[The White Raven, Chapter 7, Prophecy] [Sparrow Province, Planet Darai] “Where we going to take him?” “We could take him to the Temple.” “He doesn’t look like a Sparrow, he’s too big, they won’t want to feed a Hawk kid.” “I guess we can take him to the border.” The Officer driving turns off the main road and heads for a smaller highway that leads outside the city. They’ve done this before. “I hate doing this.” “Not much choice, there’s too many orphans, we’re strained to the limit now.” “You got a name, boy?” The little hatchling in the back seat sniffles between his soft sobs as he clutches his stuffed toy. “Don’t ask him his name,” says the Officer Driving. “It just makes it harder.” “Some day the Eagle will come and find a way to solve this problem.” “Do you still believe in that nonsense?” “Don’t you?” “No, it’s been six years, we will never see the Eagle. I think it’s just a myth.” “We might not even recognize the Eagle when he comes, that boy in the back could be the Eagle.” “Foolish nonsense, does he look like an Eagle?” “I guess not.” The Officer pulls off the highway onto a country road and follows the winding single lane road for another twenty minutes before pulling off next to an old bridge. An old faded and worn sign, slightly askew on it’s post, and not likely to stay standing much longer identifies the border; Hawk Province. “You want me to do it?” asks the driver. “I got it,” says the officer in the passenger seat opening his door. The Officer walks around the police vehicle and pulls the back door open. The hatchling sits up and stares at the Officer, his eyes innocent and full of trust. “Come on kid, let’s go,” says the Officer taking the boy’s hand. The boy takes the Officer’s hand and they walk out to the center of the bridge. The Officer has been here many times. He stops next to the railing and looks down at the river. The boy turns and looks at the Officer. The Officer is holding his side-arm in his hand. The boy doesn’t understand. The sound of the hammer pulling back on the gun frightens the boy and he looks up into the Officer’s eyes. “Kid, it’s better this way,” says the Officer. The boy is silent, waiting, his eyes… those eyes… maybe the Officer has done this too many times, or maybe he sees something in the hatchlings eyes. The Officer feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to look… nobody is there. The Officer shakes his head, and holsters his side-arm. “Kid, you gotta run now, run that way,” says the Officer. “When you get to the end of the bridge run into the woods and keep running. Do you understand? Don’t stop running, and never trust anyone.” “I’m hungry,” says the boy. “Nobody is going to feed you anymore, kid, you have to take care of yourself.” “My tummy hurts.” “Do you know what an apple looks like?” asks the Officer. The boy nods. “That’s Hawk Province over there, they’re famous for their apple orchards, there’s apple trees everywhere. The Hawks think apples give them special powers, eat the apples. And only drink water from fast moving creeks. Do you know what that is?” The boy shakes his head. “You see the river?” says the Officer. “That’s slow water, don’t ever drink slow water, you need to find creeks with water moving fast over rocks, only drink that. And find a place to hide before the snow comes.” The boy tips his head to the side, peering at the man, barely understanding. The Officer drops his hand to his side-arm again and something deep inside the boy clicks… danger… run now. The boy turns and runs to the end of the bridge. The Officer watches the boy disappear into the forest, and then walks back to his police vehicle. “You’ve condemned him to slow starvation or worse,” says the Officer in the drivers seat. “I couldn’t do it.” “You’re a fool.” “I know, but I’m not sending any more into the river.” “You need to take some time off and get your priorities straight.” “What if one of them is the Eagle?” “We would know the Eagle if we saw him, he’s probably already dead, and that’s why they haven’t found him,” says the driver pulling the police vehicle around and heading back to Sparrow City. ***** [Clapper Province, The Cabins, Planet Darai] Cala tugs at my sleeve to keep me from walking into a tree. I’m busy searching through the Corvus Corax for any clue on how to recognize the Eagle when he arrives. “That’s