Rise of the Goddess

Chapter Eleven - Corvus

The door gently closed behind her, and Corvus now stood before all of her old friends. Zariah stood closest to the door, watching the others in case they did something. Miko and Darmar both stood furthest away, watching her with wide open eyes, completely shocked. Jira also looked shocked, but she looked happier than Corvus had seen her in years.

Then her eyes fell onto Aadil. He looked livid. Staring at her with solid gold eyes, his face contorted into a look of rage and betrayal.

She couldn't look long.

She watched them all, and suddenly her world seemed to blur. Several images flooded into her mind: seeing the Gerudo arrive in Rito Village, arriving to the Gerudo Palace, meeting them all for the first time, talking to each one of them, practicing her archery with Jira, helping Zariah climb everywhere, laughing along with Darmar and Miko, strategizing with Aadil... then the last time she ever saw them, all of them stood there watching as she was dragged away, the looks on their faces drilled into her mind.

She wasn't ready for this.

Corvus laid back on the filthy bed, covered in bloodstains, trying to fall asleep. She was alone in the dungeon again, she preferred it when she was alone, there was no one trying to mock her or sneer at her. Subconsciously, she reached for another one of her feathers, then held back. She couldn't fall back into doing that again, she couldn't.

She heard people coming and opened a single eye at the bars of the doors. A group of 4 soldiers had arrived and stopped at her cell door.

She closed her eyes again, "What is it this time?" she asked.

"You've been released,"

She froze, then leaned forward and faced them, "What do you mean? My sentence isn't over for a few more months,"

"The Queen wishes to see you,"

Corvus got slowly to her feet, "Then take me to her,"

The soldiers opened the cell floor and she slowly moved forward. The closest soldier grabbed her roughly and took her away. Her joints ached with every step.

As they dragged her further and further away from the dungeons, she was filled with complete confusion. She had no idea what could possibly be happening. There had only been one time, a long time ago, when Zelda ever wanted to talk to her. Still, she had gone down there to the dungeon, Corvus hadn't been dragged away like she was now.

They made a stop in a side room, where she was met with two servant girls, a familiar pile of clothes to the side, and a warm steaming bath. The soldiers left. The girls gestured her over.

They bathed her, washed the grime and the blood and the dirt off of her feathers and her raw skin, finding the wound and bandages around her neck, her most recent attempt to end it all, which somehow refused to go away, every time she tried to take off the bandages, she would start bleeding again, accidentally tear the skin again, and then she'd have to start all over. Somehow, as their gentle hands washed her wounds, they didn't manage to tear anything.

When they were done, they left her alone with a mirror and a pile of clothes. At first she recognized the clothes as the same clothes she'd worn before she was imprisoned, then she realized they were new, just styled in nearly the same way. It was a tan tunic, and several long green cloths. She wrapped one around her waist like a belt and... after a second, tightly wrapped the other around her neck, concealing the bandages she had there.