Raven III

A single successful raid could feed the tribe for months, even years.

At the same time, however, a single raid could take up to years to plan - and pulling it off was even harder. Because for all the Branwen Tribe was feared on Anima, it doesn't take away from the fact that the tribe was made of a bunch of uncivilised outlaws, with outdated equipment and piss poor discipline. They couldn't even comfortably raid a Hashi settlement without outside help, much less the more fortified Hellen settlements.

Especially not Hellenic settlements - attack one of those, and they'd bring the entire might of one of the Three Leagues down upon the tribe.

A single raid was the culmination of years of planning, and so they usually plan several potential raids in that time. Potential was an important word there, because it wasn't the tribe which chooses which settlement to raid, it was the Grimm. The Grimm were the Branwen Tribe's partners in crime - they were the outside help, and without their help the tribe wouldn't be getting over the walls of frontier settlements.

It all starts at the most basic of decisions - and by far the most important - where do you settle the tribe? The area needs to be in close proximity to surrounding settlements, it needs to be well-hidden, and most importantly it must be in an area with high Grimm activity. Then, the tribe will sit still in that area for years until they get the opportunity to raid those settlements.

Raven and Qrow were born in the marches of the Shattermoon League, right on the border with the Silvershields, in a central forested valley. They grew up in this valley, for the tribe hasn't moved since their birth, for over a decade. Another reason for not migrating in so long is because of all the children; the new generation was just born - them and their peers - and in the relative safety of the valley, it was the best place for them to grow into adulthood.

Furuzaki was the last of the major villages in the area - and Raven had a good feeling that once they pull this off, the tribe will pack up and leave for the lands of the Coldcrown League in the north. Mostly because they've been terrorising the borderlands of the Silvershields and Shattermoons for over a decade, and both Leagues have just about had it with them.

Lastly, they cannot hit any region twice. Like how a hunter would conserve the wildlife of a forest so the population of prey can recover, they had to convince the government in Mistral that a few bandits weren't a good enough reason to abandon the frontier. Thus, after fully raiding a region, they leave for a few generations until more colonisers refill the depopulated region.

Then they return to strike again.

Wasn't running a bandit tribe totally complicated? Much harder than what the story books and fairy tales described them to be.

Of course, Raven's parents - the chiefs of the tribe - had drilled all this information into her and Qrow's heads since they were born. They were the heirs of the tribe, after all, even if she severely doubted Qrow paid any attention during their lessons at all. Raven would make a much better chief than him, she believed, maybe she should challenge him to the seat after father sodded off.

Just like how father killed uncle.

Raven wouldn't kill Qrow, though - or at least, she doesn't think she would. Maybe she would allow him to become chieftain, but Raven will position herself to be the power behind him. Yeah, that sounds much better - she knew Qrow wouldn't like all the responsibility anyway.

But first…

"You ready, Qrow?"

"...Yeah," Qrow grumbled, "Just peachy."

"You look sick," she noted, "Not feeling up to it?"

"Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth," he murmured under his breath.

Raven discretely glanced around at all their peers and guardians around them, who all didn't hear his words. That was good, at least Qrow knew that if he said that out loud he would be laughed out of his place as heir of the tribe. You can be soft - mother is soft - you simply must not show it, not if you want to survive.

Before them were the high clay walls of Furuzaki, situated at the top of a hill overlooking the forest - golden motes of light dancing on the battlements, illuminating the dark of night.

They were all hidden in the treeline, shrouded in the shadows of the forest. The tribe only had a few hundred people for his raid, and they were outnumbered several times by the population of Furuzaki alone.

Good thing fear had such a potent smell.

"Deep breaths, Qrow," she muttered, "No one can see you shaking, or you're gone."

Then, she turned to face their guardian, "Do you know what Grimm are out there?"

Kostas glanced up from beneath his hat. The man was napping, leaning against a tree, looking as relaxed as any other day. Raven still hasn't understood how the man could be so relaxed just before a raid - while she may not show it, she was still a jumble of nerves.

"The usual," he yawned, "Beowolves, ursai, beringels, the whole bunch."

