Page 78 of Keran's Dawn

We exited the room through the backdoor, which led to Ravik’s personal quarters. We followed the long hallway, stopping at the first door to his office, located only three meters away. Continuing farther and through the set of heavy, secured doors, would have taken us to his family’s personal rooms.

Ravik entered his office first, followed by Gavin and me, Ganek closing the march.

“What’s going on, boy?” Ravik demanded as soon as the door clicked shut behind Ganek.

“Keran is in trouble. We have to go get him now,” Gavin said forcefully.

“WHAT?!” Ravik exclaimed, taking a step closer to my grandson, his shock reflecting ours. “What kind of trouble?”

Gavin hesitated, then cast a nervous glance my way before looking back at Ravik. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, seeming unsure how to word what he wanted to say or even if he should.

“The Magnar asked you a question, boy. Answer!” I snarled.

Gavin heaved a sigh, almost looking defeated. Then, a resolute glimmer appeared in his amber eyes, and he lifted his chin defiantly.

“I don’t know what kind of trouble he’s in. I just know that he needs our help, and that we must go at once.”

The same air of confusion and disbelief settled on Ravik’s and Ganek’s faces, while I narrowed my eyes at my grandson.

“What the fuck kind of answer is that?” Ravik growled.

“I know what it sounds like, Magnar,” Gavin said in an apologetic tone, “but youhaveto trust me. Something terrible is happening.”

“I’m sorry, but you need to give me way more than that,” Ravik countered. “What information did you get? What sign did you see? What prompted this sudden belief that my firstborn needs help?”

Gavin ran nervous fingers through his hair and swallowed hard. “I… There is something about me that only my close relatives are aware of. Sometimes I get… not premonitions, but a sense of things. It’s a bone-deep conviction. And when it happens, I’malwaysright. This is one of those cases.”

My stomach dropped. By the look Ravik and Ganek gave him, they clearly thought he had either gotten his head bashed a little too hard while sparring, or he had overindulged in Braxian wine. But I knew better.

Realizing Ravik was about to kick him out of his office, Gavin turned to me with a pleading expression.

“Tell him, Grappa! Remember the first time you took me hunting joarkals? I ran off towards the river. You told me to come back, but I told you we had to go to the river now and kept going?”

“Yes,” I replied in a grave tone.

Relief and gratitude sparked in his eyes before he turned back to Ravik, who was clearly wondering what that had to do with anything.

“When I reached the river, I found little Gilana Veelan on the verge of drowning,” Gavin continued in a pressing tone. “A few minutes more, and it would have been too late for her!”

“I heard of that rescue,” Ganek interjected. “Elder Pattel continues to praise your virtues for saving his granddaughter. But the way he tells it, you stumbled on her while fishing.”

“It is the storyItold,” I responded in Gavin’s stead. “Braxians do not have foresight. As I was uncertain if it had been a coincidence or a true gift, I felt it was safer to keep it quiet.”

“Was that the only incident?” Ravik asked.

Gavin shook his head. “No. There have been many more over the years. It’s not always about averting a tragedy. It can be something as silly as knowing beyond any doubt which of three chests contains the prize, or exactly where to find one of my missing siblings. I won’t be able to tell you the name or coordinates to their location, but I’ll be able to take you there on instinct. And right now, every fiber of my being says we need to leave at once. It is the same feeling I got for Gilana. If we delay, Keranwilldie.”

“We must contact Baldur,” Ravik said.

“I already tried,” Gavin countered. “There was no response. Haven isn’t so far that there would be such a long com delay. Something happened.”

A nerve ticked on Ravik’s temple while he studied Gavin’s face as if the answer to a question could be found there. He then gave me a sideways glance. After years of collaborating with the Magnar, words weren’t necessary for me to understand his unspoken question.

“His instincts have never been wrong,” I replied. “We have to go.”

Gavin exhaled audibly, his shoulders drooping with relief, while he gazed at me with gratitude.

“Very well,” Ravik said with a troubled expression. “We leave at once.”

---