A Crow Named Torment by Silas A. Bischoff

Author:Silas A. Bischoff [Bischoff, Silas A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Morbid Taste Publishing
Published: 2024-08-15T19:07:41+00:00

‘Oh, never mind, my feathered fellow. The charge is … perfectly grave enough.’

She might just have this trial in the bag. All the death she had wrought on the orders of the baroness did not count at this court. Neither did the killing of her kin in that dream of her old crowery. Torment took this as evidence she had truly been at least partly within her mind palace then. Those crows were not wronged spirits, because they were but part of Torment’s own spirit. Her memories.

‘Are you stalling?’ squawked Lord Heron.

‘No, it’s me thinking, bicker-beak,’ snapped Torment. ‘Is this a court or just a fast-track soul disposal? I’m allowed to plan my defence, right?’

‘Do you intend to question every single step of these proceedings?’ he asked. ‘Because it will prolong them needlessly.’

‘No,’ answered Torment, slowly beginning to get her thoughts in order. ‘In fact … In fact, I intend to shorten the proceedings’ – she rubbed her chin between two fingers while her brain was spinning – ‘by framing my defence in such a way that it applies to the entirety of my charges. Hey, are they all about squabbles over food on the streets?’

Lord Heron sighed and quickly skimmed the parchment. ‘Aye.’ He looked at her bemusedly. ‘More or less.’

‘Perfect.’ Torment immediately lapsed into lecturing with a raised forefinger. ‘Because food, as you might be aware, is a necessity for survival. But of course you will want to object that my survival was never in jeopardy, presumably in contrast to that of my victims, since I could always rely on being fed by humans. However’ – Torment lowered her forefinger to point it at Lord Heron – ‘survival is an instinct, and as such, acting on it is not subject to rational or ethical consideration. Therefore the crimes brought against me all amount to acts that nature compelled me to do. And being compelled is just about the same as being ordered, is it not?’

Once more, a rumbling roar ran through the courtyard. Tröllapadda the First had spoken again, with regally inflated croaking sac. Otherwise he appeared wholly impassive.

‘His Majesty,’ declared Lord Heron loudly, ‘is most displeased with your impertinence, for clearly you possess the faculty of reason and are thus culpable for all your acts in full.’

‘I do now, I agree, but I didn’t then. I was an animal, driven by unfettered instinct. Only later was I changed to be able to understand the consequences of my actions in full.’

‘This is your defence? You believe a want of understanding washes you clean from all responsibility?’

‘I …’ Torment thought for a moment. ‘I am only able to regret it now. Back then, I was but a crow. Have you ever heard of the Crow All-Mother?’

‘Do you intend to lecture me?’

‘Only about things you might not be aware of.’

Lord Heron grumbled and ground his beak. ‘We know tis a figure of devotion for much of crowkind.’

‘All of crowkind,’ corrected Torment. ‘She is an ancient spirit connected to all my kin.

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