Revenant Girl
Chapter IV—A Very Special Bird
Jesse ran back to her chambers and locked the doors securely. Until she was satisfied, she sank to the floor and hugged her chest.
Even with her father gone, she was unable to find peace and security in her own home. His sickeningly kind smile and gentle actions only made her even more paranoid. She could imagine that behind his benevolent facade was a sharp, glistening knive ready to plunge into her heart when her guard was down. The very thought of any dangerous weapon slicing into her flesh made her shiver. Even if it weren't weapons, it could be anvils or iron blocks squashing her body. If not, it could be poison coursing through her blood, slowly shutting down her body depending on the kind of poison it was.
Jesse wondered which manner of death would be less painful.
"Hey."
Upon hearing the unknown voice, Jesse jumped in surprise. She stood up and looked around her, but she couldn't see anyone except for a bird resting on the windowsill.
"Hey, I'm talking to you." The voice belonged to a woman. It was deep and melodic. Strangely enough, it sounded like…
"Hey! Are you deaf? I'm right here!" The voice shouted impatiently. To her surprise, it was the bird that was speaking.
Was she hallucinating? Had the constant fear of assassination made a screw in her head go loose? After all, there was no way an animal could talk, right?
"Of course animals can't talk." The bird said, as if reading Jesse's mind.
Jesse started to freak out. She was hearing animals talk and they could read her mind!
"You're not crazy, I can assure you. I'm not exactly animal, y'know."
Jesse frowned as she approached the bird. It was a relatively cute bird with grey plumage. She recognised this species of bird. It was a shrike.
"Hmm? Yes, this body is indeed a shrike. I know they're cute." The shrike said, preening her feathers.
"What in the wide wide world are you…?" Jesse asked, her face heating up at the fact that she was talking to a bird that could magically speak.
"Hmm, me? Oh, I'm just another adorable bird. Don't ask." Sarcasm was dripping from her voice.
"Oh… okay."
"Say, Jesse, you had a question, am I right? And I believe that I have the answer."
Jesse stared at the bird. "How do you know my name?"
The shrike tilted her head up. "Uhm, hello? You're royalty—everyone in the world knows your name." It then flew to Jesse's right shoulder. "To answer your question, I feel that the most painless was of death is through the anvil. I mean, you can feel the painful sting of a knive sinking into your flesh, and the poison makes you feel extremely nauseous, sick and not to mention painful for some time before you actually die."
Okay, this was getting pretty ridiculous, not to mention freaky. Jesse was either having a strange dream or she was truly hallucinating.
Without speaking, Jesse grabbed the bird by her neck. She looked up at her, confused by her action. (How adorable), Jesse thought before using all of her strength to hurl the bird out of the window.
When the bird was out of sight, Jesse went to take a nap. Maybe she was just extremely stressed, and by the time she returned to her normal state of mind, she wouldn't be hearing animals talk.
…
The next day, Jesse went to visit Reuben. He seemed quite fidgety and worried. When he was asked what was wrong, the pig led her to a very familiar shrike perched on a branch of a young tree.
"Hey."
Jesse's right eye twitched slightly.
"Thought you could get rid of me? Not so simple."
Jesse let out a harsh breath as she clutched her head. She was definitely going insane, no doubt.
"I told you. You're not crazy. I'm not entirely animal, because I'm a very special animal!" The shrike said.
Shaking her head, Jesse covered her face with her palms, moaning a weak 'no'.
The shrike left the branch and perched on her shoulder. "So, how's your day? Perfectly not fine, I suppose?"
Deciding to just play along, Jesse replied, "No. I'm going to die. Worse, I don't know when or who is going to kill me. It's killing me from the inside already."
The bird giggled. "Uh huh. I heard you yesterday. You poor soul. Where is your knight in shining armour when you need him, huh?"
"I don't know. Are you here to mock me during my last days? I bet you're gonna laugh during my funeral." Jesse huffed and sat herself on the grass, crossing her arms while pouting childishly.
"Hey, don't take it personally. I was just joking. Sorry if my sense of humour is a bit… warped. It's just me." The shrike said in a slightly more serious tone.
"That was still mean though."
"Look, sorry. I'm just a lonely little birdie with no friends, and I thought you would make a nice friend."
Reuben was quivering slightly, so Jesse cuddled him in her arms while stroking his head.
The shrike looked at the scene before it. "That's cute. I wish I were that pig."
Jesse snorted. "You wish."
…
The evening sun cast its brilliant glow across the land as it slowly sunk its way towards the comforts of the mountains beyond. The sky was coloured in beautiful hues of orange, yellow and indigo.
