The Raven

     "We've searched all through the waters as much as we could, yet nothing to show for."

   The leader of the warriors who was bowing before the Emperor said. His face was down, but you could tell that he was very sensitive to any call about to be made by the ruler. 

    "To what depth of the waters did you delve?"

    The Emperor asked. The fellow hesitated for a while then said,

     "I can't be sure. We didn't have a means of measuring it, but we did all we could."

   He kept emphasizing that point. He knew quite well that the Emperor was never satisfied.  He always would find an excuse to owe their incompetence to. Well, they weren't incompetent, twas simply that, the Emperor was never satisfied. 

      "Did you go over to the other side of the sea? That which we came through?"

     The Emperor's voice was becoming stiffened as he emphasized the last sentence. The warrior didn't want to look into his face. It could earn him a death sentence. 

    "We couldn't think about that. We were only preoccupied with the shallow thoughts. But if you send us now, we'll go."

    The warrior submitted. Of course there was little he could do. 

    But seriously, whose fault was it that the other three warriors were swept into the ocean by some magical waves? He refused to be taken responsible, but those guts were limited. 

     "Not yet."

    The Emperor stood up. They all knew what he was going to do. He stepped off the stairs of the throne and signalled at one of the chiefs again. 

   The chiefs had no secondary duties, they were only to attend to his calls and sit while he do the business. His father wasn't like him, he chose his own path, and ceased to care which end twould lead to. 

      The chief got to him and handed him the magic mat. He called at two Havila's attendants who came to hold the right and the left ends of the mat.

   Like he would do, he stretched his huge arms and began to chant. His lips moving swiftly as though he was chewing something hot. 

   His eyes were keen on the wall opposite the throne to the far end. He went on like that for moments then stopped. 

    He turned to the mat and made his words audible,

    "Let time and tide converge into a whole and attend my call,

    Let mystery and spells on my wills and wishes fall,

    Bring near that which is far and wide,

    Bring in the scene I crave in a stride."

    There was a gentle call of the wind at the end of the speech, or spell, call it whatever. Then, the tune of the whooshing winds metamorphosed, it became quite strong and things were beginning to be displaced. 

    For a moment, it seemed as though a chaos probably birthed by an earthquake was happening outside the Duke's castle. 

    But then, the odds stopped and there was a scene transplanted on the Magical mat. 

    The scene was blur but to some extent definite. 

    There was a mass of mist dancing in the scene shown in the mat. The  mist began to wield into a huge and enormous being. 

     "Poseidon!"

     The Emperor muttered. Only few of the fellows allowed themselves to be distracted by what the Duke had said. Some were already smothered by the view. 

      In the mat, the mist which had formed the huge being splattered lightning all over the figure. Then from the rays of lightning spurted three strokes of mass. 

   The masses began to diminish till there was nothing left. Then suddenly out of the solution sprouted three human figures, who seemed to have hunchbacks. 

     The three human figures bowed before the the huge misty creature spurting lightning. 

    Then soon, the huge misty creature seemed to be reaching its contoured misty hands out to the three human figures. But the scene started blurring out. After several glitches, it waned out and the scene was retrieved. 

    The Emperor hit the mat away in annoyance, he almost bruised the jaw of one of the attendants holding the mat. 

    He was obviously displeased. He stomped back to the throne. He was tapping his leg dramatically on the ledge at the base of the throne. On which he put his legs. 

      "No point going over the sea again. Poseidon has them already, but I have no idea why. There should be a reason. There is a reason. Yes!  A reason..."

   He kept muttering as he looked hurriedly around. If twere possible, he would rip the palace apart with his rude gaze. 

   His gaze stopped on Ja Lia who was mopping the marbled floor. Ja Lia was on his knee. Ja avoided the Emperor's gaze, though he had an answer to the Emperor's quest, but he wasn't ready to be of help. Not after himself and his siblings have been made to be slaves all over the regions. And who was to blame? Of course the unbridled Jim. 

   The Emperor quit looking at him. 

    "Return to your positions at the shore of the sea. The three warriors would be puked by the sea sooner or later. Do not leave there until you see them. If you miss their arrival, your heads would be on platters before the helmet of Jin resting at its usual spot."

   He quit talking but the warriors were still there. 

    "You need Pat on your back?"

    He hurled. His voice when he shouted was much more thunderous. Something close to when a thunder crashes on a remonstrating cloud. 

     The leader of the warriors scrambled to his feet and his unacknowledged subjects. They left the palace. 

     "This is beyond what I thought twas."

    He said, staring at the chiefs. They didn't seem to get what he was saying. Only his point made sense. 

     "Come over here."

   He barked at Ja Lia. Ja left the pan and rushed to his presence. He bowed before the Emperor, mimicking the position he had seen the warriors assume. 

     "What does that Raven come to do here at this exact time?"

    The Emperor asked him, looking towards the window of the palace. 

   Ja looked towards the window and saw a Raven sitting there and peering at him in precision. 

   He knew that Raven. Before he drowned in the sea, he had met the Raven on his way to the sea. 

    He didn't know who owned the Raven or what it represented. That was the fact. 

   He turned to the rude Emperor and shook his head. He didn't know what to say. 

     "Go catch it."

     The Emperor ordered him. He knew the Emperor was kidding but why would he say that. 

     "Go now!"

   He shot. Ja scrambled to his feet and began to hurry to the bird.

    Like you would guess, the bird flew off the ledge, but didn't fly away. Twas hovering in the air and was looking at him. 

     Ja wondered. Seemed like the bird wanted to play games. 

    He hurried out and began to chase it. What would the toddlers think of him?

   But he was sure that the bird was leading him somewhere.