Read Online Ravenwild: Book 01 - Ravenwild by Peter Plasse - Free Book Online Page A

cure for whatever it is that’s making your people sterile? Don’t you need to get this cure to them as soon as possible?”
    “Stephanie, you amaze me, but no. You see, the only time slipping away while I am here is Earth time, to which I have converted. It’s necessary to do this in order to make the travel to the here and now even possible in the first place. I know what you’re saying. The theory would be, the longer I’m gone, the closer my people get to the reality of extinction, but like you visiting Erik should you choose to do so, the amount of time I will have been away when I finally return to my home will be the time it takes to breathe one breath. The math is somewhat complex, but true. And tested.”
    He sifted some more sand. This turned into a small, rainbow-colored waterfall that bounced off of the floor in a dazzling array of lights. He looked away, fixing his gaze on the stars outside of the basement window.
    “It’s like this,” he continued. “Everybody on every planet I visit looks out at the stars and thinks, ‘There has to be intelligent life out there.’ But the mathematics dictate, and you Earth Humans won’t discover this for several millenniums, that the ‘out there,’ you know, the place where these other intelligent life forms live, is actually right beside this one, separated by only slight mirrors, really. Mathematical mirrors, if you will, that not only predict that these separate and distinct realities coexist in time, but prove they are separated by no more than the inversion of a fraction. Life, then, other intelligent life, is not ‘out there,’ it’s right beside you. Always has been, always will be.”
    Meanwhile, Erik, who had not spoken for the longest time, said, “Come away with me, Stephanie. Right now. You’ll love it. I’m a prince in a land called Ravenwild. You’ll meet my father and mother, the King and Queen. My people. You’ll get to see how we live. Our struggle. If it doesn’t suit you, merely speak the words, ‘I want to go home,’ thrice, and you’ll be right back here just one breath older than when we left. Let’s go for it.
    “By the way, my family name is Fairman.”
    He looked at her … with such …. longing.
    She didn’t know what overcame her, but she found herself saying, “All right. I’ll do it.”
    “Are you completely sure?” Erik asked. “I don’t want you to feel that I’m twisting your arm or anything.”
    She laughed nervously.
    “Will I need to bring anything?”
    It was his turn to laugh. His didn’t sound nervous at all, but happy and confident. “Nothing, no nothing. I’m a prince, remember?”
    “Yes. Yes of course,” she said.
     
    There was a sudden flash with no light.
     
    She found herself seated in what appeared to be a small hut. Through the open door she could see that it was daylight. It was warm.
    She was wearing clothes the like of which she had never worn. It was some sort of what she presumed must be a riding outfit. The top was a fairly straight cut blouse, the palest of yellows, fastened high in the neck with the most exquisite handmade buttons that extended all the way down the front to the waist, where it was gathered in by a soft leather belt with an unusual buckle that appeared to be made of bone. Over her legs she wore soft tan pants that appeared to be some sort of skin. On her feet she wore high-laced moccasins with no sole. She noticed that in a sheath on her belt was a dagger of some sort with a long blade of about 8 inches. There was one in each of her moccasins as well.
    Beside her in the hut, leaning up against the wall, was a sword that looked like it might be her size. The handle looked to be made of wound silver thread, and projecting out of the grips were slightly raised symbols. Strange symbols. And a face with ears that were pointed, like hers. As she focused on it she could have sworn she heard it whisper something to her, but it was in a language she did not understand. She