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  Raven stood up, closed her eyes and took one step inside the entrance to the Sacred Cave. It was like walking into a raging inferno, and she quickly stumbled back a few steps, finding herself once again outside the Cave. At least Vangalaya thought it was Raven, yet the woman now before her looked totally different. To begin with, Raven was engulfed in flames, golden flames, flames made of megentum energy. And the flames were burning Raven’s previous life away, purging her mind, body, heart and soul of the brutal effects which years of warfare had had on her.

  Raven took several additional steps away from the Sacred Cave, deeply grateful and seeking nothing more. But the wall of energy, the energy that had at first kept her from the entrance, reached out and embraced the ghost whisperer, gently drawing her back inside.

  Immediately, Raven braced herself, wondering what else the Sacred Cave might want with her. Then, as if having been silently instructed to do so, she lifted her hands, palms upward, and felt something being placed upon them. When she looked down, it was blazing with such intensity that she couldn’t tell what it was.

  The Black Scarlet Saga

  Black Crystal

  Black Scarlet

  White Angel

  Raven Quest

  www.BlackScarletSaga.com

  The Black Scarlet Saga

  BOOK FOUR

  RAVEN QUEST

  By: R. A. Oakes

  Blue Ridge Publishing

  Copyright © 2018 by Robert Oakes

  Published in the United States by:

  Blue Ridge Publishing*PO Box 822*Stuarts Draft*Virginia*24477

  Editorial Supervision: Dawn Rogers * [email protected]

  Cover Design: Ellen Morris * [email protected] www.ellenmorrisdesign.com

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording; nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise be copied for public or private use—other than for “fair use” as brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews without prior written permission of the publisher. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

  ISBN 978-0-9888169-5-4 (Tradepaper)

  1. Fiction - Fantasy/General

  2. Fiction - Fantasy/Epic

  3. Fiction - Action & Adventure

  ISBN 978-0-9888169-5-4

  1st Tradepaper printing in the United States of America August 2018

  Acknowledgments

  In Raven Quest, the protagonist is a female ghost whisperer who’s based on a real-life parapsychology researcher and paranormal investigator, Dawn Rogers. Dawn’s psychic ability enables her to see a world beyond the conventional five senses, and her personal experiences help provide Raven with an enhanced level of authenticity. As Dawn would say, “I see dead people.”

  I’d like to thank Ellen Morris for creating her fourth book cover for the Black Scarlet Saga, one that is breathtakingly beautiful and conveys Raven’s spiritual openness.

  Also, I’d like to thank my wife, Ann, for her support and encouragement. Her love makes everything seem more real, and thus the Saga’s characters would like to thank Ann for helping them come to life.

  Prologue

  At the end of White Angel, book three of the Black Scarlet Saga, Aerylln reminded Zorya that she’d promised to tell her about the creation of Baelfire, a magic sword of incredible power and wisdom, about Raven, the first woman to wield Baelfire, and about Dynarsis, the very first Kardimont king.

  Later that evening, as friends and family were gathered around the council fire, Zorya looked into the past and with mixed feelings of fondness, fear and trepidation said, “Once upon a time…”

  Raven Quest

  Chapter 1

  “They’re overrunning our perimeter!” Raven, the leader of a band of elite warrior women, shouted while watching in horror as dozens of enraged trolls reached the top rung of their siege ladders and began climbing over the stockade’s eastern wall. Hundreds or even thousands more were encircling the wooden fortress, but it was impossible to guess their number in the pitch darkness of this moonless night.

  Suddenly, a huge troll took a fiery torch and thrust it into a stack of hay bales and scrub brush which the enemy had piled against the southern wall of the fortress, and flames leapt into the nighttime sky revealing a disheartening sight. To the south, trolls were packed almost shoulder-to-shoulder for as far as the eye could see.

  Next, a seemingly endless barrage of siege ladders began slamming against all four sides of the compound while hundreds of trolls wielding double-bladed axes poured onto the inner walkways.

  “Andylan, Starlight!” Raven shouted to her two top lieutenants, each of whom was a skilled warrior woman. “Have everyone fall back to the stone tower and have them bring all the spears and arrows they can find!”

  Andylan and Starlight raced to obey Raven’s command having served with her for years and knowing her to be a courageous warrior and the most accomplished strategist either of them had ever known, male or female. “Into the stone tower!” Raven shouted to those nearby. “The outer walls are lost, fall back to the tower!”

  As both male and female warriors retreated, Raven could see the fear in their eyes and watched them running desperately towards the four-story structure, eager to get behind its thick, protective stone walls. Then, turning to the northern outside wall, she glanced at the walkway above the front gates and saw her warrior women, over 100 strong, fighting against overwhelming odds. Taking the stairs two at a time, Raven reached the walkway, looked outside and was dismayed to see yet another bonfire raging against the far-right corner of the fortress.

  “Make for the stone tower!” Raven commanded. “We must try to save the tower, at least for as long as we can.”

