Raven Quest

by R A Oakes

  However, rather than stopping when she reached Starlight, the old woman continued on, all the while locking eyes with Raven who she knew had been able to see her, visible or not, the moment she’d stepped out from behind an outcropping of rock that marked the first bend in the trail. As she approached Raven, everyone gasped, monks and humans alike, for the closer the old woman got to her, the more visible the lone monk became until she was as solid and real as anyone else by the time the two women were facing each other.

  Looking at her own hands, the elderly female monk was surprised that she could see them as easily as she could see the warrior woman in front of her. And she knew it was Raven, not Starlight, who’d caused the transformation. Smiling at the warrior woman, she said, “I’m Vangalaya, and you are most welcome.”

  Raven didn’t know what to say but was captivated by the elderly woman’s eyes which seemed like two small pools of water that went very, very deep.

  Smiling gently, Vangalaya added, “I saw the cloud of prism-light sparks pouring out of the crevasse on the opposite side of the field, and I haven’t seen anything like that in a very long time, a very long time. If I may ask, who are you?”

  “I’m a pilgrim seeking rest, Master, who are you?”

  “I’m a humble teacher who’s not worthy of such a title.”

  Dropping to her knees, Raven said, “I’ve been at war for almost 20 years, Master, and I’m weary of battle.”

  “Then put down your sword.”

  “May I be so bold as to point out that your fellow monks are carrying spears?”

  “They are not as weary as you, my daughter.”

  “My name is Raven, and I could sleep for an eternity.”

  “All in due time, Raven, but such is not your fate as yet.”

  “Is there no rest? Is there no end to hatred and violence?”

  “Possibly we can pursue those questions together when you come to the monastery and join us for dinner and a good night’s sleep.”

  “Sleep eludes me, Master.”

  “It’s okay to call me Vangalaya. And we’ll talk more this evening, but first, how about helping an old woman up this mountain?”

  “Gladly, Master Vangalaya,” Raven said, and she stood up and offered an arm to the old woman who took it gratefully.

  “Are these all friends of yours?” Vangalaya asked, indicating Starlight and the humans.

  “They are my closest friends, Master.”

  “The little one, the girl, looks a lot like you.”

  “Her name’s Renivy, Master. And she looks like me because she is me at a younger age.”

  “That should prove to be an interesting topic for conversation,” the old woman said smiling. “And who is this friend of yours, the one who’s also a vegetarian troll?”

  “Her name is Starlight, Master, and you might have a little girl at the monastery who’s around six-years- old and who looks much like her. Do you have a girl named Starlight?”

  “Indeed we do. Our abbots, Rothena and Galaxen, have a girl that age and, yes, her name is also Starlight.”

  “Then, you might want to take a closer look at my friend Starlight because she and the little girl are the very same person.”

  “Rise, daughter,” Vangalaya said to Starlight after Raven and the elderly monk had walked up the trail a little.

  “Thank you, Master, but how is it we can see you?” Starlight asked, standing up.

  “Oh, I’ve always been around.”

  “But I’ve never seen you before, not really seen you, like now.”

  “Well, I’ve seen you many times, at least a six- year-old version of yourself.” Then, turning to Raven, the elderly woman added, “I agree with you, the two Starlights do have a strong family resemblance.”

  “I’m pleased that you think so, Master.”

  “And I’m pleased that I was here today, otherwise I might not be making your acquaintance. My own friends here,” she said, motioning to the monks ahead of them on the trail who were all becoming more and more visible the closer Raven came to them, “have been a bit on edge lately. It seems a few of our meat-eating troll neighbors have been seen wearing dark cloaks while walking about in broad daylight in the field below, which has unsettled all of us at the monastery.”

  “Yes, Master, I understand. They killed some of my mother’s friends only a short while ago.”

  “Your mother?”

  “Master, I’d like to introduce you to Zorya, my mother,” Raven said, pausing to allow a woman to approach them, one dressed in forest green and wearing a full-length cloak which shimmered like the embers of a fire.

