The fog was clearing, and the trees were getting further apart. At last they reached a clearing with a small wooden house. Smoke drifted from the chimney, but no light came through the front window. Two wooden steps without a railing led up to the door. The house looked weathered, as though the wood was about to crumble into dust.
Eiva took a deep breath, then went up the steps and knocked on the door. The door opened to an impossibly long, dark hallway. Eiva looked at Halbert and Rian, then stepped inside. Rian and Halbert followed her into the hallway. They hadn’t gone far before the door shut behind them with a quiet thud. There hadn’t been a wind, and there was no one else in the hall with them.
A bad feeling had seeped into Rian’s bones. There was something very wrong with this place. They weren’t safe there. More than that, they were in terrible danger. He didn’t know why he felt so certain of it. They walked in that dark hallway, lit by moonlight even though there were no windows, for a long time.
“Does this hall go on forever?” Eiva whispered.
A door came into sight in the darkness up ahead, at the end of the hall. Had it responded to Eiva’s words? Rian had an even worse feeling when he saw the door. The danger was on the other side of that door. Eiva moved closer, reaching for the tarnished silver knob.
Rian looked at Halbert. “Do you have a bad feeling?” he whispered.
Halbert nodded, still watching Eiva. “It might be to keep people out, but we should be wary. There’s something very wrong here.”
The knob turned before Eiva reached it, the door opening with a low creak. The room on the other side was small, lit by candles all around the edges. There were no windows. A woman sat in a wooden chair at the center of the room. Her long black hair went down to her waist. She looked younger than Eiva. Her eyes were vibrant yellow, all iris and pupil with no whites.
Her nails were like talons, with black feathers covering her hands, stopping at her wrists. There were a few feathers on her arms as well. She wore a long black dress that appeared to be made of the same black feathers. Her feet were bare and human. She blinked those strange eyes at them, a small smile forming. Rian wanted desperately to run, but he forced himself to stay there. He and Halbert stood in the doorway, on either side of Eiva.
“Are you the Raven Witch?” Eiva asked, her voice quiet.
“I have been called that,” the woman said, her voice smooth and melodious. “I am Korva.” She stood suddenly but didn’t come closer. “I know who you are.” She reached out a hand and beckoned to Eiva, the movement decidedly creepy with her talons. “Come closer, my child.”
Eiva took a step closer, staring at the woman as though in a trance.
Korva reached out again, brushing a talon lightly against Eiva’s face, that small smile still there. “Eiva. That is the name your father gave you.” She laughed quietly, moving her hand away from Eiva. “I remember him. He’s the only man who has ever entered this place intending only to find it.” Her smile vanished, a darkness in her eyes. “Most come here because they want something of me, want me to teach them.”
Eiva frowned.
Korva smiled again, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “I know what you want, child. I cannot teach you. Only you can learn to control your magic, learn its limits and reaches. Your magic is your own to learn.”
Eiva shivered. “The ravens killed someone. I didn’t intend for them to.”
Korva laughed again, but this time it was sharp and shrill. “The ravens knew what was needed, even if you did not. They will follow your will only if you show them your will is to be followed, only if you embrace them.” She raised her arms to either side.
Countless ravens flew down from the dark rafters, landing on Korva’s outstretched arms and on the chair behind her. Eiva breathed in sharply.
“There is much for you to learn,” Korva said, “but you will have to learn it yourself.” She grinned, a wild look in her eyes. “I will teach you but one lesson.” She let out a sharp cry, the caw of a raven.
The ravens flew at Eiva. Halbert pulled Eiva back out into the hall. Rian pulled the door shut, but he didn’t hear anything hit the other side.
Eiva shook her head slowly, then blinked, as though waking from a dream. “We need to get out of here.”
“Agreed,” Halbert said.
The three of them ran back along the hall. The cawing of ravens came from the darkness behind them, but Rian didn’t dare look back. He was beginning to think they would never reach the way out when the door came into sight. Eiva tried to pull it open, but it wouldn’t budge. The cawing of ravens behind them was getting louder. Closer. Halbert moved Eiva aside gently, grasped the knob, and pulled. The door came open with a loud cracking sound. The three of them ran out into the foggy forest.
