It was cold, very cold. That was the only evidence of life for Raven, aside from the sensation of what could be arms wrapped around her securely. Everything else was lost in the labyrinth that Tash laid out in her head. She was alone in facing all of her fears, the voices hiding in the corner and allowing her to hear the terrible sounds perfectly. There was so much blood and death, all filled with cries of mercy or hatred. The sound of metal meeting skin was heightened, and she heard almost every cry end with a sword or arrow. Then it was the sound of burning. Raven felt it, smelt it, saw it. The raw skin charring into a ghastly black color, slowly reaching to touch the bones of its victims. The cries could still be heard after, and Raven tried to cover her ears, but her body was far from her control. As of now, she was trapped in her mind.
On the outside, Edmund could see her terribly pale body and dazed eyes securely held by the talons of a gryphon. He didn't even know if she was alive, but a strong part of him hoped so. Edmund can't imagine what would happen to the Narnians if their ultimate protector was dead. A dead body intact is better than in pieces, he told himself, remembering the sight of her falling into the abyss around the Telmarine castle. Edmund considered it luck when the gryphon spotted her black figure in the dark.
"She's terribly cold, sire!" The gryphon yelled loudly over the wind so that the king on his back can hear. "My talons are numb."
Edmund peered over the gryphon's wing, seeing her petrified face once more. There must be something the hags in the How can do to help her. His brown eyes scanned the small numbers of narnians below him, before nudging the gryphon. "Hurry! We need to get to the How as quickly as possible." The gryphon obliged, swiftly picking up speed.
Peter watched the gryphon soar from a distance, his quiet anger only escalating with every step he took. The raid was a disaster, ending with more than half of his people dead behind the castle gates and the wounded trailing behind him. To say that the High King was embarrassed would be an understatement. He was disappointed in himself for not listening to Raven, who warned him of the destruction that could follow. He was also disappointed in entrusting Caspian to fulfill his part of the plan, only for the prince to pursue his own endeavor of revenge. Peter's sympathy for Caspian only stretched as far as the truth of the Telmarine king's death, and the rest of him resented the boy.
The failure of the mission was because of Caspian, he'd tell himself. It was all because of him.
In that moment, he could imagine Crystalline scoff and possibly smack him upside the head. "Blaming the outcome of your ideas on others is not noble or just," she'd say. Peter groaned lowly, knowing that her voice of reason was true as ever, yet it couldn't dig deep enough to heal his pride. So he marched on, allowing his rage to bleed out a path for those to follow, but not for the right reasons. He heard rhythmic footfalls come behind him, and was just about to bite off the head of who he imagined to be Caspian, only to see Glenstorm. The centaur bowed in greeting, catching up to Peter's quick pace. "Are you alright, my king?"
Peter forced a neutral expression and tried to loosen his tense muscles before offering a nod. "As alright as anyone can be, given the circumstances."
The centaur stayed silent for a moment, allowing Peter to further toughen his façade of strength. "Forgive my bluntness, your majesty," Glenstorm finally spoke. "But you are a terrible liar."
Peter's eyes flashed up at the golden ones of Glenstorm, ready to insist that there was no issue when the centaur shot him a knowing look. "You can deny all you want, it will not help you. I know you are angry with the outcome of what could have been a brilliant victory, but understand that lingering anger can lead to hatred. Hate is the downfall of every kingdom and every person; do not let it infect you."
Glenstorm left the High King to contemplate his words alone, choosing to scout ahead instead. Peter was no fool; he knew that Glenstorm was just as right as Crystalline would be, and Raven in most cases. Peter glanced back at the men marching behind him. All were weary and a few critically injured, but Caspian and his professor were in perfect health. They chatted away quietly with the occasional smile or laugh that would rupture from their of their mouths. He grew angry again, quickly pulling to a stop and facing his men. "We rest here for the remainder of the night."
As Peter's men made a makeshift camp for the rest of the night, Edmund did not stop. The gryphon used the higher winds to propell him across the forests and rivers, pushing to make it to the How before daybreak. They both knew that Raven's health was on the line, and they could not compromise her life for a blink of sleep. Raven was definitely not in the best shape health wise, but her mind was taking constant beatings as she fought against the torture of Tash.
Raven was losing more of her sanity with every vision and lured her to think it was real, and every cry that convinced her that she couldn't fix anything. The Dark Angel was falling into and endless pit of despair, all the while feeling as if she was about to wake up. She was just as close to life as she was to death, but they were so far from reach. Raven was stuck in the middle, desperately grasping onto the straws of what was left of her reality. Did I love Peter? She'd ask. Was there a Peter?
Edmund spotted the How in the distance, letting a relieved sigh slip past his lips. "Finally."
The landing wasn't as smooth with an unconscious body in the gryphon's front talons, but Raven was unharmed. He picked her up and ran straight into the entrance of the How, shouting for his sister. "Lucy! Lucy! Where is Queen Lucy?"
