Knightess

17

I sit on the edge of my bed, sopping wet from the rain outside. The light from the fireplace bathes the entire room in a dark maroon colored glow. Naomi sits at my desk, tapping her fingernails against the wood. It would be just my luck if Feathers happens to show up at this time. Her hair is a tangled, wet mess of wavy platinum blonde hair. Black kohl is smeared by accident all over her face. I find it surprising that she keeps on the golden powder and kohl after all that's happened. After a few long minutes of silence she speaks. "I can't believe Salava, Luna, and Zenna are gone."

I nod. The funeral was cut short for Zenna and Luna due to a huge rainstorm. All of the Knightesses are either with the Queen or resting in their rooms. Naomi has decided to stay with me, and I'm grateful for that. I don't want to be alone at the moment.

Naomi shudders and rubs her arms, her teeth chattering. "Althea?"

I look at her. "Yes?"

She hesitates for a moment before saying, "Do you think that one of us will be the next Knightess to be attacked?"

My heart begins to thud with that awful thought. "What makes you think that?" I ask.

She stands and stretches her legs. "I don't know. I'm just worried about who will be found next. Who says it can't be me? Or even you?"

I stand up also. "Let's just hope that there won't be another attacked Knightess." I begin to walk over to the door. "I'm tired. I'm going to go to sleep now, if that's alright."

She opens the door and walks out. "It's fine. I'm going to check on the Queen and see how she's doing. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," I say back and gently close the door.

I take a quick bath and then change into a white nightgown. As I'm snuggling under the warm quilts I hear a pecking sound come from my window. Groaning, I throw the quilts off of me and head over to the window. I throw open the window and hiss, "What do you want at this time of night?" (Though I'm glad that Feathers has come with another letter from Jackin.)

It's too dark outside to see Feathers, so I call out his name. A moment later the crow jumps in, cawing loudly. He falls on my desk and I see that one of his wings is almost broken and a giant, bloody gash runs from his right claw up to his neck. I tear off a piece of my nightgown and press the cloth against the wound. Feathers squawks and hisses at me, but I don't take the cloth away. "How did this happen?" I whisper to him, though I know he won't answer.

Finally Feathers goes still enough that I can see how deep the wound is. The wound is bad and I can tell that Feathers doesn't have much time left. He's bleeding out.

I wrap his injured wing with the strip of cloth and grab a pillow off of the bed. After wrestling a scared and injured Feathers onto the pillow I use another piece of cloth to tie against his cut. As I do so I examine the cut. "An animal, perhaps?" I ask out loud. I frown. No, an animal's claw wouldn't be a clean cut like this one.

It can only be a cut from a sword.

"But who would attack Feathers?" I say out loud. He's just a crow, and unless someone takes some sort of sick pleasure out of trying to kill him, there's no reason to attack him.

Feathers wheezes and caws again. "Shut up and save your breath," I snap at him, secretly wishing that he will live.

Feathers spreads his wings open and begins to flutter them, which only hurts him more. He lays still, panting. His chest begins to slowly rise and fall. I lay a hand on his side. Soon he stops breathing. He's dead.

I bite my lip. I hated that stupid bird, but he was the only source of communication I had with Jackin. A new fear soon settles in my mind as I think of him. I stand and walk to the window, hoping to get a blast of fresh air. What if whoever attacked Feathers was trying to get to Jackin?

Who would it be though? The Queen perhaps? Has she found out that we are exchanging letters? It makes sense, but wouldn't she approach me first before sending her guards after Jackin?

If it's not the Queen than who is it?

I look back down at Feathers's body. Black feathers are spread across the floor, as well as parts of my nightgown and blood. I notice a letter tied to his claw. Hands shaking, I go over and untie it. I slowly unroll the paper. It's crinkly and stained with Feathers's blood. Scribbled hastily in shaky letters is a single word, obviously Jackin's handwriting.

Help.