The lantern struck her ribs with every movement, its blue flame shaking behind the glass.

Below them, the mermaid recovered.

She twisted through the darkness, her ruined face leaking black blood into the water. The damage should have destroyed anything living. Half her jaw hung open, and one of her turquoise eyes had been torn apart.

She still climbed after them.

Her divided tail closed around the rope. Hooked claws pierced the grave-thread and dragged her upward with quick, violent movements as more creatures gathered beneath her.

Farther behind them, the Fourth Rank continued tearing apart the armored vessel. The smaller predators had been unwilling to enter its feeding ground, but they no longer needed to. Rook and Mara were wounded, exposed, and trailing blood and memory essence through the open water.

They were much easier prey.

The first pale creature reached Rook and closed its jaws around his shoulder. Teeth passed through his coat and sank into the remembered flesh beneath. Rook spat the scythe from his mouth, caught its handle, and drove the hooked blade through the creature’s neck.

He ripped it sideways.

The head separated from most of the body, but the jaws remained locked around his shoulder. The creature’s lower half twisted through the water and struck Mara across the face before drifting away.

Rook tore the severed head from his shoulder and threw it into the darkness below. Every creature beneath them descended upon it, colliding in a frenzy of teeth and pale limbs.

The distraction allowed Rook and Mara to climb several more body lengths. The grave-rope shook beneath their hands as the ferryman continued guiding the boat above. Each pull carried them closer to the surface, where dim purple light had begun filtering through the dark water.

Then something caught Mara’s ankle and snapped her body downward.

The rope slipped through one hand, tearing skin from her palm before she managed to tighten her grip. Rook turned above her, holding the grave-thread with one arm while reaching down with the other.

The mermaid had wrapped both human arms around Mara’s leg. Her ruined mouth opened beneath Mara’s boot. The inner jaws were gone, torn apart by the scythe, but broken teeth still lined the outer mouth. Several smaller eyes blinked along her neck as she began climbing Mara’s body.

Mara kicked her in the face. Her heel struck the collapsed turquoise eye and forced the creature’s head backwards, but the mermaid continued climbing.

She kicked again, this time driving her heel into the wound left by the scythe. The split opened farther, releasing black blood that rolled through the water and spread around Mara’s legs.

The mermaid’s claws entered her calf.

Pain cut through the numbness, and something inside Mara’s mind came away with it.

She forgot what the room at the inn had smelled like.

Another claw opened the back of her thigh, and the bed disappeared next.

Mara still remembered sleeping before the ferryman woke them, but she could no longer picture where she had rested. She did not know whether the bed had been made from cloth, wood, or stone. Only the knowledge that she had slept remained.

The creature pulled again, and a street vanished from Mara’s thoughts. She remembered walking through the Last Anchorage, but the buildings that had surrounded her were gone. Then the face of one of the cooks dissolved before she could decide whether she had ever seen it clearly.

Mara gripped the rope with both hands and kicked harder, but the mermaid climbed past her knees.

Rook reached down and caught her wrist.

The contract reacted the instant his fingers closed around her. The pale chain between their arms brightened, and heat passed through Mara’s body. Beneath Rook’s sleeve, the Brand burned black against his arm, punishing him for allowing the soul under his protection to be harmed.

His grip tightened as he pulled Mara upward.

The mermaid pulled in the opposite direction.

For several seconds, Mara remained stretched between them while the current dragged all three toward the east. The claws buried in her leg tore through more flesh, releasing blood that floated around them in dark ribbons.

The worm-shark abandoned the severed head and turned its circular mouth toward Mara.

More shapes entered the lantern’s reach.

A creature with a narrow human torso and the head of an anglerfish approached from below. Its lure opened into a blue light resembling the lantern strapped to Mara’s wrist. A cluster of small faces pressed against the transparent flesh surrounding its mouth, each moving as though attempting to speak.

Another pale fish caught Rook’s leg. He kicked it away, but two more immediately took its place. One latched onto his coat while the other wrapped its boneless body around his arm and began pulling him from the rope.

Rook released Mara long enough to seize the creature by the head. His fingers sank into its eyes as he tore one arm free, followed by the other. Before he could reach for Mara again, something else caught his boot. A hooked limb closed around his waist, and teeth scraped across the back of his neck.

The chain between him and Mara burned brighter.

Pale light flooded the water. Blinding every creature in sight, and creating one mess no one wanted.

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