"Eager today, little bird." Caldren's voice was thick with want as he pushed up the black skirts of Ray'ven's dress.
"And you are a tease." Ray said, but soon her words were cut short when Caldren slumped against her after someone had struck him upside the head with a garden shovel harshly.
Bynx was hovering behind him, empty eyes narrowing onto her as he used his dagger to pin the unconscious man's foot into the soil. "And here she is, the great black death screwing around in the maze like a cheap harlot. But guess what. The blood on your hands can't be cleansed by a quick fuck. Perhaps you're trying to forget with pleasure. Perhaps," He opened his arms wide. "Perhaps you're just relishing in all the wicked deeds you've done as a mock to the dead."
Ray'ven had stiffened the moment she sensed someone else's presence and when Caldren had gone limp against her she closed her eyes with a sigh. Allowing the skirts of her corset dress to once again cover her, she turned around to look at Bynx and then at the unconscious Caldren by her feet.
"Perhaps." Was her response, crossing her arms over her chest in a show of disinterest. A flick of her hand saw to Caldren's clothing being fixed before he was pulled through the ground by dark misty hands and to his rooms.
"But I fail to see how that is any concern of yours, young master."
"It's my concern when I say it is. Remember, I'm not your brother. We aren't flesh and blood, and after what you pulled," Bynx took a long, harsh, swallow; his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. "You are nothing but a servant to me. Hold your tongue and respect me like you were trained to. After all, you wouldn't want to disgrace your master by not respecting those above you." He spit at her feet, threw the shovel out his hands and went to walk ahead of her.
"We have things to do anyway. Keep your cunt beneath your skirts until things are handled." Spat Bynx.
Ray'ven merely bowed gracefully towards him, an amused tilt to her lips. "Of course young master. Forgive me for my uncouth behaviors." straightening, Ray'ven followed behind him fixing her uniform, footstep quietly against the stone pathways despite the heeled boots she wore.
"The carriage of Ushar is awaiting, young master. I would have awoken you earlier, but I was told not to disturb your rest. Especially after such a traumatizing experience". Her words sounded almost amused, but they tasted like bitter ash on her tongue.
It was better if he hated her. It would be easier that way. He would have left her eventually anyway. Just like everyone else. Ray'ven decided that she didn't need a brother. What good was having a family if they only abandoned you in the end. Just like her mother. Just like her father. Hell, even Lady Strelitzia had left her, even if not by choice. She could survive being alone. The only steady constant in her life was Master Ja'ule and even he only needed her for her skills. She knew she was nothing but a tool, but as long as she was useful, he would keep her around.
Bynx would've laughed if it weren't for the fact he knew she'd hear the hurt behind it; the anger that ensnared itself in his vocal cords every time he mentioned the situation that had happened a day ago. Yet, here she was. Someone who'd grown up beside him sounded amused at his suffering.
Even if it were an act to keep her position, to keep his father proud, it was still cruel because it was a choice. Only if she knew the nightmares that had Plagued him when he'd fallen unconscious—to constantly replay the same scenario over and over again when he begged for a life that he couldn't save in the end. Though in his dream, instead of the people running and screaming, they all stood still laughing and pointing at him as he held Tamara in his arms. Bynx swallowed the lump that formed in his throat.
After a moment of silence, he decided to let her hear the trouble she'd caused him. "Your love is cruel, Ray." Was all he'd said as he ducked his head down to enter the carriage not too far from the hidden estate.
Settling into his seat, he remained silent with the palm of his hand pressed to his cheek, staring out the carriage window and waiting for Ray'ven to enter so they could just get this over with.
Ray'ven entered the carriage behind him, settling herself in the seat across. His words left her silent, having stricken her heart in a way that was almost crippling. It never showed on her face though. She wouldn't, couldn't allow that. Instead, she let out a bitter chuckle, eyes blank. Empty.
"Love, huh? Young master, you have such an odd sense of humor."
The trip had been silent, and Bynx had glared at Ray'ven the entire time they took the long road down towards the coast. A tall stone pillar rose from the ground of jagged rocks shaped like monstrous teeth, almost looking like a lighthouse statue with tiny windows carved into its structure.
The prison of Ushar held to its terrible tales and its ominous appearance; a great devil rising to the dark swirling clouds above. Lightning streaked there but nowhere else. Bynx released a slight hmmm. "I wonder if it's true that those sentenced to death get pushed off the very top. If it is, I wouldn't mind seeing you fall with your magic stripped from your very veins."
Ray'ven offered Bynx a calm and serene smile, once much like a man she had once mentored under. "Perhaps you will get your wish one day, young master." It was not one so far off after all.
The carriage rolled to a stop outside the gates of Ushar and Ray'ven awaited the coachmen to open the door before standing and bowing to Bynx to go first.
The coachmen opened the door and Bynx stepped down without another word towards her. On the outside he seemed calm and relaxed, but on the inside he was falling apart; unraveling until the strings of his existence hung into nothingness. Every time he glimpsed her way all he saw was Tamara's face and what it must have looked like whenever she stared death in the eyes. Funny how he stared at the same thing that was the last thing she'd ever see, yet he lived, walking with air fueling his lungs.
His fingers curled to his palms leaving crescent moon shapes in the skin.
The Black steel gates pulled back, giving them a better view of the tall sky scraping structure. Two guards came forward. "What are you here for?" One asked, the other keeping watch with their hand on their sword.
Ray'ven stepped forward, eyeing the guards closely as she pulled out the letter with Ja'ule's seal. "I have a missive here from my master. We are here to investigate the freeing of a certain prisoner of interest. One that should not have been released at all." She handed over the letter with a gloved hand, head tilted slightly. "This letter should be enough to allow us through."
