Chapter 4 #2
I aimed a shot which disappeared pointlessly into the canopy, then fired off another and another. Each stone struck a little closer to our quarry, but the Raven moved so quickly that I could barely take aim before it had gone again.
We burst into a clearing where an old stone well with a thatched roof stood innocently at its centre. The thatch was ripe with mould, clumps of it having fallen to the ground beside the mossy stone of the well’s base, and the bucket lay broken beside it.
My focus lingered on the strangeness of finding such a thing in these woods for a moment too long, and Colton yelled a warning at me as a flood of darkness swept out of the trees at my back.
I twisted around, loosing the stone from my slingshot, but my aim went wide and the stone sailed into the trees a breath before a massive weight collided with me and sent me flying back towards the well.
The thatched roof crumbled to nothing as I struck it, clumps of sodden thatch falling into the murky water below as the beam which had supported them split in two.
I shrieked in alarm as I fell backwards, my arms splaying and striking the stone just in time to stop me from tumbling straight down into the well itself.
The Raven’s feathers brushed my cheeks, soft as spider’s silk and threaded with a darkness so complete that it was as if the world itself fell away to nothing.
The weight of the enormous bird almost dislodged my grip on the mossy stones, and I slipped several inches into the mouth of the well, the weight of my pack urging me downwards while I hooked my knees over the stone and fought to hold on with all my might.
As fast as the Raven had appeared, it was gone, and I cried out in alarm as a volley of arrows and two spears all hissed through the air inches above my face in pursuit of it. The Champions clearly valued the prize of the spirit far more highly than my life.
The cries of the group rushed around me, their footfalls thundering by, and I caught a glimpse of Helga’s back as they charged past, consumed by the hunt and unwilling to waste a moment on helping me.
“Oh, fuck you!” I shouted after them as they sprinted into the trees.
I cursed as my grip on the slick stones slipped, my fingernails tearing on the roughness of them before I managed to halt my fall once more.
My dress had ripped along the side of my leg, the cold stone pressing to my calf as I lay there like a damned fool, the dank well whispering my name in welcome from below.
With a grunt of exertion and a determined snarl, I threw my weight to the side, my arm flying out in a desperate grab which seemed all too likely to fail but somehow, miraculously, I managed to seize the wooden beam which had once held up the well’s roof.
I wrenched myself free of the well, tumbling to my hands and knees in the dirt, panting wildly through my relief.
My slingshot lay in the mud before me, and I crawled a few paces to snatch it into my grip, needing the security of being armed in this maze of hellish design.
I scrambled to my feet, adjusting the strap of my pack and looking towards the far side of the clearing where the Champions had all disappeared into the trees once more without me.
I cursed at the bastards before breaking into a run to pursue them. They were my best bet at the moment, and though I wasn’t particularly fond of their company, I had decided that remaining with them was the better option than going it alone.
I managed three steps before a rush of darkness burst from the trees, and I barely managed to skid to a halt before colliding with it.
The Raven landed ahead of me, its talons made of shadow given form, coils of darkness rising around the sharpened silver tips. This was no normal creature, its size alone rivalling mine, its head barely a foot lower than my own as it studied me with eyes the colour of a wandering storm.
Its feathers were slick with darkness, an oil spill over cobwebs, and as it outstretched its wings, I found tethers of night pooling between them.
There was nothing normal about this bird.
Its entire being was crafted with magic so ancient it made me feel utterly insignificant in its presence, like a flea before a god.
The Raven’s beak was gleaming gold, embossed with twisting patterns which ached for the brush of my fingertips across their ridges.
I had no desire to lose my arm to the sharpness of its beak, so I made no move to attempt that, but I couldn’t deny that I was enraptured by the ethereal, other-worldly beauty of this spirit.
My fingers trembled where they still gripped my slingshot, but I raised it all the same, loading my last stone into the hold and drawing the rubber taut as I prepared my shot.
The Raven released a tremendous caw, the sound piercing my chest and making my heart tremble to the chord it struck.
There was a haunting beauty to that cry, a pain so ancient that it brought a prickle of tears to my eyes.
The stone burst from my slingshot but the Raven was already gone. I could only watch as it sped into the trees, the darkness swallowing it as its shadows coiled into all the empty places between the branches and claimed them for its own.
It was lost.
I stood staring after it with my breaths coming in laboured pants, my hope dropping to the pit of my stomach just as surely as every stone I’d launched after my prey had dropped to the forest floor.
I’d been such a fool to believe the spirits of the cursed forest would be a challenge that a lowly human like me could rise to.
The Raven had been toying with us, and not a single one of our group had come close to securing its amulet.
The Champions returned with heavy steps and grumbled curses, though none seemed to know what had become of Devlan. Already our number had fallen to eight.
“It’s getting dark,” Colton said, his tone gruff and filled with the disappointment consuming us all. “We need to find shelter before night falls.”
I nodded along with the others. He was right of course. The forest hadn’t warned us about the night for mere theatrics. None of us wanted to risk so much as a moment between these trees once the moon had risen and darkness cloaked this cursed place.
So, with a heaviness in my chest which I couldn’t loosen, we trudged on into the trees, hunting for a place to take shelter while the Raven’s cry still echoed in my ears.