DECEIT-behind the scenes

Chapter 9:Raven

No one knew how I looked and if they did they would not even be alive to tell anyone. The only one who knew the face of the Raven was the murder (Raven's gang).

So, when I walked into the streets of Spara, a small village in Elizia, I wasn't shocked when I was forced to squeeze through the crowd of the market.

Tara and I struggled thought the market, barely making it  to the other side together. The sun was setting and the crescent of the moon could be seen through the orange sky. Normally, I would stop and gawk at the sunset, like it was my first time seeing it, but this time I hobbled through the crowds and took long strides towards the forest.

The Arani's may think their hide outs where a secret but they couldn't hide from me, not really.

I had control over more than half the kingdom and I planned to use that to my advantage.

"Madame Raven! How do you know where the Arani hideout is?" Tara asked innocently, it annoyed me how naïve she could be.

Rolling my eyes I said, "I have spies everywhere!"

She nodded now, like it was obvious . We continued to walk through the forest filled with thick underbrush.

By now the sun has set and the moon was our only light. I just hoped that James was still alive. We walked another mile in silence before the flicker of some light grabbed our attention.

The hide out.

I quickly wore my mask. I was dressed in all black and blended in with the shadows, like I was one of them.

Tara was clumsier but even she managed to seep into the shadow, nothing shown but her startling blue eyes.

We crawled toward the cave which was barricaded with a fence and carved stone double doors. It was intimidating and looked more like a villain lair. Talk about the irony.

There were only two men patrolling the entrance, with my eye I signalled Tara and she seemed to get the message because we leaped out of the shadow at almost the same time and we swallowed the two men back into the shadows.

Minutes later we walked out dressed similar to the other Aranis. The soldiers wore navy blue pants paired with a white tunic that was all covered with metal. We wore the red turbans which came with a red mask that shielded out face. On my hand I pulled out a small band that represented their rank as an Arani. I gingerly put it on and stared back at Tara who did the same.

Tara managed to get hold of the keys that the guards once held and we easily slipped into the lair. This made me smirk. This was too easy!

We walked it with a confident build to trail behind no suspicion. I gruffly asked a short curly haired Arani where to find the member of the murder.

I didn't expect it, but she points towards a door and told us that he was currently in the torture room.

Even if Tara's face was covered  I could see her pupils become smaller and the color leave her exposed skin. Her fist were in visible fists with the knuckles turning white with force.

We nodded and walked towards the door.

A tall man, completely covered with blood opened it and I showed my symbol as an Arani and told him I had something confidential to inform.

He let me in and the moment I was inside the image of a petrified and bruised James clouded my eyes. Beside me, Tara gasped and it looked like she was trying hard not to run to him. So was I.

When the door closed with a thud, I was pooled out of my thought.

The only Arani in the room looked at us in anticipation of news. Instead I walked up to him and stabbed the side of his neck, the only part of his body not covered in metal. He seemed startled but then he fell down to his knees and passed out, he was lifeless. My knife held Rubart poison, kills the victim in seconds and with no traces.It was the perfect method of silent death.

Tara on the other hand had managed to untied James, who was in no state to escape.

"Y-You sh-sh-should have n-n-never come here!" he coughed.

"They will find you, the gong will ring any minute" he said hoarsely and just then, the gong for an intruder in the midst rang.

The minute the gong rang half the warriors would run to the prisoner and we all knew it.

I took out my sword, ready for anything.

When the Arani's barged in I shut the doors behind them and the fight began.

Half way through out horrible battle, Tara lead us into an opening that easily let us escape into the dense and cold forest.

I was surprised we weren't dead because me certainly out number but our disguises made it hard to identity who the intruder was.

How she knew of that opening was a mystery but I was thankful because that foolish mission that I decided to take would have had me killed.

When we were out, I carried James on my back and we ran for our lives.

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