Ravenwild: Book 01 - Ravenwild (43 page)

He finished.

“I’m confused,” she said, “What does this have anything to do with this young girl?”

“Yes,” he said, “of course.”

He closed his eyes and went back in time. He spoke as if in a trance.

“
There will come a dark time when the Trolls will be led by one with a heart as black as the darkest night. Under his command they will subjugate the Gnomes. The Gnomes will then fight with them as the only means to their survival. Together, then, they will try to eliminate every remaining Human, Elf, and Dwarf from our world, and they will never stop until this they have done. Nothing done by those that survive the first assault will matter, except to forestall the inevitable, for the force that hunts them will be too great. The final attack will come in the spring after the fall of the Great Wall. Left to themselves, all will perish.

“
But from beyond the stars there will arrive a lost girl, on the verge of womanhood, in the great reaches of the Ravenwild forests, who can be their savior if she is herself first saved. She will travel to the Enchanted Northland, spelled since the time of the Great War by twelve great wizards, whose bones will have long since turned to dust, but whose sorcery will never weaken nor fail. There she will match wits with the Dukkar, a creature given life from lifelessness by the power of those same twelve wizards, and if successful, she will come to possess a talisman that will give her more power than has ever been seen on this world, since even before the Great War.

“
If she fails, all is lost.

“
She will be recognized by those who save her by the blood-red gemstone that she wears on her neck, on the finest of golden chain. It will be in the shape of a heart, and two serpents will wrestle at its center. Take great care with this precious stone, for it will be how she finds her way home.”

He finished, opening his eyes. Now it was Diana’s turn to cover her mouth in wonder.

He noticed that she had moved backwards away from the bed.

“Could it be?” she asked.

“Not only could it be,” he answered, “it looks like it is.”

“May the Old One show us mercy,” she said softly, “and guide us now in what we must do.”

Jared whispered, “Amen.”

Chapter 16

She couldn’t get the butterfly to talk to her, no matter how hard she tried. It truly seemed like it was trying to, and she honestly thought she could hear something when she leaned in real close, but she knew she was probably imagining things.

Until now, she had spoken briefly with a furry little chipmunk-like creature, and a beautiful blue bird with a bright red beak, but that was it.

So, after she had finished eating as many berries as she could, as well as some odd fruit that looked somewhat like an apple, but tasted more like a sweetened pine cone, and drank her fill of water from a spring that Cinnamon had found while out exploring the day before, she had spied this awesome insect and was giving it her best shot.

It was almost a fatal mistake to lose herself so in her attempt to communicate with it, because by concentrating on it as hard as she was, she failed to hear Cinnamon’s cry to climb back up to safety until it was almost too late. In fact, Cinnamon had to use an old-fashioned cat scream to get her to jerk her head up, and she spied the problem as soon as she did: A pack of Wolves, not a hundred yards away from her, over on the far side of the same clearing where she now lay on her belly. She sprang for the vine at the same time as the Wolves sprang for her and was shocked to see how fast they made it over to her.

As the jaws of the closest one snapped within inches of her ankle, she shrieked, and was all at once glad she had not shied away from the exercises on the ropes in gym class. Down to the ground it flopped, rolling once and springing back upright.

“Nice try, Brutus,” one called out.

“Yeah, nice try,” called out some of the others.

Jacqueline continued her climb until she was way back up in the treetops and had rejoined Cinnamon, who admonished her by saying, “Well now. That can never happen again, can it? Never. This is not your backyard in Salem, Connecticut! These are the wilds on a strange planet, and there are lots of animals here to whom we are lunch. What were you doing, anyway? Didn’t you hear me calling you?”

She saw her young friend was trembling mightily, so she stopped herself and hopped into her lap, rubbing as close to her as she could.

“Oh my dear girl, I’m sorry for having lambasted you like that, but you gave me such a fright. That was a close one, but we won’t let it happen again, will we. It’s my fault, really. I should have been closer to you; it’s just that I can hardly see anything, what with all these leaves … There, there, now. It’s all right. It’s all right. Take a deep breath. That’s it. Good.”

It was several minutes before she had calmed down enough to be able to speak.

“Oh, Cinnamon,” she said. “That was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.” As she said it, she unconsciously fiddled with the ruby on her necklace, which sparkled brightly in the morning sun.

“Of course it was. Never before have you had to think of yourself as somebody else’s idea of a snack. Now you know, and we won’t take any more chances.”

“Can they get at us up here?”

“Of course not, dear. Come now. You know better than that. Wolves can’t climb trees, now can they?”

“No, I suppose they can’t. Of course they can’t. I know that. Oh my, Cinnamon. That was so terrible. Holy S-word.”

“Holy S-word, indeed,” said Cinnamon. “Oh well, no harm done. Don’t worry. We are out of reach up here. They can’t hurt us.”

Down below them on the forest floor the great beasts prowled nonstop. Brutus, the leader of the pack, called them all together, growling, “Meeting. Now.”

Grumbling all the while, the pack of seven nevertheless assembled in front of him. “Hey, hey, hey. Quiet. Look, I never wanted this job as pack leader. I was elected to the position, remember?”

“That’s because you’re the smartest and the strongest,” said Roly, the only chubby one of the group. “Not because you’re the best looking. That … would be me.” He stuck his nose in the air for emphasis. The rest of the pack laughed.

“Yeah, you wish,” said Stefen.

