The Raven Society

Chapter IV

When Raven woke, the world was spinning. Blearily, she sat up, and the cold, undecorated concrete walls around her blurred together. Her stomach churned, and, as gracefully as she could, she threw up for the second time that day in the bucket provided for her.

Her head pounded, and her whole body throbbed. Distantly, she glanced down at her injured knee, which after last night's events was as big as her upper thigh. She threw up again.

How much did I drink last night? She wondered as she searched her mind for any memories of last night. She remembered the bar, and that guy, who was that guy? He had taken her here, and that was all she remembered. She took a second glance around the room she was in. There were no windows, and the walls were made of concrete at least a foot deep. The only thing in the room was the bed she was sitting on, and her swords, thrown haphazardly in the corner. A wooden door adjacent to her was the only way in or out.

Groaning, Raven stood slowly, and tied her hair in a tight pony. She stalked to notte ed edera, and scooped them up gently, swinging on the harness and tightening the straps around her torso. Once they were snug in their usual place at her back, Raven felt instantly better, though every movement was still an effort. She grasped the wall for just a second before she stood to her full height and walked to the door. Her steps were so light that they made no sound. She opened the door slowly, and peeked out. As she stepped out of the room and looked at the compound, memories of the night before slowly came back to her. The main room was strangely empty, so unlike it had been last night. Where was everyone?

Raven didn't make a sound as she slowly walked across the hard-packed dirt floor, past the wooden tables and hallways that led to other parts of the compound. A nearby window indicated that it was only dawn -- everyone must have still been asleep.

Her knee throbbed and she dragged her leg behind her. She hopped up the ladder as silently as she could and opened the double doors over her head. Light poured into the compound, and Raven breathed in the fresh air, so different from the stuffy air inside. She had just climbed out when she heard someone behind her.

"Stop."

Raven turned around slowly. It was the same man who had led her here last night, the leader. Raven sighed.

"Look," she began. "I really appreciate you taking me here last night... I probably would have sleep in the streets if it wasn't for you. But I really need to get home."

He glanced at her leg. "I don't think you're going anywhere."

"No really, thank you, but goodbye. Maybe I'll see you at The Golden Goblet sometime again. I'll buy you a drink." She turned to go.

He was there in an instant, his hand grasping her shoulder. She wrenched herself away, grabbed his hand, and pulled a dagger from her waist brushing the cool metal against the delicate skin covering his throat. "Do not touch me," she seethed. He was extremely relaxed, arms loose at his sides, despite the blade pressing into his flesh. Then she felt the point of a dagger in her side. Exasperated, she left him go and she limped off.

"Raven," he called, but when she didn't turn he grasped her again and made her face him. She was too tired to fight him off a second time, and despite herself her leg buckled from the weight and she fell onto the cobblestones, grasping her leg.

Her knee was completely mangled. In fact, her knee had seemed to have dislocated completely. She wasn't going anywhere. Her teeth clenched from the excruciating pain, but didn't cry out. He just looked down at her, a smug smile on his face. He crouched down, so that he was eye-level with her, smile still tugging at his lips.

"Well," he drawled. "Where are you going to go now?"

Raven groaned and grasped at the brick walls, trying to find a hold so that she could hoist herself up. But he wrapped his big, muscular arms around her and picked her up with graceful ease, striding back into the compound as if she weighed as much as a feather, and set her down gently on the center table that she had noticed before. Now that she could look more closely, she noticed that the cedar was stained in some places. Blood stains.

The man who Raven still did not have a name for stood over her, a stoic smile tugging at his lips. His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at her, and his head cocked slightly to the side. What the hell is he doing?  Raven thought.

As soon as the words left her head he snapped out of his trance.

"Elena," he called.

A small, bony girl appeared from one of the halls. Her eyes widened as she saw Raven laying there, and widened even more as she looked at her leg. She came closer, brushing her hands gently on the bone. Raven screamed at the touch, the bone completely separated from the joint, and the girl cringed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Sweat broke out on Raven's brow. "It's... okay," she said. Raven hadn't even noticed her in the crowd the night before. She couldn't have been older than twelve.

"This is Elena," the man said as she surveyed the rest of her injuries. "She'll be taking care of you."

Elena smiled, and turned back to inspect her leg. Her shabby nightgown fell off her shoulder just for a second, but that was all Raven needed to spot the mercato scar on her left shoulder blade. Who were these people?

"Wait," Raven began. "My swords." The man nodded, undid the buckles, slipped them off her shoulders and laid them on a chair next to her.

"This is going to hurt," Elena began. She trotted over to her, and handed her a rag. Raven stuffed the rag into her mouth, and Elena gave a slight nod to the man, who went to stand behind Raven and pressed her shoulders to the wood of the table as hard as he could. Raven watched Elena as she stood over her mangled leg, hands splayed in the air just above them, and closed her eyes.

Before Raven was about to question Elena, she experienced the most excruciating pain in her life. Her back arched off the table and she screamed into the rag. Before her eyes, her leg was being mended back together as if by some invisible force. Inch by inch, the bones realigned themselves and the joint was mended, each step more painful than the last. Raven's eyes widened as she watched, and she glanced at Elena, who was deep in concentration. Sweat was beginning to bead at her brow.

Raven's back arched again as she tried to break free from the man's hold, but his hands held tight to her shoulders. She screamed into the rag at a constant rate, the pain coming from her leg blinding. She could feel each piece of muscle as it grew, the bone as it shifted in her leg.

The pain was gone as quickly as it had come. Elena's arms fell to her sides and her face had gone completely white. The man behind her released her shoulders just in time to catch Elena before she fell from exhaustion. Raven's shoulders ached from where he had held her, and she panted heavily. Sweat had soaked through her shirt. She glanced at her hands and released them from grabbing the sides of the table. She hadn't even know they were there.

The leader had left with Elena in his arms, but returned quickly and pulled a chair next to her. He sat on the chair backwards, and he leaned his elbows on the back.

"I don't think I've ever formally introduced myself," he began. Raven stared at him dumbfounded. "My name is Darien," he said simply.

Raven looked at him. His head tilted to the side as he looked at her, studying her.

"What the hell did I just witness," Raven asked between breaths.

Before Darien could answer her, another girl she recognized from the night before strolled into the room. Her sandy blonde hair was cropped short at her shoulders, and her eyes flashed with annoyance. She looked at her mangled state but her face remained unchanged, passive, even. Raven's eyes widened when she noticed a lick of flame dancing at her fingertips, illuminating the scar that was there. "Welcome to The Raven Society," she drawled, and stalked out of the room.