The Enchantress and the Rayvene

            He was gone. My guardian, protector, and longtime advisor.

My mind was excruciatingly slow to realize this, even when a tantalizingly thorough search revealed that Jarone was not in our cozy two-room home. It seemed to loom above me darkly, simply taunting my ignorance. It had been a long few nights; the Corrupted forces that threatened the borders of my beloved country were getting stronger, and faster than I could do the same. My reserves, golden and magical alike, were soon to be exhausted, and I spent long nights renewing a long-lived quest simply to preserve them and the borders. Maybe if I hadn’t been out so late tonight, Jarone would still be here…but I couldn’t dwell on that now. He was in trouble, and that would be the only thing I focused on now.

I stared into space for a time after the reveal of Jarone’s disappearance, my matter-of-fact mind trying to cope with this information. Eventually, I reasoned that my kingdom needed me, more desperately than ever.

But Jarone needed me, too. And I needed him even more, my longing for his guidance at my side selfishly overpowering both other necessities.

Shoving aside the fact that my nation could very possibly meet doom without me, I grabbed a few foods to join a pack of jerky that already resided in my pack, as well as extra clothes: a red dress that plumed toward the ground, yet allowed me room to do whatever would be needed, accompanied by all of the appropriate underclothes for a lady of ranking such as my own. A canteen was already fastened to the side of my leather pack, and I tied a pair of knives to the back of the fabric, invisible to anyone but me. They were shortly joined by a curved, deadly sword once called a khopesh, and I was already retreating through the door when I once again grasped a pale staff that accompanied me everywhere, engraved with complicated designs only intelligible to me. I also happened to be the only one able to see the subtle changes in design as I walked, the wood shifting underneath my hand like a living beast. The staff would help with my magic, strengthening it. The three blades at my back hid like escaped criminals, and I desired to keep it that way until danger reared its ugly face, as it certainly would.

It didn’t take long for my brisk strides to bring me into the woods, where I could not help but admire the mystery night gave my kingdom.

A red moon illuminated the trees and snow eerily, and the trees cast shadows, blacker than ink, scattering and scampering across the white powder. More than once I caught the soft red eyes of some bestia, some animal, peering curiously at me from the bushes or branches. I would smile with gleaming white, slightly pointed teeth, joining our twin-colored gazes, and the creature would retreat back into its hidden home as if it had never existed.

I did not need sleep; Jarone was missing, and my remaining magic energy would sustain me for some time as long as I remained determined enough. I didn’t see how my determination could fail with such a huge weight on my shoulders.

I’d always been more than a bit stubborn.

No mortales, humans, challenged me in the night; I doubted that many others were out this late. I was one of the very few of my kind who had any chance of surviving the depths of the forest during its darkened hours, and that could possibly have had something to do with the fact that I was not actually of the mortales’ species, though it seemed that often I was close enough.

I was an Enchantress. This simply meant that I was born to wield the gift of magic, but it set me apart from mortales greatly at times. I was viewed with the highest of respect, thus my high rank. Currently, I was second to none, save the King. That would change soon, I suspected, as he was simply a mortalis. I did not view them as below me, but they certainly did. I had been propelled through the ranks since a young child, and this process was only escalated by the fact that I was one of the few “good” Enchantresses still left.

Some went insane. Some became power hungry. Some were simply overcome by the magic, and met their ends as a corrupted being, rid of all humanity that had existed within their already-twisted soul.

I was stronger. I would not let the magic overpower me. When I gained the throne, it would be enough. That was what I told myself. I would not become a greed-riddled, narcissistic tool for corruption to overtake my country with. I could fight.

I shivered, my own thoughts chilling my soul to its deepest recesses. The sin born with magic was stronger than the sin born into a normal mortalis. It was powerful, and I found it to be more terrible, stronger when Jarone was gone. This was one reason I needed him so desperately.

