The Soulreaver

The air was sick with the smell of ashes and burning flesh. Smoke billowed toward the sky, rising along with the screams echoing in the distance. Bodies, limbs torn or crushed, charred by the flame, faces screaming in agony. The screams wished for death, but death did not come. Cad stood in front of the ruins of his and his father’s house. It was a sight of sheer pandemonium, torn pieces of the roof and walls scattered across the field, broken and discarded. The solitary doorframe of their home still stood upright, fragments of the front wall clinging to it. It was like a doorway to some prismatic, infernal abyss.

The surrounding flames looked ethereal, colours shifting and melting into one another, a transfixing dance of hues over the shattered ruins of his home. They felt alive somehow, dancing, laughing, weeping. He looked down. Tiny wisps of the prismatic flame still ate at the edges of several holes burnt into his nightwear. Brisk footsteps sounded behind Cad. A hand grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him away from the grisly sight. He looked at the man urging him to move. He spoke distant and distorted words, eyes locked forward. His voice was frantic and panicked. Something crashed to their left, the man spun Cad to his right, trying to protect him as a bright many-colored flash burned his vision.

Cad stirred from his doze and glanced around, confused, his heart thumping. ‘Just a nightmare…’ he thought. It took him a few moments to remember where he was. The wagon, the frantic embarkation, the countless hours of travel, drifting between sleep and wakefulness – it came back to him now. The old wagon’s creaks, groans, and the horse’s rhythmic wet claps on the muddy road – he remembered those sounds that gave him no reprieve the entire night. Like an unwelcome, clingy companion on a long trip, there had been no chance to cut the “conversation” short. He heard a new sound as well – a tapping on the wagon’s high covering – it was starting to rain. Wilhelm had refused to speak more than a few words since yesterday, regardless of how many times Cad prodded and questioned about this forsaken trip. He could not remember when exactly they left the village. In fact, he could not remember much about the last few days at all. He turned to the other child in the wagon. The town cartwright’s girl was lying asleep in the corner of the wagon, turned towards him, long ginger hair falling over her eyes. The two were by no means friends; he did not even know her name. He was certain however that he was her senior by a few years. He was almost 16 years of age and one of the oldest children in the village. Damnation, he would be an adult in a year. He already thought of himself as one, his hair, which he wore short-cropped, had already started turning dark and his face had recently developed a more masculine hint to it, despite still being youthful. He wondered what the girl was doing travelling with them. He stood up and went to the rear edge of the wagon, sat down, feet dangling and watched the road roll underneath the floorboards. The wagon jerked and jolted, the wheels leaving deep ruts in the mud. Tall and thick ashen-white trees appeared at the sides of the wagon and went past, disappearing quickly into the thick greyness of the mist that seemed to have enveloped the entire world today. He tried to let his mind wander again, to take his thoughts away from the strange nightmare. He liked to imagine things when he was idling, for example, in his mind he gave life to things that had none of their own. The great cloudwood trees quickly became a scene full of people walking past, familiar and unfamiliar faces etched into the twisting tree bark. They looked at him, muttering under their breaths. The words that came to mind were of contempt, pity, indifference, talking about him and about Wilhelm.

‘That drunken wretch and his bastard offspring.’

His thoughts drifted back to the dream he had. Those bloodcurdling screams, of people who should be dead, but were not. Even though it was just a nightmare, he hated how real it felt, almost like one of the vivid visions the barkseers experienced when they inhaled the smoke from burnt eshelwood bark. His breaths were slow and heavy, the air felt suffocating, thick, like cloudwood smoke, just like the night before. The thoughts made him feel an uncomfortable weight inside, as if he had swallowed a stone. Cad tried to chase them away, being as effective as a donkey’s tail futilely swatting at a fly swarm.

After a few minutes, something broke the monotone white and grey of the scenery. A lone tall building, wide at the base and thin towards the top, imposing with dark and rough stone, like a black ink smear staining the otherwise pristine white of the forest. The topmost floor of the building was open on all sides and an enormous metal brazier took up most of the space on it. Cad had listened to stories about these – the Wraithbeacons they were called. In the stories, they were the outposts of the Wraithwatch, who would be eternally vigilant in protection of mankind. This one however looked unmanned. As it went past, Cad could swear the brazier lit up faintly. The flame was sluggish and gave an uncomfortably familiar many-coloured light.

A minute after the tower had disappeared in the distance he felt the wagon slowing and then completely coming to a halt. Cad stood up and went toward the front of the wagon, stepping past a few wooden crates and metal-framed chests, along with an array of much larger coffin shaped boxes stacked on top of one another. What was this and why did Wilhelm have this? He had to shove the thoughts of the nightmare away once more. The other child in the wagon stirred from her sleep and looked around for a few moments before realising where she was. She looked at Cad with frightened, pleading eyes:

- Where are we? - She asked, almost whispering.

Cad stopped and gave her a look for a few seconds.

- Don’t know. What’s your name?

- Elyanne. – She said sheepishly. -What’s yours?

- Cad. Friends call me Cad.

Cad proceeded to the window that separated the driver’s side from the body of the wagon, which was old and dirty, and barely let any light through. The latch clicked from the other side, opening fully a moment later. Wilhelm’s face peaked through. He was reminiscent of a crow – small, circular spectacles sat over a short pointy nose, long black hair messy and wet with the day’s humidity. On his face was a mixture of worry and annoyance, his thin eyebrows furrowed.

- Sit down, close the window and wait here. You are not to look outside, you hear me?

- Wilh…

Wilhelm gave him a glare that made Cad swallow his question.

