Reaper Academy: Book One

Chapter Eighteen: PLEASE REVIEW

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Articus methodically and discreetly checked his weapons as he watched the group look for a table in the crowded common room.

In Capri, unlike Ghourd, it was illegal to carry a weapon unless you were a Peacekeeper. They had the paperwork that would tell everyone that they were Peacekeepers but Tekal protocol stated that it was a last resort.

His dart knife was comfortably lodged in his right boot and both his da’kka and sa’dka were hidden under his short overcoat, yet in easy reach.

Articus saw Cedrick doing the same as the man’s eyes casually followed the newcomers. While his lips didn’t move, he could just hear the man whisper “You want to tell me something?” Even with his heightened hearing, it was a strain to hear over the room’s murmur.

Cedrick had seen the nod as well.

“Haven’t seen him before,” Articus replied in the same way.

Cedrick looked right at him and then shook his head. “What in the seven hells is going on?”

The way the Darkling had looked at him and Cedrick… “He can tell how strong we are,” Articus said confidently.

“What?”

They way he looked at both of us--not just me.” And then, as if the Gods suddenly gave him the crystal clarity of insight, he said, “He is like me.”

The Ghourdian nervously looked from the group who had just found a seat to Articus. “You are talking nonsense Articus.”

“No,” Articus said the word slowly, almost painfully. “I’m sure of it.”

He looked up to see Cedrick studying him. It could only mean one thing. I’m half Darkling, or full Darkling. It would explain a lot.

As if reading his mind, Cedrick nodded. “How do you want to play this?”

Articus consciously removed his hand from his sa’dka’s handle--he hadn’t realized he’d reached for it. I wouldn’t attack Cedrick even if it came to that, he told himself.

Survival first, you idiot, the devil in him lectured. Articus was beginning to wonder if that devil was something more than just the cold logical part of his brain as he’d came to believe.

“I--I don’t know. The strong one seems to sense us but not the other ones. He probably thinks we are Darklings as well. There must be more Darklings than we had thought if he thinks it isn’t uncommon for us to be here, people he doesn’t know.”

Cedrick slowly nodded to his logic and frowned. As the group sat down, both Cedrick and he tuned into the group’s conversation.

“What our luck. Why are we even here? We should be four cities away before they show up,” one of the three weaker ones was saying. He was the tallest and lankiest Caprian of the group.

“Boris, we are safe here?” asked the leader of the group, giving the nervous tall-and-lanky man a glare.

Boris, the strong one, nodded but his eyes darted for a fleeting instant towards Articus’s table. “Aye.”

The fourth man, an average sized Caprian, hissed, “Sean is right, we should be leagues away from here. We haven’t seen them yet, and that alone is making me nervous.”

“It will take them at least a week to find us even if they were here now,” the leader said coolly. “And we have our orders from the Chief. We need to be ready.”

Hells bells, what is going on?

Cedrick gave Articus a look that mimicked what Articus’s head was playing with. But he ignored it for the time being.

The slave girl Cedrick had flagged over came to their table after getting an ear full from a disgruntled drunk. Having forgotten her, Cedrick fumbled for an excuse. Meanwhile, Articus’s logical side started working.

You have to get out. Flee Tekal and get out before anyone finds out. Time is against you. Cedrick will cover you. You have enough gold now. The door is over there. Grab the horse and head for Kalian. You could pass off as a Kalian. You made some contacts their before. And…

The torrent of things he had to do to erase his tracks flooded through his mind, overwhelming it.

“Problem,” Cedrick said when the he finally got the slave to go. “What if Celia or Tallen come down?” He eyed the group who were drinking in silence. Boris’s eyes shifted between the door and the stairwell, every now and then shifting to Articus.

Do you really want your kin dead? asked the bloody small voice

“Stall them, act like you don’t know them. But make sure you look in their direction first, like you are doing them a favor. I’ll bet they are so wound up they will leave at the sight of them,” Articus whispered.

Cedrick only nodded. “You want to talk to them?”

“No, I--I think I’m going to take a trip to the boarder.”

“You’re running?” he asked incredulously.

“What the bloody hell do you think I should be doing?” Articus almost snarled. He was on edge. By the Gods, I’m a bloody Darkling. The realization hadn’t sunk in until just then. Bloody flaming hell!

Calming himself, he gave Cedrick an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

“Understandable. Look, head for a small village called Dreguson. It’s in western Ghourd. Our house is on the north side. It will probably take you a moon or less from here. Has a garden of yellow roses, hard to miss. Tell my wife I said hello.”