the third tree you’ve almost walked into, Priestess,” says Cala. “Come on, hurry, all the waffles are going to be gone before we get there,” Kata pleads and skips ahead watching the dwindling line at the Dining Cabin. “Yea, I don’t want to eat oatmeal again,” begs Cala. “She doing it again?” asks Vas walking past. “She’s going to walk off a cliff someday,” says Kata. Vas stops in front of me and snatches the book from my hands. “Hey, I was reading that.” “Really? I didn’t notice,” says Vas sarcastically. “The worlds out here, Priestess, not in that book.” “That ‘book’ is going to tell us how to find the Eagle.” “I doubt that,” says Vas. “Someone would have found him by now if it was.” “Do you have a better idea?” I ask. “Who wrote the prophecy?” asks Vas. “Many different Daraians wrote the prophecy, with inspiration from the Goddess,” I reply. “And who decides which parts of all those books are part of the prophecy?” “The White Ravens find the threads of the prophecy, you already know that. Vas is walking backwards in front of me and stops when we get to the wide porch that wraps around the Dining Cabin. The Dining Cabin serves many more purposes than just to eat at. The building is a school house, a meeting room, a story-time room, a theater for plays the hatchlings put on, an arts and crafts center, and even a temporary place for new arrivals to sleep. “So, any Daraian can write the prophecy?” asks Vas. “Theoretically,” I reply. “Oh Oh… I’m having a vision from the Goddess,” says Vas kneeling down to a little girl hatchling sitting on the edge of the porch. The hatchling is trying to build a little house on her plate out of waffles. “I prophesize that a hatchling will one day build great and beautiful buildings,” chants Vas poking at the waffle house. The little hatchling giggles. “Stop it, Vas.” “That is very close to blasphemy, Vas,” I scold. “Wait, I’m having another vision,” says Vas, unrepentant, and turns to a little boy hatchling. The boy’s waffles are already devoured and the empty plate discarded next to him. The boy is drawing a picture of a tree on the wooden planks of the porch with a piece of charcoal. “Yes, Yes, I prophesize that a great artist will be found among the orphans, and will produce wondrous works of art that will inspire all of Darai.” “What you’re trying to say is that the prophecy is self-fulfilling and that what will happen is a result of our own efforts.” “Umm… yea.” Peli, Vas’s mate, walks past and up the stairs to the Dining Cabin. “Use smaller words, Priestess, you’ll confuse him.” “Vas, I’m told you and Peli are the most vicious killers the Temple has seen in a thousand years, yet you have the soul of a poet.” Vas stands, his expression serious. “Get enough blood on your hands and you start to see things as they really are. The Eagle will come, or not, nothing you can do about it, but you have hundreds of potential little eagles right here, right now, in front of you.” Vas hands the book back to me, and I look around at the hundreds of discarded orphans that Raen has collected. And… And… oh my gosh! “Vas, you’re a genius, why didn’t I see this before, it was right in front of me the whole time.” I’m shaking with excitement. “Well, it’s about time someone recognizes my genius,” says Vas. “What did I do?” I grab Vas and hug him, and then bend down and kiss the little girl hatchling on top of the head, and then the little boy hatchling. Then I’m running around the porch kissing every hatchling I can find. Mergan was sitting on a chair and gets up to follow Vas and my hatchlings chasing after me. Then Teal and Willet, and Aliaen and Caedon, and the others that haven’t left for Demonia to make a deal to sell the seeds runs outside concerned. “What’s wrong with her?” asks Aliaen alarmed. “I don’t know,” says Vas. “I think our White Raven has just figured out something really important.” I’m picking up hatchlings and hugging them, and then on to the next hatchling. The hatchlings think it’s a game and follows me, jumping and chasing along. “White Raven, you’ll frighten them,” says Mergan. “No, not these hatchlings,” I shout joyously. “These hatchlings have no fear, don’t you understand?” “We don’t understand,” says Aliaen. “What’s happened?” I spin around, dizzy, looking at all the hundreds of hatchling orphans, and so many more