Chapter 61

The bike roared beneath me, the mountain road curving at a steady climb and launching us towards the peak. I grinned as I rode, glancing over at my girl who took the corners like a pro, leaning low on her own motorcycle, the diamond constellation which was inlaid over the engine catching in the midday sunlight and casting rainbows across the slick paintwork.

Roxy's laughter echoed in my ears through the headset built into my helmet, the pure, unbridled joy she took in riding infectious even if I hadn't shared her love of the road.

"It's been too fucking long since we did this," I said, letting her pull ahead and watching as she crested the hill before me, the breath-taking view of Solaria opening up ahead of us like the whole world was waiting beyond the open road.

"Too fucking long since any of us got away from the war camp and just did something for the fun of it," she agreed, though this couldn't really be counted as that. But Roxy had paused when we'd headed for the academy gates, a pouch full of stardust in my pocket ready to transport us where we needed to go and had looked wistfully at the parking garage before announcing we were going to be taking the scenic route today. I'd had no objections to that.

She knew where we were going, having researched all the methods to come close to death while she was searching for a way to return me to her from it, but she'd needed a firmer path than this one. What we were heading towards was more like a looking glass than a bridge. She never could have stepped through The Veil from beneath a hangman's tree. But it would be more than sufficient for a conversation with The Ferryman.

"Are you going to tell me what you're planning yet?" I asked, riding the adrenaline as I pulled back the throttle and sped down the hill on the other side of the mountain behind her.

The road was a series of harsh switchbacks but the view down it was clear so we could see ahead of us to confirm that no traffic was coming the other way. All the roads seemed eerily empty these days. No one wanted to risk unnecessary journeys while the war balanced on a knife point like it did, ready to slip at any moment.

"I'm planning on asking him what the cost of your life is in plain terms," she called back to me, her black hair whipping out from beneath her helmet as she took the first turn.

"And?" I pushed but she just laughed, urging her bike to go faster and forcing me to follow.

There was a risk to this which only made the thrill of it all the more alluring. And anyway, I had stardust at hand if we needed to leave in a hurry, so it wasn't like we were in acute danger. Between the two of us and our combined power, I had to imagine that anyone foolish enough to take us on would come off the worse for it.

We raced down the switchbacks, the beauty of the scenery and thrill of the ride giving us a much needed reprieve from all the war councils and prophecies of doom. In this moment we could pretend it was all over, or maybe had never even begun in the first place.

Roxy whooped as she sped around the final switchback then raced ahead onto the long flat expanse of road that stretched out beyond it.

I took chase, finally letting the engine loose to its full potential and speeding after her with my body low in the saddle.

Roxy glanced over her shoulder at me then changed gear and increased her speed. "Last one to that big lumpy rock thing has to sub tonight," she called over the speaker.

"That lumpy rock thing is a stone column from the long-forgotten city of Torbella which was destroyed in the Blood Ages, you know," I called after her, but she just lifted a hand to flip me off over her shoulder and shot away at full speed.

I cursed her then concentrated on catching and beating her.

I leaned forward, my bike's engine roaring as I pushed it to its limit, the plush green landscape racing by in a blur.

Roxy stayed dead ahead of me, not letting up for a second as her bike tore up the road and before I knew it, we were shooting past the stone column and her whoop of triumph filled my ears.

"Cheat," I taunted.

"Bad loser," she replied.

We continued on, enjoying the thrill of the ride and I let Roxy keep her lead, preferring to have my eyes on her anyway.

She turned off of the main road onto a smaller side road, slowing a little as the curves and turns ahead made it harder to see what was coming. Our path was lined with craggy brown rocks dressed with moss and wildflowers which doggedly ignored the frost clinging to their petals. I was taken by surprise as we turned a corner to find a river burbling alongside our path. The journey had been faster than I'd expected. Or perhaps I'd just been enjoying it too much to notice.

We made it to the crossroads and Roxy pulled over, dismounting and hanging her helmet on the handlebars.

