[Belin]

Kadwyr glanced anxiously at the anxious group of birds that followed him. They kept tight together as they sped forward, seeming to master themselves slightly at the definitive nature of their task.

The horsemen were swift, but the crebain were swifter. They overtook them almost immediately, Krikaw and his company from one side and Kadwyr's crows from the other. They dove toward them, nearly mirroring each other's movements as Kadwyr's group checked everything they were doing against Krikaw. They descended upon the warriors, calling loudly, enveloping them in a great cloud of sharp claws and dark bodies. The horses panicked--most of them.

"Eschkor! Kaw! Stop them!" cried Kadwyr frantically, hoping they'd see the two strawheads that had dismounted and were methodically and purosefully leading their horses out of the melee. Eschkor wheeled toward him immediately, escaping a spear and staring rather blankly at Kadwyr. Kaw took no notice of him at all. "There!" Kadwyr told him. Was the bird blind? "Them!"

Kadwyr sighed in relief as Eschkor dove toward them and was soon joined by others. Now where had Krikaw gone?

There--he was taunting a spearman, circling a bare feather's distance from the dangerous blade. "Krikaw!" he screamed. "Look at this!"

The older bird ignored him, moving in quickly for an attack on the warrior. Kadwyr fumed. Did it matter how important his news was?

"Krikaw!" he screamed again. "You there! Look!"

As the warrior fell, Krikaw flew toward him, apparently as furious as he was. "Listen, you young sparrow," he began, "do you understand what we're doing here?"

"I had a question." Kadwyr let the words fall flatly and evenly. Let Krikaw see that he was angry; why not? "Look at that. Where are they going?"

"Who cares? They've been stopped. Call me out of battle again and we'll see who's clever at noticing things. Do you have a question about that?"

Without an answer, Kadwyr dropped toward where the horsemen had been, noticing in passing the bloodied and trampled body of Kaw. See what comes of not listening? passed briefly through his mind as the Uruks arrived.