Time Is Up (22)

"Raven?", Caeli asked softly. "Why am I here?", staring down into the rushing surface of a river far off from their campsite that they frequented to catch various species of fish for meals.

Raven continued to teach her the various things that could be foraged in the area for food. What could or should not be eaten, their names and the habitats they tended to thrive in.

Raven had made a simple dress of linen with a leather corset for her to wear so that she could easily tie the ends between her legs and wade into the water without dousing her clothing. She stood knee deep in the clear water with a sharpened stick staring into the glittering depths waiting patiently, as the fish migrated from one area to the next, for one to come near so that she could pin it with her makeshift spear. As of yet she had been quite successful, and she liked it better than hunting small game in the woods.

Raven could have easily flicked a wrist and an instant later there would have been fish numbered in the dozens laying on the bank, washed, gutted, and bones removed, but he wanted Caeli to learn while she still had his help. If she was to continue traveling, and likely attract attention as she already had, he wanted her to be able to feed and protect herself.

And he knew that she did indeed want to continue on. She asked once daily about the safety or her future journey, if it was alright to leave soon.

He knew that time had run out. Knew that it was time to answer some of her questions. Knew that it was time to let her go. But once the question had left her lips, he couldn't stop his heart from dropping into his stomach or the cold sweat that seemed to break out across his skin.

Raven slowly nodded and motioned his hand towards the bank. She ought to sit before they began.

They sat on a handful of large rocks, their resting spot dappled in moonlight through the trees leaves above them.

Caeli settled and swiped the sweat soaked hair off of her forehead with the back of her hand. She continued to stare at the water. She couldn't help but feel she was hurting him by asking the question that had been burning in her since the day he had brought her here. She steeled her heart, another part of her needed to know, deserved to know. She had given him time and patience, she could bury the need no longer.

"I am grateful for the time I've been able to spend with you. You've taught me so much and have protected me from this unknown danger but it is not in my nature to simply do as I am told for my safety without some sort of explanation.", she said confidently, she turned to look at Raven.

It was difficult to see all of him in this spot with the trees shadowing pieces and parts of his body but she could see his bright eyes as they looked stoically out across the wide river and to the bank opposite them.

"I know this. I am quite surprised you haven't pushed harder until this moment to be honest.", he said looking at her from the corner of his eye. She was so small but so fierce. He felt his strength leave him as he studied her face. Her eyes were fiery depths and her legs were exposed to the thigh, wet and glittering. Her plaits had come slightly loose.

"Do you remember the councilor of the large city you passed through on your way here?", he asked, looking back to the woods on the other side of the river.

Caeli's brow furrowed in confusion. It wasn't what she had expected him to say. She nodded slowly.

"He was tailing you since the day you left the city. Not he himself but a servant of his. A creature of the night with the capacity to hide itself. I caught her in this dimension, I had accidentally transported her as well. She told me all, that the lord had ordered her to follow you and report back every so often to disclose to him your actions and movements."

Caeli was astounded. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise and she shook her head slightly. She stood suddenly and crossed her arms, standing at the edge of the water, staring straight into the tree-line on the opposite bank. The wheels of her mind working noisily.

"But why?", she asked a little dazed and sufficiently confused.

Raven shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't be sure. The woman did not know. My assumption is for his own gain, and also that he has feelings for you. What those feelings may be, I can only guess, but I think it's a well educated one.", he said the last part sardonically. "I let the woman go with the instruction to tell her lord that you had died, my hopes are that with your absence for some time, he will believe it is the truth and move on from his search and observation."

"Goddess…", she whispered to herself. She hadn't liked the man much upon their meeting, but had to come to warm to him after talking some in the inn, now she loathed him. She felt violated, she felt blind-sided.

"I brought you here, to this part of time, hoping that the absence of your aura would discourage further investigation on his part.", Raven said softly. It was the truth. But not the whole truth.

"My aura?", Caeli asked missing the flash of guilt in Ravens eyes as she turned around to face him, her arms still crossed protectively against herself.

"Caeli…. You're very powerful. For one reason or another, you radiate magical energy. It's hard to detect, almost like it is purposefully hidden from those around you, and quite obviously yourself. But it is there. That is how I found you, noticed you really. I am… very, very old.", he said carefully sliding a sideways glance at her again. "I think that in part has something to do with my ability to sense it. As you traveled it covered the areas you stepped through, over time it will be absorbed by the plant life and such but for a time it lingers on the surface leaving an effective trail. I could not have found you easier than if you had a beam from heaven itself following your around every hour of every day.", he said with a matter-of-fact tone that frustrated Caeli. How was she to know that this was the case?

