The Raven Heir

by Stephanie Burgis

  ‘So she really hasn’t told you!’ Lady Elianora tipped her head back with a billowing laugh, her long nails digging sharply into Cordelia’s wrist. ‘Oh, this is delightful. All the best family secrets can come out to play!’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Giles’s face was pale and haunted in the shadows of the knobbly tree branches that arched over them all, twisting and tangling together into a cage. ‘Cordy? What’s going on?’

  Numbly, Cordelia shook her head. I was supposed to have more time!

  Power, deep and ancient, thrummed against her knees from the cool, damp ground beneath the thin fabric of her dirty dress. Tiny leftover scraps of mist crept and curled across the dark moss around her.

  Old magic.

  The tug of the hook in her chest was a dull, persistent throb. They were so close to Raven’s Nest. If only she had been faster! If only she hadn’t had to stop so often to rest!

  ‘One more chance, Grandmother.’ Rosalind held her sword steady. ‘Let Cordy go, or else.’

  ‘Or else … what, dear?’ Lady Elianora raised one eyebrow enquiringly, her tone gentle. ‘Are you really going to attack your own grandmother?’

  Rosalind swallowed visibly, but her sword didn’t waver. ‘You attacked us, before. Cordy told us.’

  ‘And you still trust her to tell you the whole truth?’ Lady Elianora clucked disapprovingly.

  Rosalind traded a quick startled glance with Giles.

  ‘That’s what happened!’ Cordelia found her voice at last. ‘You can’t pretend you didn’t put us all to sleep and pile us into that awful chest.’

  ‘It was a cedar chest, actually, and a very fine one too. It’s not as if I had any guest beds to spare in that pathetic little hut, did I?’ Lady Elianora’s nostrils flared with distaste. ‘Your mother’s treacherous misbehaviour saw me expelled from court with all my greatest treasures confiscated. That chest was by far the most comfortable resting place that I could have given any of you! And yet –’ her eyes narrowed – ‘you didn’t stay inside, did you, dear? You somehow woke up and escaped – only you. Haven’t Rosalind and Giles found themselves wondering how that could have been?’

  ‘It was because I didn’t trust you.’ Cordelia gritted the words through clenched teeth. ‘Connall told me that was why the spell couldn’t hold me as long as it held the others.’

  ‘Oh, yes, you were remarkably untrusting from the beginning – which was quite unlike the others. I noticed how different you were straight away. I’d guess that they must have seen it too by now. Haven’t you, my dears?’ Lady Elianora tilted her head, her voice confiding. ‘Surely there’s been something just a bit … off … about your unfortunate sister from the very beginning. Little hints you might not have even let yourself understand, like—’

  ‘Enough!’ growled Rosalind. ‘We won’t stand here and listen to you insult our sister.’

  Cordelia let out a shuddering breath of relief …

  ‘No.’ The word fell from Giles’s lips like a heavy stone into the shadowy space between them. ‘I want to hear Cordy tell us the truth herself – and I’m not waiting any longer.’

  Cordelia couldn’t remember a single day of her existence when she hadn’t looked into Giles’s dreamy blue eyes and known – no matter how much they might bicker along the way – that she was absolutely accepted by him.

  Now, her sweet, impractical triplet brother looked at her as if she were a dangerous stranger … and he took a step away from her. ‘I want to trust you with the truth,’ he said quietly, ‘but Grandmother’s right. I can’t.’

  ‘Giles?’ Rosalind frowned, her sword lowering. ‘What are you doing?’

  Between them, Lady Elianora didn’t say a word … but Cordelia could actually feel her smile.

  Giles aimed his words at Rosalind, his gaze averted from Cordelia’s face. ‘It just hit me, at last, while we were waiting to get through the mist. Don’t you remember how Cordy led us through our forest back home? She knew the way out even though she’d never seen it. She told us exactly how close those knights were getting … just like she told us where these soldiers were before we could step into their trap.’

  Cordelia swallowed, waiting. Lady Elianora hummed a quietly satisfied note of encouragement.

  Rosalind frowned at Giles. ‘So?’

