The Dawn of the Raven Omnibus 1: Episodes 1-5 © 2012 J.L. Blackthorne. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or otherwise disseminated in any form without the author’s permission.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, alive or dead, events, or places is completely coincidental.
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Author is a proud member of the Consortium of Rogue Authors
Note:
This serial is for adults only. Some episodes contain adult content, including adult language, explicit sex, and graphic violence.
Table of Contents
Episode 1: An Unwelcome Guest
Episode 2: Bitter Enemies
Episode 3: Unexpected Friends
Episode 4: Strange Bedfellows
Episode 5: A Happy Trio
The Dawn of the Raven
Episode 1:
An Unwelcome Guest
Captain Vol couldn’t believe it. Was it really her? His eyes strained to pierce through the darkness. Though his men assured him it was her, he wouldn’t believe it until he could see her up close. He watched anxiously from afar as the figure surrendered herself at the gate. Captain Vol and his men had stood watch at the gate to the palace of Ragan for many years but, if this were really her, Raveena, the greatest warrior in the realm, the fiercest asset of their arch-rival Typhorians, then this was a night to stand above all others. Her cloak covered her face, but still, as she approached in the custody of his guards, the captain became more and more confident that it was truly her. Why? Why would the cruelest, most vile killer in the realm, his sworn enemy, surrender herself? Even though he recognized her by her lithe frame, the Typhorian crest worn proudly on the clasp of her hood, and the unmistakable hilt of her famous sword, Deathraken, which had cut down so many of their greatest warriors, he still waited, breathless, for her to reveal herself so he could know for sure. She held her hands up in a gesture of peace as she drew close to him. Once she was within twenty paces of him, the captain ordered her to stop. Obviously, he could allow her to go no further until she was disarmed. Perhaps, he thought to himself, he’d already allowed her to come too far. He didn’t doubt his own fighting prowess, or the skills of his men, yet still, the reputation that Raveena had earned on the battlefield was unparalleled. No, he reassured himself, if this were a brash assassination attempt on King Resnos it was ill-conceived. Even she couldn’t best all of the king’s guards, storm the palace, and kill the king alone, but she was of such skill that only a fool would have allowed her within one hundred paces of the king with a weapon. The captain instructed his men to block her entry, and they obliged, though they held their ground before her with shaky hands. The captain cleared his throat, and then addressed her.
“What brings you to our palace?”
She stopped and only then, finally, did she pull back her cloak and allow them to verify her identity. It was her, Raveena. Her long, dark hair was tied back in a way that gave little clue to its true length and lushness; her beautiful dark, cold eyes were filled with an intensity that belied her youth. If it were not for her unparalleled ability to cleave men’s souls from their bodies on the battlefield, she would have been renowned throughout the realm for her astonishing beauty. Though they fawned at her incredible beauty, each of the guards trembled in the wake of her gaze whenever her eyes met theirs. After surveying the odds around her, her eyes fixed upon the captain’s, and she spoke.
“I come here in good will. I wish to speak to the king.”
Captain Vol looked her over carefully. She was a feast for the eyes of any man. Not even the captain was immune to her gorgeous form. Yet her eyes, as beautiful as they were, were cold, uncompromising. She did not look like a messenger of good will.
“The king? You are our sworn enemy. Do you carry with you the right to speak for all of your people? Are you offering terms of a surrender?”
“A surrender?” Her eyes grew scornful, incensed by the suggestion. The captain’s hand tightened around the handle of his sword. After a moment, though, her visage eased, and she continued. “No. I’m not here to represent my people. This matter has nothing to do with the conflict between our nations, but rather for the survival and welfare of all of the people of this realm.”
The captain found her meaning elusive, but he also knew that the most pressing business was to part her from Deathraken. As long as it hung there, ready at her hip, none of the guards could breathe easily, no matter how many they outnumbered her by.
“Whatever your reason for being here, noble or otherwise, I cannot allow you to go even one step further until you’ve relinquished your blade, and allowed my men to search you.”
The beauty lowered her gaze. Her hand went slowly to the hilt of Deathraken, then paused. The guards all took firm grasp of the handles of their own blades, ready to brandish them and strike immediately if necessary, though all were fearful of the task, even though they had her surrounded. Finally, she looked up and nodded to the captain, and unsheathed her blade slowly and kneeled and laid it on the ground before her. Collectively, the guards took a deep breath. The fear of being cut down by the great Raveena waned, but just as quickly as it fled, a new thought went through many of their minds at once: the thought that now was the time to strike. A moment and opportunity lay before them that may never come again. Countless of their brothers, their fellow soldiers, had fallen to that very blade and the warrior before them. With her there, right in front of them unarmed, if they could just be given the order, any one of them could be the greatest hero in their kingdom: the man who brought down Raveena. Captain Vol, sensing the tension, quickly worked to re-established order.
“Yarek, take her blade. Fraen, search her. Make sure she is unarmed.”
