Note: The words and sayings said in this story do not reflect the opinions of the author/writer (me).

Stevie Rae

"Hm." The Black Raven softly grunted as he turned his horse to look at the other Black Ravens that were coming to him.

"Chief, what is the matter?" One of them asked as they all stopped behind him. I could feel some of their eyes on me while the others stared intently of, what I believe, is their leader.

"She seems to know who we are." He answered.

Another different Black Raven pulled up beside the leader and looked down at me. "She is very pretty there brother. Shall we take her?" I tense knowing what he meant. The Black Ravens are infamous for causing mischief and raping women, the only Indian tribe out there that does such a thing. I know I should run, but I knew if I did I would be easily caught.

"No Amaro." The leader replied, his voice lined with the slightest bit of anger. "We will not follow my father." Amaro scoffed and turned his horse around. He turned his attention back to me. "Where do you live?" I moved back in shock. Where I live? For what reason?

"Rephiam," a Black Raven from the back called, "what are you planning?"

Rephiam… That's his name. I silently mused in my head. That name sounds awfully familiar.

"We are taking her back home." He said with certainty. His hand reached down again. Not quite buying into this I glare at his hand.

Another Black Raven pulled up on Rephiam's left side. "Well would ya look at that?" His voice sounded very western and that threw me off. I thought all Black Ravens were Indians. I looked closer at his face, he is Indian. I got totally confused. "Looks like the girl don't trust us. What a shame. We should just leave her out here."

"Come on Reid." A horse neighed as he came into view, the rider looking straight at the western Indian (still very strange to me). "Do not be so cruel. She was kidnapped obviously. I say we take her home."

"And risk being shot at?" Amaro argued as he returned his horse back around. "Yeah, I would rather just leave her here and save us the trouble Hotah."

"She is our responsibility." Said the Indian who asked Rephiam before what he was planning. "We saved her it shall be our responsibility to return her to safety."

Amaro groaned. "You two are seriously too kind. We are Black Ravens, not the weak others who die by the hands of white men."

"So what if my brother Hothlepoya and I are kind?" Hotah asked, his voice filled with self defense, "At least we have a heart."

"Why you—"

"Enough." Rephiam intervened. "We are taking her home." That was when I realized that he hadn't taken his hand away." He looked to me and nodded once. "There is no need to fear. Where do you live?"

I looked back at the others behind him and then back at his hand. What the heck? If somethin' bad happens it happens. "I live in Boulder." I place my hand gingerly in his and suddenly I'm pulled up. With a squeak I get placed on the back of the horse behind Rephiam. The horse complained about the extra weight with a groan.

The Indian named Hotah pulled his horse close to Rephiam's. "Now, now, Shadow. It will only be for a little while." The horse whinnied softly in reply.

Rephiam nodded his thanks and turned the horse around. "Let us go." The birds flew off their owners' shoulders and he clicked his tongue and the horse broke into a run and the others followed without another command from him (and I guessed the ravens follow from the air). I wasn't really holding on so I almost fell. I wrapped my arms around his waist. He didn't even look back when I did that. I sort of blanked out while I rode an actual Black Raven horse. It's not like a typical horse. The gait is more collected, the head is pulled close to its body and the stride was longer, more like a deer than a horse. After I got over the initial shock of riding this horse I looked more closely at the others. The one named Amaro looked just a tad bit younger than the Rephiam. The faces looked alike but the difference was that while Rephiam's hair was braided, his was tied in a ponytail. He wore no shirt like his brother so I could see his muscles were more distinguished than his brother's. Behind him was the one called Hotah, he had his hair braided too, he wore a shirt though and he had a feather in his hair too. Behind him was (what I guess to be his brother), what was his name? Hoth-Hothlo-pia, whatever his name was, was wearing the exact same thing as his brother right down to the hair length (I guess that maybe they're twins). I looked on the other side now. The one farther in front was the western Indian person, Reid. His hair was short and he wore a cowboy hat (the only one that wore a hat at all) and he had a cowboy jacket, no shirt, brown pants just like the others but with boots. I mentally laughed, not your regular ol' Indian now is he? He also had a rifle strapped behind him on the saddle (once again, the only one with a saddle and let me just say, bareback riding is so uncomfortable, especially in a skirt). The one behind him, I don't think his name was mentioned, he looked more like a traditional Indian, with the tribal shirt and pants and moccasins and the beads and his hair was put into two braids. There was also a bad over his shoulder too. I looked at the back of Rephiam and then I notice something I didn't notice before. A huge mark covering his whole back in the form of wings. They were on there as if they were open. I marveled at it for a bit before looking back at the others, there were some who also had the same marks, mostly on their arms, others were unseen. I guess they all have the same markings somewhere on their body. I look back to his back and for the rest of the ride I studied the wings.

