Born of the Phoenix Read online

  “I guess that’s true.” Despite the ravine’s infamous history Ravage believed the wealth hidden within the ruins would be hers and with it she and Patsy could build their own stronghold and live as lords in a remote valley in the south. Ravage could build her forge and follow her dreams of becoming a master smith; a dream she strongly wished to make a reality.

  There were yet many leagues to travel before they reached the northern mountain ranges. The lands of the Engalian Empire stretched out before them.

  Western Engalia had a terribly infamous history, a lot of horrible things had happened in that land, and evil has a tendency to linger. Heading further west would lead them into desolate and dangerous lands, forests littered with ruined castles and empty villages haunted by ghosts of the damned.

  For the next few days Patsy kept a close eye on her compass. The road began to take them southwards, then much to her pleasure she found that the road began to bend west before turning north until they were heading in a directly northern course, she still wasn't sure exactly where they were on the map, but was hoping they would soon emerge somewhere around Clasdale.

  As they continued the forest surrounding them became increasingly denser. Ancient moss covered trees bordered the road, their great branches reaching high and knitted together to form a thick canopy, only sparse rays of sunlight could penetrate the ancient limbs and broke through like blades of light piercing into the forest. They passed under a grand and elaborate archway, caked with the dirt of ages and covered in flowering vines. Ravage dismounted her horse for a closer inspection. Upon wiping some of the dirt away she found the archway was in fact constructed of polished black marble and decorated with intricate carvings.

  "I wonder what this is doing all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?"

  "I'd say it's the border of someone's land," said Patsy, having stopped she took the opportunity to have some water from her flask before tossing it across to Ravage.

  Given the state of the arch Ravage surmised that this land had long been forsaken, nobles didn’t suffer their estates to fall into decline. A polished archway such as this would have cost a small fortune to construct, the family who owned the land must have been vastly wealthy. “I wonder if anyone still lives here.” She took a mouthful of water and threw the flask back to Patsy who urged her horse onwards, eager to discover what lay ahead.

  After a short while they could see the lonely structures of stone houses through the trees which slowly thinned out and opened into a large grassy estate. The stone houses were all destroyed ruins with collapsed roofs, overgrown with vines and weeds and surrounded by debris of broken stone blocks and rotting wood. The ground was littered with piles of skeletal corpses. An army of soldiers still adorned in their rusting armour lay scattered around the estate; their bleached bones a terrible reminder of the weakness and mortality of man.

  Kneeling beside one of the corpses Ravage ran her fingers across the rusting iron breastplate of his armour, the badly faded emblem of the Engalian Empire was barely visible upon it.

  "I wonder what the hell happened in this place?" she said rising to her feet, "there must be hundreds of Engalian soldiers here."

  "It doesn't look like the aftermath of a battle either," said Patsy, surveying the scene, "it looks like a slaughter."

  "Could it have been a shorku?"

  "It would've had to have been one hell of a colossal shorku to kill this many soldiers and destroy all these houses, but I have this weird feeling that is wasn't a shorku, I think these soldiers were sent here to fight something, and lost, if I knew where we were then I might be able to understand all this a little better."

  "Well let's split up and see what we can find," suggested Ravage who was eager to explore all the ruins.

  "What about the craven?" said Patsy. Ravage met her eyes, paused for a moment and began muttering to herself.

  "I forgot about them," reaching into her pocket she felt around but didn't find what she was after, "I'm all out of charms too."

  "I have one left, we should stick together just in case any of those phantoms show up, this looks exactly like the kinda place they'd be," there was no argument there, they both knew this was precisely the type of place the craven could be found lurking.

  Ravage hoped they’d find a cache of hidden treasure or stash of gold, but there was none. Filth, broken furniture and cobwebs were all they found inside the ruined houses. They did happen across one strange thing. A grand old mansion stood on the very edge of the estate, unlike the ruined stone houses the mansion was completely intact. It was of tall and marvelous design, built of stone and marble it looked the epitome of wealth and prestige.

