Her name was Raven

Chapter 15

**********************Author's Note: I don't do this much, but I just wanted to say the song I listened to on repeat writing this chapter was Innocent by Taylor Swift. I think it fits perfectly with the tone of the chapter. Incidentally, I thought of this scene years ago and only figured that it would be a part of this story fairly recently, I've always had it in the back of my mind though. Thanks so much for reading this far! Enjoy!****************************************

Raven wasn't fed for two days. The guards finally listened to her pleas and gave her a small cup of water on the second day. She rattled her bars and tried to sweet talk answers from them, but they remained silent, clearly ordered not to speak to her.

Raven had all but given in. She had what exactly; no home, no family, no purpose; why should she fight?

She thought of Duran every day and he even slipped into her dreams. It frightened her and thrilled her. It was the only thing that could. She remembered him giving her the locket, at dinner, and closed her hand over it. She smiled as she looked at the miniature portrait. She wondered what he had thought when she'd left. What had he done? Had he found her letter? It was only even that she left something of hers as she took his gift. Even before she'd been taken in by Katherine and Robert, she hadn't considered selling it. For some reason she refused to let it go. He'd given it to her, and that had meant something.

"Water." The guard muttered, shoving the refilled cup through the bars. Raven scrambled forward and grasped it. She quenched her throat and looked up. The guard hadn't moved back down the hallway as he usually did.

"What are they going to do to me, guard?" she asked softly.

"Don't you know; they're going to kill you?"

Raven slid down the wall and stared at the tiny corner of light in the wall of her cell. One little fragment of sunshine that made its way into her prison. At least the mansion had been comfortable. And there, Raven hadn't known the difference between captive and freedom. There had been a home. Now she'd seen people and a few places. She'd roamed and even if she hadn't taken in the land at least it hadn't closed her in.

She was going to die.

A single tear wet her cheek and slid off her chin.

*****

The moon rode high in the sky and Raven stared at it through the crack until she sank into sleep. Black engulfed her and surrounded her. Nothing permeated it. She couldn't hear, couldn't feel, couldn't think. It was tar, sucking onto her and taking her under and then it was cotton, soft and muffled padding. It was nothing. All sensation drifted away until she didn't know what was sun, how to taste, couldn't touch.

It was peaceful, and it brought rest. For the first time the muttering in her head was completely silenced. For the first time nightmares didn't distort her world. For the first time she didn't worry or fear what she would wake to. She hoped she'd never wake.

****

It was dark when the clang of a door woke her. Raven struggled to sit. She'd slid down the wall in her sleep and ended up in a tangle on the floor. Footsteps moved about somewhere outside of her cell. She peered through the crack and saw no moon, but the sun wasn't there either. It was a strange sort of dusk which you could make out shapes in.

Raven leant against the wall. It was a suiting time to die, between the light and the dark. She waited for them, because she knew they were coming. The voices in her head were silent. The hum of life she'd been able to make out had faded like an old dye. The shadows danced off the walls of the cell as a torch came closer. Two men unlocked the door of her cell and held it open for her. One of them held the torch, the other was in shadow.

They walked behind her and she walked towards two large wooden doors guarded by two more men. Her bare feet padded silently on the cold floor. The guards stopped and the two before her opened the doors. She walked out into a courtyard lit by more torches. The whole world was silent. A grey sky made everything dull and colourless and everything was perch on the edge of night. The guards stopped at the door and Raven walked forward on her own. Her white dress was caught in a small breeze and floated around her ankles. The breeze was cool to her skin and she shivered.

She stopped and turned. Standing before her, waiting, was a man wearing a black hood. He stood with a tall axe at his side. Well-muscled arms griped it and picked it up.

Raven walked forward slowly to meet him. She knelt down on the cold ground and felt the dew dampen her dress around her knees. She bowed her head and laid it on the chilling block. It was worn from many other executions. She took a deep breath in and let it fill her lungs.

Then she closed her eyes and breathed out.

And the only sound in the still air was the blow of a blade slicing through flesh.