- Am I clear?

- Yes… - Cad said quietly.

- Yes? – Wilhelm kept his glare onto him.

- Yes, father.

At that, Wilhelm reached in and closed the window, securing the latch on the other side.

He stood for a long moment, facing the dirty window, feeling his apprehension slowly turn to anger. He was tired of not knowing where in Damnation they were going and what they were doing. He was also tired of how Wilhelm treated him. He was not his father, not really. He had married his mother two years ago, but that had not lasted long. His mother had ran away, or so the townsfolk said. He still did not believe those claims. Wilhelm had always said she had betrayed her family. Cad stood up, fixed his coat and walked towards the edge of the wagon.

- Cad, wait! Didn’t he tell us not to look outside? – Elyanne whispered again, as if trying not to be overheard. He gave her a concerned, yet determined look and continued forward, carefully stepping outside the wagon as not to be seen. He peaked around the edge and his eyes grew wide. The enormous Wall stood looming above, projecting into the distance both to the left and right like a dark green mountain face shrouded in mist. He pried his eyes off it to see Elyanne peaking beside him, just as awestruck as he was. It was the first time the girl had woken up, Cad seeing for the first time how pale and lean she is. And her eyes – bright yellow, like a cat. He had never seen anyone with yellow eyes, but he didn’t dislike them. 

- That’s so tall… It’s as tall as three… no, five houses. At least.

It felt much taller than that. It felt almost insurmountable. Wilhelm had jumped down from his seat onto the muddy ground with a squelch. Just as a guardsman approached, his father pulled out a small pouch from his thick fur cloak. He held it close, the cloak keeping him between it and the numerous watchman’s slit on the wall. Wilhelm turned his head to meet the guard clad in black armor and a thick dark-green cloak walking toward him. They exchanged a few words, too low and too far for the two to hear. He wondered what was inside that pouch; it looked like nothing they had been allowed to own back in the village. It was black and embroidered with thin lines of unfamiliar golden symbols. His mother had taught him how to read a little, back when she was still with them, but these looked nothing like any letters he had seen. Wilhelm pulled something out of the pouch that made Cad gawp. A small angular capsule the size of Wilhelm’s palm, with four rectangular and two square sides. It was capped on the top and bottom with a solid dark metal and the middle was transparent, glowing from the inside with a sluggish color-shifting light. It looked exactly like something his mother had described once. It was an alpsych. The stuff of the nobility and the priesthood, the rich and the powerful. With it you did not have to wait for your allotment by your lord, you could just go and ask for something, and you could just give the alpsych in return. Cad believed it was called trading and the laws forbade the lower classes from trade outside their lord’s immediate permission. The lower classes their family was a part of. If a trade like that were caught in the act, punishment would follow, for both sides. Now Cad understood why the guard had such a look of nervousness about him. He almost looked like he was the one offering a bribe and not the one about to receive it.

The exchange was quick. Wilhelm pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to the guard, along with the alpsych hidden from view by the paper. The guard pretended to examine the paper, his back to the wall, all the while tucking the alpsych in a pouch just like the one Wilhelm had. The guard handed the paper back, nodding, then turned and walked towards the small doorway to the side of the towering iron gate. Cad just now noticed the sheer size of it, two black sturdy looking iron plates, cut with lines from top to bottom. They depicted two female figures, reaching up to… something.

Elyanne suddenly tugged at Cad’s cape, and then ducked inside. He saw Wilhelm step towards the wagon. Eyes looking straight at him. Damnation! Cad quickly followed Elyanne inside and sat down, attempting to hide his transgression, but it was too late. A moment later Wilhelm stepped inside the body of the wagon, heavy boots thudding on the floorboards, red-faced with anger. He went straight for Cad, picking him up by the lapel of his cloak and lifting him to his face.

- How many times do I have to tell this to you boy? When I give you a command, you do it. Things will only ever get worse for you when you disobey!

Cad could see the strange pouch, still not completely closed. If only he could get a centimeter closer…

- How could things get any worse than they are now? You still haven’t said anything about where we are or where we’re going, Wilhelm. – Wilhelm hated it when Cad did not call him father. He hit him with a heavy palm, provoking a yelp from Elyanne. Cad fell hard onto the boards, his vision swimming from the impact. He could see Elyanne trying to compose herself and hide her fear, but her eyes gave her away.

- It seems you weren’t listening when I said that we’ll have a new home soon, if you are patient. That all that was asked of you was to do as you are told for once. But I suppose I was wrong to expect so much from an imbecile like you.

Wilhelm turned to Elyanne, kneeling down, inspecting her in an uncomfortable silence. Please don’t let him have seen her outside Cad thought.

- You won’t be seeing your father again. You’ll have to live with us for now, until we find you work in the city.

Before she could react to that, a yell was heard from outside. Wilhelm turned to see the guard standing a few meters away from the wagon, urging them to move through the now open gates. Wilhelm walked outside the wagon, closing the two rear hatches.

- Consider this your punishment for now. – He said as he clicked the lock.

Soon the wagon lurched back into motion as the two sat in near complete darkness.

- I’m sorry. Now you have to sit in in the dark because of me. – Cad said despondently.

The space of the wagon’s body suddenly lit up with a faint glow. Cad looked at Elyanne in surprise. She had a wry little smile on her face. In her hand was the source of the light – an alpsych, just like the one Wilhelm had handed the guard a minute ago. But how?

- Did you… did you just swipe it from his pouch? – Elyanne nodded, her yellow eyes softly gleaming in the colorful light.