The Death Match

Prologue - Last Part

I wondered why I hadn’t come along a single home during my run…

I knew the answer to that right away. I’d been running blindly, led by fear. But why come here?

I stopped and stretched my neck to fully look up at the sky. The sun filtered in like glowing stars that were shooting downwards to bless me with their light warmth. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply. At last I was calm…

A twig snapped behind me and I jumped, shaking in my spot and I whirled around to face the incoming person.

My eyes widened and then blinked in surprise. “What are you doing here?” I asked the Reaper that had been from my house. He stood there between the trees, tall and daring with his chin upturned slightly as he peered down at me from the slight incline.

“I followed you.” His voice was so strong, I had to take a step back to get out its blast.

“H—how?” I stuttered and he tilted his head to the side.

Pointing down at my feet he said, “Your blood.”

I looked down at my feet and then had to smile. “You must be a man of very few words.” I teased and my cheeks flushed at the sound of my own voice.

The Reaper jumped down from his ledge up above and landed in the leaves and grass with grace. “You’re not safe out here.” He warned me and I found the courage to choke out a laugh.

“I’m safer out here than back there.” I pointed the direction in which I thought I had come from. The Reaper followed my pointed finger, his gaze traveling far and wide.

“Night is about to fall and you’re not safe.” The Reaper persisted as he let his gaze flow back towards me.

“I’m not going to follow you.” I told him honestly. “What am I in danger of?”

The Reaper’s earthy eyes peered into mine. “There are creatures that hunt your kind in the forest. Come back with me and I’ll take you to my home.”

My mouth dropped open as I blinked obsessively. “My kind?” I tilted my head out and off to the side, nearly mocking the stance he wore earlier.

“I’ll explain when all is safe.” The Reaper reached out to grab me, but I jerked away.

“Don’t!” I shouted. My voice rippled through the trees like one of a song birds. The Reaper recoiled at the command, his head snapping up to the wind. I watched in awe as his face churned and his nose stretched out to form that of a black Ravens beak. His neck stretched as his hair rippled and dropped to form ink black feathers. “What the…” I couldn’t finish the sentence as a birds cry tumbled through the air and the Reaper looked at me.

“It’s not safe!” He shouted, sounding so normal even though he was speaking through a birds mouth. The cry sounded again and the Reaper grabbed me by the arm. “They’ve smelled your blood.” He growled as his eyes dashed down to my feet.

“What—who’s smelled my blood?” My heart drummed quickly in my chest as the sun darted in and out of darkness. The sound of giant wings breaking the air currents rippled through the sky. The high pitch scream of a women’s voice echoed like a hawk’s through the ground, causing the earth to tremble in fear. The trees bent and wailed in fear as the Reaper gripped me tighter as the skies parted.

“Firebirds,” the Reaper whispered just before the trees moaned and shattered like glass.

Screaming and ducking, the trees all around us broke away into tiny sharp shards of bark. In a flash, the Reaper twirled around in time to block any of the wood shards from hitting us with the span of eight feet long black wings.

Gasping on the ground as the Reaper’s hands grabbed onto my shoulders to steady me from the blast of wind that was released when he exposed his wings, the shards of wood ricocheted back up into the air and dyed in a puff of ash as they got too close to the vibrating heat of the Firebirds.

“Stay down.” He ordered as the cry of the Fire birds rumbled through the earth. The ground splintered to my right and I looked up in shock at the Reaper. His eyes faded back to their earthy tones and he lost his beak. “Delaney,” he said my name and my eyes widened. “I’m here to protect you, so listen to me.”

He didn’t even give me a chance to say anything, probably because he knew I’d ask for an answer and right now was definitely not the time for that.

The Reaper spun on his heels, his wings arching as I flattened myself against the forest ground. Leaves poked my eyes and grass tickled my nostrils as the Reaper puffed out his chest and balled his fists.

Up in the sky where the tree tops use to be, two Firebirds burned through the dying sky. They resembled too much of a human to even stare at as I admired their form. Their skin was like burning embers and their faces marked in swirls of coal and dead roses. Their heads were shaved and capped with twinkling flame that erupted as they moved to and fro like lightening around the Reaper.

I watched in horror as the Fire birds opened their mouths and spread their palms to be followed by a stream of hot liquid flame.

Quick on his feet, the Reaper jumped in the air, shoved his wings down only to lift them back up with enough force to uplift the debris of the wood chips and send them forward to the Firebirds. But the chips cackled and popped through the flame, disintegrating quicker than the eye can see.

