The Dawn of the Raven Omnibus 1: Episodes 1-5 (16 page)

A trio of Gekken, a very small scouting party, was standing
on the other side of the clearing.  As soon as the women stepped in, the Gekken
turned and spotted them.  Both parties startled each other.  For a moment, both
paused.  Then, the Gekken leader screamed and they rushed to attack.

Instantly, Raveena drew her sword and braced herself.  They
would be upon them in moments.  Shyrea tried to decide what to do, but there
was no time to think.  If she was going to swap, there was no time to bind
herself, but if she didn’t then they surely had no chance.  With her own body’s
hands and feet still free, she thrust herself into a Gekken next to the leader
and tried to attack him, just as she had done with the wolves.  The Gekken
leader reacted quickly.  He was smart.  He partially deflected Shyrea’s blow,
and immediately seemed to sense that some sort of magic was in play, and that
this was no longer his man.

“Ahhhhh” he
spoke in a low, guttural voice that barely rendered words discernible.  “Clever
one.  An Elken.  So, this is your power.”  He turned and yelled orders to his
own man who was now in Shyrea’s body.  The Gekken who had been swapped was
completely disoriented, but reacted to his leader’s order to attack.  Raveena
suddenly found herself being hit by Shyrea.  She realized what was going on and
was forced to strike her to subdue the Gekken so that she could focus on the
Gekken still approaching and the leader.  As soon as the Gekken leader saw
Shyrea’s body go down, he stabbed his sword through the gut of the Gekken
Shyrea had swapped with.  Instantly, as soon as the deathblow was struck,
Shyrea was pulled out of his body and snapped back into her own.  As she opened
her eyes and gasped, Raveena was momentarily distracted, weary of having struck
her friend so hard.  The two remaining Gekken overwhelmed her and Kiella. 
Raveena put up a valiant fight, seriously injuring the third Gekken, but she
was unable to defeat them.  The Gekken leader struck her across the chin with the
hilt of his blade.  She fell in a clump, and her sword fell from her hand.  He
kicked her blade aside and stood over her.  He let out a loud war-cry, and
prepared to strike a death blow.

To Be Continued in

Episode 6:

Close to Home