Louve and Corbcer
It is a special love that an animal and person can share. Often it is stronger than that shared between two people. Have you ever felt it?
Ravenwolf had decided not to speak of The Dream with anyone, including his parents. He had much to think about and thought telling others would cause questions that he had no answers for.
At the next Consilui Intelepti meeting, one of the Om Intelept told the council that the last time he was in the Cosmic Stream that he had learned of another woman who might be the one they were looking for, and that, interestingly, she now lived in the village Sat de Munte as did the first; her name was Louve.
Doethblaidd asked Ravenwolf if he was at a point where he could take some time off and go explore the possibilities that she was the one. Ravenwolf for his part was very excited and said yes. He had a feeling that she was the young woman with Vulpe in his first dream and was probably her daughter.
Doethblaidd told Ravenwolf, “Do not go there under your true name because Unulr_u has spies everywhere? You go under the name ‘Blaidd,’ have Diavol be called Lykos. As for Corbcer, it does not matter because no one will ever be aware he is there.”
The next day the three surfed the Cosmic Stream from Planet_ Verde to Earth, first going to their valley and the Log Cabin that Ravenwolf had built. Ravenwolf (now Blaidd) and Diavol (now Lykos) then traveled through the barrier into the Haunted Forrest, while Corbcer flew over it.
If you have read the first book, you know the story of Blaidd, Louve and Lykos. But since some of you may not have done so, I will do a synopsis with some additional information. Some of you may also be wondering how Diavol and Corbcer could still be alive since they were close to thirty years old. Ravens are capable of living that long, but wolves are not. In Diavol's case it was because of the merging which connected him to Ravenwolf in such a way that both he and Corbcer would live as long as Ravenwolf did.
The first of the three that Louve met was Corbcer. Corbcer's part of the plan was to fly over the village and be the airborne eyes of Blaidd. The Raven knew that Blaidd was trying to make contact with a beautiful, dark haired young lady, so he became extra alert whenever he saw a young woman of that general description. Because Blaidd saw everything Corbcer saw, he would recognize her from the first dream if Louve was, in fact, the young woman in the dream.
Since Louve ran every day, strolled through the Haunted Forest and worked out in her backyard, it didn't take him long to spot her. Blaidd, seeing through Corbcer's eyes, immediately recognized her because she looked so much like Vulpe, and, of course, she was in the first dream. Now, besides being Blaidd's sky eyes, Corbcer was also to keep an eye on her and protect her.
It didn't take Louve long to notice this huge, black raven as it flew overhead or made large circles in the sky. One day when she was sitting in her glade in the Haunted Fores,t Corbcer landed up high on a tree branch and listened to her as she sang a song she had learned from Henri. A song her mother used to sing about the raven and the wolf.
While she was singing, she observed the raven and admired his beauty. After a while she said, “Most beautiful raven in the tree, why don't you come down and talk to me, as the other ravens do?”
To her surprise he flew off his perch and landed at her feet and cawed softly, staring at her with his sky blue eyes. Louve was mesmerized when she saw those beautiful eyes that looked so mystifying on the raven and said, “My, aren't you the strange one; are you from another world?”
Of course Corbcer said nothing because he knew better than to talk, but another pair of eyes whispered to himself and said, “Yes, Most Beautiful Lady of the Wood, and I hope that you too will be someday.”
Corbcer for his part felt a great attraction to her, and so even if he were not watching over her for Blaidd, he would have wanted to do it anyway because he could see the beauty of her soul.
From then on Corbcer would fly down to her whenever she called to him. Louve affectionately named him “Campion Meu,” which in her language meant “My Defender.” Corbcer gave Louve great comfort when he was around, and she began to truly love this huge raven.
For Blaidd's part, he was very happy about this development for two reasons. First, it would allow him to observe her from afar to see if she had the qualities needed to be an Om Intelept, and second, he could be close to her no matter where he was. He was very pleased with her affinity to animals because this was a needed quality. He was also astounded to see her proficiency with knives and bows and arrows. This would speed up her training significantly if she were indeed the one.
Shortly after Louve had made friends with the raven, there was a rumor of a huge grey wolf in the vicinity. The village people had become concerned because wolves would show up occasionally and kill some of their sheep.
Henri, her uncle, had asked her not to walk in the Haunted Forest anymore because she might get harmed by the wolf. Louve had asked him why he had such a concern because there had never been a wolf attack to anyone's knowledge except for the two hunters who got on the other side of the barrier. That was long ago and that wolf was black, not grey. Henri then told her the story of Vulpe, the young man and the black wolf. Of course Louve was aware of the young man his mother loved, but Vulpe had never mentioned the black wolf.
Blaidd had his meeting in the forest with Rand, and a few days later he decided to go to the Tavern to meet Louve face to face. Rand had told her about the strange man named Blaidd, but because Blaidd had on a wide brimmed hat and was looking down, she could not see his face, and therefore did not know he had a beard. Besides, she wasn't thinking about him or what Rand had said.
She approached him and asked him what he would like to have. As he looked up, their eyes met. Staring into two sky blue pools, she was overwhelmed with their intensity as they pierced her being and gazed upon her soul.
He smiled and said, “Hello, Most Beautiful Lady,” and she heard herself whisper, “Hello, Man of the Wood.”
Why? Why did she respond with those words? In her heart she knew she was right, but they just came out without her consent. Flustered and embarrassed, she started to apologize.
But he just laughed and said, “No apology needed,” and then added, “How about a cold beer?”
As she went to get the beer, she realized there was another reason she was startled and that was because his eyes and the eyes of Campion Meu were the same. “How strange,” she whispered to herself.
