An idea I had a few weeks ago that hasn't let go of me. The Titans in medieval times, very much like Game of Thrones/Skyrim/LOTR but with the Titans. Various elements of the story will change, most of their powers are not necessarily at play except for a few which will be revealed as the story plays out.

Enjoy.

Chapter One: Fire and Blood

Everything was dark under the burlap sack. There was a strip of light at the bottom of her vision but straining to look at it made her head hurt. Carefully Raven tried to dip her head and move the bag a bit.

"Enough!"

There was a sharp strike to the side of her head and it left her dazed with random spots of green and yellow spurting up out of the darkness. She gave a yell of surprise and tried to lash out with her feet which were trussed in ropes along with her hands. Another slap made her fall still, breathing hard and angrily. She wanted to scream until her lungs collapsed but it would likely only earn her another slap so she stayed silent. Underneath her the wagon hit a bump in the road and nearly sent her onto the floor. A pair of rough hands hauled her back into her seat and knocked her head on the wall a bit.

"Are we almost there?" one of the men shouted to the driver of the wagon.

"Nearly, sir."

Their pace began to slow and Raven began to hear voices coming from outside the wagon. It sounded like a crowd had gathered for their arrival. Sure enough the wagon drew to a stop and the men began to untie her feet. For a brief moment she felt a surge of hope until she heard the clatter of shackles being tossed into the back of the wagon. They fastened the irons around her ankles and wrists with smooth efficiency then began half dragging her to the back of the wagon.

Raven fell out of the back and hit the mud with a grunt but was quickly hauled back up. The fall had left her bag askew and she could now see an inches worth of ground beneath her feet. The men began to walk her towards the side of the road. She could hear the crowd murmuring but the bag and the earlier slap to her head made it hard to make anything out.

Soon her feet hit something solid and she could see the mud turn to wooden slats made to serve as a walkway. The light of the sun vanished as well and then there was the sound of a door swinging open. The men continued to lead her into a building. They walked at a brisk pace which Raven struggled to keep up with. After a few short feet she was lead into a corridor that began to descend. Another door was opening and then she was all but thrown into a chair. The men latched her leg shackles to something then left the room, slamming the door behind them.

Raven immediately pressed her hands against the table and pulled against the chain holding her legs. It seemed to be held by the table leg but the table was heavy and felt like a solid piece of wood under her fingers. She shifted in her seat for a few seconds then tried to begin slipping one of the cuffs off her wrist.

"You'd probably have to break your thumb to get out of there."

The voice made her nearly jump out of her skin. Raven lifted her chin to try and see down the length of the table but the man was too far away. She lowered her head and waited instead.

There was the sound of a chair scraping against stone but it sounded further away than she would have guessed. A few moments later a pair of fingers snatched the sack off her head. Light flooded her vision and left her dazed for a moment. A lantern was being held directly in front of her face and before she could think to close her eyes it was taken away. The trick left her mostly blind as more spots danced in her vision. The rest of the room was dimly lit and she could just barely make out the figure of a man walking back down to the end of the table. He sat down and put the lantern on the table.

Raven blinked slowly, trying to resist the urge to close them tight. Her mouth was twisted into a hard line. She realized in an instant how thirsty and hungry she was. She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning and her last swig of water had been early this morning. The wagon ride had seemed to take ages and she guessed it was now late afternoon. As her vision cleared she could now see a plate of bread and cheese sitting by the man's elbow. Her stomach growled loudly betraying her stoic expression. The man gave her an easy smile. "Hungry?"

She stared pointedly at the small window above the man's head. It was small but with enough wriggling and maybe some lard she could have a chance to slip through it and escape. Slowly and carefully, keeping her face perfectly serene, she looked back at the man. The man grinned again at her and began to eat pieces of the bread and cheese carelessly. He stared at her with greedy interest.

Raven continued to ignore him, taking in details around her. Her vision was still spotty but it was slowly returning. She could hear movement above them although it was muffled through the layers of wood and stone. Across the table the man finished his meal and wiped his hands on his pants. He was older, his face lined with age and scarred as well. She could now see an eye patch covering his left eye. His hair was grey, almost white and he smiled at her again. Something about the smile made her stomach twist uncomfortably.

"So tell me," the man began as he casually picked at his fingernails. "What were you doing at the border?"

Raven continued to look at her surroundings, ignoring the man entirely. She flexed her muscles, trying to find a spot of weakness in her restraints. The iron bit into her skin and made a clatter every time she shifted in her seat. She wondered where her weapons were.

