The raven queen, p.1
The Raven Queen, page 1
part #2 of Storyweaver Series
The Raven Queen
THE STORYWEAVER SAGA: BOOK 2
D.K. HOLMBERG
Copyright © 2023 by D.K. Holmberg
Cover by Damonza.com
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Want a free book and to be notified when D.K. Holmberg’s next novel is released, along with other news and freebies? Sign up for his mailing list by going here. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
www.dkholmberg.com
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Author’s Note
Series by D.K. Holmberg
Chapter 1
LAN
Movement within the barracks always caught Lan’s eye. He paused as he watched soldiers moving in and out. Many of them were mounted, which was unusual deeper in the city. The streets of Valan were narrow, making it difficult for horses or carts to traverse the city itself, which was part of the reason the barracks rested near the edge. The building was simple—a long, squat stone structure that stretched along the southern border of Valan.
When Lan had first come here, he’d thought it looked beautiful. Compared to what he’d been accustomed to, it had been beautiful. In the years that he’d been here, he’d come to see the barracks as something else, though in some ways it was no less beautiful.
“Are you just going to stand there?”
Lan turned and saw Jalyn striding toward him, leading her horse. She was breathtaking in her beauty. Long red hair hung down to her shoulders, streaming over her black leathers and armor, with only a bit of her pale skin exposed. She was a warrior, but she looked every bit the Pale Princess of legend.
“What’s going on?”
“Well, if you hadn’t been mooning around as much as you have”—Lan arched a brow at her, and Jalyn chuckled—“you might have heard we’ve been sent out on assignment.”
“Lorant?”
“Not Lorant. At least, not that we know of. They haven’t moved on us in years.”
Lan nodded. The last time there had been any threat from Lorant was when Lan had been there. In the time since then, there had been nothing but quiet.
He supposed he should be thankful for that, especially as this peace was what gave him the opportunity to continue to train and master the sword, but Lan couldn’t help feeling as if the lack of activity was a precursor to something worse. Something that the people of Valan had to be prepared for.
Not that the people of Valan weren’t preparing.
The Taihg, in particular, were readying for any sort of attack. That was the reason Lan trained as aggressively as he did. All knew that danger existed out in the world, and all were ready for what Lorant might do next.
“If not Lorant, then what is it?”
“The prince has gotten himself into trouble again.”
“Again?”
“He likes to take his own patrols out along the border.”
Lan groaned. “Royals.”
Jalyn cocked her head to the side, grinning at him. “You say that as if you have lived under the rule of royalty your entire life.”
“Long enough to know that I don’t care for the way they use us.”
“None of us care for the way they use us. The only one who is worth her salt is the Raven Queen. That’s only because we need her power.”
Lan’s gaze drifted to the massive tower stretching up at the heart of Valan. The tower served as a place of power—a fortress situated in the center of the city. For a place as suffused with magical energy as Valan, the tower was quite utilitarian. It stretched high overhead, looming over them, a constant reminder of the Raven Queen.
Not that Lan needed that reminder. He doubted anyone needed a reminder of the Raven Queen. Her power was what protected them. It was the reason they didn’t have to fear an attack from Lorant.
“Who’s going after him?”
“I am. Cornwall, Darren. And now you.”
“Now me?”
Lan often wondered if she held him back because he hadn’t connected to a power the way some of the Taihg had. Most who led had some form of magic.
“This isn’t the kind of task you should be involved in,” Jalyn said. She shrugged. “Not that I’m criticizing.”
“Oh, good. Because to me, it sounded like you were criticizing.”
“It’s not your fault we haven’t had to deal with the threat from Lorant over the last few years.”
“Sometimes it feels like you wish we had more violence.”
Jalyn flicked her gaze past him, and Lan turned to see two other Taihg leading their horses. Darren was a younger soldier, a new recruit, and still learning, whereas Cornwall was grizzled and older, reminding Lan of Kragen—his old sword master—in some ways.
“It’s not my desire to have more violence. It’s more about recognizing that this silence we’ve had from Lorant is unusual.”
“And you fear that we will have to face them again soon.”
“I know we will. Darius rules that kingdom now. We still have to deal with the threat he poses, whether or not he truly summoned some dark magic.” The way that she said these words suggested that she didn’t believe them.
For that matter, most of the people within Valan didn’t believe that Darius had summoned any dark magic. Lan’s sister was the only one who did. For a while, Lan had supported her, agreed with her, thinking that whatever she had experienced within Neylash must have been awful enough for her to know the dangers that something like that would pose, but the more he had come to learn about the claims his sister made, the less convinced he was.
