Baird backpedaled as the wind grew stronger, lifting a miniature whirlwind of dust and smoke from nearby chimneys. Blink ducked past him, searching the room for the reaper blade. The hapless storyteller ran to a cabinet and rummaged through, coming out with a weapon of his own. He yelped as Blink grabbed him by the arm and dragged him through the doorway into his small bedroom.
“What kind of weapon is that?” she asked softly as she shut the door. Her blade flickered in the soft light as she raised it. “It looks like a bow. Unless it’s more powerful than it looks, the reapers are just going to laugh at it.”
“It’s a gun,” Baird said quickly, struggling to load a metal tube into the weapon’s butt. “A steam pistol… it uses compressed steam to shoot….”
“Quiet,” Blink whispered. “They’re here.”
Baird fell silent, listening hard. After several moments he heard the squeak of hinges as something opened the window to his patio. He closed his eyes, his palm growing sweaty on his revolver as he wished fervently for the safety of his quill and inkwell. Light footsteps fell on his bare floor and he thought he heard a rattle as the door to the hall outside opened. When it happened, it happened so suddenly that he nearly dropped his gun in fright. A long, dark blade slammed through his bedroom wall, cutting through the wood like the chainblades of the Warden Knights. Blink yelled and held out her hand. Baird’s eyes widened as the wall exploded in a blast of dust and a pair of dark shapes flew backward across the room beyond. He raised his gun, hearing the heavy thud as a blast of compressed air launched a bullet, knocking one of the reapers to the floor once more as it tried to rise. He tried to reload, but Blink grabbed his shoulder and the world gave a mighty lurch.
When his eyes focused again, his home was gone. They were out in the city, in a small alley between factories. Workers yelled and machines and fires roared inside as iron carriages rattled through the streets on either side. Even with the mask covering most of her head, he could tell that Blink was in a near panic, backed up against a stone wall as she looked around wildly, her sword raised as if she was about to be attacked.
“They’re gone!” Baird shouted over the noise, stepping in front of her with his hands raised in a calming gesture. “They’re gone!”
Blink shook her head and grabbed him once more as the world shifted beneath his feet. When it steadied, he stumbled over to a tree, retching miserably. The city was some distance away, the great wall shining with hundreds of lights. The metropolis itself had spilled out beyond the walls years ago, and he could see dark shapes moving through the houses spread out beyond the wall’s base.
“You brought us beyond the wall?” he asked, breathless. “But how? Who… who were those people?”
“They were reapers,” Blink said wearily. “The most dangerous people you will ever meet.”
“You used magic,” Baird quavered, watching her warily. “That’s how you got here isn’t it? And those things followed you.”
The woman nodded. “Yes. But they’re gone now… I can’t sense them anywhere. We’re safe… for now.”
“You saved me… I don’t even know your name.”
“Blink,” she replied. “People call me Blink.”
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