Her name was Raven

Chapter 18 ~Duran's journey~

Raven jumped up and down on the spot and rubbed her hands together.

"Are you cold?" Duran asked, and took a bite out of his chunk of damper.

"Well, I can't feel my fingers and I feel like I'm standing in a massive bucket of ice." Raven replied sharply. Duran laughed.

"It's all well and good for you to laugh! You at least have shoes!"

Duran sobered. "First thing we'll get you some boots and proper clothes."

Raven snorted and resumed her pacing and rubbing. The cloak was warm, but her feet were frozen and the shift beneath was completely useless. She'd eaten while vibrating like an excited puppy. She thought if she stopped still long enough the cold would seep right through her bones and into her heart.

"You never said how you found me." Raven said suddenly.

"No, I didn't." Duran agreed.

"Well?"

"You said you'd remember me. Well, I couldn't forget you, Raven. I can't believe Gilford let you go."

"I just told him I wanted a ride."

"Don't try and excuse him. He knew damn well what you were thinking; when you took off in the middle of the night. I don't know why he didn't come to me straight away."

"Don't blame Gilford for me leaving." Raven chided Duran.

"What else was I supposed to do? You up and disappeared, not a trace! Nothing but the book you left Gilford." Duran said bitterly.

"I am sorry. But I was afraid, so afraid, and scared. There was a crow, the day I left. I saw it and I had to leave. I had to."

"Well, I left a week after you. I found your letter, finally, in the book. It was after I received a visit from your friends. They were heading back to Lancastershire, and it is the biggest city in the country. There was no other road you could have taken and I knew they were on it. I knew you were running from them and that you'd be in trouble if they caught you. I took a chance and left straight away, and ended up stopping along my route to meet a friend of my father's. He's familiar with the Alchemists." Raven shivered at the word. "And, he confirmed some things for me. He said Lord Hinchmere owned most of the land here. The Lord was one of my visitors."

"But how did this friend of yours know so much about... them?" Raven interrupted. She couldn't bring herself to use the word. Duran looked hesitant.

"Ah, he was invited to join them once, a long time ago. He declined to be a part of their... club. They don't take kindly to rejection. This particular group of Alchemists call themselves The Order, and they're incredibly powerful. Lord Hinchmere is not a man you want to cross." Duran checked Raven's reaction but she gave no hint. He resumed his story.

"My father's friend told me that the order have land and companies everywhere. They have estates and hideaways and factories. I only had to find the right one. When I got to Lancastershire I ended up in a tavern sharing a drink with a man drowning his sorrows. The barman had recently lost a good waitress he told me. When the drunk got a bit too tipsy I offered to escort him home and the bartender gave me an address. I ended up carrying him; the poor sod drank till he passed out. The house I turned up at wasn't his; however, they knew the man. Apparently he was a trade partner to the merchant who owned the house. The merchant's wife took one look at me and nearly passed out in shock. When she regained her senses she explained that they'd taken in a girl who had a picture of a man almost identical to me in a locket. She said the girl had vanished. I knew instantly it was you. They told me what they knew and I promised that if I found you we'd come back to them."

"Katherine!" Raven exclaimed. Duran nodded.

"I knew then for sure they had you, she told me you'd never come back from the tavern. And I know from experience you pack before you run away."

Raven looked down in shame and regret at Duran's jab.

"So it was just a matter of figuring out which of Hinchmere's hideaways they'd taken you to. That cell is in the middle of this estate. It's the closest, most secluded place he owns near Lancastershire. And luckily, I got to you in time."

"Thank you" Raven said, again.

"Now, after all I've done, I think I deserve some answers of my own. Why are you running from the order? Why do they want you?"

Raven took a deep breath before she began. She owed him this much at least.

"I had lived in a mansion in the mountains my whole life. I was never allowed outside the walls of the grounds. My guards were supposed to be just that, guards. But they thought that I was a harmless child, and so I was, and they began to look out for me. One guard in particular was..." Raven paused and blinked away the tears that suddenly threatened to spill out. She gulped and rubbed roughly at her eyes. When she was ready she continued.

"He was like a father to me. He risked a lot for me. On my sixteenth birthday he knew they were coming for me and helped me get away. The man they sent to kill me was... not happy. They set the mansion on fire and I watched it burn from afar. I don't know what happened to any of them. I don't know if they're even alive. After that I ran. I had been moving from town to town like that for, I don't know, months? That was when you found me. I've been piecing together memories like a jagged puzzle ever since. They stole me when I was a baby, but they couldn't bring themselves to kill a child so they kept me locked away safe until I was a threat."

Raven stopped. She couldn't tell him everything, not yet, not when she'd only just figured it out for herself. The story of the little pieces that had been her life wasn't very long, not really, without it. And she hadn't even noticed the hole in her own self. She felt robbed of her childhood, her family, her history.

"Why are you a threat to the order Raven?" Duran asked cautiously. Raven decided to tell him half of the truth. She couldn't risk everything now, no, not yet. But she couldn't lie to him either.

"Because I can do this,"

She picked up a shrivelled dead leaf from the ground and held it in her hand. Her hand glowed as she pushed just a little life into it and held it out to Duran. His eyes widened considerably at the sight of the green lush leaf sitting where a second before there had been only the dried husk of one and he opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"They think their magic is the only kind. They're wrong."

y