Raven's Shadow (Raven #1)(32)

Rinnie took a washing rag and began to clean the table. "We ran into a little trouble with Storne and his friends - Olbeck, the steward's son, and Lukeeth. I got caught up in some thorns and I had to cut my hair to get untangled. But Jes showed up and the other boys took off.

"Mother," Rinnie said, staring unnecessarily hard at the surface she was cleaning. "There was something odd about Jes. I mean, he didn't do anything and Olbeck took off like a startled foolhen. Has Jes ever hurt anyone?"

Seraph took off her apron and rubbed her cheeks, hot from the work with the ovens. It was indeed time for a few truths, she thought, but not right now.

She gave Rinnie part of the truth. "For all that our Jes is different, he's strong and accurate with his fists - your Papa saw to that. Olbeck came out poorly in an encounter with Jes not too long ago."

After dinner, thought Seraph. We'll talk after dinner.

"This is as good as anything you'd find on the Emperor's table," declared Rinnie, finishing the last of her fish.

"Thanks to the fearless fishing folk," agreed Seraph, already up and tidying.

She'd tried so long to let her children fit in with the life of the village, and had hoped they'd be happy here, free of the never-ending quest to protect people who feared and hated the Travelers more than the things the Travelers fought. Tonight that innocence would be over - but it wasn't fair to keep their truths as her secrets either.

"Rinnie," Seraph said, abruptly impatient to talk. "Get the basket of fry bread with a jar of honey. I think we'll take a walk and find a good place to talk."

"It'll be dark soon," said Jes, sounding subdued.

Seraph gave him a straight look. "I think that might be just what is needed. I have some things to discuss with you all that will be easier to do in the meadow above the farm - and a few of those things will be more believable in the darkness of the forest than they will here."

"Mother - " began Lehr, but Seraph shook her head at him. "Not now. Let's take a walk."

Jes was right; by the time they got to the meadow the sun had sunk behind the mountains. There was still plenty of light, but Seraph was glad of her warm cloak in the evening chill.

At her direction, her children sat in a rough semicircle and divided the fry bread, consuming it like voracious wolves, even Lehr. Sweets were not a common treat for any of them.

"I haven't told you much about my family," Seraph began abruptly.

"They were Travelers," said Rinnie. "Everyone but your youngest brother, Ushireh, died of plague brought by a Traveler they took in for the night. And when Ushireh was killed, Papa rescued you when you were a little younger than Lehr and Jes. And you blew up the bakery and Papa said you were married to each other before you really were to save you again. And I know about the Wizard Ancestors, too. They called up the Stalker and then killed everyone who lived in the city to contain it. But it didn't work as well as they'd hoped. So from that time until this the Travelers have had to fight the evil that leaks from the city."

Seraph laughed. "Right. But there is more to tell you." She looked at each of her children in turn. "Understand that this was my decision, not Tier's. I didn't want you to know about my folk. I wanted you to fit in with your father's people, but... there are things that you need to know."

She took a deep breath. "You know I am a mage."

"But you don't do any magic, Ma," said Rinnie suddenly in tones of complaint. "Aunt Alinath says that there are no such things as mages, just people who are good at making others see magic in ordinary sleight of hand."

Jes began to laugh. It wasn't his usual full-throated, joyful laugh, but something low and unamused.

Rinnie looked up at him and shifted a little away from him.

"Jes, it's not her fault," Seraph chided gently before looking at Rinnie. "I'm afraid your aunt is wrong - and she knows better, too. She was there when I blew up the bakery - your father was there as well. And despite what you've heard, not all Travelers are mages, nor are all mages Travelers."

"Remember the stories Papa told us sometimes, Rinnie," said Lehr, "about the mages in the army?"

"Right," agreed Seraph. "But I am a special kind of mage - a Raven."

The cool power slid over Seraph's skin like a lover's caress as she lit a mage fire in the palm of her hand. When the magic stabilized she took Lehr's hand and put the light in his palm where it flickered cheerfully.

"Let me tell the story from the beginning," Seraph said. "There once was a great city of wizards who were arrogant in their power. In the blindness of pride, they called into being the Stalker, a great evil. To contain that evil they sacrificed the entire city, all of the non-wizard residents of the city, man, woman, and child - including their own wives, husbands, and children."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to hear the cadence of her father's voice so that she didn't leave anything out. "When the wizards sacrificed their city to bind the Stalker, the cost of the magic they wrought killed all but a few of the most powerful mages and most of the very weakest. The survivors had virtually nothing but the clothes on their back. At first, they thought that would be enough, but the world is not kind to a people who have no place. As the years passed and the people dwindled, the remnants of the wizards of Colossae discussed what could be done."