It was a breathtaking sunset.
Somehow, Jesse thought it was a sign that the night was going to be splendid.
It was Sunday, and Axel promised to bring her and Reuben out to play with fireworks. Considering that she was going to die sooner or later, why not enjoy the last few moments of life?
Axel had brought her peasantry outfit, and when he was finished with his work, they would sneak out to town.
As Jesse was all dressed and ready to head out, an annoyingly familiar voice called out to her.
"Hey."
Jesse ignored her as she brushed her skirt.
"Don't go."
"And why should I?" Jesse retorted, not bothering to turn around to face the shrike.
"It's dangerous…"
"As if. I'm not like other prissy princesses. I can take care of myself just fine."
Upon hearing this, the shrike laughed. "Oh really? You were born with a silver spoon, how can you expect to take care of yourself when you were given everything on a silver platter? Oh, by the way, you're going to die if you go with that servant friend of yours. What's his name again...?"
"Axel."
"Yeah, that guy. Just stay away from him."
Jesse gritted her teeth in anger as she turned to face the shrike with a fierce stare that could cause flowers to wilt. How dare she accuse Axel like that?
"Shut up, okay? Axel my best friend, and nothing can convince me otherwise. I'm going out and that's that! Now leave me alone!" With that, Jesse headed to the large fireplace and crawled into a secret passageway. The passageways connected the entire castle and were built as a means of escape in case the castle was under attack. Since there had been no war for a very long time, the passageways were neglected and left to collect dust.
Jesse stuck to the right wall like what Axel instructed her, and after numerous encounters with all sorts of creepy crawlies, she exited through a hidden trapdoor. At the garden, Reuben waited patiently for her. She headed towards the edge of the garden and squeezed her way through a gap in the stonework of the castle walls. Axel waited for her on the other side.
"Did you bring 'em, Jesse?"
"Uh huh!" She showed him the fireworks that were in the basket.
"Cool. Take my hand and follow me. I don't want you getting lost."
Jesse reached out for Axel's outstretched hand and gripped it tightly as if her life depended on it. Like stealthy ninjas, they sneaked off into the bustling town undetected.
The town was full of people from all walks of life engaged in all sorts of activities. Some were chatting while strolling, some were buying groceries in the market, some were in a rush to get home from work and some children were running around playing tag. Overall, it was a lively and colourful place. It was much better than the bland stone walls of the castle.
Reuben oinked excitedly, taking in the new sights and smells. It had been a while since he was let outside. He had been captured by one of the royal kitchen helpers when the all their supply of pork was gone. They needed to serve dinner soon, and there was no time to head all the way to the market to buy a new supply. Thankfully there was a stray piglet wandering around the castle borders and was caught to be slaughtered. Reuben was fortunate enough to have Jesse spot the kitchen helper carrying him as he wailed and kicked with all his might. She adopted the piglet and the chef had to cook another dish that didn't include pork (much to the displeasure of the King).
Suddenly, Axel stopped on his tracks and whispered to Jesse, "I forgot to mention that I can't call you by your real name. So for tonight, you're name's Jane, 'kay?"
"Jane, Jane, Jane…" Jesse muttered to herself as she tried to get used to her new name.
They headed towards a fair where the crowd was at its densest. Jesse gripped onto Axel's hand tighter as they maneuvered their way through the sea of bodies.
"Hey Jane. It's not almost night, so I thought that we could check out the stalls at the fair while we wait. You want some popcorn or candyfloss? After that we can go play some games." Axel asked.
"Yeah! Sure!" Jesse exclaimed excitedly, having never been to a fair before. She had only heard of it from the tongues of the servants who had been there, and they made it sound so fun and exciting. There's full of mouth-watering snacks, exhilarating games and cuddly plush toys, they said. She was slightly jealous of them, but now she was at an actual freaking fair and she couldn't be happier.
They went to buy the promised candyfloss and popcorn (and a carrot for Reuben). The candyfloss tasted like sugary goodness and the popcorn was crunchy. Afterwards they played some games. One was hoop-in-the bottle (where Jesse struggled in), the other was dart boards (which Jesse struggled in again) and another was fishing (which Jesse struggled in, again. Then again, she struggled at most of the games). In the end, Jesse wasn't able to win any prize at the game booths, but Axel felt sorry for her and gave her his plush creeper that he won at the chicken trap game.
The sky was pitch black by the time they exited the fair. It was the perfect time to use the fireworks.
They found a nice, empty field at the outskirts of the town and started setting up the guns.