Grimm were smart creatures - not intelligent, but smart. It wasn't uncommon for them to travel in interspecies hordes to get the best of every world. Ursai and beringels were the muscle, beowolves were the guides. A beowolf can sense negative emotions from much further away than any other Grimm, they were quick and agile, but also comparatively fragile. Glass cannons. Ursai and beringels were more burly, slow yet powerful, they covered the beowolves' weaknesses.

Grimm were instinctive creatures, and the Branwen Tribe has been dealing with them long enough to master them. Interspecies hordes were the jackpot.

Raven turned away, heading further deeper into the forest - until she came upon a gathering zone. Men and women, dressed in rags and gagged and tied up - prisoners they had captured from previous raids, hostages. There were some children among them as well, older ones who could think for themselves. The younger children, like babies and such, had already been adopted by the tribe.

It was a cesspit of negative emotions, but low intensity. They have been prisoners for months, after all. Grimm would notice, but not a large horde like the one they were fishing for - there needed to be more intensity.

A bird cawed in the distance, followed by another, and another.

Raven pulled a man to his feet, and frogmarched him over to the treeline. As she pushed him forward, she saw her group walking past her to get their own hostages. Kostas and other older tribesmen just watched as they did so with hawk-like eyes.

She waited until everyone else joined her, lined up by the treeline facing Furuzaki. Raven glanced at Qrow, shooting him a heavy look. Qrow bit his lip, before silently breathing in.

"Alright people," he said lowly, addressing the hostages, "See that town over there? That's Furuzaki, bet you know of it. We're going to cut your binds, and your job is to run for the walls. You reach them, and you're free, got it?"

Most of them remained still, obviously suspicious at the opportunity of freedom - but some shallowly nodded.

"It's gonna be a little game," one of them snickered.

Raven's eyes shifted to find the speaker. Ah, that guy, she knew him - the cruel little shit. Well, he wasn't totally wrong. Nevertheless, the moment he said those words, many of the prisoners understood what was happening, she could see it in their eyes. Some started to shiver.

"Alright," Qrow continued, "Who wants to go first?"

A few people raised their bound hands. Well, there were always a few brave ones each time - brave, or those who just wanted to get it over with. The man she was holding onto also raised his hands. Raven pulled out her knife and cut the ropes around his feet, but not the ones binding his hands nor his gag.

She pushed the man forward, before unslinging her crossbow. No guns tonight, too loud.

"Well," she whispered, "Don't let me stop you."

The man paused, before suddenly bolting off into the darkness. Raven lowered herself to the ground, lying prone and raising her crossbow.

"No wind tonight," a girl murmured.

"He's running in a straight line too," another scoffed, "Too easy."

"Shut up, asshole."

Raven ignored them, instead keeping her sights trained on the back of the man. She could feel all the prisoners holding their breath as they watched the man run for his life. That was good, they were looking. She wondered how they were feeling.

Angry? Scared? Anxious? Panicked?

All of it was good.

She held her breath, and brought her finger to the trigger.

Bang!

fwoosh

A second passed, two seconds- the man dropped to the ground as if he was a puppet with his strings cut. His corpse was hidden by the darkness, and by the shadows of the walls.

Raven breathed out, and stood up.

"Next."

They continued well into the night, bringing multiple prisoners to the front and sending them off in waves - and killing them right under the walls of Furuzaki. They all knew each other, the tribe made sure of that, and most were family - for that extra intensity of emotions. Raven and Qrow took out the most people, as they should.

Qrow was soft, maybe, but he definitely wasn't a bad shot.

There was also this one time where one guy couldn't hit his target for the life of him - until the running hostage tripped over a corpse in the darkness. It was funny, Raven had to admit.

After they ran out of hostages, they all sat down and waited. Ate some dried meat, delicious stuff. But some of them looked like they couldn't stomach the food, and so only nibbled to keep up appearances. Raven knew Qrow was one of them - she knew him too well - but Qrow ate heartily as well, stuffing meat in his mouth. What a good actor. Had to be, under the watchful eyes of the elders.

Several hours later, shouts broke out over the walls of Furuzaki - a rising, panicked pitch encompassing the plain.

