Destiny

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Chronicles/Legends of the Raven and I'm not making any money from this fic. The characters Liren and Kaya belong to me - as if that wasn't obvious...

Summary: See previous chapters

Warning(s): No new warnings - yet. Sorry, it's taking a while to get to the discipline part

Author's Note: Again, thanks for reviewing and everything. You all get cookies! And lots of huggles!

The members of The Raven - or what remained of it - sat at tables in The Rookery. The usual gaiety wasn't anywhere to be felt. Instead, the mood which hung around their heads was somber and dark.

Hirad stared at the wine in front of him. Although it was the best Tomas served, it tasted no better than sand in his mouth. I can't believe Ilkar's gone... He's always been around. The barbarian tilted his head back to stare up at the ceiling. To make things worse, Erienne had described seeing one of the two people Hirad had hoped never to see or hear from again.

And now only he and The Unknown knew the reason why...

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Hirad looked up into Erienne's dark eyes, considering. Even with being the only woman in The Raven, the mage had never shown a tendency to try and 'mother' the men. Hirad suspected that she wanted to know more about what had happened with Kaya and Liren in order to take her mind off Ilkar's death, more than anything else.

Sighing, Hirad played with his glass, and met The Unknown's gaze from across the room. Without making any conscious decision to do so, Hirad found his thoughts turning to the past.

By the time Kaya opened her eyes again, harsh sunlight was beating down on her. Frowning, she turned her head to the side; and blinked in confusion as she saw a forest going past.

Why is that forest moving?

Kaya raised a hand to her head and rubbed at her temples. It didn't help her blinding headache, though. She was rather concerned over the fact that she was sitting on something... and it was moving.

"It's good to see you're finally awake."

As the voice sounded right in her ear, Kaya jerked and nearly fell off the horse. She grabbed onto the rider behind her, but narrowed her eyes as she heard the soft laughter. "It's not funny!"

"Of course not." There was still laughter in Ilkar's tone, though.

"Is there a problem?" The shaved warrior brought his horse to a halt and eyed Kaya. Remembering his bloodied sword, she flinched and shrank back against Ilkar's chest.

"Looks like your face scares her, Unknown." Hirad guided his horse in front of the others and smirked at the warrior. Liren peeked out from behind his shoulder and waved at Kaya.

The Unknown glanced at Hirad with a frown. "As much as you think you are, you really aren't funny, Hirad." He looked back at Kaya. "How are you feeling? You've been out of it for nearly a whole day."

Is it safe to talk to him? Kaya wondered. She wasn't sure she could trust someone who could stab a person one day and act perfectly normal the next. But then... I did exactly the same thing. It was for different reasons, though. Liren and I were defending ourselves... Of course, if it hadn't been for The Raven, she and Liren would be dead by now - or worse.

"Kaya?" It was Ilkar who spoke, his hand resting on her shoulder. "How are your mana reserves?"

Good question. Kaya reached out mentally and felt the mana come to her call - but much slower than usual. She frowned, letting it go again as she found herself exerting much more force than she should have needed to. "It's a lot more difficult than it was." She tried to keep her tone calm, but couldn't stop herself shaking.

"Why would that happen? It didn't affect me for this long." Liren seemed to be talking more to Ilkar than Kaya, who bristled; but had to admit that she knew as little - if not less - than Liren did.

Ilkar looked down at Kaya, all traces of humour gone. He then looked at Liren. "If I had to guess - and I couldn't say with any certainty - I'd think that your friend could have the abilities of a catalyst."

"That would make sense if I had more than a passing knowledge of what a catalyst does," Kaya muttered. Something about being able to strengthen other people's magic, while not having very much power themselves, right? Well... I'm not exactly powerful - and yet being around me has caused both Ilkar and Liren to cast more powerful spells.

Ilkar turned his head to Hirad, who Kaya noticed was nodding. "Are you nodding because you understand, or because you don't want me to explain further?" the elf asked. Though the tone of his voice seemed to suggest that he already knew which it was.

"Well, we do have to get moving," Hirad replied, the trace of a smile on his lips. Kaya noticed the almost possessive way Liren's arms were wrapped around the barbarian's waist and had to wonder at the nature of their relationship.

Kaya felt Ilkar tense up behind her and waited for him to deliver a scathing reply. However, The Unknown then spoke up. "Hirad's right; we do need to get moving. Are you still all right to ride?" he asked Kaya.

As answer, Kaya sat up straighter and took a tight hold of the reins. She pressed her thighs against the horse's sides and felt Ilkar's arms come around her waist as the horse broke into a gallop.

Kaya leaned back against the trunk of a tree and anxiously watched Liren's face as the mage held a Communion with one of the other mages in Xetesk. She remembered her first knowledge of a catalyst mage and couldn't help giving a light sigh. My catalyst abilities haven't worked since we left The Raven - and they showed up right when The Raven did. She was still pretty sure that the two were connected somehow.

Liren opened her eyes and Kaya pulled herself away from her thoughts. "Well?"

"I have directions to the house you saw in your dream." Liren looked away a moment before continuing, "The problem is, it's in Wesmen country. I really don't think it's a good idea to go there with too many people. The wesmen might have left Balaia alone for a while, but I'm sure they'll use any excuse to attack - which includes doing something which could be seen as invading."

Kaya was silent for a few moments. "I'm sure you spent a long time coming up with that." She frowned.

"I'm not lying!"