He smiled again, "I don't expect you to tell me. At least not willingly, but I thought it would be interesting to have a chat before we get to the unpleasant business of finding out who you are. You see I've been searching for a young elf woman just about your age. I was told she would not be taken easily."

Her heart skipped a few beats and she stared at the window, determined not to make eye contact with this man. The man stood up from his chair and walked towards her, his pace was slowly and almost predatory. She took a deep breath as he grew nearer.

Suddenly without warning backhanded her across the face then he drug her to her feet and delivered a devastating kick to her ribs. Raven screamed. With deliberate and vicious strikes he continued to pummel her. Her eyes began to slip closed and she could feel the pain radiating from every fiber of her body. It was unbearable, crawling up into her throat and choking her. It was as if a fire burned through her, consuming everything within its path until she was certain she was dying.

The fire reached its pinnacle and this time Raven screamed until her lungs were empty. The pain contracted, withdrew into her very center. She shook violently then felt something inside her explode. The fire flew from her limbs, while she was left with a cool sensation in her core. Her vision slowly returned and she drew in huge breaths, trying to relieve the urge to vomit on the floor. She could hear screams but they sounded like they were coming from very far away.

How long she lay on the floor Raven could not have said. It felt too short but she began to pick herself up, her arms and legs felt heavy but her mind was clear and she felt no more pain despite the beating she'd taken. Her vision cleared and she found herself standing in a pile of rubble and ash. The wall that faced the street had been blown to bits and there was a clear route of escape. Her hands began to shake violently as she looked around at the destruction. Red light was illuminating the space and she quickly realized it was flowing in intricate designs across her body. She blanched and cast about the room for something to cover herself more fully. A heavy cloak hung on the wall to the door and she nearly cried in relief as she discovered her bow, quiver, and knife underneath it as well. Her quiver was empty from when she'd been taken but Raven quickly donned the items anyways and picked her way across the rubble.

A groan from beneath the stones made her start and she drew her knife. Her captor's hands stretched out from beneath a pile of stones and she could make out his bloodied face in the dim light. His mouth was twisted into something horrid that made her stomach drop. He spat at her, "You'll pay for this you little witch." His words were garbled and she could now see that half of his face was seared and bloody.

Raven turned from him and ran, throwing up the hood of her cloak.

Raven watched in grim silence as the soldiers tore apart her meager camp. It surprised her they'd been able to find it so quickly. It had taken her nearly three hours to return but they'd beaten her there, although it was possible they'd been searching since she'd been captured. The majority of her food and weapons were high above their heads in a tree but she didn't dare try to reach them before they'd left.

The soldiers slashed her tent to shreds and two of them fought over her bedroll, with its warm rabbit fur lining, before the commander barked an order at them. All the soldiers wore full armor and made such a racket that Raven was sure she could waltz right past them without tipping them off. The armor they wore was not the shiny steel she'd been told about by the scouts back at Azarath. It was blackened, as if it had been burned before they donned it. Across the clearing their horses were fighting amongst each other, not unlike their masters. They were all great huge beasts, all of them black with mean roving eyes. They squealed and only added to the racket of the razing of her camp.

Raven sighed and maneuvered herself into the crook of a branch where she could wait them out. Her stomach growled angrily at her.

The sun had just slipped fully below the horizon when the soldiers finally mounted their horses and took off at a thundering pace. Underneath the cover of the trees darkness surrounded them and Raven wondered how they did not all crash into one another as they raced out of the trees. It was no hard task to track their progress through the quiet wood but Raven stayed perched in her tree until the forest was still once more. She shimmied up her hiding tree and retrieved her stores of food and extra arrows. The sound of the arrows sliding into her quiver relaxed the twist in her gut as did the bread and apple from her packs. She started to kick around camp but thought better of it and shouldered her pack before starting northwest, keeping the North Road close but not too close.

Three days passed and Raven saw two more patrols of the black soldiers pass by on the road. As before she could hear them coming nearly a mile away, giving her plenty of time to hide and observe them as they passed on the North Road. The second patrol she encountered while trying to scout a crossing of a fast moving river. The horses came barreling down the bend as she watched from a thicket of bushes. This time the group was larger, ten men mounted on black horses while twenty more marched behind them, all dressed in the same black armor. One of the foot soldiers carried a banner, a black tower against a blood red field.

Raven watched them go with curiosity, she'd never been an expert on the banners of men, most elves found them ridiculous. But there was something about the image that seemed intently familiar. After they passed she waited until nightfall then crossed the bridge, crouching low beneath it's walls.

