The Reaper's Curse #1 - Complete

In Time

With a few hours of stolen sleep and a cold meal of dried meats, Alicia rides far into the west, leaving behind the smoke of factories and the winding streets to instead surround herself with dense trees. She feels calmer amongst the dark of the forest as night falls, calmer than she should being alone with only the shadows and the wild to keep her company.

She hadn't even realised how much she'd truly accepted life as an exile until now.

Brushing those thoughts aside, she directs her horse onward into the same trees she once met Lena in. It seems like a different life when she brought her evidence to Lena, bursting with possibility and hope and the need to fulfill the queen's dying requests.

Then her world broke.

As she rides she spots a dim light amongst the trees. She slips from the mare's back, loops the reins over a tree branch, and continues forward on foot, her hand resting on the revolver tucked into her trousers.

Ahead is a small cabin, gold glowing behind curtained windows. Swallowing, Alicia hopes this is the place Lena calls her own.

"Can I help you?" someone asks and Alicia would have smiled if the question weren't followed by the telltale cocking of a gun.

She lifts her hands and her gaze darts to the side of the cabin where Lena stands in the shadows, a repeater against her shoulder.

"Elena," Alicia says, using her real name, knowing that will get her attention better than any pleas to put the weapon down.

Lena steps forward, lowering the gun. "Alicia?" In the light, her scarred face and black eyes are revealed, wide and disbelieving.

"It's me," Alicia replies, dropping her hands to her sides.

Lena sets the gun down, then she's running, her arms looping around Alicia's shoulders before she gets the chance to draw a breath. She stiffens, but then her own arms wrap around Lena and she's thrust back into memories when this woman was one of her only friends.

In some ways, Lena is like a cousin, a long lost sister. She comes from the same Traveller tribe Alicia's pa does, and when Alicia found them in a search to learn more about her heritage when her ma forbade her, Lena was the one beside her, dragging her to every campfire story, shoving books into her hands, telling her all the wild things her grandfather believed that not even most Travellers bothered to believe.

Lena's thirst for knowledge aligned with Alicia's desire for belonging.

"You were exiled," Lena breathes, pulling back to study Alicia as Alicia does to her, her gaze roving over the scars that mar her skin. That familiar guilt grips her insides and twists because even though Lena was one of her closest friends, she still helped the woman burn half of her face.

"I was."

"I knew you would survive. If anyone was going to survive out there, it was going to be you."

Alicia's mouth curves into a smile. "I really wish I had your confidence, but I wasn't alone. I had help."

"Tell me everything," Lena orders, dragging her into the cabin.

So, she does. As Lena puts a kettle over the fire to boil and Alicia settles herself into a seat, she tells her old friend everything. She tells her of Kathryn, her sacrifice, of Warren and the other exiles and David's supplies. As Lena makes them both strong and bitter tea and she lets it warm her belly, she tells her of the Commons, of Samantha and how she's helped so many survive. As Alicia observes the small and cosy cabin, noting the strewn toys and illustrated books, she tells her of Oliver, her soldier, her captain, the man who was with her when she discovered the Ghuls, the man who made her realise people are immune to the Reaper's Curse.