Raven Girl

Chapter 14

Their horses had been groomed and fed, their torn clothes mended, and the couple had provided them with extra food. Regina was immensely grateful, despite the others' bad attitudes towards them, as they set off towards the Jötunheim border. They had been travelling northwest since leaving Arkanovsk, and it wouldn't be long before the threat of the daylight horrors was behind them. Regina was itching for the chance to feel sunlight, to see the new country.

One night, they had paused on the edge of a copse of trees, and Regina and Nadine were sent to climb them to look for birds or eggs. Regina hated trees – hated how twigs snagged in her hair clawed at her tunic. Nadine swept by in a long black cloak, grinning as she swung from tree to tree.

"You make it look easy," Regina complained.

"It is easy!" Nadine reached for a branch – and gasped as something fell, hitting the ground with a thump.

Regina peered down. "Was that a bird?" Her stomach tightened at the thought of fresh meat. Nadine shrugged, and they clambered down to the forest floor to take a look at it, their feet shuffling through a thick carpet of fallen leaves.

The black shape was most definitely a bird. Nadine reached out to snap its neck – and jumped back. "Ow!" She sucked on a finger. "It bit me."

"It's a crow," Regina said.

It hopped to its feet and croaked, wings slightly spread.

"No. A raven. I think it's a baby," Nadine said.

Regina tilted her head to admire the sheen of its feathers. She liked them – they were intelligent birds. "Are you going to kill it?" It did look small. Was it a fledgling? It had fallen from its nest.

Nadine hesitated, surprising Regina. "We could always... keep it. They can be useful if you train them. She flashed a sharp-toothed grin. "We could send it to peck out the shrikes' eyes."

Gylfi's jaw dropped when he saw Nadine carrying the creature into their camp. "Wow. The raven girls actually found a raven." Then he paused. "Or is it a crow?"

"Raven," they said together.

"Kill it," Elias said impatiently, as the baby bird croaked.

Nadine glared at him, and Regina tentatively stretched a hand out to stroke its head. It shivered, trapped in the arms of the thief.

Gylfi watched it. "There are old Jötun folk tales of ravens being mediators between life and death, because they feed on carrion. One says they're the ghosts of murdered people."

"Nice. Very pleasant, Gylfi," Regina said. She tried to ignore the way her heart leaped as he grinned at her in response.

"I'll call him Kutkh," Nadine said.

Elias stood from his fireside seat, setting his jaw to avoid wincing – he did a good job of masking it, but Regina could tell. "We are not adopting wild pets. Or any pets at all, for that matter."

Their eyes met. Nadine tightened her hold on the bird. "Ravens are clever and this one could help us."

"Or it could give away our position to the shrikes."

"Not if we train it."

"We? Don't you mean 'you'?"

"I'm keeping it."

"You are not."

Gylfi sniggered. "Trouble in paradise. Will you feel better if we get you a pet goldfish, Elias?"

"Elias doesn't have a say in the matter. It's mine. I'm going to go look for worms to feed it."

Elias made a noise that sounded like a sputtering laugh of exasperation. But sure enough, Nadine placed the raven on her pack and started scouring the damp earth for worms. Regina watched it peck at a scrap of hide, then claw its way inside to rummage through her things.

Elias stormed over and grabbed Nadine, hauling her up to her feet, but she pushed him away.

"Careful, assassin. Your wound hasn't healed yet, and you don't want to test me when you're weak."

He met her glittering stare and growled, "If you make a move to attack me, Sadovsky, it will be the last thing you ever do. I'd tear you apart, wound or no wound."

Regina bit her lip. He'd meant every word. Nadine swallowed, and Regina saw a flash of fear alongside her determination.

Gylfi cleared his throat. "Nadine, your son has found a knife."

Nadine whirled around to find Kutkh picking at the hilt of one of her knives. She prised him away and the raven snapped his beak.

"No. No knives. Your beak is sharp enough," she told him. Regina lifted him onto her lap – he was heavier than she'd expected.

Elias groaned, running a hand over his face. "I'm surrounded by idiots."

But he was outnumbered. So Kutkh stayed.

After a few more days, Gylfi gave a whoop and kicked his horse into a gallop. They hastened to follow, surging up a steep hill. Undergrowth changed to long, rippling grass. They found Gylfi at the top, grinning and waving beside a large rock. Someone had carved an intricate pattern of spirals into it.

"What is that?" Regina called over the wind that sliced at them.

"Border marker. I'm in Jötunheim!" Gylfi had stopped his horse just on the other side of the rock. He dismounted and ran a hand over its surface, grooved and mossy.

"The rocks are dotted along the border," Nadine said, pointing. Regina saw the row of hills spreading out on either side of them, and the boulder on each hilltop.

Regina swallowed. She was far, far from home now. She felt a pang of longing for Arkanovsk, the Palace, the safety of lush rooms and quaint gardens. At least she was familiar with Ravenna. From now on... they were in Gylfi's territory. And judging by his grin as they followed him, he knew it.

For the rest of the night, they were forced to listen to Gylfi gabble in an endless stream of Jötun, as they led the horses down the other side of the hill – the grass was too slippery and the slope too steep to ride. They'd break their necks.

"Can anyone understand what he's saying?" Nadine said. "Sounds like he's insulting us."

"Make him stop," Elias groaned finally.

Regina, heart in her mouth, darted over and punched the pirate on the shoulder. He turned, eyes sparking when he saw her. "I thought that was Nadine. Brave of you to punch a Jötun, Regina."

She shrugged, sauntering past him. "Maybe I'm just learning to resort to violence, due to my current company."

"Good. You should make it a habit, considering our road leads to the den of the most notorious gang in the world. Better work on those punches, though."

"And you're a martial artist, are you?"

He took her wrist and led her slowly through a punch, his chest pressing against her shoulder as he did so. "Turn your wrist as you're doing it. And make sure you don't keep your arm bent. Hit with these two knuckles." He tapped the correct knuckles, and Regina couldn't stop her breath hitching as sparks danced along her skin. She pulled away, not meeting Gylfi's eyes and hoping desperately that the wind had stopped him from hearing her.

"Pull yourself together," she whispered, clinging onto her horse's neck. Her boots skidded through the dewy grass.

Unknown territory indeed.