Rose awoke to the soothing touch of winter snow. It was freezing cold in Bowerstone; Even colder if you, like Rose, didn't have an indoor home to go to. A shiver ran down her fragile spine as she wrapped her ragged blanket tighter around her. She rose from her cot with the blanket fashioned out of meager scraps of cloth which were sewn together.
Rose slowly blinked the sleep from her eyes as she walked into the clearing, letting the delicate flakes of snow frame her pale face. Her expression showed weariness, making her look much older than she really was. In her familiar blue eyes was a silent loathing, most likely it was intended for the day to come. It was just one more day of survival to her; just one more day of attempting to make a name for herself and a home for her little Sparrow.
Her gaze then shifted from the depths of her imagination to a spot on the ground. She spotted a piece of paper that the wind had caught on a rock at her feet. To her surprise, it was still dry. She quickly grasped it with her worn leather gloves before the wind could carry it above the houses; lost forever. A fragment of charcoal lay at her bedside, she had collected it earlier hoping for something just like this to happen. Using the charcoal, she began to write. Her expression would change as she put her thoughts and hopes and dreams to paper. One moment she would be solemn, her face would be expressionless, and then she looked as if she was about to explode with laughter. She eventually looked up and mumbled to herself "This is all because they didn't come back this year… how our lives would be so much easier if they did…I have to make this work though… traders or not… I am the big sister after all…"
She then gracefully lifted her head to watch the firelight dance around in the barrel before her, she then found herself at that moment looking past the flame to notice a stirring from her makeshift cottage up ahead. She crept closer and her face all of a sudden looked softer against the flames and the first light of dawn. The saddened expression she wore earlier dissolved into one filled with love at the sight of the young person who lay in the cot before her. She placed her hand on the figure's shoulder lovingly and leaned forward, as if telling her a beautiful secret. "Wake up little Sparrow… Wake up…"
All at once, her whispers faded into darkness…
Sparrow awoke to the sounds of maniacal laughter. The world around her was grey and cold. The fog that plagued the road ahead was ethereal and menacing. Sparrow was debating as to whether or not the foggy apparition was real, but the voice that spoke to her definitely was. Because of the clouds ahead, she couldn't see who the voice belonged to, but she knew it was there, clawing at her every thought. Her head was throbbing and blood trickled down from a wound at her hairline.
Only moments ago, was she in a gruesome fight with hundreds of spire guards, Hammer and Garth at her side. Garth was opening a portal to a place called Wraithmarsh… and then she remembered… that is why she was here… the third hero still awaits.
Her head finally cleared of the blur and shock to find that the fog was indeed real. She reached out to grasp the warmth of her dog's soft fur, only to find cold metal bars. They surrounded her at every angle… She was trapped…
A caged bird…
"You better get used to it girlie…" a crooked old voice came from the ominous mist. "And when you do get out, it'll be for a price… A price that'll fill my pockets!" She still couldn't find the voice's owner, even when her consciousness returned. She searched frantically, wondering if she would ever see his face. Suddenly the mist became thicker until it almost reached the edges of her cage.
More of the old man's maniacal laughter broke through the grey, but a sound that was just as painful as broken glass rose above him, drowning him. An unnatural, ear-wrenching, wretched scream erupted from its depths and the man's voice slipped away as the mist cleared.
The now very real mist that clouded her thoughts receded... leaving behind a wet, marshy floor with nobody in sight.
Great! Sparrow exclaimed in her mind. She was trapped; the man was likely taken by the thing that lay within the cruel mist, taken with the keys to her confines… She sat with her head in her hands and winced at the thought. So this is how it is to end… the savior of Albion rots in a cage… is eaten by an unnatural mist…bait for balverines-
A low growl calls her from her thoughts of doom. She then looked up to see Ralph, her dog holding a ring of keys in his mouth. Ecstatic, a grand smile grew on her face. She touched his wet nose through the cage and Ralph licked her hand repeatedly as she took his finding from his jaws. "Thanks boy" She whispered. She struggled with the sticky, rusty locks for a moment, and then stepped out onto the cool, wet, mist-ridden ground; she stroked Ralph's soft fur with gladness. Through good times and bad, Ralph had always been there for her.
"Banshees…" Theresa's voice erupted from the guild seal chained around Sparrow's neck. "The unnatural mist belongs to Banshees…Wraithmarsh is plagued with them, and nobody, not even a hero has emerged from an encounter alive… but you, my little Sparrow, you must to save Albion…"
Wonderful… first a cage, now this… Sparrow was hell bent on saving the world and gaining retribution… She had overcome many fights that she deemed impossible. She stayed strong even when temptation grabbed at her heels. She even infiltrated Lucien's creation, but she had never seen, much less heard of a Banshee… Nobody told her what she was to face on her journey through Wraithmarsh, just that she had to get through to Bloodstone alive… And sane...
She thought back to her training. She remembered the tactics she had learned up to the letter. She felt like her katana was just as important as any of her appendages. She thought back to when she had found it. She had found it in Westcliff, on the journey to The Crucible with Hammer. Since then it had been modified and sharpened and shined, but beneath the many flecks of gold and gems, the angelic shine, and the engravings of birds on the blade and hilt, it still resembled the same sword that won the bloody Crucible. Suddenly Hammer entered her thoughts... arguing with Theresa, her Father's funeral... And then she was reminded of a song Hammer sang the day they met:
Down by the reeds Nobody knows.
A twisted path leads
To Banshees who breathe out
A cold winter breeze.
Nobody sees.
The sirens of Oakvale.
Down by the reeds.
She ran her fingers through her pure white hair. "Theresa… Could this be… have been… Oakvale?" Theresa's voice erupted from the seal once again as Sparrow crossed a narrow bridge. "Years, perhaps centuries ago, this was indeed Oakvale… It was once just like Oakfield, lush, beautiful, and filled with laughter and good… Until one fateful night… It was twisted and corrupted by shadows, turning it into the hollow shell it is now…" As Theresa's last words faded into the darkness and wetness, tears fell from Sparrow's face.
How... This was the only word that crossed her mind as she passed deserted homes and depressing landmarks. Familiar things she would recognize in her day-to-day life now lay in ruin before her. What was once beautiful, a glorified town was now a barren, shadowy wasteland. It was almost too much for her to bear. Her feet came to rest at the base of an old well. She looked inside it to find nothing, only deep darkness penetrating the earth. She turned her back to rest against it and sank to her knees.