And just like that, they knew it worked.

They were south of Furuzaki, and the Grimm are coming in from the north. There were two more squads east and west of the settlement. Kostas set off first, leading them out of the forest and towards the walls. The moon was now directly overhead, casting down a silver glow that illuminated the bodies lying lifelessly on the plain, allowing them to easily navigate through the corpse field.

Once they reached the foot of the walls, they threw grapples over the top and began climbing. Kostas reached the battlements first, and began pulling the rest up. Raven grabbed Kostas' hand, and heaved herself onto the top of the wall. Moving to give way for the rest below her, she glanced around to see the faint silhouettes of the other squads climbing onto the walls to their east and west.

And on the other side of the town, the sounds of fighting and the settlers tried to fight off the Grimm horde.

It wasn't windy, that was good. It meant fire wouldn't spread as fast. You can't loot burnt down houses, after all - they only wanted the people gone.

"I see the communications tower," someone called.

"We need to take the town hall, too," Kostas said, "Most have safehouses underneath them with their own independent communications. Who knows the last place we need to hit?"

"The station house," Raven answered easily.

"Right in one," Kostas nodded, "Anyway, leave the town hall and station house to the other squads, we're disabling the communications tower, all of you follow me!"

Raven leaned over the railings of the communications tower, watching as the sun rose over the ruins of Furuzaki.

The tribe was already systematically looting every surviving building in the town, even bringing in reinforcements from base. Everything had to be taken - food, munitions, scrap, equipment, people - everything can be used in the tribe. The Grimm only stayed for the feast - once there was no fear left to feed on, they just left as fast as they came. However, they left a little too quickly, in her opinion. It was just a little strange.

"Sis, you coming?" Qrow called from below her.

"...Yeah, give me a second."

Raven pushed herself off the railing and went to the railing, gripping it loosely before sliding down all the way down to the bottom. Landing on the roof of the building, she followed Qrow to the roof access - through the door then down the stairs. As they made their way through the offices, she spotted tribesmen looting radios and other equipment, as well as taking out wires and electrical things from circuit boards.

By the time they leave, Raven reckoned that Furuzaki would be nothing more than an empty husk.

Stepping out into the sunlight, she noticed the line of trucks parked next to the main gate, right on the central road. Some of them were being loaded with prisoners, but most had crates and other looted spoils piled on.

Corpses were strewn about the street, most ripped apart savagely by Grimm teeth and claws, and the stench of death permeated the air. No one did anything about them, no one cared. Some buildings were broken in by Grimm, massive gaping holes in walls and door frames, while those settlers who knew how to keep their emotions in check had their own houses left intact.

Until the tribesmen smashed their way in anyway.

False saviours, that they were.

Raven found her father in the middle of the main road, in between the central plaza and the gate. He was hard to miss - a big, burly man dressed in furs. Like all Branwens, he had a mess of pitch black hair and piercing red eyes. His closest advisors surrounded him, deep in some sort of discussion.

"Father," she called, "Good morning."

Father turned around and recognised them, his head shifting the eye Qrow, who was trailing behind her.

"Raven, Qrow," he acknowledged, "What do you think?"

"It went well," she swiftly answered, "But I feel like the Grimm left a little too easily. Some usually hang about afterwards."

Father pursed his lips, before nodding, "I see. It is a bit strange, but we should count our blessings-"

BOOM

A massive explosion rocked the earth, and their heads snapped to find the source of the noise. At the gate of Furuzaki, one of the trucks had been thrown into the air, turned into a blazing ball of molten metal and flames. Thick black smoke spewed from the wreckage, devouring everything around it, obstructing their sight of the accident. Shouts of alarm and screams of the prisoners rang out across the settlement.

"What the fuck are they doing…?" father hissed.

Suddenly, several figures emerged from the smoke - tribesmen, covered in soot and blood, outright legging it in their direction. Raven recognised the expression on their faces - panic.

"Run!" one of them screamed hoarsely.

"What happened?" father roared back.

"JUST RUN–!"