  The order was passed along the length of the north wall, and a retreat began. However, in reality, it was a retreat to nowhere for this was the last fortress under human control, the trolls having crushed all other opposition, killing or enslaving villagers throughout the region.

  With Raven taking up the rear, Dynarsis, the warrior woman’s closest male friend, joined her, and she asked, “Did you miss me?”

  “The tower looks like it’s getting crowded, so I might just prefer it out here,” Dynarsis replied, though Raven could tell that he, too, was ready to fall down from sheer exhaustion.

  “After them, you fools, after them!” they heard a female troll shout.

  Glancing behind them, Raven and Dynarsis saw a female troll smacking the male trolls on the back of their heads. Troll males were incredibly stupid, but troll women were something else again. Some of them were fairly intelligent, at least enough to give much needed guidance to their male counterparts.

  “Kill them, kill them all!” the female troll yelled.

  “Time to go,” Raven said, giving Dynarsis a kiss before sprinting off towards the tower with her warrior women and Dynarsis right on her heels.

  Upon reaching the entrance to the tower, an opening less than five-feet-high and three-feet-wide making it easier to defend, Raven stopped and waited until all of her warrior women had gone inside. Then, looking at Dynarsis and pointing at the small doorway, Raven said, “Get in there.”

  “Shouldn’t I go in last?”

  “Get in there, and I mean now!” Raven said, brooking no male nonsense. So Dynarsis ducked his head, stooped down low and made his way inside the protective walls of the tower. Raven entered immediately afterwards, and a thick, iron-reinforced wooden door was slammed behind them.

  “What about food and water?” one of Raven’s warrior women asked.

  “
First, how many made it back to the tower?” Raven asked, turning to an elderly male warrior who also served as quartermaster.

  “By first count, I’d say 250 male and female warriors in addition to your own 100 warrior women.”

  “That’s all?”

  “I’m afraid so.”

  “Was anyone left outside?”

  “No, every living soul is behind these walls. I was watching the retreat from the roof of the tower. No one else survived.”

  “So about 350 people?”

  “Yes, I’ll make another count right away to be sure of the exact number.”

  “How long can we feed 350 people?”

  “If we ration food and water carefully, we’ll be okay for a week. After that, people will begin to starve,” he said grimly.

  “So, all the trolls have to do is keep us boxed up in here for two weeks, maybe three, and they’ll take possession of the last fortress under human control?”

  “Unless the sun breaks through those storm clouds and defeats them for us,” the elderly warrior said, knowing that trolls turned to stone if exposed to direct sunlight.

  “The weather hasn’t exactly been on our side. It’s been overcast for a week, maybe longer.”

  “We need the sun to come out and turn them all into stone statues.”

  “Sunshine would be a welcome relief,” Raven agreed. Then, heading over to the stairs leading to the upper floors, she glanced behind her and said, “Andylan, Starlight and Dynarsis come with me.”

  Without question, the three obeyed.

  Once they reached the flat stone roof of the tower, they looked down at the wooden outer walls of the fortress which were all ablaze, and they were amazed by the sheer number of trolls visible in the firelight.

  “And those are only the ones we can see. In a few hours, when it’s no longer dark, we’ll be able to see more, a lot more,” Starlight said.

  “When it’s no longer dark? Why didn’t you say when the sun comes up?” Raven asked her friend, knowing Starlight had a fairly good record when it came to predicting the weather, at least better than anyone else she’d ever known.

  “I smell more rain,” Starlight said.

  Raven’s heart began to sink.

  “We have food and water for a week, and we can stay alive for a bit longer than that. The sun has plenty of time to appear,” Dynarsis said.

  “Even so, the sun won’t kill all the trolls,” Raven said. “Before the first direct rays of sunlight appear, many will have gone into hiding.”

  “We could escape from the tower,” Dynarsis pointed out.

  “And go where?” Raven asked. “Even if we walked in fields with the sun directly overhead, how far could we get before nightfall? The entire region’s probably swarming with trolls. If we leave the tower, where can we go? How far can we get?”

  No one said anything. What was there to say?

  Dynarsis started to walk over to the other side of the tower, and Raven went along with him. When Starlight started to follow, Andylan took her gently by the arm and said, “Maybe we should let them be alone for a while.”

  Looking below at the mass of trolls roaming all over the area, Dynarsis sighed and said, “When we were kids, we had such high hopes.”

  “Yes we did,” Raven agreed.

  “How did we end up like this? What went wrong?” Dynarsis asked.

  “There was nothing more you could do. Nothing more any of us could do.”

  “I love you.”

  “I know.”

  “If it wasn’t for the trolls destroying everything in their path, even this fortress, the last human stronghold anywhere, we could have had a life together. We could have had a family,” Dynarsis said, sighing deeply.

  “You always were a dreamer.”

  “It was a good dream.”

  “But not a practical one.”

  “Do you remember when we were kids, and we were at the top of the mountain, and you told me I was a king?” Dynarsis asked.

  “Yes, but it looked like we were about to be devoured by that giant wolf, and I wanted to give you some encouragement.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No problem.”

