The Reaper's Curse #1 - Complete

Raise the Dead

"So, what you're telling me is that you've just now miraculously come up with a plan to get us within the walls?" Sam asks, her words slow, tinged with a rough edge that has Alicia shifting from foot to foot and glancing at Oliver beside her.

"If it were easy, I would have suggested it long ago," Oliver says, taking the brunt of Sam's ire and Alicia is thankful for that.

Alicia doesn't want to collide with Sam, not after promising what she has to the queen. Sam is her ally, hell-bent on being her enemy.

"Why now? Why are you desperate enough to tell me this now?"

Oliver glances down and meets Alicia's eye. "Because we have what we need to prove to the council that the grand duke is trying to tear Muovea apart. And with him out of the way, we can return home, work on a cure."

"I propose something else," Sam says, leaning against her desk. "All that black powder you got from the Keep? I have an idea of how we can use that."

An uncomfortable feeling slides down Alicia's spine.

"We take our best fighters to those walls," Samantha continues, and Alicia's world grinds to a halt. A month ago Alicia wouldn't have cared what happened to this place, but a month ago Alicia didn't care for the people of the Commons.

"What about those with the Ruga flu?" Alicia asks. "They can't possibly make that journey."

"Alicia's right," Galya agrees, standing from her seat by the desk to move towards Sam. "Our people won't survive that journey, and now with medical supplies, we have a real chance out here."

"We leave them here."

Galya slams her hand on the table, rattling objects and drawing the attention of everyone in the room. "No," Galya says forcibly. "You know damn well what Warren will do to this place if he believes it's left unguarded."

Sam stares at her with a clenched jaw and a storm swirling in her dark gaze. "We have a chance to do what we've always wanted."

"We should be focusing on things out here, on the Commons, on the exiles," Galya says, flicking her gaze to Oliver and Alicia before facing Sam again. "Have you taken the time recently to look around you and truly realise what you've created? People call the Commons home now, some don't even give Muovea a second thought anymore."

"Surviving and biding our time is no way to live, Galya, it's just delaying the inevitable."

Galya tilts her head, green eyes alight like emeralds within the setting sun streaming through the glass. "Wouldn't it just be the same if you destroy the capital?"

"My father and the grand duke need to die for what they've done to us, that's why I need to get back within those walls. And that's why we need to blow them to the Reaper's den."

Galya's lips twist. "You cling to your hate and your need for revenge and it's going to destroy you." Fists clenching at her sides and her shoulders thrown back, the intensity in her green gaze causes Sam to swallow. "Will we ever be enough for you? Will I?"

"Galya..."

"Not all of us need vengeance, not even Oliver though you keep telling yourself that he does so you can continue to use him as your weapon. Do yourself a favour and let go of the past before it crushes you." Galya turns towards the door, her eyes on the ground.

"Where are you going?" Sam asks, her tone trembling, but Galya keeps walking.

"I'm going for a ride." Then she's gone, leaving the silence to prickle Alicia's skin.

"Are you with me, Oliver?" Sam demands.

"With what?"

"We use that black powder to blow a hole in those walls and draw the Grey Bloods into the capital. Like you said, people are immune, not everyone will die but it'll certainly undo whatever plans the duke has."