A rope shot out of the smoke behind them, black as pitch was some sort of strange claw at its end. The claw snatched one of the men running their way and in that moment Raven realised it wasn't a rope or grapple, it was an arm - fleshy and stringy, rippling with what seemed to be black muscles. The claws were two long and thin fingers with protruding bones from its knuckles - and the fingers wrapped themselves around the man, long enough to fully encompass him.

"No… no no no- help me! HELP ME!" the man desperately tried to pry off the claws, "No, NO- GGYYAAAAAGHH!"

And in the fraction of a second, the man was flying back into the black cloud, dragged violently through the air. Raven flinched, and she could see that even the elders of the tribe were taken aback.

Father however, had the most curious expression of them all. His eyes were wide, as if he recognised the attacker - and within those ruby orbs was an emotion Raven had never seen her unmoveable father ever have.

Horror.

"What was that-!?" she half-demanded.

Her voice seemed to break father from his trance, and he immediately snapped around, a roar upon his lips.

"All of you, flank around - get to the trucks and get the fuck out of here!" he barked, "Salvage as much as possible, but don't even try to fight the Grimm!"

"▂▂▃▃▅▅▇██▅▇▅█▇███!"

An ear-splitting screech resounded across the town, and a massive Grimm barrelled out of the smoke at full tilt. It was monstrous, twisted, and Raven had never seen anything like it in her short life. A spindly, horned man fused to the back of a great Grimm stallion - inky black skin, exposed skulls and ribs, and raging fires in their eyes.

"Nuckelavee…" one of the elders whispered in horror, "What the hell is it doing here!?"

Nuckelavee? Hasn't she seen that in a book before?

That's right, a Grimm encyclopaedia they stole out of a school - and a Nuckelavee was… a Higher Order Grimm. A Grimm monstrous enough, dangerous enough, and rare enough that it was given a capital letter in its designation. A legendary creature straight out of the myths and fairy tales.

The Nuckelavee screamed again, its screech tearing apart her ear drums, galloping at them at breakneck speeds, swatting away everyone and everything in its way as if they were toys. Tribesmen smashed into the storefronts at the sides of the road, splattering across the cobbled stone streets like burst watermelons.

Raven felt like roadkill - staring down the hideous Grimm barrelling down the street towards her, unable to move. Suddenly, she felt a sense of weightlessness and numbly looked down to see her feet off the ground. Snapping back into reality, she frantically swivelled her head around to realise that father had picked both her and Qrow up by the scruff of their necks and was running for the alleys.

Father threw them - and then himself - into the alleyway, and Raven winced as she tumbled across the hard ground. She could feel the bruises growing on her knees and arms as she was picked up and pushed against the wall. Qrow was right beside her, panic mired in his eyes as he gasped for breath.

Father and the elders blocked their view of the main street, and their backs felt like safe walls to hide behind. But Raven could still hear the sound of hooves against stone, and the slight tremble of the earth growing ever more present.

Then, there was a rush of wind, a black blur whisking by - and the sounds began to fade. Raven could've collapsed right there, a thousand thoughts racing through her mind in a moment.

Was that truly a Nuckelavee?

Why was it here?

Was that why all the Grimm left so quickly?

Why did it ignore them?

What was going on!?

Raven's vision became blurry, and she felt extremely light-headed, stumbling on her feet. She couldn't think straight, and her thoughts were jumbled and mired. Raven tried to breath, but her mouth wouldn't open - why couldn't she breath-!?

Someone slapped her on the back, the sharp sound echoing loudly in her ears - and Raven gasped, inhaling what must be twice the amount of air her lungs could handle all at once. She fell to the ground, keeling over, hacking and coughing out her throat, spittle flying onto the earth. Raven pushed her sweat-matted hair out of her eyes, and numbly looked up to see Qrow staring down at her, his hand still in the position in which he had hit her.

"T-Thank you," she rasped.

"Not the best time to have a panic attack, sis," he muttered.

"Could've died," she coughed.

"Still alive," Qrow shrugged, "You know what we say - just count our blessings."

Raven caught her brother's hand and pulled herself to her feet, wiping her face and mouth in a vain attempt to fix her appearance. A little sunlight streamed into the alley, and she looked up to realise that some of the elders were stumbling out of the passage and onto the main road. Raven, however, didn't dare move.