"Oh, Ralph..." She turned her gaze sadly to see her dog, shivering before her in desperate need of comfort as well. She stroked his fur that now stuck out like pins and needles against his trembling body. "I am so glad to have you, Ralph. I couldn't imagine coming here alone..." She felt the urge to hug her furry companion in her arms as tears streamed down her face. "Shadows be damned-"
An ear-piercing screech broke the silence behind her. It made her jump out of her skin, and made Ralph growl his low, angry growl. It screeched again, this time higher in pitch, shadowy children flying from its mouth. Sparrow emerged from behind the well to find a ragged female mass of bloody clothes floating in the center of an army of shadowy imps.
Banshee...
Katana in hand, Sparrow lashed out at the child-sized shadows closing in on her. Once sending them staggering backwards and twice sending them into oblivion. The Banshee screeched as she knew her children had deserted her. Sparrow ran full speed towards the mass of tattered rags and focused all her speed and strength on knocking her out of the air. The Banshee now lay on the ground in the reeds along the broken, narrow pathway ahead. Not willing to give, the Banshee screeched a bloody screech and more imps flew from her form. Within one flare of her sword they all faded into nothing, and Sparrow turned her gaze back to the Banshee. Into the air she flew, sword held high above her head, she landed with the katana still engulfed inside the wretched creature. All at once, shadows turned to dust and rags; they fell to the ground, wrapped around a beautiful sword. The Banshee was no more, and a portion of the fog cleared.
Sparrow, with one hand unwrapped the sword and put it back into its sheath, holding the bloody clothes in the other. Unlike the creature she had just faced, the rags were actually tangible. She decided to keep the rags to show Theresa, who no doubt watched the whole thing unfold with her other-world-seeing eyes, or perhaps to gloat to Hammer... As useless as they may seem, they were an accomplishment, and accomplishments had sentimental value to Sparrow.
The cold land grew colder... She took the twisted path only to jump down a cliff into a mass of hollow men guarding a troll... A troll… Finally something familiar.
She hit the hollow men and they immediately dissipated, as for the troll... he was trickier. The one spell she did invest in was the slow time spell; Sparrow did not relish the thought of will lines crawling across her skin. However, time would bend to her will as she shot at the troll with her gold-lined flintlock pistol. It was not as useful to her as her katana was, but it did have its place… especially when fighting trolls. The troll fell back into the dirt from which it came, and now, only a gate stood between her and her destiny.
Before she pushed aside the squeaky, weather-worn gate, she looked back at the mass of mist that lay behind, and all around her. The damp cold seemed to seep through her skin into her very soul. Red eyes glowed and peered out from the depths of the moss and roughage. Screams like shattering glass could be heard in the distance, and the well, now up high on the cliff and farther out than she'd thought could still be seen.
The thought of the town and the well made her say a prayer for the lost and departed souls…
She pushed aside the ornate rusty gate trying not to look back, yet she still felt obligated to. She inevitably stared back at the almost hidden road she had taken.
Down by the reeds
A twisted path leads
To Banshees who breathe out
A cold winter breeze.
It was all too ironic…
The town that lay before her was a dark, lawless place. The water surrounding it was the only place where any remote form of beauty could be found, besides the great house that stood on the hilltop. But however garish this town may have seemed, after Wraithmarsh, Sparrow would have been happy to be back in the Crucible if it meant any form of civilization. She took her first steps into what seemed like another world... an underworld... Filled with men who acted like undesirable dogs who even Ralph would loathe, screaming drunkards, and women who sold everything they had to the undesirable dogs just keep a place within their dark society.
Sparrow passed them, all of them. Some of them whispered, one man even touched her long, white, glowing hair, but most of them stared. Were they awestruck at a survivor of Wraithmarsh, or mesmerized at a glimmer of good?
Sparrow trudged along the dusty roads until Theresa's voice emerged from the seal... "The biggest house in Bloodstone, that'll be Reaver's..." She made her way up the walkway into a garden filled with Roses... Roses... How she loved them. She picked one from a nearby patch and took in its sweet scent. Memories flooded back of the one these little plants share a name with... How long ago it seems... yet still Sparrow can feel Rose's warmth... still can she hear Rose's cry...
She placed the delicate flower in her pack and continued the climb up the stairs. She was met by a rather pudgy man in crude rags. "Watcha' want?" he asked cruelly
"Reaver is expecting me."
"Of course he is..." He said this with a smolder, "go on inside love..."
That was odd... Sparrow thought in the back of her mind as she pushed open the golden-trimmed doors. The whole place was lined with gold, the walls a deep red with flecks of gold, and the stairs and doors were a deep mahogany with gold lining each base. Sparrow had never seen such a place, aside from Castle Fairfax… a place she loathed to remember… but there was something about this place; something uncommon and warm. It was something that made her blood tingle inside of her…
The closer she got to the door, the more her blood raced. What is wrong with you? She inquired to herself. You are not anxious, nor are you afraid… And then, memories from The Spire flooded back. She had felt the same way around the Commandant… around Lucien… An evil awaited her through the mahogany door ahead. But could she be sure? Was this the Commandant here to take her back to service in Lucien's name, or was this something entirely different? Only one way to find out…
She heard a loud voice in the room ahead and decided not to make her presence known to the owner. She pushed the door open ever so slightly. A man paced angrily on the far end of the room, his perfect brown hair flickering in the firelight. His sea-green eyes were locked on a man in gypsy clothes, painting near shelves of books.
"Oh, please! I seriously doubt you're trying…" said the angry figure as he slammed a fist on a table at his side.
"Oh, but eye'em sir…" The painter quivered. "This'll be the best yet, eye' promise…"
"I don't doubt it…" The enraged or perhaps impatient man smoldered and gave an amusing chuckle, and then pulled a gun from his side and shot the painter square between the eyes, leaving behind a trail of blood and spilled paint.
Shocked at what she had witnessed, Sparrow began to back away. What the hell? Shooting a man for kicks? That was unheard of to Sparrow. She only killed when she had to, and unlike this man before her, she did not relish the experience.
"I hear you…" The man said at the wall in front of him, not even bothering to look at the door at his back.