I’d seen what could happen to an overcome lamia, and it was not something I would ever wish on myself or my cruelest enemy

I wrapped my dark cloak tighter around an unusually lanky body, shifting my head so that the rosy gold-rimmed hood fell over my face. Tiny flurries of shimmering white erupted and settled at my feet, already working to mask my booted footprints. I had a limited supply of magic, but now was not a time to risk being tracked.

Something was wrong with the forest; I started to slowly realize it as I walked. It was too silent. Usually I could hear the soft hoots of owls or the whines and whimpers of wolves. Tonight, there was nothing but the whistle of the wind through the trees. I felt eerily alone in the dead silence, isolated and trapped. These fears began to dawn on my tired, sluggish mind even as a deep, booming howl echoed over the treetops. This was not the work of any normal bestia. I had never heard one before, but the sound was unmistakable. I was witnessing the roar of Corruption itself.

I hardly had time to duck before the first jagged spear sliced by my head, on a perfect course for where my chest had been not a moment before. I gasped to recover the oxygen that had suddenly fled my mind, mental gears already working to spin a plan of escape. With such a powerful manifestation of Corruption, that was all there would be. Escape, not victory.

I rolled to the side, avoiding another lethal spear and giving myself the chance to grab the knives from my pack. I wouldn’t have time to rip the khopesh free. Something emitted an unearthly, chilling scream from nearby, and I used the sound to track the Corruption. The one advantage I had here was that with such a huge manifestation, it would be limited to a more-or-less physical form, and therefore I could pinpoint its location. To a degree.

This information gave me the ability to dodge yet another spear, but I wasn’t prepared for what came after. A booming sound exploded the serenity of the forest, replying to the Corruption. I quelled the rising tide of panic and ran for my life, away from the manifestation and the painful death it would soon ensure for me. I didn’t know if it followed, but I didn’t dare look back. One glance at the Corruption’s void would crush an Enchantress’s soul and bring the magic’s sinful power to a peak, leaving the enchantress to a future much worse than death.

I ran until my chest heaved and burned with exertion and my legs begged for rest; then I let myself slow to a brisk, jumpy walk. The forest had lost its prior beauty to my eyes, the goodness swallowed by the trailing Corruption. No end was in sight for far too long, and I began to despair that I’d missed the one trail that would bring me out of the trees. My eyes were dragged back frequently against my will, and no matter how hard I fought, their pale red sought out the Corrupted void.

When the end of the trees came, it was sudden and unforgiving. My vision was covered by bright, squirming dots that threatened to blind me, and I hastily covered my eyes with the hood of my cloak, letting them adjust to the sudden light. The sun was peeking out–when had that happened? –and my heart ached at the thought of how long Jarone had been missing. At this point I was certain that he must have been abducted, and the thought terrified me, though less than the thought of life without the kindly old Rayvene.

The plains seemed just as I remembered them, upon first glance. However, a more thorough search revealed a blackened dome at the edge of the horizon, waiting for me like the Corruption itself. Its pointed tip stretched toward the sky menacingly, daring me to come forward. I did, feeling its pull drag at my very soul, my foolish Enchantress’s soul. But something else lay below that ominous magic, something familiar and gentle that I recognized but could not have placed to save my life. Actually, it may have.

I stumbled on, heart pounding in exhaustion, and forced myself on. The golden wheat had been painted red in the sunrise, making for a spectacular and beautiful scene that I largely ignored. If my mind had been functioning correctly, I would have wondered who had stolen the Rayvene, but unfortunately I had been running on very little sleep and very little sustenance for several days. The thought that this could be a force stronger than myself hardly even crossed my mind.

The black structure appeared to be a huge cage of some sort, and was overgrown with twirling weeds, stained red in the dawn. I stared at it in awe, the Corruption behind almost forgotten. The building had bars evenly spaced around a circular base, curved upward to a domed point. Its overgrown state gave it a mysterious quality, and I stared, frozen, at the scene, colored in various shades of red, white, and black.

Something fluttered around inside the cage, giving me the proof I needed to convince myself that it was what I had thought, and I hurried closer, giving one last glance behind me. The Corruption had all but disappeared.

