Two dark, beady eyes stared at him from across the clearing. The raven’s beak opened. Its head twitched before it spoke again.

“Answer,”

Osric couldn’t move. Even his breathing had stopped, his lips parting in shock the only sign of life.

“Answer!” The voice was eerily human, the force of it snapping Osric out of his stupor.

“My… my name is Osric,” he said, unsure what else it wanted from him. The bird’s head tilted to one side, examining the boy with one eye before returning to its previous position. It hopped closer, speckled sunlight glancing off its wings.

“What purpose do you have here, Os-ric?” The voice lingered on his name, as if testing it. It hopped closer again, now only a few metres away. Osric instinctively stepped in front of where he had stashed the idol.

“Nothing. I mean—I’m a student of Ravenhurst Academy. I was out here on a walk, and must have gotten a little lost.”

The raven’s head tilted left, then right.

“Some truth. Some lies. Do not think you can deceive me, child.”

“I apologise. I just—I have to ask—how is it that you can talk?”

“Much the same way as you, I imagine.” The bird twitched its head to the left. Osric supposed that was what smugness looked like on a raven.

“No, I mean—”

“—I know what you meant.”

The raven stretched out its wings, launching itself across the space between them. Osric flinched, then ducked out of the way. It settled on the boulder behind him, tucking its wings into its sides. It glanced down, then back up at Osric.

“Show her to me.”

Osric opened his mouth, then closed it.

What’s the worst it can do—peck it?

Without so much as a word, he reached into the crevice of the boulder and retrieved the idol.

He unfurled the rags, holding it closely as he faced it towards the creature.

“Elo-wen,” the raven said. “Tell me of her magic, that which you cannot learn.”

It must have been eavesdropping. How much did it hear?

Osric clenched his jaw. He wrapped the idol back up, pressing it against his torso. He took a breath.

“No,” he said. The raven’s eyes flitted upwards from Elowen’s figure.

“‘No’?” The beast’s timbre and intonation were an almost perfect imitation of Osric’s own.

“I don’t know who you are, and I’m sorry to have intruded upon you, but I don’t owe you the truth. If you don’t wish to be deceived, then perhaps you should leave me in peace.” He studied the raven, its thoughts obscured behind glassy eyes. He took a slow step backwards. The bird opened its beak.

“Your kind has given me many names. You may add another to my collection, should you wish.”

Osric laughed.

“You demand answers from me, yet will not even share your name?”

The raven straightened up, peering down on Osric from its perch.

“How strange. I thought humans liked naming things. Very well, you may call me Morak. It was one of my first…”

For the first time, the corvid’s voice faltered. Osric couldn’t quite decipher the emotion buried within. Morak’s feathers ruffled as it shook its head one way then the next in one swift motion.

“Do you know how oath spells work?” the raven asked.

Osric’s face flushed. His grip tightened.

“I know enough. I suppose you’re going to tell me what eternal damnation awaits me?” Morak’s talons scratched against the boulder’s surface as it edged closer.

“It appears someone already has. Did they mention how best to dispel it, too?”

“Dispel it?”

“Or should I leave you ‘in peace’?” Again Osric heard his own words repeated in uncanny mimicry. Morak stretched out its wings as if to illustrate its point. Osric stuck out his free hand.

“Wait. Just wait. You know how to remove the oath spell?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“Indeed. It’s quite simple really, once you know.”

“Tell me,” the boy said, more forcefully than he had intended.

Now it was Morak’s turn to laugh, a full, hearty sound quite unlike any it had made thus far.

“You don’t understand yet, child. You will. I need something from you first.”

Osric sighed. Should have seen that coming.

“Naturally. What do you ask of me?”

Morak held still. A faint wind whistled through the trees. Finally, it spoke.

“I need you to find something of mine. Something I lost many years ago, buried in that academy of yours.”

“If it belongs to you, then why is it at Ravenhurst?”

“That is not your concern. Finding it, is. That is, if you ever want to learn her spells.” Morak pointed his beak down towards the idol cradled in Osric’s hand.

“What is it?”

“A crystal of enthralled smoke. No larger than your palm.”

Osric’s eyes lit up in relief.

“You mean a Cairngorm Quartz? We have plenty, I’m sure I can find some for you.”

Morak let out a guttural cry.

“Not a Cairngorm Quartz. My Cairngorm Quartz. The very one I was holding when…" Morak adjusted its wings. “I’ll know it when I see it.”

