Flight of the Raven (A The Sword of Rhiannon Prequel) Read online

  After the sobs had subsided, Raven pulled her knees up and rested her tired, swollen face upon her skirt. She took deep breaths of the warm, moist air of Alba Forest. An owl hooted quietly from a branch nearby. Yet further away a night bird sang a lonely, heartbreaking song; letting its sorrow echo through the trees and fill the wood. A doe emerged from the trees and silently walked up to Raven and tenderly licked her face in concern. Raven patted the doe’s head, realizing how much she missed the forest. She thought about just giving up and walking back into Ghroc as if she had never left. She hoped she would be welcome.

  She could not leave Eric, however. She would wait for however long it took until he returned and then they could run away together. She was sure the king and queen would look for him, but they would leave the kingdom if they had to. Maybe travel to Dar ‘Ven and search out the Forest Folk there. Perhaps there they would be welcome.

  It was late, and she was exhausted beyond thought, so she slowly pushed herself off the ground, said a quick prayer to Pom-Ni, melted back into the blessed form of a raven and flew back to The Tower of Roses and her narrow, little bed to sleep for a few hours until the queen demanded her attention once again.

  In the morning, she brewed herself a tea with the herbs she had collected the night before, but even after drinking the tea, her stomach still churned, and she could not even look or tolerate the odor of food. Alie kindly handed her a biscuit and would not leave her side until she had eaten most of it. “You look awful, and you can’t lose any more weight. You must eat,” the plump girl said, her attractive face drawn up in worry. “You have been looking a bit wan the last few days. Are you sick?” Her bright blue eyes searched Raven’s black ones.

  “I’ll be alright. I think I might have caught something,” Raven replied, trying to keep the biscuit from coming back up.

  “You should take yourself down to the servant’s healer. She’ll take a look-see and make things right.”

  Raven put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Thank you, Alie, but I’ll feel better soon enough. Besides, I have too much work to do.” As soon as the words had left her mouth, Raven could hear one of the ladies-in-waiting calling for her, no doubt to give her another order from Queen Danielle.

  As the weeks limped on so torturously slow Raven thought she might die, her sickness did not pass, and she began to worry that something was horribly wrong. The other handmaidens were concerned over her weight loss and constant need to visit the lavatory. Her hair and skin felt dull and lacked the glow it once had. Wedges of dark purple would not leave from under her eyes, and she barely had enough energy to drag herself from her bed in the morning. Still, the queen would not let her rest and required her attention from the sun up to well past the rising of the moon at night. Raven would cry herself to sleep every night in deep sorrow over Eric’s absence.

  The long summer finally ended and the sticky, warm days turned to crisp, cool days under a cheerful autumn sun. The harvest time had fully descended upon the land; the Beaynidan countryside was busy with people reaping their fields and bringing the surplus into town to sell. The Castle Sona Tuath was abuzz with preparations for the annual Fall Festival events: a nonstop party that lasted a fortnight.

  Raven nervously counted the days until Eric’s return. It had been weeks since she had first expected his arrival and she fretted over it every night, worried that something had befallen him. One day, however, Raven had overheard the queen talking to the oldest of her ladies-in-waiting, her trusted confidant, named Lucia. Lady Lucia looked to be the same age as the queen and was a widow from what Raven had gathered. Her hair was white-blond like most of the Suen’s, and her creamy pale skin was starting to line at her blue eyes and at her constantly turned down thin-lipped mouth.

  Queen Danielle had thought Raven was out of earshot, but what the queen did not know was just how keen Goyor hearing was. “I received a message bird a few weeks ago. It seems that Eric and the duke had finally left Tel ‘Rhia.” Queen Danielle leaned in toward Lady Lucia relating her news in quiet tones. The younger ladies-in-waiting were out stretching their legs, no doubt taking their reprieve from the queen.

  “Goodness, they’ve been away for a while now. They should be back for the start of the festivities, though,” Lucia chirped.

  “I had hoped that dark-skinned trollop would have been gone from the castle by the time Eric returned. I didn’t want to be the one who sent her away. The boy would never have forgiven me. I had hoped she would have quit on her own,” the queen sighed. “It appears I will just have to sack her anyway, to be sure she’s gone before he returns.”

