Revenge of the Raven

A light shock coursed through my body, waking me silently. I cracked open a single eyelid, just enough to peer though my lashes. The shock was part of a protection spell I’d cast around my room. It was meant to wake me up without alerting the intruder that they had tripped an alarm. It was still dark in my room, and I could just faintly make out the outline of a figure still standing by the door. Most likely, it was just another of my students trying to steal one of the forbidden items I kept stored in my room. It wouldn’t be the first time one of them had tried it. I watched as they crept closer towards my bed. Whoever it was, they were certainly taking their time. They picked their way carefully around the countless piles of spell books, scrolls, and artifacts strewn haphazardly throughout the space. I barely managed to suppress a smile as they bumped into a tall pillar of books and narrowly managed to catch it from toppling over. I was the only one who knew that every single one of the items was a trap. If anyone tried to open or use one of them they would immediately be sucked inside and trapped there until I released them. The spell was of my own creation and had caught more than one of my students over the years. I didn’t tolerate anyone trying to steal from me and would only release them after teleporting both of us far away. I would wipe out any memories of me, magic, and my school. Then I’d leave them in some small village somewhere. However, this time, this particular intruder wasn’t stopping to look at any of the items around the room. Usually when students snuck in like this they would begin picking their way through them until they found one that they thought looked promising. Whoever this was seemed to be only concerned with getting to my bed. They passed in front of the large window and I clenched my jaw as I finally got a look at them beyond just their outline. It was a man clad in some kind of dark leather. It looked hard and durable but was unusually quiet. I opened my eyes a little further and frowned. On the chest of his tunic was the royal emblem burned into the leather. He was almost to my bed now and I scanned him quickly, trying to spot anything that would give away his intentions. When he was only a few steps from me he reached carefully into a small bag at his side and withdrew a thick metal bracelet before unsheathing a long dagger with his other hand. Deciding I’d let this go on far enough, I raised my hand and froze him in place. I sat up and plucked the dagger and bracelet from his hands and tossed the dagger aside disintegrating it into nothing before it touched the floor. The bracelet was what I was interested in. I could sense some form of magic coursing through it and flicked my wrist, lighting all the candles in the room so I could get a clearer look at it. The poor man still stood in the same spot. He’d be frozen in time, stuck there, until I decided to release him. The bracelet felt like metal but it was denser than any metal I’d ever seen before. Small gems were embedded in it, forming the shapes of various ancient runes. I recognized a few of the runes from some of my oldest texts, but information from that long ago was incredibly rare. It was almost unheard of to find anything that had survived from back then. I'd spent years searching for anything that predated the great war. Tracking down every rumor, no matter how small. I hadn't heard anything in decades so I'd assumed I had finally gathered it all. But, apparently, there was something I'd missed. Turning back to the intruder I released the hold on his face only, leaving his body immobile for the time being. He sucked in a breath of air and I regarded him carefully. Arching a single eyebrow, he owed me answers. “Who sent you?” He turned to face me in shock and glanced quickly to the bed before looking back at me. “Wh- How did you- What did you do to me witch? I watched as he struggled against the invisible restraints and I sat back down on the edge of my bed, waiting for him to stop the pointless struggle and answer the question. Finally, he seemed to catch on that he wasn’t going to be able to fight his way out of it, and he turned his gaze back on me. “What the hell did you do to me?” I ignored him and repeated my question. “Who sent you?” He started struggling again and I sighed, already bored with his ability to focus only on the binds. I leaned back against the nearest of the tall wooden posts holding up my bed's canopy. “I’ll release you when you answer my question.” He narrowed his eyes, glaring daggers at me. “I’m not telling you a damned thing.” I shrugged and waved my hand carelessly. “You’ll tell me whether you want to or not, I was just trying to make it more comfortable for you. As I’m sure you’re aware, the methods of forcing information out of people are… unpleasant. For you anyway, it makes no difference to me.” I saw the fear flash in his eyes briefly, but didn’t give him the chance to rethink whether or not he’d tell me what I wanted. I stood up and stopped directly in front of him, the corner of my mouth lifting in a smirk as I saw him swallow nervously. I raised my hand and pressed my forefinger against his temple. My nail dug into his skin, drawing a small drip of blood and he tried to say something before the effect of the spell cut him off. My eyes flashed and a silvery fog covered them for a split second before fading back to their usual blue-grey. As mine faded, the fog began to fill his eyes instead. When they had been completely filled with the silver grey I withdrew my hand and released the spell binding his body. “Now, that’s better isn’t it?” “Yes, master.” His voice was now hollow and emotionless, as if I’d sucked the soul out of him. Which, I suppose, in a way I had. I smiled and sat back down on the mattress. “Who sent you?” “We were sent by the king.”