The Talking Gargoyle Part 2

The Ghost Corpse Traven only had one room for the night and Raven along with Ariana had no choice but to agree to take it. The room was small, and it wasn’t the first time they had shared a room together or a bed, but either one of them enjoyed it. Raven removed his armor slowly telling the thief, “We’ll leave at first light.”

                Ariana fell back on the bed with a heavy sigh and asked, “Why do we have to go back to the guild hall every time?”

                “It’s how we get paid,” Raven said sitting his chest plate against the door.

                “You know for a guild of heroes you guys sure do like acorns,” she told him staring up at the candlelight dancing on the ceiling.

                “I like to eat,” he said removing his boots and putting them beside the armor as well. “Move over,” he ordered making her shift to the other side of the bed as he laid in it. His sword sitting next to him in case he needed during the night. All Knights, Ariana quickly notice, didn’t like being away from their swords and did not like anyone touching them. Even after they became friends, Raven wouldn’t let her hold the weapon.

                To her, a weapon was nothing more than a tool. When a tool breaks you get a new one but to a Knight it was something far more, and to Raven for more important to him then any other Knights. Ariana understood why he kept the weapon close to him because the soul of his father was bounded to the steel of the blade.

                There was a story to be told about how that came to be, and Ariana spent weeks begging him to tell her, but Raven wouldn’t say a word about it. She tried some more but after a while let it go for the time being.

                They both laid in the bed looking up at the light and the shadows dancing with each other from the music below.

                “You think we can get a quest in Whispering Oaks next?” Ariana asked.

                “We can try,” Raven said. “Missing home?”

                “Missing the food,” she said with a hungry smile. “Nothing beats an Oak chilly.”

                “No, it doesn’t,” Raven agree. “Maybe, we can get over there for All Thanks Day. You know you see your family and what not?”

                “Go to the Thankful Festival,” Ariana told him. “It was my favorite time of the year. Candy sellers from Thornwood would come and …” all she did was make a pure sound of enjoyment at the thought.

                “I’ll see what we can,” Raven said with sleep on the edge of his tongue.

                Ariana smiled at the idea until she replayed what he said over her mind. He used the word ‘we’ and it was the first time he had said it. She knew he didn’t care much for her being sent on his quests, but orders were orders, and a Knight did as they were told. Sure, over the months they had come to enjoy each other like friends, well, more like partners who didn’t want to get killed, but there was never a ‘we’ in the mixed.

                She always believed if Raven could get rid of her, he would, but the word might have changed things. The question which remained in her mind was, did she want to stay around?

                Before she could make a joke about Raven using the word ‘we’ the heavy breathing of him falling asleep echoed in the room. She laid there for a few hours until the dying candle was almost out listening to him breathe. On most nights it put her to sleep as well. There was something safe in hearing or knowing the Knight was beside her. A safety she had never really felt before in her life, being a thief didn’t give her that luxury much, and on this night, she couldn’t sleep again.

                Some night sleeps never found her.

                She quietly got up from the bed and made her out of the Traven to walk for a while. To clear her mind and calm her legs and maybe, with some luck get a few hours of sleep.

                The streets of the poor city were quiet, and most of the squirrels were lost in their own dreams. Ariana smirked because thief like her hated sleeping the night away. There was so more work to be done while squirrels were dreaming.

                She thought about finding something to break into, keep her skills sharp, but a small child screaming in the night and running crossed the street being chased by two large squirrels changed her mind.

                Ariana followed the odd sight down the back alley to find the scared child against the wall. Poor thing had no idea where she was going and quickly found a dead end. The two giant squirrels started to move in on her, one was carrying a bag, and the little child started to cry even more. But most of all and to Ariana shock, she was ready to fight them.

                “Hm,” Ariana said from behind them making everyone look at her, “did she steal something from you?”

                “Go away,” one the without the bag said turning to face her and cracking your knuckles. “This has nothing to do with you.”

                “By the angels do I know that,” Ariana said with a heavy sighed. “I should be in bed and not dealing with you guys.”

                The giant facing her pull a knife out and pointing it at her. “I said go away.”

                Ariana looked at the crying child and mumble, “I hate you, Raven, you are rubbing off on me.”

                The two giants laid on the ground groaning in pain, but they were alive, and Ariana was taking the crying child down the alley with her paw in Ariana’s paw. Ariana was smiling down at her and asked, “Now, how do we get you home?”

                “I don’t know.”

                Great, Ariana thought with a heavy smile.

 

Author's Note

(Writer’s Note: I came up with Ariana and Raven during a break I take after I write a novel. I normally, take a week or so off from planning or working on a long-form story. Sometimes, I will take a year off from working on a novel and just write short stories or in this year’s case stories about the Talon family. However, I enjoyed writing this way, so I’m going to keep doing it. I have been writing a thousand words a day for a novel and then writing a thousand words for the short stories.

Anyways, I was writing some short stories for ToWos, and I came across these two. Ariana had taken Raven’s sword, and he was tracking her down. Once, he found her and the sword he ended up saving her from death. They became friends, and now she is a part of the Lionheart Company. Outside of the short story, I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I liked them both.

The other night before I was thinking about how I wanted to do a year of ToWos stories and these two came to mind. After writing the first two parts of the tale, I can say I really enjoy being around them. I hope you do as well, and I hope you keep reading. I have some great plans for these two.)