Part Two: A Path is Chosen
Chapter Seven
Raven sat by the fire as dawn began to rise; the morning rays trickling though the waterfall and casting its brilliance on the crystals within. Her staff lay on the stony ground next to her as she hugged her knees and gazed into the orange flames. Suddenly someone reached out and touched her shoulder. With a wild yell of surprise Raven grabbed her staff and whirled around, expecting the shadows of her nightmares to be standing ready to strike.
Heart pounding, Raven shakily lowered her staff when she saw it was only Robina. "A little jumpy this morning are we?" She asked.
"Sorry, I thought you were someone else." Raven ran her hand through her ebony hair and tried to slow her breathing.
Robina laid a gentle hand on Raven's arm and looked at her with concern. "You don't look so good; maybe we should wait until tomorrow..."
"No, I will be fine. It's just…" Raven trailed off, unwilling to burden Robina with her demons.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Robina asked softly.
Raven almost said yes, she did not want to walk this road alone and longed to confide in someone. But she looked away from Robina's gentle eyes. Don't get close. She reminded herself. "No, I will be fine." She faked a smile but it was obvious Robina was not convinced.
However she respected Raven's decision to remain silent and changed the subject. "Well, daylights a wasting, so let us be on our way."
"What about bweakfast?" Twilly asked as he joined the group rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"To save time I packed some food last night, we can eat on the road." Robina said. Twilly slowly approached Raven and tugged on her black robes. Reaching down she placed the sleepy eyed moglin on her shoulder and helped Robina carry the gold out of the cave.
Raven looked at the sleeping sneevil who still hung upside down from yesterday and asked. "What exactly are we going to do with all this gold?"
Robina grinned and said. "We are going to give it all away!"
"To the people of Falconreach?"
"No silly, we are going to give it to the cute little cuddly wuddly forest creatures!"
Raven stopped and stared at Robina like she had lost her mind.
"You don't think I'm serious?" She asked.
"No I do think you are serious, that is why I am worried." Raven answered as she continued walking.
"Where do you think all those monsters got gold in the first place?"
"Monsters drop gold?" Raven asked.
Now it was Robina's turn to stare at her companion. "You…you didn't know?"
"No…" Raven said slowly. She had a sudden feeling like she had just missed something obvious.
"Around the neck of various creatures all around Lore there is a small leather bag of gold. How much gold depends on how tough the monster is to face in battle." Robina explained.
"I see…" Raven said slowly. "So most of my life has been spent fighting monsters…and I never once saw the little bag around their neck?"
"Oh don't feel too bad Raven, not all monsters carry gold. There is just too many of them scattered throughout Lore for me and my band of Married Woman to place gold on all of them."
Feeling slightly less oblivious thanks to Robina's final comment Raven decided to ask about the sneevil. "Do you think we should have fed him before we left?"
"He will be fine for a little while. We can cut him down when we return." Twilly, now fully awake, hopped down from Raven's shoulder and scurried across the box of gold being carried between the two women and climbed up onto Robina's shoulder where he proceeded to open her pack and pull out a few pieces of dried meat. After handing one to each of the women he settled down on top of the chest and slowly nibbled on his own piece.
Watching this Raven suddenly realized that the chest, though packed with gold, was very light. However she did not question why, she had seen much stranger things before. The chest must be enchanted to make it so light. She thought.
"This looks like a good spot to start the day." Robina said. They set the chest down and Raven took a closer look at their surroundings. They were in a small clearing in the forest with several very angry looking monsters inside it. She counted four unicougers and one clawkin wanderer before turning to Robina and asking.
"Why don't they leave?"
"Look closer."
Raven did, and saw that each one had a rope bound around one of their legs and led to a stake buried deep in the ground. They had been snared by one of Robina's traps. "How are we going to do this?" Raven asked.
"Go up to each one of the creatures and knock them out. Remember, you don't want to kill them, just put them to sleep so we can place the gold on them."
"Why can't you just shoot them with your sleep arrows?"
"Because the sleep venom is not easy to come by, I will only use it if absolutely necessary."
Raven sighed. "Don't worries Waven, I can help you." Twilly said.