  “He’ll get over it. He’s young. ‘Tis too bad you haven’t found him a wife yet. He’s at the age now that he’ll need one.”

  “Seems there are very few eligible girls of marrying age with noble blood. We’ve even started looking amongst the richest clans in Caltrona, Ak forbid, for a girl with a bit of nobility to her.”

  “Caltrona? My goodness, you aren’t that desperate, are you?”

  “I’ve seen the way he looks at that girl. I need to do something quickly. I still have a week before they are due to arrive home, I’ll send her on her way in the morning. That way she’ll be long gone before Eric gets back. I’ll do it away from everyone else and just tell Eric she could not handle the work of a handmaiden and returned to Ghroc and her people. There won’t be anyone to dispute that claim.”

  Raven’s heart pounded in her ears, and she could not get her breath. Sweat formed on her skin as she suddenly felt like she was on fire. She put her hand to her mouth to stop from vomiting. “Are you alright?” Clair asked in alarm as she looked down at Raven.

  “I-uh,” was all she could utter before her world spun and then went dark.

  Gradually she became aware of voices that sounded like they were far away or in a tunnel. Her skin felt cool and clammy, and her head pounded. Offhandedly, she thought about what herbs she needed to take away her pain and make her start to feel normal again and then she realized the air was thick with the smell of all kinds of herbs. She thought that very strange in a detached way. Carefully, she put her hand to her pounding temple and wished she had some water to wet her parched throat.

  “Raven, are you alright?” Alie asked, sounding on the verge of hysteria. Raven cracked her eyes open and saw Alie’s kind face looking down at her with concern.

  “I’ll be fine, don’t worry,” Raven slurred, finding she was too tired to put forth the effort to speak.

  “You’re in the servant’s infirmary.” Raven opened her eyes all the way. She was indeed in the chamber of a healer. There were huge bunches of dried herbs hanging from strings and hundreds of bottles of all sizes perched on shelves lining the walls. There were no windows in the room, which Raven found quite alarming. Dozens of cheap, tallow candles burned, threatening to overpower the fragrance of the drying herbs. Raven felt sick again and quickly turned and started retching over the side of her cot. Her stomach was empty, however, so nothing came from the painful spasms.

  A concerned woman of middle years appeared beside her, shooing Alie out of the way, she peered down at Raven. She put a cool cloth on her forehead and held a cup up to her mouth to sip. Grateful, Raven took a long drink. She could taste the different combination of herbs the healer had used in the tea and wondered at their use to cure a contagion, which she was sure she was suffering from. Slowly, though her stomach started to calm and she started to feel better.

  “Thank you,” Raven managed to croak out to the healer.

  “You are much welcome, sweet girl.” The healer smiled down at her with plum cheeks and kind, brown eyes. “How are far along are you, dear?”

  She heard Alie gasp, but did not understand the question. “I’m sorry?”

  The healer nodded her head, a wisp of graying brown hair escaping from her frazzled bun. “I see. Well, in my educated guess, you’re with child.”

  Raven swallowed hard and stared at the ceiling. Could it be? She looked back ov
er at the healer, Alie was peering at her around the healer’s shoulder. “I-uh. Oh no!” Recognition set in as she realized the healer was probably right. What would she do now? The queen was going to send her away from Sona Tuath before Eric even got back! Raven turned on her side and curled up around her clenched fists and started to cry. Huge sobs wracked her body, and she felt someone tenderly stroking her arm. “’Twill be all right, Raven,” Alie said softly trying to soothe her. But she knew it would not be alright. She needed Eric.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The next morning Raven lay on in her uncomfortable cot and stared at a bookcase filled with dusty tombs. Olive, the servant’s healer had mercifully let her stay in the infirmary overnight, though she would have been well enough to return to work. Olive was very perceptive, however, and could see Raven dreaded returning to the queen, so she sent Alie away with the excuse that Raven needed strict bedrest for a couple of days to recuperate from her “illness.” Alie was a true friend and a kind-hearted person, but Raven knew she could not keep a secret to save her life, so she was sure all the rest of Queen Danelle’s handmaidens (indeed, perhaps all the servants in the castle!) knew by now that Raven was pregnant.

