Ol' Flint the Crow

Flint's Second Tale pt. 16

At long last, Edvrick reluctantly dragged himself up, wiped the tears from his eyes, and stared off into the direction of the village only a few miles away.

"Flint..." he said after drawing in a deep breath. "I need you to do something for me."

Watching the sylph reach into his pockets, I furrowed my brow at the sight of a strange scarlet marble that he had just pulled out which twinkled in between his fingers. He pressed this object close to his lips and let out a waft of air. His exhale was so strong that his chest heaved inward and collapsed, making him cough and wheezed. With his sunken cheeks exposing his rigid jawbone, Edvrick wobbled, knocking his knees together.

He seemed to have aged before my eyes. No longer was his face bright and bursting of life. His face was hollow and creased with wrinkles. Shriveled up into a stiff claw, his hand cracked while it extended the red marble to me. The small orb had grown an inch thicker and floating inside was a revolving gust of wind.

"Take this..." moaned Edvrick wearily.

Not daring to refuse, I took the marble from him and asked, "W-what is it?"

"When I go and confront the hawk - Please Flint! I'm going back to the village no matter what you say. So stop pouting like that! - Regrettably, I'll have to entice the hawk into releasing the evil belonging to me. And when he does that, you must crush this marble. Stomp it with your talon, smash it in your wing as hard as you can! Destroy it! Promise me that you will! No matter what I might say to you once my other side takes hold of me, you must do this for me. I beg you Flint!"

I whimpered, "I-I don't understand! What will it do to ya? Please don't make me do it! I'm sorry Edv!"

"Flint!" Edvrick cupped the side of my face in his palm and moved his shivering lips against my ear and whispered, "You have to do this one last thing for me! You have to trust me! Please trust me, Flint! Follow me, now..."

Without giving me a chance to wiggle my way out of the task I'd been given, Edvrick hoisted me up on his shoulder and glided through the air on a current of the wind. The journey didn't prove to be a smooth one. Edvrick's power was lacking today. Most likely from what he had done to himself with the scarlet marble.

Plummeting on the ground, we made it back to the outskirts of the village. On the horizon, we could see newly formed clouds of black smoke hovering over the cabins like vultures in search for dying prey. The crackling of wood and the bitter screams of the villagers crying out for salvation burned my ears. And one by one their voices faltered as if snuffed out by some merciless being.

When we reached the top of a small hillside, we witnessed what that being proved to be. It was a figure covered in orange flames standing before a pile of melted bodies in the center of the village. With glowing white eyes, the lanky creature cocked its head at Edvrick like it knew the sylph. A cackle escaped the blazing being's crusty lips. Stepping over the burned body of Elman, the monster came at Edvrick who stood erect without fear.

Too afraid to go for my spear in order to protect him, I squawked and waved my wings in front of my beak, pointlessly trying to ward of the attack. Edvrick, not afraid in the least, didn't retreat an inched. Instead, he shot out his arms towards the river we were standing next to and, using the ability he had been blessed with, sent a wave barreling at the evil thing.

The monster screeched in fright and attempted to scamper away from the incoming water. Hearing the fire creature howling like crazy made me wonder if it was more terrified than it should have been. Perhaps the thing's unnatural fear was more of the memory of some previous duel with Edvrick that involved a similar attack with water.