She watched as father stepped out into the sun, and peered up the road - at the central plaza. After a long moment of watching something, he turned to face them and waved a hand, signalling them to follow him. Raven shared a glance with Qrow, before deciding to go after him. She sucked up all the panic within her and forced herself into a state of calmness, before creeping out of the alleyway, holding Qrow's hand as she pulled him along.

Outside was a scene of horror. Rivulets of blood were streaming between the gaps of the cobbled road, running like red rivers. Entrails were strewn across the street, bodies thrown haphazardly around like toys. Raven glanced up the road, and instinctively held her breath when she saw the Nuckelavee.

The Higher Order Grimm was ignoring them, insteading opting to circle around the plaza. Whenever it moved to the near side of the square, it would stop to watch at them, as if daring them to approach - and once it realised they weren't going to move, it continued on its way. As if it was protecting something.

Could Grimm feel anything other than hunger? She wondered.

The rumble of an engine snapped her from her thoughts, and Raven turned around to see a truck approaching them. She recognised Kostas in the driver's seat.

"Didn't I say to escape?" her father asked.

"Well, they did," Kostas shrugged as he stopped the truck right in front of them, "But I thought you all might need a lift."

"Damn right we do."

Even as Raven felt herself being lifted up and placed on the rear bed of the truck, she didn't stop watching the Nuckelavee, strangely entranced by it. When she first laid eyes on it, she thought it to be the most hideous creature she has ever set her eyes upon - but now, after some time, she realised the Nuckelavee was quite engaging to look at.

What kind of god so messed in the head would even dream of such a creature?

As the truck began to pull away and drive for the gate, Raven realised that Qrow, much like her, was staring at the Grimm as well.

And the Nuckelavee was staring back, with all four eyes.

"Hey," Qrow murmured, low enough that only she could hear him, "Do you see that thing?"

"What thing?"

"By the fountain," he said, "You think that's why it isn't attacking us?"

"Why would it…" she trailed off.

Because there was something by the fountain, small and squat, no larger than a trolley. She could just faintly see it from the height of the truck bed, peering through under the legs of the Nuckelavee.

It had wheels - four wheels, two large, two small - and a curved top, all of white cloth. And there was a velvet veil obscuring its contents - and Raven swore she could hear a newborn's cry. A cradle? No, that wasn't it - it was a pram.

At that moment, the Nuckelavee stopped in its tracks, and its two heads snapped towards them - and Raven swore the Grimm was looking at them. It screeched in outrage, and began racing after them - its two spindly arms shooting forwards to grab the truck.

"IT'S COMING AFTER US!" one of the elders roared, before opening fire with his rifle.

Then, as if they crossed a threshold, the Nuckelavee stopped in its tracks and turned around, and began to return back to the plaza. It took a final glance, before ignoring them completely.

Raven slumped down, breathing heavily. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, trying to punch out of her ribs. And there was a splitting headache- Raven pressed a hand to her head, trying to lessen the pain. She began to sweat profusely, and so pulled her shirt up to wipe away at her face without much thought.

"Hey," one of the elders called, "You alright, there?"

"Just a headache," she mumbled.

"Not everyday you stare that thing in the eye and live to tell the tale," the man sighed, "Best to just count our blessings - and get out of here as fast as possible."

Raven glanced at Qrow through half-lidded eyes, and realised her brother was also shifting around in pain. Well, the side panel was very uncomfortable- was he sweating as well? Raven reached out a hand and wiped his forehead, feeling cold sweat stick to her fingers.

Qrow groaned lightly, squeezing his eyes shut.

Before she could think much of it, another wave of head-splitting agony assaulted her, forcing her to cradle her head in her head as she shrivelled up into a ball. It was as if someone was hammering nails into her skull, the piercing sting only intensifying everytime the truck jolted on the uneven ground.

There wasn't even enough space to lie down.

Raven leaned on the side panel, cursing beneath her breath.

She blamed Qrow and his shitty Semblance for all of this.

Author's Note:

Plot: set up

Insight: get

Update: next week(?)

Me: procrastinating