He wasn’t the only one, either. He had learned that no one, not even the Raven Queen, believed his sister’s claims. Lan hadn’t spoken to Sophie much about what she believed of the Shavln, though he suspected that she wasn’t handling it well.
“Isn’t it a good thing for us to not have detected anything from him?” Lan asked.
“It is,” Jalyn said. She nodded to Lan. “Go get Joralt.”
“He’s not that well trained,” Lan said.
“But you are. So I think the two of you are a good pair,” she said.
Lan shot her an annoyed look. He headed toward the stables near the barracks and hurried inside to find Joralt, his gray stallion, in his stall. Lan had been working with Joralt, but the damn horse was stubborn, as if he didn’t want to learn.
As he approached the horse, Lan held his hands up in front of him. “Let’s make this easy today.” He had no idea if the horse had any sense of what he was saying, but he shook his head at Lan. “We’re just going for a simple ride. Nothing more than that.”
He stepped into the stall, grabbed the saddle, and turned to Joralt.
Already Joralt started to buck.
Lan hurried to place the saddle on the stallion. He strapped it on as quickly as he could and wrestled on the bridle. Then he grabbed the reins, and as soon as he did, Joralt finally settled. Lan held on tightly, leading him out of the stall.
When he rejoined Jalyn, she grinned at him. “See? He’s just as trained as you.”
“You didn’t see how long it took me to get him saddled.”
“I didn’t need to see it. We’ve all been standing out here waiting for you.” She glanced at Darren and Cornwall.
Lan suppressed his irritation, and they started out of the city, leading the horses. Once clear, they climbed into their saddles and began their journey.
“What was he doing coming out here?” Lan asked Jalyn.
“Only the gods know,” Jalyn said. “I wouldn’t have come after him were it not for the Raven Queen. She swears she detected something this way, and she knew that her son was out here, so she sent word to the Th’lar, requesting he send a platoon.”
“This isn’t a platoon,” Lan said.
“It’s all the force the Th’lar was willing to send.”
Lan smiled to himself. The Th’lar—the leader of the Taihg—was a practical man. Lan had come to know him a little, about as well as he had come to know the Raven Queen. Both were equally inaccessible to him.
They rode in silence.
It was early, and the sun continued to rise overhead. Lan realized he wasn’t prepared for a journey like th is, having not brought adequate supplies, though Jalyn was. She passed around a waterskin when they stopped, giving everyone the chance to take a drink.
“I don’t suppose the Raven Queen gave you any sense of how far we have to travel?” Lan said.
“She did, actually.” Jalyn cupped her hand over her eyes, looking out into the distance. Her chin jutted forward as she concentrated, giving her a stern appearance.
Ever since he’d first laid eyes on her, Lan had found her stunningly beautiful. That hadn’t changed in the time that he’d worked with her. She was strong—stronger than almost anyone he’d ever known—and she could be cold at times, though that coldness stemmed from how she had come to her position. Originally sent to infiltrate the Taihg, she had become a double agent, working with the Taihg to uncover the dangers within Lorant.
“Do you care to share what she said?”
Jalyn twisted in the saddle, arching a brow at him. Her bright blue eyes studied him. “It’s not exact. I don’t have the same magic as the Raven Queen. If she were with us, then perhaps we would be able to track the prince much more easily.”
“How long do we intend to be out here?”
“Until we find him,” Jalyn said.
They continued on. They rode through much of the morning, and as the midday sun blazed in the sky, Lan noticed movement in the distance. He motioned toward it.
Jalyn slowed them again, frowning as she stared in the direction he indicated. “How did you see that?”
“You can see the movement pretty easily,” he said.
“I can’t,” Cornwall said.
“You only can’t because your eyes are so old,” Lan said.
Cornwall chuckled. “My eyes might be old, but I still kicked your ass.”
“You did?” Darren asked.
“What? Did he tell you otherwise?”
“I just didn’t think many people were able to beat Lan in combat.”
“Maybe not with the sword,” Cornwall said. “I don’t need a sword to kick his ass.” He raised his fist threateningly, and Lan could only chuckle.
Cornwall was one of the Taihg whose company he enjoyed the most. So many of the older soldiers had an angry streak in them. Not Cornwall.
“Beating Lan isn’t nearly as impressive as you would think,” Jalyn said.
