Sinner Amongst Saints Pt.3

There was only one entrance and exit nearby so Strelitzia was forced to follow behind the woman. "I promise I'm not following you. This is the way I came." She tried to assure the woman. Her gaze had traveled elsewhere and the woman seemed preoccupied with just trying to move but she felt it was worth mentioning. "There are some flowers nearby that might help you. They further out but it should do you well. Good luck, Ray. Try not to die."

Ray'ven snorted at the last bit and instantly regretted it as it jared her poor ribs. She leaned against the wall a moment to regain her bearings, inhaling the icy cold air in through her nose. Great, it was snowing now. So either she would die from all the blood loss and infected wounds or from freezing to death.

She stared out at the blanket of white that seemed to be covering most of the mountain and her nose wrinkled in dismay. She hated snow and she was not wearing the right shoes to go trekking through it. A small part of her wondered if she should simply go resume dying in the cave. At least it was warm there.

She took one step out of the cave and swayed where she stood, the only thing keeping her from falling being her grip on the jabbed stone behind her, which cut into her palms from how hard she was clutching it. What a time for dizziness to set in. She cursed in her mother tongue, glaring hatefully at her legs for giving out.

"Seriously...fuck this moutain." She hissed. And fuck the asshole pirate lord for stabbing her through the shoulder. And fuck the asshole fat fucker that had accused her of james' falling and his bitch of a sidekick who claimed to have seen it all.

Making sure she was steady, she released her tight grip on the wall, being sure to keep close to it in case she needed something to lean on. "This person, do they know... that you are out here. These...mountains are dangerous."

"She's perfectly safe. You should worry about yourself, Ray'ven." A dark figure rose from the ground and Rueborn's grey eyes landed on her in an eerie manner. "I heard you were looking for me?" He asked, snapping his fingers and Strelitzia fell into a trance and walked off.

"Her name is Strelitzia. You'll do well to remember that." His words were a whisper that filled the air and sent chills up anyone's spine.

Ray'ven had felt the air shift a moment before the figure rose from the ground and her heart dropped leaving her feeling colder than she already was. Just what the hell was Rueborn doing here of all places. Had he a hand in the attack as well.

No, Ragnar probably hated Rueborn more than he even did Ja'ule.

She stared at him impassive even as the girl Strelitzia -who she was really starting to believe was not- left in a trance. Was he the mage that she was out here with?

"No seriously, fuck this mountain." She said, eyes never leaving his own. She wasn't sure if that was her doing or his. "An odd place to hide... out is it not?"

Ray'ven was in no way shape or form to face this man right now. Even if she had been at full strength, Ray'ven doubted she would be able to hold her own for long.

There was no trace of a smile on his lips, no emotion in his eyes as he moved in his robes did the same save for they looked like the dancing shadows he came out of. "Were you looking for me or not?" He asked again, ignoring everything else she'd said.

Ray'ven inhaled through her nose, straightening herself as she could. "I was by order of my master." She answered. She was aware of the very real chance that she would die here.

"Why....." He stared at her like he was staring into her soul. "Was he looking for me?" He circled around her.

Ray'ven swallowed trying to push down the dizziness that threatened the edge of her vision. Her body was beginning to protest her movement, blood loss causing her already rapidly beating heart to pump faster in an attempt to restore the blood that she was still losing. Her skin felt clammy and cold and she was unsure if it was from the fear that was creeping in by the presence of this man before her. His gaze was heavy, as though he could see every sin that she had ever committed, every secret that she kept hidden. "I do not know. Perhaps...ask him yourself."

Rueborn lifted his hand and the shadows that consisted of his robes crawled around the stone of the mountain floor and wrapped around her repeatedly. He turned, and they dragged her along with him as he rose into the air, riding on a great tail of darkness.

Ray'ven cried out as she was snatched from the ground her wounds jolting painfully as whatever creepy magick Rueborn used wrapped around her like a cold slithering snake. "W-what are you doing?!" She yelped fearfully as they rose from the ground. Was he going to fucking drop her? Oh shit. Shit. shit. Shit. shit.

