16​ Reaper’s End

SITUATED ON A broad plateau was the old fortress. Days had passed since the dead woman incident, and when they rounded a spur of rock halfway up the valley, Taver caught his first glimpse. The western mountains of Yalta Island filled a broad peninsula jutting into the Adalcis Ocean. Dozens of valleys and gorges allowed the viral clots, consisting of thousands of individuals, to hide within reach of the fortress.

He’d heard stories of Reaper’s End, once the home of the most famous spectral mage in history, Rasnal Nalrost. He’d also heard of spirits prowling its walls, which some suggested were servants of the undead. Any living soul who entered Reaper’s died a horrible death, and became one of the sentinels, or so they said. The tales also said the walls were jagged and broken, and that the entranceway was a gaping black hole.

From what Taver could see, it looked to be in one piece. A mass of black walls and towers jutting from the peaks crowding it. A forbidding sight certainly, but no sign of ghosts.

When they reached the head of the valley, they followed a narrow path towards the main gate in the outer wall. Four undead mages and a dozen loyal Necros Guardians awaited them.

While they met Tezcat as one of their own, two of the mages took to an extensive examination of Taver. This was despite the fact he recognised them, and was certain they knew him. I guess I can’t blame them, he thought, after so many turned on them. They didn’t touch him, but then they didn’t need to. Tendrils of power caressed his skin, cold tentacles rummaging beneath his clothing, and his flesh. The Aidari felt a chill settle within his bones. It wasn’t the freezing or numbing type. It was, well, somewhat indescribable.

Despite having attended the Necropolis, it wasn’t every day he felt viralic power reaching inside of him. It probed his spirit, who he was and would become. He knew this instinctively as the magic flowed through him.

Satisfied he wasn’t a threat, they let him through, although one of the mages stared at him with an odd gleam in her eyes. Taver decided to offer her a wink. The mage scowled, turning her attention back to the next in line.

He nudged his friend. ‘You know, you virals got no sense of humour. Well, I suppose you have one, if a bit dark sometimes, but you’re different. Uh, now by that I mean—’

‘We needs to tell him,’ Tezcat urged, obviously not listening, as they meandered up the steep path to the inner walls. Mages guarded the inner gate too. After another search, they entered the main courtyard and then one of the towers, climbing high until they came out onto the wall. It linked the tower to the main fortress. They walked the battlements, glancing into the valley below. There were numerous campsites, all with smokeless fires, courtesy of magic. Huddled about these were refugees, loyal Aidari, and Necros. There was a surprising number of children about too.

Most of the living kept a distance from the undead, an irony not lost on Taver. Neither now trusted the other, if they ever had. No wonder the school was located so far from the imperium in the first place. He supposed those living on the islands had merely tolerated virals.

Protect us, oh sure, he thought. Keep us safe, but take your filthy magic learning, oh, about five thousand miles or so into the ocean, if you don’t mind. Wouldn’t want to go upsetting us living, you know, the people you learn all that dirty magic for in the first place. The whole situation was ludicrous. Tezcat was right. Living folk were stupid.

‘You sure he wants to know?’ he asked. ‘Won’t make much difference, the way I see it.’

‘Breathers is blind, Tav. Trusts me, you doesn’t see it.’

‘Thanks. Stupid and now blind too?’

She grabbed his hand, bringing him to a halt. ‘You doesn’t have no fault for yours mother, for whats she’s done.’

‘She’s not my mother. Okay, she raised me, but—’

‘You doesn’t knows her, who and what she is. Beezer needs to know what we does.’

‘He probably already knows. He seems to know everything.’

‘But whats if he doesn’t?’

‘Vent would’ve told him by now, or if not her, someone else.’ He didn’t want to see Beezer. He didn’t want to be there. There had to be a way off the island, a way to get her somewhere safe; Reaper’s End was nothing more than a last stand. Even he could see that.

‘What if she’s full dead, or if them wights kilt her? We must tell him whats we knows. We promised.’

‘I didn’t promise anything.’ The stubborn set to her jaw, and the glare in those eyes said he had no choice. ‘Fine,’ he relented with a sigh, ‘have it your way, then.’

It took time to discover where Beezer was located, and then to convince his lesser mages they had reason to bother him. Another hour passed, before someone admitted them into the inner sanctum. It was a massive room of dark green stone columns and walls. The floor was of a darker green basalt, near-black, and uneven. It had numerous folds in its skin, as though the hide of an ancient leviathan.

