4. Episode The Peacock and the Crow
Staring into the flames was one of those moments were thoughts of past and future came to him as these notes that he needed to read or store somewhere so he could remember them. The Peacock, made him think back on the encounter he once had with her. How proud she had been and yet she had something about her, that made her hardly appealing. The latter rather odd, since Crow enjoyed the women more than he often was willing to admit. He never underestimated the power these creatures held in his world, even though they could be enslaved and taken at whim by any men. Perhaps some women felt secure behind the high walls of cities, but he was very sure that if a man truly wished to possess one, she eventually would find herself at his feet. However the man might have to pay with something much grander than the woman would. He had lost something, which Crow tried hard to keep.
The flames made his eyes light up with that glow of demonic thoughts about the women he had owned, deceived, taken and even murdered. He was a proud man and never really lost that strength that he owned when he was still a tarnsman in Glorious Ar. But even then he knew that love could weaken him, would make him soft, tender and caring. His companion had eventually showed him how weak he as a man had been, when she had died in his arms. The loss of her, had made him doubt everything he was at that point and eventually prey to the Assassin Snix. It had been him that recruited him for the first time, when Assassins had been outlawed by the mistakes of Pa Kur.
He glances to the girl that seemed to crawl deeper underneath his cloak in wonder why she came so often on his path in life. The peacock that had been bitter to his caste, by the loss of her lover that desired the black cloak and helmet. The lad hadn’t survived the harsh training and he knew she had blamed him for his demise. In a way he knew that her judgement was true and false. The lad had died eventually if he hadn’t done it in his training. There was no true desire, but only the wish to learn the skill and run off with the woman he loved. Crow shook his head, when the thought of love crossed his mind. Love was one thing that many of his caste feared. He knew that some did love their slave, perhaps even had a secret affair with a lady that betrayed her own companion with such a dark and sinister killer. But he knew also how many of those had been killed, because they eventually weren’t able to be uncompromising to their profession.
He took a stick and poked the fire to ignite it a bit better and added a new log upon it, when his thoughts went to the women and slaves he had deceived by his – so called care – They thought to own his heart, but it had been cold to them. However their need to have his love, gave him the opportunity to fake it and make these women splendid within the furs. The y blossomed in their collar only because he had been able to be this amazing actor that could play the part. The last one of the things that abled him often to approach a target, to kill him in the next.
When the girl moved and spoke he turned to her, noticing that she wasn’t doing that well. Cold might have held her longer than he thought. Perhaps hunger or thirst made her hardly conscious to what danger might be beside her. When she spoke the words – My Crow – he arched a brow. If she had knelt before him, he would have slapped her for speaking so boldly. He wasn’t anyones, but his own. However her voice seemed weak and hardly the woman he remembered from Ar. It had been there where he had made her walk around a tree, just for his entertainment and have her out of hearing range. She was at times obnoxious, annoyingly there, when he didn’t need a slave or a woman such as herself. She was not only beautiful in an unique way, she was cunning too. The peacock wasn’t one he would ever underestimate.
When the woman again spoke his name and seemed to drift back in her own world, where she struggled with her own demons, he wondered what to do with her. He could just leave her there, have nature or the wheel of life have his own way with her. However he couldn’t dismiss that feeling he had been sent here for a reason and that she was part of an answer that needed to be unravelled. She seemed so helpless there now, something that made her truly beautiful. “How sweet to concur a peacock when she has no longer her feathers to ruffle.” He mused while he decided to end the fire with some kicks of dirt over it.
He turned to the woman that seemed even more fragile in the moonlight. He used the cloak to keep her warm as in this role that he could carry over his shoulders. “Seems you must have a good luck charm, Peacock.” He mutters while he tried to lift the weight on his shoulders so he could walk without much discomfort. Unsure where he could find a physician in these parts that might take care of her, he started to walk. Thankful for the strength he owned and that helped him to keep going even with the load of the woman on his shoulders.
Although this might be seen as care for the women, it had a different purpose to him that he took her. For some reason he had found her and with it he felt there was something that he needed to learn from her. He would drop her by the first signs of danger, would sacrifice her if some thieves held an interest in her. She was only a woman and with it, unimportant when it came to the choice he or she. “Too noble.” He muttered to himself, knowing that he was an odd one in his caste and wondered how many of his caste brothers would have made the choice to pick up the girl to carry her to a physician. His face became grim of anger, when he considered why he eventually had made that choice. He – by the Priest Kings – cared for the girls life. Death served a purpose, but he wasn’t one to just offer a life to death without giving effort to keep it alive, unless coin was paid. Then, but only then he would take life, without blinking or doubt.
Crows Murder 
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