Then I ran into something else that I will not detail publicly until I get external confirmation. Even then, I reserve the right to redact all the things. But I will drop the one clue that is burning to be told. “By rights, [Weaver] could have taken all of you. Be thankful [Weaver] only took one rib. Learn from this and get the hell out.” Gonna be a day for auguries, y’all.
So. That “something else”…
I had walked away humming contentedly to myself. The apples looked and sounded delightful. But the scent reminded me of bones. A reminder of what they were before I put them in the bag. I walked away a little faster, I didn’t want to collapse into silly giggles in front of her. The Old Man of the Mountain had sent Ravenwoman some “sweets” it would seem. As macabre as they may seem, it is a very thoughtful gift.
The Raven and the Old Man, sitting in a … hmm. I’ll have to work on that.
I heard another sound in the Boneyard. Foreign and somewhat panicked. A few ravens came to me and cawed, tattling on some wandering souls. Eh? Living folk, here? Okay, let’s see.
“There are more birds.” “Yea.” “You don’t think they’ll eat us?” “I wanna go home!” “This is all your fault, bastard!” “Yea, you’re supposed to be protecting us and shit!” “I told you guys not to do it. Don’t blame me. Just stick together. If we get scattered, we could be picked off.” “Sure, let’s stick together and die together. If we split up, one of us could find the way out!”
Six young people were stumbling through the piles. Still more adolescent than adult. Two girls, three boys, and one of unrecognizable gender. The girls and one of the boys were obviously scared. The non-gendered and one of the boys were full of bravado. The last boy was scared, but trying to put on a brave face.
More importantly, the last boy was reaching out with hands and mind, trying to connect with his surroundings.
The ravens were corralling them towards me. Wait. I get to deal with this? ~sigh~ Okay.
“Well, if you die here, you won’t have to pay for a funeral.” I step from behind an obscuring pile. The girls and two boys shriek in fright. The non-gendered prepared for a fight. The brave boy stepped forward between his fellows and me.
“Senhora.” The brave one bowed slightly, and swallowed his fear. “Please forgive our intrusion into your land. We’re lost, and trying to find our way home.” Behind him, the Bravado cursed him out through clenched teeth. “Way to give us up, babaca!”
I found it amusing that they considered me to be Ravenwoman. But then again, I was in the feather cloak. “Better to admit the truth, than die for a lie.” I found my patience with them suddenly exhausted. “How did you come here?”
The Brave One took a step closer to me, while Bravado backed towards the others. “We have made a horrible mistake. It was supposed to be a silly game to frighten the girls. Everything fell away, and when we woke up, we were here.” I wondered what type of ‘game’ would bring the awareness of six individuals here at once. That it, whatever it is, started out as some stupid stunt doesn’t surprise me. But something in his words didn’t sound right. He is withholding information.
“Didn’t I tell you, it is better to admit the truth, than to die for a lie? What is it you are hiding from them?”
The Brave One swallowed and licked his lips. He glanced back at them then looked at the ravens that perched as a living wall around us. “I felt the shadow of Morte. I tried to protect them, like my uncle showed me. It brought us here.”
“Wait. YOU brought us here?” One of the other boys started to come towards the Brave One. The ravens flapped at cawed at him, revealing his fear as he scrambled for the hands of the girls.
I didn’t feel quite like myself. I wondered if Ravenwoman was using me as her eyes, and her mouth. “And here you are. Where the living is not welcome.”
The Brave One pulled together what courage he had and knelt before me. “Senhora. It is because of me, we have trespassed. I yield myself up to you, willfully. Only please allow my friends to leave and return to the living.” He bowed his head in surrender.
“Yea, yea, take him! He dragged us here!” The mouthy boy was getting on my last nerves. I knew, if I really wanted to, I could claim all six. Good thing, I had no such desire. I did glare at him, and scare him into complete silence.
I don’t know where the bag came from, but it was suddenly in my hand. I threw the empty bag at the kneeling Brave One. “Let’s see what else your uncle taught you. Gather your friends and place them in this bag. All of them. If any part of them sticks out of the bag, that part is forfeited.” The bag is the size of a messenger bag. It wouldn’t hold a dismembered leg, much less the mass of five young adults. Well, it wouldn’t, if it were in the Waking.
The Brave One looked at the bag, and turned to look at his friends. He walked up to the first of his friends, and quickly drew a symbol over him. The boy shrunk in size to a small doll. Quickly, the Brave One picked up the living doll and tucked him into the bag. He did the same with the other four, ignoring their protests and fearful tears. Five living dolls safely held in the bag, he came to me and knelt again.
I told him to stand. I knew I could send him and his friends away from the Boneyard safely. His actions would make sure their memory of the event was jumbled and muddied. But I had to make sure he knew this place has consequences. Again, some deep instinct tells me I could claim him completely. I wonder if I’m being tested.
“You know more about this place than you admit to your friends.” He doesn’t say anything, but lowers his head. I tell him to stand and he does. “They are dependent on you to take them back home safely. So, I won’t hobble you. But I will leave you with a reminder.”
Before he can blink, I stab him in the chest with my hand. In a smooth motion, I wrench a piece of rib free from his body. He staggers backwards, staring at me in shock. I return the stare, and idly throw the piece of bone backwards over my head. It lands onto a bone pile, and erupts into flame. He watches this while covering his wound with his hands.
“By rights, I could have taken all of you. Be thankful I only took one rib. Learn from this and get the hell out. Return here unbidden again, and more of you will be given to the flames. Do you understand, bruxo?” At the title, his attention focuses on me. He is angered by the appellation, but the reality of the situation sets in as he realizes he has a gaping hole in his chest. “I suggest you talk to your ‘uncle’ about what has happened here. There are other ways to protect your friends than dragging them to the Burning Bones.” He nods.
I take a handful of flames from the burning pile behind me, and blow it into a blooming fireball over him. The flames dissolve him at once, sending him, and his bag, out of the Boneyard.
The intruders gone, the ravens immediately start to disperse. I’m left standing in Ravenwoman’s Boneyard, wondering what else has changed about me in the past twenty-four hours.
~~~
What’s with the Portuguese words? That was the language they were speaking the entire time. But I understood what was said as if it was English they were complaining to each other in.