Kingdom of the Raven's Fire

Chapter 2 (Day 2)

NaNoWriMo Word Count (So Far):  3475

"Time to arise, my lady." An unfamiliar voice spoke out of the dark.

I attempted to open my eyes, but they remained shut tight. My head throbbed in response. What happened? It was only then that it hit me. That cold voice dripping with pleasure "We finally found you" and those rough hands. Then...nothing.

"Come, my lady, we don't want to keep him waiting." A soft hand rubbed my back.

This time, I managed to open my eyes. Sunlight streamed through the window blinding me.

"How long have I been out?" Was all that I could manage to say before I began to cough. My throat felt sore and ill-used.

"For a few days my lady." The gentle voice once again responded. As my eyes adjusted I finally was able to see my caretaker. His pale eyes glinted almost clear in the sunlight. His hair short was cropped, almost shaved, against his skill and he was clothed in a white button-down shirt and a black vest. And...no wings...just like Aunt Amy.

I stared at him for a few minutes as if what I was seeing was a dream. I had never really seen anyone besides my father or my aunt. I didn't know how to act around him. He seemed to know who I was, but I had no idea who he was at all. "Who are you?"

"I'm Damien." He stood offering me a hand.

It was then that I realized that beneath the thick white comforter that I had no clothes on. I blushed. "Do you happen to have my clothes?" I pulled the blanket tight around myself and felt my cheeks begin to burn.

"Your clothes?"

"Yes, the ones that I was wearing when I was brought here?" This Damien guy seemed a tad oblivious. Did he even know that I was naked? Would he even care?

"Those were destroyed." Damien looked at me and shrugged.

"Do you have some clothes you could give me then?" Was it really hard to request something to wear?

"Wouldn't my lady like a bath first?" Damien smiled and held out his hand to me.

"Not without something on first." I didn't care who he was, I wasn't going to parade around for him.

Damien shook his head and pointed toward a chair beside my bed, on it was a pale blue robe.

"Thank you." It came out a little harsher than I meant as he winced at my words. "Turn around." Damien frowned. "Please. I don't mean to be rude, but I like my privacy." I had plenty of it on the farm. No one questioned what I did when I was alone. I liked the time to think and to read and when I felt up to it, to walk. Dad didn't like me to fly. So, I rarely ever did. As I pulled the robe on, I wondered if here I would be allowed to fly whenever I chose. I didn't have to worry about being caught anymore, so what did it matter?

"Ok, you can turn around." Damien turned back toward me. "You said something about a bath?"

"Yes. I will show you the way." Damien beckoned to me with his hand and I began to follow him out of what I must assume was my bedroom? Or was I prisoner and this was just a fancy jail cell? Were prisoners treated well here? The marble floor chilled my feet. Should have asked for some slippers too. Was Aunt Amy being taken care of? Would I get to see her too?

Damien lead me through a maze of corridors. There wasn't much for me to go on since each one looked almost as exactly as the one before it. The only difference were the paintings on the wall. Most of them looked as if they were hundreds of years old. A few looked as if they were in need of restoration. If there was one thing I did while on that farm was to study every book within its walls. My great grandfather left quite a library behind. It was the only thing that kept me going some days. Some of the paintings reminded me of the few that hung in the farmhouse. Did he get them from here? Was this the castle that dad had told me about. The one that was in shambles that he had roamed right before the great battle? It couldn't be the same place, could it?

"Here we are my lady." Damien pointed at an open door, inside was a well, a bathroom. Perhaps a little more modern than I had expected. Although, I was a little relieved, I mean you never know with castles, I was slightly disappointed that it didn't even seem to belong.

"There are some clothes for you inside. Take your time, but don't take too long. We don't want him to wait. He hates waiting." Damien nodded and folded his hands behind his back. He stood right by the door frame as if planned to wait for me as I took a bath (even though I preferred showers).

"Who doesn't like waiting."

Damien's teeth clenched together. He cleared his throat a couple of times before he spoke. "He wants to introduce himself to you." And that is all he would say on the subject.

I shrugged and stepped into the bathroom. The door clicked shut and I was alone. At least there were no waiting women or something to clean me. I could bathe myself after all. The bathroom had a claw foot tub in the corner of the room and a toilet on the opposite end with a sink with golden handles in between them. Everything shone as if it had been scrubbed for my use. It was then that I noticed the mirror sitting above the sink. I looked exhausted with dark circles under my eyes. One of them was clearly bruised with blues, purples, and greens. No wonder I had been out for a few days. It stung as I ran my finger over it. I kind of wished that I didn't know it was there because now I would want to play with like a loose tooth.

I turned the handles and tested the water until it was just hot enough. I looked around and found beside the tub a few bottles and experimented with each by pouring them into the water. A blue bottle proved to be what I was looking for. Bubble bath. On dad's occasional visits to the closest town, he would bring my back a present. Often it would be bubble bath and the only time I would take one. He told me once that it was the only way I would willing sit still and wash up. I smiled at the thought. It was the first time since I had been here that I realized that dad must be looking for us. Would he even know that we were here? Would he be frantic? That's a silly question. Of course, he would be. This wasn't the first time that someone he cared about had gone missing. Could he take it? Was the better question. He must have a guess as to what happened to us. Right?

The heat of the water soothed my poor sore body and the bubbles tickled my nose. Hanging off the the rim of the tub was a cloth and I used it to scrub myself clean. If anything, this mysterious guy knew how to take care of his prisoners. I wondered how he would take care of his guests? If it hadn't been for Damien and his warning, I probably would have stayed there until the water had grown cold and the bubbles had all but vanished.

"My lady, are you almost finished?" A knock and a muffled voice called out from behind the door.

"Almost." I braced myself and stepped out onto the ice cold floor. Not exactly the best design choice in my opinion, but then again most bathroom floors were cold. Comes with the territory I suppose. Where were those clothes that I was promised? Ah. Folded on top of the toilet was a pile of clothing. A dress. Which was red and gold clung to my body as I attempted to pull it on. I hated putting on clothes after a bath. Everything stuck to you. Eh. To my surprise, there were slits cut in the back of the dress for my wings. Now that was a nice touch. Most of my clothes I had to modify from the stash of clothing my dad had taken when I was quite young. I wore most of my mother's old clothes. And she didn't need the wing holes like I did.

I took a peek in the mirror and accepted that there wasn't much to be down with my mop beside run the comb that sat on the sink through it and tie it up with the hair tie that had managed to stay on my wrist. I also found a pair of black flats beside the door. I knew that I wasn't going to look much better than that. Whoever this guy was, was just going to have accept that.

***

Damien breathed a sigh of relief when I stepped out of the door.

"Ok, let's go meet this mysterious dude and get this over with." I smiled at Damien and his confused expression.

"Ahem, yes my lady. My lord is waiting for us in the throne room."

Oh, so whoever this guy was, he was some kind of king. Nice. Getting an audience with a king was something that I could now check off my bucket list. "Sounds good." I gave Damien a thumbs up and elicited an even more confused expression. Was Aunt Amy the only one that used any of these expressions and gestures?

"Follow me." Damien once again led me through winding hallways and stairs until we finally arrived in an open room that had arches going up so high, I could hardly even see where they ended when I stared up at them. Cleaning them had to be annoying even with wings. "Now before you see my lord, remember to be respectful. Spoke only when spoken to. He does not tolerate rudeness. He commands respect."

Damien's voice had become low, unlike the more melodic tone he had spoken to up until that point. Whoever this man was, he definitely struck fear into the people around him.