The imperial mage stood with several others. The eldest and most decrepit of the mages was Ragon, rumoured to be older than Beezer. They were discussing something while stood around a wide basalt table. Several maps lay strewn across its rough surface. They continued to point and chatter as Beezer turned his gaze on the new arrivals.

‘I was linked with the mages in Icarthya,’ he said, speaking as if to himself. Being a mage however, Taver guessed he was somehow speaking magically to someone far away. ‘The link is now severed and not by me. Events there have preceded those here by a day, no more. No, I had no warning, but I knew it would happen. Impossible to predict. You know that.’

Taver glanced at Tezcat. Indifference and impatience battled for control of her face. The result made him want to laugh, but he fought the urge.

‘We will,’ continued Beezer, ‘but I fear it will not be enough. She is behind it, yes. Of course, I’m certain. Both of them planned this, but she is the main instigator. There is someone who can handle her, but her fragment is the stronger of the two. The strongest in centuries.’

‘I didn’t know virals could do that,’ Taver whispered, leaning close to Tezcat’s ear.

‘Most can’t.’

‘Can you?’

She shrugged.

‘I agree, yes,’ Beezer continued. ‘Neutralizing her would give us a chance. Well, now, we both know if they reach the fortress, they cannot be stopped. Yes, we will meet them head on. No, no, there is no other way. Damn you, we discussed this. I understand the risks, but it goes ahead. It was your idea, after all. There may be time on your side, so to speak, but there is none on mine. I do understand the mechanics of time, after all. If we fail in this, then it is over for everyone. Good, good, then we’re agreed.’

Silence for a moment, an awkward space Taver wanted to fill with something. Tezcat shook her head when he tried opening his mouth. He didn’t like what he was hearing, but he had no idea what it meant. Something dire no doubt, he thought, full of gloom and doom.

‘Yes,’ said Beezer, who fixed a cold regard on Taver. ‘Yes, he’s here with me ... but will he make a difference? You really think so? Very well.’

Taver realised the mage really did know everything. Still, the Aidari decided to speak, since it appeared the odd conversation had ended. ‘On our way here, we encountered someone, and—’

The mage nodded, waving a scaled hand. ‘Rade Wyn, the woman who raised you, and who both is and is not your mother, yes, yes.’

Tezcat and Taver shared another glance before he asked, ‘Why didn’t you warn me?’

‘Oh, and had I done so, you would have believed me? Would you have listened, or would you have gone straight to her, to demand the truth?’

Taver had to admit he had a point. That is exactly what he had done after a fashion.

‘What would have happened then?’ Beezer offered what some might have regarded as a smile. ‘I’ve been aware of her activities, but she moved sooner than expected. We have been preparing this place, knowing it was coming. And for nothing. Those wights have made Reaper’s End indefensible. Those, I did not expect. I did not think it possible for anything to surprise me.

‘You see, I wasn’t aware of her real identity until recently. Oh, I knew she was somewhere on the islands. I could feel her presence, but I didn’t know what form she’d taken.’ He gave Taver a long and appraising look. ‘She isn’t who you think she is.’

‘Yeah, I sort of figured that out.’ He glanced down at the floor, fighting several emotions. Anger was winning out. What form she’d taken? It was all becoming too unbelievable, and yet he knew it was the truth. ‘I never really knew her, did I?’

‘Her full name is Rade Wyntara Todralan, granddaughter of the imperator. She has a twin sister, named Antipa.’

Taver’s stomach churned. He tasted bile. ‘Doesn’t matter who she is. She’s not my mother.’

‘Oh, but I’m afraid she is, although the truth of your birth is far stranger than you realise. It’s not the, what or why, you see. It’s the when. You were first born centuries ago, before your soul was then scattered across time to be reborn as you are now.’

Taver’s head shot up, and he knew his face held shock, because it was what he felt. ‘You’re lying!’

Beezer’s face creased with anger, but Tezcat gripped his hand tight. ‘No Tav, no, Beez never fibs. You knows he doesn’t. If he says it, then it’s true.’

Taver saw pain and fear in her eyes, but no surprise, no shock. ‘You knew about this, and you didn’t tell me?’

