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Raven Thrall

Page 7

by J Elizabeth Vincent


  If those soldiers hadn’t come, she might have walked straight to her own end. How could Gwyn expect her to go back now? Her fingers tensed around the paper, and only sheer force of will kept her from crumpling it up and throwing it into the corner. Instead, she painstakingly straightened it and folded it back into a neat square before putting it back into the book.

  Its charcoal markings were still on her mind as she sat back down to work on the portrait of her father. She had just begun the first eye when the croaking of her visitor suddenly began again, this time louder. She started, and her pen flicked across the page, leaving a streak of ink where her father’s cheeks should have been. Her patience ebbed to nothing. Turning the paper this way and that, she tried to see if there was a way to salvage it. The bird had stopped croaking and was now incessantly picking at something. Picking and pulling at the mat that covered her cave entrance to be exact.

  Mariah jumped up at once. She always pulled the mat over the entrance at night, and now, some awful bird was trying to take it apart. She screamed at it, but the sound, territorial and angry, came out more like the screech of a hawk. The bird ceased its attack on her mat. She waited for a moment, staring up into the darkness, to make sure that it had gone and that she wasn’t going to have to chase it off herself. She was just about to settle back down to her drawing when she heard something else. A human voice, a soft tenor.

  “Mariah?”

  His voice was small, timid. She might not have heard it if she had been fully human, but her hearing was as keen as her eyesight. She didn’t recognize the voice at first, but her mind quickly put everything together, and she was flying toward the ceiling of the cave before the picture of Xaecor had fully formed in her mind.

  “Move back,” she said as she neared the ceiling, flapping her wide silver and black wings to keep her level as she pushed the mat back a few feet to create an opening large enough for a raven. “You’ll have to fly in. It’s too high a drop.”

  A moment passed, and Xae, in his raven form, was soon flapping through the opening. He circled around and moved down to the floor as she pulled the mat closed again and descended to join him.

  By the time she hit the floor, the boy was standing on two legs next to one of the torch lamps, running a hand through his hair, looking around, and shuffling his feet. How did he do that? She could smell the sweat on his skin. Nerves?

  Mariah’s jaw tightened. Her head began to buzz. Gwyneth couldn’t convince her to fly off to Varidian herself, so she had sent this boy off on some mad mission to find her and persuade her? Was it supposed to make her feel guilty? It was a low tactic.

  She opened her mouth to lay into Xae before she realized that he was not carrying anything beyond the clothes on his back and a small, loosely tied scroll of paper attached to his belt. She clamped her mouth shut and hurried over to the small set of wooden shelves against one wall and retrieved a full waterskin. She handed it to him without a word.

  “Thank you,” he murmured before taking a long drink.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked after he had finished, unable to keep the sharpness out of her voice. “I told Gwyneth I was not returning to Varidian. Even if I could transform, it’s suicide. I won’t go anywhere where that … that man who calls himself king holds sway. I hope you don’t think you can come in here, looking all pitiful, and …”

  He stared at her with wide eyes, obviously surprised by the words spilling out of her mouth. She also recognized the hurt creeping into his eyes and trailed off.

  His breath hitched a few times before he spoke. “It’s not that. I didn’t … It’s Gwyneth.”

  The tone of his voice terrified her, and she froze.

  “Sh-she had a run-in with another cat, a wild one. One … one of the cougars must have come down from the mountains. Sh-she said it seemed … off …”—he gasped and took a deep breath and launched back in headlong–”Like, like it had the madness. She thinks she managed to kill it, but she barely made it back into the village. She’s hurt. … It’s bad.”

  Gwyn! Mariah’s heart felt like a lead weight in her chest. Xae continued rambling, and she tried to absorb every word, but her wings were already itching to fly. When she realized that they were already spread out to either side of her, she closed them with a snap.

  “The healer is seeing to her. She’s doing the best she can,” Xae continued. “The woodcarver and Bria are with her, too. Someone is always at her side, but she keeps asking for you. Bria gave me the map you left with her so that I could find you here.” He touched the scroll. “I-I came as quickly as I could, but I got lost on the mountain. Then it got dark and—” The sweat on his brow had started to drip down the side of his face.