"Ready?" Axel asked, firework gun in hand.
"Yes!" Jesse yelled and Reuben oinked in agreement.
They pulled the trigger, and colourful fireworks of various different colours burst out from the nozzle and exploded in the inky sky. Both users started rapid firing, shooting masses of blinding light skyward. By the time the gun had reached its limits, residue smoke from the fireworks polluted the air.
Jesse let out a hearty laugh as she lay down onto the grass while cuddling Reuben. She had a lot of fun, and she didn't want the night to end. She had experienced so many things that were once foreign to her, and she just realised how ignorant she was about the world. She had the sudden desire to learn more; to step out of her shell and explore the wonders the world had to offer.
(I don't want to die. Not… yet.)
Jesse found it funny that just a few hours ago; she had resigned herself to fate and accepted the embrace of Death. She didn't want to step into Heaven's gates just yet. After all, she was only fifteen and had a long way to go. But for now, Jesse just wanted to relax and look at the twinkling stars… after the smoke cleared.
After a couple of minutes, Jesse noticed how silent Axel was. He was usually quite chatty, especially after doing something related to fire and explosions, but he hasn't uttered a single word after they were done playing with the fireworks.
"Hey, Axel…" Jesse muttered, lifting herself into a sitting position. "I just thought, can we stay here a bit longer? I don't wanna go home just yet."
Axel grunted in response.
"Y'know, I don't feel happy at home. It's so… cold. There isn't this sense of security that all homes should have. A home is a sanctuary from the outside world, right? But for my case, the outside world is my sanctuary; it's where I truly feel that I belong.
"Daddies are supposed to be nice and caring, right? Daddies are supposed to love and protect their children. But my daddy is the total opposite. He doesn't give a crap about me; neither does he even care about my security and well-being. I don't mean to scare you or anything, but I think that he wants to kill me.
"I mean, come on. He loathes me; he thinks I'm a curse, a bane in his life. After all, mommy got ill after she gave birth to me and died from it afterwards. If I was never born, then both of them could have lived happily. With me out of the picture, he can be at peace."
Axel shifted uneasily, fiddling with something behind his back.
"The problem is I don't want to die. I'm still have so much to live for. There are so many amazing sights I've yet to see, so many things I've yet to experience. I want to visit the Far Lands. I want to learn combat and fight mobs. I want to have a coronation and become queen. I want to fall in love, get married and raise my own kids. I won't bore you too much with my life goals, but what I'm trying to say is that I wanna live my life to the fullest. Until then, I want to stay alive.
"So there, I've said it. You'll help me, right? You're my best friend, along with Reuben and Olivia. You won't let daddy harm me, right…?"
For a moment, Axel stared at Jesse with an expressionless gaze. After that, he averted his gaze, fidgeting. He slammed his palm into his face, releasing distressed sounds. Jesse just spectated, wondering if she said something that made him uncomfortable in any way.
All of a sudden, Axel stood up while tightly gripping something in his hands. It glistened dangerously under the moonlight, and to her horror it was a knive.
Jesse's blood immediately turned cold. Her entire system shut down, and she couldn't make herself stand up, much less run. She was rooted to the ground, quivering like a leaf in fear. Reuben oinked desperately while tugging at her skirt, trying to get Jesse to escape while she could.
This was it. It was over. Her best friend was going to rid her from the face of the Earth, and there was nobody to save her, not even Reuben. The sharp blade was going to end her life instantly, and Axel would then report to her father about the successful assassination attempt. He would then announce that she died from 'natural causes' or whatever grand lie he would tell, and she would vanish into history's shadow, forgotten to the world. There was no way to escape her fate that was carved out for her on the day of her birth. It was silly of her to even think of changing it.
By now, Reuben was squealing in worry and fright. Jesse just gave him a scratch behind his ears. "You're a good pig. Continue staying that way, alright?"
Reuben let out a wail of sadness as he latched himself onto Jesse's arms as if wanting to die with her.
Axel raised the knive over his head…
… To kneel down and sink the blade into the earth.
Reuben stopped squealing and proceeded to stare at the stocky boy who was kneeling on the ground, sobbing.
"...Axel?"
Axel looked up, his eyes bloodshot and his cheeks stained with tears. It was shocking to see him cry. As far as she knew, Axel had never shed a single tear in the face of difficulties.
"I'm sorry… I didn't have a choice. On the day of your mother's death anniversary, your father…"
"Lemme guess. He was planning on ways to dispose of me, and you're part of it. That explains why I bumped into you when you were leaving daddy's chambers."