  “I’m glad to meet you, Zorya.”

  “I’m most glad to meet you as well, Master.”

  “What’s it like having a daughter who appears to be the same age as yourself?”

  “She was a handful as a child, Master, and nothing has changed from what I can see.”

  “It never does,” Vangalaya said smiling. “But as I was telling your daughter, I’m glad I was here today because very few of us have ever had contact with humans. Our two species have been estranged for as long as I can remember.”

  “It’s our loss, Master, I’m sure after having met you.”

  Upon reaching the other warrior monks, both male and female, Vangalaya said, “Brothers and sisters, as you continue keeping a vigilant watch on the trail, I’m going to take our guests to the monastery, and we’ll invite them to dine with us.”

  “Master, perhaps some of us should accompany you,” one of the monks suggested. “This has been an unorthodox encounter. And we’re completely visible when around this woman.” All the monks were dressed alike, wearing light-green robes with shades of brown and gray similar to the colors found in the ground and the rock walls along the trail.

  “Raven, her name is Raven.”

  “Yes, Master,” the monk replied, though eyeing Raven with suspicion having never encountered a human up close before.

  “Well, you’ll all get to know her soon enough. She’s my new student.”

  “Master, a human student, is that wise?” another monk asked.

  “It’s always wise to know those who most surprise us. Isn’t that true?”

  “Of course, Master, of course.”

  “Well, it’s going to be a long walk to the monastery. And I’m sure our new friends will be working up quite an appetite. What do you think, Raven, after a few miles of walking up a steep mountain trail, and it will be getting steep, I can assure you, will you feel like some dinner?”

  “I’ll eat whatever you’re having, Master,” Raven replied.

  “Then, you’ll be staying quite hungry, my child, because I haven’t eaten an actual meal in many a year. However, when you’re sitting next to me, and since I appear to be back in the flesh, at least for the moment, I might give it a try. What about fried crickets topped with a worm sauce?”

  When Raven made a bit of a face, Vangalaya laughed and said, “I shouldn’t tease you. We eat vegetables, only vegetables. You do enjoy vegetables, don’t you?”

  “Yes, Master.”

  “Zorya, is Raven telling the truth?”

  “If she’s still like Renivy, and if she’s hungry enough, she’ll eat anything that’s not tied down.”

  “Mother, you’re embarrassing me,” Renivy protested.

  “Well, you’ve always had quite an appetite.”

  “Have your daughters ever eaten vegetables grown in megentum-enriched land?” Vangalaya asked.

  “Not that I know of, Master.”

  “Then, you’re all in for quite a treat,” the old woman said smiling. “But as for now, how about if we concentrate on getting up this mountain?”

  “Yes, Master,” Raven, Zorya and Starlight all said at once.

  “Yes, yes, a real treat indeed, isn’t that right, Starlight?”

  “Yes, Master, it will be quite a treat.”

  ◆◆◆

  Several hours later, the travelers had completed their a
rduous journey and were in the monastery’s great hall surrounded by over 200 male and female Xao-Lin monks. This gathering was fewer than half of those residing at the ancient fortress, though it represented a cross section of the population, including both ghosts and living monks. The “Xao,” Vangalaya had explained to the travelers, was a universal life force which the monks believed flowed through all things and was the creator of all things. Renivy had told Vangalaya about her experience on another mountain trail, the one leading to the plateau on Dead Man’s Mountain. And she’d mentioned that she called the life force by a different name, the Creative Light. Vangalaya had smiled and told her that the Xao goes by many names. The elderly monk had also said, “When we cross over into the afterlife, as beings of radiant light, I suspect we’ll discover that we’re all worshiping the same God.”

  “Is God real?” Renivy had asked.

  And Vangalaya had smiled again and said, “You are the only person who can answer that question to your own satisfaction.”

  “I believe the Creative Light is real,” Renivy had replied.

