Part 7

Most of the city had been destroyed, whether by fire or magic Zara wasn't sure. Once upon a time, white-washed stone houses had lined the cobbled streets. People had milled about in front of shops and store carts, haggling and bartering for what they needed. Now, it was silent. Most of the houses had been reduced to nothing more than rubble. Had Zara not had her own memories to draw from, it would have been near impossible to imagine the thriving city that had once stood where they now walked.

Everything was covered in a thick layer of white frost. When Zara glanced behind them, she saw that their footsteps had left black imprints in the white powder. It was a curious thing, one she didn't quite understand.

"Why does their presence turn everything cold?" she asked Ronan. Her eyes darted around the crumbled buildings before her, her entire being on edge.

"I'm not sure. A woman in my village used to say it was because death is cold. Therefore his bringers embody that and reflect it on everything that surrounds them." His hand had gone to the hilt of his sword. "You normally don't even see them. They're quiet and stealthy, like a cool breeze. However, when you have a massacre, they all flock. It's said they can feed off the carnage of an entire city for decades. Even when the bodies disappear, the stench still lingers. The land is forever soaked in blood."

Zara suppressed a shiver, though this time it wasn't from the cold. "And what effect do they have on the living?" She lifted her eyes to meet Ronan's green ones.

"I don't intend to find out."

Zara saw something shift out of the corner of her eyes and froze, her fingers clamping around Ronan's wrist like a vice. He met her gaze with a questioning look, but she merely shook her head and motioned to the closest building. She pressed her back up against the freezing cold rubble and waited. Not even a full second later, a cloaked figure glided past, moving in the opposite direction. It wasn't completely solid, but translucent enough that she could almost see completely through it, though the opposite side looked hazy. The cloak was a dirty gray color, worn down to almost rags. She wasn't sure there was even anything to see inside the cloak but that was before she noticed the clawed fingers glinting in the sunlight. Would it even be able to hurt them, she wondered, since it didn't seem completely there? She wasn't exactly eager to find out.

Once it was out of sight, she turned to Ronan. "We should get some height, see how many there are and how far to the castle."

He nodded and pointed out a building across the street that was more intact than the rest of them. After making sure the coast was clear, they dashed across the road and pressed themselves against the side of the building once more.

"Give me a boost," Zara whispered.

"With that cloak, you'll stick out like a sore thumb against all this white," he warned her. She scowled at him, not wanting to remove it. Wearing it, she felt more like herself than she had in a long time. Taking it off was a reminder that things had changed. But she knew he was right. She reluctantly shed the cloak and dropped it next to her pack.

"Well?" she prompted, hands on her hips. Ronan rolled his eyes, but made a cup out of his hands. Zara steadied herself on one of his broad shoulders, using his hands as a stepping stool as he boosted her onto the flat surface of the roof.

She laid flat on her stomach, ignoring the way the cold sunk through her clothing and clung to her skin. She slowly crawled across the roof top until she reached the opposite side and peered over the ledge. Her jaw dropped. Dozens of reapers, everywhere. They floated through the city square slowly, lazily, sometimes even passing through one another without so much as a hiccup in their gliding. Zara's eyes traveled to the heap of rock and stones behind them and her heart sunk. The castle was gone. And so were their chances of getting their hands on the Finder's Glass. It would be impossible to dig through the debris as it was, let alone with the hoard of reapers haunting the damn place.

She cursed under her breath and crept slowly back to Ronan. He was waiting for her anxiously. He held out his arms for her to jump into and Zara felt a world of 'no' building inside her.

"I don't need you catch me," she hissed at him. She wasn't some idiotic village girl. Although, on second thought, he obviously knew that otherwise he never would have asked her to escort him through the forest anyways.

He dropped his arms and stepped back. "Fine, you want to break your legs be my guest. Although, I imagine the rest of our journey won't be quite as easy." He whispered loudly back.

Zara shushed him, looking nervously over her shoulder. Obviously their presence had been somewhat noted, but she didn't want to draw any unwanted attention. She glanced between the roof and the ground, and let out a grumble. He wasn't wrong. If she landed wrong it was a long way back to the nearest kingdom.

