[Belin]

Kadwyr croaked loudly in surprise and distress. “Put an end to Eschkor? I tell you, traitor, if you kill my lieutenant…”

“Traitor yourself,” answered Brak coolly. “We can’t afford to have him reporting back, now, can we? You know that as well as I do.” He turned to Eschkor. “Well?”

Eschkor glanced quickly from one to the other, making small uncertain sounds deep in his throat. “You… what are you….”

But another, more urgent voice broke in from behind. One of Brak’s crows, unfamiliar to Kadwyr, had sighted the murder behind them, and was crying out in absolute panic. Eschkor wheeled around and was instantly at the very edges of their group, looking back and balancing on the wind as if he could guide himself off at any moment. “Kadwyr!…” he cried. “Look… no… our company… the murder… Kadwyr, do you see?”

Ignoring Brak’s furious glare, Kadwyr joined the small contingent of the group that had stopped moving forward altogether, that was darting back and forth in circles trying to get a good look at what had happened. Crows and feathers were scattered around the landscape, some flying away, some flying in utterly confused zigzags, some fighting with others for reasons not obvious to anyone in their small contingent of crows. Voices were all around him. “What happened?” “Are they all right?” “Where is Akaaw?” “Where is Fingot?”

“The murder is gone,” said Eschkor quietly. “Only this is left.”

“Precisely,” snapped Brak. “Come along, you sparrows, gaping won’t do any good. The murder is gone. We are what’s left. We were right—it couldn’t survive. Come on, now.” With an efficiency born of painstaking training, he gathered his crows into something almost similar to the neat little group they had been. “You two as well,” he added to Kadwyr and Eschkor almost as an afterthought, but as they silently took their places they were suddenly aware of the number of crows loyal to Brak, of by just how much they would be outnumbered if they were to change their minds. Brak continued the respect he’d shown to Kadwyr earlier, treating him as a fellow captain and a near equal, but all the pleasure in his new status had left Kadwyr. A deep distrust had replaced it. Still, he winged on toward Orthanc with the rest, perhaps unusually silent, but seemingly unchanged. Brak seemed satisfied, even if his bright yellow eyes did move toward Kadwyr with alarming frequency.

*******************************************

Saruman’s dark eyes rested on the crow before him. “Alas, so few of you have returned. Was the journey so arduous?”

Brak nodded and croaked solemnly. The wizard gazed out the window to where what was left of the former murder dozed. “And they have begun to abandon me here. Your worth shows all the more brightly, my beautiful servant. Tell the others of my words, and tell them they may rest, with my gratitude.” His voice was rich and slightly sad, as if the thought of all the strong young crows, both those lost in the mission and the descendants of Fingot who had fled soon after the return of Brak and Kadwyr, pained him deeply. Brak bobbed his head again and left the window, flying back toward the old tree. Kadwyr, perched silently in a nearby window, watched him go for a minute or two before taking off after him. He would need his advisor, the crow thought, with the echo of bitterness he was already learning to suppress. The fact that this advisor knew everything beforehand on his own accound was, of course, beside the point.

They had completed their mission. They had been rewarded. But the murder was full of an unease Kadwyr had never noticed before.

[ July 30, 2003: Message edited by: Belin ]