7. SIX

SIX

" W hat just happened?" Leilani was the first to speak, breaking the eerie silence among Davina and the others.

Davina's eyes scanned the last of the Prey who were heading deeper into Basalt, at last, they were going to rest. The streets were quiet and vacated. Many of the Prey were now carrying an unfamiliar emptiness in their hearts due to the absence of their loved ones. Three hours had passed since the Predators died.

Davina could see the memories of the incident flashing through her friends' eyes: the horrifying reminder of the bodies decaying after a few seconds, the smell that penetrated the air of all five islands, and the blood that had transformed into black ink.

Davina massaged her arm as she observed the tension in her friends' muscles from having carried the deceased bodies.

Chief Leaders Isaiah and Amir interrupted her thoughts as they walked onto Basalt's shore. Chief Leader Isaiah wore his brown leather gear which complimented his tanned skin, while Chief Leader Amir wore his blue fine uniform with his Neptulan insignia strapped to the waist, complementing his dark afro hair. Chief Leader Amir flicked a glance at Leilani.

Davina recalled Leilani telling her about their secret courtship before he had been chosen Chief Leader of Neptulus. Davina looked at Leilani, who had an emotionless expression before returning her attention to the Chief Leaders.

"Didn't mean to scare you," Leader Amir said with a small chuckle until his frown returned. "My friend, Isaiah, and I wanted to introduce ourselves to you all."

Davina felt Leilani and Caleb shifting beside her as she smiled and said, "It's a pleasure to officially meet two of the Chief Leaders of Bellatorm. I wish our introduction were under better circumstances."

"I concur, Miss Almenara," Chief Leader Isaiah said as he bowed slightly.

"Please, call us by our first names. We're here to present ourselves as friends and not as Chief Leaders," Amir softly pleaded.

"Yes," Isaiah affirmed.

"Okay." Davina nodded.

An awkward silence suffocated the young Soldiers along with the two Chief Leaders. Davina remained still as thoughts of her siblings came to mind. How she wished she could go home and see if they were okay. She'd have to race home after she was finished with her duties in Castellum.

"We decided to present ourselves to you, Miss Almenara, because we believe we will be working close together in the next few months, you and your friends," Isaiah began.

"How would we be working together?" Davina asked.

"It seems as though the person responsible for these ambushes has quite an interest in you. We have come upon information that could help us put an end to the threat that has been hanging upon Bellatorm for far too long," Amir answered, hands behind his back.

"Shall we all go someplace more private to speak of these matters?" Isaiah asked. His tone sounded rather different from Chief Leader Amir's. Chief Leader Amir's voice was calm and polite, while Chief Leader Isaiah's tone seemed demanding.

Davina turned to her friends. "What do you think?"

"I think we should check it out. Maybe we can find out why the Predators are looking for you." Beacon nodded.

"I agree," Leilani, Valerie, and Caleb muttered. Davina's eyes landed on Snow, who simply nodded.

Davina was waiting for one more reply, but she recalled that he hadn't appeared that day. Hopefully, Ron was okay, wherever he was. Questions about his wellbeing rushed to the front of her mind. She would have to deal with that later. Right now, the Chief Leaders were calling for her and her friends' presence. "Okay, let's go."

Davina and the others walked behind the Chief Leaders, whose boots clicked against the stones beneath them as they reached the Bridge. The breeze brushed against their ears, and the sound of the waves crashing under the Bridges filled the air.

The Aurisan in purple brushed past Valerie. Davina was about to apologize for bumping into her when she noticed Valerie's gaze fixated on the shore of Basalt.

By their feet, lay a black drawing over the crevices of the sand. The torches surrounding the Bridge of Basalt slightly lit the dark spot beneath them.

"Do you see it, too?" Valerie asked.

"I do," Davina replied. Valerie raised her hand, and bright yellow light emanated from her palm over the painting.

