The Great Sacrifice

Ravynne held onto Verlian's back tightly, her arms and legs wrapped around him tightly like a koala. Her eyes were closed tight, being up so high was making her dizzy. Although feeling Verlian's muscles work and the warmth of his body as he advanced them up the cliff was stirring up all kinds of feelings in her. Verlian was experiencing the same thing. The feeling of her wrapped around him was, to the say the least, a lot, and it took everything in him to keep his focus. If he didn't have meditation training he'd had before, this would have been impossible.

As soon as they got to the top Ravynne hopped off his back. Neither of them could look at one another, but if they had they'd see that they were both blushing.

Verlian cleared his throat and continued marching on, and Ravynne carefully hopped behind him. "How about here? Anything familiar?" He didn't stop to let her look around, which she found frustrating, not that they were moving quickly or anything. She scanned the scenery as best she could. She noticed a scar in one of the trees, a scar that looked like an arrow had flown past it, nicking it in the process. The events from that night replayed in her mind and she winced involuntarily.

"Um. That looks a little familiar. I don't know if it was from me though…" Ravynne stopped and pointed to the tree. Verlian stopped and looked over at her. Her eyes were closed and she had her head turned away. He followed her finger to the tree in question. He remembered how she showed up that day months ago and the injuries caused from arrows. His eyes narrowed at the scar. "Well, it was most likely done by someone from Novenwell. Come Ravynne, we'll continue and see if we find any other evidence."

Ravynne nodded and followed behind him. "Maybe. I don't think there were any other villages around here." They continued until they found another scar. She gasped at the sight of the scar, "This one!" Her hand flew up to her mouth and Verlian walked over to investigate the tree. "It was definitely this one, Verlian!" Ravynne began shaking as Verlian grazed his hand over the notch. "Do you know what direction from here?"

The memory from that night rushed back into her. The fear, the adrenaline, the sound of her body moving against brush and branches, the feeling of the arrowheads piercing her skin and the branches whipping against her flesh. All of it. Tears welled up in her eyes as the villager's voices echoed in her mind. Ravynne gulped down her fear and her panic as she pointed in the direction she had darted from that night, "It was that way."

Verlian walked over to her and grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight, "I promise you, that will not happen to you again." Ravynne stared up at him, his eyes were serious and his face wore a pained expression. She bit her lip and nodded, squeezing his hand back. He paused for a moment before continuing, leading her in the direction that she indicated.

"Let me know if you think we're heading the wrong way."

"I will."

They continued for a while, Ravynne never spoke up about going the wrong way, and eventually they came to a patch of dirt with about four shacks spread out apart it. There were burnt remains of other huts lined up around and beside them. Ravynne gasped at the sight.

"They haven't rebuilt?" She thought as they wandered through. It was practically a ghost town. There were no children screaming, crying or laughing, there was no banter from the villagers or the sound of cooking, only the sound of Verlian and Ravynne crunching against the ground as they walked. Ravynne pulled herself closer to Verlian, feeling an ominous aura swirling around the empty place.

"Verlian, I think they're all gone." She said, cautiously looking around.

"No, they are still here." Verlian stopped in his tracks, causing Ravynne to bump into him. She peeked out from behind him to see the village elder standing before them. She hadn't even heard him approaching. He looked practically like a skeleton and his skin was almost whiter than the snow. His eyes met with Ravynne's.

"Oh, child! You have returned home! Welcome."

Verlian clenched his jaw in annoyance as Ravynne responded, "Where is everyone?"

"You destroyed us. Our houses were burned to the ground, our fields ruined, we had nothing for the winter. Most of our people moved on to other villages and some gathered the rest of our valuables to try and sell it elsewhere for food but they never returned. There are few of us left. Surely you've returned to save us? You'll allow us our sacrifice now correct?" His face had a wide smile but his voice sounded angry, as if it was starving…..starving for her blood.

Ravynne opened her mouth to speak but Verlian spoke first, "You wish to sacrifice the treasure of Evania? She is our hero, she singlehandedly protected our village. The other villagers revere her as a goddess. I believe the sacrifice should be you."

Her eyes widened. Of course this wasn't true. The villagers loved Ravynne and thanked her for what she did to those bandits, but she was most definitely not considered a treasure nor a goddess.

"Ah, if only she could have done that for us. Instead she plagued us, and murdered us. Perhaps not with her own hands but by simply living. Only when she is dead, will we be allowed to live. Such is the wishes of Dune, our goddess."

Ravynne gritted her teeth. "How dare you! You long abandoned Dune's shrine, you turned against her! If anything, it is your own doing! Since when is she your goddess? You've never uttered her name in years! What, now that you need saving you desperately kneel at her feet and pray that she will send someone or something your way to relieve you of this terrible life? Have you thought your terrible life is because of your own actions?! Besides, how could Dune possibly wish for my death when she is the very person that gave me life?!"

She had let go of Verlian's hand now and strutted forward to face the village elder. Verlian said nothing and stood his ground confidently behind her, staring the village elder down. As much as he'd love to slit the man's throat right then and there, this needed to be something Ravynne handled on her own.

"My dear, of course we went to Dune. We had believed we sacrificed you and so we went to the shrine to pray. We informed Dune that your death was our gift to her, although we unfortunately could not recover your body. Don't you see child? Our people went missing and moved on because Dune was angry that you were not truly dead. She has brought you to us to kill and present your body to her once and for all. This is what she wants, this is why she brought you to us!"

Ravynne was disgusted, "Or maybe they went missing because she was angry that you tried to kill me. That you so proudly proclaimed to her that the very person she allowed to come into this world, would be sacrificed. She didn't tell you to sacrifice me, you decided that on your own. You weren't even visiting her shrine then, but I was. If anything Dune is my protector. I believe she has been protecting me."

She pulled out the blade Verlian had gifted her and held it tight in her trembling hand. The elder saw it and scoffed, "What will you do with this? You could barely even handle a simple kitchen knife. Look at you, even now you are trembling. My child a dagger has no business being in your hands."

He rushed towards her, pulling out a blade of his own and ready to stab her. Verlian rushed forward, ready and willing to take the attack for her, but he didn't need to. Ravynne slashed his neck and plunged the dagger deep into his chest cavity. "Your throat is for me and this," she shoved it in further, twisting it as she went, "is for making my parents feel responsible for your misfortunes."

The elder couldn't speak, but she could tell he was in pain. She pulled the dagger out and watched him fall to the ground, slowly bleeding out. His blood was all over her face, clothes and hands. Ravynne dropped the dagger as soon as his body went limp. "O-Oh no….what did I do…"

"You did what you came here to do." Verlian said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"No, no, no, no, no! I-I didn't mean to-" she gulped hard, "-to kill him! For him to die, I don't know what came over me. This isn't the revenge that I wanted!" She looked at her hands that were red with his blood and screamed. "I didn't want this!"