Raven's Shadow

Something must have happened to Skew, she thought.

The interior of the barn was dim in comparison to the afternoon light, so she was still half-blind when she heard Lehr say, “Here she is, now. Mother, we have a visitor.”

As her vision cleared, Seraph saw Skew with his head buried in a grain bucket. Ri

Seraph felt her eyebrows climb in surprise and instinctive dismay. She had enough trouble on her hands, and a lone Traveler could only be bringing more.

“I am He

“Seraph, Raven of the Clan of Isolda the Silent,” replied Seraph. She waited and Lehr obliged her.

“Jes’s forest king came this morning,” he said, sounding a bit bemused. “He told us that there was a child loose in the woods and asked Jes to fetch her. Jes brought He

“This is dark magic,” said He

Seraph closed the distance between them and set her hands on either side of the leather and bead bracelet. “Solsenti wizardry,” she said shortly. “A geas?”

He

Seraph knew of only one wizard anywhere near Redern. “Volis the priest has bound you to his service?”

He

He’d been hiding her then. Seraph had not the slightest doubt that if any of the villagers knew that there was another Traveler in the vicinity they would have told her so.

“I can help you rid yourself of this.” Seraph didn’t know the exact method, but she was confident it would be in one of Isolda’s books: wizards of Isolda’s time had been fond of binding others to their services. Any spell that could break a spell woven by the Colossae wizards could be adapted to sever the bonds of a solsenti wizard without too much trouble.

“No,” said He

“Jes said the forest king told him that she went directly from Redern to the place where Father was killed. From there, he thought that she was trying to reach us,” Lehr’s voice was neutral.

“Ah,” said Seraph, narrowing her eyes at the other woman. “Why don’t you tell me more about yourself, He

“Thank you,” said He

How could solsenti bind with Raven magic? He

When Seraph said nothing, He

She stopped again, but Seraph didn’ t think it had anything to do with her audience. It looked more as if she were fighting the memory’s hold; her hands were clenched at her side and sweat gathered on her forehead. Jes stepped forward and set a hand on He

“Are the details of the spell important now?” asked Seraph more gently than she’d first intended.

“Not now,” said He

She was breathing heavier now, and Seraph saw her blink hard. “I didn’t even notice at first—I was too wrapped up in my own pain—but then he began screaming and screaming.”

She closed her eyes briefly, as if that could shut out the sound. With her eyes closed, He

“When they finished with him,” He

She gave Seraph a bitter smile. “These wizards were as confident as if they had come fresh from Colossae. They talked of killing me, as I was no good for their purposes, but the young wizard—Volis, who is the priest of their twisted religion here—asked if he might keep me to see if he could discover what he had done. So they let him bind me with this”—she held up her wrist—“and made me his plaything.”

“I accused them of arrogance,” she said. “But I was arrogant, too. I could have broken free of this geas—it might hold a solsenti wizard or even a Traveler who was not Raven, but as you have seen, it will not hold a Raven long. But they presented a puzzle to me. How had solsenti wizards worked Raven magic? Even more worrisome, I didn’t think that we were the first Ravens they had taken. They knew too well how to neutralize anything I might have done for my defense—and with the exception of Volis, they had all performed their ritual before. I reasoned that whatever they had done to Moselm, it had already been done. If I could reverse it, I could reverse it later as well—after I discovered what they were doing.”

“So you waited,” said Seraph.

He

“Volis seemed sincere in his devotion,” said Seraph. “Obsessive even. Not a man who is seeking after political power.”

He

“Travelers don’t worship gods,” said Ri

“No, indeed,” agreed He

“Unto Raven it is given to know the Order,” she whispered. “Somehow they had stolen Moselm’s Order and put it into the ring. Volis was drunk from celebrating Moselm’s death—and worried because it hadn’t gone quite as pla

“They did what?” asked Seraph, appalled.

“They killed him and retained the power of the Order in the stone,” said He