  ‘There was no way for her to know any of that! But she wouldn’t explain to us how she did it, and there was no reason for her to keep it secret … unless …’ He took a deep breath. ‘All this time, I thought she was only upset by something Grandmother said. I trusted that she wouldn’t keep anything important from us.

  ‘But that wouldn’t explain everything else that she’s managed from the very beginning of this … until it finally occurred to me: What if she’s been talking to someone else all along?’

  Cordelia blinked.

  Rosalind said, ‘Who—?’

  ‘Just think about it, Ros!’ His rigid expression shattered; his next words were a cry of pain. ‘We only know two people who could do that – who would even want to do it in the first place. Who else could it be?’ He shook his head, his flushed cheeks hollowing. ‘I should have figured it out – I even wondered, once or twice – but I couldn’t believe she would keep the two of them secret from us. Not until now.’ He let out a bitter laugh. ‘Cordy doesn’t care to share any of her secrets with us any more, does she?’

  ‘Giles …’ Cordelia began in a pained whisper.

  But Lady Elianora’s voice was louder. ‘Clever boy,’ she purred. ‘You can see now how she’s been tricking you all along, can’t you? The truth is, I’m the only one you two can trust any more. That’s why she dragged you away from me before, without even giving me the chance to defend myself against her wild claims.’

  Giles didn’t respond to her words – but his jaw hardened as he looked at Cordelia, his blue eyes fierce with pain and anger. ‘I don’t think you only talked to Connall once, after all. I think you’ve been talking either to him or to Mother all along – and lying to us about it every step of the way.’

  ‘Don’t be an idiot!’ Cordelia shoved herself to her feet, Lady Elianora’s grip an iron manacle around her wrist. ‘You know I wouldn’t do that!’

  ‘Do we? Really?’ The tip of Rosalind’s sword finally lowered to the ground as she stared at Cordelia, breathing hard. ‘If you’ve been talking to them all this time without telling us, when you knew how scared for them we’ve been …’

  ‘Well, of course she has,’ said Lady Elianora. ‘Can’t you see it? Keeping secrets from you two is what she does best.’

  ‘Don’t listen to her!’ Cordelia cried. ‘Giles! Ros! You know me. You know I wouldn’t—’

  ‘Then how could you tell that those soldiers were waiting by the mist?’ Giles demanded. ‘How did that arrow wound of yours heal in only an hour? And do you really think I’m so stupid, I haven’t noticed there’s been magic at work every night while Ros and I were sleeping? I’ve seen those flowers underneath you every morning! Are they part of the magic that lets you talk to Connall and Mother without either of us listening in?’

  ‘No!’ Cordelia yelled. ‘Mother and Connall didn’t heal me. I can’t reach out to them any more than you can. I would have told you if I could. Trust me!’

  ‘Trust you to tell us anything? You haven’t trusted us for days!’ Hissing out a breath, Rosalind threw up her hands, letting her sword fall to the ground. ‘How stupid do you think we are?’

  ‘If you’re stupid enough to think I would ever—’

  ‘Enough!’ Giles’s cry rang out through the shadowy green air. Unshed tears shimmered in his eyes. ‘I am finished trusting you when you refuse to trust us back. Cordy, if you can’t tell us the whole truth, right now, then we’re not coming any further with you. Not one more step!’

  Rosalind’s jaw clenched visibly with tension … but she gave a short, sharp nod of agreement.

  Cordelia’s whole body shook as if it were tearing itself apart … or trying to pu
ll her back in time, to change that first terrible night for good, to keep them all safely planted within the walls of their castle, with every terrifying secret kept walled outside forever. ‘If I tell you the truth, I’ll lose you anyway!’ Her words fell into the air like broken pieces.

  ‘Cordy?’ Giles’s voice softened as he started forward. ‘What are you talking about? You’re our sister. As long as you’re honest with us, there’s nothing you could ever say that—’

  ‘Oh, but she’s not actually your sister. That’s what she’s been too cowardly to tell you!’ Lady Elianora’s voice rang with satisfaction as she swept forward to stand between them. ‘She never belonged in your little family in the first place. I could tell at a glance that she was wilder and far less suited to the throne than either of you dear children – and there certainly were not three infants in your mother’s belly when she fled into that nightmarish forest!’

