Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

Author:Jeffrey Overstreet
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307446206
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2008-04-15T22:00:00+00:00

15

CAL-RAVEN COMES HOME

P rince Cal-raven returned with a trophy for his father, another set of wild eyes and bared fangs to join the gallery of ferocious faces that glowered in the king’s library.

Shepherds, lamenting losses almost daily, had called for the hunt, showing officers the tracks in their bloodied fields and stables. Cal-raven’s troop had pursued a fangbear that was easily persuaded to hunt for meals elsewhere.

But even as his officers chased the lumbering monster away, messengers reported that the slaughter had resumed. The bear had not been the only menace murdering woollies, chumps, and grazers. A snowcave wolf, big as any bear, had come down from the mountains—an unprecedented event—and evaded all of Abascar’s bear traps. Drawing his troop back, the prince concealed them in the treetops around the pastures, and Tabor Jan, Cal-raven’s guardsman, brought the she-wolf down with one precise arrow and then finished her with a spear.

It might take five or six years before the shepherds restored their herds and flocks, but that did not prevent them from sacrificing a few animals for the sake of a celebratory feast within the house. The threat had been removed.

Admirers filled the avenues from the main gates to the palace, enduring the rain so they could slow the line of vawns that bore the twelve hunters. All eyes were on the prince. The Housefolk learned to recognize him, despite his best efforts at anonymity. Unlike other high-ranking officers, Cal-raven did not announce himself by leading the procession, nor did he ride a vawn marked differently from those of his officers. The Housefolk identified him by his tightly braided hair, streaked with red, and by the way he always seemed preoccupied with the sky above the house. They loved him for that dull grey cloak, for they swore he chose it to show respect for the common folk. It seemed a gesture of defiance to the laws that kept the palace bedecked in color. They took this all as a hopeful sign that someday King Cal-raven would restore what they had lost.

He deflected their praise with a generous smile, directing their cheers forward to his guardsman. The crowd’s enthusiasm only intensified at his humble gesture, shouting the names of two heroes instead of one. Tabor Jan frowned and muttered, spurring his vawn to splash faster up the slick avenue.

While this welcome was flattering indeed, Cal-raven was uneasy. A strange passion fueled this feverish display, as if his return brought relief from some burden, as if he suddenly represented more than he understood.

At the palace gates, the guards were strangely gruff. The prince tried to win the waiting stablehands’ attention with details of how the great wolfskin across the back of his vawn had come to be their prize. They nodded dutifully but exchanged nervous glances.

Only guards awaited them in the palace courtyard. The prince calmly noted the condition of the lawns, which looked as if they had been plowed and tilled. The platform was bare, cleared of any clues that the Rites had taken place.

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