Satin Rose and the Witch Hunters

39. The More that Changes

Satin

"You're alive! You're alive! And you're a boy!" Phinion was ecstatic and he tackled me with a hug.

It felt more like a vice grip, my too weak to even cry out, and I grit my teeth at it. Every inch of my skin and muscle seemed to be sore. My hair felt like it was on fire. When a sound finally escaped me, it was a small weak laugh. This hug was the best feeling I've had in an entire week.

After a minute he let go a torrent of words as I sat back down on the wood shavings.

"When Perse showed up with you here you were still a raven. Knocked out cold by a fall he said. What happened? Where have you been? The Hunters have been swarming near the outskirts for a week now, but by now they're even wandering near the house now and my dad's gotten buddy-buddy with them. I told the raven to take you somewhere else, but he didn't know where else to go and he's been looking for the old man, but the old man left, and he gave his hat cause when the whole place came crashing down everyone had to go somewhere to hide, and my big mouth said they could use this shed, and they laid low for a while-"

I put a hand on his shoulder and said with a great smile, "It's great to see you to Phinion."

Tears welled up in his eyes as he tackled me again and it took everything in me to not pass out, "I thought you'd be gone forever! Christophers already left for that voyage of his and when the wizards left for the woods! I've been alone with the hunters prowling around!"

"It's gonna be alright," I reassured him. A growl echoed in the small shed and Phin jumped at the sound, hugging the wall and looking everywhere for its source. My smile turned sheepish. "You got something to eat?

How the old bird had carried me here I had no idea. Phinion's house was literally leaning against the city walls and a team of hunters seemed to have set up camp at the other side of the small tree crop. Beyond the camp would have been the east city's entrance. Were they so crowded there that some had resorted to camping inside the walls?

Sneaking out of the shed was as hard as it was cracked up to be. We debated if whether they would recognize me or us together as we had been a group during the initiation. I agreed that there would be the possibility, no matter how miniscule, but if he were to run back to get me a disguise that would be even more suspicious. The best course of action was to simply walk out.

I had to lean of him for us to get going and not a second after we stepped out, an hunter on the large side raised an eye brow. He was a way away yet Phin froze on the spot. Forcing a smile, I waved at him and his brow furrowed before he continued his work.

Phin's house was just a little larger than the shack that we had been in but was infinitely better to look at. A golden hay roof that gave way for a brick chimney, the front door was carved with images of the forest and the woodland animals frolicking about on its dark frame. The entire yellowish front wall of it looked as if it had been cut from a single enormous trunk. And standing outside on a stump was the early makings of a carved statue that stood tall with no features of than an hourglass shape. It seemed like a resthouse in a fairytale, and opening the door with my own human hands was the second best feeling I had all day.

Inside was a little cramped. Once you opened the door you basically saw the entire house, a ladder went to a sleeping cubby in the roof and a door at the back to the outhouse. Of course everything seemed was made of wood, meticulously whittled, sanded, and sculpted to be just as eye catching as the door up front.

Hopping on a stool, Phin went through a pantry and broke out a slab of butter and a huge chunk of bread.

"What was it like? Being a bird and all?" He asked sliding the food across the table.

"Your small, a cat almost killed me and the raven," I answered tearing hunks off it and finding a spoon for the spread. "And flying is really hard. I got the hang of it though after a while. And you get to talk to animals!"

Phins was looking at me intensely, hanging off almost every word. "Do all of them talk? Like what? Sparrows and crows? When Perce came with you, it freaked me out when he started speaking."

I shrugged, "Not all of them. But you can kinda understand them even if they don't. There were these starlings that didn't talk. I think they're still back at the castle."

"You went to the castle." It was more a statement than a question.

My mouth stopped chewing for a moment. The imagine of dad being crowned burned fresh behind my eyes. I'd almost forgotten about it in between everything. How much did Phin know? This wasn't something I should dump on to him. No sure what to say, I replied with a simple, "Yeah."

"Man. You're lucky to go on an adventure like that. All I got out of that stupid initiation was a heart attack. Even Christopher felt like he could jump higher after we went home."

This was deifintely a weird question. "So, uh, you haven't seen or heard from my dad have you."

"Your dad? Nothing? Something happened?"

"It's nothing. You think were a bit in over our heads? With the whole bird thing, and the hunters, and the wizards. The Hunters are apparently here for some forest mission."

He leaned back on his chair and stared at the ceiling. "Totally. I haven't even told my folks that I went to the square. Maybe we should leave all this magic stuff behind us. Act like nothing's happened, you know?"

"I really do hope your joking."

We both almost fell out of our chairs. There on the windowsill was a black bird the size of a cat, sleek and fresh, its feathers seemed to shine and its eyes were as sharp as gemstones. It was an almost unrecognizable transformation.

"Old Raven?" Came my tentative voice. He looked half way to deaths bed the last time.

"Is that part of my name now?" He snipped, clacking his beak. "I save your life twice and suddenly I'm old now?"

I got embarrassed. This was the person that save me twice after all. "Sorry."

"It's Perse if you have to know," The bird said puffing up his feathers. "Never mind that. Phinion, could I borrow Satin for a moment? There's something I want to talk to him about in private."