  In front of the mansion was a resplendent pond, caked with stains and moss from countless years of neglect. In its centre stood the figure of a proud warrior, halberd in hand, a symbol of the strength and valour of men from ages past.

  Ducks were frolicking and enjoying the cool water of the pond, Patsy notched and arrow in her bow and took aim. The arrow brought down a plump duck; panicked, the others took to the air in flight.

  "Dinner?"

  "Dinner," nodded Patsy, who had acquired quite the taste for roasted duck, especially if it came with pineapple and a good beer.

  The pair were complexed by the oddity that was the mansion, so out of place in this simple village of plain stone houses, and why had it not suffered the same ruinous fate as the other structures.

  "Do you think someone still lives in it?" asked Patsy as her eyes swept over all the windows, expecting to see a face peering out at her.

  "I doubt it, unless it's a bunch of vagrants that have decided to squat within it, but even then, I don't think so."

  "It’s a little weird."

  "A little too weird..." Ravage peered over her shoulder to check on the horses. They were both moseying around, chewing on the thick grass at their leisure without a care in the world.

  "Let’s do it," said Ravage unsheathing her blade, caution taking hold, she knew anything could be waiting inside and she wasn’t going to be caught off guard.

  As Patsy ascended the stairs there was pep in her steps, she was gripped with a calm sense of excitement, wealthy nobles had a reputation for being quite eccentric, her curiosity was peaked as to what unusual oddities could be found within the mansion.

  An elegant D outlined in silver was fancily carved into the oak door. The door gave no resistance when Ravage twisted the knob and pushed it inwards, it swung open effortlessly and without sound.

  The mansion had a musty smell. A thick layer of dust covered everything within. Beautiful rugs lined the floors while paintings and tapestries hung proudly from the walls, the corners of the rooms decorated with tasteful statues and vases; it reeked of style and wealth. They were met by more of the same prestige and luxury as they continued through the mansion, room after room of excessive lavishness. Ravage sheathed her blade, there was nothing threatening or ominous within these walls.

  In the cellar they found a glorious bathhouse fashioned from polished marble. Floor to ceiling mirrors lined the walls. There were beautifully crafted sinks with taps forged in silver. Elaborate and provocative statues stood gracefully next to grand marble pillars. Ravage was overjoyed when she discovered that the taps still had running water and in a servant’s room in the back was a large copper boiler to heat the bath water. The girls smiles and laughs didn't die down for a long time as they planned out who was going to cook the duck while the other prepared the bath.

  Dinner was nothing short of a feast, minus of course a few culinary luxuries such as hot bread and butter. Patsy had found some fruits and herbs in the gardens around the mansion. Their spirits were high as they dined on silver plates and drank from crystal glasses, both feeling spoiled by the extravagance of it all. They ate heartily and shared laughs as they reminisced stories from their past, of both battles and adventures.

  Ending the night soaking in a hot bath was like a dream to Ravage. She lay in the water, her ski
n absorbing the warmth and scented oils; it was nothing short of heavenly. Patsy lathered her skin with a blue soap, leant back against the side of the bath and stared across at her friend with a smile.

  "This place is amazing," she said, closing her eyes and tilting her head back, "we should live here."

  "It's too far away from everything," Ravage smiled when she noticed that Patsy had bubbles stuck to her nose ring.

  "Who cares!" said Patsy, and at that moment she didn't, she never wanted to leave the mansion, she had surrendered herself to its magnificence. “The whole reason for us going to the broken ravine was to get enough gold to build our own stronghold, but here we have an abandoned mansion all set and ready for us to move in.”

  That was true. The mansion had everything they wanted except for her forge though she could probably forage and melt down enough silver from within the mansion to be able to pay a craftsman to construct one. "Alright," agreed Ravage, leaning forward, "let’s do it, let’s live here."