  His distress helped her push past her own panic, and she tried to think.

  “Xae, stop. It’s okay.” Mariah put a hand on his shoulder. Her eyes strayed back up toward the cave entrance. She wanted to leave, to fly now, but her eyes were not nearly as good in the dark, and she knew that Xae’s wouldn’t be either. It would do no good to leave right away if they never made it back to Wellspring. “We can’t go back tonight. Listen, I’ll get you something to eat. We’ll rest. Then, we’ll leave at first light.”

  * * *

  Mariah didn’t sleep. It was impossible.

  She had settled Xae into her hammock after feeding him. He had been snoring lightly before she even finished tucking the blanket around him.

  She took a spare blanket and tried to settle down next to the stone fire pit. Her mind wouldn’t stop working. Images of her mentor injured, dying, her body torn and bloodied, flashed through her mind. Following straight behind them were images of her father, his leg seared open, white bone showing through. Both apparitions whispered to her, “Why did you leave us?”

  Throwing the blanket aside, she stood up and relit one of the torch lamps. She paced. Possibilities—none of them good— continued to stampede through her mind, grinding her nerves to dust. So, she stopped the aimless pacing and instead started preparing for her trip, tidying up the cave and filling her backpack with an extra set of clothes and some dried meat, with extra for Xae. She secured two waterskins to the bottom of the pack. It didn’t take nearly enough time. Night was still heavy upon the world.

  Mariah sat again and tried to continue her sketch, but it was no use. She threw aside the paper and quill in frustration, knocking over her little bottle of ink. Leaving the mess on the floor, she put out the torch lamp and tried to sleep again. Her eyes drifted open only a few moments later, and she stared into the darkness, willing dawn to come. By the time it did, her nerves were completely frayed, and she had to clench her jaw to keep from yelling for Xae to go faster as he washed and ate.

  When they flew out of the mouth of Firebend, she almost forgot to return the mat to its place. It didn’t seem as important anymore. Only Gwyneth mattered now. Would she be okay? How much time did she have? The scenarios in Mariah’s mind grew more dire with every second.

  With Xae close behind, she reached her ledge in record time. Stepping out onto the stone outcropping, she said, “Let’s go,” and jumped without pause. Her pack slipped as she did so, and rather than take the time to stop and tie it back on, she grabbed it with one hand as she fell.

  She plummeted almost fifty feet before her wings opened, caught the air, and pushed her upward again. Xae, his body light in its raven form, flew ahead of her, letting the currents of the wind drive him up toward Edana’s summit.

  Too slow, too slow! Mariah shrieked in frustration, her voice coming out once again like that of a hawk, maybe even more so. As she climbed, the heat of the sun flared almost too hot to bear, and her vision blurred. A moment of panic swept over her, but it passed, and the wind soon cooled her. She pumped her wings to catch up to Xae, and shock ignited her. Her wings! They felt weaker, lighter. As she turned her head in alarm, she caught sight of her pack falling toward the trees below her. Without thinking, she dove toward it, desperate n
ot to lose the gift Bria had given her.

  She caught up with the falling pack just a few feet above the treetops and reached out to grab it, but all she saw curving around in front of her was the small black tip of her wing. She became heavier again and had to beat her wings harder to keep herself from crashing into the trees. Fear filled her. Something was very wrong, but she was afraid to look down. Finally, once her altitude increased, she risked a glance. There was her backpack. She had caught it after all. It was hanging from the secure grip of two strong talons. Her talons.

  A strange mix of elation and terror filled her. She looked ahead to see Xae getting smaller in the distance and raced to catch up. As she did, she took a deep breath and truly let herself feel what had happened. Her body was smaller now. Her arms had merged into her wings, and even their span had narrowed. Her eyesight was even better now, and feathers covered almost her entire body. Her mouth and nose had been replaced by a sharp beak.

  I did it, Gwyn. I did it. Oh, gods!

  The implications of her change threatened to overwhelm her, but one image steadied her. Gwyn. She couldn’t let hysteria overtake her. She had to get back to Wellspring.

