Shift

Chapter 21

21

Halfway to the village Vera managed to assemble a fully thought-out plan. They had to go to Sol, but Raven couldn’t be seen. Vera led Raven to the outskirts of the village, behind her cousin’s House.

“Wait here until I return, I’ll be no more than two minutes, Margaret won’t ask questions.” Vera explained before leaving Raven. She slipped inside and out the front door onto the main street. The tailor was right next to Margaret’s House, which was why Vera had come. Sneaking inside, she found a dark velvet cloak hanging on the uncollected hook and grabbed it, stealing back into Margaret’s House as quickly and silently as she’d left.

Raven was still waiting at the back door and Vera held the cloak out. Understanding dawned on her and she grabbed it, pulling it around her dainty frame. They wove through the two backstreets that stood between them and Sol’s cottage without hassle, aside from Raven swearing she’d seen someone watching them, and soon they were running across the field towards the old cottage.

Vera rapped on the door as Raven caught her breath beside her. Sol took his time to open it, but when he finally did, the shock on his face was worth every grouchy remark he’d ever thrown at Vera. She was momentarily worried that she’d have to resuscitate him from a heart attack to get his help when he opened the door wider and simply said,

“You look like you have a story to tell,” motioning for them to come in.

***

Raven was fidgety, Sol was waiting, and Vera was feeling like she was about to explain that dragons were real.

“Well?” Sol demanded.

“She’s Avian, I was teaching her to shift and…” Vera paused, looking for the right words. “I think she’s one of us. I don’t know how I know, but she’s a princess.”

Sol nodded and sat quietly, mulling over her words. Now that his initial shock had past, he was unshakable in his tranquillity.

“May I have your hand, child?” He asked, looking at Raven. She glanced at Vera then nodded. Sol turned her hand palm up and held it between his own weathered and scarred hands. He tranced her veins and stared at her near-translucent skin.

“You are right, she is a princess, one of our own returned for her throne.” Sol finally spoke.

“But how is that possible? She is Avian! Her whole branch was forsaken centuries ago!” Vera protested.

“This is the beginning of an era. Ever since you and the other princesses were born we have known that. All of the heads of House will be women! It hasn’t happened for centuries; centuries more than the Avian have been forsaken. The magic never forgot the Avian, even if we did. It makes sense that the Princess’s return preludes the beginning of an auspicious time.” Sol explained. It didn’t seem strange, or unbelievable, or even suspicious. It simply felt right.

Vera gasped as a piece of the puzzle she could not see solved itself.

“Sol, do you believe that Valdor knows Raven is the sixth princess?” She asked. Raven’s head snapped up at the name.

“Valdor? No; if he knew about her, she’d be dead.” Sol assured.

“But he was so interested in Raven; he kept a special watch on her.” Vera mused.

“How do you know that?” Sol remarked. He hadn’t questioned how an Avian forsaken had gotten past the wards and was being hidden by one of the princesses, but he was genuinely curious about the source of her knowledge.

“Raven told me.” Vera answered hastily. Sol nodded, but Vera knew he could tell she was lying.

“I would say, for once Valdor doesn’t know everything. He had a princess under his nose this whole time and couldn’t care less about her. His interest sounds like it would be due to something simpler… perhaps she is leverage for someone.” Sol replied. Vera wasn’t surprised that he was so accurate.

“So we have an advantage now, a secret princess Valdor knows nothing about.” Vera clarified. Sol inclined his head in the affirmative. Vera thought for a moment.

“But what about the sixth pendant? What happened to it?” She wondered.

“The pendants were never bound to these walls. They were bound by magic and in blood to those who wore them. I believe the pendant stayed with the forsaken clan until it could find its heir.” Sol answered her musings. Raven had been listening in the background, but at Sol’s words her face creased in a frown.

“Does that mean?” She whispered. “Vera, may I take my locket back?”

Vera glanced suspiciously at Raven but she shook her head.

“I’m not leaving now, now that there’s something I can do to destroy Valdor.” She insisted. Vera believed her, her passion to help, and her thirst to get back at the being that had held her under his thumb for so long. So she pulled the locket from her pocket and handed it back to Raven.

Raven sat with the locket cradled in her hands, staring down at it. She was concentrating all her mind on whatever she was trying to do. Very slowly she opened the locket. Vera was surprised there was nothing inside. Raven seemed to be in a trance and she kept opening it, pulling the two sides around until Vera thought the hinge would break. Instead, the locket made a small click as each half fitted perfectly together back to back. The locket began to glow. It was small at first, illuminating the intricate engravings throughout the metal. Rapidly the glow turned into a small brilliant golden orb of light. The orb shone brightly in Raven’s hands for an instant, and then it was gone. Vera gasped at what remained in Raven’s hands.

The small sliver locket had transformed into a large golden pendant incredibly similar to Vera’s own pendant. Sol whistled in admiration.

“How did you do that?” Vera marvelled.

“It was like the shift. I could feel the pendant inside. I just had to pull it out like you showed me to.” Raven explained. Vera looked back to the pendant. There was no denying it now, the Avian clan had returned.