Stone walls do not a prison make,
nor iron bars a cage.
~Richard Lovelace (1642)
***
When the night approached faster, Ravenna retired for the day after bidding Helga goodbye.
She didn't wait so she could escort her this time and made it out as silently as possible. The last time that happened, she got home late and spent a lot of time returning through a familiar route to Vladoryn. Threholdyn was the capital of Norwynne, and Cartwild was one of the boisterous villages, a Kingdom filled with treacherous humans and their taste for power.
With her bag hung at her arm, she made use of the back door and left the brothel behind, her feet carrying her to the outskirts of the town.
It was past six when she reached the docks and boarded a cargo back to Amberleigh. With a hood shrouding her face, and the usual long brown robe that hid what was beneath, she sat in silence, her hands on her lap, watching the distance.
She hoped to catch up with Thorne, but he didn't show up which was somehow strange to Ravenna. Perhaps, he had other things to do.
She peeked at the man before her, his grumpy face filled with pimples and the cap shrouding his bard head. Not a typical person to hold on to a conversation, he expression told, so she returned her gaze to the distance instance and the ride back to Vladoryn was formerly quiet.
When the sailor shipped to the end, landing on the dry sea, Ravenna paid him off and got down.
The crisp air from the shore greeted her and she acknowledged it with a deep breath.
She was now Ravenna Vale.
…
Ravenna sat firm on the local carriage as it trudged and shifted her along its uncomfortable ride. Her head bumped on its sides now and then, and she would hiss often.
She had decided not to trek home today, to avoid the encounter of the previous day. Ravenna didn't know why but something about that route bothered her. Was it the raven?
Legends say ravens were the bringers of darkness. It was also known to be a cursed sight, for a raven to be neared and near. It carried a silent message, and whatever it was, there was no good in them. No message from a raven was ever good or evil. It was always dark. And fearsome.
Ravenna rubbed her palm between her legs. She desired whatever she hoped to believe was nothing but tales.
"Fairghar! Stop for Fairghar!" The coachman called, and those people who were meant to drop by began offloading the carriage.
One after another, the carriage where getting half full with passengers. She stared outside the window when she felt someone beside her. Passing a side glance, Ravenna spotted an old lady having trouble with her seat.
She contemplated whether or not to offer a helping hand, but then the old lady finally sat and she sighed.
She returned her gaze to the window.
Several minutes passed when the coachman called for another destination. Passengers began to drop off, nearly emptying the carriage again. The next destination was hers, she thought.
The old lady beside her got up from her seat and struggled out of the carriage. Ravenna watched the woman leave, just like the others, and she silently bid her farewell.
The carriage had started moving when her shoe ached and she winced, dropping down to take a look at it, only to spot an old crafted sigil on the ground.
She picked it up. A single arrow and a crow, with few other carvings, she noted what it represented as it stared back at her. It looked old, nothing pleasing to the eye, and of no worth.
Ravenna stared at it with furrowed brows, wondering who would have dropped it except for the old lady who sat near her.
She would have taken it, but she couldn't. It didn't look like anything eye-catching.
She forgot the ache in her shoe and looked through the window. The old lady was a few distances behind the moving carriage when it rode slowly forward.
Ravenna seized her bag and picked up the sigil, dropping down from the carriage and hurrying towards the lady. If she was lucky in time, she would meet up with the carriage before it rode up.
"Ma'am! Ma'am!" she called as she sprinted, looking back at the moving carriage that didn't seem to notice her absence and the woman she got closer to. "Ma'am,"
The old lady turned to meet her, arranging her wire-rimmed glasses properly on the bridge of her nose to have a better look at her.
"You dropped this," and she handed it to her.
The old lady smiled and collected it. "That's very kind of you, kind miss. Thank you,"
Ravenna smiled in return and said, "It's nothing. Do well not to drop it off next time."
"I'll be careful," she responded, watching the young girl hurry back towards the carriage.
The smile on her face instantly vanished, replaced by another mysterious look. She looked at the sigil. It had twisted arrows with a crow hanging in a rope and a few strange carved things.
"A sacrifice to the shadows. A pawn in the game of darkness," She said, and the air suddenly coagulated, driving the wind whispering back its secrets. "… where the innocent perish." And she looked back at the half-gone carriage.
***
The forgotten pain ached in her feet the moment she settled, and she bent, loosening it. When it came off, she sighed, relishing the betterment of her footache.
It would take a while to reach Amberleigh, Ravenna thought. Her eyes stink with burn when she closed them. A nap wouldn't be so bad.
