Ashklon's Arc

Chapter 4 of 4

Ashklon traveled east at light speed with six days on the clock. The silver token sat heavy in his pocket. He had the contract and the pay. He did not have the one thing he needed most. The east stretched for a thousand miles of broken rock and dead plains. No one had told him where the Reapers dwell. He could search for a month and most likely never find it. The deadline would pass, and the broker's gold would stay in her vault. He came upon a hidden tavern at the side of a mountain and headed inside the place was filled with shady looking individuals that looked like trouble but possibly knowledgeable troublemakers. A woman named Patsy approached him wearing dark leather with a red bandanna around her neck and silver gray eyes that didn’t miss much. “You’re looking for something. Stranger.”She said with an appraising look. Ashklon nodded in agreement. “I’m looking for the Dragon Reapers.” He said plainly. Waiting to see what she might offer him. She led him into a private room that had a door that led to a secret dwelling beneath the structure. At the center of the stone room stood a dark vessel painted with stars and a green moon. She lifted the lid. Inside glowed a jagged shard of stone, laced with cracks of fire and purple lightning. The light threw shadows across her face. "A piece of fallen sky," she said. "The Reapers feed on it. They crave this above all else." She pressed the shard into a lead-lined box and handed it to him. "Carry this with you. The Reapers will smell it. They will be drawn to you. Ashklon weighed the box. The stone hummed against his palm, even through the lead. "You will become the hunter who doesn't have to search," she said. "Open the box when you reach the dead man plains. Not before." Her mouth tightened. "And know this. They also hunt for the stone you cut from the dragon. Now you will be carrying a second beacon.” He closed his hand over the box. He knew how to bring the Reapers to him. That certainty cost him something. He had traded a search he might have survived for a fight he could not avoid. Ashklon handed the woman several gold coins and nodded in her direction. “Thanks! I may stop back by to see you if I survive.” He said then turned and departed. Ashklon climbed the ramp into daylight and continued on his way with Five days left. He traveled east with two stones pulling every predator in the region toward his back. Somewhere ahead, the Reapers were already lifting their heads as they caught the scent.