Regno's wRiting ExeRcises

One Attractive Locket: Part II

     It could have been a missed opportunity, had the eyes of the crooked crow not opened in the night. Sitting himself upright, the chilly air from the nearby ocean shaved through Evraen's feathers. He remembered what he had woken up for, and scooted off his coat before taking it up from the ground and dusting it off. A yawn was followed, and he rubbed his eyes clear.

     "What's the time is it?" he wearily asked to himself, his words coming out funny. "Oh, that's right...I can't know what the time it is. I don't have a watch, my dear..."

     The silly crow began to lean to one side - almost losing his balance - when he extended a wing towards the floor and caught himself just in time. His body briefly quaked upon impact, and with one big shake of his head, his senses came right again.

     "Snap out of it, you goose!" said Evraen, then he quickly covered his beak. Any hearing of him being loud would potentially have his secretive operation compromised. "Excuse me, silence." he whispered. "Anyway, you, forget the effects of feeling tired! You've got the plan, as you mentioned to yourself earlier."

     With a nod and pulling on his maroon coat, Evraen stood up and turned. There was a wall now in front of him, and he was easily able to heave himself over the edge of it. Now he was higher up, he could see many more rooftops around him and the street below him. On either side of him laid odd paths of rooftops of varying heights, that had ups and downs in rough patterns.

     "Alright, let's see. The time for carrying it out is surely at hand now, and that moon is...up there."

     The third-quarter moon was not far off above Evraen's head, being positioned some way from its peak point and still going. In a few hours, it would be reaching the horizon. As he solemnly stared at the moon, Evraen nodded again.

     "I'd better get movin' before the light catches me instead." he said.

     The rest of Evraen's words fell into silence as he ventured forward to walk across the rooftops adjacent to his right. Some reaching up and lowering down followed as he came upon the differing levels, although they didn't slow the crow down much. He had been through this sort of thing many times before. Over and over the top of each shop, he tried to remember which one was the bookshop he had been in earlier.

     "It's...it's...this one. I believe it is."

     Peering over the edge and maintaining his balance, Evraen recognised the faded green colour of the verandah below. It was indeed the same verandah that he had kept the sunlight off the door. Nobody was bustling on the street at this night's hour. He gave a sly smile at this, which stretched into a grin when he found a large air duct right there behind him. A viable access point conveniently large enough for a crow like him to fit in. All was working in his favour, so far.

     "Thy plan shalt go to plan." he spoke with a smirk.

     The crow reached beneath the left fold of the inside of his coat, and produced his pocket knife. He slid the blade from its leather sheath (can't be seen with weapons in public!), and began to slowly pry against the edges of the square grille. The metal creaked as Evraen worked it loose, and with enough patience was eventually able to wriggle it off with his winged hands. Still with a jovial smile he placed the grille down, withdrew the pocket knife back in its place, and carefully crawled inside the air duct. He immediately cringed upon feeling just how cold the metal was.

     "I knew I should have taken those bandages with me, to put on my talons. I've already had them cold yesterday, but it's worse when it's actually cold out." Evraen thought as he inched further into the murky unknown.

     It was stale and even colder inside the air duct than outside, and almost devoid of any light aside from the entry way Evraen had come through. Even so, he carried on and remembered something that was coming up ahead. He stopped moving, and reached out his wing to feel along the cold floor before him. It sloped smoothly but sharply downwards for a little way. Evraen squinted as hard as he could, and he could barely make out a sloped curve below where the duct continued. It was like a vertical slide. He took a deep breath, and it echoed in both directions.