It had been a week since Raven had last seen the black soldiers and she walked near the North Road, keeping it in sight. Her food stores had run low so she was walking with an arrow knocked to her bowstring, in case a rabbit or quail stirred in the brush.

As she meandered through the forest she could see the outlines of a small village at the bottom of a hill where the forest gave way to fields and small buildings with smoke rising from the tops. Raven paused to observe the village for a moment. Ahead there was an area where lumber had been cleared away from the edge of the road and she could make out a path that veered off the North Road and led down the hill into the village. She could make out people working in the fields far below.

Suddenly, ahead on the road there was a hideous crash of steel and steel and voices cried out into the afternoon air. Raven dropped down into the thick brush, her fingers tightening on her arrow as she searched for the disturbance.

From around a bend in the road a huge man stumbled backwards into view. Neither he or his attackers wore the black armor. Raven skirted the road and clambered up a low embankment into a thick area of pine trees. She braced herself against a trunk and watched the men below her.

It was three against one but not exactly an unfair fight. The single fighter towered over his opponents, standing well over six feet with short black hair and black skin that gleamed with sweat in the sunlight, but he carried a sword that seemed dwarfish in his hands. His reach seemed to make up for it and he wore plate armor that appeared to have seen better days. His opponents all wore rough leathers with sharp axes in their hands, they looked as if they had seen better days. Neither party had a shield and they hacked at each other with reckless abandon. The big man roared angrily at the other three and with a quick movement he slashed the face of the nearest one. The wounded man went down clutching his face as blood spilled out from beneath his fingers. With the odds evened a bit the remaining two axe holders prodded the man for weaknesses cautiously. They forced him further and further down the road until he back was against the embankment and he stumbled.

The smaller of the two axe wielders danced away from a wild jab while the bigger one smashed his weapon into the big man's back. The scrape of steel rang through the air and set Raven's teeth on edge. Her eyes narrowed as she saw through the attackers' plans. The bigger one would distract while the smaller one would go in low, slicing through the big man's unprotected leg tendons and sending him down. Without thinking she raised her bow.

Sure enough, the bigger one rushed forward with a yell while the small one slipped back. The big man met his attacker eagerly, their weapons clashing loudly while they yelled insults at each other. Raven took aim as the smaller man, he held his axe out for the strike. Her arrow flew from his fingertips and struck him in the right shoulder. He let out a scream and went down clutching the wound. The scream startled the big man but it not as much as his opponent. With a violent kick the big man sent the axe wielder into the dirt and stabbed him through the hand.

All three men were cursing and whimpering but the big man ignored them. His eyes searched the woods, passing over where Raven was flattened against a tree her heart hammering in her chest. The bandits began to gather themselves up and limp away but the big man grabbed the one she'd shot. With one smooth yank he pulled out her arrow and examined it, ignoring the scream of the man. After a moment he took the arrow, sat down on a stump on the edge of the road and began cleaning his sword.

Raven growling in frustration, her fingers digging into the tree bark. The man seemed content to wait her out in order to see his rescuer. She knelt at the base of the tree and looked down the road, the bandits had retreated leaving a trail of blood behind them. Her arrow leaned against the man's knee, the feathers gleaming back at her. He finished cleaning his sword then plucked the arrow up and began wiping the blood from the tip.

With a resigned sigh Raven drew herself up to her full height of just over five feet and knocked an arrow before stepping out from her hiding place. The man's eyes widened slightly at the sight of the elf but he made no moves towards her, instead her offered her a lopsided grin.

"Nice shot," he said.

Raven said nothing.

"Guess you might be needing this back," he offered the arrow out to her. He seemed to sense her hesitation and instead made to toss it to her. She caught it easily and slipped it back in with his brethren. They continued to stare at each other across the road.

"So…thanks for getting that guy."

"You're welcome," she replied quietly.

They stood that way in awkward silence until the sound of a wagon approaching made Raven freeze up. She quickly drew up the hood of her cloak and stepped back, hitting the embankment. The man glanced at her then stood and quickly strode across the road towards her. She raised her bow at him uncertainly but he ignored her and instead stood in front of her, half shielding her from the road with his body. The wagon crested the hill pulled by an elderly looking horses who huffed to a stop and dropped its head to nibble at some grass. The driver didn't look much better than his animal but he raised his hand in a friendly wave. The man waved back then looked down at Raven.

"Not very friendly are you?"

Raven gave him a stony look from under her cloak. He grinned back at her.

"You hungry?"