  “But you were the one who saved us.”

  “You handled yourself pretty well, as I remember.”

  “You saved us.”

  “I can’t save us this time, Dynarsis, not this time.”

  “You used to believe in miracles.”

  “I was a child back then, Dynarsis, and most children believe in miracles.”

  “Some adults still do,” he said quietly.

  “We’re trapped with no way out, my friend, accept it.”

  “But what if we could do it over again?”

  “Don’t second guess yourself.”

  “What would you do differently?”

  “It won’t do us any good to think about the past.”

  “I believe in second chances.”

  “We’ve had plenty of chances. We’ve brushed past death a hundred times.”

  “I mean a chance to do it all over again.”

  “You’re talking nonsense.”

  “What if the quest to create Baelfire, the magic sword, hadn’t failed?”

  “Yes, everything might have been different if the quest hadn’t failed,” Raven admitted.

  “I believe in second chances.”

  Raven knew Dynarsis was different, and sometimes what he wished for came true, so she said, “If a second chance comes our way, we’ll jump at it.” And then, forgetting that she no longer believed in miracles, she looked up at the stars.

  Chapter 2

  Twenty years earlier.

  Galloping down a steep incline, a vast herd of wild horses was sending dust, stones and dirt flying into the air propelled by the explosive energy of animals that knew no limits or boundaries. Roaming free, unfettered and unhindered across fields of rolling grasslands, they were masters of their own destiny.

  Today, their date with destiny was bringing them to a frightened young boy. Shocked by what had just happened to his parents, he was withdrawing so deeply into himself that he was encountering a world beyond the reach of almost everyone, except for those most severely traumatized by life. An uncharted, unfathomable land of those gone mad.

  A powerfully-built black stallion reared up on his hind legs letting out a loud whinny as hundreds of other horses came to a stop and surrounded their leader, sniffing the air and wrinkling their noses at the stench of burnt human flesh.

  This massive stallion began stepping around the remains of a man and woman, noticing that the skeletons were tied to frames made of wooden poles. Having been butchered alive and roasted, the boy’s parents had spent their last agonizing hours screaming and begging for mercy, but to no avail.

  The black stallion, known to local villagers as Dark Shadow, had seen this cruel fate befalling humans all too frequently, their flesh being the favorite food of packs of trolls terrorizing the countryside.

  Troubled by such savagery, Dark Shadow was eager to leave this legacy of evil far behind when he heard leaves moving ever so slightly in a tiny grove of trees nearby. Blessed with acute hearing, the black stallion trotted over towards the trees situated on the banks of a small stream that was narrow yet deep.

  Climbing out of the water and throwing himself onto a soft bed of leaves, a young boy was gasping and holding a hollow reed he’d been breathing through while submerged for most of the night.

  Going up to the boy, Dark Shadow nudged him gently with his snout, but then stepped back and looked on in amazement as the small human began running wildly through the trees screaming hysterically. After smashing into one of them, he collapsed onto his back, looking upward and seeing nothing, his mind having turned inward. The boy’s mind was trying desperately to separate itself from the night’s hellish events which had lasted into the early-morning hours, having ended only at daybreak when the last morsel of his parents’ flesh had been consumed.

&n
bsp; Suddenly, the boy jumped up and ran out into the field screaming, crying, flailing his arms and shaking his head as if trying to force the night’s experience from his damaged mind.

  Dark Shadow nodded to the other horses indicating for them to fan out around the child, keeping their distance while still attempting to keep a protective eye on the deranged youngster. Dark Shadow had seen enough human children from a distance to know this behavior was highly unusual.

  The boy ran for hours, the herd of wild horses all being impressed with his strength and stamina, adrenaline and fear not being enough to extend the child’s endurance to this great a degree. However, Dark Shadow became concerned as the boy ran headlong towards a very deep ditch that was much wider than the child was tall. But leaping high into the air, the young boy cleared it easily.

  Approaching rough terrain, wider fissures in the land appeared, yet the boy cleared each one almost effortlessly. Following along behind, the horses cleared the hurdles without even thinking about them, but they had four legs, not two, and were much bigger and far more powerful. All were aware that a young foal, even once it had learned to run, might feel a bit apprehensive when faced with physical challenges this boy conquered easily.

  Another surprise came quickly when, upon reaching another small grove of trees, the boy picked up a long stick and began using it as a sword slashing and thrusting at an invisible enemy. For over an hour, he shouted and thrashed forcefully at the imaginary demons deep inside his mind while showing little or no signs of fatigue. Greatly impressed, Dark Shadow trotted up to several other powerful-looking horses and snorted and whinnied at them repeatedly, the animals nodding in agreement.

  Having the complete support of his strongest allies, Dark Shadow slowly walked up to the young boy and knelt down offering the wild youngster a ride. After he’d leapt onto the stallion’s broad back, the herd of wild horses began galloping quickly across the rolling grasslands, Dark Shadow and his human cargo out in front.