  She knew she could not put off facing the queen forever, but she just could not do it today. She was in a predicament she did not know how to get out of. She could not hide down here for a week until Eric returned. The queen would probably demand her attendance at any moment, only to then turn her away from the castle and away from Eric.

  Raven heard Olive busy in the infirmary and could smell food. Surprisingly, for the first time in a month, she felt hungry, in fact ravenous! The herbs Olive had been giving her had certainly worked to take away her nausea and give her an appetite again. Her stomach growled loudly and as if on cue Olive walked up to her with a tray of food. “Time to break your fast, my dear,” she announced and handed Raven the tray when she sat up.

  The tray was filled with fruit and pastries that smelled divine. She took a huge bite of a warm pastry with creamy filling. “This is delicious,” she said when she had swallowed her bite.

  Olive laughed. “Straight from the kitchen. And Rubi and April send their regards and well-wishes.”

  “They know I’m in the infirmary?” Raven drew her brows together in concern.

  “Of course, how do you think I got such a wonderful meal?” Olive winked and smiled.

  A little girl of about ten summers walked up to them then and handed Raven a bright red flower. “Thank you!” Raven took the flower and held it up to her nose. Its fragrance was sweet and reminded Raven of the Royal Garden, which of course got her to thinking about Eric.

  “What is your name, little one?”

  The little girl grinned widely. “Laura!”

  “Well, Laura, my name is Raven. ‘Tis so nice to meet you.”

  “’Tis nice to meet you, Miss Raven.” Laura dipped into a shallow curtsy, tiny hands gripping the course skirts of her dull dress and pulling them up slightly as she struck her pose.

  Raven laughed, then cupped her delicate hands, closed her eyes and said a silent prayer to Pom-Ni. When she opened her hand a perfectly shaped yellow rose bloom lay within the curve of her palms. “This is for you, little Laura.” Raven handed the girl the rose. Her green eyes grew wide, and she timidly took her prize.

  “Thank you,” she whispered in awe gingerly taking the yellow bloom into her pudgy hands. After carefully inspecting her magical prize she looked back up at Raven. “How did you do that?”

  Raven chuckled. “I am a Forest Shepherd; one of the Forest Folk. Pom-Ni grants us many powers and gives us gifts to use to care for the forest and those who live within.” She smiled at the little girl who stood by her bed.

  “I’m going to be a healer like my mother!” she suddenly announced.

  “That is an admirable profession.” Raven took the rose from the girl’s hand and folded it into her shiny brown hair above her left ear. “Are you going to work in the castle like your mother?”

  “Oh no! They won’t let her become a surgeon in Sona Tuath because she is a woman. We’re going to go back to Tel ‘Rhia, where Mother is from, so she can become a surgeon. I’ll be trained there as well.” Her green eyes got a slightly unfocused look to them, and Raven wondered if the little girl was dreaming of her adventures in Tel ‘Rhia.

  “All right, that’s enough bothering our patient this morning, Laura. I have some herbs that need to be sorted and labeled. Off with you now!”

  “She’s your little surgeon-in-training,” Raven said as she watched the girl leave the infirmary.

  “Aye. They won’t let a woman advance here, though, we’ll have to go back to Tel ‘Rhia, like she said.” Olive fluffed Raven’s pillow and motioned her to lay back down.

  “She seems to be a very determined little girl. You must be proud.” Raven lowered herself back down on the cot and sighed at how good it felt just to lie there.

  “Oh, aye, I am very proud of her. That one will be a great surgeon someday. Maybe even heal kings and queens!” Olive smiled. “Now you get some more rest before the queen calls you back up to her service.”

  After Olive left the infirmary, Raven tried to close her eyes and sleep, but all she could think about was Eric. She knew Queen Danielle would sack her as soon as she returned and force her to leave before Eric arrived home. The situation seemed hopeless. A cool tear rolled down her cheek and into her ear. She closed her eyes and slowed her breathing, trying to calm herself. She concentrated on breathing in and out slowly, picturing Eric’s handsome face and soon she drifted off into a fretful sleep.

  In the tumult that was her dream, her name started to echo through the darkness. Like a wisp of smoke, she tried to grasp it, but it curled through her fingers and disappeared into the gloom as the sound of her name faded away. Again, the intonation of her name floated above her, just out of her reach. A deep, calming voice resonated through her, soothing the turbulence of her soul.