"Fine," she finally said through gritted teeth. Relying on anyone for help seemed weak, but for some reason, it irked her even more that it was Ronan.

She ignored the knowing smirk that tipped the corners of his lips as he once again held out his arms. She sat down on the edge of the roof and pushed off as gracefully as possible. She was met with Ronan's warm, solid build as his arms wrapped around her. He gently lowered her to her feet, and for the first time she was really aware of just how tall he was. Her eyes were barely level with his chest. She flushed against her will, his closeness not nearly as uninviting as she'd both expected and wanted it to be. She shrugged out of his arms and put some much needed space between them.

"Thank you." She forced out.

He didn't say anything, just continued to smile cockily as he handed her back the cloak and her bag. "I think we're going to have to come up with an alternative means to finding your princess." She said, pulling the cloak back on. When Ronan's eyebrows furrowed she continued. "Castle is pretty much gone and the place is surrounded. Reapers everywhere."

That wiped the smirk from his face quickly.

Zara could sense his immediate frustration. This was what they had been relying to get them through the rest of the journey. Without it, they were just going to pointless wander through the dark forest until something either killed them, or they dropped dead of their own accord. The first was more likely.

"There has to be a way," he murmured, shaking his head.

Zara motioned in the direction of the city center and the castle. "Be my guest, but I think you'll find the odds are stacked against us here. We need another plan, so please tell me you have one."

She looked at him expectantly, but by the clouded, irritated expression on his face, she knew they were out of luck.

A deep, grating voice suddenly filled the air around them. "What brings you to this cursed land?"

Zara nearly jumped out of her skin, whirling around. Ronan had already pulled out his sword. On either side of the small street, reapers had gathered. Zara swallowed hard when she realized their exits were blocked. She couldn't tell from which of the reaper's the voice came, as their hoods appeared faceless. Aside from the skeleton like hand and razor sharp claws that protruded from the hood, there was no life like entity inside.

Zara glanced at Ronan quickly, warning him with her eyes not to do anything stupid. "We were searching for an object of magical value. Finder's Glass," she finally said.

The reaper chuckled slowly, sending chills up her spine. Zara rarely ever ran from a fight, but the insidiousness of the voice made her want to turn and flee. "You'll find no such object here. It was removed long ago."

Zara gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to knock Ronan upside the head. He had been so sure they would find it in Maran. Unless the creature was lying...the last thing she wanted to do was accuse a reaper of false truths, though.

"Do you know where we can find it?" Ronan spoke up, voice calm and steady though the vice like grip on the hilt of his weapon made his fear known.

"I know many things, human. I could tell you, but you will not live long enough for it to be of any use to you."

Zara suddenly felt as if all the air had been stolen from her lungs and her legs swept out from underneath her as she fell in the snow. Though now, instead of feeling cold, it burned and stung her skin. The world around her spun and she tried to cling to anything solid, something to ground her there but couldn't. She reached out a hand to find Ronan, but grasped at nothing.

She suddenly smelled the iron, metallic scent of blood. She heard a scream, guttural and terrified. She knew that sound. She'd heard it in her nightmares over and over again. It woke her up in a perpetual state of guilt, cold sweat drenching her from head to toe. That was Gray's voice. The moment he was killed.

She was unwillingly drawn into the past as she watched herself enter the dark clearing. If only she had ignored the sound, but she couldn't. Someone needed help, and she was a Red Cape; it was her duty. So she ran toward the cries for help, and Gray had chased after her into the silver moonlight.

The wolf had come out of nowhere, leaping from the blackness of the night with unmatched speed and agility. He moved like a phantom and struck like lightning. For whatever reason, the wolf had ignored her and chosen Gray instead. By the time she'd drawn her sword, it was too late. Gray was on his back. The wolf clawed into him, only this time she was much closer than she had been when the attack had actually happened. It was if time had slowed down and she could see the indention of the wolf's claw as it sliced through his chest as easily as parchment. Red blood sprayed everywhere. She could feel it on her skin, could taste it on her lips. Gray's eyes found hers, his mouth moving wordlessly until one syllable found its way out.

"Run."

