The Raven Rites

Chapter 1: This Amethyst Moon

Deidre

'Breathe' he thought desperately, clawing at his skin like a collared wild animal.

There were times when Deidre had to remember to himself who he really was, there were times when he had to fight the urge to just melt with Prince Arjuna's identity...

But that would be wrong, because he was not Arjuna Thunderclaw.

No, he was Deidre, and he had to remember that. His fingers glided down on his neck to his collarbones, he wanted to change skin again, he wanted to get his real face back...but the truth was, that Prince Arjuna's identity was simply too comfortable to be in. Third son of an important bloodline, no pressure for marriage, decently pretty presence...it had been quite the deal when the opportunity had presented itself to take the prince's place and steal his face.

Deidre got up slowly, his head still spinning as he leaned on the walls of the prince's room. Five years. For five whole years he had been able to replace Arjuna, but today he had almost got himself caught by mentioning something that was not right for the prince to know. He was a young man of twenty-four and disinterested in history. How could he know the details of a battle that happened centuries ago?

He sighed, placing a hand on his racing heart. He had to be more careful...when he started to make mistakes like this it usually meant that it was time to find a way to get out. But where to go next? He had successfully accumulated a secret stash of money and he could consider himself happy with the growth of his fortune in the centuries that the Gods had allowed him to live...To be immune to time didn't necessarily mean that he was also immune to death, and Deidre found that out the ugly way during his first century.

His eyes glanced at the overly decorated room, the golds and the dark reds and the rich purples, the detailed carvings that filled every corner, so distant from his tastes...he slowly moved towards the window, gripping the edge of the open arch. He needed to get out of there.

The roads of Malgrave were a web of big roads and smaller ones, knotted together in a squared grid. From up there, he could see the lights of the city wake up as night approached. The chill air made his skin tingle as the pleasant smell of a festival filled the air, the laughter of people faintly reaching his ears. A small knock on the door made him turn, sitting on the cold window edge "Yes?" the door opened slowly, and the elegant figure of one of Arjuna's brothers came in smiling.

"I know you run away when you argue with Dad, but he was not done talking..."

Deidre sighed, gesturing to Grieva to enter "What did I miss?"

"The prisoner, they're taking him here."

his eyes shot open "What?"

"I said, they're taking the prisoner here" Grieva crossed his arms "We have a better prison than Valenov can ever hope to have, and it's our turn to keep him locked."

Diedre got up "What do you mean 'our turn'?"

Grieva laughed "You really were not paying attention lately, uh? The Heretic cannot be kept in a single place for too long, and the recent incident in Velanov just confirmed that three years is too long of a time, he almost escaped them."

"So we just take turns, because he's too dangerous?"

"The binding chains cannot contain all his magic, and in time they consume too much to keep him at bay. He's the fifth Ancestral, Juni, he doesn't need a lake near him like a Water Ancestral or a spark like a Fire Ancestral, he just needs people...flesh, bones, blood and souls. And there are plenty of those everywhere...can you imagine what would happen if the chains consumed too much and allowed him to use a fraction of his power?"