Artwork by Pelycosaur24
“Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her; but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.” ― Voltaire
Consciousness slowly filtered back into Marie Luise's pain and death befuddled brain. The sounds, smells and sensations of the battlefield that had previously hammered her mind and physical senses were notable by their absence, her ears had been battered by the crash of artillery and the steady rattle of musketry, the blinding, bitter smoke, the flames and stench of sweat and death, the cacophony of shouted orders, screams and curses. She was surrounded by a terrible stillness, an unnatural quiet, her eyes flickered open and she tried to make sense of her surroundings. There were only two things she was at this moment sure of: the first was that it was was night, an unnatural darkness surrounded her. The other was the equally unnatural and eerie quietude, there was no sound of anything at all in her immediate surroundings, no cry or noise made by man or animal, not even the movement of air. Was, she dead or merely dreaming, Marie Luise wondered to herself.
Marie Luise, tried to move her limbs, she felt stiff and numbingly cold, the enveloping darkness did not help her, though she was beginning to take in her surroundings more clearly. She realized with some surprise, that she was laying in a small clearing, or rather a small gap between the trees of a considerable forest. The trees moved gently, as if possessed of some animation all their own, their leaves and branches quivered as if moved by an unseen and unheard wind, though she felt nothing. A glimmer of moon light began to slowly filter through the tree limbs and branches, dimly illuminating her surroundings. Marie Luise, realized as she sat up with some awkwardness, that she was not alone. Two pairs of black eyes, flickered at her from the branches above her head and a third set gazed intently at her from near her elbow. With a start she realized that the three dark shapes were a group of extremely large, jet black ravens.
Marie Luise, struggled to her knees, studying the ravens, which gazed at her with unnaturally brilliant black eyes, like black diamonds. Ravens were a symbol of death and bad luck or ill omen, but they were also the ancient heraldic symbol of her house. Ravens often represent ancient wisdom, intelligence and transformation. They were spectral messengers of the gods, bearers of untold visions, dreams and prophetic whispers. In the annals of mythology and folklore, these ebony enigmas inhabited a realm where mystic symbols intertwine with human imagination. Perhaps Marie Luise, thought to herself, she was in such a realm now. The one, beside her hopped forward inquisitively, it's beak opened in a silent call. Tentatively she reached a gloved hand out towards it, the bird did not flinch or pull away when her fingers brushed it. If fact it seemed pleased to have her do so. Ravens were often harbingers or messengers in folklore, Marie Luise wondered if the ravens, were sent to welcome her to this place.
Suddenly the raven, beneath her fingers, froze it's beak snapped open in a silent hiss, without a sound it took to the it's wings, something had spooked it. Marie Luise, turned on her knees, trying to force her stiff limbs to action to come to her feet, a presentiment of danger filled her. Something strange and evil was near at hand both her instincts and her brain screamed to her. The two ravens in the tree branches seemed to be silently screaming a warning at her, something flickered at the corner of her eye. A dark, malevolent shadow moved, this one darker then anything she had ever seen before, dominated by two ravenous and eerie eyes, two motes of hateful and malice filled light peered at her from the trees. The dark, shadowy thing came at her with stunning speed, she caught a glimpse of long limbs and terrible claw like hands, grasping for her, she barely managed to dodge out the way in time.
An icy, choking fog followed the creature's movements, seeping across the ground and swirling around the trunks of the trees. Marie Luise, dodged two more vicious lunges by the thing, as much by instinct as anything else. Fumbling for anything she might use as a weapon against the thing that stalked her, her hand hand fell absently upon, the leather holster case at her right hip. Marie Luise realized that her sidearms was still upon her person, and drew the double-barreled dueling pistol contained within the holster, without thinking, cocked the double hammers and took deliberate aim at the shadow that stalked her, the moonlight had dimmed almost to nothingness, so she had only it's glimmering eyes to aim by, and the warning movements of the ravens which circled her.
