Stevie Rae

I ended up staying the hayloft until night fell. I didn't really know why I stayed up there. Dallas was long gone, probably still looking for me and no doubt he told my father 'cause he still hasn't come at all. I suppose that they'll come to the house soon to see if all that searching was for not but something inside of me tells me that they'll keep on searching. I wonder why I think that. Within minutes it becomes clear. I've been unconsciously thinkin' about running away. I don't know the reason, and I don't know why I would want to leave. I have everything I could ask for here, a home, a family (despite the size), friends and a future husband (in a sick sense I'm engaged already to Dallas 'cause I can't marry anyone else). It suddenly then hits me (again). My life is being taken over, and I'm letting it happen. I stand up and my legs are numb from sittin' down for too long. Why am I letting this happen? I think to myself. How can I let other people rule my life? I climb down the hayloft and quickly cross the yard to the house. As I climbed the stairs my rational side kept on screamin' at me.

So what if your life is being taken over? You have it made here sweetie. And where would you go? What would you bring? How long do you think you can survive out there? I'll tell you how long now, not long enough to grab the reigns of your life again.

I ignored those thoughts. I had to do this. No matter if I could end up dying in the middle of the plains, I need to do this. I need to discover my life again and wherever it has gone. I pack up a change of clothes in a bag (including some pants I'm never allowed to wear but I do in secret) and a change of shoes. I look out the window lazily and see lights on the dark horizon. I panic. It's the search party. Coming to the house just as I said they were. I rush down the stairs and into the kitchen, grabbing food at random. I grab a canteen from the drawer and fill it up. By the time I'm finished the lights are just outside the house. My breathing intensifies as I rush towards the back door. I open it quickly yet close it softly 'cause by then my father walked into the house and I didn't want him to hear. I then broke into a dead run. I don't have anywhere in particular to go to so I run in a straight line, dodging the random bushes and shrubs. I then dive behind a cactus when in the distance I hear my name being called out. It's light and soft, and barely unrecognizable but I hear that it's my name. I look back and see that no one had seen me run out. They're just looking for me. Guilt hits me like a train and I look back out towards where I'm running, being careful not to lay back and get pricked. With silent realization I see that I'm running in the same direction that the Black Ravens rode off in. I contemplate the possibility of runnin' into them again but I figure it's slim to none. With that I started running again and I never looked back again.

Black Ravens/No POV

Hotah pulled his horse next to Rephiam's and looked down the hill. "I do not see him there Chief."

"Neither do I." Rephiam admitted. "But maybe they will know where he is."

"I hope we do not do anything too rash." Chogan silently said.

"What does it matter?" Amaro said impatiently. "We need to find him and teach him not to turn his back on us."

Chogan sighed. "I understand that but sometimes I wonder if what we are doing is really necessary."

The Black Ravens looked at their leader, awaiting the next command. Rephiam stared down the hill, his horse swaying from boredom. Rephiam petted his horse's neck and his horse immediately stopped swaying. "Come on. Let us go see what information they can offer us." He kicked his horse forward into a gallop and the others followed closely behind.

Meanwhile below the small band of three outlaws planned out their next heist. "We can't just go barging into a big town; we need to hit small ones with not that much protection." The leader stated.

"If we keep on doin' small towns we'll gain a huge reputation and no big score." One of the outlaws complained. "I saw we go out on a limb and just charge the place."

"We'll be shot dead ya idiot." The other outlaw said. He looked out towards the hill and saw six, big, black figures move towards them. "What is that? Ya'll see that?"

The leader turned his horse around and saw the figures rushing towards them. "Holy mother of god! It's the Ravens!" The riders panicking the horses felt their panic and they too started to panic. The ravens flew down and distracted the three riders long enough for the Black Ravens to surround the three outlaws.

"Listen here fellas." Reid said clearly and he cocked his shotgun rifle. "We're lookin' for a bit of information 'bout and old acquaintance of ours and we're just wonderin' if you're gonna help us out."

The leader of the outlaws scoffed loudly. "You're all talk ya Raven. All talk and no fight." He reached for his hand gun when and arrow flew right into his arm. "Ah!" He screamed and he rolled of his horse clutching his arm.

"Wesley!" The other two outlaws yelled.

Hothlepoya reloaded another arrow into his bow and warned the other two outlaws. "Do not try anything else like your friend did here. Next shot is to the head." The horses groaned in the pressure of the air around them, ticking with every moment that ticked by.

"Now I'll ask ya again…" Reid drawled out as he pointed his gun towards the two. "Won't ya be so kind and help us?"

The two looked at each other before looking down at their injured leader who was trying to stand back up. One of them looked at Reid. "Yeah we'll help, just don't get trigger happy."

Reid scoffed and pulled his gun up, but only a little bit. Rephiam pulled his horse forward and took over from there. "We are looking an outlaw that goes by the name of Kain."

"Kain? You mean the guy with a horse like ya'll?"

Amaro glared at the outlaw. "No, the guy with a horse with wings, of course the guy with a horse like us."

"Woah, calm it down Raven." The outlaw raised his hands. "Last time I heard Kain was close to the town of North Platte 'bout 200 miles northeast of here."

"When was this?" Rephiam asked excitedly. 200 miles away. If this wasn't a long time ago, they could make the journey in close to a week and try to cut him off.

