Counting Crows

Mission:

With a concerned look, the farmers led Oda into their house to mend his back. He graciously accepted, taking a seat at one of the chairs with the back of the chair resting against his chest he proceeded to let the farmer's wife fuss over the small cuts on his back, he winced occasionally as the alcohol simultaneously burned and cooled his lacerated skin. As he did so, he talked to the farmers about what he saw.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that.” He said through winces.

“Yes, they seem to be organized, and mean bastards at that.” The farmer remarked as he pulled a small tobacco pipe out and began to smoke from it. “We got some cuts and bruises ourselves from trying to deal with ‘em. Them crows ain't nothing to trifle with.” He said nonchalantly.

“Ravens” Oda corrected

“Hmm?” The farmer replied.

“They were ravens, much nastier.” Oda said as he arose from his seated position, the farmer's wife done doing all she could to help mend his wounds.

He put his vest back on gingerly, wincing at the pain as it rested against his back. “I’ll get headed back out there, I got a chance to see what direction they came from. I need to get an idea of what's going on.”

The couple glanced at each other nervously and Oda picked up on their silent exchange.

“What is it?” He said with some coldness, he was in mission-mode, and his focus was on nothing but figuring this problem out. “If there is information to be had that would aid me in solving this, please be forthcoming.”

“It's just, we’ve tried telling people before, but we’ve been called crackpots.” The farmer said with some hesitation. He looked to his wife and she looked back to him, pleading with her eyes to simply explain.

“I can assure you, whatever is going on can’t be weirder than what I just saw with those birds.” Oda said confidently.

The farmers proceeded to explain their story in more detail. They explained how in an effort to drive the birds out they pursued them through the forest. They explained that after some time traversing the dense woods, they came upon a clearing with hundreds of small stone structures littered throughout. Small stone Cairnes that all created a swirling pattern filled the clearing. At the center of this structure was a massive crow, standing at easily 8ft tall with a wingspan of a massive 15ft. Surrounding the large bird were a mixture of ravens and crows, they all stared at the farmers as they entered into the clearing.

The next parts are fuzzy according to the farmers, all they remember was the piercing eye of the large crow as it stared daggers at them. And then, their memories get fuzzy, and all they remember is ending up back home covered in cuts. They both tried to retrace their steps but the confusion of the event meant that they could never find the clearing again.

Oda’s mouth was slightly agape, ok so maybe it could be weirder, he thought. “And, do you have any idea why they would be targeting you?” He asked with some fascination.

The wife of the Farmer, who Oda would learn was named Hinama, gave her husband another look, but Oda was too astounded by the story to notice.

“No, not at all, son. We’re just farmers trying to make a living.” The farmer said, casting his eyes down.

By this time Oda was pacing the room and formulating a plan. He wasn’t the best at plans, so his only idea was to simply go find the spot in question. Coming to this conclusion he nodded to himself and made his way outside.

“B-but where are you going?” Hinama asked innocently.

“Not to worry ma’am. I’m just gonna go visit the birds myself.” He gave a confident smile, hiding any nervousness he felt in the moment with a brash bravado.

“Oh! Uh, here.” The wife ran back inside briefly as the husband came to the doorway, a look of concern on his face.

“You sure that's smart son? Those birds are deadly.” He said. As he did the wife returned from inside, bringing a small pack of food and a jug of water. She gave them to Oda and he gave a bow of thanks.

“Yeah it should be ok, things like these are why we train at the academy, I'm on the job sir!” He said with another grin and a thumbs up. His face only showed any concern or nervousness once he had turned away from the farmers and headed towards the treeline.

The farmers gave a bow and a wave, imploring him to return safely as he walked away.

With a juxtaposition of confidence and trepidation, Oda made his way into the forest that lined the farmland. The initial hike was relatively straightforward. It was only when he got to about a half a mile that things began to get weird. The air became almost thick and weighted, there was no visual cue that this was happening but it was almost as if the humidity had increased, and breathing was laborious. Additionally, Oda could begin to hear the rustling of feathers and the breaking of twigs all around him, not overwhelming, but certainly there. Occasionally the rustling would sound like it was happening right next to his ear, causing him to startle.

Whatever it was that was impacting these woods, it had to be pretty powerful. Oda decided to move with some more caution, and kept his eye out for any trouble. Eventually, he was about 2 miles into the forest when a very loud cawing penetrated his ear drums. It sounded like the cawing of 100 different crows, all directly in his ear. It took everything for him to maintain his focus and continue onwards. He could tell due to the increased resistance that he must be getting closer.