I parked up beside her, moving to walk at her side as she jerked her chin towards a towering, blackened tree which almost appeared to have been burned, though the leaves clinging to its branches defied that theory. On closer inspection, I noticed rivulets of deep red spiderwebbing across its scarred bark, glistening as if lit from within. A single branch was reaching out like a grasping arm across the river, a noose swaying in the breeze from the very centre of it.

"Now what?" I murmured.

"Now we hope he forgives me for shoving him into the river the last time we met." She smirked at the memory while I forced myself to count to five on an exhale. Now wasn't the time to get into it with my wife over her reckless behaviour, but sometimes I thought she was aiming to give me a heart attack with the stunts she pulled.

Roxy dropped to one knee and carefully traced the rune Eihwaz (which looked something like a sharply pointed S) into the silt which lined the river's edge. I'd been reading her damn book so I recognised it easily enough, the protection rune one of the less treacherous so far as I understood them. I watched her place a sprig of dill then lavender on top of the rune before pricking her fingertip and letting three drops of blood fall onto it.

"Add yours," she commanded, offering me the needle she'd crafted with earth magic.

I ignored the imperial tone and did as she asked, three drops of my blood joining with hers in the little offering.

Roxy let sparks fall from her fingers and the whole thing went up in flames.

Lastly, she slid her hand into the pocket of her leather jacket and took two golden coins out.

"Those are-" I began but she cut me off.

"Yeah, yeah. But we need them so you'll have to just console yourself with the million other gold coins in that fancy pirate chest at the foot of your bed," she said, waving me off.

I bit back a growl, locking my teeth together and watching as she placed the coins on the other side of the protection rune, closer to the water. Then she took her sword from where it was strapped to her pack and unsheathed it, revealing bloodstains marking the metal.

"Blood of a dead man," she explained as I frowned at it. "Don't ask where I got it from – it was a whole gross expedition, but it came from one of the bastards who attacked the academy and he was already dead when I borrowed it, so don't go worrying that I've been off on a casual murder spree just to get this conversation going."

"The thought never crossed my mind."

"Liar." She smirked at me then leaned closer to the smouldering remains of the sacrifice which she'd burned over the rune and drove her blade into the water. "But all of this seemed necessary to me because it's required if I want to force The Ferryman to appear and I get the feeling he would have refused if I'd just asked nicely."

"Oh yes, forcing a being more powerful than life and death to succumb to your bidding seems like a perfectly rational thing to do," I deadpanned.

Roxy's lips parted on a reply, but it fell away as the distant sound of a paddle driving into the water reached us, making us both turn to the river in silence.

A fog which had no business appearing on this bright morning began to creep across the water, obscuring the far side from view. The thick limb of the tree that reached out across the river creaked ominously in the silence, the noose which hung there swaying in an unnatural breeze and the world seemed to hold its breath as The Ferryman appeared between the gloom.

Shrouded in a dark cloak, his forbidding eyes pinned unwaveringly on the woman at my side, The Ferryman paddled his raft closer to the shore.

"You have some nerve," he spat.

I stifled my shock as his face was revealed within the hood, the Savage King peering out at us from its folds. It took me a moment to grasp that this wasn't truly Hail Vega; The Ferryman was simply wearing his face.

"My quarrel was never with you," Roxy said firmly, not even seeming shaken as the master of death glowered at her, his piercing gaze raking over the rune which smouldered between us, his upper lip curling back in understanding.

"And yet you feel the need for that," he pointed out, making Roxy grin.

"Well, I'm not a fucking idiot."

The Ferryman grunted in what might have been amusement too and I raised my brows in surprise.

"We want to understand this cost we're paying," I told him, uncertain of how long we could keep him here like this and needing that answer before he left.

"She snatched you from the heart of death, soul stealer," he replied, his eyes running down me from the top of my head to the soles of my boots, a shiver tracking down my spine in time with it. "Did you expect the cost for such blasphemy to be low?"

"I expect nothing but an answer," I replied.

