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Ghosts in the Dark
Posted: 25 Jan 2005 03:42 AM |
RAEBURN MARK
It was raining when he left town. It tore down like thick sheets of lead, ripping holes in road on which he traveled. Raeburn smiled, remembering the rainy days from his past. The warm tranquil breeze carrying the droplets down unto the red clay tiled roofs of the villa, the lush green ivy catching the summers wet kiss, and caressing it as it passed down to the earthy cobbles below. His balcony doors spread open, allowing the sweet smell of rain into his lavish silken laced room. The white walls glowing golden from the dancing flame of a single candle, shared by two fine friends.
Her eyes matched the rain exquisitely. Over their candle perched two purple jewels. Their dark mysterious depths home to lavender flecks that be speckled a warm mix of grey and violet gardens… Irises... he smiled. She had irises for irises... The pair of lights had the finest taste in beauty, however, as they wore a feminine face so soft and stunning, it could haunt a man’s dreams for the rest of his life. Indeed, haunted Raeburn’s dreams were.
A face painted with the finest of brushes…
The hard rain howled in the air, the very wind surrendering under the weight of the sky. Raeburn continued acrossed the road… one careful foot in front of the other. As he walked, his large staff gently prodded the road in front of him for stones, or a corner. A squeak of wagon wheels approaching signaled company.
It wasn’t so much her eyes though, it was her hair. That golden cascade of curls that looked and smelled of the sweet-scented summer blossoms she graced my canvas side with every afternoon… Where she found those sun kissed honey colored flowers, he never knew. It was her secret from him, a game she played for his affections.
The wagon creaked slowly to a stop… boots landed in the gravelly mud with scraping scuffles, as shuffling feet approached Raeburn’s location. The measure of their strides indicated it was four to five men. Each man was heavily cloaked in large oil cloth rain coats. The precipitation assaulted their coats mercilessly, the waterproof heavy cloth hissing under the onslaught.
“Hey Buddy, where’re ya headed?” One of the highwaymen growled as Raeburn continued in his careful pace along the road.
“I’m Sorry?” Of course I miss her… her laughs, her smiles… Painting wasn’t the same without her presence abound his room. Her playful comments, her considerate remarks on his work…
“He said he wants to know where you think you're going, pal.” one of the other growled, all of them seemed quite agitated by the rain. The men began to surround Raeburn slightly, but he didn’t need to hear the roar of their raincoats in the rain to know that.
Raeburn stopped. “I’m simply passing through” He planted his staff, and straightened, facing no particular direction. He seemed quite oblivious to the rain. Should I have lost my love, because some thug found fancy in the same femme I did? She was supposed to meet him, as she always did…
“These are dangerous roads my friend” the first barked “… what man walks alone?”
“Hey Karl, check it out, he’s blind.” one of the others snickered. A series of chuckles went around the cirlce. A few men waved their hands back in forth mockingly, a few even cast small stones.
“I don’t see any weapons on his robe,” Another one called… the circle surrounding Raeburn slowly.
“Is that true? Are you blind mister?” The first inquired.
“It sure is… I hope you all stay safe tonight, dreadful weather,” Raeburn said, picking up his staff, and began to walk again. A slight furrow on his brow… There had been too many, when they jumped me on my way to see her. They had caught him in the cobble streets of the commoners ambushed in an alleyway. A quick blow to the back of the head he was out cold. … how was I to know she had the mob after her… how was I to be tangled in that mess.
“Hold on bud.. Let’s see some money… Patrolmen like us got to keep our living.” The thug grew enraged as Raeburn continued to ignore him. “Look, you better count your wages pal, your money and no trouble… now toss it over!”
As Raeburn reached the edge of the ring, the closest thief shouted a threat and drew his steel. More blades came out in the pouring rain in queue. So some mobster had thought that those irises had belonged to him… he was just a common criminal anyways. Just a peasant thief. Her heart she promised to me. He had awoken where she was being held, both of them, kidnapped. His captor consumed with hatred for the aristocratic artist who had stole the heart of the girl he wanted. He had both of them, but what to do with them.
The thief took a swing in the rain straight towards Raeburn’s chest. Raeburn had seemed to yet notice the fellow, and as he drew closer, the highwaymen noticed Raeburn‘s hair, and his robe. Both seeming perfectly dry despite the heavy pour. As the Blade plunged through Raeburn, the thief shouted in horror. He sliced at Raeburn in the air in front of him, but his sword met no resistance… his blade passing through nothing but air. The other brigands closed in about Raeburn and the air acquired a still eerie quality… the rain letting up slightly.
“Where’d He Go!?” Shouted the first, spinning around, searching for white-haired robed traveler. “Don’t let him escape!” a horrid moan escaped the mouth of one of the thieves as the slow plodding figure of Raeburn partially emerged from the darkness, glowing with unearthly bluish light. The spectral traveller seemed to continue on... completely ignoring the attacks of a desperate brigand, before fading again from sight.
If he had loved her, as I had… then why would he kill her in front of me. Why wouldn’t he kill me… I was to die. Not her…
A bloodcurdling scream erupted from one of the stray brigands, the others rushed to find him in the rain, only to trip over the stiffened corpse of their comrade, lying in the mud. The man had frozen on his face a gruesome visage of pure terror and fright.
“He’s not even bleeding…” said the captain shakily. “What in Numen’s hells is that thing?”
Of course, they had something for me. Why kill me? Why take a life, when they could take my livelihood. They would leave me… without her… without the beauty… His captor then instructed his men to hold Raeburn down, as Raeburn cried out her name over and over, her warm blood cooling on his face.
The Men whirled in the dark rain trying to see where the whispers came from. They seemed to come from all sides… The Wagon had disappeared from sight, another one of their comrades had simply vanished. The three remaining men backed against each other… swinging their blades at shadows cast in the rain….
And yet I still am awoken by my own screams when I feel the burning splash on my face. He would give Raeburn a fate worse than hers… a life without her, and without his painting anymore. He brought a bubbling sizzling flask over to Raeburn, who struggled against the men who held him down… And as tears streamed down his cheeks, Raeburn saw the world go white, as they poured the terrible stuff into his eyes. He screamed, as the white-hot pain flared in every nerve of his body, and passed out from the pain.
The ghostly figure became visible in the rain in front of them, and they swung their swords about to face him, glancing at each other, the men realized yet another one of their comrades had vanished. Raeburn’s low hanging head rose slowly to meet the stares of the two survivors, the hair across his face falling to the sides, revealing the pale burnt scars around his eyes and forehead. His whole body seemed to be flickering slightly, and the entirety of his being seemed out of focus. Suddenly, as the thieves backed slowly, the traveler came into complete focus, solidifying before them, and uttered a single phrase.
“Lights out.”
And the world around them disappeared.
RAEBURN MARK
Elven Male; Age 286
Origin: Unknown
Occupation: Scribe
Talents: Illusion, Stealth, Sorrow.
Quote: "I'll keep an eye out" |
The Legacy Saga |
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