Arizium

Chapter 5

Night fell. Darkness swallowed the world with it's gaping black maw, eating every light and replacing them with it's own eerie glow. Animals borrowed for the night, sleeping safely next to their families, hoping that they'd wake up the next morning with all their limbs still attached. Night predators came lurking out, searching for those that reeked of fear the most, and ending their worries with a quick nip at an artery. 

 Amaria dreamed this as she slept on a bedroll under the stars, oblivious to exactly how many deaths had occurred between the time she had laid her head down to the time she was being shaken awake. 

 "God dammit, wake up!" She heard the voice faintly, it seemed to be coming from a tunnel. She started to follow the voice, walking towards it slowly and cautiously. 

 A cold hand slapped across her face. Amaria's eyes shot open in an instant. It took her a moment to realize what had happened before her cheek started stinging fiercely.  "Ow! What the hell was that for!" She rubbed at her cheek, trying to will the hurt away as she sat up and turned towards her attacker. 

Raven was kneeling over her, her hand was red from slapping the sleeping princess. "I'm sorry," she stated, not too kindly "But we have bigger problems than beauty sleep right now." Lucius woke up at the sound of their voices and rubbed at his face absent-mindedly. He yawned loudly and asked "What's going on?" 

 Raven rolled her eyes in response, "Just look around, you dolt," All the bedrolls were empty except for their own. The rest of their party was gone, including the horses and their supplies. Lucius got up and immediately grabbed his great-sword that laid next to him as he slept. He held it out in front of him and turned in a slow circle, trying to spot anything that moved in the darkness. When nothing appeared, he glanced at Raven suspiciously. She had been awake when the men had disappeared, he was sure of it. 

 In one quick movement, he had her hair in one hand, his sword in his other, the edge pricked into her neck and draw meager bits of ruby blood from it's hiding place. "You did something didn't you? You little trespasser." He pressed the sword closer, causing more blood to come trickling out. Raven tried to talk but the movement just closed the gap even more between her throat and the reddening blade. 

 "Lucius stop it! You're going to kill her!" Amaria screamed. 

 "What if I do?" Lucius said and looked at her, his purple eyes were glistening in the moonlight "The world would be without one more criminal. I believe people call that justice." Raven had gone completely pale with fear. Her neck was stretched out as she tried desperately to keep her throat away from the sharp edge. Her brown eyes seemed to pale as well as she tried to get farther away from the blade. 

 "Lucius! This won't solve anything! Let her go!" Amaria screeched with a crack in her voice. Lucius didn't loosen his grip on the girl's hair, nor the sword. Raven started to get paler and paler until she was whiter than white. Her once brown eyes had gone a milky color, and the black hair atop her head glowed an eerie white. Smoke rose from the hand Lucius had on her hair causing him to jump back with a screech and shake his hand violently in a vain attempt to quell the pain of the burn. Amaria was afraid that Lucius would try to kill Raven immediately, but he seemed to realize that he was quite possibly outmatched. 

 The glow in Raven's hair and eyes weakened as her face returned to it's normal color. Lucius pointed his great-sword down at Raven, who was still kneeling on the ground "You're a bloody witch," He said angrily "Do you know what people do with witches? They burn them. You're going to come back to the castle with us and suffer the consequences of killing members of the kings army and harming the prince." 

 Raven didn't seem to be listening though. She was staring off into space, her mouth slowly opening and closing. "Are you even listening to me?" Lucius demanded.