Both men, still trembling, did as they were commanded. As they fulfilled their tasks, the captain sent his assistant, a young woman, into the palace to give news of what was transpiring. Raveena cooperated, raising her arms and opening her cloak, allowing herself to be searched. When this was completed, all stood and waited awkwardly for word to be brought from the palace chamber. When the captain’s assistant returned, she was accompanied not by one of the king’s pages, as the captain would have expected, but by Rahm, the king’s most distinguished and trusted advisor and, by all accounts, the most powerful man in the palace next to the king himself.
Rahm was a striking figure. He was long and lean, much taller than the average man, but his back was bowed and his was neck craned so that his true stature was only hinted at, and hadn’t been fully realized in decades. He was always dressed decadently in the finest ceremonial robes, yet his personal hygiene was in direct discord with this. He refused to cut his nails; perhaps because he felt they were a symbol of his position and stature, as he hadn’t been forced to do any labor or true work with his hands in ages, or perhaps they were indicative of the fact that his mind and cunning were sharper and more powerful than any blade or tool he could wield. His hair was stringy and unwashed, and only grew just above his ears and just above the back of his neck, with the rest of his scalp bare. Yet, what little hair he had left he had not allowed to be cut since his youth: it cradled around his neck like tendrils. His limbs were long, seemingly abnormally so now since they were in accordance with his true height, not the foot or so shorter that he appeared, and also made all the longer by their slightness, as they appeared emaciated almost to the point of being skeletal, a further token and badge he wore proudly as it showed that he did not need physical strength, an
d that his body had not been forced to stoop to the lowliness of true exercise in years.
Rahm scowled at the beautiful maiden warrior. He found his disapproving gaze met in kind. He chuckled to himself, as it was not often that he found anyone brash enough to meet his eyes directly at all, let alone with the heated scorn and distrust that these beautiful eyes gave back to him. He asked if she had been properly searched, and then, after being assured that it was so, he ordered the guards to place her into bondage. Raveena resisted immediately.
“I will not submit to arrest. I’m not here as an enemy. I am here in a peaceful capacity, with information to help protect this very kingdom, this entire realm. I will not be treated as a prisoner.”
“Miss Raveena. I assure you, this is merely a formality” Rahm told her, in his warmest and most reassuring tone. “Put yourself in my shoes: I have before me the sworn enemy of my people, our rival kingdom’s greatest warrior, and she is requesting audience with my liege. How can I possibly grant you entry without taking the greatest of precautions? I, of course, believe you completely and take you at your word that you are here peacefully, but I would not be doing my job and, indeed, I would not be paying you the proper respect that your legacy on the battlefield has earned you if I did not take every security measure here in my power.”
The maiden warrior paused again. The soldiers awaited her response, fearful to approach her against her will. She finally relinquished, and allowed the guards to approach, who did so warily still, as if she were a lioness rather than a human.
Even disarmed and shackled, the sight of Raveena elicited nervous gasps as she passed through the palace halls to the throne room for her audience with the king. King Resnos had faced countless men on the battlefield, crushing the skulls of the fiercest with his mighty battle axe, yet even he still felt ill at ease when Raveena was brought before him and made to bow in deference, for such was the warrior maiden’s reputation for cruelty and prowess on the field of battle. Rahm proudly presented the king with Deathraken. He stared at it carefully, running his hand over the intricacies of the jeweled hilt. As his fingers traced slowly along the cold blade, which had been soaked in the blood of so many of his bravest and greatest men, he spoke.
“You are well-known to me, Raveena. You are the greatest of all the Typhorian warriors. You have killed countless of my men. But, I am told that you come in peace. What is the meaning of your presence here?”
The beauty brought her head up from her bow. Clearly, the warrior maiden was uncomfortable. Servility did not suit her, especially not towards the king of her sworn enemy. Yet, she did her best to push aside her contempt and address him as formally as possibly.
“Your majesty, I have come here to warn you of a grave danger.”
The king stared at her suspiciously, but nodded for her to proceed. She looked around the chamber. All around her stood Raganeans, her sworn enemies. Their faces varied from looks of pure hatred to utter terror. She gathered her will and then continued.
“Though our kingdoms stand against one another now, there was a time when our people stood united as one, and drove back a common enemy.”
Rahm leaned in and whispered to his king.
“I smell a trap, your highness. You cannot trust her.”
The king brushed aside Rahm with a wave of his hand. He responded to the warrior maiden.
“You mean the Great War.” The king leaned forward in his throne. “The War of the Realm. This was four hundred years ago. Much has changed since then. Most in the realm have long forgotten that antiquated time, and much has occurred between our peoples since then. What could be important enough to brush aside all of our quarrels?”
“The same threat as before, your majesty: the Gekken return.”
The entire hall erupted in whisper. Rahm leaned in again to speak in the king’s ear.
“Sir, she is lying, this is a trap. Think of the men she has killed, the battles that have been lost because of her blade. Now is the greatest opportunity you have ever had to end this war. Kill her now, and you could tilt the tide forever in our favor. Our kingdom will take its rightful place as the rulers of this entire realm.”
