The Little Shaman

Chapter 11 - A Few Reasons

A steady tapping on the room's window caught Tibby's attention and forced him out of bed. Everyone else was still asleep. After a good stretch, Tibby looked over at the window to see what the fuss was about. Rays from the rising sun illuminated a long-tailed crow standing on the opposite side of the glass. Happy to have succeeded in waking the swamp child, the crow hopped up and down, flapped its wings, and tapped on the window several more times.

"What a silly bird," Tibby muttered under his breath.

The final taps woke both River and Boo. With only two beds in the room, Tibby had slept in one and Boo had slept in the other. That left River with the space on the floor in between, despite the fact that Boo had protested heavily against making him do that. Exchanging looks between them now that they were awake, Tibby noticed that neither man looked rested. On top of that, Boo's bed-head looked ridiculous.

"What is wrong with that bird?" Boo groaned, lifting up a pillow and preparing to throw it at the window.

"Wait," Deemo cautioned. "It's motioning towards Tibby with its wing. Almost like it's trying to get his attention."

Indeed, the bird was looking at Tibby and moving its left wing in such a way that it appeared to be summoning him to the window.

"That's not something I ever expected to see," said River in surprise.

"Same," Boo added.

Shuffling across the room, Tibby pushed a wooden chair up to the wall and unlatched the little hook keeping the window closed. The crow lifted back into the air as the windows opened, returning to the ledge once it was clear. With a quick look behind Tibby, the crow landed and shuffled its wings, shifting from foot to foot and bowing its head before hopping forward. Once it was right in front of Tibby, it stretched up so that it's beak was a few inches from his ear.

"You're in danger," the crow whispered.

"You can talk!" Tibby shouted before covering his mouth.

Shaking its little head, the crow sighed. "So much for whispering. Yes, we can speak. We try to keep quiet about such things because the bipeds would be bothering us to carry messages all the time if they knew. Anyway, isn't the danger part a little more important than the fact that I can speak?"

"Oh, true," Tibby replied, shaking his head to clear out the distractions and get back on track. "How are we in danger?"

"Danger?" River, Boo, and Deemo asked in unison.

Ignoring everyone else, the crow continued to talk only to Tibby. "We've been keeping an eye on you ever since we saw you leave the marshlands. We are a gossipy lot, you see. Reporting the comings and goings of the ground dwellers for our own amusement. We saw what happened to your father, so when we watched you leave the marshlands, well, we've all just been worried sick about you."

Squawking and backing up several hops, the crow looked behind Tibby. Boo and River were standing there with Deemo on Boo's shoulder. Tibby knew a talking crow was curious enough on its own. The talk of danger, however, is what likely brought them closer. They'd already risked so much in coming to Ritterton.

"It's okay," Tibby said to the crow. "They are my friends. I trust them, and you should too."

"Sorry. Old habits are hard to break."

"I know, but it would make me feel better if you just talked to all of us. That way I don't have to worry about explaining something wrong."

After shifting from foot to foot for several agonizing seconds, the crow seemed to shrug. "Very well. But I'm not repeating myself. Where did I leave off...oh yes. After you broke out of the human farm, a few of us stayed there to keep an eye on things, and a good thing we did, too. I started tapping on your window right after I found out that the human in charge is on his way here with a small group of soldiers. They left the farm before the sun came up."