'So this is how I die now?' She thought to herself, panicking.

"Stay away from that cave." was all he'd said, his voice was just as slithering as the shadows. The darkness crept into her mouth and up her nose, tumbling down her throat until she could feel it in her very existence. A knowing gloom that sought for secrets, images, fears, and memories pertaining to the cave she'd just been in. Like burned pages, they crumbled and blackened into ash. An excruciating pain tore through her head while the obscurity wormed its way out of her scalp follicles and eyes.

When she awoke she was back inside the upper cave. Someone picked her up and placed her on a bed.

Ray'ven awoke to a fever, her heart hammering in her chest as she stared up with blurry eyes at the jagged stone ceiling. She was lying down on something soft. How was that? The last thing she remembered was passing out against a boulder. Trying to sit up, she gasped as sharp pain radiated from her left side. Right, she'd forgotten about her ribs.

Razmyr was sitting across from her in a worn chair. He had his sword in his lap, sharpening it with a stone. The man hadn't bothered to glimpse up at her to know she was awake. "I see you didn't make it far," His muscles flexed in his arms the harder he struck the stone to the blade's edge. "I patched you up, and I'll keep my word of letting you stay until you've healed for James' sake. You may have pushed him to his death but you did save the others."

His nose flared at the end of his sentence when he finally cast those vicious cerulean eyes in her direction.

Ray'ven gave him her own glare, forcing herself upwards despite the pain. "I did not push him for that last time, not that I expect you to believe me over your men." She sighed. Her head throbbed fiercely from fever as she searched for the exit. She'd rather be back in the cave, that way she did not have to tolerate irritating pirate lords. "You should have left me where I was, I would have recovered soon enough." Not.

"Good, at least you've come to that understanding of not wasting your breath on it then." He finished sharpening Rage and started polishing it. "Something a guilty bitch would say. Recovered, you looked like death. Next time I'll take the side note." Razmyr sheathed his sword and whacked her across the back with barely any force and she went swaying. Catching her by the arm, he shoved her not so nicely back into bed.

"Mhm, barely even hit you."

Ray'ven sucked in a sharp breath as was shoved, tensing in pain. Her eyes glared darkly at him and she wished her magick wasn't so depleted or she would have enjoyed melting him into a pile of flesh. Yeah, the death cave was sounding more appealing by the second. "Fuck you pirtate asshole, Death would be a better company than you." She hissed.

"Annnd it's a good thing I'm here to prevent that and make you suffer. You really don't understand who you are as a person outside of your master. One minute ladylike Nobel speaking, then the next a mouth full of shit for a pretty face." Slicking his hair back, he stepped closer, squatting down in front of her. Close enough where she could see his pupils dilate from the change of lighting. "One thing I can't stand is disloyalty. Then the next is," He punched her in the mouth. "Smart mouth, disrespectful, bitches. This is my place, and I'm sure you saw the last person who pulled that shit here. See? We can both be potty mouths and the difference is, you're busted up on your ass and I'm on my feet."

With a smirk, he stood and sat back in his chair.

Ray'ven spat the blood from her mouth, nose flared in anger. "You'd best kill me then, ser. Since I seem to be the epitome of all things you despise." She spat. Inwardly, her brain was screaming at her to shut up and not antagonize the man with a sword.

'Now is not the time to be defiant, dumbass. If you die here for such a foolish reason, the Master will bring you back and kill you himself.' Inner her berated and Ray'ven seethed inwardly.

'But he's so infuriating. I mean look at him, he's handsome and an asshole. I screwed this guy in my dreams! My dreams! I refuse to accept that I would submit to someone like him so easily.' She argued with herself. Inner her was right of course. She was being highly irrational and her composure was admissible. She'd never be seen acting this way back home.

Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly, rebuilding what little self control she had left. She was doing this for Master Ja'ule. "You...you are right, of course. I offer you my apologies whether you accept them or not is your choice." Ulscer berries tasted sweeter than those words and Ray'ven was sure he would tell her to shove them up her ass. Her body sagged in pain and exhaustion a weary sigh leaving her as she eyed the pirate lord warily. By all means, he had every right to be upset. There was proof or evidence that she had not done what she said, and he knew his men more than he knew her and from what she observed, he cared a great deal for James as well. Someone whom she had 'killed'. Honestly, had the situation been reversed Ray'ven probably would have done worse.

Razmyr's dark brows were lowered amidst his forehead, causing wrinkles to form. At first he had a half mine to strike her again because she was so eager to throw her life away after taking James. If she was truly sorry, if she truly had taken the life of someone James told him so much about, then it was her duty to carry that burden like a thousand re-opening scars till the day she died.

One thing being a slave, and being a gangster had taught him that lives were always taken. Whether you knew them or not, they eventually weigh on you. Then you had the ones like Ragnar or Ja'ule Aldain. Soulless bastards who didn't lose sleep over the dead.

"I'm not the one you should be sorry to," He pretended he was calm and even but on the inside that rage twisted and turned, snarling; a furious beast waiting in the corners of his mind to strike when he least expected. "He spoke so highly of you. James never had any children, his sister murdered, and he said in a lot of ways when he looks at you he sees her ghost. I never understood why he was torn up about being free from that devil heartless man. To make decisions for himself. Then seeing you now, It's like he wasn't even talking about the same person. Another ghost for him. Had he gone mad and mistaken you for some sweet girl with a good soul?"

Razmyr laughed dryly. "The person I screwed in my dream doesn't even seem the same either," Slowly he crossed the room and gripped her chin to stare into her gaze. "Those green-blue eyes screaming to be saved. Some kind of emotion and want in your eyes other than the need to be fucked. But that's swept under a darkened veil now. An oncoming storm waiting to gobble you, me, and anyone else who dares get close. He sees a ghost and I see a reflection of myself."

Odd enough he'd said that. There upon the surface of her eyes was his face. He leaned down close and placed his hand on her side, his palm trailing up until stopping just at her ribcage. He pressed something wooden against her broken ribs, then wrapped it with bandages tightly.

The more he spoke of James the more of the emotions that Ray'ven was trying not to feel tried to surface. James had been her partner. Her friend. Her mentor. The man she could tell her every secret to. She loved him.

He was dead. She had killed him. James was gone?

Tears misted her eyes as she turned her head, even as Razmyr held her chin. She couldn't cry. Not now.

"I am not that same girl. I can't afford to be." She whispered quietly. Something sparked from where his hand touched her skin, similar to how it was in her dream. She didn't dare think of what that could mean.

"Never met her so I can't go by what you can't afford to be." He seemed a bit cold in what he said, but he meant it. "I thought that once, but it's my life and I took the reins. You seem eager for death, you can afford to do what you want." Razmyr finished tying the bandage around her and moved back a bit.

Ray'ven let out a huffed dry laugh. "I was rebellious. Always got into trouble and Jamie was always there to pull me out of it. He used to call me fire bird." She wasn't sure why she was telling Razmyr any of this. "But he wasn't happy there. He hated the violence and killing. He even wanted me to come with him."

"And you didn't. Did you?" Razmyr said lowly, sitting back down with a hand In his lap and the other on his sword.

Ray'ven was silent for a moment, mind lost in the past before she finally spoke again. "It doesn't really matter now. Why dwell on the things that could have happened. We are here now, the choices of my sins would have led me here eventually. I am not like James was. I am not a good person. I was born for the very purpose I serve."

"Feeling sorry for yourself doesn't get you anywhere. You choose to be a bad person." Razmyr was on his feet again, his hand on the wall. "I'm not a good person either, but you killed one of the good things about me." He turned and started to head out.

Ray'ven hummed. She was not feeling sorry for herself. She'd stop doing that a long time ago. "I do not pity myself. I simply know what I am." She stated simply, lying down on the cot with a grimace. "And you are more good than you realize."

"We'll see about that." Razmyr vanished beyond the door.