‘It was Tezcat in fact, who alerted me to the possibility of your mother’s identity,’ said Beezer. His clipped tone revealed controlled anger. ‘I ordered her to silence. For your protection, Ralan, and yes that is your real name, whether you choose to own it or not. It is the name your real mother gave you centuries ago.’

‘Rade has magic. I saw her. Is she like me then?’

‘Both she and her sister are fragments of an ancient spectralic soul who was your original mother. Her name was Astra Dar. Different soul fragments are reborn every now and then. This time it appears, as twin sisters.’

The mage was trying to confuse him. Who was this woman who’d raised him? His real mother, centuries ago? Soul fragments? ‘No, no more. I don’t care who she is or was,’ he muttered. ‘I am Taver, and that is all I need to know.’ He would no longer use the name Wyn. He’d choose another.

‘Indeed.’

‘You are angry with me,’ said Tezcat in a small voice, as if her world had ended. He could feel the cold tension in her grip on his hand.

He fought an emotional war filled with confusion, but eventually sighed and said, ‘No, I’m angry with her.’ He glared at Beezer. ‘And with him a little, but I know you both just tried to protect me. I’d rather have known the truth, although, come to think of it, you haven’t told me much of anything. Maybe that’s for the best.’

‘Both the truth,’ said the mage, ‘and that woman, are dangerous.’

‘You do know none of what you’re saying makes sense.’

Beezer stepped closer, and laid a hand on his shoulder. The mage made something resembling a sigh, or an involuntary belch. A stench of mould and dirt and the hint of a grave emanated from his mouth. The other mages in the background had ceased their chatter. They were watching.

‘Understand,’ said Beezer, ‘she believes what she does is for the good of all living, and for you. Her twin, well, she is a different matter. Rade doesn’t believe she herself is evil. I’ve no doubt she has grown to love you, despite her original reasons for taking you at birth. I imagine she has memories, being a fragment of Astra Dar as she is, memories of centuries ago when you were first born.

‘You both died long ago during a terrible ritual gone wrong. You were reborn across time to another woman, but in a manner of speaking, you were once her son. Rade sought you out, which was no easy feat. It is a long and complicated tale and I have no time to go through it, and I see you have no appetite for the truth today.’

Taver looked into those lifeless eyes set within the darkness of a face ravaged by rot and centuries. ‘Who was my father? Tell me that much. She’s spoken of him.’ He recalled her cutting remarks. ‘Never in a good way.’

‘I’m not surprised.’ Beezer removed his hand, and stepped away. ‘There are some things you do not need to know yet. Knowledge is dangerous, both in that you possess it, and should you decide to act upon it.’

‘It is not for you to decide that,’ Taver said in a cold voice, which resulted in a look of surprise on the mage’s face, and mutters from the others.

‘You are right.’ Beezer was studying him. ‘You are your father’s son no doubt, but I hope not in the ways that matter. Very well. His name was, Rasnal Nalrost.’

Taver wanted to laugh, but found he couldn’t. Instead, he began choking while Tezcat slapped his back. Beezer did not joke, after all. He never joked. When he could speak again, he said, ‘That’s impossible.’ Everything the mage had told him was nonsense. It had to be.

‘The man himself was impossible, but I assure you—you are his son.’

The last living spectral mage in history, and who legend told had been the greatest, but ... ‘You knew him?’

‘I never met him in person ... and no, he is not.’

‘Not what?’

‘Dead.’ The mage then shrugged. ‘Rituals bound within rituals, terrible in their power and the price they exact. There is much you do not know, Ralan, but you will learn it for yourself given time. You are no ordinary young man, and that should be enough for now.’ Beezer turned and walked back to the table.

Taver felt rage welling within and stalked to within feet of the mages. ‘What am I supposed to do with this knowledge?’ Calling it that seemed like the biggest joke. All the mage had done was confuse him. ‘What do you want from me? Why tell me any of this now?’

Beezer didn’t turn, although the others were still watching. ‘I cannot decide your path,’ said the imperial mage. ‘The undead defend the living. This was and is our reason for existence. You must discover yours like everyone else, as you must discover your true nature. Stay and fight, or flee son of Nalrost, but accept who you are.’

Tezcat’s thin fingers entwined themselves in his. Taver felt her body touching his as she sought to impart whatever comfort she could. There was none. There was also none in the words she, thankfully, didn’t speak. There was no comfort in the entire world to ease the pain and the confusion he felt.