to come. “Don’t you see,” I shout. “Raen, the Heart of Darai, gathered all these hatchlings together. They are the unwanted, the discarded, the forgotten. They have no House!” “Please, calm down, Priestess,” pleads Vas. “I found them, I found them all,” I shout, tears flowing down my face. “These hatchlings, all of them, they are Eagles. This is House Eagle. Lord Eagle may already be here, he will make himself known when the time is right. We are charged with building his House.” “Holy muddy ancestors,” says Vas looking around at the hatchlings. “Oh my, she’s right, it was the Heart of Darai that collected these hatchlings together,” says Mergan. “I never thought about it,” says Aliaen. Vas picks up one of the hatchlings. “I think we knew the whole time, why else would we have so blindly followed Raen on what looked like a fools quest.” “More than that,” says Caedon. “The White Raven was led right to us when we needed her the most.” Vas sets the hatchling down and pulls back from the group slightly and Peli leans against him. “You don’t look convinced,” whispers Peli just loud enough the ear-bug Com-link doesn’t pick up the sound, but still soft enough not to be over-heard. “I’m not,” whispers Vas. “Raen collected these orphans because he was angry about the way orphans like him are treated. There was no magical prophecy that made that happen.” “Caedon has a good point though, why did we follow Raen so willingly to build this place?” asks Peli. “Same reason everyone follows Raen, he’s a nice guy, and a good leader; He cares, and that’s rare. Actually, I don’t know who’s in charge, Moeth or Raen.” “Okay, Mr. Skeptic, then why did the White Raven fall in our lap?” “Same thing, Raen is easily approachable. Little Missy over there is a cupcake, she needed someone gentle. Raen was the logical choice.” “Then you don’t believe this is House Eagle?” “It is now because the White Raven says so. Nobody will question her, she has more power than she knows.” “You don’t believe in the Eagle?” “Not really, no, but there are enough hatchlings here, one of them will show leadership skills in the next couple years, and then Little Missy will declare him Lord Eagle and that will be that.” “Well then, it will all work out just fine,” says Peli leaning against Vas. “Nope, it’s going to get ugly,” says Vas. “We need to clamp a lid on this as long as we can.” “Why?” “Lord Clapper was fine with an orphanage, makes him look good. But, when he finds out a new House has usurped half his province, he will send troops, Eagle or no Eagle. And, House Clapper is a Minor House to House Raven, we will be facing Raven troops as well.” “I don’t think House Raven will attack the White Raven.” “You’re right, they won’t. They will send House Jackdaw, House Crow, and House Rook. As long as only Minor Houses war, the Goddess won’t get involved. House Sparrow, House Hawk, and House Grackle will rush to defend the White Raven, and that’s when all hell will break loose.” “I think you’re wrong,” says Peli. “House Jackdaw will take our side, they don’t like being part of House Raven and have been looking for a reason to rebel. I think they will come to our side, and the other Major Houses aren’t stupid, they will send their Minor Houses instead to keep the Goddess from interfering.” “We need to talk with the others,” says Vas. “Hatchlings are going to get killed if a war happens. We need to start buying cargo transports so we can evacuate everyone if this goes bad.” “How do we hide that many ships, even if we can manage to afford to buy them someday?” “We don’t, we keep the whole House Eagle thing under wraps and if anyone asks, we are buying the ships to evacuate in case of a forest fire.” “No wonder you and the White Raven get along so well,” laughs Peli. “You both live in a fantasy world. We don’t even have enough money to buy food, and you want to buy a fleet.” ***** [Lone Gunslinger Base, Planet Raunu] “Michael, you can head home and be with your son, all the Ranges have reported in, we’re done for the day.” “Thanks Commander, think I will. He’s been bugging me to take him fishing.” “See you tomorrow.” “Don’t stay too late, Commander.” I flip off the lights in the office, everyone else is already gone, and only the Commander and I are left. I took the Staff Adjutant's position to give me more time at