Raven's Shadow

“Ri

“What?” asked Seraph.

But Alinath had begun to shake and Seraph couldn’t understand what she was saying.

“Slow down,” she said, keeping her voice calm so she didn’t upset Alinath further. “What about Bandor and Ri

Alinath tried to sit up, but it was obviously painful and Seraph hurried to help support her.

“It was Bandor,” Alinath said, breathing shallowly around sore ribs. “He’s gotten so strange lately—I don’t know what’s wrong with him. This afternoon, after the priest came, he started muttering about Ri

She stopped and swallowed. “You and I have never seen eye to eye, Seraph—but you’d die to protect your children. I know that. So when he started saying dangerous things… things that would get the whole village riled up if they heard… Well, I told him he was a fool. That there was nothing evil about you, and he had no call to accuse you of being shadowed.”

Seraph’s stomach clenched.

Alinath turned her head away. “He hit me. He’s done that a couple of times in the past month. I’m not saying I’m the easiest person to live with, but… you know Bandor; he was never like that.”

“Go on,” said Seraph.

“This time, it was more than a casual slap. I didn’t know if he was going to stop. Ellevanal help me, I don’t think he did either. Then he muttered a bit more and said something about not needing my interference. He tied me up and left. Seraph, I don’t know what he’s gone to do.”

“He started after the priest left? Volis, not Karadoc?” asked Seraph.

Alinath nodded. “I don’t like that man. Did Bandor go out to the farm?”

“Did he say that was what he was going to do?” asked Seraph.

“He said that he was going to save Ri

“We haven’t been there since early this afternoon,” said Seraph. “I left her with Gura, but Gura knows Bandor. I have to go find her. Will you be all right here?”

Alinath nodded. “Find him before he hurts her,” she said.

“Where would he take Ri

“The priest,” said Seraph. “If he thought she was shadowed he’d take her to the priest. We’ll find them,” she told Alinath.

“Be careful,” said Tier’s sister. “Be careful, Seraph. Bandor’s not the man you know.”

Outside the bakery, Seraph frowned in indecision; go to the temple or all the way out to the farm?

“Can you tell if Bandor and Ri

He shook his head. “Not even if it were full noon—there’s too much…” He stiffened and looked around.

Seraph felt it, too, a cold chill fluttering down her spine and a lump in her throat that made it hard to swallow.

“Jes,” she called. “Are you here?”

“Listen,” said Lehr. “Someone’s riding a horse up the road.”

She saw Skew first, his white spots clearly visible in the starlight as he leapfrogged up the steep corner, hooves slipping and sliding. As soon as he was on the more level part of the road he broke into a smooth trot and stopped in front of her.

“The priest,” said He

Seraph nodded. “I’ve come to that conclusion myself. Do you think they’d take her to the temple?”

“Yes.”

“We’ll leave Skew here,” said Seraph. “He’ll lose his footing on the cobbles in the steep parts. Lehr, can you find some place to secure him?”

“There’ll be space by the woodshed,” he said and took the horse.

He

“There are easier ways to break a geas,” she said dryly.

“I was in a hurry,” replied He

“That’s going to hurt,” observed Seraph.

“It already does. I’m not going to be much help in any kind of fight; my concentration is gone. I can feed your magic, though.”

“Good enough,” Seraph said.

Lehr came back and Seraph turned and started up the road at a rapid walk. Jes and Lehr could probably run all the way to the temple, but she and He

“Tell me about Volis,” said Seraph. “Whatever you think will be useful.”

“He’s smarter than I thought he was, obviously. The other mages in the Secret Path respected his power—but he’s young by solsenti standards and complex spells frustrate him. Because of that, he tends to use the Raven ring more than his own magic unless he’s weaving an illusion.”

They came to a steep bend in the road, and He

“How well does he bear the Orders?”

“About as you’d think,” she said. “He seems to believe the Raven Order is just like his magic, except that he doesn’t have to use rituals.”

Seraph smiled in satisfaction. “Tell me, does he have a bad temper?”

As they got closer to the temple, Lehr stopped and bent down as if to touch the ground, but he pulled his hand back before it touched.

“What’s this, Mother?” he asked.

“What?” Seraph stopped, too, but she didn’t see anything.

“A taint,” said Jes. He must have been close to He

“What does it look like?”

“It looks as if a foul substance was spilled over the ground,” said Lehr. “It smells bad, too.”

“Shadowed,” said He

“It comes from the temple,” said Jes. “It’s darker there.”

“It’s really there?” asked Lehr. “Why can’t you see it, Mother?”

“I don’t know why Ravens can’t see the Stalker’s influence, or why Larks can’t either,” replied Seraph. “I can understand why the ancients didn’t feel it necessary for Owls or Cormorants, but Larks and Ravens have to deal with shadowing.”

“Unto each Order…” murmured He

“ ‘Are the powers so given’—yes, yes, I know. It is still stupid. So Volis is most likely shadowed.” It was a very rare condition. Seraph had never dealt with someone who was shadowed, though her teacher had. He’d died before he taught her much about it because there was so much else to learn. She knew the Stalker needed some destructive feeling or act to gain influence and the amount of influence varied. The Shadowed had been different, her teacher said, because the Shadowed had invoked the Stalker’s power and welcomed the shadowing.

“Let’s go,” she said. “We need to get to Ri

They reached the temple finally, and Lehr tried the door.

“It’s locked,” he said. “Barred from the inside, I think.”

Seraph said something short and guttural, a summoning she would not have remembered if she’d stopped to think about it, and the door blew apart, reduced to splinters and bits of metal that covered the floor of the i

“Careful,” cautioned He

“Where will he take her?” Seraph knew that He