Comforted by the presence of the moglin, Raven slowly approached the closest monster. It was a unicouger, its striped orange pelt rippling as powerful muscles moved beneath the skin as it paced. Its long canine teeth and single horn on its forehead glinted in the sunlight and green eyes glared with malice. Without warning the unicouger charged and Raven jumped back to avoid its sharp claws. The rope bound around its left hind leg prevented the large cat from coming any closer. "This shouldn't be too hard, just hit it in the head with my staff like I've done countless times before with bandits." Raven said to herself.
Raven took a step forward and swung her staff at the cat, aiming for its head but it opened its mighty jaws and bit into the soft wood. For a brief moment Raven played tug-of-war with the cat but with a powerful yank the unicouger wrenched the staff from her hands and sent her sprawling to the ground face first. Jumping to her feet Raven stood her ground as the unicouger flung her staff to the side and charged a second time. She didn't know that she was now within range of the beast until it was too late.
The unicouger launched itself at Raven and knocked her to the ground. Throwing up her arm to protect herself Raven cried out as the massive jaws of the cat closed upon her flesh. Twilly rushed to her aide and slammed his staff into the nose of the unicouger though this seemed to anger rather then harm the beast. As the unicouger dove for Twilly Raven rolled to the side and stood on shaky feet, blood dripping from her arm. Reaching down she picked up her staff with her good arm and cast a shield around Twilly, who was backed against the stake chaining the unicouger to the ground. The cat's claws raked against the light blue bubble and Raven swallowed her fear and pain and cast a fireball at the cougar's feet, distracting it from Twilly.
The cougar opened its mouth and roared, though it sounded more like a scream and grated against Raven's ears. The cougar crouched then pounced, making a high jump in the air, claws outstretched. Raven raised her staff and crashed it against its head while in mid air and the cat collapsed to the ground beside Raven, unconscious.
Heart racing, Raven muttered. "One down, four to go."
She knelt to the ground and held out her injured arm to Twilly who raised his staff and cast a golden healing glow on her wounds. "That was quite the battle Raven." Robina said as she approached the unicouger and tied a small leather bag around its neck.
"Why didn't you help? I could have been killed!" Raven asked angrily.
Robina shook her head sadly. "I could not get a clear shot, had I missed and shot you instead you would have been far worse off."
Raven huffed, now understanding Robina's lack of help yet still too shaken to let go of her anger. She flexed her newly healed arm and nodded her thanks to Twilly who smiled. Standing, Raven examined her staff and groaned. Deep holes cut into the staff about a hand's length from the crescent moon on its top. The events of what happened the last time her staff was structurally weakened fresh in her mind, Raven sighed. I will have to buy a new one when I return to Falconreach. Maybe Yulgar will have a scythe he can sell, I miss having a blade to back my spells. Raven looked to the other four creatures and chewed her bottom lip in thought.
"You weady Waven?" Twilly asked.
"Yea, let's get this over with." Raven said after some hesitation.
"I will get to higher ground, so we will not have a repeat of the last battle." Robina said.
"Thank you Robina." Raven said as she watched the archer approach a large oak tree and quickly climb its branches.
Once she was settled with an arrow knocked on her bowstring Robina nodded for Raven to proceed.
Raven clenched her teeth and approached the next unicouger. The cat hissed and spat at her, its ears flattened against its skull and long teeth bared. "Why don't you try casting an immobility spell on the cougar?" Twilly asked.
"Because I don't know any of those spells." Raven replied.
"Oh." He said sadly.
Wait, cats don't like water! Raven thought. Maybe if I try a water spell… Unfortunately she didn't know any of those either, but she did know ice and fire spells. Maybe if I combine the two, the fire melts the ice and makes water. "Wait Twilly, I have an idea."
Raven looked at the scarred palm of her right hand and summoned a fireball. Instantly a large black flame erupted in her palm, hovering about half an inch from her skin. Lifting the fireball she chanted a division spell. The black flame broke up into twelve smaller flames and slowly spun around Raven in a clockwise orbit while she went to work on the ice spell. Repeating the process, she soon had twelve fireballs, and twelve medium sized black ice shards slowly spinning around her. One by one, she combined them and was left with twelve small dark blue orbs of water. Reaching in her pack Raven pulled out a mana potion and quickly drank it, the use of all these spells had drained her energy significantly.
