Raven Saga 01 - Raven

explaining that he had actually been recovering from an injury and so he'd had little choice but to stay on the mountain for the last few months.
    “What kind of injury?” asked Gabriel as he lit the fire.
    “Oh, nothing to worry about really,” answered Charlie in a way that suggested he didn't want to talk about it. Gabriel promptly changed the subject, asking if he'd met anyone of interest there lately.
    Charlie moved over to the now roaring fire and sat down, making himself comfortable as he told us about a small group of travellers he'd seen just a few weeks before. Having not recognised any of the group, Charlie had kept his distance, watching from above. They were a group of young hikers. “Kids,” said Charlie, “the human variety... not fellow goats!” he added, chuckling.
    “I just stood grazing while I watched them attempt to make a fire. They drank lots of beer and acted like idiots,” he added, “other than them, there hasn't been much going on around here for quite a while... unless you count the time when a strange young woman stayed the night. It was around Christmastime, I believe.”
    “A strange young woman?” questioned Gabriel, “I wonder who that was.”
    “Her name was Tabitha, I think. That's it. Do you know her Gabriel?”
    He shook his head.
    I was intrigued. Who was this Tabitha? Where had she come from? Where was she going? What was she doing up here alone? And why was she strange?
    Going by Gabriel's friendliness to the goat man, I finally accepted that Charlie must be somebody (or something) that could be trusted, so I pulled out my sleeping bag and laid it down next to Gabriel's where I curled up and listened to their conversation to find out more about the folk that often gathered around the mountain.
    Charlie had obviously spent some time watching Tabitha, and he revealed that she appeared to be a witch.
    “So what was she up to at Christmas, Charlie?” asked Gabriel as he warmed his cold hands over the flames.
    “I don't know where she was coming from but she stopped at this very cave for a night. I was near enough to watch her without being seen,” said Charlie as I began to get the feeling that he was something of a voyeur.
    “She was alone to begin with but was later joined by a young man who wasn't exactly the kind of boy you'd like your daughter to bring home, if you know what I mean. He was covered in those awful tattoos, all up his arms and legs. Dreadful things. I thought they were perhaps lovers but before I knew it, they were having a huge argument. I couldn't quite hear what they were fighting about but it was clearly serious. And then just when I thought they were over it, he turned into a wolf, of all things. I knew then that I needed to make a quick exit, so I went and hid away in my cave until they left. They were gone by the next morning. I was intrigued, to say the least. I'd have loved to know what that was all about,” he said.
    “Interesting,” said Gabriel, “but I don't know either of them. Did you hear what the boy was called?”
    Charlie sat motionless for a moment, deep in thought. “Aah yes. It was Zoltan.”
    Zoltan and Tabitha. A werewolf and a witch. I asked how Charlie had come to the conclusion that she was a witch.
    “I just knew... it was written all over her,” he chuckled, before adding, “that and the fact that she appeared to be attempting to cast spells before wolfie arrived.”
    I was so fascinated that I decided I wanted to meet them. I wasn't sure why, there was just something about the way they had been described that intrigued me.
    Gabriel and Charlie began chatting about things that were of little interest to me, so I decided to have a wander around on my own for a while.
    “Be careful Lilly and don't go too far,” said Gabriel as I walked away from them as they continued chatting.
    Dusk was approaching and I knew it wouldn't be too long until it was dark so I kept fairly close to our camp. Since becoming a mountain lion, my eyesight had improved dramatically, even in human form, but because I wasn't familiar with the area, I certainly didn't want to tempt fate. And I never forgot that I had promised Gabriel that I would remain in human form.
    As I walked out of sight of them both, I heard the gentle cooing of an owl. Following the sound, I saw the majestic creature sitting on the branch of a lone tree. As he cooed, he just sat staring off into the distance. I didn't want to disturb him, so I just stood for a