  Xae almost fell out of his glide when she came up beside him. He regained his balance and looked to her and the pack again before turning his small, black-feathered head back toward their path. His raven’s eyes showed no surprise, but Mariah knew she had startled him good.

  The remainder of their flight could have been—should have been—exhilarating, but all she could think about was getting to Wellspring and Gwyneth before it was too late.

  * * *

  By the time they arrived back in the village, Mariah’s body was wrung out from head to toe, or maybe head to claw. Between the lack of rest the night before and the shock of her first real transformation, she was desperate to sleep but even more desperate to see Gwyn.

  Bria was outside in the old woman’s yard, filling a bucket at the well. She had just hefted it up onto the stone lip when Mariah, with Xae right behind her, dropped her pack onto the dirt beside her and landed on the lip of the well with a shriek of greeting. Bria stumbled back, her free hand going to her heart in surprise, water sloshing over the edge of the bucket. Mariah looked at her, waiting for a return greeting and news.

  “Xae?” Bria said as she spotted the raven, who had landed next to Mariah’s backpack. Confusion filled her face.

  His low, warbling call answered her, and she looked back at Mariah without recognition, only puzzlement. Her gaze strayed back to the leather pack on the ground. “How did you get Mari’s bag? Xae, who … what—”

  Before Bria could finish, impatience got the best of Mariah, and she shrieked again. Why couldn’t she be human so that Bria could understand her? So she could go into the house and see Gwyneth? Panic seized her again. What if she couldn’t change back? Her heart sped up. She coughed when her next shriek tried to turn into a regular, human scream.

  Her balance shifted, and she reached to grab the stone rim of the well. With her other fist over her mouth, she tried to get the coughing to stop. Bria stepped back again. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open.

  Slowly, she lowered the bucket to the ground and ran to Mariah, throwing her arms around her and pulling her down. “Mari, you … Gwyn was right.” Wonder filled her voice. She stood back, taking Mariah in, and then embraced her again. “Your eyes … They’re blue again. You truly are Ceo San. You finally did it.”

  Mariah hugged her back fiercely. No words would come. Bria squeezed, her fingers exploring the skin of Mariah’s back through the opening at her shoulders. The opening Bria had sewn herself. The opening where her wings should have been. Mariah’s throat tightened, and she put her hand over her mouth as her friend released her. She couldn’t afford to break down now.

  Bria brushed her cheek before she leaned over to retrieve her bucket.

  “Come on, let’s get inside and see Gwyn. She’s been asking for you.” At the last minute, Bria turned back to Xae. “Thank you, thank you. You can rest now. Zach has plenty of food back at the house, young man. I’ll bet he’s just giving Lia and Levin breakfast now.”

  Xae croaked in reply before launching himself into the air and heading southward toward their farm.

  Bria put her free hand in Mariah’s, and together, they walked into the house.

  * * *

  “Kalen should be by again soon,” Bria told her as they entered Gwyn’s bedroom. “She and Wakely both went home to get some sleep. She’s going to bring fresh dressings soon. She wanted me to clean the wounds again before she got here.”

  The old woman was lying on her stomach, naked from the waist up. A pile of bloodied cloth sat on a chair on the far side of the room. Poultices, now dried, covered Gwyn’s back and neck. A cloth bandage holding another in place was tied around her head. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing was shallow.

  Bria looked at Mariah and met her eyes. “Mari, can you go start this water heating please?” She gestured to the bucket on the floor. “Kalen will need it for the poultices. There is already a pot in the fireplace. Bring it to me when you’re done.”

  Mariah nodded and retrieved the pail, relieved that her friend had given her something to do. She couldn’t bring herself to speak. There were just no words.

  By the time she returned, Bria was settled next to the bed with a stack of clean cloth bandages laid out near Gwyneth’s leg. She gestured for Mariah to set the water down beside her. While it cooled to a tolerable temperature, Bria set about removing the old poultices in a careful, deliberate manner. The first one came easily, but the shock of seeing the raw wound beneath it made Mariah’s breath catch in her throat.

