Reaper Academy: Book One

Chapter TwentyTwo: PLEASE REVIEW

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

“What do you mean we have a problem?” The Head Mistress demanded.

Master Reaper Nicolas looked behind him toward Celia. “Articus Lykos is out to kill you.”

“And why would he go do something so foolish as that?” she asked with an amused smile.

“Because he thinks Darklings are Reapers,” Nicolas replied stiffly.

Her smile faltered. “Did you know of this?”

A faint hope shivered through Articus when he realized the Head Mistress had asked Celia.

What the bloody hell is she doing here?

Celia held her head up high. “Of course not. The man hasn’t spoken to me since he came back from his last assignment.”

Nicolas shut the door behind Celia with a loud thud.

“Then why are you here?” the Head Mistress pressed.

When Celia glared at Nicolas, he said, “Because she just happened to be trying to leave.”

“Leave?”

They both know. s***.

“My father is very ill,” Celia replied dangerously. “Are we done? I want to make sure he is well before I take on another assignment.”

“Word of advice? Before you try to lie, make sure you can control all of the signs. Sit,” the Head Mistress tone was as dangerous as Celia’s had.

Celia looked from Nicolas to the very distracting Kalian woman. Damn all northern women. Focus Articus.

“I’d advise you to leave for a time until we can locate him,” Nicolas said as Celia sat down stiffly onto one of the couches, between the two. “I have our people scouring the grounds as we speak.”

“Advise me to leave? He is only one man Nicolas. Get the word out to everyone else that he is helping the Darklings and inform me when you have his head on a pike.”

Nicolas started shaking his head the moment his master started speaking. “No, he is not just one man. You underestimate him, or have you forgotten already?”

“Silence!” she snapped.

The Ghourdian kept his silence long enough to calm himself. He was furious at her. “Fine. What do you want me to do with her?”

Articus eased out one of his darts and held his breath.

“Dispose of her however you wish. Now leave me, I have enough things on my mind right now.”

Celia shot up, her hand going for her sa’dka. Just as Nicolas reached for his weapon, the Head Mistress lifted her hand and a thick cord of energy snaked around Celia’s throat.

With a sharp jerk, he pulled the Head Mistress’s head up and sliced her neck.

Blood sprayed onto the table in front of them like red wine. For one long heartbeat both Celia and Nicolas starred at Articus who had seemingly appeared out from no where.

Not wasting any breath, Articus leaped over the flailing Kalian and pulled out his sa’dka in time to catch Nicolas’s extended one. Like a bolt, he struck the Master Reaper with his dart, punching through the Reaper’s tunic and into his lung. Stunned, Nicolas backpedaled away from Articus, only to fall on his ass.

“Articus!” Celia gasped.

It took Articus a second to realize she wasn’t yelling his name in shock but in warning. Unfortunately, he was a second too late.

The Head Mistress backhanded him in the jaw, sending him across the room as if he’d been hit by a sledge hammer. He inhaled sharply at the pain and then exhaled loudly as his head slammed into the wall--ten spans from where he’d been earlier.

“You will die you ungrateful twit!” the Head Mistress screamed.

Articus got up and tried to focus on the woman but he saw two of them.

Not good. Why didn’t you just go for the brain? Stupid. Stupid.

She healed a lot faster than the other bitch. Watch out!

Articus’s eyes snapped into focus and he saw Nicolas Accelerating toward him. He danced around the Reaper’s attacks as if Nicolas was the slow one. After three unsuccessful strikes, the Reaper snapped back into real time.

He can’t Accelerate for very long. Noted. Where is that bitch?

Articus dodged another attack and delivered his own. As Nicolas parried it, Articus sent a green glowing foot into the Reaper’s stomach. Boy did he fly.

He sent Nicolas across the room and through the solid eight foot oak bedroom door. Instinctively Articus ducked and barely dodged the Head Mistress’s blade.

“Impossible!” she shrieked. She had Accelerated.

Articus backed away from her as she lashed out at him. While her attacks seemed wild, Articus knew she was no nugget. He watched the red thin line that ran the width of her neck turn pink, then to white, and then only smooth skin showed just beneath the dried blood.

s***. She’s a bloody Reaper on Rush.

The Head Mistress laughed half hysterically as she too took a number of steps backward. “That’s right boy. I am the Reaper. You will die this time.”

Time slowed in Articus’s head as he watched Celia rise from the couch like a swan. She had been knocked down to the floor.

His eyes slowly focused on the Head Mistress who had pulled her hand back as if to punch him but her palm was open toward him. And then she drew on all the energy around her… all the energy around her. The light dimmed until the only light in the room was in the Head Mistress’s hand. Roaring wordlessly, the enraged Kalian drove her hand forward with all her might. In the back of Articus’s mind, he tracked Celia’s movement. By her speed, if she were stupid enough, she would be close enough to get in between him and the ball of energy.

