RAVEN:
After leaving several tracks, the.raven and Krobeen arrived at a
river a few meters wide.
"If we cross the river, our track would be lost." the.raven stated
as he leapt across easily, his lithe form bearing cat-like jumping
and running skills.
Krobeen took a few steps back, then ran and leapt.....right into
the middle of the river. Fortunately for him, the river was not
very deep, and he was a pretty good swimmer, as he used to swim a
lot in the rivers when he was little. He climbed up the opposite
river bank, entirely drenched, and found the.raven rolling on the
floor laughing. Unlike his laughter before, this laughter was not
mockery or a cold chuckle, but a hearty laugh born out of
amusement. the.raven's raven cawed in delight, and Krobeen laughed
as well, feeling relaxed for the first time in several days.
"OMFG n00b." the.raven could not stop chuckling even after they had
trekked yet a few more kilometers. "k, lets camp here."
"Can we build a fire? I'm freezing." stuttered Krobeen, trembling
in the night air.
"I would have said no, because that could attract unwanted
attention. but you look so pitiful, like a drenched chicken."
the.raven said and took out some flint, and started a fire with
some broken dry branches.
"Are you still going to kill starblue?" Krobeen asked the.raven as
he started to dry.
"Screw that." the.raven replied, "too much trouble to do that now,
thanks to you."
Krobeen suddenly found his own question strange, why did he ask
the.raven that?
"say, why do you and the.owl hate each other so much?" Krobeen
asked.
"he backstabbed me." the.raven replied simply, then after a while,
added, "he was my most trusted partner, we grew up together, under
the tutelage of the Blackmaster, who was then only a Blade."
"A blade?" Krobeen muttered.
"nevermind, thats just a rank in the black knife organisation.
the.owl and I were promoted because of our skill and wits, and
eventually we became the Blackmaster's chief lieutenants. But I
grew sick of the whole business. I wanted out." the.raven again
started speaking to himself like before, "the.owl backstabbed me,
because I trusted him. Trust is a weakness." the.raven said as he
seemed to gaze into the distance, looking into his past. Suddenly,
the.raven turned to Krobeen and asked slyly, "why so much talk? you
trust me, dont you, even though I tried to kill you."
Krobeen broke out in cold sweat as the.raven looked at him with the
evil gleam in his eye.
"Err..."Krobeen muttered, "but you have to have trust, we need to
have friends, right?"
"friends? bah, I dont have friends. the only person who came close
to be called a friend to me was the.owl. Now I understand that one
has to rely on himself. and trust nothing, but his own skill and
cunning." the.raven said.
Krobeen said nothing, he has quite a lot of friends. farm kids all
of them, when he was younger they used to play all kinds of games
in the crops and end up getting scolded by their parents. His life
was simple yet happy. When he looked at the.raven's perpetual
scowl, he wondered if the.raven had ever found any happiness in his
life, what a harsh life he must have led to turn him into such a
heartless killer.
the.raven set up a hammock, and went to sleep. Krobeen felt
extremely weary as well after all the adrenaline rush he had felt
the day, he looked at the sleeping the.raven and found it funny
that the.raven dared to sleep with him around, didn't he say he did
not trust anyone? Krobeen smiled and went to sleep.
Little did Krobeen know, the.raven was only pretending to be
asleep. he waited till Krobeen's breathing became slower and more
rhythmic before allowing himself to doze off, but still in a tensed
state like always when he slept. ready to spring up should a noise
awaken him.
