Standing in the shadows Raven Dubrin hid completely from Viki one of Amirs newly aquired hunter's following her. the shadows hid her small frame perfectly and the dumpster next to her hid her scent. With blue black hair in a pony tail behind her haid but if left free would flow past her waist and light clear green eyes and olive colored skin It made it easier to use the shadows to hide. It was getting harder and harder to get away from Viki, but she had been doing it since the age of fourteen and at twenty four now she wasn't without a few tricks up her sleeve. Being a witch helped allot. That was the reason Viki was tracking her. Raven had ran from her coven at fourteen after she had found out she was to be given to their leader the Prince Amir Vantrosive in marriage at the age of eighteen. It's not that she had anything against Amir he was handsome to say the least with shoulder length blonde hair and peircing blue eyes and so powerfull it flowed off him in waves with out him even trying. He had been every girls fantasy come true Raven included and he had slept with at least every unmarried witch in the coven including some of the married ones. Wich was way she didn't want anything to do with him, She wanted love, wanted someone who wanted to be with just her and only her she still remebered that last conversation she had with Amir the night that she ran..
She had been standing at her window watching the last of the suns golden rays melt from the sky when she felt his presence behind her. She had always been able to tell when he entered a room her heart beat picked up and her breath caught in her throat. He had come to stand directly behind her his front barley touching her back to stare out the window over her head.
"Why do you object to our suit Raven.?" He asked and she could tell he had been clearly puzzled when the whole house had heard her screams of objections to her parents when they had told her.
"You would'nt understand Amir." She whispered a tear sliding down her cheak. She had never called him Prince like the others and he had never once said anything to make her do so. It was almost like he liked it when she said his name. Even Desari wasn't aloud to address him as anything other then Prince Amir and she had been his last mistress.
"Try me little one.." He whispered back as the last ray of the sun dissapeared.
"You are so powerful Amir, so many flock to you for protection against the threat to our people, and among those so many woman. How could you be satisfied with me when there are so many?" She asked not wanting to be lied to. Raven had the gift of seeing the past by touching people or objects and she knew he had been with many including her older more beautiful sister Desari who had been his last partner which is one of the reasons she wouldnt accept him. Siblings among their kind were rare because there was such rivalry and jealousy that killing could become to easy within family and there was no difference between Desari and Raven.
Raven felt his sigh on the back of her neck and waited for his answer. "What has brought these questions on Raven, I have been faithfull to you since the day our betrothal was set four months ago, And even six months before that" He whispered his breath playing with the tendrals of her hair.
"Liar!" Raven yelled wishing she could touch him but the elbow length black gloves she had on prevented her gift seeing the truth. He had taken a step back when she had turned to confront him his eyes going wide with shock that she had actually yelled. No one ever yelled at the Prince.
"Do you think Desari hasn't come to me telling stories of what you do with her at night, Taunting me, how she says both of you laugh and joke about how your going to continue with each other even after you are married to me." She spat at him her eyes going from the light green to black with her anger. An un-earthly glow shined around her body and her blue black hair seemed to flow like water in deep space.
Amir stared at her in shock, this was the reason they were to be married, Her powers at fourteen almost rivaled his and he was the strongest and oldest of his coven at almost four hundred years. Raven was a baby compared to the ages of his people and wouldn't get to full powers untill the age of twenty-five but if she could be this strong at fourteen at twenty-five she would be like the wind, un-cageable and hard to hold on to. And he was looking forward to taming his wind.
"She lied little one, I haven't touched her in nearly a year I swear.' He whispered to calm her down though he was excited about this display of jealousy.
"Do you think she hasn't shown me this, Desari has the gift of showing events in peoples mind, you know this and still you stand there and lie. Get Out." She yelled at him but visibly calming down. It wouldn't be good to hit the Prince of their people with a bolt of lightning. She wasn't even spose to be powerful enough to do it yet but she could and rather easily.
"I'll leave but I will be back later this evening little one to discuss this further." He told her and walked out of the room to find Desari and yell and punish her for lieing to his fiance. The bitch was nothing but trouble and he never should have touched her in the first place but he had been thinking of Sarah and since she had been to young to touch he had taken her sister instead and it was turning out to be one of the biggest mistakes of his long long life....
Raven had ran that night, right after he had left the room She had vaulted over the railing of her third story bedroom changing to her distinct blue black colored cat with the light green eyes and small feline body as she landed on her feet and sprinted away. Another thing at fourteen she shouldn't have been able to do, infact you wern't suppose to chage into your animal untill you reached age eighteen and your magic was strong enough to handle it.
* * *
The sound of a candy wrapper crinkling under her shoe as she moved a little to her left brought her out of the past and staring directly into the eyes of Amir's henchmen Viki.
