None of the Marvel affiliated characters belong to me. Raven Darkholme included
Chapter 1:
…Somewhere in Western Europe. About two to three hundred years before the Protestant reformation…
There was a flash of lightening in the dark, wet woods. A man in the dark robes and white collar of the clergy ran through the forest. He was soaking wet, and nearly blind from the wind and water that constantly attacked his eyes. Yet he did not stop his wayward journeying. His dark brown hair clung to his nape, though it was neatly trimmed. He pauses momentarily as the rise of a road appears before him. After a moment of indecision he looks down at the bundle cradled in this arms. It is a girl perhaps past her eighth year. She gasps and wheezes as she tries to continue to breathe. There is a gash above her brow and several oozing wounds on her arms and legs. As he stops to look at her she breaks into a coughing fit. There is another flash of lightening. With its light the worry and fear in his eyes are easily discernible on his young face. Finally he climbs the rise from the woods onto the muddy road itself, and with labored breath he plods down the road, heading to the left. He runs on, the mud sucking at his shoes with every step. He stops to calm his breathing and check on the girl again.
From behind he hears the jingling of tack. He whirls around to see what looks like coach lights approaching. He scrambles off the road and hides in the underbrush. The lights near and he tries to make the girl as dry and comfortable as possible. As the first wagon passes he calms a bit. However the calm is short lived as he realizes that the caravan does not belong to merchants. He waits with baited breath then all of a sudden there is a call for halt passed along the wagons. A woman just past her prime walks around her wagon she sniffs the rain soaked wind. She looks out at the mud just before her carriage. She gives some obscure signal to be passed back, then walks directly for where the man and girl hid. Fearing what would happen he turned to hide the girl behind the bulk of his body.
The woman spoke in a voice that was both husky and lilting, "The girl is hurt, yes?" The man, a mere boy in her eyes, turned with fear and rage mingled in his eyes. Slowly, to show no hostility, she put a hand on his shoulder. She felt him flinch before he turned his face back to the girl. "She is hurt badly", he said reluctantly, "I was trying to find help." The woman nodded. "I know only one who could help her. I will take you to her." The man hesitantly looked at her until the girl broke out in another coughing fit. He nodded briskly and she led him to her wagon.
As they rode down the road he turned to ask, "Who is this one who can help my sister, even in the state she is in." the woman smiled a grim smile. "She is one with great power, and wields it as if it were a plaything. She is tricky and will ask a high price for her help, but she always keeps her word. At the rate your sister's health seems to be failing, She may be the only one who can help you." He nodded, "I thank you…" they rode on in silence for a few more moments. "What are your names?" He turned his eyes from his sister on the bed inside the wagon room. "We are Raven and Helios Darkholme, and we are in your debt." The woman shook her head. "You can call me Raina. And you owe me nothing. I however may owe you my condolences by the time this night is over." Her voice had a twinge of bitterness to it. Helios nodded, "I thank you, all the same, for the little ray of hope I've been given this evening."
About half an hour later they arrived at the base of a rocky path. It was narrow and it wound a meandering path all the way up onto the mountain-like hill. Helios got off and collected Raven. "Just head up this track. Whenever it forks just take the one most directly in front of you." Helios nods and follows Raina's gaze down to Raven whose breathing was more labored than ever. Her skin had paled to a deathlike white, and her lips had taken on a faint tint of blue. Raina sat there for a moment watching as he trudged into the darkness, "God save you Helios and Raven, for I fear no other will protect you from what may come." With a sigh she turned back to the road and signaled for the caravan to proceed.
About twenty minutes later Helios collapsed in a clearing before a cave. "Can someone help us", he called into the empty space. "Please, my sister..." Suddenly firelight began flickering inside the cave mouth. A cloaked hobbling figure came forth. "What do you seek?" Helios wearily stood. "I seek someone who can heal my sister." There was a garbled sounding laugh, " And what will you sacrifice for this service?" Helios looks down at Raven, " Anything." The skies cleared then and moonlight beamed down on the clearing. The cloaked person stood tall and graceful hands pulled back the hood. A beautiful platinum haired woman stood before him. Her midnight blue rimmed silver eyes sparked with what could only be magic. Power crackled like icy blue flames around her. She laughed her voice like the tinkling of bells imbued with might beyond what is owed to such a trifle device. "I am the Sorceress and I accept your request. I will heal your sister who now lies at death's door. Enter my dwelling." Helios did as he was bid wondering what devil's mischief he had agreed to.
