Raven

Back Into The Past Pt 3

The battle had begun.

Cestelli gracefully leapt out of the foliage and aimed for the nearest soldier's neck and snapped it with ease. Another soldier came at him and swung his sword, but it was no use. The black cat dodged the swing easily, then proceeded to rip out his throat. Raven ran and hid behind a cluster of bushes, crouched, and proceeded to watch the bloody exchange. She cringed as Cestelli bit into the third soldier's throat.

By the sixth syph, couldn't he find some other way to kill them?, Raven thought to herself.

Cestelli then turned to her, as if reading her thoughts. Ah, but this way is much more entertaining, is it not little one?

Raven glared at Cestelli, who had been circling two soldiers who were trembling in fear. Stop intruding in on my thoughts you half-minded mongrel, she shot back in annoyance.

Raven felt him grin smugly as his eyes sought out which of the soldiers he would aim for first. If I'm half minded, you haven't got a mind at all, little one. Raven scowled. How could he manage to make her so mad so easily?

Raven was never one to have a bad temper.

She decided to turn her head and wait the rest of the fight out. Not until several moments later, when a snap was heard and a cry rang in the air followed by silence, did Raven turn her head. There were bodies and blood.

A lot of blood.

Raven got up slowly, careful to avoid looking at the dead men. Sometimes she wished so many lives didn't have to be taken, no matter whose it was.

"Thank you", she said quietly as she reached Cestelli, who was now back in his human form.

"Don't make a mistake like that again.", he said sternly while wiping blood from his mouth, "You should have been more aware of your surroundings."

Raven sighed. She wanted to argue, but what was the point? Cestelli was right. She should have known that going alone wasn't the wisest thing to do, especially since she had been attacked just the day before. Having someone as bothersome as Cestelli around surely wasn't worse than death?

But instead of voicing any of those thoughts, she simply bit her lip and looked away.

Cestelli shook his head, obviously perturbed at her response. He sighed, looking up at the late afternoon sun. "I suggest we try to get to the next village before nightfall.", he said, and with that, started walking.

Raven followed. She was still distraught form the attack and at this point might as well have lost her way, so she trusted that he knew where he was going. The bird on her shoulder ruffled it feathers and snapped her beak, as if making her self known. Raven turned toward the black bird, startled. She had completely forgotten about it during the ambush. She was surprised that she stayed on her shoulder the entire time. The bird squawked loudly, as if it was trying to let her know something. Raven, catching on, tried to think of what the bird could possibly want as it squawked for the second time, flapping its wings in the process.

Cestelli pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyed. "Think Raven, has the bird had anything to eat?"

Raven furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"Couldn't it just go find its own food? I don't see why not- the creature is capable."

Cestelli shrugged. "She probably expects you to feed her now.", he said.

Raven huffed in annoyance as she searched the contents of the knapsack on her hip. She pulled out a strip of meat, ripped it in half, and fed it to the bird, who snapped it up and released a squawk of contentment. She ate the rest, not bothering to offer Cestelli any. Cestelli wasn't even anything close to human, so food, water, and sleep wasn't necessary and were simply a luxury. It had taken Raven a while to get used to the fact that the person she once thought of as most human wasn't one at all, but it wasn't as a disturbing thought as it once was.

They walked in silence for several hours. Cestelli was never much for talk, and neither was Raven, so the silence suited them just fine. Then without warning, Cestelli stopped, sniffed the air, then stated running through the forest rapidly. Raven, though startled, ran after him with hesitation. It wasn't until they had been running throught the forest for a fair amount of time did she smell it.

Smoke.

The both arrived at Edrin Village- only to find it in flames.