home with Mikey, but sometimes I think it takes me away more than not. The ranges finished early today, everyone is getting ready for the Long Run. We will have the most candidates this year then we’ve had in a long time. The supply folks are still working at the warehouses to get ready. There are dozens of crates of red flares sitting on the docks. I imagine the Stable Master is probably still choosing which horses will be put in the secret corral. I wonder how many candidates will find the corral this year? Old Bess is waiting for me, she’s a good ol’ gal, been in the family for generations. I crawl in the cab and turn the ignition and the engine groans and complains. “Come on girl, you’re good for another twenty years.” The old truck roars to life, you just gotta know how to talk to her right, she likes to be sweet talked. The gears grind a bit before she jumps forward. She really needs a new transmission, but it’s no easy thing to find a transmission for a sixty year old truck. I remember my Pa used to say, ‘don’t you ever put one of them new fangled automatic transmissions in my baby, you hear me boy’. I take my time going up the switch-back, and think about all the good spots at the lake that might have a few catfish hiding. Pa used to take me fishing, I wish he could have lived long enough to see Mikey grow up, but Pa was already fifty when he had me. The snows won’t be long away now, I’ve been seeing the first traces of frost on the ground in the mornings. Old Bess hiccups and jars me out of my thoughts. I would never have seen the smoke coming from the old Serione Cabin. “Probably David, Gunslinger Jackson’s boy. I swear, someone is going to pop him good one day.” The young teens sometimes get into the abandoned cabins and have little get-togethers. Usually they don’t do no harm, it’s just a way to rebel a little. Except last year when David was caught smoking in one of the abandoned cabins. We tore the Base apart trying to figure out where he got the cigarettes from, but he wouldn’t tell and we never found them. David spent four months on extra-duty, and Jackson tanned the boy’s hide good. I pull the truck over to the side of the road and get out. I’ll let Bess just idle, no sense in making the old girl try to roll over twice in such a short period. There isn’t any music coming from the cabin as I walk up the path. The teens never play their music loud, it attracts too much attention. Possible it could be a couple of the older teens, or even a couple of the trainees sneaking away for a little make-out session. I take care not to make any noise and step up on the porch, I’ll just surprise them. I pull the door open and… …draw my revolver and drop into a crouch. “Put your hands up or I’ll shoot,” I shout a warning. The Raven lying on the ground doesn’t move, it could be an ambush. I check the rafters, step back off the porch and check the roof, and then the trees. Ravens always travel in pairs, never less. I move back into the doorway. “I said put your hands up,” I repeat the order. The Raven still doesn’t move. There is a small fire, just one log and nearly burned down, that’s what is causing the smoke. I carefully move into the cabin and keep my revolver pointed at the Raven until I’m over-top the motionless figure. I give the Raven a kick with my boot and it rolls over. No, not a Raven. Maybe a Temple Raven, but this creature is too small to be a Raven. Short wild hair, softer features than a Raven, maybe a Jackdaw. And it’s just a boy. The Jackdaw boy is unconscious, covered in sweat, and trembling. He’s sick. I quickly check the rest of the cabin, but there isn’t anyone else here. Did his partner leave him? Whatever happened, I don’t think he poses an immediate threat and holster my revolver. I kneel over the boy and put my hand on his forehead. “You’re burning up, lad. What happened to you?” There’s a tablet lying next to the boy, and it’s still on. I know what that thing is, the Gunslinger Order would sell their own mothers to get hold of the Raven Database. I pick it up and look at what’s on the screen. “A letter? Who you been writing, boy?” I take another look around the cabin and then read what’s on the screen. Dear Pesa. I’m so alone, there’s nobody to help me, I’m really scared. I got really bad sick running across the Keanuai plains in the