Ol' Flint the Crow

Meanwhile, Outside...

"I do care, Mr. Samuel..." Bleak mouthed sadly as she gazed at the minstrel storming away down the hill to the Madam's mansion. She wanted to stop him, but her voice fell silent. The mission was already underway. Yet deep in her heart a pain caused her to exhale in dismay.

Yanking her golden locks, out of frustration, the barmaid groaned at her foolish thoughts. "Oh! What the hell's wrong with me?! Stupid flute player! Like I care what he does with that woman!"

Nevertheless, Bleak could not help but stagger back where Flint and Ribbs's daughter were. The rabbit corpses dangled against the woman's large waist, swaying side to side. The bartender ran her stubby fingers against the side of her temple and shielded her eyes away from the setting sun in front of her.

Bleak found Flint and the young frog sitting on a lone stone in the grass. They were having an enjoyable conversation in their primitive language. Laughing and hooting wildly, Flint was so happy that his tail bounced behind him.

The barmaid was all too glad to see the bird in such a good mood, so she kept her distance from the two animals. She instead occupied her time by skinning then curing the rabbit meat for it to be ready later for cooking.

After a while, Bleak noticed that the animals' voices had suddenly fallen silent. She turned around and saw the frog gapping at the skinned rabbits in horror. The human looked down at her own blood covered fingers and understood the animal's fear. Tucking the dead rabbits, covered in salt, into the supply bags, Bleak grimaced out of guilt. She cursed herself at how inconsiderate she was.

Flint quickly squawked at the frog telling her to look away. Immediately obeying, the frog slumped down on the rock as the crow hopped away to speak with Miss Bleak. The amphibian didn't turn around as the woman and bird spoke. She only looked at her webbed feet which hung like a hangman's rope.

Letting out a doleful whistle, Flint drawled, "Samuel's gone down the hill already, huh?"

Bleak shook her head. With a despondent expression, she quickly added, "Forgive me... for the rabbits."

"Oh don't mind little Pollywiggle," Flint said, gesturing to the frog. "That's her name in the human tongue. Trust me, she's seen and will see worse. It's a violent world we animals live in Miss Bleak, and trying to hide that fact from her won't help any."

Bleak did not answer.

Tapping the barmaid gently, Flint beckoned her to the top of the hill to have a better view of the mansion. The two of them huddled on their bellies and gazed down in the valley at the evil castle with its many Gok idols staring ominously in their direction.

Shuddering, Bleak squinted her eyes and peered at the building. But it was too far away, and anything that she could make out was much too hazy for her to discern. The light slowly fading behind them did not make her vision any clearer either.

"Can you see anything, Flint?" the bartender had to ask.

With an obnoxious chuckle, the crow answered, "What? Can't see anything with those human eyes of yours, huh? Hehe... Don't worry, I can see clear enough for the two of us."

"Yeah, with one eye," Bleak ridiculed him.

Flint stuck out his tongue then, with the help of his sharp vision, he proceeded to describe what was going on. "Hmm... Looks like our brave flute player made it past the pigs unscathed. I don't see his body lying trampled to death... Windows... windows... Ah! There he is, on the far left side of the building, the second floor window over there. See? Looks like he's being led somewhere by... Who's that? An ape... Eh? Good!"

The bird stood up on his talons and propelled his wing to the left of the mansion where a mango tree was growing just below a bedroom window. "You see that?! It's a pig's trough. Samuel got lucky. It's just a stone's throw away from the room the monkey is taking him in. Let's see if the good minstrel makes use of his fortune..."