The Firebirds chuckled as they danced in front of the Reaper, lowering themselves slowly and carefully. Their yellow eyes peeked behind his massive wings to tease me. “Give us the girl!” One cried. Her voice ravenous and shrill.

The Reaper swung his wings up and down to keep himself floating over me, casting long and dark shadows to hide me from the Firebirds. “Tell the king to leave her alone!” The Reaper called out and the other Firebird rolled her eyes.

When she moved closer, I got a chance to note that the cap of flames was really a warriors helmet that brimmed the rim of their hair lines. “The king is said to have kept his promise and now that the mother is dead, the child is his.” The second Firebird spoke, her voice much darker and soothing than the firsts.

The Reaper dropped his eyes down to me and I shook my head. I had no idea what they were talking about. My father was dead and what King? Honestly, the royal family wouldn’t want to have me, I’m nothing.

“Like I said before, leave her alone.” The Reaper stood tall as he faced the Firebirds.

They chuckled together, their different tones harmonious and almost beautiful. “We’ll not leave without the girl.” They persisted simultaneously.

The Reaper went to open his mouth, but in a scramble, I stood up onto my feet. My lips trembled as the Reaper dropped his feet to the floor and the Firebirds grinned to one another.

“Don’t do this Delaney.” The Reaper warned me.

I looked him in the eyes, apologetic, but somehow I knew what must be done. If the Reaper fought them, he would die. And it would all be because of me. I’ve already had one person near me die today, I wasn’t about to have another.

I stepped around the Reaper and he didn’t move to block me. He gave me a hard look that said I would regret this, but I shoved him backwards. Grabbing onto the strap of my pack, I looked up at the Firebirds swaying in the sky.

“Who’s the one who wants me?” I asked them with as loud of a voice as I could muster. I tried to conceal the tremble deep within, but it slipped out with every other syllable.

The Firebirds exchanged a look. “She doesn’t know.” The first Firebird said.

The other one nodded it’s head. “Indeed she doesn’t.”

The Reaper tensed behind me as the two Firebirds chuckled and lowered all the way to the ground. Their feet covered in silky cloth like that of a dancers and their eyes wondering as they drifted just before touching the ground.

“Lucian Xanthias,” the second Firebird chimed. “He is the one who calls upon you to live at the Faerie court.” Her eyes sparked mischievously.

The Reaper’s hand fell onto my shoulder but I didn’t look up at him. “Faeries? They’re a fable.” I lied, and the Firebirds exchanged a look.

The first Firebird shrilled a laugh. “And yet you’re talking to a Firebird and being saved by a Reaper.”

I felt my cheeks redden by their mockery. The Reaper’s hand clenched onto me harder, making the pain of the Firebirds words evanescent. I stared coldly at the Firebirds. “I’ll go—”

“Delaney!” The Reaper hissed in my ear which only caused the Firebirds to smirk.

“—but only if the Reaper comes along.” I continued and the smirks on the Firebirds faces dripped off like lava.

“The King only wants you.” The first Firebird said as the second nodded her head as her eyes went to the Reaper disdainfully.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Then the king doesn’t get me and you’ll have to fight the Reaper.” I raised my eyebrows in a challenge and the Firebirds shared a look.

The second Firebird twisted her face to look back at me. “He may come along. But the king is the one who grants him entry or not. But at least we brought him along.”

I looked back at the Reaper and noticed he had dropped his wings. They were shorter now, as well, and folded against his back. He looked at me through half closed eyes as he gave me a look of curiosity. “Will you come along?” I asked him and to my delight and surprise, he nodded his head.

The Firebirds clapped their hands in a playful way as they soared back up into the sky. The Reaper grabbed me by the arm. “We should have left when I said so.” He hissed down in my ear. His warm breath oozing down my neck, haunting me.

“I’m not going to apologize.” I told him boldly.

The Reaper pulled back and looked at from the tip of his nose. Walking away and in the direction of the Firebirds he said, “You will one day.”

I stared after him in shock from his words. This man had helped me more times than God ever did in my lifetime and he’s only known me for not even more than a true hour.

I lifted my chin and followed after him. My bare feet breaking the ground and smashing what was left of the charred bark. My mother had passed into the other life and some how the Reaper thought I was only listening to the Firebirds in hopes of following her. But when I looked up into the falling sun I knew that I was chasing a new life. And in the embers of a dying flame, I was the one passing over.