The hunt

Sovereign Crow

I sat in my ship, just looking out at the stars as we past. We were getting close to Jupiter. After that, and it would be one more hour till we hit the reef. I sighed and looked back at Lexa, Mara's guard. She just sat there awkwardly. I turned my chair around and looked at her. "So, you're Mara's guard? She must not care that much about you to send you with me. You know...a guardian." She still just sat there. I couldn't really see her face because of the helmet but I was determined to get her to break character. "And death follows guardians around like a shadow." I looked up at the ceiling and my mouth dropped. "Hey, my name is Shadow." I gasped. Lexa finally looked at me and I could see her purple eyes narrow. I chuckled. "Yeah, she sent you to die." I pushed my knees into my chest and rested my chin on top of them. "What'd you do?" "Enough!" she finally snapped. "I am her best soldier! She trusts me!" I chuckled and tilted my head. "You know, I've been in Uldren's head for about three years now and if there is one thing I know about the Sov family, it's that they only care about themselves. Nobody else." Lexa looked away and didn't say anything. "She has a point." I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of his voice. I leaped out of my chair and turned around to see Kenny standing behind me, just casually eating a granola bar. "Kenny, what the hell?!" I screamed. He just stood there with his mouth full of granola. He swallowed hard, finishing off the last bit of food in his mouth. "I wanna help!" I shook my head and walked up to him. "Are you crazy?! You're not strong enough to fight the Taken! Let alone Uldren!" His face hardened. "I fought my way out of the mines with nothing but a knife and my ghost to guide me, so don't tell me I'm not strong enough!" I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. "I never knew Cayde-6, but I've heard the legends. The legends of you two working together, fighting the darkness. You, Shadow are a legend as well, and I don't want my hero taken away like yours was." My heart sank as he said that. I guess I never thought that I could be someone's hero. I sighed and looked down. "Fine, but you're gonna need some better gear." His smile grew as I looked back up at him. I almost wanted to smile myself at the sight of him smiling so big. I kept a straight face and got him some gear. By the time I was done handing him armor, he came out and walked in front of me. "How do I look?" he asked. I smiled as I stared at his black and red armor. He actually looked like a guardian now. I chuckled. "Like a legend, kid." He smiled and looked down at himself. "Hey," Lexa said. I turned to see her in the cockpit. "We're getting close to the Dreaming City." I walked over to her and could see the skyline of the city. I could see the Taken blights from the ship and we were still pretty far away. Lexa sat back down and sighed. "It's been a while," she mumbled. "The last time I was in the Dreaming City, I was on guard detail, protecting Mara and Uldren." Her gaze drifted downward and she frowned. "What was the last thing he said to you?" I thought back to that day. I could remember every little detail. I saw it in my dreams most nights. It haunted me "I know what side you're on." As those words left my mouth, they seemed to hang in the air. I cringed at the thought of them. It was as if I could hear Uldren say it himself. "What did he mean?" Kenny asked. I shook my head and turned towards the boxes in the back of the ship. "Doesn't matter," I said as I slammed the clip into my rifle. "Umm...Shadow?" Ghost mumbled. "What?" I turned to look at him. Then something black caught my eye. I walked over to the cock pit and saw something...odd. It looked as if it was a black blob. "What is that?" Kenney mumbled. I honestly had no idea. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at it. As it got closer and closer I could see that the shiney black blob had individual parts. They each were moving at a different time. The sky slowly dimmed into blackness as the blob blocked out the sun. My heart sank. Something's not right. I looked closer and my breath seemed to leap out of my lungs as I saw and them flap their wings. Crows. "Duck!" I screamed. I quickly grabbed Ghost and dropped to the floor. The glass shattered and the shards flew into my hair. The screeching of the crows hurt my ears. I clenched onto Ghost tight as I stared at the floor, my other hand wrapped over my head. The wind whipped my hair around, blocking my vision. The strands of hair felt like sharp knives as they whipped my cheeks. I could barley hear over the wind stirring around in the ship violently and the birds screeching. All of a sudden, everything seemed to stop. It got dead quiet. I slowly looked up and let go of Ghost. The window was completely blown out. I stared out of the window, panting and just down right confused. The sky was clear the crows had come and gone just like that. "Sh---Shadow!" Kenney stuttered. I slowly turned back around to see Lexa lying in the floor, blood oozing out of her body. I walked over towards her and knelt down. "Ghost, check the damage!" I said. I examined Lexa's bloody body. There were cuts all over her body. Her face and chest were shredded the worse. I looked down at her. There's nothing that I could do for her. "What do we do?" Kenney asked. I thought for possibly any solution. All of a sudden, Lexa started to cough and choke. She turned over onto her side and started to cough up blood. My heart sank. She's bleeding internally. She's as good as dead. I could hear a little squawk come from the back of my ship. My eyes narrowed as I looked. I could see something black moving around. I stood up and walked over to it. My eyes narrowed as I saw a crow flapping it's wings, rolling on the floor, obviously injured. I knelt down and picked it up. I stared at the ink black bird. Something about it seemed off though. It was squawking loudly but it almost sounded as if it was talking. I took off my glove and ran my fingers against it's hard and metal-like feathers. My heart sank as it opened it's beak and squawked, "Sovereign crow." My eyes widened. The last thing I heard, was a huge explosion and then there was nothing.