[https://i.imgur.com/VGCFMQy.png]

The day passed slowly for Refenial, with few landmarks on the wintery path.

Nia and Refenial took turns in the cart. For a time, they even both walked side by side, Nia telling Refenial about her homeland in exchange for him starting to teach her a few words in Frullian, the language spoken here.

He found it fascinating. It sounded very different from here. He was surprised that many of the things she talked about, like cheetahs and hippos, were things he already knew of, though he couldn't say how.

As the sun retreated from the sky, the caravan made camp beside the road a few yards away from one of the rare trees. Nox went over what he expected the pair to do as they set up camp. Nia had taken care of horses before and quickly took charge of that, leaving Refenial to set up the fire and start cooking. The rest of the caravan set up a communal campfire a little away. But close enough not to negate the defensive value of camping together.

"If they hate us so much, why do you travel with the caravan?" Refenial asked as he gently stirred the pot on the fire. Nox smiled. "There's safety in numbers. If you're worried, don't be. Merchant caravans follow a strict code of conduct. They don't like us, but if any of them lifted a finger against us, it'd get around quickly, and they'd be refused into all other trade caravans."

Refenial looked over as he saw Nia coming back from tending to the horse.

"That smells delicious, Refenial. You're like an old housewife." She said with a mischievous grin.

Refenial wasn't sure he liked the comparison but let it drop. "It's nearly ready."

"Good," she said, sitting down on the stool left for her by the fire.

Nox sharply turned his head, looking at the lonely tree. Refenial followed his gaze. In the bare tree, a single crow was sitting, staring down at them. No, staring down at Refenial.

With an explosion of movement, Nox picked up a stick from near the fire and threw it at the bird.

The bird leapt into the air, circling around before landing again in the tree. Nox began reaching down for another stick but stopped as Nia grabbed his arm.

"No! You'll anger the Ravenous Mother." Nia said to him in her native tongue.

Nox stared angrily back at Nia, "They're filthy creatures." He said back to her in his language.

Refenial looked between the pair as they stared angrily at each other.

"Calm down." He said to one, then the other. Both looked at him, their anger turning to him.

"Explain, and I'll translate," He told them.

Nox talked first, "They're horrible creatures, filthy things."

As Nia heard Refenial's translation, she nodded. "Yes, but they are the children of the Ravenous Mother. To harm them is to invoke her wrath. To do what you did back home carries a penalty of death."

As Refenial translated her words, he got a sinking feeling as he began to suspect who Nia was talking about.

Nox also seemed thrown off kilter by her words. "I ah, um. that is." The young man spluttered. At last, he hung his head. "Fine. At least let go of my arm so I can sit down then."

As Refenial translated, Nia let go of his arm suddenly as if she'd just remembered she was holding it. Nox sat down huffily, folding his arms as he shot sidelong glances at the bird. Nia sat back down as well, but she was alert, carefully watching it as it stared at them.

"Who is the Ravenous Mother?" Refenial asked her.

"What? Oh. The land my people now live in once belonged to another. Much has been forgotten, but the stories tell that a terrible monster came from across the sea. She, the Ravenous Mother, led an army of crows. Each crow was her beloved child. Her army swept across the land, killing everyone and eating them. People died by the thousands as whole cities disappeared overnight as the black tide swept across their land."

"How did they stop her?"

"They didn't. That is why my people now live there. It is said that once the last family was eaten, she disappeared along with her army of crows. Now no one will harm a crow in case she sees her children cry out in pain and returns once more."

Refenial considered the story. The comparisons to Griselda felt natural. He considered telling them about her but held back. Considering the fear they both showed to the crows, he didn't think that conversation would end well.

The evening passed in silence as the crow sat there on the tree, unnerving Nia and irritating Nox more and more as time went on.

Eventually, they fell asleep with others from the caravan taking watch in case of monsters.

[https://i.imgur.com/oMrGBK6.png]

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Refenial was the first to wake of the three. As he moved in his bedroll, he noticed a scroll sitting by his head, sealed with white wax, a symbol of a crow sitting on a skull pressed upon it.

He looked around. A few of the other caravaneers had begun to potter around, but none were paying him any attention, and his companions were still asleep.

He gently opened the scroll to read it.

To my dearest Refenial Crowchild,

I was saddened to hear that you were attacked by those vile men. Only their death stops me from punishing them on your behalf.

I hope you see now how dangerous the world can truly be. While I commend your sense of independence and adventure, I implore and beg you to come home to Obit and me.

You are a child and not yet ready for the dangers of the world. If you do insist on carrying on like this, please remember the bell. Anything you need, great or small and my crows will provide for you.

Obit misses you desperately, I keep telling him you haven't forgotten him, but if you don't come home soon, I fear he may no longer believe me on that.

I want also to warn you not to trust your new friend. Their kind are all liars, thieves, criminals and worse things that I do not wish to mention.

Nia, on the other hand, seems like a sweet girl. I look forward to meeting her soon. I am sure we will have many interesting conversations.

With Much love,

Griselda the Crow Queen, and Obit

Refenial re-read the scroll several times before folding it away into his bag.