The young queen was stirred awake by the commotion, and quickly made her way to the healing halls where the voices trailed to. Once she was there, her eyes bugged open wide at the sight of what seemed to be a lifeless Raven. Her hair was back to a pitch black, and her mouth was firmly clamped shut as to not reveal the all too familiar voice. Raven's eyes however, were nothing like the beautiful shade that matched Crystalline's. They were a ghostly gray, hooded with a dazed stare into nothingness. The Dark Angel didn't look alive, but her pulse was enough proof of it. There were four nurses surrounding her, tearing off the blood soaked cloak and weapons off her body.
Raven was sensitive to all of the hands poking and prodding her immobile body, of which only confused her even more in her mind. What was real? The voices that acted like an anchor to her reality was stripped away, leaving Raven to brave the waves of her dark subconscious alone. There were moments that felt too real to be a fictional vision, much like the sight of her being carried into the healing halls or the women in the How murmuring anxiously amongst themselves. There is a moment in particular that caught her attention. It was Lucy and her eyes filled to the brim with worry. The girl was standing from a distance, watching carefully how the healers treated Raven as to not miss a single movement.
"Lucy."
She turned to face Edmund, who looked about as exhausted and dead as Raven. Lucy didn't allow him to continue talking, forcing him to tilt his head back and pulling out her cordial. With one drop of the fire juice potion, Edmund was rejuvenated and he smiled at her in thanks. "What happened to her?" Lucy asked.
His smile dropped into a worried frown, and he shook his head. "I don't know. I saw her falling off the side of the castle," Edmund explained, glancing over at the unconscious girl for a moment. "Why was she there anyway? Didn't she say that she wasn't going to help?"
Lucy looked over her shoulder to look at Raven as well, wrapping her arms tightly around herself and she shrugged before turning back around. "We were rummaging through some Archives to find anything about the Telmarines that would help us, and she got all... anxious, I suppose. I found her later on in the Stone Table all hunched up against the wall. She said that she needed to stop all of you and ran off."
Edmund raised a brow in confusion, his brown eyes meeting his sister's brilliant green ones. "Do you think she's found something in those Archives? Something bad?" He asked.
Lucy only replied with a nod and grabbed his arm, tugging him out into the hallway. "I think she has found something, so I began to look into the book she was reading," she said while pulling Edmund along. They turned a corner, walking up to the room of the Archives. "Nothing notable has come up. Nothing seemed dangerous enough to read over twice. I don't know what got Raven so worried to run off like that, and looking at her now makes me wonder if whatever it was hurt her."
"Hurt her?" Edmund snorted, grabbing a book and flipping mindlessly through it. "She can get stabbed twenty times and not even flinch. I don't think anything can truly hurt her."
Lucy shot her brother a glare, slamming a book down on the desk harshly. "Did you see her? In case if you completely forgot the last few hours, Raven is practically comatose," she retorted and grabbed the book Raven read. "And she is an angel. The only way they could possibly get harmed is by fate or..."
The two's wide eyes met, a lump gathered in their throats as a single word tumbled out of their mouths.
"Curse."
Lucy immediately opened the book, flipping the pages to reach the topic of deities. She skimmed through, ignoring the mentions of minor gods before finally coming to the page that she needed. Her eyes raked the page top to bottom, her nose slowly sinking deeper into the book until she came upon a specific paragraph. "Aha! It says here that those who worshipped Tash would ask for him to enact vengeance and deliver curses upon their enemies. The curses call for the tearing of the heart and his name to seal it."
"Tearing of the heart?" Edmund repeated. Lucy met his gaze, her mind trying to piece together what she read. "That must be like removing someone's heart with magic!" She exclaimed suddenly, shutting the book and whirling around to pull out another one from the shelf. "And what other angel had their heart taken out of their body?" Lucy rhetorically asked, showing Edmund the cover.
The Tale of Crystalline.
"Do you think there will be anything that could help us in there?" Edmund asked, growing uncomfortable with the idea of going through a delicate part of both of their pasts. Lucy caught his tone, her eyes following the distraught features that lined his face. She was well aware that Crystalline was just as important to him like the others, especially since it was the angel who saved him from the witch's camp. Edmund knew the horrible things Jadis did to her heart, and the terrible curses that left bloody engraves on it.
Lucy grasped his tensed hand, successfully relaxing her brother. "We need to look into Crystalline in order to see if Raven stands a chance against whatever curse is placed on her. We need to help her, no matter the cost." Edmund let out a heavy sigh, his body unwilling to let out his words so he settled on a nod and a silent prayer to Aslan.
Please, he begged. Help us save Raven.
***********
Okay this is more of a filler and informative chapter for you guys.
I don't really know how to feel about this, but it has very important points that I wanted to reach and succeeded.
The only issue is that it's not as long as I wanted it to be. /:
I'm going to really try hard to make the next chapter double the length because I don't like this 2000 word count I've been getting! You guys deserve more!
Aside from my pet peeves about my writing, please tell me what your thoughts on the chapter!
What do you think will Lucy and Edmund uncover? Will they be able to help Raven?
See you next time!
Xx.