The one who was asking the questions snatched the letter out her gloved hand and glimpsed it over with a skeptical expression crossing his face. And then, after a long moment, he gestured for the others to let them through. Bynx snarled in annoyance.
"You'd think he wouldn't send us to one of the places his father owns when he wants his head on a pike." Bynx rolled his eyes.
Ray'ven stepped past the guards headed towards the stair as she spoke. "Your uncle is a very dangerous and volatile man. 'Tis worth the risk to send us here, there is no telling what may come of this situation. A mistake on Ushar's part, no doubt." She gave the guard a look of disappointment. "The quicker we find out how this happens. The quicker we can lock him away once more."
"If he was so dangerous he'd get his old ass up and do it himself. Nothing bad ass about having other people getting their hands dirty." Bynx watched glowing metal doors nearly as tall as a skyscraper open. It was dark and cold inside, and there were thousands of halls and thousands of iron cells with a small slit in their frame.
Arms were reaching through, screams echoed out, and sometimes one could see the occasional person peeking through one of the slots and hear the snapping of a whip. Nothing else had gotten to him but that noise. The same noise he'd heard when his beloved Tamara died. Snap. Snap. Snap. It kept playing in his head.
Sometimes even his footsteps sounded like it. At one point blood was staining a tiled floor near the bottom of the stairs, and just a couple of feet away, a guard was tasering a male in his missing eye socket.
Bynx looked straight ahead. He'd seen worse, and as for Ray'ven, she'd done worse. "Did you find out where James has been hiding yet? You know my father has been wanting him back to take my place for the longest. I only got the position because he vanished a few years ago."
Ray'ven's gloved hands clenched at the mention of James, jaw tightening ever so slightly. "No I have not. James is a very resourceful man, if he does not wish to be found, then he shan't be." She said in her normal bland tone. "Nevertheless, I will continue my search as it is what my master wishes. Nothing stays hidden for long." She said, casting Bynx a side eye with a raised brow.
The cold stale air of the prison burned at her nose and she wrinkled it slightly. There was an odd scent of magick in the air that caressed her senses and her lips pulled into a line. "Have you mages working here? The smell of magick grows the deeper we go into this prison. I was under the assumption that the magick users imprisoned here were stripped of their power beforehand." She asked the guard escorting them.
"And they are," Said the person who guided them up a flight of stairs. From above and over the banister, they could see someone dangling from the ceiling with a bag over their head. Guards cackled, striking them in the back with long magical whips that held lightning pulsating around its leather. And as if that wasn't worse enough, at its end were jagged shards of glass that caught into the flesh before being yanked free. It rained blood, some specks nearly reaching them as they ascended.
The guide didn't wince or blink. "We tend to use magic here to keep them in check. Everyone else is stripped of it."
Bynx fought the urge to shove Ray'ven over the balcony, but he learned some battle could be fought with words and actions the same as she tended to do. "Well," The son of Ja'ule sighed deeply, fixing his collar that seemed to fluff up around his neck.
"Didn't the famous Valen Pardonis end up here? Such a shame a high figurehead of the country was caught and punished. Some can even say," He cut an eye towards Ray'ven the same as she'd done him moments ago. "It seemed his love for his infamous power and rival against the crown was held above his own children. Didn't he have a daughter? Perhaps it was a son? Then again, I heard it was so cursed maybe that was the reason he didn't want to bless it with his love and sent it away."
"You mean the creature cursed by death? Wasn't it still born and had claws and a mouth full of razor-like teeth?" The guide asked curiously.
"So the story says. Oh, let's not forget the heart blacker than a fishnilks fins. It knows no love or remorse. Poor thing probably doesn't even know what family is. A creature like that deserves a master. And it'd only listen to its master. So I've heard of course." Bynx clicked his tongue.
The guide shivered. "Night time stories of this place don't hold a candle to that one. The creature born on the black moon day. Let's stop talking about it before I have nightmares." The man stopped, pulled an iron set of long keys from his hip and opened the cell door.
Inside was dark, dripping water from the ceiling. Then at its very end was a large hole in the wall where someone had broken Rueborn out. Magick still hung heavy in the air. Thick invisible tendrils that tugged at any who held its power coursing through their veins.
The mentioning of her father's name was almost to cause Ray'ven to falter. It was like an iron fist to the stomach that left her feeling nauseous. Instead, she sucked in a sharp breath and forced her step to continue unwavered. It was true, her father had abandoned her, almost fourteen years ago.
She had heard the stories of herself, how could she not. Exaggerated as they were, they held some truth. She became ruthless and cold and wielded death magick as though it were second nature. She was a creature born to die, her father had been very sure to tell her this.
Back then, he had claimed to love her regardless of the fact, yet not even a week after her tenth birthday, he left her with Master Ja'ule without a backwards glance. She had heard nothing from him or even her abusive mother since then.
Then there was her mother, Morrigan. A powerful mage said to have fucked death and spawned the very creature that Bynx and the guard had spoken of. Ray'ven was unsure of where she had gone wrong with her. Her mother had been a doting one for most of her childhood until she wasn't. Ray'ven still had scars from the times she had angered her mother and was punished for it. She had learned then that her mother didn't truly love her. No one did.
"What use does a monster have for things like remorse or family. It is after all, a monster. Things like that would be useless for one without a heart." Ray'ven lips pursed in amusement. "'Tis a relatable creature, I think. Not one, I fear, for the faint of heart."
"Leave us." Bynx waved the guide off and he stepped outside the door and waited for them in the hall. "Go ahead and do your sorcerer stuff. Get a good whiff that'll lead us to the culprit. We have one more stop to make before we go." His lips curled up into a smile.