rain… “What’s this? The only rain we’ve had is the monsoon the other night. Good great ancestors, boy, you ran the Long Run in a monsoon, at night, alone?” I keep reading. I don’t know what to do, I don’t have a med-kit, they didn’t give me one and I’m too sick to try and go steal one. I think I’m going to die. I’ll fail the mission. I tried the first day to find a Gunslinger to tell them about the drugs, but I was too scared they’ll shoot or hang me to approach one. There’s going to be a war because I’m going to fail the mission. I don’t feel good, I’m going to light a fire, I have to, just a second while I light it…” There isn’t anything else written. “What kind of mission were you on, boy? And what’s this about a war?” We have an undercover team in the local school trying to find the source of the Raven drugs that are being smuggled in, but I don’t think we would go to war over it. Maybe the Ravens believe we would, and they sent this boy to help us find the drugs. But, why would they send a boy? “Oh, great day, child. You’re a sacrifice, that’s how Ravens think, they sent someone that wouldn’t matter if he got killed. Blasted foolish Ravens, they probably never even thought of just telling the Raunu Ambassador to Darai.” I check the boys pockets, maybe there’s some more clues. I find several devices that I have no idea what they are for. The Daraians technology is far beyond humans. I find a piece of paper in one of his pockets; a Raven surveillance report. I read it. “Boy, if this report is accurate, you may have been sent on one of the most important missions of your life.” I pull out my Com-radio. “Commander, this is Gunslinger Michael.” “What’s up, Michael?” asks the Commander. “Conrad, you need to get to the Serione cabin, now, and bring a Med-team with you, but keep it quiet.” “I’m on the way,” replies the Commander. The Commander doesn’t take long and arrives at the cabin in ten minutes with a med-team. “Oh no, it’s the Jackdaw,” says the Commander and motions the med-team in. “Sedate him, and make sure he survives.” The med-team moves in and starts working on the boy. “Sir?” I ask confused. “I knew he was coming, didn’t know he was here yet,” explains the Commander. “I found this in his pocket.” I hand the surveillance report to the Commander and he reads it. “So that’s who’s smuggling the drugs,” says the Commander. “Damn, no wonder we couldn’t find the source.” “Sir, what’s going on?” I ask. “Put this back where you found it,” the Commander hands me the report. “Say nothing about it, we have to let this play out. That report is important, but it’s not really the Jackdaw’s mission. The Marshal General and the Raven Temple hatched a plan to get this Jackdaw here. Apparently, he is the least important, and most important person in the universe right now. And no, I don’t understand what that means, only that we have to protect him.” “What do you want me to do?” “Tell nobody, and that means you medics too, if even a whisper of this gets out, all of you will spend the rest of your careers on the moons of Cormon guarding rocks.” “Yes, Sir,” says the medics. “Michael, find five of our most trusted Gunslingers and set up a perimeter around this cabin. Keep the Jackdaw sedated until he’s well again and then let him wake up. Make sure he never sees the team guarding him, and make sure they don’t let anyone discover he’s here.” “What do you think this is all about, Sir?” I ask. The Commander motions me to come outside with him. “Michael, I’ll let you in on a secret. I don’t know if this has anything to do with the Jackdaw’s mission. But, the Eagle has been spotted on Darai, and it seems strange to me that all this is happening right when the Eagle has been seen.” “I understand the importance of secrecy, Sir.” “Not yet you don’t.” The Commander looks around as if expecting someone to burst out of the bushes. “You know the Marshal General is raising a Daraian girl.” “Yes, Sir.” “What you don’t know, and only a very few know, is that she is The Herald, and Raen’s true daughter.” “You mean Raen of the Moeth Alliance, those bloody killers that…” “Yes, them.” “Twisted ancestors!” “This all must be related somehow, and that’s why all this must play out naturally.” “We should inform Deputy Commander Simon.” “No, the fewer that know, the better.” “You can count on me, Sir.”