"Well Viki pleasure seeing you here" she said stepping from her hiding place since she had been discovered. Raven moved her hands in a flowing movement and kept talking so he wouldn't know what she was doing.
"Princess you are to come with me. The Prince has given the order not to harm you but should it be necessary I will take you with force" He told her with a crooked smile and Raven shivered on the inside but didnt stop her hand movements. Viki had always had a thing for causing others pain, nothing big but since she had alway been picked on by all the children she had gotten her fair share of pinches and shoves from Viki.
"Ahh come on Viki, I'm not a Princess till Amir marries me and I seem to recall from magic school that you always liked to call us woman, less respectfull names." She told him to keep him angry and from noticing her small hand movements. "And why would his imperial magesty" she added with a scarcastic smirk "Send someone with so little skill after me, I seem to remeber you had the hardest time with the simplist spells."
"Show more respect for your Prince woman" He snapped at her stepping forward but hitting an invisible barrier. Raven ran, her hand made wall wouldn't hold him for very long because she had been unable to say the words to the spell out loud. Changing into her cat she ran all the faster hoping Viki's animal wasnt anything fast like the leopard or wolf. She made it to her small cottage deciding that in the morning she would pack and leave to a new city since they had found her here.
Her pet greeted her as she entered the cottage. Mable was her tabby cat with pure aquamarine eyes that radiated intellegence. Raven had found her nearly starved and fighting for breath in a cage in a old abanded house where she had been left to die with out food and water. Raven had found the house about a month after leaving her coven and had needed a place to sleep. She had used her last five dollars to buy the cat some food and bottled water and Mable hadnt left her side since. Raven had to admitt it was nice to not be so alone.
At dawn Raven had everything packed and with a simple spell it all fit in a tiny compact suitcase. Mable was a little trickier since she was alive and couldnt be stuffed in a suitcase so Raven put her in a newly bought cat carrier. Raven decided to use the Mortal way of flying and booked a ticket in coach for later that morning. Ordering a taxi was simple enough and by ten o'clock Raven had bordered the plane and was on her way to wherever she felt like going, which surprisingly was back home she thought not the cottage she had just left but home, home. Staring out the little window lost in deep thought she didn't notice all the woman sigh in wonder or the men start to mumble about who that was and what did he do. But Raven did'nt fail to notice the hand going to her knee or her name whispered in her ear.
Jumping Raven turned and stared into the blue eyes of the man she had spent the last ten years running from.
"Amir, what....How...?" she whispered her head going down as she wondered how he had found her. His hand left her knee and brought her chin back up so he could stare directly into her green gaze.
"You knew I would find you little one, and now I have." He whispered at her to keep their conversation quiet from prying ears. Leaning forward slightly he brushed a kiss across her trembling mouth then brought her hand up and laid another kiss directly in the middle of her palm never once breaking eye contact. Then he stood and pulled her up with him tugging until she followed him at the last second Raven remembered to grab Mable. Amir merly lifted a brow but didn't object.
After they had settled in his private section in first class Amir astonished Raven by unlocking Mable's cage and letting the cat out. Mable walked out of the cage then sat staring up at the Prince.
"Myra I thank you for your duty, I consider your debt repaid and you may have your freedom to travel to distant lands." Since Amir had bought the whole first class and the flight attendants were nowhere to be found noone but the Prince and Raven saw Mable transform into a beautiful tall woman with slightly pointed ears and strange aquamarine eyes.
"Thank you Prince, It has been an honor to fullfill my grandfathers debt I know before he died that he regreted the wrong he had done to you. And Raven it has truly been wonderful to know you and I hope in the future we might see each other again." And with out another word Myra dissapeared into thin air.
"Raven.. I think it is time we returned home and were married. Are you not ready to finally go home?" He asked in the silence that followed the elf Myra's leave taking.
"I never had a chance did I Amir, The one being I thought loved me for who I am turned out to be a guardian elf in your employ. Even my own parents who favored their first born Desari only looked at me and saw a way to the Prince. And you , you look at me as a brood mare to produce strong magical offspring. I give up, I'll return with you and marry." she sighed a tear sliding down her cheek as she turned to stare out the window of the plane.
Prince Amir stared down at his future bride. He knew he loved her had loved her since he had seen her playing down by the pond when she had been fourteen. He had watched her use her young magic to make the water take shapes of small children so she could tell them her secrets. He knew none of the other children played with her but made fun of her because she wasnt born with the natural blonde hair and blue eyes of there people and because even at fourteen she could do magic to rival a twenty year old warlock or witch. It was told in their stories passed down through the ages that every six hundred years one witch would be born different and special and Amir knew Raven was one such witch. When he got her home he would explain it all, his love, the stories, even why Desari had decieved her, and then she would fall in love with him back and everything would be well in his world. Just a soon as he got her home. 1
2
* * * * To be continued, Part One of Three 3
Adding your comment: