Raven Saga 01 - Raven

would be able to give them. Once she was handed over to the Elders, perhaps the answers to these questions could finally be resolved. I hoped so. Not just for Rose's sake, but for Lori's too. Wherever she may be.
    I worked out that Lori would be in her late forties now. Perhaps she had children of her own. I hoped Rose would find her one day. She deserved to know the truth. Just as I had deserved to find out the truth about my life. But my father had escaped Vivian's clutches and left me behind. He'd abandoned me and now I didn't know if he was dead or alive.
    If he was dead, was he finally resting in peace with his beloved Serena and Neleh? If that was the case, wouldn't he have come to me in a dream, just as they had? Perhaps the Elders would be able to help solve the mystery.
    As I sat there with Jo, my mind quietly wrestling with itself, I noticed a small group of people approaching in the distance. The owl and the raven immediately withdrew from their branch and flew towards them. We knew it must be the Elders and so we stood up and waited for them to come closer.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

    They were a group of five; three men and two women. An odd-looking bunch, but I wouldn't have expected anything less.
    The eldest was an old white-haired man who ambled along slowly with a walking stick. What I noticed most about him were his massive grey eyes. He resembled a caricature rather than a real person. But they were friendly eyes that twinkled and smiled at us, even though his mouth, initially, did not.
    Walking slightly behind him was a younger man, of about forty years, with red hair and green eyes and covered in freckles. His pale, almost translucent skin suggested he didn't venture out into the sunlight very often. But again, he had a friendly and, despite the colour, a warm face.
    The third man was barely twenty years old and I knew he was a changeling – I guessed a werewolf. His strong attractive features and golden eyes gave him away. He was quite tall but very stocky and, although wolf-like, I wasn't afraid of him. I could tell he was trying to appear fierce but I could see right through him. He was a softy at heart.
    The eldest woman was probably in her sixties and she commanded a certain presence. She was more striking than beautiful and had shoulder length grey and black hair. I could imagine her as a school teacher, strict and bossy. A little bit intimidating.
    And the last woman was a bit of an enigma. Her face and body suggested she was around the same age as me yet she had grey hair, short and spiky. For some reason I was drawn to her, there was a certain familiarity to her. I could tell she was feisty, rebellious... fun.
    “Lilly, my dear child. We are so relieved to find you safe and well,” said the old man with the large eyes as he held out his arms and pulled me into a gentle hug, “your grand-father is also safe and recovering well, so you need not worry too much about him now. Hello Jo. It's good to see you again. You won't remember me though as you were just a toddler when we last met,” he chuckled, hugging her softly too. “I am one of the Elders. I am Finley. We came to help but by the looks of it, you are not really in need of any assistance. You appear to have everything tied up rather well,” he said, with a wink, as he approached the two sorry creatures and gave them a prod with his walking stick.
    When Vivian lifted her face from her knees, Finley did a double take before turning his attention back to us. “Oh, let me introduce you to the others,” he said as they all stepped closer as if they had been awaiting his instructions.
    “Rupert here is our newest addition to the Elders,” he said as the red-headed man stepped forward and shook my hand. “Good to meet you Lilly... Jo,” he smiled, shaking Jo's hand too before stepping back.
    “And this lovely lady is Ursula. She has been with us for many years,” and the older, slightly frightening looking woman stepped forward, nodding her head at us both before stepping back.
    “And our other friends here are not members of the Elders but were with us when we heard about what was happening and they wanted to come along and offer any assistance. I think they're perhaps a little disappointed at missing out on all the action,” he laughed.
    The two stepped forward and smiled at us, clearly pleased to see some younger people.
    “Hi. I'm Tabitha and this is my boyfriend, Zoltan,” said the young woman with a grin, “we had