Hey guys, after rereading my writing I decided to change the story a bit. Hopefully you guys like my changes :)

Ps. I don't own Ranger's Apprentice, but you probably already knew that


I took in the beauty of the sunset as the final glints of sunlight reflected from castle Redmont. A single scared finger ran down my arm where a small tattoo lay covered by a single cloth bandage. A raven surrounded in flames. It marked me … and despite how much I told myself otherwise back then, it still did. Years before then though it had marked me differently, it had marked me as a Raven, then it marked me as a survivor.

The tattoo had marked me as a Raven, something I never wished to be. In the Flight everyone looked up to the Ravens, they were seen as heroes. A Raven was someone who was trained since age five or younger. The children who were trained as Ravens didn't have any family left that they cared about, that's what made me different.

I had someone that loved me, I had someone to love. My baby sister that was younger than me by less than one hour. We did everything together including running away. I don't remember much before the day we ran away, but pain. Pain from every time our parents hit us and said we were worthless. The day we left though I could remember as if it was yesterday.

The feeling I had as we ran through that forest was unforgettable, hope, the hope for a new life, a better one. That was the feeling that The Flight fed off, that childish hope. When they found us, we thought they meant to help us, but instead, they turned us into people we could never come back from being.

They didn't realize because we had each other we were able to hold on to that small piece of our old selves. All of that ended on that day so many years ago. They changed our lives, they killed my sister and they killed that part of me. They killed that piece of my old self, making it impossible for me to ever go back.

You graduate after eight years of training, each one worse than the first. I went through everyone but the last with my sister. They didn't realize when the killed her, they had lost the chance of me ever being loyal to them. The day after I had finished training as a Raven I left. The day she died I vowed never to care about someone else again; it always ended up causing me pain. I broke that vow once, it only came back to haunt me.

I shivered and told myself it was because it was cold, not because the memories terrified me. I looked up at the dimming sky and shook my head; I had once again forgotten the time. The sky was almost dark. I cursed myself for staying so long, the gates would close soon. I slid along the cold wall and listened for any signs of a guard. Moments went by before I made my move. I moved with the growing shadows as I walked towards the courtyard. I was almost there when I saw a guard round the corner. After a very long moment, which felt like a hundred years to me, the guard looked once more at my hiding place and the turned forward. Releasing the breath, I didn't know I was holding I watched him move to round the next corner when all of a sudden he turned around and grabbed my arm.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" He ordered never releasing his death grip on my arm, moving my other hand up slowly to the cowl of my cloak I pushed it back revealing my face. After studying me for a moment, he let out a small sigh of relief. "It's just you Sage."

The look of relief soon turned to a stern one, though. "What were you thinking? Staying out so late? You could have been hurt!"

Mentally cursing myself for getting caught I looked down at my feet racking my brain for a reason I could beg him to not turn me in. "You know it's the choosing day tomorrow right?" I asked grinning slyly.

Playfully glaring at me he said with mock strictness, "Fine, but you do something like this again and-."

I smiled at him, "Thanks, Jack!"

'A good Raven can always manipulate people,' the words rang in my head as I ran toward the girls' rooms.

I glanced around the corner and waited. Not having heard or seen anything I ran down the hallway and into my room. Once in my room, I flopped down on my bed and wrapped myself in my bed covers staring at my ceiling. 'What am I going to do? Tomorrow is choosing day and I have no skills that would do me any good.' Sighing I closed my eyes letting the numbness of sleep eat away at the stressed and worried thoughts. 'Hopefully, tomorrow answers would come'


Well I hope you guys liked my first chapter, even if it was a little rough around the edges. Any suggestions on how I can improve my writing are welcome.

-Anna