Inside the cave was a crude stone table bathed in moonlight that shined through a hole in the cave ceiling. "Lay her in the light. Then go warm yourself by the fire as I work." Again he did as he was told, feeling apprehensive. The sorceress smirked at his discomfort. "Men", She thought with a snort. She waved a hand over the girl's body seeking weak points and any unseen dangers. She reached in a pocket and pulled out a vial and an athemé. She pricks her finger, then that of the child, and catching several drops in the vial from both of their cuts. She swirls the mixture and reaches into her pocket again and pulls out several packets full of powdered substances. She measures and mixes the dry components then adds it all to the blood and clear liquid in the vial. The mixture begins glowing blue and smoking. She looked back over at Helios who was huddling next to the fire worrying and praying. She shook her head ruefully at his naiveté. Using the athemé she marks the girls skin at all the major joints. Wrists elbows, shoulders knees hips ankles and neck. Then she makes a mark over the girl's heart and two marks over her brows. Next she poured eight drops in each of those marks. Then poured a line from her throat to her navel. By the time she was done the girl was bathed in a blue light that was so bright it outshone the moonlight outside.
The exhausted Helios started as the glow continued to shine brightly. "What did you do", he asked panicking. He went to reach for her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you", the sorceress said calmly. A wry smile twisted her lips. Helios stopped, suddenly unsure of himself. "I've decided on my price for fixing your sister. You are my price." Helios gasped at her. "What on earth are you talking about", he exclaimed. "You said I could name my price, or rather more precisely you said I could have whatever I want as my fee." Helios nodded dumbly, "But what of my sister?" She looked rather blankly at the child on the table then shook her head. "She will stay here and she will be fine. However you will come with me, now." She smiled mischievously at him, "As long as you are a good boy and do what I tell you to do I won't have to kill your sister. Now leave the cave and head to the opposite edge of the clearing. Don't look back whatever you do." She smiled at him jubilantly and gave him a shove towards the cave exit.
Once he was gone. She whispered a few words into the girl's ear and kissed her forehead. She spoke to the cave then, "Do not open till the time when this child will be safe." Then she left the cave. To see Helios standing at the far edge of the clearing his back to the cave. Even when the stones of the mountain shook and roared as the cave mouth closed did he turn around. She encouraged couple of trees to grow in front of what used to be the cave entrance. After a couple of minutes she stood back to survey her handy work. Satisfied she called to Helios, "Alright, you. Come over here Helios." Helios trotted over like an obedient puppy. Even though it was clear that some great supernatural work had been performed, his gaze was steady and obedient. She smiled at him and turned to face him. She gave him a good looking over, circling him as she did this. "I had a feeling you would be right." She gave him a brilliant smile, as she returned to her original spot facing him. She absentmindedly waved an arm at the air to her left.
She continued to look at him, calculating. However the hand motion had served its purpose. Just a hairsbreadth from where her hand had waved a six-foot tall, oval portal opened. It looked like a pool of water swirling in different shades of blue. Helios' eyes widened in alarm. He looked down from his six foot five inch height to the sorceress' bent head. "Excuse me, but what is that", he asked completely shaken. "Hmm?" she looked up from her study of his torso to see him watching the portal, "Oh that. It's a Nexus portal." He gulped and nodded, "What is it for?" She sighed and stood from her scrutiny of his abdomen. "Give me your arm, please." He obliged a bit hesitantly. "Seriously though what does that thing do?" She turned her back to him, took his arm, and lifted it so that it hung over her right shoulder. She tugged a little on his wrist. "Loosen your shoulders and tighten your abdominal muscles." He obeyed. "So what are you doing", he asked hesitantly. She smiled up at him and said, "Just wait." She brought him a couple steps closer to the portal and sighed contentedly. "Sorcere…" he began. Then before he could blink, she had tossed him through the portal. He felt an icy chill as his legs hit the portal's now still waters. He reached out to her as the portal slowly absorbed him. "SORCERESS!" he cried and with that his face was sucked beyond the surface of the portal. The sorceress laughed at his panic. And then she waved her hand at the portal again. The scene changed from a muddy road about a mile or two from a village to one of an elegant bedchamber. She stepped through this image and with that the portal was gone.