Chapter 14
For the next few days it was all preparation for the inevitable fight, Chloe, with her fire-powers, ran a magicked forge where weapons were made, and Clary and the others got used to sleeping in the Raven tree, with was what Roxy, Chloe, Jacob and Drakiel called the huge hollowed out tree and its surrounding hollowed-out trees. In fact, the Raven tree was practically a mini-forest in its own right, with vine bridges connecting the hollow trees.
It was dawn when Clary went down to the riverbank to take a shower upstream in the tumbling waterfall that fed the Spirit river, as it was called. No one of the New York supernaturals knew why it was called that. But as Clary descended in a robe which had mysteriously appeared in her room a few days ago, she saw she wasn't the only one at the river.
Drakiel was crouching by the river, his yellow eyes sad and his expression beaten down, Clary just stood there as he started to whisper,
"River spirit, river death, part thy current so Demonicate Lerial Nyryn shalt return to her home once more, as she lived once, let her live again, by the power of thyself." Drakiel whispered, his Spanish accent giving the words a strange quality. And he picked up a piece of amber, set it on a leaf, and let it flow down the river. Clary couldn't help but stare at his strange words and actions, but at that moment Drakiel turned around and saw her. He raised an eyebrow at her robe and pointed towards the waterfall. "It's that way." He said flatly, but his voice was tired and seemed… broken was the word for it.
"What was that?" Clary asked, walking over to the river to stand next to Drakiel who just looked downriver where the leaf-boat had gone.
"An old prayer, said to revoke death. Many believe death is a river, a journey, and through rivers, death can be reached by the living, the prayer has to be said right, and you have to specify which creature from the billions out there you want to come back, sometimes it works, but, sometimes…" Drakiel trailed off and looked down at the sand on the riverbank, he just shrugged and started off towards the Raven tree, Clary paused for a spilt-second before asking the question that had been lingering on her mind.
"Is that why it's called the Spirit river?" Clary asked, Drakiel paused and turned back around.
"Sort of, Lerial named it, same with the Raven tree, I don't know why, the only explanation she ever gave us was that the names were epic." Drakiel chuckled sadly and looked up at the sky, which despite the dawn, was gray with storm clouds, it had been seven days since Clary and her friends arrived, and as she tried to read Drakiel's bittersweet expression, there was a call from the Raven tree and Clary spun, so did Drakiel and Jace leaped down from the balcony that circled around the top of the largest tree and landed in a crouch.
"Hey, Chloe called a meeting, she says we got some problems that need to be solved." Jace called, Clary knew that Jace hadn't trusted Lerial, and that he still didn't trust Drakiel, with Drakiel being a demon and all.
"Looks like something's up." Drakiel said to himself and turned away without a goodbye and walked over to the Raven tree's main entrance, which was a hollowed out door with vines growing down to conceal it slightly.
After Drakiel disappeared, Jace walked over to Clary, with the phoenix-made weapons belt that he had around his chest, and the fact that he was shirtless, made Clary blush slightly.
Sorry this chapter sucks, its sitting on my computer for a fucking long time, sorry, I'll get back in the mood soon enough.