Serafina and the Black Cloak - Robert Beatty Page 0,76
den. She stumbled into the open glade and stood beneath the stars in utter confusion.
She looked over at where the battle had taken place. The Black Cloak lay in a heap on the ground. Thorne’s bloody body lay beside it. His other clothing had been shredded by the lioness’s claws. Blood stained his white shirt. A large open wound bled at his side. His head and face were badly bitten and clawed. She could see his blood glistening, and she knew from watching rats die that glistening blood meant he wasn’t completely dead yet. But he soon would be. Sometimes you killed a dying rat, but other times you just let it die.
Standing in the angel’s glade, she looked up at the sky and the trees, and all around her. She had won! She had defeated the Man in the Black Cloak! It felt like every muscle in her body was alive and moving. There was a part of her that felt elated, almost euphoric, like she was floating on air. But another part of her was deeply confused. She had solved one mystery only to be confronted with another. Why did she feel this way inside? And why hadn’t the lioness attacked her?
“What does it all mean?” she asked aloud in frustration. She took a few steps, kicking her feet roughly through the snow. She was so sick of not knowing anything, not having the answers. “Tell me what it all means!” she shouted to the heavens.
Put me on…came a raspy voice.
Serafina looked around her.
Put me on…
She felt the words in their ancient, raspy voice more than she heard them, and she knew exactly where they were coming from. She looked at the Black Cloak, lying there on the ground beside Thorne’s body. The cloak lay crumpled in the snow by itself, torn from him by the force of the attack.
Imagine knowing all things…
“Shut up,” she told the cloak, her words spitting out of her like she was reprimanding an uppity rat she’d captured.
Imagine being able to do anything you wanted to do…
She gritted her teeth and snarled at it. “You’re dead! Now hush up!”
There’s nothing to fear…
Serafina felt the trembling agitation of pure fear growing deep within her. Every muscle in her body was telling her to flee, but she was too angry to go. She clenched her teeth. She wanted to fight. She wanted to win.
Put me on…the raspy voice came again.
She looked at the cloak. It was the cloak of power, the cloak of knowing. She felt an overwhelming desire to touch it. She wanted to hold it in her hands. She could feel it using its power to draw her in, and she didn’t care. She wanted the power.
Imagine understanding and controlling everything around you…
She took a step toward the cloak.
Put me on…
She reached down and picked up the Black Cloak. The satin material reflected the sheen of the moonlight as she turned it over in her hands. Despite the running through the thickets, the flying through the forest, and the battle with the mountain lion, the cloak wasn’t torn or dirtied in any way.
She examined the cloak carefully, looking for any sign or symbol of the power that it contained. As she moved the material through her hands, it didn’t feel like a normal piece of clothing, but like a living, pulsing thing, like holding a giant snake.
Put me on…the cloak said again in its low, raspy voice.
She looked at the cloak’s silver clasp, which was engraved with an intricate design: a tight bundle of twisting vines and thorns. When she held the clasp in the moonlight in just the right way, she could see the image of tiny faces behind the thorns.
She didn’t know what it meant. It felt like she didn’t know what anything meant anymore. A black and terrible loneliness welled up inside her, an anguish stronger than anything she had ever felt before. But what did the cloak do? How did it work? Did it really give its master the blessing of profound knowledge? Could it answer the questions that stormed through her mind?
You will become all-knowing, all-powerful…the cloak whispered.
Her head spun in confusion. Cloudiness closed in on her mind. She was unable to control herself. Her fingers grasped, her arms moved, and she began pulling the cloak around her. Drawn in by its powerful spell, she draped the Black Cloak over her back and shoulders just for a brief moment to see what would happen. She only wanted to