Sparrow winced and held her breath as she slipped out from behind the door.
"What do you want Lyle, I am very busy…" The man said as he stood over the corpse that lay against the many shelves. When no one answered him, he turned, eyes rolling and clouded with sleep deprivation or perhaps boredom, whatever ailed them, his perfect eyes were no doubt expecting to see someone else… and grew shocked when they didn't.
"You're… Not Lyle…" He stared suggestively, his eyes engulfing hers, and chuckled, sizing her up. Sparrow grew even more self-conscious. She pushed a stray lock of hair back behind her ear and managed a timid but beautiful smile. "What brings you to my Island paradise?" Island paradise! That's a laugh… Sparrow only managed to chuckle lightly as the man made his way across the room to lay a hand upon her porcelain skin. "You are a tricky one aren't you…" The man declared in a sort of awestruck manner.
"What do you mean?"
"Well my little minx," he began, "not many make it out of Wraithmarsh in one piece… In fact, apart from the occasional hollow men, you'd be the second." His hand moved slowly from her face down to her neck. His eyes continued to shift, these actions made Sparrow's blood shudder. She swiftly pulled away from his grasp, aggressively but strangely reluctantly. He chuckled softly, as if seeing through the aggression into her very soul, and his eyes settled on her gaze as she did so.
"I… as you no doubt already knew… am Reaver… and you are…"
"Sparrow."
"Sparrow… Interesting…"
He turned away from her then, staring back at the corpse that occupied the room proudly. "Turns out Sparrow… I already know a great deal about you…" His voice smoldered "You're the girl who single handedly slayed the bandit Thag, the girl who won the Crucible, the girl who escaped the Spire…" A long pause filled the air after those words, as Reaver allowed them to linger. He turned back to face her. "And now you've crawled across Wraithmarsh, half of Albion and God knows what else to gain my assistance for a lost cause…" He leaned in close to her, brushing more pure, yet unkempt hair behind her seemingly-fragile ear, and whispered as if telling her a sweet secret… "Well, I'll tell you this, my little Sparrow…" He whispered, "I'll have none of it…"
After crawling across God knows what, this was the last thing Sparrow was going to hear…
Sparrow's scowl burned. The audacity! Does he really think he is that important? Apparently so…
"However, there is one small task you can perform for me that could change my mind…" Reaver crossed the room and motioned for her to follow. She caught a glimpse of a chalice of wine carefully placed beside a couch black as midnight. Random monologues and expectations ran rampant through her mind. Whatever she had to do, Sparrow would do it… Reluctantly… but she would do it… She was so close to fulfilling her destiny… She would let nothing stand in her way now, what exactly this man… or anyone else for that matter… would force her to do didn't matter anymore… The only thing that mattered was Lucien's impending demise and Sparrow gaining Retribution.
However, this "Reaver" could make you feel wanted and broken… Needed and hated… Loved and tied… His kinkiness made him a mystery to Sparrow and all the more interesting to everyone, Sparrow included… He was clearly crafty, trained in the arts of persuasion, perhaps… among other things…
Just as the cards foretold… The Thief was not to be trusted…
"There is an object and a map sitting on my desk… just over there… I want you to follow the map and take the object to its owners' home… I would do it myself… but my relationship with the owners is… complicated…" Sparrow placed the objects into her pack; this was a hell of a lot more reasonable than some of the other things Sparrow had imagined when he mentioned a "small favor". "Do this for me, and I'll help you on your quest for power or vengeance… I really don't care…"
So off she went… Following the map back through Wraithmarsh. Back past the troll and the twisted path. Backpast the well and the town. Past little creepy abandoned houses, even past the cage. What surprised Sparrow was where the map's path ended; it led Sparrow to a tomb.
Darkness and red eyes crept around every corner. As she made her way down the dark maze, the sounds of people chanting, along with a faint crying grew louder. Gates would close and would not open until every shadowy figure that confronted Sparrow lay defeated. Shadowy apparitions of Balverines and Bandits alike appeared to her, coming at her, hitting her just as hard as they do in the outside world. For a moment, Sparrow wondered if she was imagining the shadows, going insane. But the shadows were too real. They took so much out of her to be just imaginings. It was the crying… the God awful crying that was throwing Sparrow off…
After much peril, Sparrow finally sent the final apparition into oblivion and the gates opened. Sparrow continued down the vast maze of dark hallways. The crying is getting louder, that must mean I am getting closer… Finally she found herself face-to-face with a sobbing girl. "Wha-" She looked up at Sparrow questioningly, "Who- who are you?" She asked this trembling, the sounds of tears filled her voice. "I just- I just want to go home…" Sparrow didn't have to answer her to gain her trust… Sparrow consoled her just to get her to stop her infernal weeping… She hated crying… ever sense the night Rose died, she hated the sound of crying… All her life had been a nightmare… one great big nightmare… She was so close to seeing its end… if only she could figure Reaver's odd little object out…
And then it hit her…
"By any chance would you know anything about this?" She asked the sobbing girl as she took the object from its place in her pack. Sparrow never really observed it until now… It was a dark and heavy but beautiful object that cut into her fingers as she held it.
"Y-yes…" The girl sobbed once more. "It looks just like this…" She then pulled out a book from behind her. The imprint on the front looked just like the object that Sparrow now held in her hands. "I was reading this book that I found… and… and it brought me here…" The distraught look on the girl's face was enough to cause Sparrow to start weeping herself… "If this took me here," the girl began slowly gesturing to the book but staring at the object that occupied Sparrow's grasp, "Then maybe this can take me home!" She, without question, snatched the dark, heavy thing from Sparrow's now bloody hands. "Yes! This will take-"
"We will take whoever bears the dark seal!" Shadowy hooded figures appeared simultaneously and with authority. "Their youth and beauty will be taken, and sacrificed to the pirate king…"
"Shadowy spirits…" The girl unexpectedly spoke, timidly to the figures, clearly ignoring their last few words "please, take me home…"
Sparrow knew then what this was… It all made sense now… she tried to keep the girl from speaking… She tried to take the seal from the girl's equally bloody hands… but the girl would not give. She didn't know what it was, or what it would do to her.