The Ferryman considered us for a few lingering moments then shrugged.

"You will pay your debt in death delivered," he said cryptically, not revealing anything we hadn't already worked out for ourselves.

"How many deaths?" I pushed. "How long will we revel in bloodlust and violence until your thirst for reaping is satisfied?"

"Some souls weigh heavier than others," he replied, that nonchalant shrug returning, and I tensed as he drove his paddle against the bank, making to push away from us so soon.

"Tharix, the thing my father calls his Heir now has four Fae souls bound to his, unable to escape into death," I said. "Surely his death would count as extra?"

The Ferryman hissed like a cat and I almost flinched at the sudden outburst. "Why must mortals insist upon messing with the designs of fate?" he snarled. "No, Tharix will not suffice. That abomination will answer to me directly."

"How about the soul of Lionel Acrux?" Roxy asked quickly. "Is his soul weighted in enough sin?"

The Ferryman considered it for a few moments, his fury at the mention of Tharix abating then finally, he nodded. "Him and the might of his army will suffice."

"So we simply have to win the war and deliver my father's rotten soul into your keeping?" I clarified. "Then our debt will be paid? We'll no longer hunger for violence like we do now?"

"Simple?" The Ferryman laughed, the sound like cracking branches and wind wheezing through carved stone. "There will be nothing simple about the task. You will drown in blood and gore long before you come close to taking the Dragon King's head. But if somehow you manage to wade free of the carnage then yes, your debt will be paid in full."

"Wait," Roxy called as he pushed off, his raft floating away from the bank far faster than allowed for any further conversation.

The Ferryman smiled as the fog began to engulf him, but Roxy snarled in determination then took a running jump from the edge of the river.

"Roxy!" I yelled in alarm as she propelled herself forward with air magic, the thump of her boots hitting the raft the only sound which returned to me from the fog as both she and The Ferryman were swathed in it and disappeared from sight.

I ran after her, freezing the water before me and sprinting out onto it, calling her name. My heart thundered in my chest, confirming that she still lived but as I dove into the roiling fog, I lost all sense of the world and came skidding to a halt on the ice.

I spun around, their voices faint and indistinct, coming from behind me…no, to the right…

I started running again, the distant murmur of their conversation leading me on a wild goose chase, the direction constantly changing, any hopes of finding them deserting me fast.

As panic came rushing for me, the ice beneath my feet began to splinter and crack. I cast more magic beneath my feet but it was no use and before I could do anything to stop it, I fell crashing into the icy water.

I sank, deeper and deeper, my efforts to swim met with nothing but resistance until suddenly a body collided with mine, her arms wrapping around me before she began to kick for the surface.

We started moving then, swimming together towards the glimmering light above us and I gasped down a hungry lungful of air as we emerged.

"What the fuck were you playing at?" I demanded, my hands going tight around Roxy's waist as we treaded water and blinked droplets from our lashes.

"I asked him to make a trade with me. I had something I knew he wanted."

"What?" I demanded.

"A draining dagger stained with the blood of the cursed," she said with a sly smile. "I got it from Herithé. Pretty sure it was all kinds of valuable too because its hilt was coated in gemstones so I thought it best not to show it to the greedy Dragon."

"And did risking your life and giving me a fucking heart attack result in the trade you wanted?" I demanded, ignoring the twinge of intrigue that awoke at the whisper of a secret treasure.

Her smile fell away then and she shook her head. "I don't think so. I wanted his protection for our army, I wanted some shield between our warriors and death."

"He can't have wanted it badly enough to give you that? War means death, that's like asking a starving man to resist eating at a feast."

"I know," she sighed. "But I gave it to him all the same. No strings, no promises, no trades. Just the hope that maybe, he won't be against us now, that perhaps he'll forgive me for stealing you from his grasp."

I shook my head at her audacity, brushing a lock of dark hair off of her face.

"We'll make certain to offer him plenty of other souls to reap when we collide with my father's army," I agreed. "Because I'm not done living this crazy life with you yet."