It had been years since William had started following Alexander around. At first, the young man had thought himself a burden to the valiant knight who saved his soul. As time grew on, though, William had found that Alexander had a need for the squire, and that his presence was indeed a help and not a hindrance. The injury he had sustained during the village raid all those years ago had healed quite well, leaving no lasting scar. He was lucky, unlike many others who had suffered similar or worse.

It was a dark time to think back upon, a time where the village was under constant raids. The original deal of paying a ransom for their safety had been ignored, and in the end the village had been ransacked. It was about this time that a knight in shining armor appeared. He saw the travesty that had occurred, and vowed to end it.

And end it he did. The knight, Alexander, charged into battle, and within a day, he had destroyed the entire bandit camp with what appeared to be relative ease. When he came back, he did his best to help the wounded, and took his time to bury the dead. It was at this time that Alexander and William met. Upon hearing that William had no family left, Alexander decided to take the boy in. Alexander had taken care of the boy ever since, and raised him to be a fine young man.

Still, William felt as though he were a burden to the noble knight. Sure, he was skilled with a sword, but when it came down to it, William wasn’t much when it came to planning. He took simple instructions well, but anything more complex usually ended in a failure.

But Alexander was patient and kind.

Such was a day,where Alexander’s kindness shone brilliantly.

The duo found themselves traveling through the Perditi Cemetery. Rumors of a mad necromancer had surfaced, and so Alexander had taken himself to hunting the madman down. It seemed the knight had no issues wading through the sea of graves, the moonlight guiding his way. William, on the other hand, seemed to be shaken to his core.

“Now, Will,” Alexander said with a smile. “Nothing bad will happen. I promise. There’s nothing I can’t handle.” There was a surprising warmth to his voice, and what followed was a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts. “Come now. Let’s make haste while the moons are high.”

It was as close to a safe place as she could find and while it was not home (nowhere ever had been nor would she ever find a place she could call her home…) it was as good as she could find… anywhere was better than the cities… anywhere was better than where those men were. 

Hiding in the doorway of one of the tombs Morrigan's body trembled involuntarily from the fear that threatened to overwhelm her; she had been running for days, keeping as close to the shadows as she could, moving only in the dead of night and hiding in doorways and abandoned buildings during the day until she had found her way here to the cemetery. Here it was blissfully quiet… well it had been until the dead had begun to walk once more; though even their soft deathly moans were more soothing than the bustle of the cities where she had been jostled by too many people and terrified that someone might knock her and reveal her face. 
That was what she feared most; someone seeing the monster beneath the bandanna, someone revealing the huge, gaping jaws that 'smiled' from ear to ear with razor sharp fangs… the top half of her face was soft and beautiful, the top half was attractive… the bottom half was disfigured and evil and Morrigan hated everything about what it was and who she was. 

Banshee. A word that haunted her mind and dreams. Her mother had not been like the rest of their race - her mother had loved her father and he, in turn, had loved her mother despite what she was… but when Morrigan was born everything had changed, until her mother had been able to stop her daughter's crying her husband could not be with them - he was human and it was too dangerous for him to be with them until the little girl could control her 'scream' or wouldn't cry. Rumours of what the woman who lived alone on the hill was had spread and a hunting party had been sent to the woman and her little girl to kill them. 
They had escaped, barely, but not before her mother had been mortally wounded. Still young and with much to learn Morrigan was alone; her mother was dead and she had never met her father so did not know who to seek out for comfort. Covering the lower half of her face since she had not learnt to fully transform it into a human appearance and learning to fake 'speaking' using her telepathy and cleverly mouthing the words without uttering a word Morrigan had managed to survive… not well but she was alive. 

Voices alerted the Banshee to the fact that men had come to her sanctuary. Slowly rising she looked about fearfully, her body still shaking with fear as she pressed her back against the tomb and peered around the corner of the stone to see where they were. The dead would not bother her - she was essentially one of them if truth be told, but the last thing she needed was for the men looking for her to have tracked her down…

Alexander had not practiced any form of light magic, but his eyes were trained well enough to see in the dark. Poor William had not quite adapted to this yet, and seemed to be struggling as he stumbled about the gravestones. Still, the undead that crossed their paths seemed wholly uninterested in them unless they got too close.

“I guess they’re the ‘natural’ undead,” Alexander mused. “Never thought I’d say that. It seems as though they just wander, unless disturbed. Be careful not to-” The knight turned to see William trip over a broken gravestone. He cried out and tumbled into a particularly large undead, who seemed not to like this. It made a strange, crackling sound as its mouth opened wide, rotted flesh falling to the side as it tried to bite into the young squire.

