Raven

Chapter 2

The next morning Raven went into the village to try and find more information about the book. She lived in a cottage on the outskirts of the village, so it had taken her a while to get there. The village was made up of several buildings each varying in size. The village hall, the butcher's, the grocers, the school and the armoury which had its own blacksmith. Out of all these buildings, the village hall was the biggest. All the buildings were old and had been made from old grey bricks. It was a very dull place to be. The whole village was grey in colour, nothing colourful in sight. There were not that many children playing either. Raven knew that if she was going to get any clues as to what the scribbles meant, it would be at the village hall. As she walked towards the village hall, she noticed that it was very quiet, not many people were outside or talking to one another. This was an odd occurrence since the village was normally bustling with the townspeople and travellers passing through getting supplies. There was something very wrong happening but Raven herself didn't know what it was. She finally arrived at the village hall. The big oak door was wide open as normal, but no one was standing outside. Normally there would be a line of the villagers waiting to speak to the Mayor but there was no-one in sight. She walked inside to find only two people standing. One was a villager named Anna who was the daughter of the Mayor. The other was the blacksmith himself, Viktor. She greeted both and walked towards the Mayor's Office.

"Stop! What business do you have with the Mayor?", Viktor said angrily. "You cannot just charge in wanting to see him! He has important business to attend to and doesn't need the likes of you pestering him! Begone!".

Raven stood there and looked at him. Is Viktor out of his mind? She thought. Normally Viktor was very kind to her, he was a close friend of her mother's and had looked out for all these years after her disappearance. But this was odd. He'd never been so rude to her before. She was now starting to suspect that something was not right. Something dark was going on but she had no idea as to what it might be.

"Viktor, I need to speak to him. He may know something about this book", Raven said this as she took the book out of her bag. "You know as well as I do that the Mayor knew my Mother better than anyone. He may know what the scribbles on the back cover mean".

"What scribbles are you talking about?! There's nothing in that shabby old book, I would know if there was! After all it was my book!" he said angrily. "Leave now. I do not want to have to make you". He gestured to her to leave as he made his hand into a fist at his side.

"What?.... It was your book?", Raven was confused. How could this be his book? She had it for years. If it was his, why didn't he take it back? Then after regaining her composure she looked at him, opened to very last page and showed him the scribbles. "I wasn't lying when I said there was something written here......" she said in a very low and quiet voice. Viktor gasped. He started to edge away from Raven in fear. She had never seen this look in his eyes. Viktor was a strong man who was never scared of anything. But to see him cower in fear over the scribbles in her mother's book made her very worried.

"How......It's not possible....... HOW?!," Viktor looked uneasy, he was in total shock of what he saw.

"What? What? What's wrong? Why are you so scared?", seeing Viktor like this made her very anxious. What made him lose courage and become so fearful?

"That...... lettering......is ancient.... You should never have seen it... They will come for you, just like they did for your mother...", He rushed to her and grabbed her shoulders firmly and said "After you speak to the Mayor, leave this village and never come back. You will bring the Curse of the Gods upon us. Leave and never say a word of this to anyone. Do you understand?!" Viktor had a look of urgency in his eyes, but moreover the dread was still there. Whatever Viktor was warning her about, he was serious. He had never looked this serious before, but she knew she must follow what he said. She looked in his eyes and nodded. Viktor backed away from her, grabbed Anna who hadn't said a word during this whole conversation and ran out the door.

Raven looked at the scribbles on the book again. I have to find out what this is. Whatever made Viktor so scared must be bad. He is one of the bravest people I know. But what did he mean that they'd come for me? Who are "they"? He said they took my mother. What is going on? I have to find out. These were all thoughts floating in her mind. And with that, she began walking towards the red door, which was the Mayor's office, determined to get answers.