The Raven And The Wraith (Completed!)

Chapter 5

The Raven and the Wraith
Chapter 5

Sitting next to the warmth of the fire, feeling it's comforting warmth soaking into my skin, I found myself thinking about all that had happened in the last few weeks. And it struck me with almost a physical force; I felt more alone and uncertain than I could ever remember.

In the city, in the streets, I had not had a home besides the streets themselves. But then, it was all I had known, and so it hadn't been scary or lonely. It was just life. Now, with all that had happened, I no longer knew where home was. I no longer knew who I was. And if I was truthful with myself, I wasn't even certain what I was, anymore.

As if she were tracking my thoughts with perfect precision, Rhonda chuckled quietly.

"Away from home. Your magic first waking up. And you just sit and ponder it...you're a brave one, I'll give you that!"

I narrowed my eyes at her. Was this old lady something more than just a wise, merchant, traveler-healer?

"I know a bit of the old legends, boy. I know that Genevieve is the first to wield the power of the wind in at least one thousand years. And I know those legends mention a Wraith."

She looked up at me, arching an eyebrow. "And the way you came scurrying into camp tonight, your eyes all glassy and your heart beating so fast I could just about hear it, even with my crusty, old ears, tells me you must have seen the Wraith."

I had never heard anything about a Wraith. I barely knew anything of the old legends, besides that which I had just picked up over the years.

I hadn't picked up much. The old legends were filled with magic, both great and terrible, and I had heard and seen enough of what magic did to people that I had stayed far away from it.

Now, even though it went against my deepest ingrained survival instincts, I knew I absolutely had to learn more about magic. It was as if the base need to survive now knew that magic was tied intrinsically to my life.

"What is a Wraith?"

"They are a very rare magic being, with only a few sightings mentioned in any of the ancient histories. But their sightings always occur during the same time as when one who is tied to, and part of, the power of the wind, is alive."

Rhonda fell quiet as she went about adding firewood and shifting the burning logs about, seemingly so wrapped up in this simple task that she had forgotten I was there. I waited quietly on the outside, but I was boiling over with questions on the inside.

Finally, after spending a solid fifteen minutes adjusting and fidgeting with the fire, she turned to face me.

"You're a patient one. I wouldn't have thought it, but yet here you sit so still, while I can sense the feverish urgency inside of you."

I thought about the different times in the streets where I had been hunted by the guilds enforcers. And that time in the sewer where I had heard...something sniffing and snorting as it tried to follow my scent, where I had to tuck myself into a tiny crack in the wall and hold absolutely still and silent for hours, lest I make a sound and lead it to me. Oh, I had definitely learned patience. It was why I was still alive, on more than a few occasions.

"The only thing known about a Wraith is that they always choose someone to be their...servant, I suppose you could call them. And also that the Wraith is a creature that restores balance, as that appears to be its sole purpose."

"I met a huge black cat. It spoke to me, in my mind. And...and it changed me..." I trailed off as I struggled to find the words to describe the strange, otherworldly encounter and all that had happened.