Read Online The Raven Ring by Patricia C. Wrede - Free Book Online Page B

possessions. Her hand brushed the leather pouch. It was flat and empty; her mother must have used all her raven’s-feet in the battle. Perhaps that was how she had earned the yellow strand in her braid.
    Without thinking, Eleret picked up the pouch and fingered the smooth surface of the leather. Something shifted under her hand, a hard lump in the bottom. The pouch was not completely empty after all. Eleret loosened the strings and tilted it over her right hand.
    Silver flashed in the sunlight as a ring rolled out of the pouch. Eleret recognized it at once, and a wave of anger swept over her. That ring was an heirloom, practically the only one the family had! Tamm should never have taken it with her. What if something had happened, and the ring had been lost? Eleret’s mind froze suddenly. Something had happened, and it was not the ring that had been lost. Her fingers tightened around the hard, sharp metal.
    “What is it?” Weziral asked.
    Eleret looked up with a start. Still struggling to control her unruly emotions, she said, “A ring. It’s been handed down in the family for generations. I was…surprised to see it. I thought Ma had stored it with the rest of the things she left at home.”
    “May I see it?”
    Silently, Eleret peeled her fingers away from the ring and handed it to the Commander. Then she turned away and busied herself with the kit bag. She knew what the Commander was seeing: a band of twisted silver, worn thin and nearly smooth, set with a flat black stone. Etched into the stone, in the manner of a seal was the tiny, meticulously detailed figure of a raven rising into flight. Eleret remembered reaching out as a child to touch a carved wingtip, while her mother explained that the raven was a symbol of protection for the Cilhar. She scowled fiercely at the ties of the kit bag to hold back her tears.
    “Interesting.” Weziral’s voice drew Eleret’s thoughts back to the dusty, paper-strewn office. “It almost looks like Kith Alunel work. You say it’s been in your family for a long time? I suppose you don’t know how long.”
    Eleret forced a smile. “Not precisely. Geleraise Vinlarrian, my multi-great-grandmother, brought it with her when she settled in the mountains, right after the Neira sank the Island of Varna. That would be a little over seven hundred years ago. It doesn’t go all the way back to the migration, if that’s what you’re asking.”
    “Pity.” Weziral gestured toward the kit bag. “Did you find anything else of interest?”
    “Not unless someone wants Ma’s whetstone and comb,” Eleret replied.
    “Doesn’t seem likely, does it? It must be either the ring or the knife they’re after, then.” The Commander turned the ring over in his fingers once more, then handed it to Eleret.
    Eleret thought for a moment, then slipped the ring on her right index finger. If anyone was after it, they’d have more trouble taking it from her hand than picking it out of her pocket. It was a little tight, but not uncomfortably so. She studied it, then turned the stone toward her palm, where it would be less noticeable.
    Next, she examined the knife, testing the edge against her thumb and tossing it in the air to check the balance. It was a good weapon, perhaps the equal of her own. She reached through her pocket and pulled out her dagger, then set Tamm’s in its place. It fit the sheath reasonably well, but she made sure she could draw it quickly before she packed her own dagger in the kit bag.
    “One more thing,” Weziral said as Eleret picked up the bag. He rummaged under the table once more and came up with two pouches made of heavy canvas. They clinked when he dropped them on the table. “Your mother’s regular wages, combat pay, bonuses for special work, and death fee. Feel free to count it, and you’re welcome to inspect the registers if you like. We like our people to be certain they’ve had fair dealing.”
    “You wouldn’t make the offer if this wasn’t fair,”