The Reaper's Curse #1 - Complete

The Raven

The night is indeed long and tedious. Alicia avoids the travellers as she's always had to do when she wears her red scarf and hood. She tried not to have many dealings with them during the war, but somehow she was always dragged back into their numerous skirmishes.

She sits with her back against a tree, watching the fires glow in the distance as the travellers tell their stories and drink their ale. As Alicia, she would have joined them, hanging onto every word of their tales about the Faceless queen and her army of immortal warriors.

Everything changed when she discovered they weren't just stories.

Alicia lifts her head as the old woman approaches, the bones and rocks that dangle from her wrists singing a gentle song.

She stops before Alicia. "The woods by the river," she says, inclining her head to the shadows of the woods. "Lena will see you there, Raven."

Alicia nods, gets to her feet and grabs her satchel. She begins walking to her horse but the old woman stops her.

"You've come back for a reason," the old woman says, "and so soon after the queen's death. Do you know what happened?"

"I can't tell you," Alicia murmurs, glancing over her shoulder at the woman.

She looks to the fires, to her dwindling people. "Can you answer me this; is there a chance? Is there a chance to cure the Reaper's Curse? To stop the grand duke? To save the exiles?"

Alicia looks down at her scuffed boots. She's been asking herself that question too. Is there a chance to unseat the grand duke, to gain back power in Muovea? Is there a chance Samantha is really still alive beyond the walls? She doesn't know how far the grand duke is willing to go to accomplish whatever it is he has planned.

But she knows how far Lena Lisenka is willing to go to stop him.

"I don't know yet," is all Alicia replies with before she pulls herself into her saddle and rides for the trees.

She leaves behind the travellers and their stories and doesn't look back. Times have changed since she last sat amongst them, laughing with them, dancing with them amongst the embers and ashes. She felt free with them, but freedom isn't what she was meant for. Her duty is to her family. Her duty is to Muovea as its future queen.

Entering the shadows of the woods, a shiver rakes down Alicia's spine. She draws in a breath and slips her hand into her satchel to brush her gloved fingers along the handle of the revolver, a hollow reassurance.

Tugging the horse to a stop, she slides from the saddle and searches the darkness around her, knowing that Lena will make herself known when she feels ready to.

Her stallion snorts, breath fogging the air and stamps a hoof. Alicia settles him with a hand stroking his broad neck, a part of her eased by the animal's presence.

"What is so urgent that you take me out of hiding and away from my daughter?"

Alicia turns as a woman approaches, bathed in darkness.

"And dressed as the Raven again."

"Lena," Alicia says, pulling the scarf from her face and pushing back her hood.

"It's been a while, Alicia." Lena steps into the light of the moon, a thick blanket around her shoulders. "I thought you would have got the message that I didn't want to see anyone when I ignored all of your requests."

"This is important," Alicia replies and swallows as Lena tilts her head, letting the moonlight touch her skin. The silvery light illuminates the ruined skin of the right side of her face, marred with a savage burn that leaves her right eye closed and her brow seared away. It's been a long time since they were face to face and Alicia hasn't seen the scar, only the sizzling skin as she helped Lena burn herself.