Arbiter (The Arbiter Chronicles Book 1) (34 page)

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked.

“Because you need to know,” said Berais. “If this is your decision, the path you choose, then you need to know why. As Arbiter—as who you are—you need to understand this. And you need to learn the Reaper's story. He has one, Rae Miller, despite what you might think, and despite how you see him. And understanding that, righting this wrong, will be part of your role, and part of your destiny.”

“You want me to understand?” asked Rae. The thought seemed utterly foreign to her. Understand the Reaper? He couldn't be understood. He wasn't human.

But neither was Cienn. Neither was Alcian. Neither was Elrithea. And in some way, in some manner, she understood them.

“I want you to consider it,” said Berais. “But what you ultimately do is your decision. I can give you power. I will give you power. But you need the conviction and the knowledge to see it through, or all of this will be in vain. Do you understand me?”

“I...I think I do.”

“Then I gift my Decadal Spell to you,” said Berais. “As a gift. Freely given. Take what you will.”

He held out an armored hand towards her. Rae paused, looking in Berais's eyes. There was no hesitation there, no trace of deceit. She clasped his hand with both of hers, closing her eyes and lowering herself into his Source. It rose up around her, welcoming her, rushing at her, nearly overwhelming her. And in that moment, she understood Berais, and she understood his nature.

Cienn had told her he valued strength of character. Because he was the Warrior. He was conviction. He was the leader who strode into battle, unafraid and head held high. And he valued people who were resolute, who were determined, who had something to fight for.

He valued those who could decide.

The ability to decide. An Arbiter's most valuable quality.

His Source filled her, and she grasped at it, taking a portion of it into herself. She let go of his hand, withdrawing slowly from him. At once, her perception of the world began to change, her senses growing sharper, the world around her coming into deeper focus.

Or had it always been this way? She couldn't tell anymore.

There was still so much she was unsure of, so much she didn't know. Was she strong enough to protect Mika and Cathel? Who was trying to kill Mika? How many others were trying to interfere with their quest? Could she make her deadline in time, or would she be leading them all to their deaths? She still had a lot to think through, a lot of decisions to make.

But she had made hers now.

Berais smiled at her, and she smiled back, a tentative hesitant smile as she breathed in this new strength, this new resolve.

And this was enough.

For now, this was enough.

It was like waking from a long dream. There was a sensation of getting pulled back, of getting rudely thrust through a veil. One moment, she was falling asleep in her bed in Berais's castle, and in the next, she was stirring.

The first thing she noticed as she came to was that it was cold, colder than it should have been in the summer time. There was a whirring noise in the vicinity that was suddenly both foreign and familiar, and the air smelled antiseptic and clean. Berais's infirmary? No. She was somewhere else. Something beeped constantly to her right, and she slowly began to stir, feeling something slightly heavy on her index finger.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. The world around her blurred, before her eyes focused on the space where wall met ceiling. She blinked. There were lights in the ceiling, although they were currently inactivated. Fluorescent lights.

The hospital. She was in the hospital.

Rae struggled to sit up, grimacing. The movement was more difficult than it should have been, and she had to brace her arm on one of the hand rails beside the bed. She was dressed in a thin hospital gown, and she shivered in the cold night air. As she did, she realized she couldn't feel it—the same sense of day or night that she had felt ever since receiving Alcian's gift that first week in the woods.

Alcian. Elrithea. Berais.

Had she been dreaming?

“Need some help?” asked a voice to her left.

Rae's eyes narrowed at the sound of the voice, and she immediately turned her head. The Reaper stood against the wall, watching her. He had his arms folded, his usual smirk on her face. She fought down a sudden surge of fear, forcing herself to sit still and glare at him as he walked up to her, her eyes never leaving his. She shrank back as he reached the bed, giving him a murderous look.

“Such spirit,” said the Reaper. “I only called you here to talk. You're remarkably hard to get a hold of, little Rae.”

“What the hell is this?” she asked, one of her hands gripping the sheets tighter. She glanced at the heart monitor beside her, but even though her heart was pounding in her chest from his nearness, it stayed stable, never giving any indication. He shrugged his shoulder once, looking back at her.

“Wouldn't want them to interrupt us,” he said. “You won't be awake for long.”

“Why am I here?” asked Rae, glaring at the Reaper. “How did you bring me here?”

The Reaper frowned at her. “Do you really think I'd send you off into the Twilight Realm without any sort of insurance?” he asked. “I said I gave you a tether, didn't I?”

Rae stared at him, the pieces suddenly clicking together in her mind. “My body--,” she said, looking around her at the hospital room.

“Has been sleeping quite nicely here,” said the Reaper. He smiled at her. “Don't worry, dearest. I haven't touched your friend. I always keep my word.”

“Were you keeping your word when you destroyed Berais's village?” she asked heatedly. The Reaper blinked in surprise, the smirk sliding off of his face as his eyes fixed on her again.