Again, King Resnos brushed aside his advisor. Immediately, as soon as the king’s hand was raised, silence pervaded the chamber. He continued.
“The Gekken? Our great ancestors pushed the Gekken back to the deepest recesses of the Far Realm centuries ago. Their numbers were shattered. They were crushed and crippled by the defeat. They are no longer a danger.”
“You are wrong” stated Raveena. Her gaze grew more focused, her tone more grim. “They are back. I have seen them, with my own eyes. That is why I am here.”
Rahm leaned in again.
“Sir, this would make no sense. Why would she come to you? Why would she warn you? If the Gekken pose a threat to us, she would welcome it.”
The king scratched his beard. He pushed Rahm back away from him. He felt that his advisor’s warning must be heeded, yet there was something about the warrior maiden that made him wish to believe her. He addressed her again.
“Why are you here? Did your people send you to give us this message?”
“No. No, my people don’t even know yet. I have come here first because you are the guardians of the Gate of Ardien. You secure the road to the Far Realm. The Gekken I have seen were a small party, a scouting party, I believe. They may have passed through the mountains, but an army of significant size could not. If the Gekken are going to launch a full-out attack, they will have to pass through the gate. That is why I came here first, because you must be warned immediately. A full-scale assault could be imminent. If they do come, your kingdom will be the first to fall. And, if they are as powerful as last time, it will take our kingdoms’ combined might to stop them.”
Again, Rahm pushed the king to action against her, and warned the king of her lies, but the king ignored him. His face now showed true concern.
“You are sure you have seen Gekken, and you believe that they plan a full assault?”
“I am sure, your majesty. I have long been told the tales of the Gekken. They are still passed down amongst the soldiers of my people. Not the fairy tales passed down into legend. The true tales, of their might, of their will, of their savagery. Their appearance was unmistakable, I have never seen the like but I have long heard it described.”
Yes, the gorgeous warrior maiden had heard the tales. Tales of how, so many generations ago, the Gekken had come from seemingly nowhere. They spawned from the mountains and swarmed the villages, slaughtering men, women, children, everything in their wake. Only when the entire realm stood united against them had they finally been decimated and pushed bad, back to the Far Realm, to the other side of the Great Mountains, and had been scattered. They had never been heard from again, but each generation told the stories to the young. Some sounded too terrible to be true, some were undoubtedly just legend, enhanced over time as the stories were told over and over again with greater and greater distance from the events that had inspired them. The king had heard all the tales too, and though he knew that not all could be true, he knew well that the Gekken were to be feared. You could see it in the eyes of the elders when they told the tales, the same deep fear that their elders had instilled in them when they had told them the tales when they were young. Looks of true terror. Looks of despair. Looks intended to make sure that the Gekken were never forgotten, in case they should ever return. The king carefully pondered her testimony. After a pause, he spoke.
“Perhaps it is just a rogue few. The Gekken are not organized. They are savages. It was because of that that our forefathers were victorious. Their numbers are great, but they are unsophisticated. They fight with their bare hands or only the most basic of weapons. They are unable to form strategy or to attack with purpose. Sure, in a hand to hand fight one Gekken is equal to ten men, but even if they are here, their lack of technology and short-comings in the art of war would render a small party such as you describe innocuous.”
“With all due respect, your majesty, the Gekken I saw were not as you say” responded Raveena. “I know that what you say was true of the Gekken four hundred years ago, but the ones I saw have advanced. They wore armor. They held weapons. They appeared organized, with a leader and a chain of command. They were careful to avoid detection. It was only by sure luck and coincidence that I happened to approach them, see them, and escape unnoticed.”
Rahm leaned in towards his king and hissed in his ear again.
“Her story has holes. She says they were here, near our kingdom. Why would she have been here unless it was a plan to attack all along?”
King Resnos considered the warrior maiden’s words carefully, then responded.
“Where exactly did you see them?”
“In the Raganean Forest, a half day’s march from here. I believe they are posted there to spy on you. To see the ways of your kingdom, to study the comings and goings and the guarding of the gate.”
“Why were you there? Why were you so close to our palace, if not to spy, or if not to attack? Perhaps your own people lie in wait outside our walls right now. How do I know this is not a trap?”
“My business there was my own. It had nothing to do with our war. I am alone, unaccompanied by any of my people, and I am here without their knowledge. I sense that I should have gone straight back to them to warn them, but in the interest of the safety of all the realm, I felt I must warn you immediately. There is no way to know how soon they might attack. If I had returned to my people first and then come, word may have gotten here too late. We cannot allow the Gekken through the gate. They must not gain a foothold again in our realm.” Her eyes dimmed, and grew somber. “Please, I have warned you, now let me leave and return to my people to warn them. If you want, I can arrange for a Typhorian garrison to be dispatched and help to guard the gate. I will lead them myself if you would like.”
Rahm whispered anxiously again.
The Dawn of the Raven Omnibus 1: Episodes 1-5 Page 1