Crows - Part 1

The fire crackled in the cold morning air. A light snow was falling and the pale sun peeked above the distant mountain and started to burn off the mist that hung over the land. The man pulled his cloak tight around him and poked at his food on the fire.

He listened intently as he ate. There was the chattering of starlings, the cackling of a pair magpies. He hoped that maybe he could finish his breakfast before he heard what he was listening for.

It was as he was packing away that he heard the distant crow. He wasn’t sure at first. Maybe his ears were deceiving him. He stopped dead still and look up at the crags where he thought the sound had come from. Another caw. He took out a long lens and watched the crow circle around several times and then dip down. It dived towards a figure dressed in a long black dress with long black hair billowing in the breeze. The crow landed on the woman’s arm and she walked away, out of sight behind a rock.

That was her! At last! After days of travel following the crows, he had finally glimpsed her, if only for a moment. In an instant he threw his belongings in his pack, kicked snow over the fire, leapt onto his horse and was away, riding up the hill.

He rode hard, the snow hitting his face and his breath condensing in the cold air. The horse under him steamed. When he reached the point where she had stood he could see over the other side of the hill, down to a wide lake. The woman in black was nowhere to be seen. He wondered, not for the first time, how real she was. He doubted his own eyes. He questioned if he was chasing her, or she was leading him somewhere. He caught his mind spiralling and tried not to think about it.

Down on the lake he could make out the shape of two women in white gliding across the water on bamboo rafts, propelled by long poles. The man looked to the edge of the lake where they seemed to be heading and rode down to meet them.

One of the women raised a hand in greeting as they approached the shore. If either of them had noticed the sword at his side, they didn’t show any sign, nor any indication of apprehension.

“Hello, traveller,” said one. “You are heading East?”

“I am,” replied the man. “I’m looking for somebody. A woman who just passed this way.”

“We have seen nobody this morning,” said the other woman.

“She would have been followed by crows,” said the man. The womens’ demeanour changed from one of calm benevolence to one of kindly sadness.

“Go back,” said one. “There is nothing for you to find. No good can come of this.”

“I must go on,” said the man with determination. “There is nothing for me back there now. I must find answers.”

“You wont find them,” said the other. “It is not giving up to not know. Sometimes it is better not to.”

“Then I bid you farewell.”

“You will pass our house a little way away. Take fruit from our trees. It is the least we can do.”

The man nodded a thank you and spurred his horse onwards. The two women exchanged looks but said nothing.

---

The man did pass a house. There were oranges growing unexpectedly in the snow covered trees. He picked some and stopped briefly to eat one of them, all the while listening out for the sound of distant crows and scanning the horizon for the sight of the woman in black.

A short way further on, he approached a forest. The trees were tightly packed. Too tight for him to be able to ride his horse through, so he dismounted and hitched the horse to a tree. There was blood on the ground. New snow had fallen on top of It but the blood had stained it. It looked like there had been a fight. And there, where the victim might have fallen, was the serene face of a statue lying on the ground, snow falling on it’s face. In an hour it would be covered. The man drew his sword and started warily into the cover of the trees.

It was dark at first after the bright white of the snow-covered ground, but his eyes quickly adjusted. He a could hear the sound of a distant crow echo through the trees.

In time he came to a clearing with a small pond in the centre. Around the pond was a ring of crows, each of them stood still, looking down into the water. At the sound of man’s cautious footsteps, they all turned to look at him.

He approached slowly. The crows didn’t scatter or make even make a sound. They just edged to the side and cleared a space for him in the circle. He took a deep breath, put his arms out wide and let himself fall forward. Not into the water, but through it and into the beyond.

Part 2