One thing she learned quickly was that she felt at peace when she was around him, so whenever he came in, she would sit and talk to him when she was not serving other patrons.
After several weeks, Louve was talking to him and asked him if he had ever seen a huge raven flying around the village or in the Haunted Forest, for she knew Blaidd went there often.
A grin broke out on his face and he said, “Yes, I have seen this raven and humans had better stay away from him because he can be dangerous if a human messes with him.”
Louve laughed and said, “That shows what you know, O Smart Man of the Haunted Forest. I have made friends with him and talk to him everyday!”
Blaidd laughed and responded, “I said humans, but I had forgotten that you are a goddess.”
She laughed and got up to check on the other patrons saying as she left, “I bet you say that to all the ladies!”
It was several nights later that she had left to go home, and the three men of another village had followed her with the intentions to rape and kill her. Unfortunately for the three, Lykos arrived just in time, killing one of them and probably would have killed the other two if the men from the tavern had not come running when they heard Louve scream.
Lykos had not shown up by accident. Corbcer, most of the time, was not far away from Louve. Because of the merging with Ravenwolf and Diavol, he had the night vision of a wolf, so flying over her during the night was not a problem; she didn't know this because it was dark. He had seen the three men enter the tavern and again, because of the merging, he could now see hate just as Ravenwolf could. Of course both Blaidd and Lykos were aware of them also. Lykos was closer, so he was the one selected to go to the tavern.
After Lykos had killed the one attacker in the manner that he did and the fact that Blaidd said he could easily do it again if he so desired, a bounty was put on the wolf's head. This upset Louve and she was quite angry at Blaidd for not seeming to be concerned.
A week or so later, Blaidd was in the tavern. Louve had come and sat down with him. She was telling him how much she loved the big raven and, just as Rand had asked Blaidd if he knew the name of the wolf, Louve asked if the raven had a name.
Louve said, “So Most Wondrous Man of the Wood, is there a name the Haunted Forest has for my raven friend?”
Without thinking Blaidd said, “It is Corbcer, but I think he may like Campion Meu better.”
Louve was startled and confused. “How did you know that is what I call him? I have told no one that!”
Blaidd thought quickly, cursing himself, and at the same time said, “Remember that I am of the Forest and when you call him by that name, the Forest hears.”
She looked at him dubiously, and then a strange thought came to her. She responded, “Did you know that in this country there is a legend about a Great King who was purported to be a Schimba Forma (which in her language meant a shape changer)? His name was Regelup, and he was a fierce warrior. If someone tried to harm him, invariably that person was shortly killed by a wolf, so he was rarely threatened. The legend is that he was a Schimba Forma (shape changer) and could turn himself into a wolf whenever he wanted to.”
Then she added, “Did you also know that Lykos and Campion Meu have the same colored eyes as you?”
Blaidd, with a grin, asked, “And your point?”
Exasperated, Louve half kiddingly asked, “Well, are you?”
Blaidd responded, “Am I what?”
Frustrated and slightly angry, she practically screamed, “A Schimba Forma!” and quickly became embarrassed when several of the patrons looked over at her.
Blaidd had a big grin on his face and said, “If I am, it surely would be news to me.” Then he got up and as he was leaving he said, “Good night, Most Beautiful Lady of the Wood.”
While walking home that night Louve started thinking about her conversation with Blaidd. She really did not believe in Schimba Forme (plural), but thought that it was very weird that the Wolf, Raven and Man all showed up at about the same time, had the same colored eyes, and Blaidd knew or had names for the other two.
Blaidd had said that every once in a while among wolves and ravens there would be individuals born with off color eyes and blue would not be out of the question. She was aware of this, but all three showing up at the same time; no one had ever seen them together, and their eyes were the exact same color? If schimba forme did exist, then that would be the most logical answer to what was going on. So she started to believe that they may, in fact, exist.
As for Blaidd, he got a funny feeling when she mentioned Schimba Forme and started to think about Unulr_u. Blaidd never had thought about Schimba Forme one way or the other, but throughout his travels to different dimensions and worlds, he had often heard of legends about them. Of course this didn't make it true. On the other hand, there is usually some truth to most legends. If it were true, then Unulr_u almost certainly would have the power to do it. Was it possible that Unulr_u and the Mysterious Woman were the same? After all, once he had awakened from the first dream where he saw Vulpe murdered, the Mysterious Woman had said, “You now belong to Unulr_u, and now you will always be mine!” Did this mean they were one and the same?
Of course, both the Mysterious Woman and Unulr_u were present at the same time during the battle. Could Unulr_u be two places at once? Maybe….
The more Blaidd thought about it, the more he thought that it might be true that Unulr_u was the Mysterious Woman, so he felt he needed to return to Corb Lupia and share this information with the Consilui Intelepti and see if they could investigate it. He decided that in the near future he should leave Lykos and Corbcer behind to protect Louve and go by himself, though he was not in a hurry to do so.
Several days later when Louve was on one of her runs, she spotted Campion Meu flying overhead. It was as if he took it upon himself to be her bodyguard. She didn't know what to think about Blaidd, Lykos and Campion Meu. She had never seen any of them together yet all three had seemed to have entered her life at the same time and seemed to know each other. Was it possible Schimba Forma existed and Blaidd was one?
It was the next day that the hunter had come into the Tavern to say that he felt sure they had killed Lykos and asked her if she could do a positive identification. As she was going to do the identification, she had convinced herself that he was indeed a Schimba Forma and now he was dead.
And the Cosmic Stream Flows On….
enough