The Unkindness of Ravens

by Cory Huff

  “Who are you?”

  “My name is Crysania. I am a druid and a keeper of this temple.”

  Nia was silent again for a while then spoke in a shaky voice, “My name is Nia. I need you to teach me how to be a druid.”

  A silent thunderclap of power had echoed through the temple at that moment. The power of it startled Nia out of her dream just like it always did. She could hear a storm outside.

  The wind brought lessons. For days, Nia accompanied Crysania, watching what she did as she cared for the temple and counseled the Tuatha. Nia wore a deep-hooded white robe of an apprentice, concealing her face as she listened and observed the daily comings and goings of the faithful and devout Tuatha. They gave offerings at the reflecting pool. Small coins. Jewels. They offered quiet prayers at the edge of the water.

  After they went back to the living chambers, Crysania answered Nia’s questions about the spirits. She explained their domains of air, water, fire, and earth, and how each spirit connected to various aspects of life. Much of this Nia knew already from her young years with her mother. However, Crysania explained that it went beyond merely believing that the Spirits were there to listening to them and doing what they said. The spirits cared for the world, maintained its balance. The Tuatha revered the spirits and worked to understand and manage the balance that they sought.

  The Spirits granted power to those select people to whom they revealed themselves, who also listened and obeyed. Crysania was able to hear at a distance, to see things beyond the walls of the temple. She felt the balance of life throughout the Hartland forest. She also implied that anyone who tried to harm her would be prevented from coming near her and if they kept trying, they would suffer the fiery wrath of Talamh. She didn’t get sick, and injuries healed quickly.

  “That happened to me!” Said Nia, excitedly. “I had my arm practically ripped in half by a wolf. The spirits healed my arm and…” she trailed off as her hand came up and gently touched her burned face.

  “The healing power is not unlimited,” responded Crysania after Nia pulled back her hood and looked up at her. “And sometimes the spirits leave scars as a way of teaching lessons.”

  Nia looked at Crysania in frustration. “This is a lesson?” She asked resentfully. She looked at Crysania’s luminescent beauty, her tilted, warm eyes, and realized that Crysania’s gaze was not exactly friendly. She felt the heat rise in her face. “You’re saying the Spirits scar and torture people who serve them?”

  Crysania advanced on her slowly. She usually moved with a demure nature, quiet and deferential. Now she moved at Nia with a languid grace. She pinned Nia’s eyes with her own. Nia tried to return that gaze. She was reminded of nothing so much as the way a cat stalks small prey. “The spirits are the avatars of nature itself Nia. Nature is neither cruel nor kind. It simply is, and the sooner you discard your desire to see them as moral beings the sooner you will make a better Druid.” As she spoke, she seemed to loom ever larger until all Nia could see was Crysania taking up her entire vision. The light from the cave seemed to dim until all she could see what Crysania’s face. It looked downright predatory.

  So this is where the fear of Tuatha originated. The fairy tales always said the Tuatha ate small children and led people to their death in bogs and caves. The heat in her blood made her scars hurt. She lost her nerve under Crysania’s gaze, and she turned and ran. She cried as she did so, not because she was a timid child who needed someone to comfort her, but because she knew that Crysania was right. The spirits needed her to think differently, and she didn’t understand.

  Yet.

  She didn’t understand yet.

  She would.

  She fled to her small chamber, just a room in a large cave. Its walls were simply sheets. She laid down on her bed, and she wept silently. She laid there, and she listened to the soft breeze that blew through the cavern. As she heard, it told her secrets. She dried her tears and listened more intently. She laughed.

  12. Barbarians at the Gate

  Aidan chewed on hardtack. He sat on the floor of the house they had commandeered, looking at the paintings on the walls, having no idea what to do next. He thought about Nia and Crysania fading into the dawn light and wondered if there was a way for him to go to Thir Na Nog.

  “We have to go home,” said Liam.

  Aidan snapped out of his reverie. “What about your training?”

  “Badb cannot help me anymore. She is gone.”

  “How do you know?” asked Aidan.