Alexander rolled his eyes, “Oh dear. You seem to have angered this one…” He drew his blade and quickly, and expertly, lopped its head off with a clean slash, the edge of the blade flashing mere inches away from William’s eyes. “Do be careful, young William,” the man said with a clear smile. He looked to see that the commotion had brought the attention of several more undead.

“My…finding this necromancer turned into quite the chore.” He readied his blade, which swirled with wind. “Now William, please stay back. I will take care of this quickly.” He dashed through several undead, his blade flashing under the moon with every strike. It only took a few moments for those who had been riled to be taken care of, and when Alexander sheathed his blade, he said a small prayer for the dead.

He took a deep breath, and let it out. “You can come out now,” he said aloud. “Though…I do not think you are the one I’m searching for. Do not worry. As long as you have no ill intent towards us, I will not harm you. I promise.”

There was a flutter of wings; the sound all but echoed around her as Morrigan’s eyes searched for the raven whom she knew they belonged to. The sound of claws alerted her to the fact that the raven had taken his place above her head on the entrance to the tomb; as Morrigan glanced up she caught sight of Corbin’s sharp, onyx eye blinking at her, the raven’s sharp beak opened and clicked together in a greeting to his mistress before he turned his attentions back to the undead and the two living men now making their way through the graves.

Corbin was one of at least twenty that made up the unkindness of ravens who called themselves Morrigan’s familiars; it was because of them that she even remotely survived most days, it was because of her unkindness that she had food or coins to trade, they would steal what they could for their mistress which was what had saved her several times in fact.

One of the men, the younger of the two, aggravated one of the undead but the older one dealt with it swiftly. They were closing in on her location and Morrigan could now fully hear their conversation which alerted her to the fact that they were looking for a Necromancer – she had heard rumours that one was lurking in these parts but she had not been afraid of meeting him… as much as she despised what she was and hated using her voice to kill she had no such qualms where people like Necromancers were involved – they awoke the dead from their slumbers for their own means and Morrigan did not agree with that.

Suddenly the older man spoke and she knew that it was directed at her; trembling she closed her eyes and willed him to go away, she didn’t want any trouble, she wanted to be left alone… Eyes scrunched together Morrigan took a deep breath, grateful when Corbin fluttered down from his perch above the door and settled upon her shoulder, letting out a loud ‘caw’ that echoed through the tomb and caused her to flinch.
Raising a hand to touch the raven’s silken feathers she took solace from his presence as she left the safety of the shadows, her hood pulled up over her head, bandana firmly in place over the lower half of her mouth as she stood where the two men could see her. ”N-no ill will.” She ‘stuttered’ quietly – no words were actually spoken but she had long since perfected her ability to ‘throw’ her voice so that she appeared to be speaking despite it all being telepathic. ”I-i-I w-w-was just… looking f-for somewhere to… to stay.”

Alexander could sense her fear. Although it was dark, he could make out her figure and somewhat odd choice of attire, half her face covered as if she were fearful of catching a plague. Perhaps there was something more to it. Maybe a scar or burn she was worried about showing. Overall, it didn’t concern the knight in the slightest.

What did concern him was the fact that there was a young lady out in the cemeteries with the undead and a supposed necromancer about. He motioned to William that she meant no harm, and he waved at her.

“‘Tis a pleasure, madame.” Alexander took a small bow. “Alexander Silverheart. I’m merely here in search of a rogue necromancer. If you’re looking for a place to stay, I would highly recommend heading towards the Virens. The peninsula here isn’t too friendly when it comes to women, and while I’d like to believe you can hold your own, it’s still a risk that I’d hate for you to take.”

He glanced around, taking in his surroundings once more. “Anyway, as it stands now, I think you should come with us. At the very least, we can take care of this necromancer and escort you to the Virens. Of course, if this is agreeable to you.”

Wiliam nodded. From the way the young squire was acting, this was a common occurrence for the duo. Rescuing damsels and slaying evil.

All in a days work.

The sound of wings and talons on stone caused Morrigan to settle a little more, she could feel the presence of her ravens, their simple minds and souls weighing against her's reassuringly. Only five were with her today, but the others would not be far away, of that she was certain. In truth it was quite an eerie thing to see - one raven, joined by another, and another, and another, her unkindness did have the tendency to arrive one or two after the others, in a manner that was somewhat threatening to behold. 

"Th-thank you sir," she nodded as he mentioned a place she could try… sadly such a place was not where she would be welcomed. "However, this, this place i-is much, much better. I-it's safe, safer for me." Or at least it was for the moment - the men were much less likely to look for her here, they might eventually work out that a Banshee would frequent a cemetery over, say, a crowded city, but they had yet to make such a connection which meant that Morrigan had somewhere she could stay.
"M-my name is Morrigan," she added with a small nod of respect, he had given his name, it was only polite that she do the same.