Axel sighed as he bowed his head. "Yes, you're spot on."
Tears started brimming at the edges of Jesse's eyes, threatening to spill out. "You're my best friend. I trusted you. So why would—"
"Like I said, I didn't have a choice. He was so insistent about it. If I defied him, you know where I'll end up. So, I did everything he asked of me to do, which included all of the…" Axel paused abruptly, unable to bring himself to continue speaking.
The tears that were held back now flowed freely down Jesse's cheeks. "The poisoned cake, the falling chandelier… it was all your doing?"
"I did it against my will!" Axel shouted, "I never wanted to harm you, Jesse. But if I end up at the Death Bowl, who will be there to protect you? I'm sure as hell that the guards, Maria, Olivia nor Reuben can't. Not trying to insult your friends or anything, but honestly! How can they shield you from your father's wrath?
"Maria treats you like her toy doll, Olivia lives all the way at Redstonia, and Reuben's just a defenceless piglet! The guards are fiercely loyal to your father only; they won't give a damn if you die."
Jesse sniffed as she started sobbing, the truth weighing down on her heart like a sack of rocks. Reuben crawled to her side and tried to comfort her. How cruel of her father to force Axel to commit such atrocities!
They were silent for some time; the only sounds audible were the oinks of Reuben and the sobs of Jesse.
Axel suddenly stood up. "Look, you can't stay here. Your father is returning tomorrow morning and he is expecting you to be dead. You need to run; run to somewhere far, far away where he can't get you."
"B-but how?" Jesse whined as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. "I don't have anywhere to go! Who would take me in?" After all, she couldn't just go knocking on a complete stranger's door and say, 'hey, I'm a princess who is on the run from my completely insane father who wants to kill me. Can I stay with you?'
Axel frowned, trying to think of a solution. "Hmmm, why not... go to Olivia's? Redstonia is helluva far away from here, and that means you'll be safer." He began to dig out some gold nuggets from his pocket and thrust them into Jesse's palm. "This is all the money I have left. I believe I still have a little bit more back at my quarters. Pack some food and a few clothes, not too much to let anyone notice. Also, take a weapon to fight mobs if you ever encounter them. Leave your father to me."
Seeing that Jesse was going to cry again, Axel knelt down and placed his hands on her small shoulders firmly. "Promise me, no matter how hard it gets, stay strong and never lose hope. You still have so much to live for, so don't let my sacrifice go to waste."
Jesse nodded meekly.
"Now come on, I'll sneak you back in. We can't afford to lose a split second."
…
Back at her chambers, Jesse hurriedly packed up the necessary items (including her mother's diary) into a small bag. She slipped a black cloak over herself and prepared to step into the fireplace, when…
"Hey."
"Shut up…" Jesse growled.
"Hmph. I told you that he was dangerous. But then again, he would have gone to find other ways to kill you even if you didn't follow him, so I guess there wasn't any point. Heeheehee…"
Jesse ignored the shrike and retreated into the fireplace's secret passageway. Just her luck, the damned animal trailed from behind.
"Seeing the situation you're in, it's best if I follow you. I bet you won't survive for long out there by yourself."
Jesse huffed as she rolled her eyes. "Even so, how can a cute little bird like you help me? Are you gonna assist me in fighting mobs or something?"
The shrike let out a laugh. "Don't underestimate me. I told you, I'm a very special bird!"
(I hope so. I won't survive that long on my own. Even if it's just a figment of my imagination, at least I have another pillar of hope I can lean on.)
The duo exited through the trapdoor. Reuben rushed towards Jesse and clutched her skirt, as if he were saying, 'Don't go! Don't go!'
With a dejected sigh, Jesse placed her bag down and cradled the piglet in her arms. "Reuben, daddy doesn't love us anymore. We have to go, it's for the best. Perhaps our lives would be better Redstonia. I hope…"
THE COVER ART IS OUT AHMAHGAWD YES FINALLLLLLLYYYYY!1!1
...But for some reason FFnet won't let me upload the cover art no matter how many times I try. So until I find a solution, you can view the cover art in my Deviantart Stash...
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: / / sta. sh / 01t0h 3159zdl (w/out spacing)
I had fun drawing the cover art just as I had fun designing the outfits of the characters (coming soon).
When I was sketching Jesse, I thought that her eyes looked wonky and the bird was too big (shrikes are meant to be tiny), but after (a lot) of erasing and resketching I was satisfied. The background was painful to blend lmao.
Oh yeah, I recommend paying attention to the little details; I didn't add random skulls and masks there for fun.