  Lady Elianora beamed fiercely down at Rosalind and Giles’s stunned faces. ‘My dears, I am so terribly sorry you’ve had to suffer this awful shock. As the only true family you have left now, I hope you’ll give me the chance to prove my good intentions. Just come with me and—’

  ‘No!’ Cordelia yelped. ‘Giles – Ros – even if you leave me, please don’t trust her. She’ll—’

  ‘Wait.’ Giles stared up at Lady Elianora. ‘You told Cordy she wasn’t our real sister? Just because she … was adopted when she was a baby? Or something like that?’

  ‘Well, of course she’s our sister,’ Rosalind said flatly. ‘Don’t be absurd! If that’s what you’ve been holding over Cordy’s head that’s made her turn so grumpy and ridiculous …’ In one smooth move, Rosalind scooped her sword up and pointed it directly at her grandmother. ‘We’ll stay right here with her, thank you, and you can leave without all of us.’

  ‘I’ll explain all the tedious details to you later, my dears.’ Lady Elianora’s voice sharpened with irritation. ‘It all comes down to your mother’s deceptions, as usual. But you two and I have fabulous places to go now and some very important people to meet. So I’m afraid that I simply must insist …’

  She held out her free hand. Magic gathered thickly in the air with an all-too-familiar prickling against Cordelia’s skin.

  Cordelia couldn’t transform to protect her triplets while their grandmother gripped her wrist. She had no sorcery of her own to change the world around her, either. But Connall had said there was a key to unlocking every spell – and a power far greater than her own family’s magic thrummed through the earth beneath her.

  Some things were even more important than freedom.

  ‘You will never take my family away from me!’ she snarled.

  Then she dropped every one of her inner walls of protection to speak directly to the land. I’m here. I’m ready. Just save Giles and Rosalind, and – I promise – I’ll do whatever it is you’ve wanted from me all along!

  Magic coiled through the air around Lady Elianora as she spun around to face Cordelia, flinging out her free hand.

  Earth erupted directly beneath her. She staggered back, fingers finally loosening around Cordelia’s wrist.

  Cordelia yanked herself free and stumbled back, gasping and rubbing at her bruised skin … and was caught in a chilling, all-enveloping embrace.

  White mist surged from the magical shield behind her to scoop all three children safely from the ground just as a deep and narrow chasm suddenly opened beneath their feet. Lady Elianora’s voice rose in a cry of shock. For one impossibly long moment, Cordelia watched her teeter on the chasm’s edge, arms pinwheeling wildly through the mist.

  Then the ground beneath Lady Elianora gave one last, impatient surge. It shoved her forward, into mid-air, and she fell into the endless darkness, shrieking with furious despair.

  Dirt sealed shut above her outstretched fingertips. Grass cut off her distant cries.

  All three children had been left untouched by the sudden, violent breach …

  But Cordelia and her triplets were all moving by then too, still embraced by the mist and shooting up the mountainside at a terrifying breakneck pace.

  Knotted branches blurred past them on all sides, as faint and untouchable as ghosts. Cordelia twisted desperately within the thick, damp white air, flailing with both hands to find her triplets. All she could see were their hazy silhouettes. Finally, finally, their hands closed around hers and held on tight …

  But she lost sight even of their dim outlines as they neared the top of the mountain and the hook inside her chest found its anchor at last.

  At last.

  We have you.

  We’ve been waiting for so long!

  Ancient, inhuman voices boomed around her, deafening her.

  Visions swarmed in upon all her senses.

  … And Cordelia lost herself entirely to the spirits of Raven’s Nest.

  She saw it all …

  Ravens. Badgers. Bears. Wolves. Rabbits. Falcons. All the green, growing things, all filled with spirit. All the different patchwork pieces of the land fitting together in perfect harmony.

  Then humans. Wars.

  Spirits rising from the earth, taking shape in the land’s defence.

