The Raven And The Wraith (Completed!)

Chapter 4

The Raven and the Wraith
Chapter 4

When long, tense moments passed, with neither of us moving, I finally opened my mouth.

"What do you want?" My voice was just a whisper, but the cat flicked its ears and looked intently at me.

"You think I'll speak with you while you're still baring your claws?"

It was a voice inside my mind. A voice that shook me to the core, like a thousand rivers cascading over and around the very structure of my thoughts. I felt the ground smack my knees and knew I had collapsed, but I had my eyes crushed tight, my hands on my temples as I instantly, and instinctively, fought to get that voice out of my head.

"Stand up, kitten. I'm not here to eat you. Fear has no place between us."

This time, the voice was much quieter. Much more like a single strand of my own thoughts, and therefore not nearly as consuming. I managed to open my eyes, only to yelp and attempt to hurl myself backwards, as I found the cats unnatural yellow eyes mere inches from mine.

My reflexes did not serve me well, as hurling myself backwards with great vigor when there was a tree right behind me only resulted in knocking the breath out of me and making stars momentarily flick about in front of my vision as my head bounced off it. The stars did not block me from catching what looked like a very amused expression on the cats face.

"As I said, I'm not here to hurt you. But if you insist on hurting yourself, I'll wait until you're done."

I shook my head, wondering if I was imagining a sarcastic black cat, or if it had already eaten me and I just didn't know it yet.

"What do you want?" I managed, wincing as my headache tried to keep a catchy little tune of thumping along with my voice.

"I need you to join with The Daughter Of The Wind. Turn around, go back to her."

I blinked as images of Genevieve flooded my mind. This cat had called her The Daughter Of The Wind, which was the name of a creature of two worlds, from an ancient legend. I shook my head at it, then mumbled a collection of foul words as my headache attempted split my skull in two at the motion.

"Nope. Not going back. Not going to have anything to do with her. And she's the daughter of Kavin, the royal magician, not the daughter of the wind, or whatever you think she is."

The cat leaned closer to me, its presence rising up, spiking high into sky surrounding us, as if it had somehow suddenly made itself thousands of times larger than if really was.

"Do you dare deny me?"

I felt my stomach clench in terror and frantically wondered if I was going to fill my pants and become both the most boring, AND the stinkiest prey this cat had ever stalked. The fear seemed to unhinge my jaw, though, so my answer was perhaps not ideal.

"Well, yes. But only on Thursdays. No need to get your whiskers in a knot about it." I squeaked.

The huge cat stood and stepped over me, its chest knocking me flat on my back. I wheezed my displeasure, but I don't think it cared.

"Go back to her. Tell her I sent you. Show her my gift to you. Do not disobey me."

I stared up at it, speechless for one of the few times in my life. It was staring down at me with such power blazing in its eyes that I was immobile. Then, the golden light in its eyes seemed to flow between us, as if it were sinking into my eyes and burrowing deep into the core of my bones, throughout my entire body.

Blackness swirled at the edges of my vision, threatening to pull me under were I to dare to gaze directly into it, and energy coursed through me, like a tidal wave that stretched out past the minds eye.