Maggie Furey - Aurian

„ The High Priest smiled, but there was no humor in his face. “Lovely,” he said. “Such a little spitfire! How glad I am that you feel this way. It will make your conquest all the more enjoyable.”

“Don’t count on it,” Raven retorted through gritted teeth.

“Oh, but I do, my dear. Once you are mine, a few sound thrashings will soon take the edge off your temper!”

Raven gasped. “You would never dare!”

“I would hardly dare offer violence to the Princess, no.” Blacktalon shrugged. “How I chastise my mate, however, is my own affair—as you will discover. Pleasant dreams, my little bride. Sleep well—while you have the chance!”

After Blacktalon had left, Raven wasted few minutes in weeping. Time had suddenly become too precious for that, for she knew now that her only hope lay in escape. It took her about an hour of pacing back and forth behind her locked door to formulate her plans. She knew it would never occur to them that she might run away. The Winged Folk were prohibited by an ancient law from leaving their mountain kingdom. Raven had often wondered why, but no one seemed able, or willing, to tell her the answer. But if anyone should leave, they were automatically condemned to death should they ever try to return, and the prohibition was so ingrained that no one from the winged race would normally even consider the notion. The very thought of what she was about to do set Raven’s hands shaking so much that her preparations took twice as long as they should have done.

“I have no alternative,” Raven told herself firmly, as she put bread and meat from her uneaten supper into a small bag which tied to her belt, and fished her crossbow out from its hiding place under the bed. She braided her unruly cloud of fine, dark hair and dressed in her flying clothes—a black leather kilted tunic that left her limbs free for easy movement and leather sandals with thongs that cross-tied to her knees. She decided not to bother with anything else. Raven’s race was impervious to normal cold, and she hoped to move quickly away from the chill of this unnatural winter. Thrusting her dagger into her belt, she went to the window. Launching herself from the sill would cause her no problems. She had been doing it since childhood, when she had first discovered the lure of unauthorized flights. For once, she was glad that her mother had insisted that she .lake her share of the tedious burden of palace administration. She knew the position of every sentry in the city and, more important, how they might be avoided.

Another of the unpredictable blizzards had blown up, and Raven flinched at the violence of the storm outside. But though it was folly, she would have to set out now, or not at all. If she should be caught, the consequences did not bear thinking about. As she climbed onto the windowsill Raven hesitated, overcome by the magnitude of the step she was about to take. If her mother had been right after all, she was betraying her entire race. Furthermore, if she left the mountains her life would be forfeit. There could be no returning. Thoughtfully, she touched the side of her face, where the imprint of her mother’s hand still burned, and remembered the cruelty in Blacktalon’s eyes. That was enough. Taking a deep breath, Raven leapt from the sill and spread her great dark wings, catching the air beneath them to halt her plummeting fall. Swooping round the shadowed side of the pinnacle-palace like a hunting bat, she launched herself away from her home and the lands of her people.

Flying in the teeth of the blizzard was even worse than she had imagined. Visibility was poor to nonexistent in the whirling white cloud. The strong wind gusted and eddied, buffeting her mercilessly, and on several occasions, almost hurling her violently against the walls of the city’s delicately wrought towers. If she’d had time to spare for thinking, Raven might have comforted herself with the thought that her escape must certainly go undetected, but it was taking every scrap of her concentration merely to stay airborne and to avoid crashing into obstacles. Her sense of direction was hopelessly confused, and she could only pray that she was keeping a level line of flight and, more important, not going round in a circle that would eventually return her to the city—and Blacktalon,

Raven was chilled to the bone. It was an unfamiliar sensation and decidedly unpleasant, as well as frightening. Her ears and teeth ached from the wind’s bite, and her wings felt stiff and slow to respond. Even her mind was becoming sluggish and confused. How long had she been flying? Why was she all alone in this lethal storm? Where had she come from, and where was she going? How much longer could her aching wings keep her aloft?

Suddenly Raven’s left foot hit something hard and jagged, It was caught and wrenched, throwing her forward, off balance. She rolled helplessly head over heels in a tangle of flailing limbs and thrashing wings, bruising herself on icy rocks as she slithered to an undignified halt, upside down in a snowdrift. Too battered and shaken to do anything else, she burst into tears.

Hours later, Raven opened her eyes. For a moment fear obscured her thoughts, but she was not the daughter of a Queen for nothing. She breathed deeply, forcing herself to be calm, and took stock of her surroundings. There was little to see. Her aching body was crammed into a narrow crevice between some rocks, and a barrier of drifted snow obscured the opening. Gradually her mind returned to the previous night, and she shuddered at her narrow escape from death. She had crashed right into the mountain. Hesitantly she uncurled herself to examine her injured foot, afraid of what she might find. It was bad enough. The lacings of her sandal cut into the swollen flesh, and it was badly bruised and torn. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she melted snow in her hands to clean the abrasions.

Snow might reduce the swelling too, and she would not be helpless as long as she could fly ...

Raven gasped, remembering her fell among the rocks as she had landed. Her wings . . . There was no room to move them in the crevice. With frantic haste she began to dig her way out, scooping great chunks of deep-piled snow aside with her arms. Dimly now, she remembered crawling into the niche, instinctively seeking shelter from the storm. The way out seemed farther than she recalled, but at last the final inches of the snow wall collapsed beneath her determined assault, and she burst into the open.

Using the rocks for support Raven hauled herself up, wincing as her injured foot touched the ground. It would be of little use for a while, but her wings were her chief concern. Leaning on the rocks for balance, she extended the once glossy black spans. They were stiff, but there was no pain and seemingly little damage. She’d lost some feathers, her plumage was battered and bedraggled now, but the snow had broken the worst of her fall. “Well, there is only one way to find out!” Taking a deep breath she launched herself upward as best she could with one leg injured. She overbalanced and almost went sprawling, but to her relief, her wings took her weight and she began to beat steadily upward. Now that her main worry had been quelled, she would need to look around her and decide what to do next.

The sky was an absolute joy after looking so long at nothing but gray clouds. Raven reveled in the soft rose, the delicate green, the translucent blues and dazzling gold of the sunset. For a time she was too captivated by its beauty to look down, but when at last the colors faded from the sky, she was astounded to find them echoed on the earth beneath! For a moment her head whirled with disorientation, but when she looked directly below her, she could see the plateau from which she had taken off. Why, she had landed on the very last of the mountains. As its slopes descended, the snow cover thinned and eventually vanished, leaving dark tumbled rocks stretching down to a dark and sinister forest below. Beyond, the rippling sea of sunset hues extended as far as she could see. Raven caught her breath. She’d come south, then, and this was the legendary jeweled desert!