"Give me the object girl!" Sparrow exclaimed, "This is the dark seal they speak of!" Reaver sent Sparrow on a suicidal mission… to sacrifice herself for his personal gain… the fact that the girl appeared was clearly a coincidence… The girl stared, puzzled at Sparrow…
"It only makes sense!" She yelled, her voice hoarse from sobbing, "The book took me here, and the book had the same picture on it! This thing has the same properties as the book! This will take me home!"
"You don't understand-"
Sparrow reached for her grasp, but it was too late… the girl went up in smoke and landed back in her place as a corpse.
"We know your destiny… young one…" The shadows spoke softly, but with authority as Sparrow stared through hot, teary eyes at the second girl she failed to save, "We see your purpose in this world and the good you have already done. We also see the good you do not plan, but will commit. Above all, we have seen selflessness like no other before within you. Walking the world as a shadow is a curse… a fate worse than mortal death… Perhaps you can make the darkest darkness light again… Now go Sparrow… Go to Reaver and tell him that the deed is done, and the moment he does not fulfill his part of the bargain, is the moment we will come for him… Only, his fate as well as that of this court cannot be certain…"
Heeding their words, Sparrow ran back to the well sobbing… She knew that if she ran to Bloodstone, Reaver would see just what his little plan did to her. She sat in the place she sat before, clutching Ralph in her arms… How can someone be so evil? That poor girl was helpless… as I would have been… No, I would have been fine; they would have spared me… or would they…
Perhaps the girl's summoning was not a coincidence after all…
She sat sobbing quietly behind the well among the reeds. She stroked one of the long, stalky plants with her bloody fingers, the irony of it all was almost terrifying… it was like the worst part of a nightmare. The only problem was, her nightmare was supposed to end. She dried her eyes on Ralph's soft coat and began to sing.
"Down by the reeds Nobody knows.
A twisted path leads
To Banshees who breathe out
A cold winter breeze.
Nobody sees.
The sirens of Oakvale.
Down by the reeds."
Something cheered her up a little. Was it the singing? It sure as hell couldn't be the song… Perhaps it was the thought of her best friend Hammer…
For a while Sparrow just sat with her head in her hands. She knew she was hidden amongst the reeds and the mist… mist…
Banshee…
After what she had just gone through, Sparrow desperately needed to lob something's head off… even if it didn't really have one…
"Well hello again!" Reaver said with a smile, although Sparrow could hear in his voice that he was seething with anger. "You look young and spirited…" he paused turning towards her… "You are a tricky one…" He sized her up once more, this time as an opponent. "No matter, I have what I need… and you have what you need…" His gun in his coat pocket was now in his hand trained on Sparrow, daring her to move, "and what you need is a Commandant to take you back to the Spire…" He smiled a cruel smile; he could see the anger in Sparrow's face, but the other thing that was on Sparrow's face that shouldn't be was disbelief. He betrayed her once; he could do it again with no regret on his part… She should have expected as much…
"Reaver!" The pudgy man from outside before burst through the doors.
"Oh, what is it Lyle?"
"There's a man outside the city… He's screaming to his guards 'Find this Reaver…'"
"Me? Why would he want me? We had a gentleman's agreement!" He stared off into space for a moment and then glared at Lyle… who was still standing at the door stupidly. His gun, still trained in his hand turned from Sparrow to Lyle. Lyle quivered for a moment as Reaver's scowl got more intense. "Useless!" Reaver yelled into Lyle's face.
A bullet then met Lyle's head.
Reaver began muttering things about betrayal and death and anger and murder… and pulling at books strangely. Finally one of them wouldn't budge out of the array. He moved it sideways and a hidden door on the other side appeared. "Come now my little Sparrow… This is where we get on…"
Reaver ran down flights of stairs, Sparrow following his every move. How could this get any worse! She screamed in her mind… As they came up to a vast hallway Reaver began to tell stories about his past without reserve. The nightmare raged on… Kill me now... Sparrow plead silently and sarcastically to God above.
It wasn't until they reached the end of the hall, that Sparrow realized she could speak to him seriously. As they walked, and fought the impending spire guards she began to speak of her past, discussing the differences with him. The only odd part was that he listened…
"So that's why," He lunged at a guard making his way to him "you are on this insane little quest of yours… to gain vengeance for your sister?" Sparrow nodded and lashed out in all directions with her katana. Reaver's gun was then pointed at her once again. He thinks I'm ridiculous! He's going to kill me here and run away…
The bullet found its way, to Sparrow's surprise, above her head and into the chest of another guard. Sparrow found herself staring up at him in awe. "Your story is amusing, but a little bland…" He began sarcastically, "no misunderstandings, or drunken raids. No lovers or betrayals… well… on your part." He chuckled as he held out a hand to help her back on her feet. "I suppose being a hero can't be all that bad… And your cause is just… but, well, who am I to judge?"
What just happened?
They continued down the dark hallways. Nothing but old furniture and crates in sight, they hurried onward. The hallway fed into a larger room where the walls exploded and busted through from the outside, allowing fifty or so impending spire guards to leech in. Clearly they had found the secret passage… Reaver's bullets rained down in every direction as Sparrow lashed into the fray, killing every antagonist in sight. Sparrow still wasn't sure about Reaver. In that moment when he helped her up, she was so sure he was going to kill her… yet when he didn't Sparrow felt her heart glow, but wasn't that something Reaver was trained to do? Make your heart glow? Wasn't that a feeling he knew inside and out? Sparrow's head was clouded with confusion, only moments ago she was sure that she despised the man… Can people change that fast?
All the guards now lay in a disarray of dead men. Only one was still walking towards them… it was a Commandant. Sparrow lunged at the horned figure but was met with the summoned spikes that Commandants conjure, but this one was twice as strong. Sparrow lay on the floor gasping for breath… or relief…
"Hello 273… It's been awhile…"
The same Commandant… her Commandant… The one she swore she vanquished, it seems so long ago… stood before her…
"How…" She stared; fear welled up in her eyes. The Commandant only chuckled.
"I've waited for this moment for so long, 273…" The knife at his side was drawn, and Sparrow was too stunned to fight back… let alone move…
This is it Rose… Sorry I let you dow-
The Commandant fell slowly to his knees, not dead however. His body sank to the floor revealing Reaver holding a smoking gun pointed at the Commandant's back,
"Run!"
