Chapter 107 - Thousand Ravens

The couple rounded off a corner. Maple had to call the faes who were hiding in the forest. She lifted her hand up as if to stretch. The air in front of her fingers rippled and it flared very high up in the sky in the form of white beams that arced like a meteor in the sky. 

Maple was keeping a safe distance from Anastasia and Ileus. She wanted to know where they were going. If they walked towards the forest, she wouldn't do anything, however, if they didn't, she would be using her magic. 

The couple changed their direction to a dark dirt path where there were very less people. Perhaps it was a residential area because she could clearly hear milk zinging in the bucket and the slap of a horse's tail. On the right she passed a man who was chopping firewood with his axe. Some splinters flew towards her, however before they could strike her face, her eyes flickered a yellow and the splinters stopped in the air for a moment before dropping. 

The man turned to look at her to apologize. His eyes became wide when he saw the splinters stopping for a second in the air and then dropping down. He blinked his eyes, not believing as to what just happened. However, as soon as the splinters dropped on the ground, he gazed back at the woman but she was gone. 

"That can't be a fae," he muttered and went back to chopping muttering a curse for the faes. 

Stench of fresh dung forced her to squeeze her nose. Through the glass-less window of a hut, she heard the crackle of a cook fire and smelled stew simmering over it. Since night had settled on Óraid, and the clouds overhead were pretty dense, the air was filled with smoke and the heavy smell of cooked food wafted. 

Maple watched them with a hawk eye. They stopped at a blacksmith's shop who was ringing his hammer in the forge. The man stopped his work and looked at the two of them. They started talking to the blacksmith. She couldn't hear them properly but she could make out that Anastasia was pretty happy as she was laughing merrily as she held Ileus's arm, her golden hair swaying lightly in the breeze. Feeling jealous she growled. "Wait till we throw you in the dungeons, bitch!" she cursed. Her heart was feeling extremely bitter when Ileus circled her shoulders. She cussed. "I will have sex with that man in front of you cousin! I will feed him to vampirs. I will feed you to vampirs!" Her breaths became coarser as her desire to take them down increased ten times. 

She noticed that Ileus bought a knife from the blacksmith. "You think that is going to keep you safe?" She gave a low chuckle. "Whatever happened to your wizardry, Ileus?" 

The couple started walking. The forest was quite near from where they were currently. Impatient that they would not go towards the forest, Maple closed in on them. When she was barely ten meters away from them, she brought her palm below her chin and whispered a spell, "Šuma zove." Air over her palm rippled and she blew it in their direction. She watched both of them staggering for a moment under the spell's effect. The two looked to their right and left as if perplexed by the soft gust of wind. Ileus looked up and said, "It will be snowing soon." 

Anastasia nodded and instead of turning towards the inn, they continued to walk towards the forest, dazed. 

Maple gave an inward chuckle. The royal guards must be waiting to capture them. She raised her hand again and sent another magic flare because she wanted them to respond and know their exact location. "I can't wait!" she rubbed her hands with joy. Her patience worked. Aed Ruad had told her to be patient and not let her anger take over her logic. She realized that her brother was right. Even though she had felt extremely impatient in the beginning to get here and deal with these two, yet as she prowled closer to her target, she realized that if she got close to them too soon, it might become counterproductive. That is why she was now savoring every step in order to make her purpose a success. "Just a few more meters, Anastasia," she said in a very low voice, "And then you are mine. I will whip you till your bones crack! I will cast a spell on Ileus to have sex with me till he is neither dead nor living. You will pay for your sins. Your father will pay for what he did to our mother, to us. That bastard didn't share his kingdom with Mother, and now we are going to take it back." 

Merely thinking that she was this close to capturing them, Maple flushed. 

After walking for a few minutes on the snow covered dirt path, the two took a sharp left turn and entered the area just before the forest. It was dark and against the white background of snow, only dark silhouettes could be seen. Maple closed in on them and since the two were under the effect of her magic, they didn't look behind, nor did they hear the snow crunching behind them. 

When they were barely about hundred feet from the dark forest, Maple chuckled. It was time to take her back home. "Aren't you two the biggest imps of the world?" She increased her pace to cover the distance between them. Since they were under the spell, she knew they wouldn't stop. "Ooyctabin," she whispered another spell to stop them and to come of the dazed effect. As soon as they were out of their daze, they stopped. 

"How did we come here?" said Ileus. 

"You came here because I got you here!" Maple said in a breathless voice. She was so excited and wished that her brother were there to see her victory. She flicked her hand and restored her original guise. Against the dull whiteness of the land, in her black gown, she looked as if thousands of ravens had converged below a white, skinny, pale face.