“You’ll know it when you see it? What would you have me do, smuggle them out in the dead of night so you can examine them?”

The raven stared at him blankly.

Osric sighed again. “Do you even know if it’s still in there?”

“It’s still there. I can… sense it.”

A tree behind Morak rustled. Osric spotted another couple of ravens nestled in the branches.

“So, if I find this crystal for you, you’ll help me remove the oath spell? How can I be sure you even know how to do that?”

Morak took a few steps around the top of the boulder.

“You don’t, but I will. I have little time left, and certainly not enough to make you trust me. If you’d like, I can threaten you instead, but I think we would both rather I didn’t. Let’s just say that your secrets are my secrets, and leave it at that.”

Osric looked down at Elowen’s idol. Had it truly come to this, another deal with another shadowy figure?

Enough with the promises. The oaths. The sacrifices. I can’t take it—the worry, the fear, the regret.

I do this on my terms, or not at all.

A thought sparked in Osric’s mind. Something about the way the raven had approached him, watching and listening for information to use against him. For that matter, why had it approached him at all? What was stopping it stealing the crystal back itself?

Then there was what it had said about ‘time left’. Perhaps it had given away more than it had intended.

“No,” he said, removing his bag. “Not like this.”

Morak’s talons bit into the boulder. It twisted in place, one eye fixed on the idol as Osric tucked it away.

“You’re hiding,” the boy said. “That much is clear. How long have you been waiting for someone to wander in here for you to threaten or bribe to steal it back for you?”

“You’re not the first. You won’t be the last.”

“Except you’re running out of time. You admitted it yourself. Say it’s not so, and I will leave you to your next victim.”

The raven merely stared. Osric grinned.

“No more threats. We’re in this together, or not at all.”

Morak paced around the top of the boulder. When the raven finally spoke, its voice was sullen.

“So be it. It is not in my nature, anyhow, unlike that of your new gods.”

“Then it’s settled. I will do what I can to find your quartz. In turn, you will show me how to free myself from the oath spell. If I bring the quartz here, will you be able to find me again?”

Morak scoffed, a heavy, masculine sound compared to his usual prosody.

“Child, I know the moment you set foot in my forest. You will need to walk some way in, however, as I cannot risk being seen.”

How does it know? Some kind of spell? Or perhaps just a network of avian spies?

“Fine. I’ll do what I can. Just be here, and be ready. The longer I’m out here, the more suspicion I’ll draw. Speaking of which, I need to be getting back.”

He shouldered his bag. Morak hopped down from the boulder, looking up towards Osric.

“You could leave her here. She would be safe. I would let no harm come to her.” Its voice was softer and more melodic than before.

Osric thought for a moment. Would he not be giving Morak another way to threaten him? Where else would he hide it?

He hesitated for a moment longer. Eventually, he took the idol back out, tucking it away underneath the boulder.

“No more threats,” he said.

“No more.” The raven echoed.

Osric turned towards the direction he had come from. The sunlight was beginning to fade, and the wind had picked up a biting chill. He would have to move quickly if he wanted to make dinner on time. He glanced back towards the boulder. Morak had gone.

Still watching, no doubt.

He headed home. He met the path of the stream before long, and followed it until the academy’s spires loomed into view from between the treetops. He hoped the route would be as simple to follow should he need to find it in the dark.

He broke from the forest just as the sun began to disappear behind the horizon. The lawns were empty of either students or staff, and Osric traversed them rapidly and pushed through the same door he had left from less than an hour earlier. The warmth of the castle’s interior hit him immediately and he relaxed into it, breathing deeply and releasing the tension that had built up in his neck and shoulders.

The candlelit corridors shone in stark contrast to the forest he had just left. He did his best to shake off the nagging feeling of worry he had been harbouring ever since leaving Elowen’s idol in the raven’s custody. He neared the entrance to the Great Hall, hopping onto the back of a queue of first-years before worming his way towards his friends. They stared at him as he approached. Osric smiled sheepishly, awaiting the inevitable questions.

“Wherever have you been?” Nellie asked him as they crossed through the archway to take their seats.

“Outside by the looks of things,” Mary said, “you look half frozen!”

Osric was about to respond when Edgar jumped in.

“Forget about all that! Nellie, tell him what we’ve found.”

The five of them took their seats. Nellie’s puzzled look transformed to one of excitement. She poured herself a glass of water, taking a sip before placing it down with a thud.

“Well,” she said, “you will never guess who Thomas Hearne is.”