Roof Mistresses and wives. I really need to learn the difference. Aloud Articus said, “You’ve been a good friend. Thank you. Tell Nina… Tell her I’ll see her in the next life. Take care of Mia for me?”

“Stop talking like you won’t be seeing us ever again,” Cedrick said, rolling his eyes. “In three moons from now, we will all see each other again.”

“Three moons eh? Show off.”

Ignoring the jibe, Cedrick said, “You better go.” His eyes darting to the stairwell.

s***.

Both Celia and Tallen were walking down the stairwell.

Like a deer seeing a lion, Boris’s head snapped to the two Reapers.

s***. s***. s***.

The rest of the group was just sensing the new threat when Cedrick stood up, stumbling just slightly as if he were drunk. Boris’s head whipped to Articus. Articus only nodded as if to say ‘We are stalling them, go’.

Getting up, Articus headed for the door.

Come on Lady Luck. Be with me.

“Are you drunk?” Tallen demanded before Cedrick was even halfway.

“And where in the bloody hell do you think you are going Articus?”

s*** in a can.

Articus stopped in his tracks. Hesitantly he looked back to Tallen and then to Boris. Boris’s head went from Tallen to him, piecing it together. It didn’t take him long.

Suck me, we are blown.

Cedrick got the same impression and he dashed toward the two Reapers. Boris toppled the table over, his companions were just a blink away from standing up. In a surreal way, time seemed to slow in Articus’s mind. Celia’s eyes widened as Cedrick shot toward them, three paces away. Tallen’s face was a thing of confusion, but his head was turning toward the four Darklings in an agonizing slowness. Tall-and-lanky, or Sean, raised his hand up, energy started gathering from around the room into a ball. Leader and average sized man were just raising their hands up. Boris was jumping over the table, charging Articus.

Right at that moment, he had a choice. Logical part of him told him to run. Three weak ones would be left and they weren’t a match for his friends. Boris would follow him and, if Articus could kill him, he could disappear. But the ever present, bad timing, small voice told him that Cedrick and--more importantly--Celia was endangered. The later surprising him.

Damn Cedrick to hell.

Articus Accelerated.

Like an arrow, Articus beelined it to his companions, Boris left in the dust. By then, Sean’s thread like energy was halfway across the room, aimed right at Tallen with Celia behind him. Articus debated on saving the Lord right then. Unsurprisingly, the small voice in his head didn’t give objections to the bigger voice. Growling, he pushed the Lord away and flew over his falling body, covering Celia with his own body as they slammed to the ground.

Time resumed and the room erupted in chaos.

The wall their heads exploded and bits of the stone tumbled down on Articus’s back. Rolling off his mentor, he pulled out both his da’kka and sa’dka. Boris came to a stopped, confused. Then his eyes shifted to where Articus was crotched.

“Leave or die,” Articus said aloud. Tallen, the idiot, didn’t wait.

Charging the three Darklings by the table, he ignorantly didn’t notice Boris outflanking him. Celia, having seen Boris, charged to intercept him. Cedrick, not wanting to miss a ‘good fight’ followed after Tallen.

I’m a dead idiot, Articus repeated over and over in his head as he out ran Celia to meet Boris.

As Articus leapt over a table that attempted to cover three confused patrons, Boris used a stool to leverage himself to meet Articus’s attack.

All around them sounds of fighting broke out.

Boris snarled venomously as he brought down a hammering blow. Articus prepared himself and slammed into the attack with his own. Steel locked steel as they hung there in the air for a memorizing second. Landing, Articus used quick footwork to evade a nasty left hook. Feigning a left jab with his da’kka, he extended out his sa’dka a whole two paces, impaling Boris’s foot to the table. Gasping in pain, Articus swatted the Darkling’s dagger away and used his elbow to break his nose. Whirling around quickly, he reverse dropkicked the Darkling to his knees, his sa’dka tearing into his foot more. By this time, Celia was behind him. Raising her hand, she blasted the Darkling with a large but focused ball of energy into the Darkling’s chest.

Unlike anything Articus had ever seen, the ball wavered and dispersed before it could hit his chest. Not missing a beat, Boris punched Articus into the ribs hard before backhanding his chin, tossing him up into the ceiling like a rag doll, breaking one of the rafters. Head stuck between the rafter above the one he broke, Articus watched his shocked Ghourdian mentor back away, pulling her sa’dka out. With a great heave, he pushed his head out of the rafter, landing between Boris and Celia.

More screams filled the room as Sean went down under Cedrick’s sword. Tallen was busy with the leader and the average man but he seemed to have everything in control. Articus didn’t have time to see anything else for Boris sent a furry of attacks at him. His hard training against Nina paid off as he deflected the attacks with fluid ease. Blocking a cut that would have departed his head from his shoulders, he whirled on his balls of his feet, brining the sword down toward the Darkling’s hip. Just before he made contact, he felt the surge of power and couldn’t do anything about it. His opponent disappeared.