"Now I am ready." She said to Twilly. The two stood just out of reach from the large cat, who was pacing back in forth, hissing. Before Raven could say no, Twilly rushed forward and slapped the cat on the nose with his staff. Enraged, the unicouger snapped at him and almost to a chunk out of the little red moglin. He ran back toward Raven as fast as his little legs could carry him, the cat hot on his tail. Raven reached out and pulled a water orb from the air, then threw it straight into the cat's face.
The unicouger screamed in surprise and dug at the ground with its claws to stop its forward momentum. A second water ball hit it in the face, quickly followed by a third. Blinded and wet the cat tried to run away, but a fourth water ball splashed at its feet and the unicouger swung around to run the other way but was clotheslined by Raven's staff. Her staff creaked and groaned from the sudden force but thankfully stayed in one piece as the unconscious unicouger lay still at her feet. Raven grinned as the remaining eight water orbs continued their slow orbit around her. "That wasn't so bad."
Using the same technique, Raven and Twilly quickly knocked out the other two unicougers and Robina tied a bag of gold around the neck of each one. "Thwee down, one to go!" Twilly said excitedly.
"Aye, one left. The clawkin wanderer." Raven said as she examined the beast from a safe distance. It resembled a squirrel in some ways, though it stood erect and was as large as a full grown human. Its pelt was different shades of brown, lighter on its head, legs, and underside of its tail, and darker everywhere else. Raven slowly approached the beast as it chattered nervously. It stayed at the far end of its rope and looked at her with wild eyes. Staff raised, Raven stepped into the circle of its reach but the clawkin wanderer veered left and rushed around her, trying to stay away from Raven as far as it could. Raven tried again with the same result and soon found herself chasing the thing in circles. Out of breath and dizzy Raven dove for the rope and laid on it to keep the clawkin wanderer still while the forest stopped spinning.
"You hold him, I will make him sleep." Twilly said.
"I will try." Raven responded. Holding part of the rope, Raven let it run through her fingers as she drew nearer to the beast. Again it tried to run, but Raven had a firm grip on the rope and refused to give in. She was close enough to touch the clawkin wanderer and dropped her staff on the ground to hold the rope with both hands as she ducked its mighty swing to her head. On an impulse, Raven tackled the beast to the ground and wrapped her arms around its neck. "Now Twilly!" She shouted.
The moglin rushed forward, but was knocked back by the clawkin wanderer's thrashing limbs. The beat stood up and ran around in circles with Raven struggling to remain on its back. "You said you will hold him!" Twilly shouted.
"I AM holding him!" Raven shouted back. After a few more turns Raven was thrown from its back and landed in the grass next to the wooden stake keeping the clawkin wanderer from escaping. "This should not be this hard!" Raven groaned as she didn't even bother to get up.
Hearing laugher, Raven sat up and saw Robina was about to fall from the tree she was laughing so hard. "This is not funny!" She shouted.
"Yes it is!" Robina said between laughs. "You should have seen your face, oh Zeuster that was priceless!"
"Why don't YOU come and knock him out!" Raven challenged.
Still laughing, Robina hopped down from the tree and walked toward where Raven still sat in the grass. The clawkin wanderer chattered nervously and looked at Robina with wide eyes. "Aww your just a cute widdle wanderer aren't you?" Robina said in a soothing voice. "Yes you are you sweet little thing." Raven mumbled something under her breath but Robina ignored her. "Your so cuddly wuddly I just want to snuggle you!" Robina carefully pulled a small leather bag from her pack and slowly tied it around the clawkin wanderer's neck. She then untied its leg and the best fled the clearing. Raven sat in the ground in total shock.
"No way. No freaking way."
"Something wrong Raven?"
"There is no way that just happened. I'm mean really, 'I want to snuggle you'?"
"It worked didn't it?"
Raven stared at Robina with an open mouth. Then shaking her head she stood, grabbed her staff and said. "I'm not talking to you. Robina merely laughed and jogged to catch up to Raven's retreating figure.
