Valravn

chapter one

The tree was long dead, and the brittle limb could not hold this new weight much longer. When it broke at last the noise cracked like a gunshot in the darkness. Both dead branch and dead body plummeted, catching at first in the other arms of the tree as though they wished to hold them tight, but they twisted free and smashed against the cold wet ground. That was how the raven saw them when it flew over; the broken branch pointing like a skeletal finger at the cadaver beside it, with a thick snakish rope coiled in between.

The hungry bird wheeled down closer, and when it smelled death it croaked in delight at its lucky find and landed with a flourish on its meal. The fall from the tree had left the body broken, with a dark gash that had ripped the shirt and cut into the abdomen. It was still warm though, with the gash bleeding brown in the shadows. The raven clawed at the opening and fed on the body until it was nearly bloated. Then it ate even more. And more. And more....

Without warning the bird and the corpse exploded in a cloud of black smoke and green flame. For a moment the fire flashed upward, soaring high as the treetops and scattering the shadows of the wood with its strange unearthly light. The very trees seemed to shrink away from the awful scream of the flames, but almost as soon as it had erupted into life it was gone again, leaving behind nothing of the corpse but a charred skeleton.

But the raven was still there. Whole, complete, and now three times as large and as black as the night sky above. He strutted around, cocking his head and muttering. Within the deep well of each of his eyes a queer point of orange light flickered. As the raven looked on at the skeletal remains a strange new insight stirred within his mind.

A young man, he knew. Then he glanced at the rope, curiously unburnt and still knotted to the neck.

Suicide....

He got no further than that. A heavy power was on him, gripping tight with stinging fingers and pulling hard. The raven screamed and launched into the air with wild frenzy, but he could not shake off the pull. Against his will he flew low under the canopy of trees, and noticed at once that the shadows were growing bolder. Nets of darkness were thrown in his path and for a second he could not see even his own beak. Then he burst free of the tangle of shadows, and came out into the throes of a different world.

Tall naked trees, blackened as though by fire, stood close to one another, with their bony hands entwining together in a locked embrace. The ground in which their roots were buried was hard and cracked and barren. No animal or insect lingered on the earth here, but above in the branches were throngs of strange ravens like itself, heckling and jostling in a cacophonous uproar. When the raven managed to land on an empty space two others strutted over to him. Sized him up.

"You're new here. Did you just Turn?" one asked.

The raven absorbed the meaning of these words, but only managed to parrot one of them back at the duo.

"Turn?"

"Turn, yes, like us!" The second raven hissed. She flapped her great wings and almost knocked her companion over. They snapped at each other for a moment before turning back to the newcomer, transfixing their beaming eyes on him.

"You're one of us now, like it or not! Say your name. Speak!"

The raven didn't know what to do, didn't understand how to make his tongue form the strange language. All he could utter was a nervous croak. Neither of them were pleased at this, and the first one jabbed him with his beak impatiently.

"Learn faster, little naif! You must talk now. Think of all that you are, and tell us your name!"

The raven was spared an immediate answer when the two started shoving each other again, and in this free moment he gathered his thoughts around him, searched deep within.