"I know you aren't." Kaya closed her eyes briefly and sighed. "You're saying that we have to go - alone - into enemy territory, where the wrong move could at best get us killed; at worst, cause a war. And then, we have to somehow bargain with demons to get Ilkar back." She shook her head slightly. "Why can't anything ever be simple?" Of course, there are a number of other problems as well...

Liren shrugged. "Well, what would be the point if our lives were easy?"

Knowing that there wasn't really much she could say to that, Kaya asked instead, "How are the twins? Did you tell them you might not be coming back?" Really, it was nothing short of miraculous that the twins had been born at all. Clearly conceived right before we left The Raven... I think it's amazing that they survived even then. Now, while their mother - and adopted aunt - traveled over Balaia, the twins stayed at Xetesk with trusted mages.

As it always did, Liren's face lit up at the mention of her children. Sometimes, Kaya brought them up just to see the smile which appeared so rarely now. "They're fine. They do miss me, though. When we go back to Xetesk, I should spend as much time with them as possible." Either she ignored the second question, or simply didn't register it.

I wonder if Liren will ever tell Hirad that he has two children... Kaya simply nodded, though; closed her eyes; leaned back against the tree; and remembered.

"Here." Liren offered a bowl of stew to Kaya. "I made it. Don't worry; it's not poisoned. I can taste some of it, if you like. Just to prove that it's safe for you to eat."

"No, that's all right." Kaya closed her hands around the wooden bowl, never taking her eyes off the dark-haired elf who was talking - or rather arguing - with Hirad. They'd spent the last two days together; and already, Ilkar was proving to be much better company than most of the human men she knew.

"You know, it's a really bad idea for elves and humans to get involved with each other."

Startled out of her thoughts, Kaya glanced sideways at Liren, barely able to make out the other woman's features in the gradually dimming light. "I wasn't thinking about getting involved with him," she answered honestly. "Just that he's a lot easier to talk to than most of the human men I know." She shook her head slightly. "Anyway, what is it between you and Hirad? You two seem quite close."

"Not really." Liren shrugged. "We have a kind of arrangement, which happens to include sleeping together. It's been going on for a while, I guess." She looked up as Ilkar headed over to them. "So how's Hirad doing? I hope you two have actually come to some kind of agreement - but I very much doubt that's the case."

"You should talk to him," the elf said, frowning. "He's not listening to me right now." Ilkar sat down next to Kaya, the tips of his ears a little red.

"What makes you think I'll have any more luck?" Liren got up anyway, though, and headed over to Hirad, who turned at her touch.

Kaya glanced sideways at Ilkar, noticing the tense set of his shoulders and the grim look to his mouth. Something seems to be bothering him... "Is my being here causing you all problems?" she asked.

Ilkar blinked, glancing at her. "No. What makes you ask that?"

Kaya shrugged slightly and chose not to answer that. "So what exactly is The Raven? Stories about you are around all over Balaia, but most of them appear to be just rumours. I'm curious as to what it is you do - seven men and one elf."

"We're a band of mercenaries," Ilkar answered. "We formed about five years ago; and there were only four of us - at least to begin with."

"So I know who you and Hirad are - and I sort of know who he is," Kaya said, pointing to the Unknown Warrior, "but I wasn't paying enough attention when any introductions were being made." She lowered her hand again.

"Well, first of all, not much is known about The Unknown, save for his fighting style, weapons and the name he goes by." Ilkar smiled. "There hasn't exactly been time for introductions, so don't worry; you didn't miss anything." He looked at the others around the small camp. "That's Sirendor Larn," he said, gesturing towards a tall, well-built man. "And there's Talan, Richmond and Ras. Over there by the fire is Jaynan."

Kaya noticed that Talan, Richmond and Ras seemed to be quite close friends. All of them were quite big men - though still considerably smaller than the Unknown Warrior. All three had black hair - or at least it appeared that way in the near-dark. It'll take me a while to remember which one's which, I suppose. I can barely make out their features... Then again, she couldn't make out much of Jaynan, either - aside from the fact that he was more slender and appeared to have red hair.

"So what brings a Julatsan mage to a band of mercenaries?" Kaya asked, glancing again at Ilkar. "At least, I assume that's what you are."

"Your assumption is correct," Ilkar replied. "As to why I am here? Well, I'd prefer to keep that knowledge to myself, at least for the time being." His tone was firm, but not unkind.

"Well, I can understand that." Abruptly, Kaya shivered.

Ilkar eyed her with concern. "Are you cold?" Without waiting for any kind of response, he removed his cloak from around his shoulders and settled it over Kaya's. "You should have sat nearer to the fire."

Kaya didn't want to admit that she didn't want to sit close to the fire because that was where the men with the swords were. She just stared at the flickering flames and tried not to think about what her future might hold.

Kaya watched Liren as her friend killed the two rabbits with two simple slashes of her dagger. She then took the small bodies out of the traps and headed back over to Kaya. "We need to be careful not to leave any traces of our presence behind; particularly given how close we are to Wesmen country."

"Are you sure you have the right directions?" Kaya warily eyed the border to the Wesmen lands, feeling nervous. They were relatively safe on this side of the border...

But the other side was fraught with danger.

"Yes, I do have the right directions," Liren replied calmly - though Kaya noticed that her hands shook. "We don't have any choice, Kaya. Not if you ever want to see Ilkar again."

Kaya stared at the mountains. The setting sun made it look like the peaks were on fire; and she couldn't help shivering.

The only things that await us in the Wesmen country are fire and pain... And what price will the demons extract from us for Ilkar's life?