Sparrow picked Ralph up in her arms and she and Reaver ran as fast as their legs could take them. Finally they reached a room with doors of iron on either side of it, which they barred and sealed. Once the Commandant awoke, there would be a constant wave of guards, a wave two people, heroes or not, couldn't withstand. Any time for strategy was needed… Sparrow was not about to be defeated… not after she'd come so far…
"How?" Sparrow's blue eyes were filled with fear and disbelief… she wanted to scream… begged herself to cry… but around Reaver this just wasn't allowed…
"How what?'
"How is… was… that the… the… same Commandant?" Her voice shook, her chest rose and fell uncontrollably. She felt like she had just seen a ghost… in her mind, she had…
Reaver crossed the room as Sparrow warily sank into a red leather couch that inhabited their confines. "What do you mean the same Commandant? There's literally millions of them." He sank to her level and put a hand on her trembling shoulder.
"No… That was him…" It was all Sparrow could do to keep herself from tears of shock, "He knew me…" Sparrow could see his questioning, sea green stare growing more and more intense. "He knew me from the Spire… He was my Commandant…."
"Are you sure?"
"You were there! He called me… He called me…" She didn't want to utter those terrible numbers again. For ten years, she had no name, she barely had a face. She debated to herself on random nights whether or not she was still a person; in the Spire she was just like everyone else… just another face… just another number…
"273…"
"Yes Reaver… 273." She then pulled her Spire guard shock collar from her pack. The numbers were engraved on the metal frame, much like Ralph's name is on the worn strap of leather around his neck. Reaver's eyes grew wider as he held the ghastly, broken thing in his hands, obviously knowledgeable of its properties.
"So this is what they do to you in there…"
"They make you make the worst kind of choices…" Sparrow paused as horrid memories flooded back to her.
"Like?"
"Like… do I become an obedient little sack of flesh? Do I watch another of my only friends die before my eyes? Do I save my strength for the escape or do I risk dying before my retribution is gained to save others I barely know?" She was shouting now, and although she wasn't aware, tears were pouring from her horrified eyes. "You become brainless, Reaver! Let the Commandant in and you'll forget all you know about the outside world… Shut him out and he'll melt your throat…" She lifted her long glowing mass of hair, frantically to reveal her only scar. A small, jagged circle occupied the back of her neck… "And if you don't do what they say is right… they shock you. Each time turning the intensity of the pain higher and higher… It's a miracle I survived with as many times as I rebelled… Theresa says only a hero could have…"
"Who's T-" Quickly, she snatched the object from Reaver's hands and turned it over to reveal a small blue engraving opposite the numbers… a small blue engraving that matched her scar…
Reaver's hand had long sense moved from her shoulder to her face just as he had done before in the mansion… before he was only joking to see how far he would get… this time he was drying her tears…
Sparrow only just noticed the kind gesture and the compassion in his eyes when she looked up from her memories…
"And why?"
"Why what?'
"Why Reaver? Why did you save me?" This was the most unbelievable thing of all to Sparrow… the reality of it all was he could have let her die out there… Knowing Reaver, he probably thought about doing so.
.
The fact that he didn't was more shocking than any collar…
"Oh, I'm sorry… Would you have preferred me to allow your Commandant to rip your throat out?"
"No," She said bluntly. Not responding to his attempt at humor, "no, just… just… Saving me was the last thing I thought you would do…"
"Spontaneity is sexy." He laughed as Sparrow managed a smile. "Oh, come now… On a more serious note…" he began again, "You told your story. It was all sadness, and hope and revenge and death…" He paused after the word death as if it meant something to him, and leaned in, staring into her giant, sad blue eyes, seeing another world in the color. "You were so devoted to your little quest that you never seemed to have the time to enjoy the little things…"
"I'll enjoy them when I have Lucien's head!"
"That's not how it works my little Sparrow… Opportunities pass you by as life goes on; it's up to you to take advantage of them… Sooner or later, they'll be gone."
"Take advantage of them… Like you took advantage of Oakvale!"
He growled and then abruptly, Reaver rose from his seat on the leather couch and moved over to a seat at a desk and pulled out a journal that shared a place in his pocket with his gun.
I have been down these tunnels many times to escape many things,
I know their twists,
I know their turns,
I know everything about them… The thing I find puzzling is the thing I brought with me…
Her…
She has just as many stories to tell as I… yet I see caged creature trying to break free… If only she would listen! She'd understand that she forged her cage, and her choices are the keys. Her closed mind has kept her locked away, and out of reach.
Perhaps it is because she has seen so much death…
In that regard… we are not so different…
Still I have nightmares of that night… Running madly through fields, feeling myself become stronger as I see all I care about crumble into ashy ruins in my wake… I wake up in cold sweat and a fear wells inside me like no other…
Her pure white face grows angry, her features hardened by the expression… she calls one name consistently… Rose… When she finally wakes, it is… as I would imagine… I do… Breathing heavily and screaming random profanities at a now unseen figure… when I go to calm her she will have none of it… She kicks and screams and pushes me away…
I only wish to help… this is the first time I can remember being able to say that honestly… but I only wish to help the poor, glowing, insecure girl that lies across the room…
Or perhaps I just want what I know I can't have… as always…
We share so much though… I find that possibility to be impossible…
Perhaps we are each other's cure… for the nightmares, the pain…
She is waking… the screaming is getting louder…
Only time will tell…
Wish me luck…
-Reaver
Sparrow awoke with a jolt. Yet another dream of Rose slipping away as Sparrow fades into darkness. The blanket around her shoulders grew warm and she sat up to feel her head. Its wetness plastered her hair to her forehead.
"Bad dreams?" She looked over to see Reaver sitting casually at the other end of the couch. "I get them too… Reoccurring ones. They never seem to go away…"
"What are you playing at?"
"What are you playing at…? I'm just asking a question…"
She turned away from him, the very sight of him puzzled her, yet she felt obligated to answer. "Yes, they are… the same one… over and over again! Happy…"
"And this Rose character… That's your sister I'd wager…"
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to pry?"
"My father shot my mother…"
"Well what about your father then?"
"I shot my Father…" Sparrow's eyes widened as he spoke.
"Did you have anyone?"
"Everyone I had died when… I…"
Reaver's eyes stared into the unknown, and he seemed to drift into another state of mind…
"Down by the reeds Down by the reeds
Down by the reeds
Swim the sirens of Oakvale
Out to the seas.