Come, with them? "I thank you s-sir, but th-this place is better for me. The necromancer w-will not bother me here, V-virens would be more dangerous." She added, clearly skirting around why that was… how could she tell these men? How could she possibly be honest? 
Oh yes, I'm a Banshee and I accidentally killed a man - she had tried to explain that before, and it had never ended in someone volunteering to protect her, only with them offering to take her head from her shoulders.

William was beginning to get nervous. It wasn’t often that he felt unsettled when he was with his charge. Alexander usually exuded this aura of absolute safety. Yet, even with Alexander so calm and steady, something felt eerie about the whole situation. A strange woman in the graveyard, telling them that she was safer here than anywhere else. The squire shivered. The whole situation felt straight out of a ghost story.

“Sir, I think we should just go,” he said nervously to Alexander. “I do believe that the lady will be fine if she so insists.” He looked around. “Besides. I don’t think the necromancer is here.”

Alexander let out a soft sigh. “I do agree with you that the necromancer is not here. He must have run off somewhere else while we were fighting. Fear not, we shall track him down once we settle this.” He glanced to Morrigan. “I do believe that this is not the safest place for you,” he stated firmly.

“However, I understand your hesitation.” There was something about her. Whether she was a spirit, or simply an odd one, he felt as though he would have to let the matter be for the time being. “If you must insist upon being so…stubborn,” the knight said, “Then I will just have to abide by your wishes.” He did a half bow. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I must be on my way.”

The two started to walk off, but William took a moment to glance back at Morrigan, eyes worried that she may follow them, dark intentions in her heart. “Are you so sure about her, sir?”

Alexander smiled, patting the boy’s head. “William. Something that you may learn later in life…not all creatures are evil. Even those who dwell and exist in the dark deserve their chance at happiness. Not every individual is a perfect representation of their species. Why…look at the humans of this world…a vast majority in our history were warmongers and assassins. Yet, here we are today…you and I, noble hearts here to see those we can to safety.”

William looked down at the ground. “I hadn’t thought of that…”

Morrigan could see that the young man was uncomfortable in her presence, and she could not blame him. If these men were looking for a Necromancer, they would be able to detect her aura, which meant that they were aware that she was not quite right… yet Corbin was not flustered by their presence, nor were any of her Unkindness, in fact the ravens seemed to be oddly calm with the men there… did they know something that she did not?

Why did the man care so much as to where she stayed? No man had ever shown her kindness, not once, it was a foreign thing to her and she could not understand the reasoning behind this man's concern. As he went to leave her Unkindness took to the air as one, including Corbin. Morrigan gasped, reaching out for the raven as he joined the others, the ebony feathered birds moving almost as one entity. They hovered in front of William and Alexander, wings beating to hold their position in front of the Knight and his squire - sometimes the birds knew what was best for their Mistress, and right now these two offered her a security that they could not. 

"I-I'm sorry! My familiars… they… they believe you could protect me," she said softly, looking down, her face hidden beneath her hood. "Though… I do not believe you will want to." 

Alexander and William both were caught off guard by the sudden movements of the ravens. The knight seemed to be more amused than anything, but William seemed concerned. They both turned to bring Morrigan into their view once more.

“Um, miss,” William started. “You’re ravens seem to be blocking the way.” Her response seemed to put him at ease. They were familiars. That made sense.

Alexander had a half smile, and he seemed almost happy that the familiars would accept his help. “I am always open to helping those who would accept it. As long as their hearts are free of malice, then I am sure everything will be fine.” He looked to the path they were taking. “Now, my dear Morrigan, shall we be on our way? Perhaps your familiars can even help us locate the necromancer.”

Corbin returned to his Mistress, the largest of the birds settling upon her shoulder once more. Of her Unkindness of Familiars he was the most intelligent, he had been the first to tie himself to her and he had always been the one to know her best. Her hand immediately sought to touch his chest, bare fingertips digging into his silken feathers for comfort. 

A heart free of malice… her's was certainly that - though many would have questioned the sincerity in those words from a creature such as she… which in turn hurt her deeply, she, like her mother, had never wished harm on anyone nor would she. "They can help," Morrigan replied softly, feeling a little more at ease with the men as she stepped towards them, grey eyes looking at the others of her birds who had come to her. 

Silently she conveyed her message to them, letting them know what it was she required of them, and of course they immediately answered. Corbin fluttered his wings, but remained where he was, while the others turned on a wing tip and spread themselves out over the cemetery - searching for Alexander's Necromancer. "I-if he is here, they will, will find him."