She willed herself to stay and fight this time. Just once, if she could stop her feet from moving and quell the fear that drove her to get as far away as possible. She held her head in her hands, forcing her eyes shut but still she saw the carnage. There was no escaping it.

Not real.

The thought cut sharply through her clouded mind.

Get up.

Zara lifted her head and opened her eyes. The shadowy forest around here wavered and tilted, growing hazy before disappearing. It took all the strength she had to return to the white, frost covered ruins of Maran. Six reapers surrounded her and Ronan, pressing closer and closer.

She tried to stand and fumbled on weak knees, trying to reach Ronan who was on his side, groaning incoherently.

"Ronan," she gasped. "We have to go."

She shook him hard and when that didn't work, she momentarily hesitated before smacking him across the face. His eyes, unfocused, flew open. She held his face in her hands, a fleeting thought wandering what he was seeing.

"Come back, come back," she muttered and he finally let out a gasp, as if he'd been held under water for too long and was getting his first, much needed breath of air. Relief swept through her. "We have to run."

Ronan nodded and focused solely on gathering his strength for a moment before standing. Zara stood with him and felt herself fall against him. His arm came around her shoulders to steady her.

"Walk through them," he grunted.

Zara nodded shakily, but followed his lead as they moved towards the outer ring of the circle. The reapers were pressing closer, the frayed edges of their cloaks just barely skimming the ground as they moved. It felt hard to breathe, as if the air were being sucked from her lungs. She latched onto the back of Ronan's shirt, her fingers digging into the fabric and clinging to the solidarity of him.

One of the cloaked figures reached out a ghostly, clawed hand. She tried to duck out of the way, but its fingers passed through her arm. A hiss of pain escaped her lips as tremors of pain traveled up to her shoulder. Yet when she glanced down at the wound, there was nothing there. No ripped fabric, no broken skin, no blood. As if it had happened only in her mind.

They walked through the reapers and Zara immediately felt as if she'd been doused with ice. Her head swam for a moment and Gray's screaming began once more, although father away. She realized her legs were giving out again when Ronan's hold on her tightened.

"Don't go back there, you hear me? Don't go back," Ronan said into her ear, his a pleasant warmth against her cool skin.

She nodded and leaning against one another, they hurried back towards the gate as quickly as possible. She glanced behind her to see the reapers slowly trailing after them and willed her feet to move faster. It wasn't until they had both managed to somehow clumsily climb back over the wall that she felt the feeling returning to her fingers and toes. They both laid on their backs in the snow outside the gates, waiting for their breathing to return to normal.

"What the hell was that?" Zara finally managed to ask, the trembling in her voice still there.

"I don't know, I've never felt anything like that. I've never seen....not since..." His voice trailed off and Zara once again wondered where his mind had gone, and if it had been as dark as the place hers had been. "I saw death."

"That must be how they feed off the living," she panted, forcing herself into a sitting position. "Memories of death. Since we aren't actually dead."

"I felt like I was going to die," Ronan glanced at her, his green eyes full of torment and pain. "How did you let go?"

She shook her head, still not completely sure herself. "I can't explain it...I just suddenly told myself to get up, like I was remembering it wasn't real."

He was looking at her in amazement, shaking his head. "Whatever it was, whether it was your mind's way of fighting back, you saved both of us I think."

Zara shrugged off his gratitude as she stood. Perhaps, but if Ronan hadn't half dragged her to the gate, she as sure she wouldn't have made it.

If this was the first of many obstacles, she could only dread what was to come. And they still didn't have any idea where to find the Finder's Glass or if it even still existed. Nothing to go off of and nowhere to go.

They exchanged weary glances and Zara, grudgingly, wondered to herself if maybe she wasn't as capable alone as she'd always thought. Hadn't Gray told her that before? Her heart sank at the thought of his name and hoped the memories of what she had just seen would dim. Seeing it in that light, it had chilled her to her very core and made her guilt at what had happened all the more stronger.

"What did you see?" Ronan's quiet, thoughtful tone interrupted her.

Zara shook her head, ignoring his question. "We should get away from here. Make camp and lie low until we figure out a plan."

She waited for Ronan to get to his feet before heading away from the cobbled path, not sure where they were going but just eager to put as much distance between herself and that god forsaken kingdom as possible.