  Slowly Patsy waved her arms back and forth in the water, the broken surface lifting the fragrance of the scented oils; her body felt totally relaxed. Living in a mansion, they had really struck gold this time.

  They chose a simple guests room on the second floor to sleep in. It was quite plainly decorated with soft furnishing and two large beds. The windows had a wide view of the back of the estate which they had opened to allow the cool night’s breeze to flow inside, the moons were high and an ambient light flooded the room. Patsy was exhausted and the soft feather pillows quickly stole her off to sleep. Ravage felt relaxed yet restless and sat on the edge of her bed in a singlet running a stone along the edge of her sword for a long time, lost in thought. There was a long road ahead of her, so many difficult tasks to accomplish to get the estate back in order; there was also a small army of corpses to bury. With a sigh she sheathed her blade, leant it against the oaken table beside her bed and laid down, the soft blankets giving her a surprising amount of comfort.

  In the dark hours of the night a strange scraping noise roused Patsy from her sleep. Sitting up in bed she glanced across at Ravage who was sound asleep, the room still aglow with soft moonlight. The scraping noise hadn't ceased, there was a loud thud out in the hallway followed by what sounded like footsteps and then all was quiet. Patsy thought of waking Ravage but decided against it, there was no point disturbing her sleep for nightly noises that were probably nothing. Patsy sat upright for a while listening for anymore noises but there were none so she laid back down. No sooner had her head hit the pillow when there came another loud thud.

  Curiosity claimed her and she rose out of bed. Picking up her short sword she crept over to the doorway and cautiously peered out into the hallway; only moonlight and shadows greeted her. Just as she considered returning to bed the scraping noise returned, it seemed to be coming from the room next to theirs. Patsy looked over her shoulder at Ravage and wondered if she should wake her up, but once again decided against it, she could handle this by herself, whatever it was.

  The night air was cool and sent a shiver up her naked legs, the marble tiles cold against the soles of her feet. Dressed in only underpants and a loose fitting shirt she began to really feel the coldness of the night, she hadn't noticed the temperature drop under the thick warm blankets on her bed.

  Darkness greeted her as she silently stepped into the vacant room. The shutters were drawn so no moonlight could enter. There were ominous silhouettes amongst the darkness, as she crept further into the room the strange scraping noises stopped then abruptly footsteps echoed behind her in the hall. Fear took her. Patsy turned suddenly, grasping tightly to the hilt of the sword yet she saw nothing behind her. A shiver ran up her spine when another loud thud came from deeper within the mansion. Mustering her courage she left the room and proceeded down the hall towards the source of the noise.

  At the end of the hall was a large winding stair case. A wooden gargoyle sat perched at the head of the railing and in the darkness its face looked twisted and possessed, its hideous gaze made her skin crawl. The loud thudding echoed up out of the darkness. Taking hold of the railing she stared down into the chilling darkness below. Patsy’s imagination began to run wild with horrible possibilities of what lurked in wait for her down in the shadows. Slowly she backed away from the stairs, whatever was making the noise she didn't care, her nerves had taken enough, she decided to go back and wake up Ravage, Patsy could no longer stand this feeling of fear and loneliness.

  As she turned to walk away she felt something clutch onto her shoulder, gasping in terror she spun quickly and lashed out with the sword; the blade slicing through thin air. There was nothing there. This was too much for her; she knew something had grabbed her, it felt too real, too solid to have been her imagination. Hurriedly, she rushed back to the room.

  "There's something here," she whispered to Ravage as she softly shook her awake. "There's what?" said Ravage rubbing her eyes, waking from a dream in which she was deep in the ocean, surrounded by a eternal void of water, watching a colossal rershee shark swim below her.

  "There's strange noises coming from downstairs, and something touched me out in the hall."

  "Something touched you?" alarmed Ravage sat up, "what was it?"

  "I don't know?" answered Patsy, "when I turned around nothing was there."

  "Craven?"

  "I don't know..."

