Council of Crows

While traveling through many a village I heard tales of the six, most were but superstitious stories from the mouths of the ignorant, but several reports bode well for the completion of my quest,.

For I sought these dark men who seemed to only exist on the fringes of mans normal realm,
I had queries that rang through my head most of the time, with only occasional solace in the deep alcohol induced stupor of the attempted purge, unexplained memories I preferred not to harbor,.. yet answers I sought,..
Subtly asking about I discovered the joining was due any day , but none knew it’s whereabouts or the reason of it’s calling, other than vague rumors of a resolution of a magical nature being brought forth, a number of people looked askance at me for even mentioning the possibility of such a gathering,.. as if it was none of my concern, little did they realize,.. little did I realize,...

One fellow in particular piqued my interest with his reaction,..
He avoided my eyes and told me that I was apt to find more than I bargained for,.. but I should stay in town for a while,.. then shied from any further contact with me,.
I watched him from distant vantage points, his tall thin frame, and pasty white complexion, was easily identified, though he did little that was suspicious or remarkable, I had grown a sense he held an answer,..

I had become obsessed as the clamoring in my head reached a level akin to the cacophony of a passing maelstrom,.. I needed resolution and the peace that would come with it,.. and this stick of a man cast a feeling of a gathering solution , hence I watched and waited,...

The day came when in the quiet of the morning the fellow quietly slipped to the back streets and headed toward the wood at the edge of town, alone and empty handed,.. save that I was behind him, all the while hoping that my presence would remain unnoticed,..
As he slipped into the woods edge, I could have sworn he turned and looked full at me, but without any sign that he sensed my presence in any way, he turned and stepped into the permanent shadow cast by the canopy of the ancient trees.

Hurrying to close the distance so I wouldn’t lose him in the gloom of the forest, I barely registered the first of the small markers hanging in the trees,..
The second came into view and caused me to look closer, an arrangement of what resembled the bones found in an owl pellet, but arranged like a medallion or ward
A small skull with other bones tinkling in the subtle breeze, and hair and grasses giving it a ceremonial feel and it spoke with a familiarity that I felt, but little understood,..
It reeked of a magic that made my scalp crawl,..

As I scanned to find my unwitting guide, I noticed him moving ahead toward a brighter section of the forest, his tall thin silhouette a beacon calling me to hurry toward a fate I had scrabbled toward all these years, unbeknownst to me what the final answers would be,..

As I tried to find cover so I could attempt to discreetly look into the bright sunlit clearing, I heard my name called before my vision could adjust to the glare,..
Deciding that stealth was wasted at this point I advanced shielding my eyes as best I could , the grass was only ankle high and as my sight acclimated the view before me became more unreal,..

Waiting in the center of a circle of chest high stones, stood my guide, looking even more thin and stick like in the almost unbearable illumination,..

The slabs, thrice as tall as wide, that radially would be just beyond his finger tips if he spread his long arms and described a circular spin , they appeared to have been hewn from a red granite uncommon to this area, their edges too fine to be of a natural formation,..
But the innocuous feature that rattled the mind, was what occupied the top of each of the six stones,.

Seen from a distance they would look normal enough, but my vantage made for a confusing visual puzzle,.. which was enhanced by the murmuring of indiscernible voices
Easily mistaken for very large ravens by their size, any county dweller would recognize the sleek bill and head marking the much smaller profile of the common crow,..

But these were no common crow, a voice beckoned yet again to come closer and before my eyes the six wavered in the light and in a manifesting of black conflagration the six stood before the stones as men in black robes,..

The foremost of the six again beckoned with motions and a voice of ironwood, strong and supple,
"do you not feel the calling?, the time has come for you to ascend to you proper place, our brother has come to the time to step down, and thus you have been summoned" with that he gestured to one of the six who looked tired and haggard beyond the appearance of his age,..

As two of his fellows helped the elder step from his robes he turned and made eye contact with me and the rushing nonsense in my head quieted and swirled in a wash of information and images,. And my sight saw a gathering of mist around the elder that rose and in his place flying off toward the east went a great white owl,..
I knew my next steps and walked to the open robes still held by the two,...
As the black cover settled about my body my mind again swelled with cohesive knowledge, the yammering all but gone, replaced with a sense of purpose and a drive to know my role in this strange evolution I was experiencing,.. and a hunger to learn,..

As the new settled about me like the robes setting on my frame the one who spoke to me, turned to my guide and said "Ash, you have served us well, you may now retire till next we need you,.", and without even a glance about the fellow walked to the edge of the clearing and reaching skyward he transformed hi feet spreading and becoming roots that worked their way into the earth, wile his body and arms manifested in to trunk and branches,. Leaving in his place the tree of his namesake,..

As my mind settled and my nerves calmed I heard the spokesman say this council is convened let us begin,.... my mind filled with what I was, and my destiny to be,..

As I flew westward taking my rounds and relishing the clear new existence that had come to me, I will joyfully take the tasks and duties that come to me, till the time that the council of crows next convene,..