Little Black Bird

I could see the light on my skin. It held no warmth or release from the cold. Was the Sun different here, or was that still me?

Cold light was peeking through windows now. It hit the strangely warm girl’s pale skin on her face. Her eyes opened with a pleasant yawn. That was the most pleasant sleep she’d gotten since they left. Strange, this bed didn’t seem that comfortable when she had first fallen asleep. She tried to roll and find the floor, only to realize that she couldn’t move.

Two arms were wrapped securely around her small frame. Whatever had overcome her last night was not hanging around this morning. She sighed in relief to know that she could be normal still. Her body wiggled against Luca’s hold. Skylark had never realized how solid he was, more so than just muscle. He didn’t squish. You know, like any person she’d ever come in contact with.

A yawn escaped the sleepy boy as he awoke. His eyes opened to look at her questioning gaze. “What’s wrong?” He asked with sleep lining his slow drawl.

“Well I’m kind of in a predicament…like you’re suffocating me you brute!” She huffed and struggled against his arms more.

An easy laugh passed his lips as he opened his arms for her to roll out of. “You were shaking in your sleep and kept muttering about something.” He said casually getting out of bed. “I assumed you were cold. I’m not sure how your people lived in the North if this is how you’re fairing.”

Skylark sat up and crossed her legs on the bed. Her vivid eyes watched Luca get dressed for another long day of trudging north. “Can’t we stay another day?” She questioned, silently refusing to put on her clothes. “There are more people I want to talk to.” She continued as she subconsciously scratched at the mark on her arm.

The dark haired male turned and raised an eyebrow. “Sure, I’ll talk more with that girl from last night.” He replied with a shrug of his shoulders once he finished pulled his long sleeve shirt over his head. A hint of a smirk crossed his lips as dismay flashed across her face.

“Fine.” Skylark grumbled throwing on her clothes as quickly as possible. “If there’s this snow I’ve been hearing about. You get to freeze tonight. Blah blah I assumed you were cold…” The last part of her words faded into a low mumble/rant as she marched out the door.

So childish. Lark had always been that way. She was a kind child most of the time, with a little bit of a fiery bite. Luca believed she knew when she had to grow up, but he was going to let that wait until they got to the library. Her whole world was different now. He’d allow her some immature moments while she could still afford them.

The two ate a quick breakfast and set out on the road. Brein had gone out hunting, he would catch up with them eventually. Luca hoped that they would make it to the next town, but it was unlikely; it was Luca himself not making the best pace. There was, as it would happen, snow as they got further north.
Skylark pulled her jacket closer to her small body as she walked delicately on the snow. “How could something so pretty, be so…” She cut herself off with a large shiver through her spine.

“Difficult?” Luca asked to finish her open sentence. A small smile played on his lips like he wasn’t talking about the snow. He didn’t walk so lightly in the powdery substance. His feet sunk until they reached proper ground. With the storm clouds pouring snow on their heads, the day was hardly any different than night. They weren’t going to make it very far in this. Despite having a foreign knowledge about many things he’d never seen and a better resistance to cold, Luca was not used to the difficult terrain.

They walked for a while until the storm got worse and the visibility conditions grew poor. “I think we may have to make camp. I can’t see where we’re going.” Luca admitted to the girl that no longer seemed fazed by the storm or the cold. She was actually twirling every now and then. Snowflakes would land on her outstretched fingers and melt away. While snow piled on Luca and seemed to stick.

Skylark was practically glowing in the dark night. “Really? I can see a town up there.” She said ceasing her play to look at him with a confused look. Luca was her navigation and always better at most things. It put a hollow feeling in her stomach to think that maybe something was wrong. “It’s probably twenty minutes that way.” She pointed through the darkness like it was plain as day.

“There’s no way we’ve made it to the next town.” The dark haired boy muttered trying to see whatever it was she was so sure was a town. There wasn’t much known about the Faeren anymore, only that they had great power. He didn’t doubt that she could be seeing something that he wasn’t able to. He resigned to letting her lead the way. Brein still hadn’t caught up with them. That worried him as they made their way towards this invisible town.

The twenty minutes passed in silence. There was no way there was a town here. What was she seeing? The trees were cleared in the area ahead, but there were no buildings. Not a single fire light. Luca was about to say something. Skylark stepped into the clearing though. A spark leapt off of her and danced across the field. She didn’t notice that the buildings were appearing out of thin air, but that was possibly because that was only happening to him. “Lark…we shouldn’t stay here.” Luca called out to her.

The dark haired girl was peeking in windows and moving quickly further into this mysterious town. She just gave him a smile and beckoned him to her. “Don’t be a scaredy cat! There was a town, just like I told you.” She shouted back to him. “I see an Inn up ahead. There are lights” She took off at a jog to the far side of the town.

A loud howl stopped Luca from chasing her. Brein stood at the edge of the town, pacing and not taking a step forward. “Brein, come.” He called out signaling the wolf. It howled again and took off back into the woods away from the town. This was not a good place to be. Luca had no choice but to go after Skylark.

The whole town was dark, except for the fire lighting the windows of the inn. The tall male walked down the line of black house trees. A faint smell filled this area. Like fire, but not a burning fire. It was an old damp fire; gone but the memory remains. Walking into the inn increased the smell to an almost unbearable level.