The outlaw shrugged. He looked towards his friend and asked him. "Well, let me see here." He rubbed his temple, causing his cowboy hat to get raised up. "It was, probably 'bout a month ago maybe? I don't know." Reid pointed the gun towards him a wiggled his trigger finger. "Alright hey! Calm down… All ya'll are crazy. It was a little over a month ago and no ones seen or heard of him in all this time. I'm guessin' after pulling off the last big heist he's in hidin' with his little gang, drinking, having a ball, and having sex with women."

Rephiam felt his anger surge. Why is it that the closer he gets to him the farther he ends up being? Not only that the outlaw's guess is probably the truth and that was pissing him off. "Thanks for the information. Black Ravens, we head towards North Platte." It was a good chance he was nowhere near that town by now but it's the only thing he's got for now. Rephiam pushed his horse forward and started towards the northeast. The others followed reluctantly, keeping an eye on the outlaws.

"Thanks again ya'll." Reid said as he rode by. He tipped his hat towards the three outlaws. "Been mighty fine talkin' to ya." They were almost out of range when the outlaws yelled at them.

"Just hold on a minute there Ravens! You can't just leave after injurin' our boss!"

"Yeah, we're gonna make ya'll pay."

Chogan sighed and shook his head. "Here comes the rash action."

Amaro rolled his eyes at the Indian. "Just do what you were born to do and just get it over with."

Rephiam stopped his horse. "Let us all just remember, they are the ones who had to push." Within a spilt moment gun shots and horse neighs sounded while arrows and bullets flew through the air.

Stevie Rae/Stevie Rae

"Gosh the sun's relentless…" I grumble to myself. I placed a hand over my eyes to block the blinding sunlight. Who would have thought that the sun could get hotter without shade and no drinking water (I ran out about an hour back) in the plains? Oh who am I kidding? I knew it would be like this. It's freaking hot! I silently wish I brought my fan, at least it could offer some breeze 'cause heck knows the wind doesn't want me to cool down. No wind at all can you believe it? I fan my hands towards my face. I'm so tired but out here out in the open I need to keep moving. I can't afford to rest for even a moment. I look over head to a bird, a black one. "Is that an eagle?" I ask but I realize that it's much smaller. A crow… No. More specifically a raven. It's a raven. Feeling a bit of hope I follow the bird hoping that it belongs to a Black Raven. It flies too quickly though and it soon disappears into the distance. Not giving up the slight glimmer of hope I continue into the direction the bird flew into. I slow down when I reach a hill. It wasn't a terribly huge hill but my energy was drained out of me before hand. Once I climbed over the hill a mix of happiness and a bit of fear converged inside of me. There they were with three corpses not far from them.

Down the hill/No POV

"Hold still Amaro." Chogan said against the back of his teeth while he edged the knife closer to Amaro's arm.

"Get that knife away from me Chogan."

"I have to get the bullet out. It was your fault for charging into the gun in the first place Amaro."

Hotah snorted. "I told you that one day your hot-headedness was going to get the better of you."

"Shut up Hotah. You did not say a thing."

"I thought it."

"Ahh!" Yelled Amaro followed by a string of Indian curses.

Chogan dug the knife deeper and popped the bullet out of Amaro's arm. It fell to the ground and Chogan picked it up and showed it to him. "Got it out."

"Yeah good, great, patch me up now." Chogan pulled the knife out slowly and grabbed the bandages that lay close to him.

Hothlepoya stretched. "That fight was actually very interesting."

"The fact that they put up a fight?" Amaro scoffed. "It shocked me." He sucked in breath as the bandage was wrapped tightly around his arm.

"I think the one who enjoyed it most was Reid." Hotah added with a smile on his face. "Reid got some new guns out of it."

"Oh yeah!" Reid yelled in agreement. "Now I don't have to ride around with just one piece of crap."

"Do not think badly of your old gun Reid." Hothlepoya said. "It is a powerful weapon nonetheless."

"You better believe it."

Rephiam petted his horse while his bird flew down on his shoulder. "Hello Mocker." With one finger he scratched the breast of his raven. It cawed a few times and flew off his shoulders again. He circled above him and his horse before flying towards the hill. Rephiam followed the bird with his eyes and saw someone on the hill, a girl. She disappeared behind the hill and his curiosity rose. He turned towards his horse. "We are going to investigate Shadow." The horse snorted once and Rephiam quickly got onto his horse's back. "Stay here. I will be back shortly." He kicked his horse and it cantered towards the hill.

"Where are you going Rephiam?" Amaro asked. "Hey! Where are you goi—Ahh!" He groaned and placed a hand over his mouth.

"Finished." Chogan added with a smile.

"Hm… Thanks." Amaro replied, hand still over his mouth.

Rephiam's horse climbed over the hill quickly and when he reached the top there was no one in sight. Did I see an apparition? He thought. He quickly threw that out of his head because his raven saw it, it couldn't be just in his head. He pushed his horse forward and it walked slowly. Rephiam then heard a twig snap and his horse automatically turned towards the sound. A boot quickly pulled in behind a boulder and Rephiam silently got off his horse and without making a sound walked over towards the stone. When he looked behind the rock he saw that the girl was the same one they rescued earlier that day. Rephiam refrained from rolling his eyes. "May I help you?"

His voice started her and she jumped and looked up at him. He crossed his arms over his bare chest and waited for her to answer. "Uh… I uh, just." She sighed. "Do you have any water I could have? I'm dyin' of thirst here."

Rephiam raised a brow and quietly pondered over wither or not he should help her, again. After a short moment he decided, what the heck? "Come. We have water with Reid." He turned towards his horse and heard her stand up. He silently yelled at himself. The others are not going to take this well.

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