A small yawn escaped her lips and she relaxed her head, shifting to be more comfortable. Today had been another long tiring day, and the future days.
Down into slumber she proceeded in mechanical silence, listening to the howling, and letting the distant breeze lure her to a short rest.
And she dreamt.
There was fire everywhere. Fire all around the cave. Burning her, burning her cries, burning her pleas. She saw them again. Mama and Papa. Watching her wailing figure drowning under flames, with a grin on their lips and horns on the sides of their heads.
But one thing remained. She wasn't caught in the flames. Wasn't burning her body. She was only in shattered tears.
Ravenna wanted to wake from this nightmare but she couldn't bring herself to. Whatever held her was too strong to break loose. The pain there was suffocating her now.
All she wanted was to wake up.
But she couldn't.
Something crawled out of the shadows. A silhouette fierce and eerie. A shadow with no proportion, just darkness on the wall, was seeping not struggling.
She was gasping for what seemed like eternity. Flames swallowed her, threatening to surface the crown of pity buried on her head, and the look those two creatures stared at her with.
And she heard one word, that voice carving her mind for eternity. "Burn,"
CROAK!
"-top for Amberleigh!" Ravenna's eyes snapped open and she gasped.
One, two, three, and it continued for several seconds until she was fully able to calm her beating heart.
Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and she grabbed her bag and stepped out of the carriage.
The evening air was the first thing that welcomed her.
It had been over half an hour since she had slept, judging from how the sun was now hidden behind the clouds.
Her attention was zeroed on her steps while her mind remained busy with unstable thoughts.
Shadows, light, and death, it came to her again. "Shadow, light, and death," she whispered.
Death was the only word stronger. The only one is potent. How would she befriend death?
And she was reminded of her earlier 'daymare', that she shuddered. Was that what he meant by daymares?
She looked above. The cloud gathered, releasing imperceptible lightning. Was it merely her or did the weather unexpectedly become rainy nowadays?
"Oh, I'm sorry," Ravenna apologized to the person she had bumped instantly diverting her thoughts. One moment, her head was barely above for what could be calculated as a millisecond, and then the next, her body collided into someone she would've mistaken for something.
She stared at the polished shoes standing before her. Whether he heard her or not, he didn't move an inch away from her body.
And Ravenna didn't bother to look up, her hood hindering her vision. From his height, she could tell the person was a he. He was very tall, with her head that bumped his muscular chest when she tried to move sideways. "Do you… Need anything, kind sir?" she asked, still not meeting his gaze. "I'm sorry for the bulge. I was carried away," Ravenna explained sincerely.
"What do you think we should do with her?"
She heard someone ask and her heart skipped at the intensity of the voice. D-do with her? There was an eerie silence next.
"I'm sorry," she apologized again, and moved sideways, away from the tall figure blocking her and into another.
Ravenna almost regretted why she left the former. This particular aura was frightening her.
"Do I frighten you, Browny?" The person asked, wiping his mouth all of a sudden, causing her heart to race wildly.
"Don't you see her tremble?" Another voice, she heard. Another sickening one.
"Tch, not as frightened as I've had people tallow." The person, who asked and blocked her, responded again. "This one is interesting."
Ravenna kept hearing different voices, one after the other, and she was too numb to move or speak again. It was as if the ground had stuck in her feet.
She had bumped into one. Now she heard voices of more than the count. Who were these people?
"What should we do to her, First ? She saw us."
First?
No one responded.
It was still that eerie silence that answered. And she shivered.
The thunder struck the loudest and the rain began to pour. What was it with the weather with her at the most difficult times?
"Now this would be more interesting," The downpour was getting intense the longer they stayed.
"I-I'm so sorry," She muttered, her voice returning but hoarse this time. She hoped it would've made her sound courageous despite her body's reaction but it was the exact opposite. "I'll take my leave-" and she took a meek step sideways and as expected, she was blocked and towered by his presence.
"Oh, don't be so quick, browny. We're just getting started," His nonchalant voice had a way of making her stomach churn and she felt the urge to retch.
S-started? And her heart hammering d wildly against her chest when he drew closer and the sharp smell of something nausecating caught her senses.
It was like metal, the sick type she had perceived before.
"The last one, I haven't had my full. This one is preferable," The one before her spoke, the voice thick and grave that Ravenna struggled to look up.
But it was a mistake as a gasp escaped her lips.
Scars…
He smiled, showing off his sharp canines which was not the normal sight for humans. Nor the normal set of teeth and another gasp escaped her lips.
Monsters.
***