Skylark was sitting at a table with three other people. She had two plates of food sitting in front of her. Her head turned as Luca walked in and called him over. The room wasn’t like the last inn they went to. It was old and had a meager amount of people adoring its tables. The smiling girl pushed the second plate in front of him. “I already made arrangements with the innkeeper,” She motioned to the woman in the middle. “We’ve got two rooms with fires and feather beds!” She exclaimed excitedly.

“I’d prefer if we stayed in the same room…” Luca told her in a low voice. If there was no getting her to leave tonight, he wasn’t sleeping without her in the same room. His eyes darkened as he looked around at the people themselves. They were beautiful, captivating actually; each one white as snow, with the fair hair that Skylark naturally had. All of them seemed to be staring blankly at them with dead, grey eyes. Did she not see that there was something wrong with these people?

“Sorry, he worries too much.” Skylark laughed it off as she spoke to the three in front of her. Her eyes floated around. Such pale people, but their skin shone and their eyes were the most beautiful things she’d ever seen. They flowed with energy and color, the likes she’d never come across. This inn was much quieter and less rowdy than the one last night. She felt oddly comforted by the surroundings.

Skylark talked for hours with these beings about basically nothing at all. Luca was much too tense to listen to her idle chatting. No one had moved. For hours. They just sat there, watching. No one touched the fire, but it kept burning. The lit fire did nothing to displace that damp smell. None of this caught the babbling girl’s attention. She had been sucked in.

Finally she announced that she was ready to go to sleep. She wouldn’t take no for an answer and ushered Luca into the room next to her own. No one moved from their seats as they left. He was beginning to understand by Brein wouldn’t step foot on this land. There was something disturbed here.

Luca didn’t sleep. He sat with his back against the door. He listened. This place was dead. It didn’t make a noise. He realized that the never dying fire in the hall didn’t even make a crackling noise. He couldn’t just sit here and wait for the sun to rise. At this point he wasn’t sure the sun was going to rise. His track of time had been skewed since they stepped into this place. All of his senses were being messed with. He pushed himself from the ground and opened the door from his room. He froze. There was nothing there. Well nothing that had been there, just the remnants of what had been. A burnt inn stood around him. He turned to where Skylark’s room should have been; nothing.

He ran to the center of town. Barely even the foundations of what once was this small town was visible in the snow. His breathing hitched. He had one job. He had to keep Skylark safe and he lost her in a town that wasn’t even there. “Skylark!” His voice was desperate as he spun trying to see her pale skin in the dark. “Skylark! Where are you?!” His shouting was becoming hysterical. The normally calm boy sank to his knees and buried his face. What was this place doing to him?

Snow crunched behind him. A hesitant, but gentle, hand placed itself on his shoulder. “Luca? Are you okay?”

Luca spun and grasped the slight girl around the waist. “Where did you go? The town…it’s not…this place is…” He couldn’t get a complete sentence out.

Skylark settled in his arms and sighed audibly. “You need sleep, Luca. There’s nothing wrong with this town other than the fact you are running through the middle of it screaming.” She told him in a tone he’d never heard from her.

He took his face out of her shoulder and looked around. The buildings were back. Some of the houses were turning on their lights. The sky was still pitch black, but it had stopped snowing. Luca put her down and took her shoulders. “We have to leave this place. Lark, it’s wrong. Nature is wrong here. You must feel that!” He was frantic to get through to her.

The girl’s eyes seemed to glaze over. “You can go if you want. I belong here. These are my people.” She responded to him and took a couple steps back.

Lights from the Northeast suddenly shone through the town. Literally through, the buildings became somewhat transparent to Luca. Two or three people were running from that direction as well. They moved gracefully on the snow, the way that Skylark was able to. “You need to get her out of there!” They shouted out. “Get her out!”

Luca looked from the figures running towards them and to the dazed girl. He resolved that if she wouldn’t willingly follow him, he was going to force her. He threw her over his shoulder with no delicacy. Skylark immediately fought back. Her struggles didn’t prove much set back to Luca. They were nearly out of the town, so close. A scream that didn’t belong to the small girl, but more sounded like a collection of ghastly voices, erupted from her. Some force knocked him to the ground and sent Skylark tumbling from his arms.

The figures grew closer. They moved quickly. Two went to Skylark. Quick, whispered words poured out of their mouth. The other helped Luca up and started them towards the forest. Soon the other two carrying an unconscious Skylark ran by them. The town seemed to grow unrested the closer they got to getting out. The beautiful ghostly creatures began to appear and try to reach out to Skylark. Things grew colder and sadness penetrated deep into their souls.

Then they were out. The snow felt warm and happy and nothing that it had been before. Luca was so tired; he laid in the snow and caught his breath. His mind finally ran into his body and he bolted up. “Get away from her.” He warned moving himself to Skylark’s side. “Reveal yourselves.” He commanded bringing the cold girl into his arms and protection.

The three figures were covered from head to toe. Their masks were intricate and strangely beautiful. They slowly showed their faces. The middle one, a female of a race he didn’t know and a bit older than himself, spoke first. “Do not be wary of us. We are friends, great Dradic warrior. Please,” She motioned for Skylark. “The spirits drained her. Her power is not sustaining her body and she will die if you do not let us help her.”

Luca looked down at the paling girl in his arms. Her breathing was shallow and her skin freezing to the touch. Exhaustion was taking him over as he handed her to them as if she were the most precious item in the world.

He was almost convinced she was.