The illustration matched the same hue as the ink that spilled from the fallen Predators' mouths. The rumble of their marching formation rang in her ears. Davina shuddered as flashes of the moment rushed back to her, observing the black splotches below her feet. Valerie shivered. The same flashback must've rushed to her mind as well.

Mighty wings marked the crevices in the yellow sand. The figure of a bird with a sharp beak and feathers was formed under Valerie's illuminated palms.

Valerie turned to Davina with alarm. "What do you think this means?"

"It's a raven bird," Davina said.

"Do you think the formation the Predators made was on purpose? To leave us this message?" Valerie asked.

"That might be," Davina agreed.

Valerie stood. "We need to inform the others."

They both nodded and marched off Basalt Island into Castellum's shore.

She tuned into Valerie's footsteps beside her. It felt as if the moment those Bellatormans died had been just a few minutes ago. Beacon, Snow, and Val became Apprentices when they were thirteen, only for them to become Soldiers six months after their Ceremony. But despite the ten years that they had been Soldiers, Davina noticed the deep solemness in their expressions because of today's loss.

Her ability to conjure light was given perfectly to her. Valerie's gift was true to her essence— she brought light wherever she went. Her smile was filled with joy and happiness.

There was a dimness in Valerie's usual light, and she hated it. She didn't know whether to fear for Valerie's well-being. She was already feeling terrible. How was she going to be of much help to Val? She remained silent, hoping that her mere presence was comforting enough for her friend.

Both girls rushed their way into Castellum, almost flying past the set of stairs. Valerie and Davina pushed the glass doors of Castellum wide open. Long corridors stretched on the first ground. Davina glimpsed Caleb and Leilani taking a left turn.

"They're going this way," Davina said with Valerie in her trail.

As they turned to the left, they met a hallway much longer than the one before.

"I think they're going to the Grand Archives, look." Valerie pointed.

The group ahead of them entered the most elite two-section doorway of all Castellum.

"That's weird. Let's go see," Davina noted before they paced to the room. Pulling them open, they saw the Soldiers sitting down by a coffee-hued, polished, round table.

Her eyes darted toward the lines of bookshelves that surrounded the entire room. There were four floors in total, with stairs that circled and allowed entrance to each level. The stairs were so tall that if someone reached the highest level, they would be able to touch the chandelier that hung from the ceiling.

Davina analyzed the stained-glass windows, slick and clear. She was standing inside of the Grand Archives where the most important meetings were held by the Chief Leaders. No Leaders, Soldiers, or Apprentices were allowed inside unless permitted by a Chief Leader or the Master. The Grand Archives were a mystery to many, as anyone who walked inside had to swear secrecy and discretion. Many speculations surrounded the magnificent Grand Archives.

Rumor had been that the Grand Archives had a secret passageway to an underground library, accessible only to the four Chief Leaders who had the keys to open it.

Amir and Isaiah remained standing. The others turned to Valerie and Davina.

"Is everything okay?" Isaiah asked.

Davina nodded toward Val, taking a seat in one of the remaining chairs around the shiny table. Eyes turned to Valerie as she explained. Davina watched as Beacon reached for his girlfriend's hand from under the table.

She wished Ron was present to reassure her the same way Beacon was with Valerie. Caleb and Leilani turned to each other as Snow remained still.

Davina had joined the group five months ago, but the others grew up together, training inside the castle since they were little. Instead of rattles, they were raised with daggers; instead of baby clothes, they wore leathers; and instead of strollers, they had training mats. Their joy was ripped from them the moment those Bellatormans stopped breathing.

"I think that whoever is terrorizing the islands is trying to give us a message," Davina voiced. "This person, whoever they are, everything they do is with purpose. So, if they left an image of this bird, then it must be for a reason."

"A bird? What kind of bird?" Snow asked.

"Something similar between a crow and a raven," Valerie answered.

"A crow or a raven?" Caleb asked.

"What do these birds have to do with anything?" Leilani asked.

"I don't know, but if anything, I think it's a raven. The body of the bird was bigger than that of a crow," Davina answered.