  “She came to me. Before you found me she came to me and told me she had to leave,” Liam sighed. “So we might as well go back.”

  Aidan felt a rush of conflicted emotions. He wanted to go back. He thought about the vision the Creator had sent him of his fellow knights fighting in the streets. “Yes, we might as well,” he said.

  Sophronia nodded from the corner where she was sitting, “Agreed.”

  So, a week later, Liam, Aidan, and Sophronia were making their way across the Thir, heading for home. It was slow going. Liam’s limped and winced, but he could walk.

  Aidan worried. Liam’s Ogham sickness seemed to be getting worse. He had nearly drowned coming back across the river, after refusing to use the Ogham. His little bird, Ean, made him smile though. It jumped in the air, darted around, and landed on Liam’s shoulder, chirping excitedly.

  The Black Raven tribe hadn’t been there waiting for them. They saw other plains people in the distance, but nobody approached them as they made their way home.

  Aidan, Sophronia, and Liam all walked down the final slope before the open flat expanse in front of the city wall. They were in good spirits. They were smiling and joking - except for Aidan. He had a grim set to his mouth, and kept clearing his throat. Aidan couldn’t dismiss his dream about the monster soldiers attacking Atania, but he didn’t dare share it with his companions. He didn’t want to worry them, and he was fearful that they would dismiss his visions as fanciful. He wasn’t sure what to make of them himself. His stomach seemingly had a lead ball sitting at the bottom of it, warning him of impending danger.

  Everyone walked together across the flat plain and approached the gate. Aidan saw them first: heavily armed soldiers at the gate. Atania usually posted guards to keep the Thir folk honest, but they often just kept a short sword. These guards wore heavy chainmail armor, similar to what the church knights wore. But that wasn’t the strangest part of them. They weren’t human. They were a little taller, perhaps close to six and a half feet tall. Their skin was dark and had a green tinge to it. Their teeth, seen because their mouths hung open in amusement, were dirty and pointed, as were their ears.

  “Um, hey everyone, look,” Aidan had an urgent tone to his voice that made Sophronia and Liam snap to attention. They saw the creatures guarding the gate, and everyone tensed up. They were perhaps 50 feet away.

  “New Sidhe creatures,” said Sophronia quietly. “This probably isn’t good.”

  “What do we do?” asked Liam. “We could try talking to them.”

  “I don’t think they want to talk,” murmured Aidan. He put his hands on his weapons at his belt.

  The Sidhe creatures saw Aidan touch his weapons and they all straightened up, amusement still on their faces. They were suddenly on alert though. One of them stepped forward, motioning for the group to approach.

  They looked at each other, and Aidan stepped in front as they walked forward to just 10 feet away. Aidan stopped and spoke, “Who are you?”

  The creature locked eyes with Aidan and spoke in a deep, gravelly voice that seemed to be impaired by his large teeth, “We are soldiers in emperor Gabalifix’s army. Atania is now ours. You will throw down your weapons and come with us quietly. Nobody in Atania is allowed to hold weapons.”

  There was a long silence.

  “That’s not going to happen,” said Aidan, finally. His voice was flat and hard, “we have come home after a long journey to find an occupying army. My friends here are powerful beings who wield the
magic of the Ogham. Stand down, or they will incinerate you where you stand.”

  The Sidhe creature considered, taking in the sight of these slight humans. There were three of them. Their leader spoke again, still smiling, “the Gaeas will never let you do that, even if you are Ogham masters. You would die from the backlash.” He put his hand on a large sword at his belt. “Throw those weapons down now. Or die. Either way is fine with us. Your people are weak and surrendered without a fight. We’re spoiling for some exercise.”

  Aidan could hear Liam quietly murmuring a word of prayer to whatever gods existed. He sounded worried. Aidan hoped Liam wouldn’t panic. These warriors were not going to back down, and Aidan certainly wasn’t going to give up his weapons and surrender. He was here to help his brothers and sisters fight.

  Aidan exploded into action, sprinting the ten feet to the massive Sidhe creature, weapons drawn as he ran. The Sidhe drew its heavy sword with the smooth, quick motion of an experienced warrior. The other Sidhe hooted and laughed as the slight Aidan charged.