  "Do you have that charm?"

  Patsy fumbled through her bag in the darkness until she found the charm and returned to Ravage’s bed. "Here," she said, handing it to her. Ravage unsheathed her blade and began to walk out of the room until Patsy grabbed onto her arm.

  "Don't," she said, shaking her head.

  Ravage could see the fear in her friend’s face, glanced over at the door then turned back to meet Patsy's eyes.

  "Alright," she said with a slow nod. Even though the charm could destroy a craven it was best not to be overly confident possessing one, the craven were horrible creatures and perilously dangerous. Ravage reached out and closed the door, clicking in the lock on the back of the knob.

  "We'll stay in here," she whispered, "and don't go wandering off alone again."

  "I won't," said Patsy, and crept back to bed.

  Ravage leant the sword back against the table and sat the charm beside it. If anything were to happen it would be close by. For a long time she laid awake staring at the ceiling, Patsy worried her sometimes. She was too curious and headstrong and liked doing things alone. Ravage always felt a degree of fear when Patsy was out alone, she much preferred to be by her side to protect her in case anything ever did happen. But then Ravage was always going off doing things alone as well, she wondered if Patsy worried about her just as much. As these thoughts ran through her mind finally sleep came, again she found herself in the depths of the ocean.

  A mighty crash awoke them as the door to the room was violently thrown open. An invisible force pulled Patsy from her bed and dragged her screaming from the room. Absolute terror gripped Ravage, for a moment she was frozen. Patsy's screams of horror brought her back to reality and she raced from the room after her friend.

  Chapter 02

  As Ravage raced for the door she was suddenly struck by a mighty force and thrown across the room crashing painfully against the wall and fell awkwardly atop a wooden table. The impact broke several of her ribs and sent a wave of agony through her chest. Moonlight ceased to pierce the windows and the room was utterly dark. Every shadow appeared menacing and looked like the silhouette of a twisted demon closing in upon her. Breathing came painfully. Before she had a chance to rise to her feet something grabbed her by the hair and pulled her violently into the air. The invisible force pushed her against the wall smashing her face brutally against the hard wood and then tossed her across the room as if she were weightless.

  Blood ran down her face from a cut above her eyebrow. Ignoring the throbbing pain she pulled herself to her feet. Eyes struggled to see in the darkness, even though nothing moved
and the room was eerily still she knew they were here; the craven had come for her.

  Anger stirred within her. Ravage refused to be tormented and killed by those who were cowards in life only to be given strength in death. She abhorred the craven, treacherous deviant phantoms that fed on the weak and helpless coming upon them at unawares and with false guises. Ravage was not at the bottom of the food chain, bottom feeders and scavengers should know to flee before those who possess souls burning fiercely with true strength and fortitude.

  Moving fast she took hold of the hilt of her sword and pierced the blade with the divine charm. A flash of light erupted from the sword as it became infused with a burning blue aura. Suddenly the craven were visible to her, dozens of them surrounded her. They were hideous to look upon, both men and women in haggard clothing with rotting flesh and wounds that oozed with foul blood.

  There was one craven that stood out above all others. Her eyes were black as onyx and her hair danced in a wind that did not exist. Fury was in her scream as she sprang at Ravage, her twisted cruel arms reaching out with gnarled fingers.

  The enchanted blade tore apart her ethereal body; it was the first time since death that the craven had known pain. As its spirit essence was destroyed and faded into the void of nothingness it let out a terrible howl, high pitched, full of agony and despair. Ravage did not pause for even a moment turning her attention to the nearest craven she tore its body asunder before swinging the blade in a wide arc to send two more of the hideous phantoms into the void. The other craven fled before the divine light of the enchanted sword, vanishing into the shadows. Their cowardly escape fuelled Ravage's rage and she cursed at them. Patsy's screams of fear and pain echoed from the hallway, a surge of adrenaline raced through Ravage’s blood and she flew from the room.