The last ridge fell away from in front of me, and I was faced with the huge cage, leagues high, and its prisoners: hundreds of Rayvene.

I called Jarone’s name as loudly as I could, straining to be overheard over the panicked noises of the human-sized bestiae. The bird-like creatures tended to use their native language when not around mortales or other intelligent bestiae, but they apparently didn’t know I was there, because I could not understand a single word. Slowly, the crowd of human-sized birds shifted with the realization, revealing a ragged and scarred bestia in the center. I caught my breath and pressed a hand against the cage, staring at a tortured Jarone. Slowly, he looked up and met my gaze with his own crimson eyes. I shuddered.

“What…what have they done with you?” I breathed desperately, staring at the ragged coat of ripped and sliced feathers. His once smooth, silky plumage had been reduced to a mass of jagged barbs.

Jarone attempted to smile back at me. “I am fine, Kiladra.” Suddenly his eyes widened into perfect circles.

A voice growled from behind me, startlingly close. I felt rapid, hot breaths on my back as the creature writhed behind me. I didn’t need to see it to get a very clear picture of the Corruption. “Watch your back instead of the Rayvene’s, if you value your life. Enchantress,” he added tauntingly.

I narrowed my eyes, staring straight ahead at nothing at all. “You have no power over me. Be gone, Corruption.”

A laugh, rasping and inhuman all at once, though the voice seemed very human. “But what you do not see is that I am much stronger than anything you’ve faced. Corruption is difficult to smuggle into a physical body, and in many ways this can limit its power anyway, but I also will not be banished from your realm with only a few fancy words.”

I smiled. “Maybe not.” Jarone met my eyes and nodded subtly. He knew what I was thinking, and if he approved, I would carry it through.

My pack had been slipped to the ground when I’d found Jarone and stumbled upon his weakened condition. I reached for it and transferred the khopesh to my hands. Somewhere in my desperate flight, the two knives had been lost.

“A fair fight,” I reasoned.

The voice chuckled. “Yes…a fair fight.”

I smiled, confident, and whipped around with my khopesh outstretched just slightly, enough to skewer the Corruption if it was close enough, yet not enough to throw my balance off and slow my reflexes if he also went for a jab. His sword met my own blade, my rosy gold clashing with the black metal as I caught the straight edge in the crook of my curved one. For the first time I glimpsed my opponent: a man not much older than myself, features harshened into sharp lines and eyes cold and hard. He was grinning madly, staring me down with the intensity of a predator. I focused on my swordplay, reluctantly glad for his physical form. I could look at him without being overwhelmed by the magic.

We clashed back and forth, back and forth, before I began to fall behind. The Corruption was powerful, much more so than I had been as of late. Finally, he knocked my khopesh out my hand entirely, and I didn’t get the chance to even watch as it clanged against the bar of the cage with a loud clang. Underneath the louder sound, I heard a subtle click.

The black sword was underneath my chin in an instant, and I fought the urge to kick the man with all strength left in my body. Instead, I slowly raised my hands to show that I was now unarmed, and also that I could not complete any spells correctly. In order to do that, I would need both hands free to make the wild gestures necessary. Slowly, I rotated my body, and he followed until instead of my back to the cage, it was his. I grinned at the Corruption’s ignorance.

The smile seemed to make it uneasy. The man shifted, too slightly for any but an Enchantress to notice. I made the smile a bit wider, crinkling my nose when my lips could no longer contain it, scrunching my eyes into slits and finally letting out a laugh that had me soon doubled over. The Corruption’s eyes darted wildly in irrational panic. “What–what are you doing?” it hissed.

I stood up for a minute, gasping for breath and a relief from the hysterical laughing. I opened my mouth to say something, then doubled over again in a fit of giggling. Thankfully, the black blade had been removed from my throat.

