The Blunt Reaper

Mara stared at her palm as the cold inside her chest deepened.

A smaller creature lunged from the side, its narrow jaws opening around her forearm. Mara caught it beneath the head with her other hand, and the same wound appeared where her palm touched.

The invisible blade entered through the creature’s throat and pierced the dark mass of memories compressed within its body. The Abomination convulsed once before collapsing into ash.

Mara understood.

Not everything. She did not know the name of the person who had stood before her or why they had driven a blade through her heart. She could not see their face, the place where she had died, or anything that had happened before the weapon entered her chest.

She only knew the wound.

Its depth. Its angle. The shape of the cold that had followed it.

Mara had not drowned. She had not fallen, nor had some sickness taken her while she slept.

Someone had stabbed her through the heart.

The realization nearly caused her to release the rope, but Rook caught her wrist and pulled her upward.

More Abominations entered the lantern’s reach beneath them. The pulse from Mara’s awakening had travelled farther than the scent of their blood. Every creature capable of sensing souls had felt a new Death Imprint open beneath the water, and now they were converging upon it.

The worm-shark surged toward them first. Its circular mouth widened until its entire head folded backwards, revealing rings of teeth extending deep into its body. It passed through the place where Mara had been a moment earlier and collided with two smaller creatures pursuing her.

Rook used the collision. He wrapped the grave-rope around both forearms and climbed, dragging himself upward while Mara followed beneath him. Her thoughts moved too slowly to understand anything beyond the necessity of reaching the surface.

Something caught Rook’s ankle.

A long pale arm extended from below, ending in a hand divided into six hooked fingers. The claws closed around his boot and dragged him down until the grave-rope snapped tight beneath his grip.

Mara reached for the limb and struck its wrist with her palm.

A puncture appeared through the center of the arm. The invisible wound travelled upward beneath the creature’s skin, searching for something it could destroy.

The limb did not turn to ash.

Whatever mass held the Abomination together remained deeper below, distributed through a body hidden beyond the lantern’s reach. Mara had wounded one part of it without reaching the memories at its center.

The creature pulled harder.

Pain drove through Mara’s chest. The remembered blade entered her heart again, carrying the same pressure and cold she had experienced during her awakening. Strength fled her arm, and darkness pressed against the edges of her sight.

The ability had worked.

It had not been enough.

Rook drew his one-handed scythe and cut through the wounded limb. The severed hand remained locked around his ankle, but the rest of the arm fell away into the darkness. He kicked the hooked fingers loose before they could tighten again.

Above them, the grave-rope began moving.

The line tightened until both of them were dragged upward. The ferryman had begun hauling them in.

Mara wrapped both arms around the rope and held on as it pulled her through the water. Rook remained beneath her, positioning his body between Mara and anything rising from the depths. He slashed at grasping limbs, kicked snapping jaws aside, and allowed the moving line to carry them toward the surface.

Purple light grew stronger overhead, and the underside of the boat gradually appeared through the dark water.

A serpentine creature rose beneath Rook, its long mouth splitting open from its neck to its waist. He forced the scythe sideways between its jaws. The Abomination closed its mouth around the weapon and tore it from his hand, but the obstruction slowed the creature long enough for the rope to pull Rook beyond its reach.

Mara struck the side of the boat.

Hands caught the back of her coat, and the ferryman dragged her over the rail before throwing her onto the boards. She landed hard, coughing water from a body that had never needed to breathe.

"You’re insane!" the old man shouted.

He immediately turned away from her and reached for the rope again.

Mara forced herself upright just as Rook’s hand broke through the surface. He caught the outer rail, but something pulled from below. His arm stretched beneath his weight, and his fingers slipped one by one across the wet wood.

Mara lunged forward and seized his wrist.

It was the same position as before. Only moments earlier, she had clung to his coat while the mermaid dragged him beneath the sea. This time, Mara wrapped both hands around his arm and refused to let go.

Rook’s other hand struck the rail.

The water beneath him erupted as a wide mouth closed around his leg. Mara caught a glimpse of pale flesh and several overlapping rows of human teeth before the creature began dragging Rook beneath the surface again.

He pulled another dagger from his coat and drove it into the creature’s upper jaw. The blade entered to the handle, but the Abomination remained attached.

Mara released Rook with one hand and pressed her palm against the side of its mouth.

The wound opened beneath her touch.

It pierced the creature’s jaw, continued through its thick skull, and struck something dark buried near the center. Mara felt resistance. The memory mass was larger than those she had found inside the mermaid and the smaller predator. Her invisible blade entered it, but failed to pass entirely through.

The Abomination convulsed, and its jaws loosened.

Rook tore his leg free and began climbing over the side. Mara tried to pull her hand away, but the creature surged upward once more.

Rook caught the back of her coat and threw her behind him.

The fish struck the hull. Its mouth closed upon empty air before the current dragged it beneath the boat and carried them beyond its reach.

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