Page 69 of Down from the Tower

“Was that the Diamond King,” I blurt out, throwing my hand over my mouth in the next breath. I didn’t mean to cut in, and I wait for Zarev to reprimand me for doing so.

He doesn’t, pulling my hand from my lips with a frown. “I couldn’t move, so I stood there and watched the Mad Queen gloat over the latest kills. The shadow man watched on while the Queen poked fun at our deaths, but his likeness wasn’t that of the Diamond King. He simply stood there and at one point her arm passed through him entirely. That’s when I really knew he was dead, and so was I. He only spoke once, and just before he began I saw my friends appearing too as though from a haze. The longer we were stuck in death, the easier it became to see each other.”

When he speaks again, his voice is lower, like he’s impersonating the shadow man. “How curious. Four men felled by stone, in the land of madness unknown. Four to make a house so strong, the evil Queen's final song.” He clears his throat. “It made no sense back then. But he pointed at me, and the shadows shot from his hands. I thought he was something my brain made up to justify my sudden death, but the magic hit me and ripped a scream from my throat. I knew for sure then that he was real.”

“Who was he?”

“I have no idea. He didn’t speak directly to any of us from what I know. But when the shadows wrapped around me, I could see my friends clearly. They were trapped in their own void and turmoil until the shadows attached to us, like a cloak of Death. When he spoke again, he gave us nothing else to explain what was happening. I just remember the echo of his voice in my head, like a cryptic prophecy or warning.”

His voice goes back to that low timbre again. “Trapped beneath stone so cold, only here can power hold. From the stone a blade doth arise, to reap the soul’s last surprise. From the darkness can come light, if you help others reach the final goodbye.”

I shudder. “That’s… cryptic.”

“ I don’t really know how much time passed after the shadow man spoke his rhyme but for a moment I felt weightless before a crushing sensation enveloped me. The Queen and her court disappeared at some point, but I never saw them leave. They were simply there one moment and gone the next, like a bad dream where I was stuck beneath the stones again. The stones were heavy but the shadow magic he had cast upon us helped us crawl free of the rubble. It couldn’t heal us though, and it felt like a second death would soon beckon us home. Your gift of life maintains your youth. My curse of Death keeps me forever young, so the task of reaping never ends.”

I can’t even imagine what it’s like to die, come back, and still have no idea what’s going on. “What happened to the stone? Is that important?”

He nods. “When we managed to get free, the stones splintered and became malleable. The shadows clung to the stones like they had to the shadow man. We learned over time to work with the shadows and learned that when our energy is focused, we could use them to cut the stones into crude weapons. After that, there was nothing else to do but find a way out of Wonderland. When we realized the living couldn’t see us, we made our escape.” Zarev sighs. “It took four days. We didn’t travel very fast, and we were easily winded and still healing. The weapons worked well for each of us, and we nearly made it back to Sherwood before Legs crossed our path.”

“Legs, the one who tends to those freakish flowers?”

“Yes, though the mutations aren’t all her fault. Wonderland’s soil is forever poisoned in sin. She caught us along the barrier to Sherwood, stopping us before we could cross. She said a man of shadow visited her days ago in a dream and told her to hand us this when we passed.”

He taps a finger over the scars. “It was the ingredients to a salve. Helped to diminish the scars once she found us. She told us to run from the woods, to never look back, and we didn’t. It took almost a month to figure out why we were seeing the dead, and longer still to figure out how to cut into space and allow the spirits to pass through.”

“Cut into space…” I shake my head. That must be the way to reap, but I have yet to see the process for myself. With Raymundo around, Zarev doesn’t have to be the one to do the reaping, and so long as the gold affects his powers he doesn’t seem eager to try. “No one could help with all this?”

“Have you met another Reaper,” he asks dryly. “The only person who could was the man of shadows, and we never saw him again. As we learned to adapt, we divided. Lucius went back to the palace he was banished from, and now he’s trapped there. Ban disappeared just as quickly, and he is very much on his own journey. He rarely checks in anymore, just letting us know on occasion if something is wrong in his domain.”

“Domain?”

“I watch the south eastern side of Mystica. Ray, the southwest quadrant, Ban to the northwest and Lucius to the northeast. We reap when we can and try to stay off the Queen’s radar.”

“If this happened long ago, would the Queen even recognize you?”

“I'm sure she would. Cutting those stones caused a scandal, and people whispered about men of Death traveling through the lands. When we couldn't hide it anymore, we revealed ourselves. She knows we exist, but she has no idea what to do with us anymore than we do.” He licks his lips. “The sword Arthur Pendragon carries was pulled from the same type of stone as the one we cut. People think the stone isn’t important, just the sword. But Excalibur is a magical item, crafted from stone of strength and power. It was the same type of stone that rained down and crushed us that day.”

I have to close my eyes and fit the pieces together in my head. Arthur Pendragon is the King of Camelot, and if the Reapers were crushed by the stones in Wonderland that are similar to his blade… did Arthur find his sword in the Mad Queen’s territory?

That could mean there’s a connection between Camelot and Wonderland. Staring at the map, it's not completely unbelievable since the borders touch. But unless they are allies, I can’t imagine that someone like the Mad Queen would let Arthur have such a powerful weapon as Excalibur. Even if he snuck into her lands to steal it, the blade Arthur wields is well known. I’m sure at some point she would realize that it came from her lands. Or, maybe I’m making her out to be too observant. Maybe he’s had the sword all along right under her nose, and the Mad Queen is none the wiser.

I purse my lips, trying to decide what confusing snippet to grab onto and try to understand. After several moments, I settle for the part that directly affects me. “So why the concern with the spirits in Tressa?”

Zarev hesitates, and I know getting him to give up the secrets surrounding my home will be a struggle. “Any power the Queen can gain is bad,” he says finally. “Souls are meant to pass on. The ones that remain too long become cursed and turn deadly. That was my concern with Modred if he’s here too long. And if the Queen had it her way, everyone’s spirit would be damned when they died, and turn their life force over to her. Hearts are just another tradable good for her. Blood magic comes at a price, but not one she likes to pay herself. She would rather force submission from the soul through a heart, and if she can’t physically hold one to maintain control, she uses the blood magic now infused in the earth in Wonderland to draw wayward spirits to her. The Barrens, the dead earth between Sherwood and the Red Woods, helps to deter many spirits from going to her court. The space doesn’t convey magical energy with no magic left in the earth itself, and many spirits wander forever in the dead zone, waiting to be Reaped. Unfortunately, our magic isn’t strong there either. It’s nearly impossible to Reap someone stuck in The Barrens.”

I bite my lip thoughtfully. There’s a lot to unpack, and I get the feeling Zarev will be repeating himself many times in the future. “The Queen should fear you, all of you. A soul wronged in life will hold a grudge in death.”

I snort. “Are you an expert on death now, Princess?”

“No. It’s something my father would say. He said the dead can be manipulated. He told me that once. I almost forgot, because it was the day he almost killed Robin the Brave.”

“The man half-imbedded in the wall of the palace?”

“There’s several.” I sound numb to the truth, and maybe I am. “He always said that the spirit is what makes us real. We never spoke of Death really, so I never questioned it. I didn’t feel like using the short periods of time my parents did take an interest in me to argue about the dead.”

“I went to Tressa because the land is dying. The Queen continues killing, and as Reapers we can only move so far and fast to save the souls. Things shouldn't be like this. Before us people had to pass on in their own time, another way. I believe the shadow man we saw had something to do with it before we came to be, but despite looking all over Mystica, we’ve never found him.”

“What will you do if you find him?”

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