Raven's Ladder by Jeffrey Overstreet

shame, really, to name a child Raven just because he took his first steps chasin’ some blasted bird.”
    “Cal, rava?” asked one of the ravens.
    Warney stood quite still.
    Then, one by one, more ravens began to appear as if summoned by the first.
    Nervous, Warney strode along the shore upstream, the bird in unhurried pursuit. Arriving at a fallen tree that formed half a bridge across the water, he climbed onto its span and cast a pocketful of dried beetles into the stream. They glittered like jewels and pattered the water. The fishermen waited for fish to follow the bait into the net.
    The ravens were all around Warney now, closer, perched on every twig and branch of the fallen tree. They began to caw, as if working up courage to push him into the stream. “Now, which one of you summoned Cal-raven from his cradle?” Warney grumbled. “Kawww. Kawww!”
    Another raven spoke. “Cal, rava?”
    “Krawg, one of these ravens is askin’ for the king!”
    Krawg waved his arms and rasped, “Shush! You’ll scare the fish!”
    Warney pointed at the guilty bird.
    “What berries you been eatin’, Warney?”
    “Cal, rava?” asked the raven.
    Warney lost his footing and hit the water with such a splash that the ravens scattered. Krawg dove in to grab him by his sodden hood.
    “Ballyworms, Krawg!” Warney choked, thrashing. “It called for him!”
    “You’ve just scared off the king’s breakfast. We gotta move upriver.” Krawg dragged him to the shore.
    “I gotta tell the king.” Warney clambered back up the muddy riverbank and dashed into the trees.
    As he ran, he heard the ravens’ frantic pursuit, glanced back over his shoulder, and nearly collided with an approaching horse and rider.
    Tumbling off the path, he recognized the man and shouted, “Master Cal-raven!”
    Jes-hawk came running not far behind the rider. “Warney, let the king go. Come and see!”
    Warney followed the archer back to the campsite, then further south into the woods to a flat patch of ground punctured by thousands of tiny beetle burrows. Bowlder and Snyde were circling a depression in the brittleearth. Warney reached out to grip a young tree like a walking stick to save himself from falling.
    “Seven,” Jes-hawk agreed, scanning the trees. “Seven toes on this foot. And whatever it was, it came through sometime this morning.”
    Warney’s eye bulged, and his grin was a fright. “Didja find a baby lying inside?”
    “Cal-raven heard something, woke up, and rushed out of the tent,” said Jes-hawk. “Then came an incredible noise. We followed him here.”
    “Did he hear the birds?” Warney asked. “Ravens everywhere! Calling his name!”
    “Told you they were off eating mushrooms,” muttered Bowlder.
    Snyde laughed quietly, kicking at the footprint so that its soft edge collapsed. “And you wonder why I’m concerned about the king. He leaves us behind to chase a monster. Oh, a very bright future awaits us.”
    Jes-hawk cursed. “Saddle up. We don’t want to lose him.”
    Just then Krawg stepped out of the trees with a net full of wrigglers. He glanced about. “Did I just let pinchers nip my ankles for nothin’?”
    “You said the king wouldn’t leave us,” Warney blurted. “Well, he has.”

    Following the massive footprints, surrounded by ravens calling his name, Cal-raven crossed the river and rode northward. He rode for hours, confident his company would keep up as he moved along the western edge of Deep Lake.
    “Listen for the path.” He repeated Scharr ben Fray’s words to himself. “Listen.”
    The ravens’ cries seemed to coax him north and west, through the Cragavar.
    “I was there, Cal-raven,” the mage had said as they tossed stones to each other on the threshold of Barnashum. “I stood in your father’s courtyard when Auralia revealed the colors of her craft. The greatest mystery I’ve ever seen. That girl had knowledge that even the wisest of my Jentan brethren lack. Since that revelation, I’ve