  Suddenly she recognized that voice! She tried to run toward him, but her body was ethereal, and like a cloud, she drifted with no control. She tried to scream his name, but she had no mouth; no voice. Pain started to throb behind her eyes as she tried to wake herself, but still, her eyes remained shut, and she stayed as insubstantial as a cool mist hanging in a dawn garden.

  Slowly she became aware of a soft touch on where her arm should have been. The contact was soft and soothing, and carefully it gave shape to her being. First an arm, then a leg, then her body and then finally she was whole. Her name echoed across a dark chasm and then light! Carefully, she cracked her eyes open, her head pounding with the need to wake.

  And then he was there. Kneeling beside her cot holding her hand and gently stroking the dark skin of her arm. She couldn’t speak, she just smiled up at him. He gave her a lopsided smile, but concern was clear in his bright blue eyes.

  “How are you feeling?” Eric finally asked.

  “I’m all right now,” she breathed.

  “I was so worried when I was told you were in the infirmary. What happened? Was it my mother?” Raven let her eyes wander from his face to the floor. She could not speak the words. “Raven, what is wrong?”

  Slowly she looked back up at him and sighed. “Eric, I am with child.” Suddenly his face went as pale as new snow. Her stomach clenched and for a split second, she feared he would send her away.

  Slowly his wide smile curled up again. “Then I am to be a father,” he whispered in awe.

  Raven laughed and began to cry. Huge tears of relief spilled from her black eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Eric had finally returned, and all would be set right now. But then her face grew serious. “What will we tell your mother?”

  “My mother must not know.” Eric looked around the infirmary as if he were suddenly wary of spies. “We must leave. Right away.”

  Raven gripped his large hand in hers and looked down at the floor again. She knew it would come to this. They would be fugitives. She was taking t
he heir to the Beaynidan throne away. Away from his family. Away from his responsibilities. Away from his destiny to be king someday. Suddenly she was unsure of her wish to flee with the High Prince. Was she being selfish? She wondered what her brother Fire-Caller would think of her decision, or even worse, what Pom-Ni thought of the whole situation.

  Eric squeezed her hand. “Raven, we must leave right away.” She looked back up into his worried blue eyes and knew instantly that she was powerless to make any other decision but to run with the High Prince, no matter what Fire-Caller or Pom-Ni would say.

  She nodded her head and slowly sat up. “All right.”

  “I will gather the supplies we need and ready some horses for us. Meet me at the pond in one hour. All right? One hour. Do not leave the infirmary until then. Not even if my mother calls for you, all right?”

  Raven quickly nodded her head again, a few of her beaded braids falling over her shoulders. “One hour.”

  Eric leaned forward and gave Raven a long kiss, then stood and looked down at her. “I love you, Raven. We will be together, don’t worry.” And then he turned and hastily left the infirmary.

  Time seemed to drag by like a summer afternoon. Raven nervously paced across the infirmary stopping every so often to check the candle’s progress as the wax slowly melted down to the next line. Not long now. Olive came back in and gave Raven another tea to drink to settle her stomach and nerves. The older woman did not say anything but Raven knew Olive was aware she was leaving with the High Prince. Olive gave Raven a light smile, and she nodded her head. There was a twinkle in her brown eyes as she said, “’Tis nearly time, I reckon.” Then she turned and quietly left the infirmary.

  It was time. Raven took a deep breath and clasped her hands to keep them from trembling. She closed her eyes and offered a wordless prayer to Pom-Ni and then silently melded into the form of a small, silver cat. From the doorway, she spied the wide, green eyes of Laura watching her. Raven tried to offer the girl a smile and tell her everything was all right, but all that came from her feline lips was a soft meow. Raven took a deep breath and headed out of the infirmary. She had spotted cats here and there in the castle so she knew she could walk the halls and even the kitchen and not be bothered. As quickly as she could, she slunk through the castle and into the kitchen. She stopped for just a moment to watch Rubi and April as they worked the morning away, making the next meal for the castle’s inhabitance. She wanted to tell them goodbye and thank them for being her friends, but she could not waste any more time. With one last look at her friends, she ran out of the door and into the gardens.