Crow Reaver by Shanlynn Walker (books suggested by elon musk .txt) 📕

Lena whistled softly as she set the wooden pail underneath Elly, the family goat.  She petted the goat’s rough flank briefly, and then started massaging her udders, quickly and efficiently, the thick milk frothing into the bucket with a sound like soft rain.  As she worked her mind wandered, as it always did, to Von, the woodcutter’s son.

Lena had known Von since they were both just babes.  He had been born only six months before she was, and their mothers had been close friends throughout their pregnancies.  They remained close friends after giving birth, and so Lena had few childhood memories that didn’t include Von in some way or another.  Now, however, she was on the cusp of her fifteenth birthday, and according to custom, she would have one year to find a suitable match for a husband, one that could provide for her a home to keep and food to cook.  If she couldn’t find a match for herself, the men of the village would be able to ply her parents with offers, and they would have the final say in who she would marry.

Lena had always known since she was a little girl that she wanted to marry Von.  He had always been her hero.  When she was only four years old they had been outside playing hide and seek when she had wandered too close to a bee’s nest and had been stung numerous times, badly.  Von had heard her screaming, himself only four-soon-to-be-five, and had rushed in and helped her to her feet and almost carried her back to her house.  After handing her over to her worried mother, he had gone back out with a torch and burned the bee’s nest even though he ended up getting stung himself in the process, and he had to endure  a spanking from his father for ruining the honey.

Von’s mother had died a year later soon after his sixth birthday from the wasting disease. He had been devastated and had fallen into a deep depression.  His father had loved his mother dearly and hadn’t known how to be there for the little boy.  Lena’s mother had volunteered to let Von stay with them for a while, but he declined and turned to drinking to wash away his despair and from that point Von had become the target for his father’s ever increasing anger.  Eventually his sorrow for his mother was buried as more pressing issues, like avoiding his father’s fists during his drunken rages, became his primary focus.  Still, Von had never let it come between him and Lena, wouldn’t, in fact, even speak of it to her, merely shrugging off her concern and changing the subject whenever she asked.

When they were ten years old, he had saved her from drowning.  They had been swimming in the stream, swollen with melted snow and ice from the peaks, when she had ventured out just a little too far and had gotten caught in the swift moving current.  She had been yanked under before she could scream or even knew what was happening. Von must have been watching her, though, because before she could be carried away too far he had been there, grabbing her hand and pulling her from the current, then carrying her back to shore, talking softly to her all the while.

Finally, just last year Lena had wanted to learn to ride a horse, so she had ‘borrowed’ one from Ralf, the draft horse he used to plow his potatoes.  She didn’t think he would even notice it missing since he had left the day before to sell some potatoes in the city of Lestin, which was over four days away.  Unfortunately, Ralf had met a merchant on the road only a half day away and sold his potatoes for a good profit, so he returned early to find his plow horse gone when he went to put away his cart horse.

Nothing riled the village up more than a thief, so as soon as the villagers heard Ralf yelling, “I’ve been robbed!  Someone has stolen my horse!” they all stopped what they were doing and started searching for the missing horse at each other’s houses and fields.  Ralf, himself, had found Lena and Von with his horse in a small meadow right outside the village and a short distance in the forest.  He had called out to the other villagers until they were all surrounding the two children and the horse.  Von’s father, a stout, surly man with arms as thick as the trees he chopped down, asked Von how he had the farmer’s horse.  Instead of telling everyone how Lena had taken the horse because she wanted to ride one, he told those gathered that he had wanted to impress her, so he had taken the horse thinking he would have it back before Ralf returned.  Many of the villagers had chuckled at this, but not Von’s father.  The next time she saw Von he was still healing from a black eye and a split lip.

Lena finished up with the goat, her pail about halfway full of the rich, white milk. She took the pail and walked the short distance to the little hut she shared with her father and mother, still whistling and daydreaming of Von.  She was about halfway between the hut and the small barn where the goat and a few chickens were kept when she heard a faint noise coming from within the forest, followed by the unmistakable sound of a girl’s laughter.  Curious, but not really concerned, she continued on, until the sound of a deep, rich male’s voice stopped her dead in her tracks.  It was Von’s voice; she would know it anywhere.