Down by the reeds
Float the souls left unbroken
by White Balverines-"
Sparrow's head turned instantly. She knew that song inside and out… She lightly hummed the tune and then began singing taking the song from Reaver's lips. "Down by the reeds
Night-blooming weeds
Embrace those who go dancing,
In sad moonlit dreams."
Only now did he notice Sparrow's voice matching his… And the singing grew louder… "Down by the reeds Nobody knows.
A twisted path leads
To Banshees who breathe out
A cold winter breeze.
Nobody sees.
The sirens of Oakvale.
Down by the reeds."
She was surprised at him… "How do you-"
"You… um… sing in your sleep…" Although this was true, Reaver knew it from way before. It was about him after all… The choice he made was like him, forever immortalized. The song made it so… How he wished he could forget… Yet the shadows keep following… and Sparrow knew that…
"Why did you choose to be one of them?"
Reaver pondered her words for a moment… "What? You mean shadows?"
"Yes…"
"I was young and foolish… and so afraid of death…"
"Was there ever a time you wished you could take it back?"
"Every day." Reaver's answer was blunt and true, and not the answer Sparrow anticipated… but she smiled, because it was the perfect answer…
"What?" Reaver noticed her satisfied grin. "What?" He shook at her playfully.
"You know… only hours ago I'd swear I despised you… but now look at us…" Sparrow paused and took a look around; the room was like a cave, cozy and warm. Yet still the iron doors served as the only reminder of their hiding. The only reminder of the Commandant. "Now we're sitting here as though we're best friends… like we've known each other for a lifetime… or in your case, three."
She nudged at him and chuckled. He nudged back. She picked up a book from the nearby table and threw it jokingly at his leg. He got up, and soon they were fighting with each other as the children do in the streets of Bowerstone, they laughed and ran and threw anything they could find. Finally Reaver wrestled Sparrow to the ground. As they lay on the floor of the cave, Sparrow placed her head on Reaver's shoulder and stared up through the skylight at the stars. Reaver leaned his head against hers, and once they calmed down he whispered into her ear. "You are a tricky one aren't you..." This time he smiled a truly amazed smile and looked down at the top of Sparrow's head as he stroked her pure white hair. Never before had she ever imagined herself adoring those words… or Reaver for that matter… yet there she was. "What if I told you that I love you?"
"You have millions of girls to choose from…" Sparrow tried to suppress a smile.
"Maybe I just want what I can't have…"
Sparrow looked up at him and smiled warmly, "In that ca-"
Their lips met and Sparrow became utterly consumed with his warmth.
Sparrow awoke at Reaver's side and on the floor of the cave. No nightmares came that night. With Reaver at her side, it was truly the best she'd slept in ages. She didn't wake up scared, crying as she always did. And as for Reaver, he was yet to wake, but his face seemed as calm as a soothing summer rain. For a while she just lay there, staring at the beauty of Reaver's face and noticing that it seemed to glow as hers did. It never occurred to her until now that her face hadn't changed at all in the past thirty-or-so years… by now if she were normal, not only would she be white-haired, she would be old as well, but her facial features were still young and beautiful, like Reaver's.
She noticed a soft voice emanating from the seal still around her neck. Theresa was sending her a message… Sparrow kissed Reaver's face softly so not to wake him and got up to hear what Theresa had to say…
"Sparrow… Sparrow! There you are! I've been trying to reach you for some time… What is taking you so-"
A rhythmic pounding came from one of the iron doors, almost like a battering ram…
Sparrow ran frantically over to where Reaver lay. She shook him and his eyes opened.
"Hello my little Sp- …wait… What's at the door?"
Reaver joined in the frantic preparations.
That's when the door flew open.
"There you are 273…"
The Commandant stood before them once again. "Where's the bastard that tried to kill me…" his gaze shifted to Reaver, and spikes sent him flying.
That filled Sparrow up…
She lashed out with her katana, sending the Commandant to his knees once again… this time… he wasn't going to walk away. She lobbed off his horned head without mercy or a second thought.
Although the Commandant now lay dead, Sparrow could feel herself weakening. She rushed over to help Reaver and found him lying, barely conscious. Blood trickled down from his nose and a cut above his left eye. Sparrow's hand started to glow with powers of healing… she had many magical non-will powers because of all the good choices she has made. When she turned to him once again, his cuts were healed, his skin flawless and glowing with the same intensity as her hand... only her hand had yet to touch him…
He's no longer a shadow… Sparrow knew what this meant… I must be immortal too…
She gave some of her power to him, a part of herself if you will… and now light bloomed inside him as it did her…
Although he must have chosen for this to be so…the shadows would have none of it…
Soon they were both on their feet and running towards the coast. Sparrow couldn't help but voice her discovery. They stopped and he grabbed at her arms. "That's Amazing! Now we are bonded my little Sparrow... You and I will never be separated, no matter what happens… if I die you die and if you die I die… but you do realize that the shadows will chase us…" He kissed her. A meaningful, loving, gleeful kiss filled her up and all too soon pulled away. His face was now filled with a sense of surreal excitement and genuine happiness. Thanks to her he didn't have to run anymore. He didn't have to worry anymore. She already noticed his eyes gaining light, becoming a more beautiful shade of green.
"I know Reaver… and I don't care that they will chase us… I love you!" That's all she could manage to say… only moments ago they were at each other's throats… now it seemed she couldn't imagine living life without him…
Light poured from the exit to the cave. Oh, sunlight! How beautiful you are!
"Oh, Sparrow… I almost forgot…" He pushed a button on the side of his gun… "3… 2… 1…" The cave exploded into a fiery keep of ashes. "Nobody's gonna sneak out of that one… are they?" He nudged her and she nudged back smiling… "Wait… who are they?"
Reaver's gaze moved from Hammer to Garth as they engulfed Sparrow with open arms…
"What kept you Sparrow? You and him have been in there for three days!" Hammer said giddily.
"And who is 'him' anyways?" Garth said mockingly.
"Reaver… and you are?"
"Garth, and this is Hammer."
"Pleasure…"
He didn't have to like Everybody…
His head turned to see a beautiful ship. "Oh, there you are!" He ran towards it. "This is our 'plan B' if you will… Come on Sparrow, we're leaving." He grabbed her arm, pulling Sparrow along.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we're leaving" Sparrow managed to pull away, facing him, squinting against the light reflecting off the mid-day ocean.
