The Dawn of the Raven Omnibus 1: Episodes 1-5 (12 page)

“Oh.  No, no
idea.  She’s missing?”

“There’s no
sign of her.”

Kiella looked around, still blinking, trying to get her eyes
to focus properly.

“I’m sure
she’ll be back.  She’s a hero, you know.  She saved us.  If it wasn’t for her,
I would have been picked apart by wolves or vultures.  Both of us would have. 
And if she hadn’t taken us to their village you would have died of your wound
for sure.”

Raveena focused on sharpening her blade.  Her face grew
stern, though it wasn’t clear whether it was in response to her misgivings
regarding the Elken woman, or if she was just concentrating on her work. 
Finally, she paused and looked Kiella in the eye.

“Are you
sure we can trust her?”

“Of course. 
Like I said, she saved us.  She took us to her village and they healed you,
welcomed us, outsiders, in.  If they’d meant us any harm they certainly would
have done it.  No one from outside these woods would have ever been the wiser.”

“What’s her
name?”  Raveena asked, as she continued to sharpen her blade.

“Shyrea.”

Just then, the sound of soft footsteps just outside the
clearing could be heard.  Raveena readied her freshly sharpened sword, still
the one she’d taken off the body of a dead Raganean soldier, just in case.  She
relaxed her grip on the blade only slightly when she saw that it was the Elken
woman.

“Good
morning” spoke Kiella.

“Good
morning” responded Shyrea in her Elken accent.  She sat down and reached into
her pouch.  She handed Raveena and Kiella each a handful of berries for
breakfast, and promised she had more if they were hungry enough for seconds.

“Thank you”
responded Raveena, though she looked at both the berries and Shyrea with thinly
veiled suspicion.  Shyrea didn’t appear to notice.  She just went about eating,
and once Raveena saw her eating the berries, she felt more comfortable eating
them herself. 

“What are
these?” Raveena inquired.

“Ogenberries”
answered Shyrea.  After she ate a few more, she added, “Only eat these, the
dark ones.  The lighter ones will keep you up for weeks, and you’ll likely
hallucinate the whole time.  Eat too many, and your mind probably won’t come
back with you even after the effects have passed.  These, though, are
harmless.  And delicious.”

Raveena looked them over, making sure they were all very dark
indeed, then went back to eating them because yes, they were quite delicious. 
After a little while had passed, Raveena spoke again.

“You don’t
hate us?  Don’t hate the outsiders?”

Suddenly, things got much more tense at the camp.  Kiella was
worried.  She’d had time to get comfortable with the Elken, she knew that
Raveena hadn’t, but she hated to see Raveena make Shyrea uncomfortable.  She
felt much more secure with her there.  She didn’t want Raveena to scare her
away. 

“Hate you? 
Hmmm . . .   Not either of you in particular.   Are we fond of the fact that
your people try to kill us if we leave this forest?  No.  But we Elken try to
think in terms of individuals.  You two have done me no wrong, so I give you
the benefit of the doubt.  Should I not?”  She looked up and stared Raveena in
the eyes when she asked this.

Raveena quickly backed off.

“No, no.  Of
course you should.  I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to sound unappreciative.  We are
grateful you are here with us.  And Kiella just told me that we owe you our
lives, and that I am indebted to you and your people twice over for mine.  It’s
just . . .  this is all very new to me.”

They went back to eating in semi-awkward silence.  Kiella was
glad it had stopped there.  She was the first to stand up and act ready to go,
hoping that if she sped things along Raveena would ask no more questions, and wouldn’t
risk alienating Shyrea and turning her away before they even began their
journey.  The other two quickly followed suit, and they were off.

The day was off to a great start.  With Shyrea leading them
through the woods they were making great time.  Kiella cringed, though, as
Raveena couldn’t help but resume the conversation, and the line of questioning,
that she’d begun before they’d left camp.

“So,”
Raveena said to Shyrea, “We’re the killers?  Just us?  You don’t remember why
the Elken were exiled in the first place?  Why we had to push your people into
these woods, and forbid you to leave them?”

Kiella couldn’t believe it, how fast the goodwill had been
squandered from their group.  She jumped to Shyrea’s aid.