Lena sat the pail of milk down and walked toward the forest.  She couldn’t help wondering why Von was in the forest at this time of day, and who he was with, but the idea of seeing him made her walk faster.  She followed a short game trail to the place she and Von called ‘the rock’ due to the large boulder that jutted up from the ground.  They had come here many times to play when they were younger, and this was also the place where Von had kissed her for the very first, and up to this point, only, time.  Thinking of it brought a smile to her face and she unconsciously touched her lips with her fingers as if she could still feel Von’s warm lips moving against her own.

She rushed around the trunk of a giant oak tree and saw the rock right before her with Von perched atop it with his back to her, sitting beside a girl with long chestnut hair.  Just as she was about to call his name she saw him put his arm around the girl’s waist and draw her closer to him.  Lena recognized the girl as Cari, the daughter of the herbalist.  As she watched, Cari looked up into Von’s eyes and smiled and Von smiled back at her, his hand pulling the strings of her top loose until her small breasts spilled fourth into his waiting hand.  He lowered his head to her chest and she threw her head back and closed her eyes, moaning, running one long fingered hand through his hair.

Lena felt like she was paralyzed.  She didn’t want to watch this unfold before her, but her brain had yet to catch up to what her heart already knew.  While she stood there, her heart and brain warring for supremacy, she watched Von slide the girl’s skirts up to her waist and undo the ties of his breeches.  He mounted her then, holding her bottom in his hands to keep her from sliding around on the rough surface of the rock. She saw Cari’s body shudder and heard Von groan, his eyes tightly shut for a brief instant and his head turned toward Lena.

When Von’s eyes opened they spotted Lena standing there, staring at him, her eyes full of tears of betrayal, but her face devoid of expression.  Without a whisper she turned and fled blindly into the forest.  She heard him curse as he tried to tug his breeches back up, then he called out her name.  Without stopping, she continued on, deeper into the forest, not really paying attention to where she was going, just knowing she needed to get away from Von and Cari and what she had just witnessed.  Her mind had shut down and the only thing she could think about was escape.

“Lena!” she heard Von call.  “Lena, wait, please, come back,” he shouted after her.  She continued on without slowing down.  She came upon a well-used game trail and followed it, eventually ending up at a small pond alive with the sound of frogs and crickets.  She sat on a fallen log at the edge of the water and stared at her reflection for a long time, trying to come to terms with what she had just witnessed.

She had always thought her and Von would marry.  It had never occurred to her that he would be interested in anyone else so the realization had come as a shock.  Her heart felt empty and she felt betrayed.  Lena knew men of the village sometimes cheated on their wives, the village was too small for everyone not to know everyone’s business, but she had never thought Von would do that to her.  They were practically made for each other and had been inseparable since they were toddlers.  He had been her hero, her best friend, and her first love all at once.

Realizing she was still crying, Lena wiped her eyes with her sleeve.  No matter what had happened her parents were going to be angry with her for leaving the milk sitting out.  She took a deep breath and tried to gather her wits about her, pushing the memory of Von and Cari out of her mind.  It was too raw to deal with right now.

She was just about to stand up and start back to the village when she heard the faint, but unmistakable sound of horses.  There weren’t too many people in the village that had horses, so Lena cautiously backed into the forest until her back was against a tree trunk, her eyes searching for the source of the sound.

Holding her breath, she listened again for the sound to come, and when it did it sounded closer.  She peered around the tree trunk, scanning the forest for signs of movement.  Finally, after a few minutes, she caught sight of a horse tossing its head against its reins.  Once she saw it, her eyes focused and she realized that what she was looking at was more than just one horse and rider, it looked to be about fifty armed men on horseback and they were riding straight for her village.

She crept from her hiding spot and began making her way back toward the village as quietly as she could.  When she judged she was far enough away the riders