“Ah, I see,” he said, his tone changing. Gone was the teasing voice of earlier. The voice he used now was a killer's voice, sharp with an edge of restrained anger. “You've encountered the Warrior. That's much out of your way, Rae.”

“What does it matter?” asked Rae, forcing herself to keep her eyes on his. This is my enemy, she told herself. I have to fight him. I am not afraid. It was easier to think that way when she had her sword and the powers of the Decadal Spells in her hands. Now, though, she was weak, and he had the scythe. Her eyes trailed towards it, before looking back at him.

He looked her straight in the eye as if he couldn't believe what he found there. “Why shouldn't I be concerned?” he asked. “You've used a quarter of the year. How is the errand I tasked you with going?”

“It's going,” she said flatly.

“For your sake,” said the Reaper, walking up to her. She tried not to flinch as he reached out a hand, cupping her face in his and turning it towards him, but it was hard not to. She tried to pull away, and his fingers left bruises on the underside of her face as he glared down at her. “I hope so. I also hope that you are not seriously considering fighting me.”

Rae's only response was to glare. He held her gaze, before pushing her roughly away. She hit her back on the railing of the bed, and couldn't help the sound that left her mouth upon impact.

“I must warn you, Arbiter,” said the Reaper, his tone serious. The world around her began to fade again, and she fought to hold on, to keep this world of shifting colors and sounds in focus for a moment longer. His eyes met hers, piercing through the chaos as she fell back.

“If you choose to live like a fool, you will die like a fool. I will see you in nine months, assuming, of course, that you manage to survive...”

She fell back into the darkness, his words ringing in her head as she opened her eyes with a start, her heart beating quickly in her chest and her sleeping clothes soaked with sweat.

Rae stared at the roof of her bedroom in Berais's castle, taking several deep breaths.

Survive...

She listened to the sound of her heart beating for a few moments, feeling the steady shift of shadows and light across the wall of her bedchamber. The window was open, letting in the warm summer breeze.

Yes.

Assuming she managed to survive.

She closed her eyes again, and outside of her small space in the castle, the world continued to turn.

A warrior dressed in black stood against the door of the practice room, his gray eyes serious as he silently watched the teenage girl within. She moved in several rapid, desperate motions, the practice sword in her hand slamming into the side of the straw training dummy over and over again as her shouts grew louder and louder. The moonlight filtered in through the window as she moved, and he forced himself to watch her form and ignore the clear evidence of tear tracks down her face.

Further away, an army camped just barely within sight of Berais's castle, their forms blending easily into the nighttime shadows as though they were born of it. A single human girl stood on top of a rocky outcropping over a small stream, her eyes fixed on the white fortress and her daggers heavy in her hand. A black mark curled its way underneath her eye, branching out onto her temple—a knife, and a river, and crawling shadows.

Kieri Firithan raised her hand, declaring the attack.

And from the stream beside her, a figure vanished, Cienn melting back into the water as he hurried towards the castle to sound the alarm.

This book could not have come about without the support of my family, especially my sister Isa, who has always been my number one fan and has helped me through many of the conceptual decisions I've had to make, my friends, particularly Lauryn, who put up with my insanity, and Joanna, who helped me edit the book and pointed out several truths that were hard to swallow.

I also dedicate this book to my mother, who read the first story I ever wrote, and who has always supported me every step of the way.

Elisa Angeles Bonnin is a senior chemistry student at the University of South Carolina. She has been writing stories since she was eight, most of which should never see the light of day. She is an avid reader of fantasy since she first picked up a copy of
The Hobbit
in her mother's classroom. She was born in the Philippines and lived there until the age of sixteen, before moving to the United States with her family. When not at school, she lives with her mother, sister, stepfather, and dog Trouble in Aldie, VA.

The Reaper always gets what he wants.

Rae Miller should know this by heart. Born with the ability to see the Grim Reaper and track his passing, and cursed by being the object of his ire, Rae has spent most of her life avoiding people around her, trying not to get close to those that will eventually die. But when the Reaper offers her a deal, a chance to be free of him, she takes it. The Reaper's deal sends her into the Twilight Realm, a land torn between the powerful, ancient Ivali, and the men and women that have claimed a small portion of it for their own. Rae's task is to search for the Shard of the Star, a legendary weapon from a bygone age.

Unfortunately, it seems as though fate has other plans, because Rae is the Arbiter, a human meant to mediate disputes between the Ivali's High and Dark Courts, and although Rae wants nothing to do with her position, the Courts have no desire to let her go so easily. Rae must decide between obtaining the Shard and giving it to the Reaper, or risking her life and other lives that hang in the balance to fight him.

But all is not as it seems. Rae travels the Ivali lands known as the Edgelands, seeking out the Lords of the High Court. Each one gives her a test and a gift, a spell from the legendary Decadal Series. And from each Lord, Rae learns something new about the real story behind the Reaper, and behind the realm itself, behind the mysterious barrier that separates humanity from the Ivali.

The lands are broken. Can Rae set them right?