More ravens cawed from close behind. Rian risked a glance back when they were at the edge of the clearing. A swarm of ravens was flying toward them, like a black cloud. The three of them ran into the forest, going straight ahead, hopefully still in the direction they came from. The sound of the ravens faded into the distance. Eiva was breathing hard, slowing down but not stopping.
None of them stopped until the fog was gone and no ravens could be heard. They stopped back in the Grove of Thorns. The sun was rising. Eiva sat on the ground, breathing hard. Halbert and Rian sat on either side of her.
“That did not go how I thought it would,” Eiva said. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Halbert said. “You’re not the one who attacked.”
Eiva shuddered, pulling her knees in close. “I don’t want to be like her.”
“She is…” Halbert hesitated. “Something else entirely.”
Eiva looked at him. “Meaning?”
“She’s not remotely human,” Halbert said.
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” Eiva said. “She’s my mother. All I knew of her was that she wasn’t with my father when he stumbled into a village, badly wounded—” She breathed in sharply. “She must have attacked him. He escaped with me and she tried to kill him. She did kill him.”
“You aren’t just hers,” Halbert said. “Your father was human. You may partly be what she is, but you are also human.”
Eiva looked a little less horrified at this. “You’re right, I am.” She breathed in deeply, then stood. “Alright. Let’s get away from here. We’re still too close to that place.”
Rian agreed with that. “There was a bad feeling there. Did you feel it?”
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“No,” Eiva said. “It was like I was in some sort of trance. I couldn’t think clearly until Halbert pulled me out of the room.” She turned away from them. “I would have stood there and let those ravens eat me. Because that’s what Korva wanted me to do.”
The three of them left the Grove of Thorns. Rian and Halbert raised the hoods of their cloaks before they were back on the plains of Virida.
“To Acra?” Eiva asked.
“To Acra,” Halbert said.
They reached Brush at night but didn’t dare stop there. They walked through the forest between Virida and Acra through the night, reaching Fern on the plains of Acra in the morning. They passed Fern, stopping on the plains for Eiva to rest only when the village was out of sight behind them.
“Isley would be the best place to start looking,” Halbert said.
“Are there a lot of herbalists?” Rian asked.
The three of them were sitting on the plains. The sun was bright across the green grass.
“There aren’t many who would know how to use those herbs I found at the cultist’s house, let alone have access to one of them,” Eiva said. “I think we need to find the royal herbalist, in Isley.”
They didn’t stop long before Eiva insisted she was alright to continue. They reached Isley at night and went straight to the inn. Eiva asked the innkeeper about the herbalist while Rian and Halbert found a table. Eiva joined them there not long later with food and water for herself.
“Davena is the royal herbalist,” Eiva said. “Her house is at the edge of the city. At least she doesn’t live at the castle.” She sighed, looking at Rian and Halbert. “What are we going to do? Are we just going to go there and ask about those herbs?”
“We don’t know for sure she’s the one we’re looking for,” Halbert said. “We should start by asking about the herbs.”
Rian and Halbert stayed with Eiva at the inn that night, in case Sancta Knights were searching for them in graveyards. Rian wanted to rest on burial ground, but he didn’t want to be found by the Sancta while doing it. He leaned back against the wall behind him and let himself stop seeing. It was like closing his eyes, even though he didn’t have eyes.
He awoke to the musty cave, the voices of the dead all around him. They were arguing, but they stopped a moment later, possibly having noticed he was there. He could only see vague shapes in the darkness. At least they didn’t grab at him anymore.
“We know where Mortua keeps those she doesn’t allow to move on,” the raspy woman said. “As Speaker of the Dead, you could open the way.”
“How?” Rian asked. Why were they telling him this now?
“Call on us when the time comes and we will help you open the way to Mortua’s Sanctum,” the young girl said.
“Call on us and the magic of the Speaker of the Dead,” the man said.
Rian had a bad feeling about that. Was the magic of the Speaker of the Dead what had burned him before? The cave faded away, darkness rushing in before he could ask any questions. He woke up to the sun rising in the inn room in Isley.