A terrifying instant later, Articus was thrown into the nearest wall. The Caprian had Accelerated to evade the attack and had sent a mighty blow to Articus’s head. Surprisingly, instead of his body giving away to the hard rock, the stone wall gave away.

“Traitor!” Boris bellowed as he rounded on Articus and charged him, ignoring Celia’s sword completely. Roaring with his own defiance, Articus slid out of the crater he had made and charged to meet the Darkling. They met halfway again, but this time Articus used his fists instead of the blades he carried. Green energy surrounded his balled fists as he deflected a blow and sent his own into the Darkling’s cheek. Shocked, the Darkling flew into the wall to his left. They were thoroughly trashing the tavern.

Celia charged Boris as he hit with surprising agility, lashing out with her sword in a hard thrust toward his barreled chest. Boris reflected the attack, sending the sword into his thigh instead of his heart. Like a demented dance, Boris’s fist made contact to her gut as Celia tried to back away.

Articus watched in horror as the back of her shirt tore outward, a subtle wave rippling along her backside. The force of his punch had gone right through her.

Fear melted away as pure rage filled him. Time stopped as he Accelerated to the Darkling. Flying debris bounces harmlessly off of Articus as he leaped over tables and stools. Everyone was frozen in time, even Celia’s body was still trying to fall.

Reaching Boris and Celia in probably less then a tenth of a heartbeat in real time, Articus gripped the Darkling’s head in his glowing green hands. Time resumed and the Darkling’s eyes became large orbs. Articuss met the Darkling’s shocked eyes.

“Die.” The cold part of him spoke the word before he knew it.

Articus felt something change in him, something… violent. The Caprian’s head exploded as his hand was consumed in emerald green light.

Ignoring Celia’s collapsed body, he turned to the last two remaining Darklings. Both Cedrick and Tallen had paused in their fighting when their opponents watched in revulsion as Articus killed their friend. As one, the two Darklings charged him, ignoring their confused opponents. Rage and fear tormented their face.

”They may be like humans, but deep down, they are only animals.” Celia’s voice came to him hauntingly.

Taking a step forward, he roared, “I’ll take every damn one of you with me!”

Dodging the first attack, he sent his right fist into the Darkling’s stomach but the green energy around his hands never came. The other Darkling that had been a heartbeat behind the first struck out with his sword like a lightening bolt. The cold steal slid into Articus’s side, between his ribs. Pain nibbled at Articus’s maelstrom of emotions, but it never registered fully with him. As Articus sluggishly turned toward the attacking Darkling, the first Darkling sent his sword into Articus’s stomach, upwards toward his heart.

That hurt like hell.

As if hit with a sledge hammer, Articus was slammed with pain that came to him in waves. Grasping the one that he could feel inches from his heart; he broke it with his bare hands, the green energy returning in defiance. With his last stubborn strength, Articus sent both of his arms outward and into the two Caprians like a monkey. His vision blurred as he watched two holes blow clear through where their hearts had been… just before the Darklings’ bodies were sent through each wall beside him--a whole span of stone--and beyond.

Collapsing, Articus gasped for breath, one of his lungs he could feel filling up with blood. His mind couldn’t keep up with what had happened. Like a book that read out of order, he recalled the sword he had broken had been wedged through his heart by a last second kick from the Darkling. He could hear his heart beating loudly in his ears. It was fading.

Thump

Pain Articus hadn’t ever imagined rattled him as his body tried to heal the major wounds. He shuddered. Pulling the two abandoned swords out, he rested his head back against the wall.

Thump

”Reapers can take a beating but if you hit enough critical spots at once, it is hard for the Reaper to recuperate from it.” Celia’s voice came to him.

On his knees, he slumped down beside Celia’s stilled body. Why… Why did she interfere? Why?

Thhump

“Articus!” Cedrick whispered from somewhere. His body felt heavy. He wanted to move but his limbs wouldn’t respond to his thoughts. Like a helpless babe, he watched Cedrick come into his tunneling vision.

“Articus, hold on man. Just hold on.”

He could just make out the giant’s voice. Why is Cedrick whispering?

“Tallen! Stop staring and get your bloody ass in gear! You! Help me with him. I don’t care if you are a flaming Lord. You girl, help our other friend out. Is she alive? No?”

Thump

Articus tried desperately to stay conscious but it he had no will left in him. Darkness.

So this is what hell is like.

Silence