  At the same time, Sophronia sighed and began sprinting forward toward the other two.

  Liam stood, frozen in fear. His little bird, Ean, sprang into the air, chirping.

  Aidan knew better than to trade blows with the massive Sidhe. He wasn’t going to cross swords if he could avoid it. He would instead win with misdirection and dexterity. He faked a straightforward thrust, which the Sidhe moved to block. When the blocking move came, Aidan veered to the right, accepting the block as it came up and swiping under the block with his ax, aiming for the belly. His ax thunked into the chain shirt, doing no damage. His opponent laughed, and Aidan had to duck that massive sword. He grimaced as he realized he might not have enough power to do real damage through this creature’s armor.

  Aidan came back up, anticipated the backswing, ducked that too, and thrust up with his short sword aimed at the face. The Sidhe warrior checked his backswing and easily deflected the short sword thrust. Aidan’s ax came back, biting into the warrior’s leg just below the knee. The leather greaves he had on softened the blow, but a line of blood appeared, and he growled his pain and surprise. Aidan spun out of the way as that massive sword came down. He reoriented himself, balanced on the balls of his feet as he saw Sophronia sprint at the other two. He smiled grimly.

  The other two Sidhe warriors drew their weapons and charged out to meet Sophronia and Liam. As they closed, Sophronia’s wrist flicked and a dagger hit one of the warriors in the face, scoring a deep gash across his cheek. He growled in annoyance. Aidan heard her curse, but he had to pay attention to his fight.

  He did see the Sidhe warrior who charged Liam trip over a hole in the ground. There was a loud crack, and the warrior screamed in pain. Liam snapped out of his frozen state and tried to stab the warrior on the ground. They struggled over his knife. Aidan grit his teeth and focused on his fight.

  The giant Sidhe warrior with the wounded knee came charging straight at Aidan, swinging quickly and forcefully, trying to end the fight with overwhelming force. Aidan dodged backward, left, right, left and then a full leaping backward somersault. The warrior roared in victory thinking he had Aidan at his mercy, but he had never fought someone as agile as Aidan. Aidan came out of his somersault and charged straight back in, diving underneath his guard, ax and short sword out to either side biting deep into the warrior’s greaves and doing severe injury to both knees. Aidan effortlessly got his feet underneath him as the Sidhe warrior’s legs buckled and Aidan drove his short sword into the warrior’s belly to the hilt. He then sprang away from the warrior’s grasp, knowing he would bleed to death as he pulled the shortsword out.

  He turned and saw Sophronia drove her dagger into the side of her opponent’s neck. Blood spurted everywhere as Sophronia continued driving forward with all of her might. She bore him to the ground as his life spilled out.

  Aidan turned and came at Liam’s opponent from behind. He chopped his ax down into the head of the warrior that Liam was trying to stab. The fight was suddenly over with three dead Sidhe warriors at the gate.

  Aidan looked at the blood covering their hands and arms. They would be incredibly obvious to anyone rushing to investigate the noise. He looked over at the others who were watching, “We have to get inside the city before more of these Sidhe warriors show up. Where can we go?”

  Liam sat on the ground breathing hard.

  Sophronia looked shaken.

  An idea came to Aidan. “Nia’s forest camp.”

  Sophronia nodded. “Let’s go then. We probably don’t have much time.”

  They gathered their weapons and packs and hustled through the open gate. A handful of Atanian citizens watched them enter the gate. They had seen the end of the fight, and several of them whispered that they recognized Sophronia’s famous red hair. A few of them waved at Aidan, the man who had performed healing miracles just over a month ago here in Atania.

  Sophronia nodded at them as she passed. They didn’t run down the main road from the gate. They took off down the side alleys, Aidan in front since he knew the maze of the alleys better than any of them. They headed toward the woods.