The rest of the day was spent like this. Together, Robina, Twilly, and Raven walked all through that part of the forest fighting boveoxes, clawkin wanderers, and even a few basilisks they found in a cave nearby. Though Robina was reluctant to use her arrows at first she had no choice but to fire a few when Raven was bitten and temporarily stunned by a basilisk. Though it was late in the day by the time they returned back to Surewood Forest it was still light outside. Raven shivered in the winter air and wished she knew a spell that would keep her warmer.
Robina entered the cave while Raven looked at the sneevil, who was still hanging upside down, and wondered if she should cut him down or just leave him hanging there. "Here you go Raven!" Robina said as she exited the cave. Raven turned to look and saw she was carrying the black dragon box with her.
She could hardly contain the excitement that bubbled up as she asked. "You're giving it to me?"
"Of course! We had a bargen, you help me with the quests and I give you the box." Robina set the gold and black box at Raven's feet and said. "You help up your end of our deal, so you may have the box."
"I can have it? Just like that" Raven asked.
"Yup, just like that. What were you expecting?"
"Oh I don't know, for something so valuable I was expecting a tougher fight. I was expecting some boss to pop up and..."
Raven was interrupted by a familiar voice. "NOT SO FAST, PEASANT!"
"Ahh, that's more like it."
"You!" Robina said in surprise.
Drakath glowered. "Ah Robina." He said. "Thank you for keeping the black dragon box safe for me. I see you've met my new friend, that's wonderful." He drew his sword. "Now I can kill you both at the same time!"
Didn't you learn anything from last time Drakath?" Raven casually said, reminding him of her victory at their last battle.
"Yes, I learned that you are a fool for letting me live, this time I'm prepared for you..." Drakath said as a gray and red monster walked up and stood beside him. It was a krakhim! The vile beast stood erect and was taller than even Drakath. Long muscled arms dragged the ground as it flexed its powerful jaw and it's single red eye that took up most of it's face darted back and forth between Raven, Robina, and Twilly, as if unsure who to attack first. "…both of you!"
Drakath charged and his sword hissed toward Raven who blocked his attack with her staff. It cracked and wood splintered where the unicouger had sunk in its teeth into the soft wood. With a mighty shove she pushed Drakath back and sent a black fireball into his chest. So distracted by Drakath was she, that Raven did not see the krakhim until it was too late. Sharp claws raked against her torso, tearing her robes and drawing blood. She cried out and clutched her belly in pain as she stumbled backwards to avoid its next swing. Before the creature could attack further an arrow embedded itself into the creature's back.
It roared in anger and charged Robina. Raven couldn't think of why the creature didn't fall prey to the venom coated arrow as Drakath had now recovered and renewed the fight. "The dragon box is mine!" He shouted.
"Never! I'll not let to steal my dragon!" Raven shouted back.
"HA! You think you can stand against me? You will fall Raven!"
"I should have killed you when I had the chance." Raven hissed as she summoned a mighty wind and directed it at Drakath. He stumbled from the force of the wind and tripped over a stick, landing flat on his back. Robina screamed and Raven glanced in her direction to see her buried beneath a large rock. "Twilly! See to her!" Raven shouted to the moglin as she ducked, a rock thrown from the krakhim barely missing her. The creature roared and circled Raven. Behind her, Drakath stood and glared daggers at her. Now fighting a two front battle Raven turned her staff upside down and slammed it into the ground intending to create the shockwave she had done before but the staff could take no more stress and snapped on impact. The magic she had summoned, now lacking a channel to direct it, exploded in her face. Raven cried out and flew back, landing in the ground at Drakath's feet.
"Far too easy." Drakath laughed. He raised it blade and pointed the tip at her throat. Though she was lacking a weapon, Raven was not about to give in. She rolled to the side and grabbed part of her broken staff as she stood while Drakath's blade buried itself into the soft earth. "What harm could you possibly do with that broken stick of yours?" Drakath taunted.
"Enough." Raven shot back as she gripped the staff shard like a dagger. There was just enough space for the back of her hand to rest against the crescent moon and still have a hand's length of splintered wood sticking out the front. Raven crouched and breathed deeply, the frigid air shooting out of her nostrils in a white cloud like a crazed beast.
