As the Crow Flies by A.R. Williams

Author:A.R. Williams [Williams, A.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, sword and sorcery
Published: 2017-01-16T00:00:00+00:00

Peck. Peck. Peck.

Peck. Peck. Peck.

Aziru opened his eyes. The stars shown bright in the night sky. A crow, eyes dark as a void, stood on top of his forehead pecking at the space between his eyebrows. Aziru groaned and swiped at the bird. The crow cawed, then half flew, half hopped and landed on his chest. It looked at him, cawed again, and flew off into a nearby tree.

Aziru pushed himself up and looked around. All around him, the bodies of Persaian soldiers lay dead on the ground. There was no sign of the goat-men that had attacked them. It was as though they had vanished. The only thing left of them were their weapons made of bone.

Wherever he looked there was nothing but crows. They covered the ground like a huge black tide, surging over the bodies. Many pecked at the flesh of the dead, bone and flesh scattering in their haste to eat. Others waited in the trees, cawing loudly. There was a back and forth of movement, black wings, black bodies darting back and forth. As some finished they took to the trees and others glided down to replace them. They sat in the trees, heads bobbing up and down as they cawed, their purple-black wings flapping as they jostled for space on the branches.

Aziru rolled to his feet and recovered his axe. He was surrounded by the dead. The birds scattered as he moved among the bodies, then swooped back down once he passed. The crows farthest away paid little attention to him and continued to peck at their meals.

Aziru felt the ones in the trees watched him, studied him, cawed at him. Their beady eyes followed him wherever he went. The birds cawed back and forth to one another. Their small, black eyes stared at him as he walked past, searching the bodies for useable supplies.

The mounds of dead men were grotesque in their display.

Aziru did not know how long he meandered amongst the corpses. He did not know most of the men who lay there and he was sure most of them did not deserve such a fate. Why had he been the only one spared?

A thought occurred to him suddenly, and he strode among the dead looking for any sign of Captain Malrik or his lieutenants. They were nowhere to be found. Neither riders or horses lay in the field of battle.

I’ve joined a cursed army, Aziru thought. He fell to his knees. Gods be good, what sort of deaths had these men suffered. What will happen to their souls in a place such as this?

Aziru heard the scrape of metal on metal and turned around. A pale, thin man stood among the dead. He was dressed all in black and wore a long flowing cape made of feathers and a strange head ornament shaped like a crow. The man dug among the bodies, shifting and moving them as though he was searching for something.

“Who the hell are you?” Aziru asked. “What are you doing?”

The man looked up, eyes as blue as the ocean, but said nothing.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.