If she were stupid enough? Yeah, like that’s a question.

Cursing himself for waiting so long, Articus whispered to Cedrick, “Now.”

Articus Accelerated.



Almost instantaneously there was a loud boom off in the distance just before he felt time slow to a halt. To Articus, it was like the boom sound had frozen along with time. There was a constant loud ‘thrum’ sound as he moved forward.

The room was as black as his hands when he reached for his power, which didn’t help Articus in the least. He had to find Celia and there were a good ten desolate spans between him and the Head Mistress. The bitch was somewhere behind the glowing ball and Celia somewhere in between.

Curse this darkness, Articus thought as he moved forward, looking for a shadow in the freakish glow of the energy ball. Halfway to the energy ball, Articus caught the slight movement of a shadow. While time slowed to almost a halt when he Accelerated, time didn’t stop completely.

That has to be her!

Articus leaped forward and found Celia not a span away from the head size energy ball, suspended in a jump that would put herself in its path. She would make it if he didn’t do something. Gripping her shoulder, he pushed her just as he resumed time.

“No!” Celia wailed as she was thrown back toward the couches.

The ball slammed into Articus and then, to his relief, melted away. He hadn’t really tested his anti-energy shield but, thankfully, it had worked like a charm. There had only been a slight pressure against his chest where the ball had unraveled.

“You--You--Aren't a Reaper!” The Head Mistress cried out. “No, impossible. There hasn’t been a Hunter in centuries.”

“Karma’s a bitch,” Articus snarled as he leapt the last span to her, whirling his sa’dka around. She barely blocked it and then counterattacked him. She’s good.

A loud cough came from the bedroom as Nicolas pushed a dangling door out of his way. Articus didn’t have time to worry about him, though; the Head Mistress was going into a frenzy of thrusts and slices. He parried every one but he was loosing confidence in his mission to kill her.

We are just going back and forth. She’s too damn good with the blade and my one bloody chance to kill her has already passed.

“Guards!” Nicolas croaked.

“Celia, get out of here!” Articus roared as he went into a series of attacks against the Head Mistress. While she was good, he wasn’t half bad either.

It would have been a mind boggling fight for any mortal to watch. Both Articus and the Head Mistress’s sa’dka shrank and grew in a deadly dance-like series of blocks, attacks and counterattacks. Not only were their weapons unconventional but also the speed at which they fought. It was fast--faster than any normal eye could watch at least.

“No!” Celia screamed as she lashed out with a complicated attack of threaded energy that would have made any Master Reaper gape in awe. Unfortunately, Nicolas was a Master Reaper who didn’t gape and was just as good. He blocked her attack from reaching the Head Mistress with a grunt.

“Celia, leave now!” Articus yelled over the sharp sounds of steel against steel. “Get out of here and into hiding like we bloody--well--planned.” His breath was starting to come out labored as all of his energy was focused on blocking the woman’s attacks. Articus didn’t want them to know of their real plan, and perhaps they would believe he would tell them their plan under desperation.

s***, she could win this. It was something Articus hadn’t thought of, him actually not winning at a sword fight. With all his powers, the old saying held truth: to be young is to be ignorant.

The woman had nine hundred years on him. He was screwed.

“Damn you woman, go or I will never forgive you!” Articus shot over his shoulder. Behind him, he could hear Nicolas and Celia at an energy deadlock. The room was starting to light up like the Empress’s Name Day.

There was a loud grunt from Nicolas and then a crash. Articus kept to his attack he had been throwing at the Head Mistress but he risked a glance behind him. He saw the fleeting figure of Celia rushing passed five Devotees who where trying to get in the door. They had apparently heard the commotion.

Time to jet Articus.

He turned his attention back to the Head Mistress but wasn’t fast enough. Her sa’dka sheathed itself into his shoulder and he felt it hit his bone, jarring him. Whirling she stabbed him with her other hand that held a da’kka he hadn’t seen her pull out. The small sharp dagger tore into his stomach.

As he collapsed, he felt the steel exit his body and Articus shuddered at the tearing feeling it made. He gasped in pain before he could block it from his mind--a Vanguard trick.

“Find the girl and bring her here,” the Head Mistress snapped at the gawking Devotees. Articus heard Nicolas crawling across the floor to the couches where Articus heard the creak of Nicolas’s body flopping into it.

He looked up to see his now overconfident opponent glaring at Nicolas. “Don’t give me that look, you are alive. Suck it up and get off my damn couch, you are staining it.”

“Bitch,” Nicolas laughed.

Articus saw the opportunity and took it. Reaching for his power, he watched his hands go pitch black. Not having thought of this during their fight, Articus made a mental note to hit himself over the head if he ever made it out of Tekal alive.

