Dealings With Deities

Chapter 21 - What one discards

"Would either of you care to explain what in the black hills is going on"

"When we figure out the whole story, maybe," Kaiho spoke with a strangely happy contrast to the wailing Shinoko.

"The priest appears at your feet and nobody can tell me why?"

"Oh, I thought you were asking an important question," Kaiho remarked, his childish wide lipped smile creating a torturous contrast to the elf, dwarf pairs panicked faces.

"Are you able to stand yet Shinoko?" He asked, making sure to take a step a fair distance back so that she was no longer laying on his feet.

Shinoko remained seated and unmoved. A small orange glimmer speckled through the gaps of her fingers before it vanished into her pocket and her gaze turned to the shrine.

Klelone's shrine no longer emitted it's intense heat nor did the hammer sit as if mid-strike. It had struck the anvil and fallen to the ground discarded as if the owner had given up and walked away.

It was a long thirty seconds before Shinoko gave a tired nod.

"Good then let's go get my-"

The fluttering of wings brought Kaiho's sentence to a halt.

"Oh, spying on us little bird?"

Little Bird, the falcon was perched upon a high hanging timber rafter. Obscured slightly by loose foliage and flowering vines. Had he not accidentally fluttered his wings this disguise likely would have continued to work.

*kek* The falcon flapped his wings and shook his head in a horrible attempt to deny his guilt.

"Have you been telling that Guardian what we have been doing?"

"No," The falcon shouted back, shaking his head in denial and clearly lying again.

"Do you even know what we are doing?"

"No," The falcon shouted, this time he fluttered his wings and puffed out his chest in a proud boast of his ignorance.

Sounds of wings smacking against wood announced the presence of a new bird. Loose feathers fell yet never reached the ground. A black-feathered bird landed with a silent grace that betrayed its size.

The creatures massive claws dug into the wooden beam causing splinters to scatter and fall. With a single motion from its wings, Little Bird was knocked aside as if he wasn't there in the first place.

"Awk!" Little Bird screeched and flew to the bannister beside Vordum.

The crows' large size matched that of a young wood elf and its blackish-red eyes gave definition to the word evil. Flicking its head from side to side at an unnatural pace left afterimages of its red eye glow.

"Friend of yours?" Kaiho asked Little Bird.

"N-no" Little Bird stuttered, his feathers ruffling in fear.

"Crow, what brings you here today?" Kaiho yelled up to the crow in his rudely polite tone.

"What one discards another takes." The black bird-shaped creature replied it's words escaping its beak as if the sound was summoned and merely emitted from the front of its face. Again it spread its wings and puffed out its chest.

Kaiho's smile vanished as he turned towards Vordum.

"Ears!" Kaiho yelled.

Vordum followed the order instantly. Much as he disliked being ordered, he knew there is always a reason for an order to be made. Shinoko, on the other hand, was still stuck in her daze. If she heard Kaiho or not, her body did not respond.