“That’s enough, now,” said Brutus. “I want some discussion about what we’re doing. We need to think about getting some food, and I mean some actual food, not like the would-be-snacks-for-one in the treetops up yonder. The pups are probably already starting to happen. Harvey, Dillon, I want you to head back south and try to hook up with any of the packs that are still left here in the woods. There has to be at least one that is not out hunting Trolls on the plains. Anyway, make contact and let us know what we’re supposed to be doing other than cooling our heels. Stefen, Michael, you both head due north and see what the situation is at The Gate. Maybe we’ll get lucky and a few of the Trolls that have the fortress flanked will wander in a little too close to the trees. One way or another, report back tomorrow.”

“Why do
we
have to go all the way to The Gate and back?” asked Michael. “Why can’t we stay here and keep an eye on the Human squirt and her pet?”

“Fine,” said Brutus, too tired and too hungry to ask him if this was a challenge. “You want to stay, stay. I’ll go. Who’s going with me?”

For the next several minutes the Wolves bickered amongst themselves. It was finally decided that they would remain together as a pack for one more day, roaming forth in pairs to scout for possible game. If they had not had any luck by sunup the following day, they would split up and try to make contact with one of the other packs they believed to be still in the woods with them.

“You know, we can’t eat her anyway,” said Roly.

“Eat who?” asked Brutus.

“The Human girl in the trees, of course.”

“And why is that?”

“Did you see what she’s wearing?”

“What is that?”

“A stone. A blood-red, heart-shaped gemstone.”

“No way,” said Brutus. He looked genuinely perplexed. “Are you certain?”

“One hundred and twenty percent,” said Roly. “On her neck on a fine gold chain.”

The rest of the pack gathered in close. This was huge news.

“It can’t be,” said Stefen. “She’s way too young.”

“Then what is she doing here?” asked Michael. “How did she get in here? And what of this cat that’s traveling with her? The prophecy doesn’t mention a cat.”

“Maybe she’s meant to live with us and grow up until she’s old enough to fulfill it,” offered Dillon.

“Maybe,” said Brutus. “Are you absolutely sure she’s wearing it?” he asked again.

“Uh-huh.”

“Who else has seen it?” asked Brutus.

Nobody spoke.

“Best looking
and
best eyesight,” laughed Roly. “I should definitely be the leader here.”

“Yeah, right,” said Michael. “You could never be the leader. You’re too fat. Isn’t there something in the prophecy … oh yes, I remember now, ‘We don’t take orders from fat guys.’”

“Good one,” howled Stefen, the rest laughing along at this good-natured teasing.

“Well, we know what we have to do,” said Brutus. Seven pairs of eyes stared at him. Nobody made a sound. All knew how important this might end up being. “We need to confirm that she’s wearing it. If it’s true, we need to keep her alive.”

“What about the cat?” asked Michael. “Can we at least eat the cat?”

“No,” replied Brutus. “The way I see it, the cat is key to our understanding of what is going on here. We need to see if she talks to it. If she does, then that
,
we all agree, is right out of the prophecy. So we keep them both alive. Do you think she’ll talk with us? That is the actual prophecy.”

“Would
you
talk to us, were you her, being as you just tried to tear her from the trees not ten minutes ago?” asked Roly.

“Yes, you’re probably right,” said Brutus. “Okay, then. We go where they go. Anybody else sees it, let the rest know at once.”

“My goodness, what are they talking about down there?” asked Jacqueline.

“I haven’t been listening.”

“Maybe we should be. They’re probably talking about us.”

“Whatever makes you say that, my dear? No, they’re probably talking about where they can get some food. Wolves need lots of food.”

“They sure are big, aren’t they Cinnamon?”

She chortled softly. “It’s probably our only competitive advantage, that. Our size. They couldn’t care much about us as food.”

“Mmmm,” said Jacqueline. “I’m going to see if I can hear what they’re saying.”

“Now don’t you fall, dearest,” said Cinnamon. “I’ve had about enough excitement for one day.”

Slowly, Jacqueline worked her way down through the tangle and leaf of their treetop hideaway. Being careful to not disturb the dense growth so they wouldn’t hear her approach, she slid her way along the giant tree limb. It was easily big enough to walk on, but she chose the safer method, crawling her way to where it intersected another branch, onto which she eased herself. Dropping down to all fours, she repeated the process until she arrived at a spot directly above them, where they continued to talk. She calmed her breathing and found she could hear them clearly, if faintly, as they chatted one with the other on the forest floor below.

“I’m telling you, Michael, it has to be her. She is wearing that stone thing. That heart-shaped stone thing. And she’s wearing it around her neck on a fine gold chain, like it says in Prophecy.

“I’m telling you, I listened to my mother and grandmother tell me those Prophecy stories hundreds of times as a pup growing up when the elders spoke at the gatherings, and I’m not kidding, it’s got to be her.”

“It can’t be,” said Harvey, “She’s
way
too young. This Human girl is, at most, ten to twelve years old, and Prophecy clearly states, ‘A young maiden, on the verge of womanhood,’ or something like that. This is
not
the one that the prophecy tells us will come. And it also says that ‘She will appear in the great reaches of the Ravenwild forests … ’
We
are in the south, the
south
, of Inam'Ra, remember? So
she
, whoever
she
is, is not, I repeat
not
, the one the prophecy names as the redeemer, or liberator, or savior, or however it went.

“And by the way, what the actual girl named in Prophecy will want
,
and
will
have, is the end of this terrible persecution of the races at the hands of Leopold Malance Venomisis, and a righting of all the things that have gone so horribly wrong on our world since his grandfather became the Emperor. And it will all happen
because
of her.”

“And doesn’t it say something about her saving the world if she herself is first saved?” asked Michael.

All remembered words to that effect having been spoken to them by their elders when they were growing up.