“Raveena. 
You’re being ridiculous.  We owe her and her people our lives!”

“No.  No. 
It’s okay” said Shyrea.  She thought for a moment to choose her words
carefully, then continued.  “We remember.  That was a long time ago, and only
the work of a few.  The Elken in general, we as a people are peaceful.  We mean
no one harm.  We wish for peace in the realm.  That’s why we honor the truce. 
That’s why we stay in these woods.  We don’t want to spill outsider blood, any
more than we want to see our own people’s blood spilled.  We value all life,
and if the best way to preserve lives is to honor the truce, then that’s what
we do.”

Raveena looked unimpressed.

“The
Massacre of Pbotholem; that means nothing to you?  How can you say your people
are peaceful?  How can you say you don’t want to spill human blood?”

Shyrea now, clearly, was uneasy.  Her beautiful eyes were
fixed to the ground in front of her.  She did her best to keep her cool, but
the Typhorian was making it extremely difficult to do so.

“I am taking
a great risk coming with you.  If I cross the line with you and I am discovered
as an Elken, then I may be put to death.  I and my people have saved your
life.  Have I not shown enough good will for you yet?  You’re still not
convinced that I’m not more than just a blood-thirsty savage?”

Raveena still distrusted the Elken, but she bit her tongue
and held back any response.  Kiella jumped in.

“Shyrea, I’m
sorry.  Raveena was unconscious when you and your people did so much for us. 
As outsiders, we have all heard the tales of the Elken.  We have been raised
with a very different picture of you and your kind than what I have now seen to
be true.  Raveena, you must drop this.  Shyrea is here to help, surely you can
appreciate that.  Thank you, Shyrea.”

Shyrea nodded.  Kiella glared at Raveena, hoping her obvious
scorn and disdain would keep her from talking anymore.  It worked.  Raveena
frowned gravely, but she gave up her diatribe, for the time being.

Before long, the woods grew dark.  The sky had turned from
blue to dark grey, and it was clear that a storm was about to come.  Shyrea
said she knew of caves that would give them shelter, but Raveena felt that they
would take them too far off course.  She refused to stray from the most direct
path to Typhoria, even though Shyrea warned that the coming storm would likely
be a serious one.  Kiella grew concerned as she heard the thunder in the near
distance, but there was no reasoning with Raveena.  Once the rain came, and
began to pour down by the bucket loads, it was too late to change course for
the caves.  The forest floor quickly became slippery and footing became
treacherous.  The rain fell so hard and fast that it was difficult to maintain
one’s sense of direction, and with their garments drenched they were
shivering.  Raveena finally realized that she had made a mistake by not heeding
the Elken’s advice.  When Kiella asked if Shyrea knew of any other shelter they
could still reach, Raveena did not object. 

Shyrea led them quickly through the woods.  The rain was
coming down extremely fast and hard, and they were on a slight incline.  Their
footing became nearly impossible as the forest floor became a sea of mud and
running water.  The conditions were worsening to a serious degree when their
destination finally came into view: a small cottage hidden in the middle of the
forest.  It was rugged but strong looking, and with a candle flickering in the
window, it looked very dry and warm.   They pushed strongly forward through the
storm, and finally reached the door.  When they were on the porch, almost out
of the rain, Kiella turned and looked back.  Shyrea was nowhere to be found. 
Raveena and Kiella stood there for a few minutes, trying their best to see
through the pouring rain, and figure out what had happened to her.  They
backtracked as best they could, but there was no sign of her.  The rain was
coming down too hard, and there was nowhere else to look, so finally they went
back to the door and knocked.  After a momentary pause, an elderly woman opened
the door and greeted them.  They asked if they could enter, and she welcomed
them in.

“What were
you two doing out in the rain there?” the old woman asked as she poured them
some hot tea after fetching them some warm bear skins to wrap themselves up
in.  “Why are you this far into the forest?  This is no place for humans.  At
least not your like.  The poachers, those people . . .  well, they’re hardly
people at all, but they can handle themselves out here.  The rest of you
humans, though, the posh ones from the kingdoms . . .  this is no place for
you.”   Somehow, she managed to keep this from sounding condescending; not that
Raveena or Kiella were in any place to complain.   The woman sat down in front
of them with a cup poured for herself.  The house was small and cozy, but
extremely dark, and not particularly well kept.  There was dust and cobwebs all
about.  An orange cat played with a mouse in the corner which had either
succumbed to injuries already, or was playing possum now in one last ditch
attempt at survival.  The woman noticed.  “Oh, caught another one!  Good girl,
my Sweetie!”  The cat went to her and plopped into her lap.  She stroked its
neck and it immediately began to purr.  Then she addressed her guests. 