  “Then for you, it is,” Vangalaya had said with a gentle smile.

  Many of the Xao-Lin monks were surprised that a human had shown an interest in such spiritual matters. The residents of the monastery, most having had little or no contact with humans, were of the opinion that the guests who’d just arrived were little more than mindless brutes, much like meat-eating trolls. Stories abounded about humans brandishing weapons and shooting arrows at Xao-Lin monks who’d attempted peaceful contact. Therefore, a few monks had kept their spears handy in case Rothena and Galaxen, the abbots at the monastery, were wrong in their view that these humans were peaceful. The monastery was a deeply spiritual place, but these were warrior monks who’d lived their entire lives with Gratuga being only a few miles from the base of the mountain trail. And even though all the vegetarian monks knew that it had been a long time since Rothena and Galaxen were wrong about anything they both agreed upon, the guests who’d just arrived were humans. And special caution was necessary when around such uncivilized creatures.

  However, the Xao-Lin monks had listened in rapt attention to Raven’s account of what life would be like for them in 20 years. Yet as hard as the monks tried, it was a huge stretch of the imagination for them to grasp that vegetarian trolls and humans would form an alliance, even if it was out of a desperate and mutual need to survive.

  Surprisingly, the monks found it easier to believe that Raven had come 20 years into her past, into their present time frame. Yes, it seemed time travel was more believable to them than vegetarian trolls and humans getting along.

  The monks even found it easier to believe that Raven and Renivy were the same person. And they accepted that little Starlight and the adult Starlight were one-and-the-same person, especially after their mother had declared unequivocally that she now had two daughters here at the monastery. Rothena had known the adult Starlight was her daughter the moment she’d set eyes on her.

  But that humans and vegetarian trolls would form an alliance? That was a bit of a stretch for even the most open-minded of the monks, except for Rothena and Galaxen, who immediately understood the significance of such an alliance, as well as the extreme danger it would take to force such mutual, previously-unthinkable cooperation.

  As a way of trying to lighten the mood, Rothena was making an attempt to teach Raven how to do time travel without any help from Aldwen’s megentum amulet. Aldwen had shown the monks how his amulet had been burned to a cinder and was no long useful, leaving the guests trapped in the here and now. Whether the vegetarian trolls called it the present or Raven called it 20 years into the past made little difference. Here Raven, Dynarsis, Starlight and Andylan were and here in this time frame they’d stay. There was no going back.

  “All you need to do is clear your mind, and then get a feel for where you were a moment or two ago,” Rothena said, trying to explain something most of the monks had never mastered themselves, even after years of meditation and study. The best any had achieved was going for a second or two into either the past or the future. But such a talent could give a warrior the chance to dodge a sword or even an arrow. And the monks had all seen both Rothena and Galaxen do just that many times before in martial-arts practice.

  “A moment or two ago, I was sitting here on the floor with you and Galaxen, just as I am now,” Raven said smiling. Being a leader herself, she understood the importance of having a pleasant, even humorous, distraction of some sort after a particularly taxing and mentally-draining conversation. And this one had been just that.

  “Okay, shift over on the floor a bit and then shift back,” Rothena said smiling. However, she’d been watching the monks around her, and she’d seen the strain on their faces, and this strain was all the more unusual since, as warrior monks, they practiced being prepared for the unexpected. But this human had given them all a lot to think about, more than most had experienced in one sitting, including Rothena and Galaxen.

  Raven played along, sliding sideways a couple feet on the polished wood floor and sliding back. “Now what?”

  “Clear your mind.”

  “Is that wise? After everything I’ve had to think about lately, if I were able to clear my mind, I doubt if I’d want to think about anything ever again.”

  “And that would be very wise. Thoughts hamper our actions. Being free of them, however, fosters greater simplicity and spontaneity.”

  “But isn’t it dangerous to give up conscious thought?”

  “What about when things change and change quickly? The mind can’t keep up.”

  “A disciplined warrior would think it through.”