Rolling to his right, he felt the warm tingling of blood and of healing. Not wasting any time, he staggered to his feet but only managed to hunch. The stomach wound still hadn’t healed completely but it was getting there. He took one unsteady step and then he heard the Head Mistress gasp.

Move damn you. All she has to do is reach out.

And she tried. It would have been comical if it hadn’t been him. He dodged her blind wavering and ended up flailing to the ground. The sound ward built into this invisibility must have encompassed objects around him for the Head Mistress didn’t hear his fall. Taking that like a life line, he crawled wildly toward her bedroom and prayed she had a balcony like he did.

“Where the hell did he go?” Nicolas gasped in pain.

“He is a Hunter you idiot. I can’t believe we didn’t catch this sooner. Damnit!”

“A Hunter?”

“Are you okay Articus?” Mia’s voice echoed in his jumbled head.

“Later. Just try and find him. I injured him enough that he shouldn’t be able to walk for at least another ten minutes. He shouldn’t be far.”

“Now is not a good time, Mia.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Nicolas croaked.

“Stop talking and look!” The Head Mistress blindly went toward the front door.

There is still hope, Articus thought as he wildly crawled through the destroyed bedroom doorway.

“If he has stopped bleeding already, then he is long gone by now,” Nicolas almost growled at the Head Mistress.

“No he is still here, find him!”

“If you had just listened to me--"

“Shut up and look!” The Head Mistress was close to hysteria.

Articus made it through the doorway and crawled passed the bed to find his heart in his mouth.

Balcony!

Slowly he got up and felt his stomach had indeed healed to a pink line. His shoulder was just a dull ache in the back of his mind and even that was fading.

“There’s blood on this door!” Nicolas rasped from behind Articus.

Stealing himself, Articus ran to the balcony and jumped. Grabbing the railing at the last second, he swung himself back toward the ledge before dropping. Like a charm he landed on the balcony below the one he had jumped off of. Looking around wildly, Articus saw there wasn’t another balcony to leap to and the ground was a hundred spans below him.

Great idea Articus. Now all you need to do is learn how to fly.

When the balcony doors opened, Articus made another mental note, he’d sacrifice a goat or something to the Gods for their mercy. A man stepped out wearing only a loose robe, a Reaper Articus had seen in passing. Behind him a white robed woman had been strapped to his bedpost, her robe hung loosely around her waist and sweat covered her skin. The smell of sex hit Articus’s heightened nose like a battering ram.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

“Don’t worry my pet. I’m just going to get some air.”

“Thank you, master.”

I’m blind, deaf, and mute, Articus kept saying to himself he eased passed the man and the very aroused, very attractive woman.

Once outside of the room, Articus sprinted down the west wing and out into the Ring. Like the wind he ran toward the stables.

“I’m almost to the stables. Everyone okay?”

“Cedrick and Waylon haven’t reported in so I sent Dylon ahead of us. Akara says everything went according to plan on the Tyrn front.” Mia said in a mix of relief and worry.

Articus rounded the corner and sprinted all the way to the stables where Mia and the rest of her team were hidden under their invisibility. Nina climbed out of one of the empty stalls as Articus appeared, worry gnawing at her.

“Waylon? Report in,” Articus tried as he came to a stop in front of them.

Nothing.

“What happened?” Weryn asked quietly. The blood that coated Articus like a second skin was a hard thing to miss.

They couldn’t afford to wait any longer; they were bound to check the stables. Ignoring Weryn’s question he said, “We go on as planned.”

Nina opened her mouth to protest but shut it almost as fast as it had opened. Mia handed him the reins to Ronin before grabbing her own.

“What about the Guardian?” Articus asked, eyeing the portal.

“Our friends overrode this portal’s design. It can go to three portals now.”

“Design?” Articus asked.

As Akara started activating the portal, Weryn said, “This particular portal was designed to be linked to the one in the Guardian’s chamber and the testing chamber. No other portal in the world can reach it nor could you get to anyplace else. The mages that help us remotely changed it so that it could also get to one of our safe houses.”

“You can make portals?” Articus asked in disbelief.

“Limited functioning portals. They are only linked to other portals and don’t have dialing capabilities.”

Akara hit a fifth symbol on the portal and the eerie sheen melted into existence.

“Dialing,” Articus played with the word.

Something felt wrong to Articus but he couldn’t put his finger on it, let alone think straight.

Will went through first followed by Akara and Weryn. Mia lightly touched Nina’s arm and said, “They will be fine,” before stepping into the portal.

Nina gave a small shudder. Articus touched her back and gave her a light push.

“Go on,” he said gently.

She nodded slowly and stepped through.

He patted Ronin comfortingly before he followed Lady Nina.

I swear everybody is a bloody blueblood… What am I missing?