"But what about Lucien?" Reaver smirked as she spoke, the intenseness of her words not soaking in, "What about Hammer and Garth?"
"None of them matter…"
"None of them matter?" Sparrow found these words hard to believe.
"Not when you have literally thousands of magical Commandants trailing you!"
"What about fate, huh? What about destiny? What about Albion, Reaver? What about Rose?" She pulled the rose out of her pack, she found it out in front of the mansion the day she met him. It was still beautiful even smushed as it was so she could preserve it. Reaver took it into his own hands and looked into her eyes. "All of this wasn't for me, Reaver. It wasn't for the glory or the fame that comes with being a hero. It was all for Rose…" She paused, holding the rose within his warm hands. "We're bonded now, Reaver and I will never leave your side as long as we both live, but get on that ship and Rose won't get to see her death avenged. Get on that ship and Albion will crumble. Get on that ship, and all I've worked for will be lost…"
His stare became more intense and then fluttered away.
"I would say yes, Sparrow," Reaver started as he left Sparrow's gaze to marvel at something happening behind him. "but I don't have much a choice now…" Sparrow turned to see a giant shard blowing the ship to bits.
Plan A, to Sparrow's satisfaction, was now the only option.
The shard finally disintegrated. The shards were always terribly unfair opponents, even more so when they were oversized and shot Commandants at you. But Garth had lightning, Hammer had, well, her hammer, and Reaver and Sparrow both had guns.
Sooner than never, Theresa appeared.
"Hello young man," The blind gypsy walked over to Reaver, holding out a hand as she always seemed to do when she met a new hero. "I am Theresa…" She paused, "I see light in your face... Not what the cards foretold…"
"Believe me," Sparrow started, holding Reaver in her arms, "The cards were right, just not anymore… they had a little help…"
"I see… we-"
"What happened to your eyes?"
"Excuse me…"
"What happened?" Reaver asked again, "I just want to… wait… I know you!"
"What?"
"I know you! You're from Oakvale!" Reaver was ecstatic "I have so many questions! But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it…"
Reaver took Theresa's hand without a second thought, and blue light surrounded them…
They regained awareness on the mountain leading to the guild cave. Memories flooded Sparrow's mind. Her first steps as a hero, her days in the Gypsy camp, Rose's death…
Hammer, Garth and Reaver stood on neighboring pedestals, each imbued with a symbol of their talent and a color to match. Theresa stood to the side of an empty pedestal that occupied the center of the ring. Hero hill seemed to glow at night as it was; now it shone with the power it had longed to house for so long, like a second moon against the midnight sky.
"Come Sparrow. Stand, and take your place as hero of Albion. Your nightmare is at an end…"
She was right. This was it. The Relic would be summoned, Lucien would fall and Albion would be saved. Rose would finally be avenged… the question was could Sparrow leave it all behind? She had spent her whole life dwelling on avenging Rose's death. What would happen when that was gone?
Sparrow took a deep breath, convincing herself that she was ready for whatever lay ahead.
The circle filled with a blinding white light as she stood in its center. It churned her blood causing great pain, yet Sparrow could feel the power shifting. It was like time itself stopped before them. The pain grew and with it a surge of power filled her, like being shocked, but giving her power instead of taking it. Her feet lifted from the ground and then the pain became too much for her or any of them to bear yet it still increased, climbing ever higher. A blast filled the air, climbing over even the incessant humming of the altar. Was this supposed to happen? When the magic finally gave, the four heroes lay tired, and fatigued; the power was too much.
Theresa and the Relic were nowhere to be found…
"You think that you can actually save Albion?"
Lucien…
"Albion doesn't need saving… or a hero for that matter… it needs to be cleansed of all the evil… all the disease… all the filth… my Spire will do that and more… and then finally the old world will fall and their ashes will be swept away, and be replaced with the new world… and you're looking at the new king…"
Hammer growled "What have you done to her? To Theresa!"
"Your blind friend is in my very capable hands…"
"Lucien…" Garth found the strength to speak, "Look at everything you've done… all the lives you've ruined… the people you've sacrificed for your personal gain… And for what? A bitter fantasy! A bitter fantasy… Nothing more!"
"Poor deranged soul… you are clearly incapable of seeing the glory of my brilliance!"
Garth sputtered as he attempted to stand against both Lucien and the striking pain. "Your fall will be hard indeed…"
Lucien scanned the floor, seeing all familiar faces…
"And you…" Lucien glared at Reaver, "I thought I'd caught you…"
"I thought I'd caught you… Betraying me!"
"Oh please, It's not like you haven't betrayed people before…"
"Not the ones I love…"
"Says the quaint little town of Wraithmarsh!"
"That's… different…" Reaver says abruptly as he glances briefly in Sparrow's direction.
"Oh… Oh, I see!" Lucien gets it… "The shadow fell in love…" Reaver's face becomes a shameful, yet rebellious scowl "I didn't think that was possible… For a heartless creature of darkness!" Reaver pounces, lunging at Lucien, anger filling his now glowing emerald eyes. The light is what's holding him back. "Take them away…"
The last thing Sparrow hears of Reaver is his voice calling her name as he disappears into the great shard overhead.
"Now it's just you and me…" He approached a nonmoving Sparrow. "So long I've waited for this moment! Now nothing will stand in my way!"
Sparrow spat in his direction as he fired his first shot…
Ralph absorbed the blow…
"Rebellious until the end I see… stupid mutt… took too much after his owner… I have more bullets…" He paused taking in the essence of the moment, Ralph still at his feet…
"The last time I killed you… it tore my heart out… of course then you were only a child… but then so was I…"
Sparrow had no time to think… Ralph was gone… Reaver was gone… Everything was gone… Staring at the barrel of Lucien's gun, Sparrow felt helpless…
Her nightmares have finally seeped into reality…
"Wake up little Sparrow… Wake up…"
Rose stood beside her.
Whenever Sparrow had imagined Rose's face she always had sadness in her eyes. But Rose was happy and fresh as summer rain. Sparrow looked at her reflection in the mirror across the way and noticed that she was a kid again. Young, and innocent, just as she was before. The sight of Rose made her mind wander to happier times, when their parents were still alive, before they had to worry about survival, when they had a house. Sparrow then looked around the room she was in. This was her old house! Just as she remembered before the bandits came! Her and Rose's room, their parent's room just down the hall, the kitchen down the stairs, and a world of imagination outside!
