As the Crows Fall | ONC 2020 Grand Winner

viii | The Hunted

| | |

Ruwei remembers the day her sister is born.

It is her first memory and one of only a handful of memories she has of her childhood.

She sits out in the field in front of her house, the tall grasses swaying in the wind. A small doll rests in her hands. She is only two years old, and the memory is hardly a flicker in her mind, but it stands out in stark clarity among the rest.

The air is clear and still, the grass is green, the flowers are just starting to bloom and Ruwei is alone. Her parents left her home alone that day, no family, no nanny, no friends.

No one.

She doesn't mind. She never has. Solitude is beloved company in its own right.

When the sun sets, she returns inside as she knows she should, and she waits, sitting quietly in the dark for her parents to return. It takes time, but she is patient.

Hours later, the sound of a key at the door has her scrambling to her feet. Her parents enter quietly. Exhaustion rings their eyes, but Ruwei does not notice. She only sees the small form in her mother's arms, black fuzz atop its head and eyes clenched shut against the world.

"It's a baby," she whispers, pressing a tiny hand to the creature's head.

"Yes," Mama says, smiling tiredly. "It is. Shi ni de meimei,"

It's your little sister.

"Meimei," Ruwei repeats, awestruck wonder in her voice.

"Ni yao baohu ta," Mama tells her. "Always."

Ruwei hears those words and never forgets them.

You should protect her.

Always.

| | |

She wears Ruyue's necklace today.

She doesn't want to. She is not so foolish to think that wearing a trinket once worn by a dead man is wise. Doubly so, that it was a trinket worn by her dead sister too.

But the crows insist.

They caw and jump and peck at her until she strings it about her neck and tucks it in her shirt. And then they do it all over again until she lets it hang free, dipping down to her breastbone.

She frowns at them. "Are you trying to get me killed?"

A soft caw.

"Mad, the lot of you." She shakes her head. "I can't wear this out, do you understand?"

Then we can't let you leave, comes the whisper of reply.

Ruwei can't tell if it's the crows or the god or her own witless thoughts that let the damned musing through. She shakes her head violently. There's dizziness, a lot of it these days. She knows the crows are dying and the god is fading and she running, running, running out of time.

And the crows are restless.

It has only been a day since she's gave Xuanwu the borrowed blood, but already she can feel their power waning.

Three days.

"Fine," she snaps, unwilling to waste time arguing with birds. "But mask it, alright?"

They lower their heads, their cries sounding just a touch more guilty than before. The necklace warms and she looks down to find the edges smoothed over, the soft shine of a glamour disguising its true nature.