Page 2 of Echoes of the Raven
The grubby-faced creature peers up at me, eyes wide and wet, the bottom of her face hidden behind her arms. Matted blond hair sits in a nest atop her head. She’s trembling like a terrified animal.
“Are you all right?” I move closer.
She skitters back, whimpering.
I freeze, put one hand up. “I won’t hurt you. I promise.”
Gods!Are these endless passages all filled with prisoners?
Blinking, she lifts her head fully. “Va-Valeria, is that you?”
I my head to one side, shaken. I don’t recognize this person, but she knows me. “Who are you?” I move closer still, making no sudden movements that might alarm her.
On shaky legs, she stands, a hand pressed to the wall for support. “It’s me, your mother.”
I lean backward, away from her “You’re not my mother. My mother is dead,” I say, anger replacing every other emotion I feel. This is no joking matter.
She pushes her matted hair away from her face, revealing pointed ears in the process. “I’m not dead. They lied to you. I’m here. I’ve been right here all along.”
“No, it’s impossible. I… I saw you die. I was there.” I shake my head, pushing away the hope that threatens to fill my chest.
“I knew you would find me. I knew it would be you,” she says, walking closer on too-thin legs.
The light from the torch spreads across her face, highlighting her fine features.
I let out a trembling gasp, eyes roving over her high cheekbones, her narrow nose, her perfectly sculpted brow. “Mother?”
She nods. “Yes, it’s me, Val.”
I throw an arm around her neck and pull her to me. Tears slide down my cheeks as I try not to sob like a child. Somehow, my mother is here. She isn’t dead. Orys didn’t kill her. My heart stumbles, gripped in a blend of anguish and confusion.
But… but… her body. It was on the floor of the throne room. We held a funeral, a burial.
Holding her at arm’s length, I ask, “How? How is this possible?”
She smiles, her eyes full of the tenderness time dulled in my memories. “My love, there is no time to explain. We have to get out of here.”
“I don’t know the way out.”
Her eyes rove around the chamber, and I can see her thoughts firing rapidly across her expression. “There’s only one way.” A pause as she searches my gaze. “We have to use the amulet.”
I press a hand to my temple, shake my head, and repeat numbly, “The amulet?”
“It will show us the way out,” she promises. “It can do anything we asked of it. We can go home. Be a family again. Father, Amira, you, and me. Happy again. Don’t you want that?”
The pain of her absence is more vivid as I imagine all of us together like before. She missed so much of our lives, but maybe we can make up for lost time. Except… we can’t.
My throat hurts as I force the words out. “Father, he’s de—”
“He’s waiting for us.” She caresses the side of my face, such tenderness in her features. No one has looked at me with this much love since… since…
I pull away, try to clear my mind. Something is wrong. This isn’t—
“I need it, my love, my little pixie, please!” Mother begs. “We’ll be trapped here forever if you don’t give memyamulet.”
“But I don’t know where it is.”
“Don’t lie, Valeria. I gave it to you. It’s the only thing that can save me.”