  Bloodshed. Battles. Disharmony everywhere …

  Finally, a hard-won agreement among all.

  The spirits – those powerful few that survived – retreating to Raven’s Nest, the centre of their strength. Their magic spreading throughout the land, keeping borders strong and human rulers safe. Rulers’ connection to the land keeping harvests thriving and weather kind.

  In return, human sorcerers working with the spirits to forge the Raven Crown on the slopes of Mount Corve. Both sides blending their greatest magics. Each side making true sacrifices to seal the great promise, to be held fast for all their sakes:

  Harmony. Unity. Peace.

  For everyone.

  Heart and spirit and fierce protection combining in perfect unison for centuries, binding land and people together …

  Until human rulers forget the ancient promises forged into their magical crown. All they see is the power that it carries – and the opportunities for more. They turn against the land that they’ve sworn to protect. They break the old contracts for the sake of their greed.

  The crown breaks with them into three pieces. No human magic can ever repair it.

  Sister turns on brother, cousin on cousin. Forests burn to ashes. Blood spills across the broken landscape.

  No more unity. No harmony between people and land anywhere.

  Until …

  A dark-haired, round-bellied sorceress creeps through the night, holding tightly to the hands of one tight-lipped friend and one small, frightened boy with shadows in his eyes.

  The sorceress wraps strong spells of protection around the wild forest that she enters, holding it safe from all the battles outside. The forest folds her into its own heart in gratitude. When her babe is born and the forest hears those rare, raw tears that she weeps for her child’s future – and overhears her final, desperate plan to hide her newborn child – then, the forest chooses to help her in return, stirred by more reasons than it can fathom for itself.

  For once, all the different, fractured pieces of the land are working in unison again.

  Two creatures for the spell, they send: a newborn hare and a fox cub, who both pad into the sorceress’s keeping exactly when she needs them. The whole land pours its green magic into her spell as she casts it – and what a spell it becomes!

  With human or land magic alone, it would have been impossible. Working together, something miraculous takes place. An act of transformation: two new babes, to hide the third one in plain sight.

  She’d only wanted the three babes tied together for her own babe’s protection, to hide her true child from any seeking eyes.

  But every spirit of the land feels the click of true connection when it forms. It knows that the moment they’ve awaited for decades has arrived at long last.

  Humanity and wil
dness, heart and spirit and fierce protection, all tie together once more in a bond that must never be broken.

  Raven’s Nest still carries the memory of that final moment as it rippled through every piece of the broken kingdom, filling it with the wildest, most desperate hope and joy.

  Three human infants lie together on a white cot by the castle window, snuggled into each other: three parts of a perfect whole. Even their soft breaths are shared.

  The same size. The same skin. So nearly interchangeable.

  ‘No one can ever know the truth.’ The sorceress’s low voice carries through the open window to the listening, watching forest outside. ‘We can’t even tell Connall. He’s been through so much already. He’s too young to bear such heavy secrets. If we ever have to run as a family, we’ll tell him – but not until then.’

  ‘Do you really think it can be so simple?’ The other woman sighs and shakes her head. ‘They may have started as something else, Kathryn, but they’re children now. Your children. Can you truly give up the others to protect her, once you’ve raised them all as your own?’

  ‘What choice do I have?’ The sorceress straightens until she is out of sight from the window, but her voice cuts like a dagger through the night air. ‘I couldn’t keep Connall safe, and he isn’t even a royal heir. I will protect Cordelia no matter what sacrifices I have to make. That bloodthirsty throne won’t steal her from me too!’

  At the rage in her rising voice, all three infants stir restlessly – first one and then the others, all twisting and whimpering together.

  Leaning over the cot, she lets out a long breath. Then she strokes her long fingers across all three chests in a row and begins to sing the low, familiar tune that the forest heard her humming all through her pregnancy:

  ‘Little ones, go to sleep; it is time now for dreaming …’

  The forest sighs its appreciation of the lilting, comforting tune. It lets itself finally sleep too, to the sound of that lullaby. It has been drained of its power for the moment, but it is content to rest and wait while that new green shoot grows to save all of them.