The Child Who Brought Misfortune

Ravynne stared blankly in Verlian's direction. Her gaze was fixed on him, but she wasn't LOOKING at him, she was looking through him, at some other time, as she explained her motives.

"My village was always small. They weren't well off but they weren't struggling either. Then I was born. I've heard whispers that since shortly after I was born, the crops didn't grow, illness plagued the children and elderly, merchants began to use a new road and so they stopped visiting us, and our livestock had trouble reproducing. We lost many people to starvation after that. My parents passed of disease when I was 12 years old and our neighbor, Etelia took me in. My father was a talented hunter and my mother was a talented seamstress. Etelia tried to teach me how to sew and her husband tried to teach me to hunt. I could do neither task. From then on, I just became someone who lived in the background...."

Ravynne's voice began to shake as her eyes welled up with tears and her lip quivered.

"Then King Vendyss visited. I don't know why he came to us, we had nothing, but he did. I caught his eye and he asked for my hand in marriage. I rejected him. I don't want to live with someone I don't know anything about and I don't want to be with someone that doesn't know anything about me. He continued to come back and ask me, and each time I rejected him. After I turned 20 he told me I was becoming an old prospect, but if I agreed to marry him, he would shower our village in gold, premium livestock, and expensive imports. I still rejected him."

Tears were now flowing down Ravynne's face and snot was beginning to drip from her nose.

"So he killed them. He killed Etelia's husband and daughters." She balled up her fist and rubbed it against her chest as she closed her eyes and sobbed, "The village head's eldest son gathered some of the men of our village to protect everyone but they were all slain. He set fire to our fields and to our homes."

Despite her continued sobbing, Verlian noticed that her tone began to change from sadness to anger.

"So they all turned on me. They wanted to sacrifice me to the gods because I refused to marry King Vendyss. All of the blame was put on me. Was it really so wrong for me to be born? Is it my fault for coming into this world? I couldn't have been to blame for the terrible state we were in and I shouldn't be to blame for not wanting a miserable life with a man who wants to use me as some priceless jewel to show off until he gets bored and tosses me away. They were going to sacrifice me anyways - whether it be to a king or to the gods. So I want revenge on them. I want them to see that it wasn't me that caused their misfortune. I want them to know the fear of being hunted, and the pain of being treated like currency."

The two of them sat in silence for a while as Ravynne continued to sob. After she calmed down enough to breathe properly, the two of them finished their meals. She wondered why he waited for her but didn't bring attention to it.

The next morning Ravynne awoke in bed covered in a pelt. She gently rubbed her eyes, which were quite red, sore and swollen from her crying excursion the night before. Her forehead was pounded as she looked over at the bright light emitting from the doorway. Come to think of it, she didn't remember getting in bed or even when she fell asleep for that matter.

Ravynne swung her legs over the bedside as she hugged the pelt tightly to her. It must've been early, since the air felt extra icy. Just as she was about to stand up, she felt something warm and fuzzy tickling the bottom of her feet. She retracted her legs quickly in shock and looked down to find two pelts on the ground next to the bed.

One was sprawled out and the other rolled up, which looked like a make-shift pillow. "Is this where Verlian slept?" she wondered. Suddenly she felt a pang of guilt and embarrassment. He hadn't even told her if she could stay yet and she had already taken his bed and made him sleep on the floor. If anything, it should be the other way around.

As she got out bed and was preparing to go look for Verlian she heard two familiar voices coming from beyond the front door. It sounded to be Ashke and Dino, but where was Verlian if he was not with them?

"Ash, don't you think it's odd? Ver seems different doesn't he?" Dino didn't have the same energy he had in his tone as he did the day prior, which had her wondering if it was perhaps too early in the morning for the boy.

Ashke thought over his words carefully for a moment before answering, "He does in some aspects. Remember Dino, those bandits set him back in more ways than one. If this girl can be of any use, she might prove to be a good thing."

"Can't we just stay as we are? Is Ver really serious about carrying out his plan?" Dino's voice suddenly dropped in volume and he sounded almost dejected. Ravynne slowly and carefully tip toed over to the door where she proceeded to lightly press her ear against the wood separating the three of them.

"It's up to Verlian and it seems like the answer is yes, he is serious. You don't have to worry though Dino, you're too young to go with us anyways."

"What? No way! I'm going to go wherever Verlian goes, even if that means going to the front lines."

Just as Ravynne was going to open the door to inquire more, she heard Verlian's voice.

"If you're done with your conversation, Ashke I need you to go scout the arena." For some reason Verlian put emphasis on the word 'arena' which raised confusion from Ravynne. "Doesn't he mean area?" she thought.

As she became preoccupied with the confusion from that one simple word, Verlian opened the door. Ravynne came tumbling out of the doorway expecting to fall onto the cold hard ground, but instead found herself on something soft, firm and warm. Much to her surprise, Verlian was holding her in his arms. She peeked up at him and accessed his facial expression. It was the same as usual but he was looking deep into her eyes, just as he did that first moment she met him. She quickly snapped out of her trance and pulled away from him and stood on her own.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. Good morning Dino and Ash-" as she looked over at where she thought the two were standing, she realized that they were nowhere in sight. "Where did they go?"

"They went to go work. Let's go, we have things to discuss." Verlian gently pushed her into the house and shut the door behind them.

"O-oh okay. By the way I'm sorry about last night I didn't mean to sleep in your bed."

"Don't apologize, I'm the one that put you there." He said nonchalantly.

Ravynne slowly nodded her head and smiled to herself. She'd never had someone care for her so kindly since her parents passed away. It was a pleasant and refreshing experience – in fact it was making her miss them and recall fondly upon her memories with them.

Verlian sat down at a small log table, one that Ravynne hadn't noticed until now, and motioned for her to sit across from him. "Why did we sit on the floor last night then?" she accidentally wondered aloud.

A slight look of annoyance crossed his face as he pointed to the fireplace that was on the other side of the room. "It was cold." As Ravynne sat down on the matching log chair, Verlian started again, "Do you want revenge on your village or King Vendyss first?"

She stared at him in complete utter shock. "What?"

"Answer the question. You said you wanted revenge."

"I know but…are you being serious or is this a prank?"

"Do I look like I'm playing a prank?" To be fair, from what she knew of him already his face hardly changed so for all she knew this was his prank playing face.

"I guess not. Umm…" she thought carefully, "The village first. They're the closest."

Verlian nodded and a look Ravynne had never seen before came over his face, "You may stay here. You can have the bed, but I don't want you causing any trouble. The moment you cause trouble, your life is over. I'll train you so that you become an expert fighter, and then we'll revisit this conversation."

"O-of course! I won't disappoint you!" She was nervous about what lay ahead of her, she'd never attempted to become a fighter before and she didn't know if she'd be able to face the villagers that had forsaken her. Nonetheless she was excited for this upcoming adventure.