#ramal

I swivel my head, trying to locate where it’s coming from. The sound is odd, echoing strangely. It isn’t a voice, or the squeak of a rusty cart wheel. It could be a monster of some sort, and in that case I need to be ready for when it attacks. I slowly put away the shard of flint I’d been about to use. I gather up my belongings into the small sack I’ve been using for the past few months. The bottom is beginning to strain; I need to replace it soon.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

I whip around, teeth bared in a snarl, claws out and ready to swipe at anything that lumbers out of the dark. It really is dark, even with my natural ability to see everything in a brighter light. The shadows of the trees shift and stretch, yawning out towards me. Their bare branches reach out for me like grasping fingers. They curl towards my armour, and I feel a sharp sting where black touches leather. I scramble back, nearly falling over as I trip over my feet in my haste.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Something is wrong, so very wrong. This isn’t right. The trees are sharp, dark, dangerous things, reaching for me, trying to get their branches caught in my clothes and pull me towards them. Towards the ever growing black that makes up their trunks, a horrible gnashing of teeth made of bark. The world starts to spin, panic nearly blinding me. My breath comes in short, quick gasps, and a haze settles over my mind.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

I pull on the warm magic in my bones, summoning a sword made of obsidian and rivers of magma. The red glow should light up the area around me, allowing me to see what it is I’m fighting. This must be some sort of magical darkness, and if I could just see where it’s coming from I can dispel it. My hand closes over nothing. Ice settles in my veins; I don’t need to look down to see that there is no longsword in my palm, no magic rushing to my fingertips at my command. I feel cold, so very cold. There is no hot breath in my ear, no warm touches dancing over my arms and shoulders.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

She’s abandoned me.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

My patron, my companion; the one who promised to be mine as I was hers. She’s gone. She left me, just like-

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

“SHUT UP!” I roar into the trees, fighting back the sting of tears. I feel choked, breathless, constricted, constrained. My claws dig into the skin of my palms.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

This time, I clench my teeth until I hear something crack. I don’t feel the pain, everything far too muffled and distant. My eyes dart among the darkness as it closes in. Black ink spills out between the trees and swallows them up, dripping towards me. The thick liquid pools around me until I have nowhere to go, my frantic scrambling useless when a step in any direction would mean a step right into the waiting pool.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

A hand lashes out of the darkness and I cry out in fear, flinching back; back right into the ink. My foot sinks right down to the knee, bringing me crashing down onto the only free bit of ground. More hands dart out in front of me, reaching for me. Sharp fingers stretch and strain as I lean back, barely an inch from my face. One of them grabs onto my wrist, sending shards of ice through the point of contact. As I try to pull away, another hand grasps onto my other wrist. A hand grabs my shoulder, and another latches onto the collar of my shirt. They grasp and they hurt, and they start to pull me towards the trees. The ink around my foot trails as I’m slowly dragged through the dirt towards the shadows. A scream tears from my throat as I thrash, throwing myself any way I can, and yet still the hands pull.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Something grabs onto the leg still submerged in the ink. In a blink, I’m ripped from the hands’ grasp, their nails tearing into my skin. And then I’m falling, thrown away from the safe ground, down into the black inky void. I can’t see anything; the dark far too oppressive. Wind whistles past, whipping my hair all around and tearing at my dress.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Impact with something hard and solid forces the breath from my lungs. I lay there, wheezing, staring up into a dimly lit ceiling of gold decorated with crystal chandeliers. A hand reaches for me and I flinch back, scrambling to my feet and looking around. I’m in a giant ballroom, surrounded by people in masquerade masks and fine clothes. The floor is sparkling marble, and the walls and ceiling are shining gold. There are round tables scattered about, draped with white tablecloths. Everyone is dancing.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

A hand takes mine, and another settles on my hip. I turn to see a man of portly presence, tall and well built. His upper face hidden by a violet mask with light pink gems, a perfectly trimmed brown goatee framing grinning lips. My free hand settles on his shoulder. I stare into his green eyes and feel sick. I smile back at him.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

He spins us right as a fast song begins. It’s one meant for one of the man’s clubs, not a ballroom. The people around us continue to sway in slow circles as we spin and step around them. He pulls me in close, until I can smell his rosey perfume and the pink fur of his collar tickles my nose. When he lets me pull back, he has his teeth bared. The sharp white needles send a spike of fear down my spine.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

He leans in close, until his nose is pressed against mine. We are only spinning now, like a child’s top. His eyes are staring into mine. They’re green, so green. Green is all I can see, that vibrant green that makes bile rise in my throat and makes my lungs clench around the gaping nothingness in my chest. There is a necklace around my throat, something made of crystal and covering all of my throat and upper chest. It’s like a hand around my throat, squeezing. All of the air is sucked out of the room, and still all I see is green.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Quick as a snake, he pulls back and spins me. I turn into that child’s top, spinning round and round. The world melts, music warping and warbling into laughter and screams. The gold spins and warms. It gets hotter and hotter until it's dripping down and down, turning nearly red from the heat. I plant my feet to stop the spinning, and the room is on fire. The man is gone, and so are the dancers. I look behind me, see those white tablecloths charred to black as the flames rise higher and higher, licking up the walls and dancing across the crystal chandeliers.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

I turn back around. There are figures in the flames. They are the ones screaming. I stumble back, and they lurch forward. Their screams rise, turning into howls and snarls. They reach towards me, faces long and mouths gaping as the flames melt the skin from their bones. Once again, I turn, this time to run, and slam right into the waiting arms of a corpse.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Its skin is blackened and peeling, clothes and hair long burned off, all distinguishing features lost to the fire. Its fingers are nothing but bone, grasping my face. I grab one of the hands, bare my teeth in a snarl, and surge forward to bite down on the burnt digits. A crunch and a crack, and warm blood fills my mouth. I rip and tear into flesh, spilling more and more red over the marble floor. I swallow it down, gulping greedily and snapping the bones that get in my way.

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

There’s a gasp and a gurgle. I freeze, the blood settling in my stomach like a rock and turning to ash in my mouth. The skin under my hands is pale, smeared with blood, but free of even a single speck of soot. My heart pounds harder, nearly bursting from my chest. I can feel the ice moving sluggishly through my veins as my eyes are drawn up. I stare into the terrified face of a child. White-blonde hair frames a familiar face.

Chirp-

I shoot up, then crash to the ground as restraints tangle around my arms and legs. I thrash around in a blind panic, ripping and tearing fabric shackles to pieces. I scramble against the hardwood floors, wide eyes darting around and panting breaths making far too much noise in the quiet room. I see walls painted a soft brown, and a maple side table with an unlit oil lamp on it. There’s a bed in front of me, black sheets tossed about and scattered on the floor in shredded strips. The room is a light grey, the light of dawn trying to stream in through the curtains that are drawn over the windows.

There is a pause as I stand there heaving, then a far too familiar twittering chirp. My breath stutters, mind going blank in panic. It came from outside.

I throw the curtains back, hissing and recoiling as light assaults my eyes. Blinking away the spots, I squint through it and desperately search for what’s making those noises. There, just outside the window of my room at Magnus’s tavern, is a tree whose leaves are still growing back from the winter that has just let up. Sitting among the branches is a small brown and grey bird.