The Prophecy in the Forest

Chapter Four: The Road to Ravenswood

Rafael could hardly believe that he was entertaining this. She had come out of nowhere proposing some strange prophecy, which surely would only get him in trouble. And this girl herself seemed like nothing but trouble.

She was stunning, Raf had to admit it to himself. She had beautiful eyes and hair. Her body was so curvy it was all he could do to not watch the way her hips swung as she walked. He caught her scent, lavender and roses. She seemed so breathtaking that surely it must be an illusion.

Rafael had never trusted anyone who seemed too good to be true. But he still found himself sitting down next to her on a bench outside the pub. The night was quiet, cold, and fresh. It seemed the world itself was waiting with bated breath to hear about this prophecy of Keena's.

"Where to begin..." Keena murmured under her breath. She folded her hands in her lap, and Raf noticed the way she twisted her rings around her slender fingers as she thought. "I am an enchantress from Oob, and I went to visit the local apothecary for supplies for a potion. While I was there, she had a vision. Something about ice and forest and water. She mentioned your name, and that it had to be both of us."

"Both of us doing what, exactly?" Raf needed to be sure he was following correctly.

"Putting an end to the magical blights. Surely you must know about them, being the prince."

Rafael had heard about the blights. They were a constant source of stress on his mother's shoulders every night. People were beginning to get worried, and remembering their experience with a lack of resources. The neighboring kingdom, Ravenswood, had been exploiting this lack of resources by hiring their citizens for cheap and grueling labor. They refused to share their excess with the citizens of Badaxe. His people had died by the thousands over the several years of this treatment. This blight had many worried about lacking food or shelter again.

What made it worse was the blight being detected at the very edges of Ravenswood, eating at the magic under the ground and leaving the land barren and brown. People were scared and beginning to hoard. Raf sighed, dropping his head into his hands.

"I have heard of the blights. Admittedly, I have been trying to keep them off my mind. You may not know, but only fourteen years ago my people went through something similar. Many lost family and friends, even dearly beloved pets. It is a massive concern for our realm."

"Wouldn't you like to be able to say you did something about them? To look at your grandchildren and know that you made the world safe for them?" She was looking at him with those intense eyes again, so wide and so intelligent. "Think about it, Rafael. You seem like you care tremendously for these people."

"I do. And I was hungry for an adventure, anyways." He found himself smiling at her, a strange feeling blooming in his chest as her full, heart-shaped lips curled into an identical smile.

"So you'll come with me? You'll help me defeat this thing?" Keena jumped to her feet, clasping her hands together hopefully.

"I'll come with you, Keena," Raf pulled himself to his feet, sticking his hand out for her to shake. She took it, grasping it tightly. "I'm going to help you take the blight down."

By dawn the next day, Raf had accomplished a great deal. First, he went home and packed. He packed lightly in a deerskin saddlebag. He made sure he had a durable pair of boots to wear and enough for both of them to eat. He knew Keena had food of her own, but he felt like sharing. He wanted her to like him.

Strange, He thought to himself. I've never wanted to be in someone's good favor so much.

He supposed he could chalk that up to how appealing it was when she smiled. Her face seemed to bloom like a flower in spring. He feared he might do anything to get her to smile for him like that again.