Quoted By:
The night comes quicker, and more ravens flock down to land around the village. First they settle on the tree stumps, then on the gnarled trees reaching out of the mountains on the other side of the village, then on the ground to the northwest. None of them make a sound. Looks are thrown to the ravens by the villagers every once in a while, but you can’t make them out in any clarity.
The argument between the five leaders is over, the younger men seem to have won, and they haul themselves up onto the platform, well lit now. The three prisoners are forcefully knelt, three braves to each of them as the rest of the village gathers en masse around the platform. One of the two younger leaders begins to speak, the other is brought a large war club by another man.
You know what this is. You knew what this was when you first saw the prisoners. You knew these tribes were hostile to your kind and you had made your peace with the fact that they would certainly have killed white men before. Yet…with the encroaching winter you were sure no Christian soul would have any reason to be up this far into the mountains beside yourself.
More ravens, they flutter down wherever there is empty space, more than you ever thought possible, hundreds, all completely silent and staring inside the village. None of them crossing the boundaries set by the poles around the edge. Black eyes staring at the dangling corpses of their bretheren. There is only one sliver of light left on the horizon.
The speech is over. The great fire in front of the platform illuminates the leader drawing his knife, the other leader hoists his heavy weapon, and one of the prisoners is brought forward. You can make out the craning necks of the villagers shifting back and forth between what’s happening on the platform, and the grim sights right outside their village. Your Sharps rifle is right beside you.
Aside from the very first, none of the ravens have made any sound, which is why you start ferociously when you hear a loud caw down the ridge in front of you. One of the birds stares directly at you, holding your gaze before it caws again and flies over to one of the outmost poles at the village perimeter. It looks at you, directly at you, standing on the ground by the pole, just outside the village, and caws again. The light is all gone now, the fire roars in the village, you white-knuckle your rifle…and make a decision.