Davina glanced at Snow as the white-haired girl eyed the Chief Leaders. Amir and Isaiah turned to Snow and a silent conversation between the three. Amir departed from the table and walked over to the bookshelf near the grand staircase.

"We have received messages in the past few years. Perhaps these messages could be connected to the raven that was painted by Basalt's shore," Isaiah explained while Amir walked to the nearest section of books.

Amir neared the table and opened a large maroon tome. As he opened the book, dust puffed into the air. Several papyrus pages spilled over the table.

"These are some of the parchments that have dropped on Castellum's front porch," Amir explained, pulling out the pages from inside the treatise. Davina and the others immediately scanned the vellum sheets that had markings sprawled all over them. Davina reached for the nearest to her.

Over a dozen parchment sheets carried the same scribbled runes.

MALLEBORT. DEN UORY TENINIMM, SI

"It makes the same sigil as the one over Basalt," Davina revealed.

"This is how it looks?" Beacon asked.

"Yes, it's the exact replica of the figure we saw," Valerie confirmed.

"This seems to be of a language not of our own," Leilani said as she reached to touch the page.

Isaiah asked, leaning his hands on the marble bench. "Do you believe so?"

Caleb and Leilani observed the same parchment as they held it near the lamplight.

"I've studied the pages for so long, and I don't think it's another language. I believe it's our language, but with a code," Amir stuttered. Davina continued to analyze the figure of the page before her while she glimpsed the way Leilani rolled her eyes at Amir.

"The raven means something," Davina affirmed.

"Do you think it's a name?" Snow asked. Caleb lowered the parchment back onto the table.

Then, for Davina, it clicked.

"Her name is Raven," Davina said softly.

This Raven individual was ruthless and void of any good. Raven was confronting Bellatorm, challenging its warriors and citizens.

Davina did not enjoy confrontation. The few times she confronted her mother and stepfather didn't end well for her. Maybe that's why the fear of retaliation caused her lungs to tighten, making it difficult for her to breathe. But she remained quiet, not allowing the others to notice her trembling fear.

Perhaps the Predators would come and attack her by surprise. What if they decided to hurt her siblings? All because she chose to deny their leader. She wasn't snarky; she wasn't one to say such rude things. She was quiet and polite because that's who she was forced to become. Her mother's perfect, quiet little doll. Yet, when she was standing in front of the Predators, and she saw the fear in the Soldier's eyes, she was furious.

She was angry at how they always doubted her when she had given them many reasons for her to be trusted, and that the leader of the Predators believed she could ever be capable of such horrors.

Davina glanced at her friends who seemed to be recalling recent tales and encounters they had with the Predators.

Snow and Valerie, the cousins of the group, turned to one another. Their parents had spoken of the blood, the black goo, and the sadness of the Prey. Leilani and Caleb remained still as Davina saw them remember the moment they stood before the decayed fields of their neighbors and the stench that covered the area.

"What if we reorganize the letters?" Snow suggested.

"I like your thinking," Amir said. "Here, let me get some quills and ink."

Davina lifted her gaze to Isaiah, who was already looking at her. Amir nudged him, causing him to break his stare from Davina and follow after him.

Davina furrowed her brow before she and her Soldier friends stood up and reached for one sheet of parchment for themselves.

Amir and Isaiah distributed several quills around the table, each dipped in a small glass ink bowl.

Davina remained in her seat while she stared blankly at the letters in front of her. Her mind was empty of any possible answers. It was taking all of her strength to keep her mind free of the black lips and gray skin of the fallen Predators.

After some time of quietness in the Great Archives, Caleb began to jump in his place as he struggled to find his own words. Everyone turned to him with scrunched eyebrows and annoyance striking their faces.

"Spit it out!" Snow exclaimed.

"I think I got it," Caleb said, laying the parchment over the table, almost spilling ink in the process.

His writing below had been the attention of them all. Messy but understandable, the letters read:

YOUR END IS IMMINENT, BELLATORM.

"From, Raven," Caleb finished.