Almost as if on cue, the thick forest fell away into a small clearing, it was the clearing that the farmers had described. Except, there was no large bird at the moment, instead there were hundreds of crows and ravens lining the clearing on the branches of the trees which surrounded it. They cawed and squawked  chaotically at the arrival of Oda into the clearing. He fell to one knee at the deluge of noise, it was getting close to an unbearable pain.  Suddenly, one piercing singular squawk erupted from above, immediately the smaller ravens and crows stopped. Oda looked up to see the large Queen Crow, sitting in the center of the clearing. He struggled to not look into its eyes, which stared at him with an intensity that seemed to make the air vibrate.

As if being forced by some invisible hand, his head inched upward until his eyes met the Crows. A high pitched ringing assaulted Oda’s senses, in the little time that remained he could see the crows and ravens morphing into terrifying shapes, sinking into the blackness as it consumed his vision. He tried to fight against it, but his body felt like it was moving in molasses. His training kicked in, and he tried absorbing any detail he could as he gripped to consciousness.

Too many details, birds on every cairn, where was the pattern? He scanned more in the waning seconds of being awake. At the very end only noticing the oddity, a singular cairn that sat empty with no bird. He had no time to think of it as his vision finally went black.

He awoke later that day at the edge of the treeline, he had no idea how long it had been. All he knew was his body was parched and his muscles were sore from the exertion of the hike into the woods. He got up wearily and sighed. He had no clue what to do, but he couldn’t give up. He tightened his headband and took a drink from the jug of water given to him by the farmers. With a determined look, he headed back into the forest.

Oda would repeat this same thing 4 times. Each time going in and being overwhelmed by the power of the Queen Crow. Each time, he would use his available time to gather any info he could. The only clue he could seem to gather was that the stone structure had one empty spot. Even if there were crows that could take it, the spot remained open.

Finally, pushed to his limits and exhausted, he returned to the farmhouse briefly to regroup. His efforts clearly weren’t producing results and he needed to change tact. He knocked on the door and upon opening it the two Farmers welcomed him in quickly and with concern. They provided him with some food and a warm cup of tea and as he recovered they talked about what he had seen.

“Are you sure they just started randomly attacking you? Is there anything that could have happened to make them target you?” He asked at one point in their discussion.

The farmers looked down guiltily for only a brief second, but it was enough for Oda to catch now that he had rested a bit.

“What are you not telling me?” He said with some authority in his voice.

“Honey, just show him.” The wife said with some shame in her voice. The husband grumbled but begrudgingly led Oda to their basement.

At the center of the basement was a raven, caught in a cage and remaining silent.

“It stopped squawking a while ago… I think its vocal chords got tired or something.” The old man said shamefully.

“Why? Why are you keeping it here?” Oda said with a tinge of anger in his voice.

“We were going to let it go, but we noticed our crops were doing so much better. We tried letting it go once but as soon as we did our crops began dying.” The farmer said with some pleading in his voice.

Oda sighed and reached for the cage. The bird gave a small squawk in appreciation. As he attempted to leave the old farmer blocked his way. “Now son, I can’t just let you leave with it, I've got a farm to run.”

“Yes, YOU have a farm to run, it's not this bird's responsibility. Move or be moved.” Oda said coldly, his eyes flickering orange and red.

The old man stared him down briefly before breaking under the tension and allowing him by. The bird squawked at the farmer in defiance as Oda passed. He nodded to the wife respectfully but quickly made his way to the farmland. He would’ve preferred to stay in the warmth while he waited for the bird's return but, his anger at the whole situation drove him to simply stand out in the field. Bird cage in one hand, he stoically stood in the field, waiting for the return of the birds.

It took a few hours, but eventually he could hear the cawing of the birds as they congregated at the tree line. Oda prepared, kneeling on one knee and releasing the bird from the cage. It hopped out of the cage and briefly looked at him, cawing and then flying away toward the tree line. It never revealed itself, but Oda could see the large eyes of the Queen crow staring at him from the shadows of the woods. He nodded solemnly to the creature, and the birds gave one final caw before flying into the sky by the hundreds and heading deeper into the woods.

Oda would briefly return to the Kage Tower to inform them of the day's events, making a note in his report to look out for the Queen Crow. After his report, he would spend the next few months occasionally stopping by the farm to check on it. The birds had not returned, and after a few months of hard times, the farm itself eventually recovered as well. While he was angry at the farmers initially, he understood that they could make mistakes. Eventually he didn’t hold it against them, and actually developed a friendship with the farmers. The free zucchini was well worth the adventure.

---

[exit]
TWC: 2047

Claims: