The Blue-eyed Witch

Chapter FIVE:

Ravyn's POV:

I followed the guard out of the room and through several different hallways, always making quick turns and with him pulling me this way and that way. I tried to remember our route but with all the twists and turns, I was unsuccessful.

Instead, I focus on the bracelet on my wrist. It is gold and has a swirling pattern around it. The bracelet has rubies encrusted into the bracelet. The swirling patterns appear to lead right into the rubies. The bracelet is very pretty. I checked underneath the bracelet. I checked to figure out where the glow came from, but there was nothing on the underside.

We eventually stop in front of a set of double doors. The doors are made of deep oak-colored wood. There are images carved into the doors. The images are of giant birds with wingspans that take up the entire width of the door. The door handles are of birds as well, their wings making up the majority of the handles.

The guard opens the door, and they open to a large office. There is a seating area to the left, with a beautiful plush couch and two armchairs. There is a circular coffee table that has similar designs to the door, carved into it. On top of the table is a set of tall pillar candles and a beautiful gold, claw-foot bowl.

To the right of the room, the wall is covered with a built-in bookshelf. The shelves are packed full of a variety of books, all looking just as expensive and interesting as the next. In the middle of the room sits a large, bulky wooden desk. In the middle of the desk, there is a large face of a bird. The bird looks like a raven, but it is difficult to tell exactly. On top of the desk there are a lot of papers with strange symbols written across them. There is also a large map which has various spots with red circles and big X’s.

I tried and took a closer look, but the guard got my attention. “Sit here and don’t touch anything!” The guard says as he points to one of the armchairs. He leads me away from the center of the room to the armchair and pushes me down into the seat.

I reposition myself, so I am sitting comfortably and look at him. “Thank you for gently showing me to my seat, such a gentleman.” I say with every bit of sarcasm I can muster.

The guard raises an eyebrow at me and says, “Oh, I could show you how gentleman-like I can be.” He moves closer as I try to lean back away from him. He takes one of his hands and runs it up my arm to my shoulder. I try and bat his arm away, but he grabs my wrist with his other hand and says, “Now behave darling! I don’t want to have to punish you.”

He leans closer, so close that I can smell what he last ate.... something with lots and lots of garlic. I turn my face away from him, but he gets so close that his lips are touching my jaw line.

“ROWAN, what did I tell you about touching her?” said Mr. Creepy, or the Master as Melody called him. “Not until I get what I need from her, after that I don’t care what happens to her!”

“Sorry your Highness. Will not happen again.” Rowan says with a bow. He briefly looks at me and I can feel the promise that lays within his eyes, he is not finished with me. Rowan walks away, towards the door and stands there, guarding the door. Is he guarding it so I do not try and escape?

“So, Ravyn, you must be wondering why I moved you and why I sent for you. The reason is I need your help. There is something that I need you to find for me. There is something I need to finish a war that has been going on for years. This object will help solve all our problems.”

I am taken aback when he mentions the pendant. Does he mean the pendant that I found? OH NO! The pendant is still sitting in my dress pocket and is lying on the bathroom floor. Oh gosh! I need to get back there.

I am mentally kicking myself when he continues, “Ravyn, I need you to try and remember a pendant. This pendant is a crescent moon and has a blue sapphire dangling from it. Do you remember this?” He looks at me and a chill runs through me. Something in me tells me not to think about the pendant, just to clear my mind.

I do such a thing when I respond “No. I am sorry. I cannot remember anything prior to waking up here.” I try to make my voice sound as truthful as possible.

“Right, right. I know that. I did not calculate that you were the only one who could give me what I needed when the spell was done.” He says this as he stands up and wonders around. “I must consult the other Council members to see how we can temporarily reverse the spell.”

“Sir, pardon me, but I do not know what to call you, but what if you tell me about who I am? Maybe that will trigger my memories. Maybe then I can help you,” I said. If I can remember who I am, I might have a shot of getting out of here. I do not fully understand what he wants with the pendant or me, but I know it is not good, he must not get the pendant.

He laughs at me, “Oh Ravyn, I do not want you to remember who you are. If you do, then you will be of no use to me. Also, you may call me King Keres.” He stared at me, and I again felt that same chill move across my body. I quickly clear my mind of everything.

“Well, Rowan. I guess you can take her now. Call a meeting with the Council. Set it for first thing in the morning.” He says and moves to the center of the room, taking a seat behind the desk.

Rowan comes over to me, grabbing me by the arm, and lifts me to my feet. He shoves me forward until I start walking. We exited the room and Rowan comes up to me and says as he caresses my face, “Well, well, well. Alone at last. But ah, I promised King Keres, I wouldn’t touch you until he gets what he wants. For now, I can only admire and there is a lot to admire.” He said the last part slowly while his eyes slowly looked me up and down.

A shudder went through my body while his eyes violated me. My heart rate accelerates, and my palms are sweaty. I must get out of here before this guy does something to me. He is not only creepy but unappealing as well. He is tall and bulky with greasy brown hair. His eyes are a lifeless, dark blue color that almost appears black.

I lean back and glare at him. I am too afraid to fire back at him because I do not know what he will do to me. So, I say, “Can you show me back to my room now, please?”

He smiles, turns, and starts walking without so much as another word. The trip back to my room is quick and short.

Blaine’s POV:

The sun is warming my face as I sit at the top of a tall tree. I have been flying a lot lately. Something about being out here in nature feels so freeing, and I always get my best thinking done out here.

That girl has been haunting my every thought, except out here. It’s just me and nature, nothing else. The breeze is cool against my skin, which is being warmed by the hot kiss of the sun. I can just make out various creatures below, wondering about and enjoying the nice day.

Today makes me think about the first time that I discovered I could do transformative magic. The first time I discovered that I could transform into a Raven. It happened shortly before my mother passed away. I was around 8 years old and just starting to come into my magic. I was playing outside in the courtyard with some of my friends while my mom watched from a bench off to the side. There was a stone wall around the perimeter of the courtyard, so my friends and I were jumping off and seeing who could perform the best trick. Eventually, we started throwing magic at each other to throw one another off while performing the tricks. My friend shot a small amount of water into my face just as I was about to jump, this caused me to throw my weight off balance, making me fall backwards. I remember seeing my mom fling out her hand and feeling her elemental magic, wind, try and prevent me from falling over, but it was not fast or strong enough. I can still remember my thoughts as I was falling. I felt like I was flying. I remember wishing that I could fly and that I would never have to give up this feeling. That is when I felt a pinch in my back and out sprang my large black Raven wings. They caught the wind and carried me up.

I landed on top of the wall just as my mom reached it. I can still picture the beautiful smile and the pride she held in her face for me. My heartaches at this memory. I miss her every day. Things have not been the same since she died. Dad started focusing on training me to be a fighter and focusing on my defensive magic. I trained from sunup to sundown every day. I watched as my dad became angry and obsessed with revenge, but I cannot blame him for that, I too want revenge on the people that caused my mother's death.

Just then, I noticed that the sun was starting to set, so I stood up, spread my wings out, and lifted myself into the air. I circle in the air for a bit, enjoying the feeling of the wind against my face. I started flying back towards the town. I could see the tree line starting to thin, and I could just make out the edge of the market. I was about to land when a movement in a window stopped me dead in my tracks and I landed on the closest tree. It’s her! It’s the girl with the blue eyes. She’s standing in one of the windows and looking out the window. I make sure I am concealed in the tree and take this moment to admire her. She is truly breathtaking. Her dark hair is pulled back into a bun and tiny pieces of hair are falling out of the bun, framing her face. She’s drinking from a mug and looks deep in thought. She looks concerned and sad. She is chewing on her bottom lip. What I would wish is to go to her and pull that lip out from between her teeth and kiss her.

I am engulfed in my daydream when she raises a hand and slowly wipes away a tear that fell from her eye. This angers me. Who the hell upset her? I will kill them and make them feel pain because of hurting her. I am so consumed with rage that I don’t even realize the fire that is forming in the palm of my hand until the light from it shines bright and catches the girl's attention. I quickly calm my nerves and will the fire to go out. I move back into the darkness of the tree. She intensely looks at the tree, searching, for a few minutes but eventually moves from the window, closing the blinds as she does.

I am relieved that she did not see me, saddened that I cannot look at her face, and angry at whomever made her cry. I jumped down from the tree, landing with a soft thump, and decided that I would just walk into town. I will my wings to retract and begin walking. As I enter the market, I am greeted by the smell of delicious food and the sounds of people talking. I walk up to a woman selling soups, they smell amazing, and they have a reputation for being the best in town. I come here frequently; the seller's name is Annie. She is an older woman, maybe in her late 60’s, with silvery hair that is always braided down her back. She wears the usual outfit of all servants.

When I approach her stand, she smiles sweetly at me. She is the only woman that ever looks me in my eyes. She is sweet and kind, so I allow it.

“Good evening, my Prince. Come for your soup?” Annie asks me as she picks up a bowl of steamy hot soup.

“Yes ma’am, I am. Smells good as always.” I replied while handing her money. She pushes my hand away and says, “Your money is not needed. Please accept this as my gift to you.” She always does this, so as I always do, I pretend to put it in my pocket, but when she bends down to grab me a spoon, I placed the money on her counter before she could notice.

I take my bowl of soup and sit down at a nearby table. People are bustling about; the day shift is trying to make it home and the night crew is just arriving for their shifts. The castle has 24-hour protection and service. I watch as everyone moves about when I catch part of a conversation.

“Man, you should get a look at our special guest upstairs. A fine-looking girl, she is. You should get a look at her perfect t**s. I walked in on her coming out of the shower earlier today in nothing but a towel. I had to physically stop myself from disobeying direct orders. I just hope that the little cunt gives him what he wants soon. I don’t know how much longer I can wait.” I turned to look at the men talking. They were just behind me. I recognized the man talking. His name is Rowan. He is part of my father's personal guard. I never really liked the guy! He walks around here like he is tough s**t but has never won a fight against me or any of our head warriors. He’s pompous but does what he is told. That is why my father keeps him around. The other man I recognize as Rowans' friend is Drew. He is just as cocky as Rowan, but Drew is just a castle guard. He could barely fight a fly if it were to attack him! However, Rowan pulled some strings and got him a job at the castle.

“Oh man, I didn’t know we had a special quest! You’ll have to bring her bye sometime so I can.... meet her.” Drew says with a smirk and a wink of his eye.

Are they talking about the pretty dark-haired girl upstairs? At this thought I became suddenly angry, and I wanted to rip their throats out. How dare they talk about her like that! I balled my hand into a fist and stood up abruptly, making my presence known to the men. The men immediately shut up and went wide-eyed, looking at me. They didn’t know I was there. Good!

“Prince Blaine, how nice to see you out here in the market,” Drew said with a slight bow of his head. I didn’t acknowledge Drew because I was staring straight into Rowan's eyes. I can feel my blood boiling and my palms are beginning to heat up.

“Rowan, my father will be displeased at hearing that you do not agree with his command and that you are impatiently waiting to disobey direct orders.” I can feel Rowan's anger at my words, and I smirk knowing this.

“Prince Blaine, I was just kidding around. I would never disobey orders from the King. Please accept my apologies.” Rowan says in a very monotoned voice and matching my stare.

“Either way, you are no longer allowed to guard the girl upstairs. This is an order. Do I make myself clear?” I saw in a booming, authoritative voice.

“Perfectly,” Rowan says, and then he and Drew turn and walk away. At least, I have kept her safe for a moment. I must speak with my father about this.

I turned and quickly walked to the castle and straight for my father's office.