Boulder/No POV

Jimmy Johnson supervised the fire operation at the jail. Until the fire is completely put out there was no way to tell if either of the two sheriffs survived the fire caused by the outlaws. Meanwhile the bank counted the money that was left in the bank to see in total how much was robbed. Other volunteers went around looking for anyone who might be hurt or in need of help. Dallas received a big bump to the head and was not all right on his feet. Jimmy looked around and in the distance, off on the west, dust and dirt was being kicked off. Jimmy turned his attention fully onto the commotion when then he saw them. The Black Ravens riding in. Oh great. Just what we need. A bunch of savages. He thought violently as he quickly called out a warning. Men ran off to grab their guns while the women and children started to seek out shelter. The fire forgotten it burned mightily behind the growing group of men with guns and rifles. The black horses pulled up and Jimmy saw her, his daughter, behind a Black Raven. "Stevie Rae Johnson!"

She snapped back into reality. "Father!" Rephiam half turned to help her down before Jimmy yelled out.

"Don't touch my daughter you savage!" He took a rifle from a man standing close to him and cocked the gun. Rephiam looked up, a dangerous, humorous, glint in his eyes. His arms and hands stayed at his side as Stevie Rae awkwardly got off the horse. She landed on her feet with a thud and ran beside her father. "What do you want ya animal?"

Amaro pushed his horse in front of Rephiam and glared down at Jimmy. "Do not start white man. We just safely delivered your daughter to you so back off."

"Delivered her? You talk about her like she's an object!"

Amaro reached into his pants pocket for his knife but Rephiam pushed his horse away with his and looked towards the mayor. "I would be grateful if I were you. We could have done bad things to your daughter instead of bring her home. We could also plummet your town deeper in chaos if we wanted to. Thankfully for you we are just passing through." His horse snorted in Jimmy's face and that pushed the mayor off the edge.

"I'm going to kill that devil horse!" He pointed the gun to the horse. The horse neighed and reared. The other horses as well as their riders reacted as well.

"Father!" Stevie Rae pushed the gun down and the gun went off, the bullet hitting the ground hard. The horses trampled in place and did nervous circles. The ravens were starting to circle around above the Black Ravens. The men of the town started feeling nervous as the black birds circled and got lower, and lower, and lower. "Don't! They saved me from the outlaws the least you could do is let them pass!" She then moved in front of the gun and defensively in front of the Black Ravens. "Show them hospitality." She added silently.

"Hospitality! To those creatures?"

"Rephiam!" Amaro screamed. "Let me cut his throat out!"

"No Amaro!" "See what violence!" Both Rephiam and Jimmy shouted at the same time.

"I told you this was going to be bad Rephiam." Amaro stated.

Hotah nodded. "We should leave and quickly before the chance is lost."

"You're not getting out of my town alive!" Jimmy yelled his fist in the air.

"Father! Stop it!" His daughter shouted.

The quietest of the Black Ravens, Chogan, pulled his horse away and towards the east. "Rephiam let us leave. We brought her, now we should go."

Rephiam turned his horse and moved towards the east. "Alright Chogan. We are leaving." Jimmy raised the gun but Stevie Rae yanked it out of his hands and held onto the dangerous weapon. She glared at her father, hatred boiling up inside of her. Rephiam shot a single glance back at her, nodded once and then clicked his tongue. The horses rushed forward, Amaro held his horse back to glare at the town and its inhabitants. He then too clicked his tongue and followed the rest of the tribe.

"Good riddance." Jimmy turned towards his daughter and pulled the gun out from her. Without another word he turned, shoved the gun into the owner's hands and restarted the fire operation. Stevie Rae stomped her foot into the ground immaturely and went straight home, ashamed and angered by her father's actions.

Name meanings:

Amaro: strong

Chogan: black bird

Hotah: gray

Hothlepoya: wild hunter

Reid: red

Note: In this story all the Black Ravens are related they all just have different mothers except for Rephiam and Amaro and the twins Hotah and Hothlepoya (from a different mother), just so you know.

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