Ravens

A flock of ravens rose from the gables of the farmhouses and followed the fleeing woman. They cawed as they circled above Eva's head. The terrain rose and the steeper her path became, the slower the young woman progressed. But fear gave her strength and she kept running, reaching the edge of the forest unharmed. She ran on, between the trees, brushing against branches that tried to catch her clothes, stumbling over a root.

Luckily, she caught herself and kept her balance, instead of crashing onto the stone-strewn ground. She leaned against a tree trunk on the side facing away from the village. The rough bark pressed through the fabric of her robe. Eva listened for possible pursuers, but her blood was pounding in her ears. She didn't dare to look around. Her lungs worked like bellows. Sweat ran down her face and her undergarment stuck damp to her body. She shivered in the cold draft that blew down from the ice-capped mountains.

Gradually, she managed to calm down and her mind began to work again. Apparently she had escaped – for now. She heard no shouting or hurried footsteps behind her. Only the wind rustled in the trees around her. The spruces and firs formed a dense roof and shielded the daylight, leaving Eva in deep twilight. A movement in the shadows made her look up. A raven sat in the branches and looked down at her with large, shiny eyes. He was not alone. Eva spotted two, three, five.

Eva shuddered not only because of the cold. She had the impression that the animals were consciously watching her, as if they had an almost human intelligence. What were they waiting for, what could they want from her? As far as Eva knew, the birds were scavengers. Were they hoping to find their next meal in her?

This hope would not be completely unjustified if Eva did not have a plan for how she wanted to survive outside the village. She still didn't think it was out of the question that she could scale the mountain range that surrounded the valley, even if Julius wanted to convince her otherwise. But as she stood there, equipped only with the clothes on her back, her chances of success were zero. She would need warm garments, water, food, possibly climbing gear. No, this path was indeed closed to her.

The most obvious thing would be to see if the pass had actually become impassable due to the landslide. It was possible that the blockage could be bypassed or climbed over. But the villagers would surely know that too and would keep an eye on that route. They would certainly prevent any escape.

This thought made Eva wince. She was already thinking like a prisoner, and the people who had taken her in were starting to look like jailers. She would do better to keep a cool head. They were people like herself, perhaps a little eccentric due to the isolated, hard life in this remote valley. For generations they had had to fight for survival and make do with the little that nature offered them. From their point of view, it would be obvious to immediately take advantage of an opportunity to replenish their blood, so to speak. They certainly didn't mean any harm.

And yet – they had no right to marry her against her will! Eva ground her teeth and unconsciously touched her forearm, scratching her fingernails over the thick bandage protecting her injured skin. She would not allow a man to enter her chamber at night, to cast his large, broad shadow over her, to pull the blanket from her trembling girl's body, to bend down and push up her nightgown...

Never again. Eva gasped in horror, pushed herself away from the protective tree and hurried on. Just away! Far away! She had hoped to escape the demons that tormented her by fleeing from the city to the mountains. And now the same horrors were breathing down her neck more fiercely than ever.

She didn't stop running until the world around her brightened. She had emerged from between the trees and found herself in a clearing. She looked up in amazement and squinted against the clouds gathering overhead. A framework of wooden poles towered high above her in the middle of the clearing. It looked fragile and yet so unshakable that no **** in the world could topple it. Animal carcasses dangled in the breeze from the thin, debarked tree trunks and branches like trophies or fetishes. Eva discovered many small furry animals, reptiles and also countless birds, all in different stages of decomposition. Ravens did not appear to be among them at first glance.

Only at the very top, like the head on a skeletal body, was there a skull that Eva thought was a raven's skull, based on the shape of the beak and the remains of black feathers that stuck to it where wind and rain had not yet polished the bone. However, it was much too large, the size of a horse or bull. How was that possible?

A cawing sounded behind her shoulder. Eva jumped and turned her head in fright.

There they were, the five of them, looking at her with their old, wise raven eyes like the members of a jury.