Raven

by Shelly Pratt

  The taxi had made it to the heart of the city without a single bottle being smashed on his car or person trying to highjack them at the traffic lights. Aiyana would have preferred to ride her bike, but having her paintings with her forced her to rely on the Taxi driver’s ability to get her there in once piece. The thought was unsettling to her. She would rather place her confidences in herself rather than in another.

  She felt relieved when the driver made the last turn on to Trickett Street and pulled to a stop at the curb outside the gallery. Not that you could tell it was a gallery. There were two burly security guards standing on either side of a single doorway with a red material awning over the top of it so it looked more like a nightclub. Not that appearances mattered, this little shin dig was invite only and only those left in society with flash cash would be rocking up to purchase paintings from tonight’s showing. Aiyana thanked the driver and got out into the spatter of raindrops as one of the bodyguards approached her with an umbrella.

  She knew him; he had been to one of these functions before and had kindly done the same thing for her then. His niceties were a rare trait these days and she had certainly appreciated his chivalry.

  “Thank you Tom,” she said.

  “Welcome, Miss Stevens,” he said gruffly. “Be careful going home this evening, strange doings about foot,” he said, clearly a warning in his tone. She had to admit, what he said spooked her a little. She took a quick glance around her, expecting to catch someone up to no good, but all she saw was the steam rising up from the vents in the sidewalk and the low lying clouds that hung to the tops of the buildings. The graffiti was still scribbled all along the buildings walls and people hurried along the streets to get out of the wet and get home before nightfall.

  Nothing seemed imminently out of place though and she chided herself for letting Tom spook her so.

  “Thank you Tom, I’ll be sure to take care,” and with a curt nod, and hurried herself and her paintings inside. The interior of the place was completely different from the outside world and couldn’t have been farther from its complete polar opposite.

  The immediate flight of stairs downwards led her to a well-lit chic space with chandeliers and leather cubed seating around abstract sculptures. Every wall and surface was white, and was done such so that each artistic piece was given the maximum exposure to display its raw brilliance.

  There were no buyers here yet, just fellow artists setting up for the big event due to start in another hour or so. There were waiters setting up champagne glasses and waitresses shuffling back and forth from the rear kitchen with canapés and Hors d’oeuvres for when the guests arrived.

  Aiyana snatched a glass of Cristal uninvited and headed towards the rear of the gallery to find Elijah. She saw he caught sight of her and could almost see him groan inwardly. Whilst probably her only friend, if you could call him that, he was one of these metro-sexual males who were into face cream, designer clothes and women who were only good as arm candy.

  She knew he would be disapproving of her attire, but frankly she couldn’t give a toss what he thought – which was why he liked her so much as she was so completely different from the socialite spoilt blondes he favoured.

  Aiyana on the other hand was rocking the earth chick cross Goth girl look – although it was only because of her long dark hair that one might assimilate her with the latter. She saw Elijah hurriedly finishing giving his instruction to another artist before making a beeline for her.

  “Good evening, Elijah, you look dashing as usual,” she mocked sarcastically.

  He ignored her jibe completely and said rather reproachfully, “My god, what are you wearing?”

  She looked down at her clothes. Whilst she would have looked hot in a bar, even she had to admit she looked a little out of place. He must have caught her discomfort and said, “You should have told me you don’t own a dress, I could have had one bought for you”.

  “That’s very kind of you, but you know I wouldn’t have worn it even if you did,” she said with a smile.

  “I suppose not, you are rather stubborn you know,” he said matter of factly.

  “Am I?” she said with a mock tone.

  “Yes, and you damn well know it too,” he said, smoothing down his own clothes, as if this gesture would translate to her too and somehow fix her faux pas.

  “Anyway, let’s see what you have brought for me, angel,” he said using his pet name for her.

  She moved over to the large display table and put her cache on top so she could open it with ease. The first four paintings she had been working on for several months. Each one represented as aspect of something eternal, hence the collection being named such. The first was a painting of the moon, so large and luminous on the canvas, she had captured the way it hung woefully over the city so perfectly that Elijah let out a satisfied ‘Ahhhh’. The back ground was dark and mysterious and certainly a representation of the way the city felt to the people of today, but the moon, despite what happened here on earth would be a constant for all of eternity. She knew Elijah got the meaning behind her work without explanation and he moved on to the next piece.

  The next was a surprising choice for even her. Even the colours used were bright, hopeful and happy. It was of a newborn, arms outstretched to the face of its mother, although the mother’s face was not defined by the painting. Instead Aiyana had left the figure faceless and had never questioned herself why she had done this when the infant displayed so much detail, right down to the lines on its hands.

  “Aiyana, this work is exquisite,” he breathed.

  “Thank you,” she said as he admired the next two with equal enthusiasm.