  “Even when a fraction of a second means the difference between life and death?”

  “No, conscious thought wouldn’t help in such an instance,” Raven agreed.

  “So clear your mind, and let the feel of sliding on the floor seep into your inner being. Don’t think about shifting from one spot to another, just feel it.”

  After closing her eyes and being silent for a few minutes, Raven was about to give up when her mind drifted a little. And Raven found it to be restful, very restful. Next, taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and said, “Well, I don’t know about time travel, but that felt incredibly refreshing.” Yet Raven was surprised by the look of wonder on Rothena’s and Galaxen’s faces and the look of shock on just about everyone else’s.

  “What?” Raven asked, seeing the monks who were sitting closest to her moving away, putting some distance between themselves and their guest. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. In fact, you did quite well, shifting back and forth rapidly, quite rapidly,” Galaxen said, speaking for the first time.

  “You’re teasing,” Raven said, almost laughing.

  “No, I wouldn’t tease about something like this,” Galaxen said gravely.

  Raven quickly glanced over at Aldwen who nodded in agreement.

  “I didn’t mean to surprise or upset anyone. I just thought we were playing a little so we could all unwind,” Raven said.

  “Yes, I agree with you, and I also agree with Galaxen. You did quite well,” Rothena said smiling, though clearly mystified.

  “So, I cleared my mind?”

  “I’d say Vangalaya should be very proud of her new student.”

  Looking over at Vangalaya, Raven shrugged and said, “I hope you’re proud, though I’m not completely sure why you would be.”

  “Well, you’ve opened our minds a little. An uncivilized human has opened our minds,” Vangalaya said, clearly amused.

  “But I didn’t feel myself moving back in time, even for a second or two. I didn’t feel anything,” Raven protested.

  “Well, I’d say you’ve done us a favor. Some of us here at the monastery, including myself, might have become a little complacent without realizing it. Having a hostile neighbor has kept us busy of late, and we haven’t been exploring the mysteries of life, at least not as much as we s
hould. And there’s nothing better for cleaning out the cobwebs than something that’s a little unexpected, and in this case, quite positive.”

  “So, did I shift back and forth?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “Not exactly, at least not in the way we’re used to seeing. Around here, we’ll move from side-to-side once or twice in such an exercise. But you were going back and forth on the floor so fast that you’d become a blur,” Vangalaya said, her eyes sparkling.

  Raven looked at the ancient monk in disbelief, and then glanced over at Starlight, who nodded and smiled. Starlight had learned to expect the unexpected when it came to her leader. One of the reasons Starlight served Raven was that she was never boring, absolutely never.

  “Well, I think it’s time you and I got a breath of fresh air,” Vangalaya said, standing up. And when Raven stood up to join her, the warrior woman’s three closest friends also got up, for Dynarsis, Starlight and Andylan rarely allowed their leader to go anywhere alone. Years of warfare had taught them to function as a unit, and wherever Raven was going, they were going as well.

  However, the idea of their spiritual master going anywhere with three humans and a vegetarian troll who could prove to be a traitor was totally unacceptable. Of the over 200 monks present in the great hall, at least 50 jumped to their feet almost in unison, all holding spears. And they were evenly split between the living and the dead, half being ghosts.

  “Enough!” Galaxen said. “That’s enough of exhibiting rudeness to our guests. Where are your manners?”

  Some of the senior monks gasped, having their manners challenged being one of the most serious of allegations. Warriors they all might be, but they also observed strict protocols regarding combat, and good manners were chief among these. Killing in self-defense was a necessary fact of life for those living so close to Gratuga, but a lack of manners was totally unacceptable. For a monastery in a location bordering on meat-eating troll territory, rules of conduct were viewed as a way of defining themselves as civilized.

  “Galaxen, I’m sure they intended to serve as an honor guard for me and meant no ill will towards our guests,” Vangalaya said, bowing with grave respect to the abbot. “But such an honor guard is unnecessary. I’m far too unimportant.”