D. MacHale - Raven Rise

What he saw instead were the same windows of the hospital ward. The only difference was that it was morning. Bright sun shone in, warming his face. He was at peace. He felt… good. But that didn’t make sense. He actually wondered if he were still asleep and living inside a dream. There was nothing out of the ordinary happening, other than the fact that he felt so good. Alexander decided that if this was a dream, he was going to take advantage of it. He closed his eyes and took a long, slow inhale through his nose. His lungs expanded. He braced his body, ready to be racked by the horrid coughs.

They didn’t come. Alexander let his breath out and took another, this time through his mouth. He filled his lungs with air until they felt ready to burst. He blew the air out and took another so quickly it made him light-headed. It wasn’t the dizziness that came from fever, either. It was the result of too much oxygen being sent through a system that wasn’t used to getting much at all.

Alexander laughed. He couldn’t help himself. It was the best dream he’d ever had. Either that, or he’d died and gone to heaven. He didn’t care which. All that mattered was that his head and his lungs were clear.

“Alexander?” came the concerned call of a nurse. “Alexander lad, why’re you laughing like that?”

The nurse poked her head in tentatively through the curtain, as if not wanting to expose the rest of her body to the germ-infested enclosure. She had a thick white mask over her mouth and nose. Her eyes went wide with wonder when she looked upon Alexander, who lifted his head off the pillow to greet her.

“Morning, mum,” he called cheerily. “Might there be some toast about for brekkie? I’m famished.”

The nurse’s eyes grew even wider. She drifted through the curtains, her eyes trained on Alexander. She approached the bed, hesitated, then lifted her hand to touch his forehead. She instantly pulled her hand back, as if Alexander were electrified.

“Alexander,” she whispered in astonishment. “Your fever’s broken.”

Alexander answered, “I didn’t break it, mum. I promise.”

The nurse didn’t remove her mask, but Alexander could tell she was smiling. “Well, maybe you did and maybe you didn’t, but there’s one thing for sure…it’s a miracle.” She backed away from the boy, finally pulling off her mask. Her smile was as big and broad as Alexander thought. It made him smile as well. “It’s a miracle!” she repeated and ran off through the curtains, calling, “Doctor! Doctor! Come quickly!”

Alexander lay there smiling. He wasn’t sure why. He felt good, that was for certain, but after all, it was only a dream. He thought he would wake up soon enough, to be right back where he’d started, shivering and in pain. His only hope was that this glorious dream would last a while longer.

He shifted his weight to get a better view of the window overhead. That’s when he felt it. There was something in his hand. He hadn’t noticed up until then because he hadn’t moved much. But when he went to pivot his body, he realized that something was in his right hand. He squeezed it. It was hard, like a small stone. Or a marble. A shooter marble. But he didn’t remember bringing a marble to bed with him, and the nurses definitely wouldn’t have allowed it. With more than a little curiosity, Alexander used his left hand to pull the thin blanket away. He didn’t need it anymore. He was plenty warm enough. Once the covering was gone, Alexander lifted his hand to see what the mysterious object was.

His first thought was that it was beautiful. He had never seen anything like it. It wasn’t a stone, or a marble. Not even close. There was some fine workmanship involved in making this treasure. It had to be valuable. No doubt about that. Did it belong to one of the doctors? Why would they give it to him? Alexander raised the object up to his face to give it a closer look.

It was a silver ring with a large gray stone set in the center. Surrounding the stone were markings-ten in all. They were like no letters Alexander had ever seen. They were more like ancient characters from some unknown language. He turned the ring over in his hand and stared at the gray stone. It didn’t look like a valuable jewel. It was definitely cut and polished, but the stone itself was gray and drab.

Though not for long. As he looked at it, the stone began to sparkle. This didn’t frighten Alexander, or even surprise him. The stone transformed from opaque gray to brilliant crystal. The light that flickered inside it seemed alive. Alexander looked deep into this magical gem, and smiled.

“Maybe it is a miracle,” he said to himself.

He would have continued staring into the flickering light if something else hadn’t grabbed his attention. Another shadow flashed by the window overhead. This time it didn’t continue on. Alexander looked up to see that something had stopped to rest on a branch just outside the glass. It was a large black bird. A raven. Alexander couldn’t tell for sure, but it felt to him as if the dark bird was looking down at him.

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” he said softly in the general direction of the bird.

As if in answer, the raven let out a sharp caw! and flew off.

Alder made his way quickly towardthe Milago village, trying not to be seen by anyone who might know him. He needed to understand what was happening before being swept up in the activity. Better yet, he wanted to avoid anything to do with this kind of activity. He was still a Bedoowan knight, and the knights were assembling for battle. He would be expected to join his troop. Worse, he might be punished for not being there already. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to be on his own. Whatever was going on, he was absolutely certain that it had something to do with Saint Dane and the battle for Halla. The reappearance of the quigs on top of the mountain had told him that. He had to think like a Traveler now, not a Bedoowan knight. For that, he had to steer clear of his comrades.

Alder found a spot in a grove of trees not far from the edge of the forest that led up into the mountains. From there he had a clear view of the activities below. Hundreds of knights were assembling in the large area between the Milago village and the ruins of the Bedoowan castle. They marched in formation, forty at a time, locked in step. Some carried spears and shields. Others had bows, with quivers of arrows strapped to their backs. Two troops of knights on horseback appeared and took up positions on either side of the assembling army. They were followed by a long line of what looked to Alder like cannons being wheeled in and positioned to the rear. This last was the most disturbing image of all. There weren’t supposed to be cannons on Denduron. The weapons they used were primitive. Spears, arrows, rocks, wooden staves-all were common to the Bedoowan knights of Denduron. Cannons were not.

What had happened since he’d left with Pendragon for Ibara? How long had he been gone? By his own clock, Alder had only been gone for a few days. But when he left, there weren’t this many Bedoowan knights on Denduron. Now the number of armored knights looked to have tripled. Alder thought he saw some Milago farmers in uniform, as well as the white-skinned Novans, who seemed to have been pressed into service as well. And then there were the cannons. Weapons like that could not be developed from scratch in a few days. No, Alder was beginning to realize that he had returned to Denduron at a time far into the future. But how far? Why had the flume done that? Why were his people preparing for battle, and with whom?

He remembered the final image he saw floating in space before the flume set him down. He saw another army gathering. The primitive tribe that lived on the far side of the mountain from the Milago village were known as the Lowsee. There was never trouble between the Lowsee and the Bedoowan and Milago, yet seeing that image of the Lowsee in armor and waving spears made Alder fear the worst. Were they about to attack? Or were the Bedoowan knights preparing to march over the mountain and invade the Lowsee? There were so many questions, and only one answer as to why all these changes had occurred.