The day was beautiful. Just then Sparrow realized that she never truly enjoyed beauty in life… she didn't have time to enjoy the little things… this place however, was like a mini paradise! She shot beetles and bottles and kicked chickens just like she used to with Rose at her side! Oh how she missed this! She could spend a lifetime here… or three…
Rose laughed as she smushed a beetle at Sparrow's side "I want to thank you for all you did for me." She paused sincerely, "You're the best sister anyone could ask for. Most people would just grieve and get over it, but you, you'll stop at nothing will you." She smiled softly, a thankful beautiful smile. It was then Sparrow Remembered why she did all she did for Rose. She loved her so much. She was her best friend, and was there through good times and bad. Sparrow was just paying her back for the years they spent in Bowerstone trying to survive.
Sooner or later the day grew dark and turned to night…
"Come on little Sparrow… time to sleep…"
Sleep she did, but Sparrow awoke to a soft sobbing over faint, familiar music.
"It's nothing Sparrow… go back to sleep…"
Sparrow knew that music… I wish… I wish… She knew what it was…
The Relic…
She pursued the music, following paths traced from memories and passing glances from a lifetime of determination. Rose shrieked in the distance.
"Mom and Dad will be so angry… you really will stop at nothing will you? Don't go…"
Rose's shrieks of protest faded as the enchanting tune grew louder… Blood and death filled the world now as Sparrow neared the Relic that was the Music box.
As she laid her hands on the object… she literally saw her life flash before her eyes…
"You have passed the test… your reward is to go and face your enemy with the means to defeat him…"
Sparrow awoke on the silver stairs. The overpowering white light still shined where Sparrow had last seen it… in the Spire… She clutched the Music box in her hands, this was it…
Her feet felt like lead as she climbed closer and closer to her fate…
The flashback of every good thing she had done weighed Sparrow down. Wasn't she supposed to feel proud of herself? She did everything right, yet somehow a hollow feeling stirred up in her as her blood began to shudder. The heroes were near.
The white light faded before her eyes to reveal Lucien, standing in another Triumvirate like the one on Hero hill… Soaking up Hammer, Garth and Reaver's power… Ready to cleanse his nation…
Sparrow turned the key three times.
"I wish… I wish…"
She simply wished for what Rose wished for… a place to call her home… A life… A family… Sparrow truly wanted nothing more than to live Rose's dream…
White light spat out of the Relic, taking Lucien briefly out of the fray, but leaving the heroes. "You fool! Do you really think a trinket can save you?"
"Hammer, be free…" The box separated hammer from the lights.
"No… No! I am the new Ruler of Albion! Nothing will stand in my way!"
"Garth, be free…" Soon enough, two heroes lay panting on the ground.
"You want Retribution? Well I want it too! I want the world to pay me back what it took from me! Albion will fall!"
"Reaver, be free…" Lucien became lightheaded… unable to stand…
"You pathetic waste of space! I am King! I am the Hero here! I will cleanse the nation! I will cleanse the world! You have all the power of the new world at your fingertips, your fingertips, Sparrow! And you waste it trying to save the old one!"
Sparrow pulled out her gun with a smile…
"Oh, Lucien… you don't get it do you? Well, I wouldn't expect you to… after all you're only a child. Oh, wait… So am I…"
Lucien plummeted to his demise in the very nest of the world he tried to create.
"Oh, I thought he'd never shut up." Reaver smiled at Sparrow, although still on his hands and knees. The light took a lot out of them all "Good to see you…"
Sparrow met his gaze as Theresa appeared.
"You defeated Lucien… Albion is saved…" Theresa smiled; the look on Sparrow's face must be too awestruck. "The magic that the Spire took in is enough to grant a single wish… Your wish, Sparrow."
"My wish…"
"Come…" Theresa held out a glowing hand.
Sacrifice, love or wealth. Sparrow had to choose. Clearly wealth was out of the equation considering she felt like she already had all the money in the world. The real question was love or sacrifice. Rose could live again… she thought, but still she felt a gnawing in the pit of her stomach that told her to do otherwise. Everyone else had loved ones that they missed, people who died in the making of the torturous machine that Sparrow now commanded. Rose would be proud… She was happy where she was anyways, despite what Sparrow had imagined before.
I choose sacrifice… One final good decision for the good of Albion…
"We heard everything…" Hammer started, only now had Sparrow realized that the magic had projected her random debate from inside her mind. "To make a choice like that! I could never pass by a choice to let my dad live again…"
"Well… as amazing as that was… what happens now?" Reaver blurts out.
"You tell me where you want to go… the Spire can send you anywhere from here…"
Garth is the first to speak, "I want to go home… to my wife and child in Samarkand…"
"So be it…"
"I'll miss you Sparrow… perhaps we'll meet again…" Red light consumes him.
"As for me," Hammer begins, "I love fighting, but I am sick of all this death… I'm going to the northern monks to learn… not like I'm leaving much behind here… well… except about the greatest friend I ever had… Miss you Sparrow…" She smiles sadly, desperately aching for a hug, and then disappears by blue light.
"Theresa…" Reaver says, "You know what to do…"
"Very well…"
He disappeared, yellow light engulfing him…
He left… just… left… without a word…
Sparrow held out a hand as if to catch him, keeping him from leaving and then sank to the floor in tears once the last of his essence faded.
Theresa sent her out of the Spire, telling her that Lucien's old relic is hers to watch over… Sparrow didn't mind at all… She sat in the sand with her head in her hands…
Her nightmare was over… The only problem was, she didn't feel any better…
Gifts appeared at her side. Theresa had sent her the Relic with a note from the people of Albion stating their gratitude, and although grateful for them, the gifts did little in her mind… at any rate, Lucien was dead…
Rose got her Retribution…
Sparrow watched the blue light flow from the tower across the sea, filled with pride, power, and emptiness wishing she could be anywhere else.
"So, my little Sparrow… You thought I'd left you…"
Reaver!
Sparrow sprang up from her spot in the sand only to engulf him and fall into a new one. There was no other place she'd rather be than in his arms.