This distraction was all Jarone needed. I kept laughing, heaving the huge, rolling fits out for all I was worth. Then, all at once, the frantic pacing of the Corruption was gone, and I opened my eyes to find him laying about twenty feet away on the ground, pinned underneath a gigantic, scarred black bird. I wiped tears from my eyes and joined Jarone, no longer laughing or even smiling. My expression was furious and grim, and I had one hand already posed for the binding spell this Corrupted vessel would be receiving very soon. But first…I swiped a fist across the man’s face, even knowing that it wasn’t his fault the Corruption had chosen his soul to possess. It wouldn’t matter, anyway. The man he used to be was gone, replaced by the cruelty and evil of Corruption. “That was for Jarone,” I growled through clenched teeth, staring daggers, flames, and poisons at the Corruption. Only then, after I had had my revenge, did I begin the incantation that would bind him. A pale, wooden staff appeared in my hand, complex designs subtly changing under my fingertips. It had been hidden from the world with my magic, but now I needed its own.

“Iam ego te in terra et sub terra , et in nomine Enchantress . Tu resideas in vincula tua meruit–”

I now bind you to the ground and the earth, in the name of the Enchantress. May you reside in your earned chains.

“No! No, please!” he begged frantically, writhing on the ground beneath me in a frenzied panic.

I spoke the final words, choosing to ignore him. “Vade, Corruptione.”

Be gone, Corruption.

The man let out a blood-curdling scream and collapsed into the ground as if it were a metal weight, dragging him down. I didn’t watch as the silvery, glowing chains enwrapped his struggling body, ripped up from the very earth. I knew what would happen. They would drag him down into the ground, and the piece of Corruption that had lodged itself in his body would be banished forever.

Instead of watching the mortifying scene, I tuned out the twisted screams to the best of my ability and turned slowly to face Jarone, who was standing only a little ways away, cleaning his filthy feathers. He looked up at me, and I couldn’t help but smile a bit, despite everything we’d just gone through. The Corruption let loose a familiar howl of Corruption at me, but I focused on the Rayvene, ignoring the idea that had clicked into place inside my mind. That howl could only mean that the Corruption I had fled the entire way here was now being absorbed into the earth, trapped inside a physical body.

I watched Jarone unfold his ragged, torn wings as if the world had lapsed into slow motion. Then I snapped out of my daze and fell into his soft plumage, hugging the giant Rayvene for all that I was worth. He rested his beak on my shoulder, comforting me like a father. His black feathers spread across the ground, startling against its red hues. My crimson dress sprawled around my feet, pooling in a cluster of fabric to blend with the ground. “It’s okay,” Jarone clucked softly, responding to my trembling.

I nodded, finally letting myself glance back. The only thing left of the man’s body was the tip of his finger, sticking up from the mud. I didn’t let my mind wander too far from the fact that I’d defeated the Corruption. Unfortunately, the fact that I’d also murdered a man was too heavy to ignore. I sighed and leaned on Jarone. “I know.”

We walked home in silence, and suddenly the forest didn’t seem so foreboding to me. I felt safe with the Rayvene beside me, though the man’s lost life haunted me like a malevolent ghost.

I had retrieved my khopesh, which had earlier unlocked the cage with a deft twist of my wrist. Thankfully, this Corruption hadn’t been strong enough to outsmart me, and it had thought that it had disarmed me. It hadn’t. I had just seen a convenient time to pick the hidden lock. Only the weapon’s slender blade would have been thin enough to slip into the slit.

I glanced at Jarone, hobbling beside me. He would heal, with time; I was certain. Whether I would myself was yet to be determined, but I figured that with the two of us, we would be able to figure something out. For now, I had a country to defend from Corruption forces much stronger than what I’d faced today, and little to do so with. My magic reserves were drained, for tonight at least, if not longer. I doubted I could roast a fly in the state I was in. As a collective people, the kingdom had spent more gold than we had, and all of our warriors were either fighting or too injured to continue doing so. I may have been our only hope.

But I shoved all of these thoughts out of my head, focusing on the lights coming from ahead. Lanterns that signified home.

~*~*~*~

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Cover credits go to NanoMortis.

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~Raine