  Celestina looked up, hand reaching for her bow, as someone approached. A blonde, powerful warrior strode into the grove where Celestina had been resting, eating her lunch. Celestina recognized Badb immediately. She had only met her once, at the height of the Hartland war in a desperate war council. It was there they decided to launch a devastating counterattack against Cyric in Ghealdar. That battle had destroyed the bulk of Cyric’s war engine. Ghealdar had been humanity’s industrial hub. The druids’ attempt to balance the loss of life had gone awry, leaving Badb locked under a curse in Ghealdar.

  Yet, here she was in the Hartland forest.

  “Put it down, Celestina. If I wanted to kill you, your bow wouldn’t stop me.” Badb strode across the grove in just a few steps.

  They stood there, eyes locked. Celestina knew better than to question one of the Morrigan Sisters. “The Duine have access to the Ogham again. The Cumhnantach have failed. Gabalifix has been sent to Atania to wipe out the Ogham seekers and subjugate the rest of them. The Winter Queen has played her hand.” Badb’s face was somber.

  Celestina listened. This was big news.

  Suddenly Badb broke into a smile. “But the Druids are back as well. The balance has swung too far in the other direction, Celestina. The druids sent a human apprentice to release me. They have given me a task to make up for our mistake in Ghealdar. My mistake.

  I don’t think Darian betrayed the Tuatha or the Summer Queen. I think our information was wrong and Cyric deceived us all. But we need the humans to survive to prove it. Especially a small group of particular humans. Will you help me help the humans survive?”

  Celestina hesitated. She had delivered her message of warning to Tarkin, but she still had work to do. “There are orcs and goblins to kill to protect the Hartland,” she began.

  Badb smiled again, “You can train the humans on how to kill some orcs. You’ll be gone a week. Maybe two. You help them survive, we resolve whether Darian betrayed Dearbhail, and more orcs die.”

  It was challenging to say no to someone who had sacrificed so much to defend the Tuatha. Celestina nodded.

  13. The Resistance Forms

  Liam lied down. His eyelids were drooping, and he could barely stand. Aidan had led them into the woods near the East of Atania. He said that this particular area was where Nia camped before. They had all agreed to get some sleep and lay low for a day or two. It had been an exhausting three days.

  He drifted off to sleep, and he dreamed.

  Liam walked the stairs to a hangman’s scaffold. His hands were tied behind his back. His body was covered in bruises and welts from the beating he had taken while being interrogated. The executioner in the black mask shoved him forward to the right spot, turning him to face the crowd. The square around the palace was filled with the citizens of Atania. They had been called here, forced here, by the minotaur�
��s army. They were being taught a lesson.

  The executioner brought a loop of rope down over his head, tightening the noose against his neck. Liam began sweating. He made pathetic, ineffectual gestures with his broken fingers, trying to summon the Ogham to do his bidding. He had never mastered it.

  He heard the voice reading off the charges against him, but it was just noise. He was dead. What did it matter what the crimes were? He struggled to find that deadly energy, that white-hot heat that he had summoned before.

  The voice stopped. He heard the lever and felt the floor drop out. His neck jerked and strained as he fell to the end of the rope. It didn’t snap though. He would strangle to death instead. He couldn’t breathe, that’s for sure. His body immediately began twitching and struggling to get free, to breath. It was useless. There was only one hope.

  He fell deeper into himself than he ever had before. His vision narrowed to a tunnel. It wouldn’t be long now. He wrestled with his internal control, and there it was: the magic of the Ogham. He had it. He could feel it. He ripped away whatever was preventing him from fully accessing it.

  Energy exploded out of him in the form of white-hot light. The crowd flinched as one away from the scaffolding, screaming and shielding their eyes. The heat made him glow brilliantly. It burned. He screamed as he felt his flesh cooking. He tried to stop it, but he didn’t know how. The incandescent heat was the wild, untamed power of the Ogham, and nobody could stop it. Liam died in a flash of fiery light, his body incinerated.

  Everyone close to him, including the executioner, the guards, and many of the crowd, were incinerated. Others further out were merely burned.

  “Liam! Liam stop! Liam wake up! You’ve got to stop!” shouted someone. He was being shaken out of his dream. Was it Aidan?