Lady of Crows

Chapter Six - Katalina

Days passed. We kept on doing assignments Sitir gave us.

I also got paid ten thousand coins. I kept them in my room. I kept a thousand with me.

Some more days passed.

I feel so ignored. Most people have been taking care of Shafija. Not me.

She's so pretty with her tanned skin and braided hair. Maybe they help her just because she's pretty?

Yes, I attempt to be kind, but I am just fed up.

I don't think I am seen. Even though I know that God sees me.

But I also wish people here would see me.

Maybe it would be better to disappear. I have no idea.

At least today Sitir didn't give us any assignments.

I sat in my room. I shared it with Sitir.

Shafija and Istenias' room was next to ours.

At least the sleeping quarters we had were silent most of the time.

I did my hair. I decided to go with a different hairstyle today.

I did nine braids, then put them into three. then turned them into one.

I liked it. It may look barbaric. Nevertheless, I don't care.

I walked out of my room. I saw my sister Anel.

She looked like an angel. With her straight hair and white robes.

She was so young, just four years old.

I followed her.

She took me outside of Ishatel.

I ended up in the middle of nowhere. Just an empty field.

Hours away from Ishatel.

In one moment I told Anel "Anel!"

She stopped and turned to me.

"This is where I was trying to lead you on this cloudy day." She said and pointed to the ruins of a one-story house.

"Why?"

"This is where your burned-down house was."

"Mother, Papa, and you died then."

"You remembered."

"How could I not, why did you bring me here Anel?"

"There is something you need to find here. Something that will help you on your journey in this world."

"Where do I begin?"

"You will know. But now remember this... When a blaze dies."

"Their soul will rise."

Anel faded away. I felt something stop in my heart. Then tears fell down my face. Mother used to say that to me. And because Anel said it, it means that Mother and Papa are in heaven.

I wanted to cry a lot. But I didn't. Papa taught me that "crying won't fix a thing, doing something about it will."

So I held my tears back.

I went inside the house.

I went on to look through the house ruins.

I eventually got to Papa's office. His desk was partially in touch. He had a journal. It was mostly untouched. Yet dusty.

It was so dusty it made me cough when I picked it up.

I opened to the first page.

I stood by the desk and began to look through the pages.

Discovery #12

Discovery #13

Discovery #14

It was just discovery and then the number.

But this one caught my eye.

Discover #26

Inside of a forest. Underground. I found a secret passage. I believe it will help me find the secret temple. The temple of the Crows. They trained there only seven kids. Those kids had a connection to crow control.

I have to go inside.

To open the door I tapped crow in morse code.

The doors opened. I walked inside.

Oh how beautiful the temple was.

In the middle of it all was a statue of Mother Crow... Gillette Crows.

Water was all around the statue.

There were even more statues of people on the left.

I need to investigate more.

There are so many desks in the area.

On papers by people's desks, everyone here had the last name Crows. So were they a family? I am so unsure.

I kept on walking.

The last statue was broken. Why?

There were no signs of an earthquake in the area.

I don't understand why the statue was broken.

I've been here for hours. I must get ongoing. I'll add to this discovery page later.

That was the last of the document. No more left. I guess Papa forgot to add to it. I need to find that temple. I could help Shafija by doing so.

I turned the page. It had coordinates. I was good with coordinates. I used my compass.

It was northeast of here. That was right on top of Felis. It's in East Saforia. I must head there. I shall do so right now. But first I have to go back to Ishatel. I need to buy a horse from there.

But there were second coordinates to Nes. He had more information there.

It was night when I walked back to Ishatel.

I saw Coris walking by. I hid under a carriage.

"Kat! Where are you? Sitir needs you! He will be mad if you don't come back!"

He kept on calling me loudly.

I can't come out. Sitir won't allow me to chase after my father's findings. And if I chase after this I could help Shafija find out more about her. I need to. I have to. For Shafija.

I let him walk by.

A stable was open. Someone was sitting on the ground in front of it. I woke them up with a simple hello.

"What do you want?" She said.

"You the stable owner here?" I asked.

"100 coins per horse."

I gave him a pouch of money which had 100 coins.

I got on the black and white horse.

I rode off. I tried to move quickly with it.

I got out of Ishatel in an hour. I don't think anyone noticed me.

I have been riding this horse for an hour. I think I might stop by Nes. It's a small Victorian town near the southern mountains. Rooms there are like 50 coins a night.

I got to Nes in the mountains. I'm sleeping at "The Big Whale". Hopefully, things go well.