The women ran in behind Ravynne and Verlian, screaming and crying hysterically, "Please hero! Please save us, please save us!"
Ravynne spoke up, "When did you do….this?" Her voice was shaking and she spoke through her hand, although she was barely audible.
"Shortly after you disappeared. We thought your sacrifice was not good enough so we sacrificed the purest souls we had! Even that was not enough. They want more! They want your blood Ravynne!" The woman sounded deranged, like she had completely cracked. She was speaking so quickly and partially laughing at the same time. Ravynne felt a shiver run up her spine, resulting in her scooting closer to Verlian.
Verlian snarled, his gaze never leaving the remains, "Why, when it has been so cold, are they complete skeletons." His voice was filled with hatred and while he didn't yell or shout, his words had enough fire behind them to make it feel like he was.
"Our great holy hero! We sacrificed their bones and their souls, but not their flesh. Don't you see? The gods! They wanted us to sacrifice the children, the pure ones, and out of that…..we had a meal! The gods answered accepted our sacrifice and answered our prayers!" Another of the women began to speak, she got on her knees and clutched Verlian's pelt as she explained to him with a crazed look in her eyes.
Verlian kicked her away from him, disgusted at the thought of such a creature touching him. Yes, she was no human. No human, unless corrupted by such evil, could do such a thing. Ravynne suppressed a gag, "Cannibalism?" She whispered it ever so quietly but the woman that was grabbing onto Verlian heard her.
"I don't expect a curse like you, to understand a gift from the gods!" Her voice was filled with so much rage she almost sounded demonic. Then Etelia ran forward and gripped Ravynne by the leg, digging her nails into her, drawing blood. Ravynne screamed and Verlian immediately grabbed her and pulled her away from Etelia, keeping Ravynne behind him.
"Ravynne! You must die! Stop being so selfish! The children have died for this village. They died for us. Why will you not do the same?! You are the reason they are dead!"
"Listen here you disgusting excuses for humans," Verlian kneed her in the cheek, causing her to fly across the room. He felt the contact of his knee against her bones but she had no weight, it was as if he was kicking a pebble. "She is not your scapegoat. You decided to stay in a barren land where trade was no longer coming in. You chose to kill these children. You chose to cannibalize your own. No god would ask that of you. A curse? My village has seen nothing but good things since she has arrived."
Ravynne's eyes flickered. She knew that he was defending her, and that he didn't think of her as a curse, but knowing the last part of that was a lie hurt her. Evania had seen bad things since she'd been there.
Verlian stared up at the statue of Dune, it was covered in mold and moss, and like the rest of the shrine, most of it had chipped off. "This god of yours, Dune. This god doesn't exist. You are living in a sham world. There is no god answering or denying your prayers. You live as fools." He waltzed up to the statue and punched it with all his might, causing it to crumble.
The three women and Ravynne all gasped in horror. "No! Verlian! What have you done?!"
He ignored Ravynne and turned to the women, "Your elder is dead now. Live your very few last moments knowing that the woman you thought to be a curse, is out there living happily and doing well. May your disgusting deeds under the guise of a god's wishes fester as you carry these sins. Now, come Ravynne." He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the shrine. Tears were running down her face.
"I understand everything else you've said, but to do that to Dune's statue? You've desecrated her shrine! How could you?!" Verlian continued to pull her, "There is no Dune. That god does not exist."
"It doesn't matter! If you choose not to believe in her that's fine! They did bad things, things she wouldn't have wanted them to do. But she was my god too! You've insulted me and MY beliefs!"
Verlian stopped and swirled around on his heel to face her. "Your beliefs are wrong. There is no Dune. I know because I too am a god! There is no Dune. There never was. I don't know who you humans believed this woman to be, but she was not and is not a god."
Ravynne stared at him with disgust and hurt as she wiped her tears. She clenched her jaw, "You would lie to me like this? Really? You'd make up such a story about being a god? What do you take me for?"
"Believe me or not but I'm telling you no lies. Those women will die here, slowly and painfully and knowing that you are well fed and there is no savior for them. That should be enough revenge for you. Let's return home."
Home. Suddenly Ravynne felt like she didn't have one.
____________________________________________________________________________________
The two of them continued their travels, tension filled the air between them. Verlian had tried to start a conversation a few times but Ravynne ignored each attempt. She wouldn't even let him help her treat her wound.
By the time they had returned to Evania, Ravynne's anger seemed to have subsided although she still refused to speak to him. Verlian spent the day at Ashke's house in order to give her some space.
"They killed and ate their own children? How can people be so cruel…. It must have been really hard on Ravynne especially. I'm sure those were children she knew." Ashke shared the same disgust that Verlian and Ravynne had. Verlian felt a pang of guilt, he didn't even take that into account. They weren't just some children that had been killed, they were possibly her friends, ones that she spoke with and spent time with. He didn't even think about that, he didn't even give her a moment to grieve.
Verlian simply nodded his head, not wanting to openly admit that he hadn't considered Ravynne's feelings. Instead he pulled out the necklace from Ravynne's mother. "Another interesting event was this necklace. Does it feel hot at all to you Ashke?"
Ashke grabbed the necklace and felt it in his hands, similar to how Verlian did when Ravynne first claimed it burned her. "No, it's rather cold. Why?"
"Ravynne claimed it burned her. It feels the same now as when she made that claim." Ashke's eyebrows furrowed as he investigated the necklace. It seemed to be an ordinary necklace, with the exception of being a little too fancy to belong to a woman who lived in poverty. He was curious about how her mother obtained it and why she never sold it. Why was it so important? Then, he noticed a little crack along the side of the bird.
"Verlian, does this open?" He attempted to open it, but with no luck.
"I don't believe so. Ravynne didn't mention anything about it, nor did it seem like she wanted to open it."
Ashke's eyebrows furrowed some more, "No, Verlian I believe this opens. Would you mind if I kept it for a while?"
Verlian shook his head, "I don't think Ravynne would like that. She was happy to have it back. I'll ask her about it though."
With that, Verlian departed and returned home to find Ravynne sitting in bed with her knees pulled up to her chest. He took a seat at the edge of the bed and stared at her. She refused to make eye contact. "Ravynne. Does this necklace open?" He held his hand up and opened his fingers, allowing the necklace to drop down and dangle from his grasp.
She turned her head to stare at the wall beside them, "No it doesn't."
"Are you positive? Ashke seems to believe that it opens."
"So what? Do you think I'm lying? You're the only one that lies here."
"I don't think you're lying, but maybe not remembering. You've never seen your mother open it? Where did she get this necklace from, do you know?"
"No. I don't know anything, nor do I care. I just know that my mother wore it every day. I'm not, 'not remembering', I remember just fine."
Verlian sighed. He could feel wrath emanating off of Ravynne now. Giving her space had helped but the interrogation had only made things worse.
"Ravynne," he said as he scooted closer to her, "I was not lying. Ask Ashke if you really do not believe me."
"Of course Ashke will say you're not lying. You've probably been at his house this whole time asking him to tell me that you're telling the truth!"
Verlian sighed again, "Well, believe what you want." He got up to leave, feeling that more space would help her. He stopped in the doorway and turned around, his long black locks flowing behind him and following his head movement, "Ravynne, I'm sorry about the children. That must've been a difficult sight to see." His mind shot back to the memory of Arisa, the first child born in Evania, and how devastated he had been over her death.
Ravynne sunk deeper into herself, "Thanks….it was….."