"DUCK!" Robina shouted. Raven obeyed and hit the ground as a large rock sailed overhead and hit Drakath, knocking him off his feet and pinning him to the ground. Raven jumped to her feet and tackled the krakhim, burying the staff shard in its neck. Warm red blood sprayed her as the beast fell at her feet, its limbs thrashing in a vain attempt to fight off death. Raven turned her back on the krakhim and left it to its fate. She picked up the longer part of her broken staff and walked over to where Drakath still lay pinned to the ground. Though he tried to push the rock off of him it was far too heavy for him to do alone. Seeing Raven approach with murder in her eyes he gave up and instead tried to reach for his sword. Raven kicked it away and pointed the sharp end of her staff at his heart. "Raven no!" Robina shouted. Raven hesitated, but only for a moment.
"I cannot live like this Robina; my dragon will never be safe as long as he is still alive!"
"Sepulchure will just send another! Drakath is not the threat, he is just a tool!" Robina said as she slowly approached Raven, hands outstretched.
"How did you know about Sepulchure?" Raven demanded.
"You talk in your sleep Raven; I know he is after the dragon too. I know he has tried to kill you once already"
Once? So she does not know everything. Raven thought. "I cannot live like this Robina."
"You won't. You have me, and Twilly, and from what you have said you have the other heroes as well! We will not let you walk this road alone." Robina said softly. She reached out and laid a hand on Raven's staff as she said. "Don't do this Raven."
Raven fought a mental battle. On one hand, killing Drakath would mean the end of a very dangerous thorn in her side. But she would have killed him in cold blood. He lay on the ground, utterly defenseless. Killing in battle was one thing, but this entirely different. Was it murder? Would a hero do something so cold? I don't know.
Robina gently tugged on the staff and Raven reluctantly loosened her grip on the broken weapon. Robina threw it aside and led her friend away from Drakath. "Here, let Twilly heal you." She said softly.
Raven looked down at her torn robes and suddenly felt pain so severe it took her breath away. In the heat of battle and adrenaline rush she had forgotten about her wounds, but now they screamed for recognition and Raven gritted her teeth to fight back tears. Kneeling beside Twilly, the throbbing pain gradually began to subside as his spells began to take effect and the winter wind blew through her torn robes chilling her. Raven shivered and said. "Thank you Twilly."
"Glad I could help you and Robina." He said with a warm smile. Taking another look at the archer, Raven saw that though her skin was without injury her clothes were a little worse for wear. They were very dirty and torn in some places, even a few minor blood stains peeked through from the rock that hit her.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"I am now, thanks to Twilly." Robina answered.
Raven walked over to the black and gold box and knelt down beside it, hand outreached for the lock. "This isn't over Raven; I WILL deliver the egg to Sepulchure!" Drakath shouted.
Raven bit back a sarcastic remark and activated the lock. Slowly gears turned and clicked and finally the lock snapped open. Raven held her breath in anticipation and gripped the lid with both hands. Almost reverently, she lifted the lid and peeked inside. Instantly she jumped to her feet and charged Drakath. Robina grabbed her arm and tried to hold her back as Raven shouted. "Where is it? What have you done to my dragon!"
"I don't know what you're talking about peasant!" A still pinned Drakath shouted back.
"Don't lie to me, the box is empty!"
"Yes box is empty!" The sneevil, who was still hanging upside down shouted. "Already dumped out useless thing in pretty box!"
"Dumped?" Raven said in horror. "Where!"
"Where else? The sneevil dumpsite! Now give me back my pretty pretty box!"
Raven stopped struggling against Robina and groaned. "Don't worry Raven, we will find your dragon." Robina soothed.
"I bet Valencia can help us!" Twilly said.
"Who?"
Valencia, she is a rare item hunter." Robina answered.
"How can a rare item hunter help us?" Raven asked with agitation.
"She has a knack for finding things incredibly hard to find, such as your egg, and she is one of the few who can safely navigate the sneevil dumpsite."
"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Raven said urgently.
"We can't go to the dumpsite, we need to return to Falconreach or we will be late!" Twilly said with just as much urgency.
"Late?" Raven asked in confusion. "Late for what?"
Robina grinned in excitement as snowflakes began to gently fall. "Its that time of year Raven. Frostval is about to begin!"