Ark heard the beating of wings before he could see anything. He was in just about the worst place possible. He knew that female ravens would do anything to protect their young. Out of the shadows of the underforest, a darker shadow blotted out his vision. As he shrank down instinctively, he forced himself to look up and saw the huge, dark eyes swallowing him, the claws — each the size of a sword — advancing to rip him up for supper, and the vast wings about to settle and draw a cloak over all his days.

At the same moment, the mist suddenly parted and the last of the evening sun shot a rare beam of light right down through the gloom. It pierced his retinas and he screeched in pain, a noise echoed by the raven’s cry. This is it! he thought, closing his eyes. His mind filled up with home: his father curled like an arthritic leaf by the fire, his mother humming soft tunes to herself as she stirred the pot, his sister, Shiv, making tiny, complete worlds out of twigs and nutshells, the curve of the branches that held them up high. Each image slipped away until there was only the imprint of a black sun rising between his ears. All gone. All …

4• AN UNEXPECTED MEETING

The blinding pain disappeared as quickly as it had come, and the cry faded from Ark’s lips. He hesitantly risked a glance, then opened both eyes wide in surprise. The baby ravens still stared at him but were mute. Their mother, with her ravening claws, was nowhere to be seen.

Ten seconds ago, he’d been a meaty morsel in the making. Now he wasn’t even frightened of the fledglings. What the bark had happened? Nothing made sense. He felt queasy. The raven of myth and story had veered away from him instead of swallowing him up. Two lives down. How many left?

But when he was calm, cold fury took over. It wasn’t his fault that he’d overhead talk of a revolution and threats to Arborium! He was just a simple plumber’s boy. The job was squitty, but it was a life. Ark felt the tears prickling his eyes. All that he loved in the whole wide-wood could be snatched away.