The Blunt Reaper

Chapter 2

Several Reapers climbed over the rail and lowered themselves along the vessel’s side. One carried a long spear, while another had thick chains wrapped around both forearms. They examined the water near the bow and signaled to those above as a pale shape moved beneath the surface.

At first, Mara mistook it for part of the seafloor. The current thinned the dark water enough for her to see a broad mound of flesh spread beneath the vessel. It extended far beyond the reinforced keel, covered in soft ridges and swollen translucent sacs. The armored bow had cut deeply into it, and black blood seeped steadily from the wound.

The Reapers hanging from the side gestured urgently until someone on the upper deck responded. A woman approached the rail and raised both hands. Her palms and forearms had been burned black, with the remembered flesh cracked deeply enough to reveal a dull orange light beneath the skin. Heat gathered around her fingers.

The ferryman closed his eyes. "Fools."

The woman thrust both hands toward the water, sending a streak of fire across the distance between her and the armored bow. It struck beneath the surface and vanished for half a second before the sea erupted.

Flame, steam, and pale flesh burst beside the vessel. The explosion threw the Reapers hanging from the hull back against the metal plates. One lost his grip and fell into the water, but a rope around his waist tightened immediately, allowing those above to drag him out before anything could reach him.

The obstruction beneath the keel split open, rupturing dozens of swollen sacs with it. Dark fluid spread through the current in branching clouds. Pieces of flesh surfaced around the vessel, some still twitching as they were carried between the surrounding boats.

Mara stared at the spreading stain. "What was that?"

"Doesn’t matter anymore," the ferryman said.

Something moved beneath the nearest piece of flesh. Another shape appeared a moment later, followed by a third.

The first creatures were small enough that Mara saw only pale bodies and fins cutting through the surface. They converged upon the floating remains from every direction, tearing at one another as they fought over the pieces.

One leapt clear of the water. It resembled a shark stretched into the body of a worm, its pale length bending in the air with too much flexibility to contain a normal spine. Several pairs of vestigial fins trembled along its sides, and the circular mouth at the front of its head opened to reveal rows of inward-facing teeth. It caught a piece of flesh, twisted around itself, and vanished beneath the surface.

More followed, and the sea began churning around the armored vessel.

Pale fish struck the metal hull while pursuing the blood gathering beneath it. Hooked lamprey creatures attached themselves to the plates, their bodies whipping through the water as they tore at the black fluid trapped between the seams. Narrow shapes with human hands instead of fins crawled over one another in their attempts to reach the wound beneath the keel.

The crew tried to free the vessel. Chains tightened around the steering mechanism while Reapers along the deck drove poles into the water and pushed. One man pressed both hands against the mast, causing its remembered wood to groan as the entire structure bent forward and pulled the vessel through some invisible force.

The armored bow tore free, but the pale growth beneath it opened farther.

Something screamed below the surface.

The sound did not travel through the air. Mara felt it inside her teeth.

Every small creature feeding upon the blood stopped and turned toward the opening. A moment later, they fled.

The ferryman drove his pole into the water and forced their boat toward the outer edge of the current. "Hold on."

Mara caught the nearest iron ring. Rook moved the scythe from his lap and rose into a crouch as their boat cut between two larger ferries.

Behind them, the sea swelled.

A narrow head rose beside the armored vessel and continued climbing until its long serpentine neck stood higher than the upper deck. Wet white skin clung around rows of dark bones. Instead of eyes, three vertical openings ran along each side of its skull, opening and closing as though tasting the movement around it.

The creature folded over the vessel, and its jaws closed around one of the Reapers standing near the rail. The man raised an axe, but the serpent pulled him from the deck before he could swing. His legs disappeared between its teeth while the upper half of his body remained visible for one instant, his arms striking uselessly against its mouth.

The jaws contracted, and his body vanished.

That was enough to begin the feeding surge.

Shapes rose throughout the current. Some followed the black blood spreading from the ruptured growth, while others pursued the creatures feeding upon it.

One of the worm-sharks launched itself from the water and landed across the lower deck. Its body struck three people and carried them into the opposite railing. The creature twisted, its circular mouth opening and closing as the crew attacked it with spears.

A Reaper drove a blade through its head. The worm-shark released a shuddering sound that Mara felt through the water more than she heard, and black blood sprayed across the deck.

Every shape below turned toward it. They all were hungry and there was plenty of food.

The sea changed. What had begun as a feeding rush became a surge.

Creatures rose from the depths in numbers too great to follow. Narrow serpentine bodies erupted between the boats, their pale heads climbing high above the masts before crashing down again. Fish larger than buildings opened glowing lures within their mouths, each light resembling a lantern carried by someone drowning beneath the surface. Mermaids appeared among them, swimming with their human arms pressed against their sides until they reached the vessels and began climbing.

The fleet broke apart, and silence died with it.