  He stopped when he came to the last one of the raven. She took in every detail of his expression, but couldn’t quite figure out how he felt about it.

  “Well, what do you think?” she asked.

  “Don’t get me wrong, I love it. It’s raw, vivid, enchanting and certainly invites the soul to appreciate it,” he said.

  “But?” she said

  “But I’m not sure how it represents your theme of ‘Eternal’, especially as it is also your namesake,” he said looking now directly at her.

  She blushed now, for how could she explain to him that this brief encounter with such a creature seemed to suddenly represent a hope she held for her eternity?

  “I…ahhhh…” she fumbled for the words that would sufficiently explain herself.

  “Never mind, I’m sure the buyers will love it regardless – it’s obvious you have talent to burn, Angel,” he said.

  “Why thank you Elijah. Coming from you that is a real compliment,” she said, recovering her composure.

  “Now if you will excuse me, I see some little vixen over there in dire need of my help,” he said motioning to a rake thin red head in a tight black Gucci dress who was struggling to lift a painting that she was trying to hang on the display wall.

  “Sure. I’ll just get my paintings set up for the showing,” she replied, her eyes already scouring the floor for the waitress with the champagne. If she was going to get through tonight then she rather thought she could do with a couple more drinks under her belt.

  ****

  Aiyana was feeling buzzed. All of her paintings had sold – even the raven. In fact, that one had been the first in the gallery to sell and had fetched a record price for the gallery of 1.1 million dollars to an undisclosed buyer in Germany who had joined the bidding via satellite in Hamburg. He had instantly fallen in love with it and had outbid three other buyers to have it. This would mean a very tidy profit for her and Elijah and a substantial donation to the MNM foundation. No wonder he loved her – she was currently his best asset for the gallery and the most profitable in turnover. She smiled as he cut her a cheque and placed a kiss on her cheek.

  “Don’t spend it all at once,” he teased.

  “As if,” she jibed.

  “You want me to drive you home?” he asked.

  As much as she loved Elijah, she s
till felt sometimes like there was an undercurrent of wanting on his behalf, and she tried not to encourage him in any way as he would never be an option for her. She loved him like a brother and that was it.

  “No thanks, I’ll just grab a taxi. Besides, red nut over there is giving you an eyeful of her cleavage – I think she fancies you,” she said stifling a giggle under her hand.

  Elijah eyed the woman from earlier in the evening, “I think you might be right,” he said self-assuredly.

  “Text me and let me know you got home safe,” he said as he kissed her cheek.

  “Right,” she said and left him to enjoy his night of debauchery.

  She pocketed the cheque in her bag and headed back up the stairs to the outside gloom. The rain had stopped, but in its place was the thick fog that swirled around the ground like ballroom dancers in a complex synchronization. The change of the outside world compared to the light and bright art gallery had left her feeling a little deflated. She nodded good night to the security detail at the front door and took a right down the next alley that was a short cut to the taxi rank that was stationed near the city’s bus depot.

  She could hear the wail of a siren in the distance and the call of cats fighting for what scraps they could get their claws on. Behind her she heard the smash of a bottle and whipped around to see two drunkards crossing the main street away from her. She sighed with relief and picked up her pace.

  The dark alley way was poorly lit and all the blinds in the dilapidated apartment windows were drawn tightly shut offering no light either. Her eyes scanned every inch of the alley way in front of her, keeping peeled for the first sign of danger. She had to admit, she really shouldn’t be walking on her own like this, but as Elijah said, sometimes she was just too stubborn for her own good.

  She felt it before she heard it. The sudden downwards blast of wind that chilled her to the bone, and she knew instantly what had caused it. Her eyes searched the heavens and up there amongst the black of night she saw the outline of a massive raven.

  It wasn’t him though.

  The clouds that had recently filled the sky had parted and left the pale yellow moon to light up the alley way – almost as if she were on a stage in a theatre and someone had just switched the main spot light on her. It allowed her to see the eyes of the animal. They weren’t curious or kind, these eyes were fixated on her in another way entirely. She sensed she was in danger then and decided it would be best to run - and run she did.

  She turned and sprinted as fast as she could for the light that would be her saviour on the main street. She heard the call of the bird behind her and rather than see, sensed that it had started its descent and assumed to chase her. The wind that its wings whipped up sent the fog scattering to the gutters of the alley way and then up the sides of the buildings. Only twenty metres to go until the end of the alley way, but she was starting to doubt whether she would make it.

  She turned as she felt it close in for the kill and saw that its claws were out and ready to strike. Forget her heart; her legs were just about to give out when she heard it - heard him. His screech was deafening and it reverberated off the walls of the buildings that surrounded them tenfold. She stopped dead in her tracks and saw him attack the other with a ferocity she couldn’t even fathom. The bird was smacked against the concrete with such force that it cracked on impact and sent a fracture along the pathway at least two metres long.