“Is that a challenge?” Lan asked.
“Maybe for you, but not for me.”
She squeezed her stirrups, signaling her horse to move forward, and Cornwall followed, laughing as he passed Lan.
Darren glanced over at Lan. “Did she beat you?”
“Once.”
Darren watched her riding forward, his eyes carrying a dreamy look to them. “Are the stories about her true?”
Lan snorted. “Yes.”
“All of them?” He glanced toward Lan. “It’s almost impossible to believe some of them.”
Lan shook his head. “Anything that you have heard about her is likely to be true.”
“What about you? Are the stories about you true?”
Lan shrugged. “It depends upon the story, and I suppose upon who’s telling it.”
He had heard quite a few stories about himself over the last few years, though very few of them were true. Many of them stemmed from his time before joining the Taihg, but there were a fair number that had spread after that as well, especially given some of the things Lan had seen.
They followed Cornwall and Jalyn, neither of them riding all that quickly. Lan made no effort to hurry after them, knowing that they would catch up eventually.
“You were there when Darius was defeated?”
Lan nodded. “I was there. As was Jalyn.”
“What about the battle at Kirtok?”
Lan nodded. “I was there.”
“The stories say that you were the one who led the charge.”
Lan looked over. Did Darren want the truth, or did he want the embellished truth?
“It was foolish of me,” Lan said.
“From the way others tell it, had you not, the Taihg would have been overrun.”
“I doubt that,” Lan said.
“What about the stories of the crossing of the Lorenth?”
Lan smiled to himself. That one had been a particularly nasty bit of work. He had been forced to fight off the soldiers trailing his unit to give his men time to get across. “I suppose that one is true.”
“What about—”
“What you’ve heard about him is true,” Cornwall snapped.
Darren looked up to the old soldier before turning back to Lan. “Why is it that you don’t work with the new recruits?”
“Because Lan is still learning what it means to be a Taihg,” Jalyn said.
Darren frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means they don’t trust me,” Lan said.
“Why wouldn’t they trust you?”
“I spent too much time in Lorant.”
Darren’s eyes widened, and he watched Lan for a long moment, though Lan said nothing. There really wasn’t anything for him to say. At this point, even though he had done the things that Darren had heard about—well, he had done most of the things Darren had heard about—he still wasn’t viewed the same way as those who had been born and raised within Reyash. He suspected his sister was going through the same thing, though she never said anything about it. Not that she would. Sophie was tough—and stubborn.
As they neared the movement, Jalyn motioned for them to slow to a trot. Lan stayed with her, not moving any faster than Jalyn wanted, letting her lead.
She was one of the Taihg he found easy to follow. Perhaps that came from the fact that she had been through similar experiences to his, or perhaps it was that he liked her, though whether he liked someone shouldn’t have any bearing on whether he followed them.
They found a dozen men riding away from them.
“That stupid shit,” she muttered.
“That’s your prince you’re talking about,” Lan said.
“I realize that’s the prince. That doesn’t make him any less of a stupid shit.”
Cornwall chuckled, and Darren looked shocked at the idea that she would consider referring to the prince in such a way.
“Come on,” she said, kicking her heels into the sides of her horse and starting off at a sprint.
They all followed, moving quickly. Lan stayed with them, trying to keep Joralt in line. The horse threatened to veer off, and it took everything within Lan to keep guiding him forward.
“You don’t need to pull like that,” Lan whispered. There were times when he felt the horse actually understood, though Lan knew that was unlikely.
Of course, the stallion had been strange ever since Lan had come across him grazing at the edge of the forest along the border between Reyash and Lorant. It had been chance, and at the time, Lan had been using one of the many Taihg mounts and hadn’t had one of his own. When he’d found Joralt, he had brought him back to the barracks, and Jalyn had been the one to suggest that he train him. At the time, Jalyn had believed that Joralt had potential.
“You don’t find a stallion like that very often,” she had said.
“You don’t find a stallion like that at all,” Lan had replied.
“Makes you wonder why he was out there.”
“It does.”
“Train him. Ride him.” She had smiled at him. “It will be a good test for you as a relatively new Taihg.”
Lan had done the best he could to continue to train the stallion, and even now, a year on, he still didn’t feel Joralt was Taihg ready.
Joralt started to put distance between Lan and the other three. Lan tried to rein him in, but when Joralt got moving like this, he just ran. If there was one thing the stallion was good for, it was speed.