While the words sounded kind, the phrasing and over-familiarity made Refenial feel uncomfortable in a way he couldn't quite define. He hoped Obit was doing well. He knew he couldn't yet do anything to help his friend even if he wasn't.

The warning about a friend, he assumed, was a reference to Nox. Although he wasn't sure what she meant by 'their kind'. The young man seemed like a normal, if slightly eccentric, person. He guessed she meant merchants, but that didn't feel quite right.

What concerned him more was the mention of her meeting Nia soon. Was she going to take her away like she'd taken Obit? Would she follow him around, snatching up every friend he made and whisking them away until he agreed to go live with her? How would Nia react to meeting her if Griselda was the Ravenous Mother, as he suspected? Would Nia hate him for being associated with her?

Questions and uncertainties whirled around his head as he considered it all.

He was getting nowhere, so he decided to push that problem aside and focus on something different. With a moment of focus, he brought up his status.

[

Name: Refenial Crowchild

Age: 10/??/#non-interger error#

Title: Pied Piper

Rank: 2

Stats

Fate: 0

Charm: 0

Mana: 0

Reason: 0

Cunning: 0

Resilience: 0

Agility: 1

Power: 1

Free points: 0

Skills:

Music (0)

Powers:

Entrancing sound (0)

]

He looked through it, reading it properly for the first time since reaching rank two. The system seemed like a powerful tool. He needed to learn how to use it if he wanted to grow strong.

He noticed that he'd gained a new skill. From what Hecate had said, it wouldn't actually do anything until he got his first rank in it, but in time, his new music skill would help him play the whistle in his bag and hopefully get his power, 'entrancing sound' to rank one.

He needed more ranks as well. He thought back to his only rank up so far. He'd been dressed in multicolour clothing and had played his whistle, if you could call screeching out one note to get everyone's attention playing it. Ranking up could be as simple as that, but he doubted it. Besides, how many problems can be solved by playing a musical instrument, especially when you don't know the first thing about music.

He'd have to learn, the skills and stats would help, but they only multiplied your already existing ability, and his musical ability was currently non-existent, so he doubted the skill would help much yet, even if he did level it somehow.

He noticed his companions were starting to stir, so He got up and began with the morning's tasks.

[https://i.imgur.com/oMrGBK6.png]

Once the caravan was underway, Refenial tried to practice his whistle while he walked, but the harsh sounds drew even more unhappy glances from the caravan, and Nox gave him a worried look gesturing that he should stop.

The days soon rolled on, soon one day gave way to another, then another as the flatland gave way to hills, then scrubland. Now as they sat camped, a large forest sat ahead of them, looming in the distance.

Nia was sat on a log, her eyes closed. Her stick, a wand he'd found after asking her yesterday, rested across her lap.

"What are you doing, Nia?" Refenial asked, sitting across from her.

"I'm trying to concentrate, Reffy." She shot back. For the last day and a half, she'd been shortening his name to 'Reffy'. She'd said it once as a joke, and he'd made the mistake of showing his irritation. Since then, the name had stuck, and she overused it in every conversation since.

He tried a different tactic. He closed his eyes and opened his soul's eyes, and looked across at Nia with them.The motes of mana around her were moving strangely. When mana was grabbed, it was sucked into the soul or into a spellform if connected. It looked like a sucking wind pulling up all the mana in its path. What was happening around Nia was different. Mana drifted around passively, but every now and then, a mote would collide with her wand, and then sometimes, it would completely vanish. Other times it would drift away again after a moment dimmer than before.

He watched for a while until Nia's soul eyes glanced across at him, and she saw his eyes looking back. She gave a small scream of surprise and half stood tripping backwards over her log.

"Damn it, Reffy, I forgot you could do that." She said, standing up in a huff.

"What were you doing with the mana and your wand?"

"It's a common technique among people of my country. It's how we enchant."

"Is it like a spellform?"

Nia laughed. "Only immortals and the craziest of sorcerers even attempt spellforms. Who's been filling your head with nonsense, little Reffy."

Refenial ignored the rise. "So how do you do it then?"

"It's simple but hard to do. You fill the object with intent. Then you wait for mana to hit it and reinforce your intent. If you do it once, nothing happens, but after thousands of times, the mana slowly builds up with your intent. Eventually, it becomes the magical item you want."

"Can you teach me?" Refenial asked excitedly.

Nia looked a little uncertain. "Maybe someday. But this isn't a power to be gifted lightly to a child."

"You know you're only a few years older than me, right?"

Nia gave him a withering look. "I'm sixteen, an adult, and you're what? Eight, nine years old?"

"Ten, according to my status," Refenial said, deciding to leave out the other ages listed.

"Right, that's another thing. Who bought you a title? Who taught you to open your soul's eyes? Why do you have so much money and a magic whistle? Why do you avoid the subject or say it's complicated every time I ask about your past?"

"It's compli-" Refenial started to retort before catching himself.

Nia nodded in victory. "You seem like a nice kid, Reffy. Perhaps you should show me some more trust before you start asking me to divulge my secrets."

Nia closed her eyes and resumed her work, signalling the end of the conversation.

[https://i.imgur.com/3vZaHAB.png]