  As she struggled to catch her breath and regain her composure she noticed he had circled the now incapacitated raven before he then turned and headed for her. She couldn’t explain why, be she wasn’t afraid of him. She had seen him just protect her – protect her from one of his own kind and she knew that she could trust him. He landed claws first on the bitumen in front of her and tipped his head sideways, a questioning look on his bird features.

  He flapped his wings wide which sent the loose wisps of her hair floating about her face. His wingspan really was impressive and she could tell he was strong – so, so strong. He tucked his wings back next to his body then and walked around her. Aiyana stood still, daring not to startle him in the slightest.

  With a suddenness she wasn’t expecting he flapped his wings lightly and hovered above her. When she didn’t move, he gently latched his claws around her shoulders and held on to her firmly. Her mouth went dry and she closed her eyes, not quite believing that this was actually happening.

  Before she could compute the absurdness of the whole situation she felt her feet leave the floor of the alley way and her stomach jumped into her mouth all at the same time.

  His wings flapped harder now and she could feel with each movement they rose higher and higher into the sky. She opened her eyes and saw that they were already five stories off the ground. The cloud had still parted to allow the moon to shine a bright path across the land for them to follow.

  The feeling was amazing. Whilst freezing out, his feathers on his chest against her back and neck warmed her immensely and she thrilled in the smoothness as they stroked her skin. He smelled like the woods she had hiked all those months looking for him and it allowed her calmness in what should have been a high anxiety moment.

  Whilst grip on her shoulders was firm, it didn’t hurt. He had a strength no man could possess and he flew with ease down the coast line of ocean. Never would she forget this moment for as long as she lived. She could see forever – the city, the ocean with its waves crashing on the shore, the wilderness behind the highways and all the lights in the buildings that twinkled at her. For the first time in her life she felt peaceful with the world she lived in.

  She actually felt love for the land and in that instant had more passion to make it a better place. He flew with a grace that allowed her to feel like it was she alone who flew across the night sky and she thought this was a much better way to travel than on her bike. No helmet to restrict her sight and speeds which paled in comparison to those that were allowed on the roads. The only problem with going so fast was that she soon realised her building was looming and she dreaded the moment that this would all be over.

  She took a last lungful of air, hoping to install a memory with all her senses so that when she recalled this moment later she would be able to relive the complete experience of it all.

  He flapped his wings even harder and seemed to hover upwards with startling speed – kind of like when an elevator descends too quickly and your stomach flip flops. Before she could do anything about it he was gently lowering her to the flooring of her balcony. She whipped around to face him, desperate for any kind of communication with this amazing creature. Her eyes shone in the moonlight, happiness plain for him to see and it gave him such an excited undercurrent that he soared high towards the stars in a spiral motion, crying out in a language only he understood as he did so.

  “Wait!” she screamed after him. He stopped instantly, as though the call from his master had suddenly brought him out of his frenzied moment of joy. He flew back to the railing and hovered, waiting expectantly.

  “I don’t even know your name,” she said quietly, almost shyly, which wasn’t her at all. She eyed him intently, so slowly he morphed into the man she had seen the other day, his shock of dark hair just as black as his feathers had been. Legs and chest so strong, he looked every bit as mythical as a man as he did when he was a raven.

  This time, his wings too disappeared. He walked forward till he was a hairs breath from her lips. He moved his nose around her face - yet not touching her, moving from one ear to the other, almost as if he were deeply inhaling her scent.

  She didn’t move.

  She didn’t think she could have even if she had wanted to, but she wasn’t about to ruin whatever this was.

  He stopped now and put his lips so close to her ears that when he spoke his breath tickled her – right from her ear lobe and down her spine and all the way to her toes.

  “My name is Eilam,” he said in that deep rich voice he possessed.

  He stepped back from her then and m
orphed with a suddenness she wasn’t expecting. He soared high into the air and called out in his raven tongue, all the way into the distance till she could no longer hear or see him. She felt a little abandoned, but knew that a wild creature couldn’t and shouldn’t be caged. After flying with him, she understood implicitly. He was free and she would let him remain such. She touched her face where he had breathed next to her and wished she had more time with him. She didn’t fret about it though, she knew it would only be a matter of time before he would be back and then maybe she could get a half decent conversation out of him.

  Her only problem now was how was she going to get inside? The glass door was barraged from the inside and she wasn’t a magician. She looked around and headed for the fire escape. She would climb up to the roof top and go in through the skylight. Normally she didn’t see the use for the damn thing – there was never any sun anyway, but tonight – she was more than thankful it had been installed.