Crystal Corde

Alone

"Reclaim? What do you mean by that?" I ask, a worried expression on my face.

"I'll explain later."

"You keep saying I'll explain later, but when is later?!" I yell, some people passing by turning and looking at us for a moment. She pockets the small object from the box, zipping the pocket closed. She closes the box, taking my bag, stuffing it back in, pulling the drawstrings and handing it back to me.

"It's soon... As soon as we get to safety I'll explain everything..." she says, turning around and looking into the street. She pulls my hood so that it hangs down a little over my face, casting a shadow over it. "Come on and don't let anyone see your face or your clothes," she stands straight and walks into the street. I then notice the people and the buildings, they aren't modern, it's as if they were taken straight out of Europe in the middle ages.

I follow close behind her, making sure my cloak stays closed. We quickly cross the road and enter a small wooden establishment, which looks like a restaurant or a bar.

Raven opens the door slowly, a small bell dinging as she does. She holds the door open, waiting for me to enter first. When I enter, the smell attacks me and I am taken aback. This is definitely a bar.

I hear men laugh in the back of the room and I look around. All I see are men and women drinking from old-timey wooden mugs, laughing and talking with others. "Come on," she whispers to me, taking my hand and dragging me straight toward the back of the building.

We walk straight to the back and up to a large door, which is guarded by a large burly man. The man wears a torn black tank top, brown pants and some sort of combat boots. I gulp and look down, his presence overwhelming and strong. "Who are you, you little weasel," the man grunts angrily, moving the toothpick in his mouth. I feel Raven move her arm to take something out of her pocket and I look up to see her holding the object that came from the mysterious box.

The man's mouth becomes agape and the toothpick falls to the floor with a few soft taps as it bounces. "Go inside. Now." He whispers in short grunts. He opens the door and quickly shuffles us in, the door slamming with a loud thud behind us. I look to Rae who is staring into the room intensely. I wonder if this is the safe place she was talking about.

"Hmm? Can't say that I expected to ever see you again, thought ya might've been dead by now," a female voice says from a dark corner of the room. She lightly chuckles and I hear her move a little. The only light in the room comes from a single candle attached to the wall by the door, only illuminating the space around me and Raven, leaving the rest of the room in total darkness.

I grab onto Raven's arm tightly, but I quickly realize she is relaxed. Who is this person that she can relax around? "Wow Ari, don't have much faith in me, huh?" she smirks, taking off her hood.

"Well then, first things first, who's this other person you brought along? I don't sense any magical power from them, so a human? What about uh... You know who?" Just then, the place where the voice came from is lit up by a candle with a snap of the fingers. Even more candles lining the walls then light as well, revealing the room we're in.

It is a small four-walled room, with a desk in the corner, facing the door we came in. Ari, I suspect, is a tall woman, wearing only a black swim-suit like top and black three-quarter jeans. She leans on the desk twirling a throwing knife in her hand, and flicks her long, curly brown hair behind her as she stands straight, ceasing to spin the knife.

I can now see that her eyes are a deep chocolatey brown that matches her hair. She wears black sandals, that make no noise as she walks towards us, her eyes holding a threatening gaze as they are locked on me.