He looked up at his smiling wife's face. His almost grown children raced around him, taunting each other, playing with a clowder of cats. He'd come home aged and weathered, but his family hadn't cared. He hadn't seen his firstborn and wife for twelve years and met his son for the first time. He'd shed a tear, the only one in his life, as he'd hugged them all tight, all safe.
Returning to the present he shifted the old cat from his lap, pushed himself out of his chair and staggered outside. The tall pines of the forest threatened to encroach on the cabin he'd built with his own hands what felt like a lifetime ago. He'd feared there wouldn't be anything for him to come back to, feared it would have been better that he'd died that night in the blaze. But he was home, alive and whole. He sent a prayer to the heavens for the nameless girl he'd sent into the mountains over a year ago. He hoped she was alive and well somewhere in the world. News had reached the village a few weeks ago about an unexplainable event in one of the port cities. Several Lords had mysteriously been stricken down in the middle of a ceremony. A mysterious hooded figure had appeared out of thin air and then disappeared. The stories were wild. Many people called it witchcraft. Rumours ran rampant about the dead, stories about necromancy and blood magic. Some said the devil had come to collect his debt, their souls for years of dark sorcery. The incident was sure to become a bedtime story for children for years, and the talk of legend for many more.
Jarred smiled to himself. There was little doubt in his mind who'd been at the ports. As if to agree with him there was a fluttering from above. He looked up to see a jet black raven fly down. It landed beside him and looked up at him with intelligent eyes. There was something familiar about it. It seemed to wink conspiringly at him before it took wing again and disappeared into the forest.
Yes, he knew who'd been at the docks. He smiled to himself again as he shuffled back into the cabin, to his family.
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YOU ARE READING
Her name was Raven
Teen FictionOnce upon a time a baby was born. However, she was much feared by her elders, so they locked her away when she was only a babe. Years passed, and her guards became fond of her, as she was a kind soul. The people who locked her away forgot about her...