“The dead spoke to you?” Halbert asked, standing at the window with the hood of his cloak up.
“Where’s Eiva?” Rian asked, getting to his feet.
“She went downstairs for breakfast,” Halbert said, turning to face Rian, waiting.
Rian hesitated, not wanting to get Halbert’s hopes up. “The dead said I can open the way to Mortua’s Sanctum, where she keeps the dead she doesn’t allow to move on. I can open the way with their help, and with the magic of the Speaker of the Dead.”
Halbert said nothing.
“The magic they spoke of might be what Trivius brought to the surface in the Bone Garden,” Rian said. “I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You shouldn’t call on that magic,” Halbert said, sadness in his voice. “The voices of the dead want you to call on that magic. I don’t know the full of what they’re after, but they only told you about this because they want something from you.”
“But if we go to the Sanctum—” Rian began.
Halbert shook his head. “We won’t go to the Sanctum, not if it means sacrificing you to Trivius.” He headed for the door quickly. “We should meet Eiva downstairs.”
Rian stood there for a moment. He wanted to help Halbert free Beth’s soul, but would the magic be the end of him if he did? He wasn’t sure he could open the way even with the help of the voices of the dead. He followed Halbert downstairs after making sure the hood of his cloak was up. He tried to focus on what they had to do, on finding Davena.
Eiva had just finished breakfast when they found her table. The three of them left the inn, Eiva leading them to the house the innkeeper had given her directions to. The house was a one floor wooden one near the wall of Isley, not far from the gate they had entered through the night before. The door was open. The main room of the house was full of shelves and tables of herbs.
A woman sat on a stool at a table, mixing herbs into a thick paste. The herbalist’s long black hair was tied in a loose bun, much of it having come loose. She looked at them with pale green eyes. Her light brown dress had several oddly colored stains in shades of green, blue, and vibrant red. “How can I help you?” She stood. “Come in.”
The three of them entered the small, crowded room.
“Are you Davena?” Eiva asked.
“I am.” Davena looked wary.
“Do you know of an herb that can cause suggested hallucinations?” Eiva asked. “An herb that would allow someone to convince someone they’re dreaming, allow them to control the supposed dream?”
Davena frowned. “I know of such an herb, but it is hard to use it correctly.”
“And I suppose you would know that from experience,” Eiva said, her lack of expression not changing.
Davena looked only more wary now, glancing between the three of them, but mostly focusing on Eiva. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“Did you use that herb to convince several cults of Mortua that she wanted sacrifices?” Halbert asked. “Are you the one who enchanted the daggers?”
Davena frowned further, as though considering this, then she smiled sadly. “I thought I didn’t leave a trail.”
“Why did you do it?” Rian asked.
“I want to bring the man I love from back the dead,” Davena said. “I believe I can do that if I destabilize Mortua’s power first. Using herbs, I convinced several leaders of cults of Mortua that she wants sacrifices. I didn’t enchant those daggers, and if you don’t know, I’m not telling you who did. The enchantment stopped the souls of the sacrificed from moving on.”
“Innocent people were sacrificed,” Rian said. “You took people from their families and friends—”
“I did what I must,” Davena said, a wild look in her eyes.
“Did you poison Odell?” Eiva asked.
Davena grinned. “I heard someone there knew the antidote. Was that you?”
“I and one other,” Eiva said.
Davena smiled briefly. “That isn’t a commonly recognized poison. Or a commonly known antidote.”
“Who enchanted the daggers?” Halbert asked.
Davena laughed. “I’m not telling you.” She grabbed something from the table behind her swiftly, throwing some sort of brown powder at them.
Halbert pulled Eiva to the floor, beneath the cloud of powder that hung in the air. Davena ran for the door, but Rian grabbed her by the shoulders. She leaned to the side hard, throwing him against the frame of the door. It didn’t hurt him. She reached into her pocket and threw a bright red powder at him, surprising him enough that he let go. She ran from the house, further into the alleyways.
The powder had no effect on Rian. He looked back to see the other powder had dissipated. Halbert helped Eiva to her feet. The three of them ran after Davena, but they had already lost her.