The Talking Gargoyle Part 8

Ariana warped Raven’s arm after cleaning his wound right outside of the clock shop. It didn’t take long for her to clean the cuts and most of all for him to get out of his armor. After all the wounds were clean and warped Raven put his armor back on feeling the burn of the fight.

                “Now, how do we find this Zeal Whitechurch?” Ariana asked.

                “I think, we need to go talk to the Father,” Raven said. “I want to pay him back for the fight.”

                “Oh, now you want to punch him the face,” Ariana said with a smirk.

                “Yes, I do,” Raven hissed.

                “I don’t have a problem with that,” Ariana said looking up at Lona, who was petting the doe. “What do you say?”

                “I like punching faces,” she said with a big smile.

                “This is why we like her,” Ariana said as they started to walk down the street heading back to the church and hopefully finding the ex-Father there.

                They both kept their eyes and ears open just in case the assassin came back, or more assassins came after them. This time they would be ready for the fight and wouldn’t be blindsided by a sneaky tacit.

                “Why don’t you guys dislike magic?” Lona asked. “I thought all Knights hated magic.”

                Raven shrugged a little and said, “All Knights followed the law of the Realm that is it.”

                “What about you?” Lona asked with Ariana added a big smile, “Yeah, what about you?”

                “What the Emperor doesn’t know will not hurt him,” Raven said back to them. “But if a Hood shows up I am turning both of you over.”

                “What?” Lona asked scared at the idea.

                “He’s joking,” Ariana said. “You are joking right?” But all Raven did was wink at her with a sly grin. “You better be joking,” the Thief order him.

                “Yeah,” Lona added with an equal hard stared.

                Raven started to laugh, but the laughter quickly fell away as Lona grunt in pain holding her arm. The cracks in her flesh started to break apart and run up her body. The light of the mana in the marking grew brighter as the sickness started to take over. She cried out pain falling off the doe’s back and being caught by Ariana.

                Ariana went to the ground with her holding Lona in her arms and resting her body in her lap. The child cried out in back as the lines grew and grew. Ariana petted the back of Lona’s head trying to sooth the pain away telling her, “Everything was going to be all right.”

                But Raven was unsure on that matter, he didn’t think it was ever going to be all right. Whatever this sickness was, it was bad, and at this point, there was no saving her. He wasn’t one to easily give up hope, but in the face of utter darkness, hope was more of a weapon used against someone than a tool to free them. Lona was dying, and there was nothing they could do about it. Fate had rolled the dice on her death, and the fact remained it was going to happen, a cold fact Raven wished Ariana would accept.

                He stared down at the Thief wishing she had a mother when she was a child. Would it have changed the way Ariana was reacting now? She told him the story of her mother dying when she was young of a chest sickness, and all Ariana could do was watch her slowly meet her breathless end.

                The tears in the Thief’s eyes said it all. It was happening again to her. There was nothing she could do to save Lona and all she could do was watch her die.

                The cries from Lona died away, and Ariana held the sleeping child on the muddy ground letting her tears run free in the still moment. Raven glanced around seeing not a soul on the street letting the Thief worked out the pain in her heart. He sighed not sure what to do, does he hold her? Does he talk to her?

                Raven stood there watching them wanting for fate to re-roll the dice. He prayed the child would be saved, but it would not be answered tonight. He heard the heavy steps of boots coming up to them. He turned to face a couple of big squirrels with buries on their face standing at the side of a hooded squirrel. The hood of the squirrel was a deep purple with yellow running around the edge of it. A color that told Raven and Ariana this squirrel was from Airy Knoll, a haven for Spellcrafters.

                Raven gulped at the sight as Ariana stood up from the ground snarling at them. “Those were the squirrels chasing Lona.”

                “Your assassin failed,” Raven said garbing the hilt of his sword.

                “As I can see,” The Spellcrafter said. “I guess that old saying is true if you want something done right, you do it yourself.”

                “Is that why you are standing here now?” Raven asked.

                “Yes, yes,” he said pointing at Lona. “I need her back if you don’t mind.”

                “Over my dead body,” Ariana said.

                “Look,” he said, “I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just want the child back, and we can all go back to our lives.”

                “You tossed her into a cage,” Ariana hissed. “You are getting her back.”

                “You have no idea what is going on,” the Spellcrafter said. “Just give me back the child. I don’t want to hurt either one of you.”

                Raven pulled his sword free cloaked in perfect steel looking like it was just sharpened and deadly. Raven pointed the tip of the sword at him and order, “Move, or you die.”

                “If you don’t give me the child,” the Spellcrafter said, “she will die. I can save her from her sickness.”

                Both Raven and Ariana looked at each other shocked at the statement, and then the Knight looked back at him and coolly asked, “What did you do to her?”