Marie Luise, lined up the double barrels and put the glowing eyes between the hammers and pulled the trigger, with swift but deliberate precision. She had no idea if the pistol would have the slightest effect on the shadowy creature. The pistol kicked back in her hand, the muzzle flamed into the darkness with an unearthly brilliance that almost blinded her, although to her astonishment there was no report of the discharge against her ears. The pistol ball, which glowed like a bright night time star as it left the barrel, slammed into creature, which shrieked aloud in bafflement, rage and pain as the bullet struck home against what she thought was it's chest. The creature's outcry was the first sound she had heard since awaking in this strange forest, the sound rattled off and around the black tree trunks and rustled the leaves, Marie Luise paused only long enough to fire off the second barrel, directly into the thing's face, then turned and fled as quickly as she could, the wings of the three ravens fluttered around her and their stringent cries, urged her on.
Marie Luise needed no urging in any case, the forest was now alive with sounds, that had been for some reason suppressed, the echoing report of the two shots from her Nock pattern dueling pistol, echoed back and forth amid the trees, mixing with the frantic cries of the ravens, and the soul shuddering shrieks of agony from the wraith that lay writhing on the ground behind her. She ran pell-mell, narrowly dodging left and right to get through the trees, with the only thought of getting out of this oppressive and shadowy forest as quickly as she could driving her in headlong retreat, the ravens winged ahead of her, seeming to act as guides in the trackless shadows and darkness.
Marie Luise had no idea how much distance she had covered, in the eternal darkness and seething cold, the forest seemed to be endless, she felt something like despair gripping her, something banged heavily against her hip as she ran, she suddenly realized it was her sword. With no time to reload her pistol, she hurriedly drew it even as she continued to run, a sudden instinct warned her she might need it before she found her way clear of the forest. Marie Luise, surprisingly felt rather more cheerful with it in her hand, it was a good blade, and had served her in victory and defeat since it had been presented her by Feldmarschall Aleksandr Vasilyevich Suvorov as a token of his and the Russian Imperial Army's respect and esteem. She had no idea what effect it would have on the wraith like creature she had just shot, but if the pistol worked with some effect she thought, then it was within the realm of the possible that the sword would also be effective, perhaps more so, as it had been twice blessed by priests of the Russian Orthodox Catholic and the Austrian Roman Catholic churches.
The warning screams or caws of the ravens, brought her thoughts suddenly back to the present with a jolt. Two of the Ravens veered away to the left, and flew hard into the face of a new wraith, that had emerged from between two sprawling trees, their razor sharp beaks and talons, raking the creature's face and up raised arms as it tried to ward them off. A second wraith emerged from a blanket of swirling mist and fog from a shallow ravine on her left, the third raven flew at it like a black missile aiming for it's glowing eyes. She took a running slash at the evil wraith before her with her sword, as she jumped across the narrow ravine to get clear of it. The blade, which began glowing with a strange, spectral light all it's own, passed straight through the out stretched wrist and then the eyes of the wraith, which promptly blasted her ears with it's scream of agony as it lost both a clawed hand and it's sight in the same moment.
Abruptly Marie Luise's flight came to an end, as one of her booted feet became entangled in a gnarled tree root emerging from the dark soils and scattered patches of turf. She pitched headlong into the ground in a tangle of limbs as she struggled to regain her footing. Her sword slipped and threatened to bounce from her hand as she fell, but stayed near at hand courtesy of the fist strap she had slipped over her wrist when she had first drawn it. A heavily black booted foot abruptly and without warning hit the ground before her, and she rolled to see who or what it belonged to. To her astonishment she found herself looking upwards at a Prussian pioneer, though his dress was of the Army of Friedrich der Große not that of the reign of Friedrich Wilhelm III, which she was more familiar with. In the glimmer of reflected moonlight, she caught sight of the figure's head, face wrapped in shadow, which tipped downwards to look at her with a surprised curiousity equal to her own, then the metal fronted, rounded pioneer mitre snapped upward and the Royal Prussian army flintlock musket grasped in the pioneer's hands snapped upwards toward the wielder's shoulder and blazed to life, aimed at a newly arrived wraith that was almost on top of both of them.
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