  As Mariah could see from her pattern of injuries, the cougar that Gwyneth had fought had beaten her around the shoulders and head, maybe even tried to go for her throat. And apparently, the wounds that she received in cat form came with her into her human one. The second dressing stuck a little bit to the skin where the wound on her far shoulder was still seeping. Even though Bria pulled it ever so slowly, Gwyneth’s eyes snapped open, and her mouth pulled back in a breathy, drawn-out moan.

  She didn’t try to rise, though. Instead, her fingers curled tightly around the sheet near her head as she squeezed her eyes shut again. Her own breath coming quickly, Mariah knelt on the floor next to the bed in the small space between Bria and the wall. She put a hand over Gwyn’s. The old woman, eyes still tightly shut, transferred her grip to Mariah’s hand, and her granddaughter covered it and held it to her cheek.

  “I’m here now, Gwyn. I’m so sorry that I left like I did, but I’m here now.” As Gwyn’s breathing evened out, Mariah realized with dark humor that only hours ago, her wings would have prevented her from fitting into the small spot she now occupied.

  She sat like that, eventually scooting her back to the wall for comfort, while Bria continued to remove the poultices. When she was finished, Bria dipped a clean cloth into the water Mariah had brought and cleaned Gwyn’s injuries with a gentle patting motion. Before she had finished, Gwyneth had lapsed back into sleep, and Kalen Adeline, Wellspring’s healer, had arrived, her arms filled with supplies. She laid them out carefully on the small dresser without saying a word.

  Kalen was a tall woman with steel gray hair that fell in a neat, thick braid down her back. Mariah had met her only a handful of times. The last had been during Lia’s birth.

  Mariah watched as Bria completed her task, gathered up the used poultices, and said, “I’ll go fetch the hot water.”

  After Bria had left the room, Kalen finally looked at Mariah, who was still sitting next to the bed, her knees drawn up and Gwyneth’s limp hand cradled in her own.

  “Mariah?” Kalen’s gray eyebrows rose as she met her gaze.

  She nodded.

  “You’ve changed.”

  Mariah nodded again, feeling a bit like Xae must have the day they had been formally introduced. It was all just too much at
once.

  Kalen took the place on the stool where Bria had been. “I’m glad you’re here. Lady Gwyn has been asking for you since the moment she was found.”

  “Will she be okay?”

  The other woman looked away with a frown. “I don’t know. I’m doing my best, but I don’t have much experience with … Ceo San,” she stumbled over the term as if she wasn’t used to saying it. “Her body looks human now, but she was injured when she was a cat. I don’t know how that affects her healing process. I imagine her changing back into a woman must have taken energy.” She looked to Mariah, who shrugged. “It may have been more energy than she could afford to lose, but I don’t know how to treat cougars, or whatever her cat is.”

  “She always called–” Appalled, Mariah caught herself. “She always calls herself a hunting cat.”

  Ignoring Mariah’s slip, Kalen smiled. “That makes her unique, which certainly applies.”

  Bria came back in with the water and was soon helping Kalen fill the fresh bandages with herbs and clay and soak them before the healer applied them to Gwyneth’s injuries. Mariah sat where she was, watching, holding her mentor’s frail hand, and feeling smaller than she ever had in her life.

  Before Kalen and Bria finished applying the new poultices, her chin dropped down to her chest, and she fell into a fitful sleep.

  CHAPTER 9

  CARE & ABANDONMENT

  The next two days stretched out in impossible waiting. Moments blurred into one another as Mariah slept, ate when Bria bid her to do so, and sat vigil at Gwyn’s bedside. Several times, she woke just long enough to give Mariah a weak smile before drifting back into sleep. Other times, she woke long enough for Mariah to feed her the broth Bria kept ready, but she didn’t speak and stayed awake only for a matter of minutes.

  People came and went—Bria, Kalen, Wakely, even Xae. The boy seemed to fidget more every time she saw him, and the marks from her teeth in her bottom lip showed the number of times she had stayed silent instead of telling him to take his nervousness elsewhere so he wouldn’t disturb Gwyn. Instead, she stayed mostly silent, and she left her mentor’s side only long enough to wash up and take care of her necessities.

 

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