Free Web NovelCHAPTER 62 — THE FIRST RAVEN
Dawn broke over Drakhar.
The mountain city stirred to life as it always had.
Forges roared.
Markets opened.
Messengers hurried through the streets.
Yet beneath the ordinary rhythm...
Something had changed.
The council could feel it.
Someone unseen had begun moving pieces across the continent.
A sharp knock echoed through the council chamber.
Captain Rowan entered carrying a small wooden box.
"It arrived at sunrise."
"No messenger."
"No seal."
"It was simply waiting outside the eastern gate."
Nyxara immediately stepped forward.
"No one touch it."
She carefully inspected every corner.
No poison.
No hidden blade.
No magical trap.
Only then did she nod.
"It's safe."
Vespera opened the box.
Inside rested a single black feather.
And a tightly rolled parchment.
Lirael unfolded it.
The handwriting was elegant.
Steady.
Almost impossibly calm.
It contained only one sentence.
If you seek the Twelfth Chronicle, stop searching for books and start searching for people.
No signature.
Nothing else.
Kragga scratched her head.
"I hate mysterious old people."
Nyxara almost smiled.
"So do I."
"But they're usually worth listening to."
The room fell silent.
Vespera looked toward the feather.
"A raven."
Dorun slowly nodded.
"There was once an ancient order."
"They called themselves..."
The Keepers of Memory.
"They believed history belonged to the people."
"Not kings." freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"Not priests."
"Not conquerors."
Captain Rowan frowned.
"I've never heard of them."
"Few have."
Dorun replied.
"They disappeared long before I was born."
Elyra looked thoughtfully at the feather.
"My grandmother once told me a story."
"When kingdoms wanted history rewritten..."
"The Keepers simply memorized it."
"They became living libraries."
Lirael's eyes widened.
"So destroying books..."
"...was never enough."
Dorun smiled.
"Exactly."
Nyxara immediately understood.
"The missing Archivist."
"The old storyteller."
"The raven."
She looked at Vespera.
"They're connected."
That afternoon...
Rather than sending soldiers...
Vespera chose something unexpected.
She walked into the marketplace.
In her human form.
Alone.
She returned to the square where the storyteller had performed.
The same baker greeted her warmly.
"The old musician?"
He left before sunrise."
"Do you know where?"
The baker shrugged.
"No."
"But..."
"He always asked strange questions."
"What kind?"
"He wanted to know who listened."
"Not who paid."
The answer lingered in Vespera's thoughts.
Nearby...
Children played a familiar game.
One little girl hummed yesterday's melody.
The same tune the storyteller had sung.
Vespera knelt beside her.
"Who taught you that song?"
"The old grandfather."
The child smiled.
"He said every song remembers someone."
Lirael quietly wrote the lyrics down.
Later...
Back in the Archives...
She compared them against ancient Dragonkin songs.
Her eyes widened.
"It's coded."
Captain Rowan looked confused.
"Coded?"
She nodded.
"The melody isn't important."
"The pauses are."
She rearranged the verses.
A sentence slowly appeared.
Where stone meets water, memory waits.
Nyxara spread a map across the table.
"There."
She pointed toward an abandoned aqueduct beneath the eastern cliffs.
"It matches perfectly."
Captain Rowan immediately reached for his sword. freewёbnoνel.com
"We'll take fifty guards."
Vespera shook her head.
"No."
"If these Keepers have survived by hiding for centuries..."
"An army will only frighten them."
Elyra agreed.
"We go quietly."
As the sun began to set...
Vespera.
Lirael.
Nyxara.
Elyra.
And Dorun.
Made their way beneath the ancient aqueduct.
Water still flowed through narrow stone channels carved hundreds of years before.
The passage ended at an old stone arch.
Empty.
At first glance.
Then...
A voice echoed softly through the darkness.
"You solved the song."
No one reached for a weapon.
An elderly woman stepped into the fading light.
Her hair was silver.
Her back slightly bent.
Yet her eyes were bright.
Sharp.
Unafraid.
She carried no sword.
Only a weathered journal.
Dorun's breath caught.
"I know you..."
The woman smiled gently.
"Yes."
"We met many years ago."
"You were still an apprentice."
Dorun whispered her name.
"Archivist Lyessa..."
The Royal Archivist hadn't worked alone.
Lyessa looked toward Vespera.
"So..."
"The Queen from another sky."
Vespera's heart skipped.
"You know who I am?"
Lyessa nodded.
"I know enough."
She looked at the others.
"But before questions..."
"I have one of my own."
She met Vespera's gaze without fear.
"When the truth hurts your heart..."
"Will you still protect this world?"
Silence filled the aqueduct.
Vespera didn't answer immediately.
She thought of Earth.
Of Priya.
Of Drakhar.
Of the people rebuilding bridges instead of burning them.
Finally...
She spoke.
"I don't know what the truth is yet."
"But I know this."
"No truth..."
"...will make me abandon innocent people."
For the first time...
Lyessa smiled.
"A good answer."
"Caelus believed you would give it."
Behind her...
A hidden stone door slowly opened.
Rows of forgotten shelves stretched into the darkness.
One Chronicle had been found.
Eleven still remained.
And for the first time...
Someone was finally willing to guide them.
End of Chapter 62