“My, you two
are a pair of beauties.  I don’t get many visitors anymore.  No, none at all,
hardly.  This is a treat.  I had a good feeling about today when I woke up, but
then, with this rain . . .  well, I thought maybe I was wrong about it.  But
now I see that it is a special occasion.” 

Kiella wasn’t paying the old woman much attention.  Her eyes
were fixed out the window, trying to catch a glimpse of Shyrea.

“What’s
wrong, love?” inquired the elderly woman.  “Did you lose something out there?”

“A friend.”
Answered Kiella.  “She was right behind us, just minutes before we got here. 
She was the one who led us here.”

“Oh no?  A
human, one of your type, out there in the rain?  Disappeared?  Oh, it’s
probably too late for her then.  These woods will swallow up your kind on a
good day.  On a day such as this?  She probably got swept away in the mud, or
maybe the wolves grabbed her.  It could be anything out there.”

“Oh, but
she’s not one of our kind.  She’s one of the exiles.  These woods are her
home.”

The old woman’s face suddenly turned angry and wretched, her
eyes smoldering in the flickering candle light.

“An exile? 
You mean she is one of the Elken?  No wonder she’s gone.  She knew she wouldn’t
be welcome here.”  The old woman hopped up and looked intently out the window
through the rain.  “Smart one, your friend.  If I caught her, I’d turn her into
stone, or into a rat and feed her to a snake.  Or a cockroach, and crush her
under my shoe.  Or another mouse there for Cressa to kill.”  Cressa meowed and
rubbed her side against her owner’s leg.  “Yes, that’s right.  I’d feed her to
you, my Sweet.”

Kiella and Raveena looked at each other, wondering what they
had gotten into.  What was Shyrea thinking, leading them here, to this crazy
woman?

“Turn her
into stone?  Into a rat?  A roach?  You mean, like a spell?”  asked Kiella,
nervously.

The woman turned back towards her with an incredulous
expression.

“Of course
with a spell!  I’m a Tagi.  That’s what I do.  Your people would call me a
witch.  What would you expect from me?”  She then went back to the pot of tea
and politely offered Raveena and Kiella more.  Both were slow in offering her
their cup.  “Oh great.  Now you’re scared of me, eh?  Well don’t worry.  Your
friend is wise.  I like humans.  You have nothing to fear from me.” Then she
gave them a wry smile.  “As long as you don’t cause any trouble.”  She followed
this up with a wink to imply she was kidding, but it still made them a bit
uneasy.   Raveena finally, not wanting to offend and hoping that she was a
witch of her word, allowed her to refill her cup.  Kiella did too.  They were
still freezing cold, and the tea was helping considerably.

“Why do you
hate Elken?” asked Kiella, after a short time had passed and she became
slightly more confident that she wasn’t in imminent danger of being turned into
a roach herself.

“Oh.  Those
smug bastards.  Magic comes too easily to them.  Born with it, they say.  They
aren’t craftsman.  They aren’t students.  They don’t learn proper spells, or
proper casting.  Not most of them, anyway.  There’s no art to what they do. 
Yet, they’re the ones who get magical gifts from the gods?  They don’t deserve
them: they’re wasted on them.  Lucky bastards.  I wouldn’t let one of them in
my house.  Your friend knew that.  If I see them near my property, I shoo them
away with sticks.  They’re lucky I don’t do worse!”  Suddenly, without warning,
Cressa bit the old woman.  She was shocked.  “What has gotten into you, my
love?”  She set the cat down and the cat rushed into the other room.  The woman
looked perplexed as she looked after the cat.  “She has never done that.”  Her concern
quickly passed.  She smiled warmly at her guests.  “What is it that brings you
two beauties to these woods?”