"So that's why you initially followed me?", she said slowly.

Raven simply nodded.

"Because in your former state you were consuming and seeking magical energy to piece yourself back together….", she said even more slowly. Raven could not say he was surprised at her perceptive abilities. Caeli had always been sharper than anyone else he had met before. He wasn't sure if it was due to her magical abilities or if it was something she developed over time living in a village where she wasn't trusted or liked.

It was one of the reasons he had expected her to fight him earlier on about being given more information.

But she didn't. She gave him time, she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Was it because she trusted him? Perhaps even liked him?

He didn't dare to hope. Not now.

And everything was all the worse for the fact that he hid all of these things from her. If he had been upfront and honest she would have figured it out earlier on. Because he made a conscious decision to deceive her, it would be all the more obvious to her now.

Raven felt as though his heart had been seized by a powerful hand, each beat was searing pain. His breathing hitched and altogether stopped, waiting for her to continue.

"Caeli will you sit with me?", he asked as he reached for her.

She wasn't sure what he meant until he drew her smoothly onto his lap. Her face flushed red, she became frightened. Something was wrong. But it also felt comforting to be here with him, wrapped in his smell, the scent of night. It took her back to the night her mind had felt as though it would burst at the seams with all the confusing events leading up to that moment. How he had held her, soothed her. Talked her through the maelstrom of her thoughts.

She leaned back to see his face and he wrapped his arms tightly around her. She could have sworn he grimaced but knew that couldn't be right as his face lacked muscles, tendons and skin that would be required to do so. But she did perceive the narrowing and tightening of his irises, the slits of his eyes becoming shortened in their height, as though he were squinting.

"Raven? What is it? What's the matter?", she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"Caeli, you have to know, you must know, that I have never met another like you. I feel for you in a way that I don't quite understand. I've never felt this way before. You make it difficult to breathe, difficult to think clearly. You fill every waking thought and every unconscious dream. I see you everywhere, even when we are not together. I see you in the way the trees sway in the wind and I see you in the way the flowers reflect the moonlight. Do you understand?", he asked softly, his voice had become gruff, almost garbled.

She noticed then that his whole body was vibrating slightly. Was he afraid? The thought sent a shock of pain through her chest. This creature, the size of a mountain and with powers beyond her imagination, was afraid.

She slowly raised her hand to the side of his skeletal face and gingerly turned him to look at her directly.

Soft like river stone. That's how his ivory face felt beneath her palm. She recalled wondering just nights before.

She fought the urge to run her finger tips back and forth across it's surface the way one would with a water smoothed stone found on the banks of a fast moving river.

"Raven, please, don't be frightened.", she whispered to him softly.

He leaned the flat portion of his snout against her forehead and reached up with his hand to enclose her relatively incredibly small one and took a deep breath.

His closeness startled her, she had never been so close to another human being besides Adair in the one or two instances when he had allowed himself to show some interest in her. Otherwise, everyone else found any reason they could to put distance between themselves and her, especially if she had the opportunity to speak and unveil what they did not want seen.

But there was another feeling lying just beneath that. She struggled to understand. Was it fear? No, she wasn't afraid of Raven, at least not anymore.

But why did her heart beat wildly? And why did her skin grow hot?

"If you knew what I was going to say you'd understand. But I cannot lie to you any longer, and I will lie to you never again. If you allow me to be in your life afterwards that is.", he chuckled breathlessly and without humor.

Caeli felt tears well to the surface. She was now terrified. She had come to care for Raven, more than she thought she could for another living being. He was kind, courteous, considerate, intelligent, caring. He accepted her for who she was when very few others could. But who was he? Where was he from? Could she truly trust him? All these questions tumbled through her mind.

Her mind raced as she suddenly began to question her judgment. Had she been right to trust him as far as she had already? Or was his words, his kindness, his sweetness, all a façade?

With her new understanding of what kind of man Callon was, she couldn't be sure.

The idea seized her like ice-cold water causing her to realize just how much she had come to care about Raven during this stay.

What if she had been wrong?

She experienced a sudden sense of hope, hope that the information he was going to provide her would not shatter the warm and caring friendship they had developed. That it would not shatter who, and what, she thought Raven was. She could feel the heartache in suspense, waiting to fall entirely on her if Raven turned out to be someone else entirely.

Not her friend, not her protector, not her mentor.

She squeezed his thumb that she held in the palm of her hand. She vaguely noted that she barely could wrap her whole hand around it he was such a large being.

"Raven you're scaring me.", she said seriously. The fear in her voice made the words louder than she had meant for them to be.

*Time is up Lucius*, he thought to himself.