Raven Saga 01 - Raven

few moments, watching. Looking around for somewhere to sit, I noticed a large smooth rock a few metres away but to get there, I'd probably make some noise. I tiptoed as silently as possible and, sure enough, he turned his head to look at me. He probably knew I was there all along.
    Sitting down so he wouldn't feel threatened, I watched as he did nothing. He just sat and stared at me while I admired his unusual dark eyes. After a few minutes, he must have got bored of my face and so he turned to look in the opposite direction before he took to flight and disappeared.
    I stayed where I was and, looking around me, I saw what a spectacular place it was. It was amazing how far we had actually climbed, the tops of the dense woods below were quite a distance away. Other than me, Gabriel, Charlie and the lone owl, we appeared to be very much alone. It was an excellent spot to get away from it all and I could certainly understand Gabriel's penchant for doing that occasionally. Whenever life had a strange twist to it, I supposed. Over the course of Gabriel's life there had certainly been rather a lot of twists and turns, and the majority of them weren't particularly pleasant.
    I wondered about Charlie. Who was he? And how did he have such a posh British accent? It was bizarre. As far as I knew, wild mountain goats didn't exist in the UK and for creatures that were capable of changing from animal to human, they must have been born into it. Like I was, it was in my genes. There was something about Charlie that was a little strange. Why had he changed the subject about his injury? And why had he been watching us for a while before coming down to greet us? After giving it a bit more thought, I wasn't so sure that I trusted him, so I walked back round to make sure everything was okay. Darkness had fallen and I didn't want Gabriel to worry unnecessarily about my whereabouts. I also knew that he would be preparing some food before we called it a night.
    Sure enough, as I wandered carefully over the rough terrain back to the camp, I could smell the food. I just hoped that the bears couldn't smell it too. But Gabriel knew what he was doing.
    Although I watched Charlie carefully while we ate, I concluded that there didn't appear to be anything to worry about and so, exhaustion taking me by surprise, I curled up in my sleeping bag and drifted off to sleep. The sound of Charlie's and Gabriel's words did nothing to keep me awake.

    #
    “Lilly, Lilly.”
    I awoke with a start, someone was nudging me, “Wake up, Lilly. It's Gabriel. He's gone,” said Charlie as he finally managed to drag me out of a comfortable sleep with a bang.
    His words twisted my stomach into a knot, “he's gone? What do you mean, he's gone?” I asked, jumping out of my sleeping bag. I looked around and saw that Gabriel's sleeping bag was still there, exactly where it had been the night before, a few embers smouldered in the fire but Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.
    “Are you sure he didn't just go to get some water or something?” I said, trying hard not to panic, even though I could feel it rising from the pit of my stomach.
    Charlie shook his head and stuttered, “I've... I've been awake for over an hour. I thought the same. I assumed that he had gone for water or to the toilet. But he hasn't come back, Lilly. We must leave immediately. We must travel to the Elders together. There we will be able to get some help,” he said as he grabbed everything in sight and shoved it into mine and Gabriel's rucksacks.
    I didn't even want to think what might have happened, but I couldn't prevent those negative thoughts from entering my mind. Had a bear attacked him? Surely I would have heard if something so large and ferocious had done, wouldn't I? What about a vampire? Or that man who could change into an alligator, the one Gabriel had first mentioned months ago? My mind was running riot. I thought of Rose, 'Breathe, Lilly, breathe. Slowly, in and out, in and out'. I knew that's what she would be telling me to do.
    Charlie stood looking at me, quizzically, “Lilly, my dear. What are you doing? We must get out of here.”
    “I need to calm down, Charlie. I need to think about this sensibly and not react wrongly. I wouldn't want to rush off only to find that Gabriel isn't far away. I can't just leave now. Anything could have happened,” I whispered while I continued to practice the deep breathing techniques.
    “That's exactly why we need to leave now. We need to get to