Storm Crows, page 1
Storm Crows
Erik Christopher Martin
In A Bind Books
In A Bind Books
San Diego, CA
First published 2018
First hardcover publication 2023
All rights reserved
Storm Crows copyright 2018 by Erik Christopher Martin
Revised edition 2023
Cover art by GetCovers
ISBN 978-1-961215-00-9 paperback edition
ISBN 978-1-961215-01-6 eBook
ISBN 978-1-961215-02-3 hardcover edition
Library of Congress Control Number 2018902350
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Summary: A young crow leads his friends away from their oppressive flock to the ocean, where they must overcome predators, natural disasters, and the wrath of their former flock leader to find their homes.
Books by Erik Christopher Martin
Dexter of Pozzelby
Miralee: A Shadow Knights Tale
Storm Crows
Dotty Morgan Supernatural Sleuth series
The Case of the French Fry Phantom
The Case of the Zombie Ninjas (Coming 2024)
For everyone still looking for their home.
Contents
Introduction to the Revised Edition
1. Cawnor Crow
2. Ocean Talk
3. Endrex's Warning
4. Tor's Choice
5. Arrested!
6. Wia's Prediction
7. Cawnor Is Sentenced
8. With the Rain, Hope
9. Flight in the Storm
10. Two Moons
11. The Estuary
12. Wisdom and Mercy
13. Antsie Recites
14. Swimming Lessons
15. The Hawk
16. The Vision
17. Rebecca Upset
18. Kraven Goes West
19. The Diamond Ring
20. Goldfinch Down
21. The Black Wing Reaches the Coast
22. Rebecca's Discovery
23. Cawnor's Plan
24. Where Gaudio Went
25. Mallec
26. Arrival at Dawn
27. Evading Pursuit
28. Stronger Together
29. Endless Water
30. The Meeting by the Hawk's Nest
31. A Shift in the Deep
32. Water Flows Out
33. The Wave
34. A Crow Lost
35. An Engagement And An Ambush
36. Stronger Together, Part Two
37. Nothing But Sunshine
Afterword
About the Author
Introduction to the Revised Edition
Storm Crows surprised me in that I wasn't planning to write it. I was supposed to be working on Brin of Scrytch or the sequel to Miralee, but this story about a band of crows looking for their forever home kept intruding. Before I knew it, I had put those other books aside and was churning out the first draft of Storm Crows.
The catalyst for the book happened a few years earlier. I was laying on the grass in my backyard in Cleveland. It was a hot, humid summer afternoon. Tranquil. Suddenly, a bunch of squawking birds appeared overhead and shattered the peace. Four or five crows were harrying a BIG red-tailed hawk, driving it out of their territory. Not an easy task. They weren't alone though, other, smaller birds, were joined in the effort. I was impressed by the way the various species cooperated. The image stuck with me and eventually coalesced into Storm Crows.
I feel like I have to acknowledge another influence for the book, and that is Richard Adams's Watership Down. This was a favorite of mine growing up, the 70's era cartoon and then the book. As I wrote Storm Crows I saw parallels between my crows and the rabbits of Watership Down. Both stories share similarities with countless tales of finding one's home, which is really a coming of age story. All these elements combined to create the first edition that came out in 2018.
Five years later, I felt it was time to give Storm Crows a new look. The first cover was my own design and I will be the first to admit that I'm not a cover designer. But if I was going to commission a new cover, I thought I should check the manuscript too. Until a couple years ago, I was a one man show, mostly due to budget. A quick editing pass turned into a substantial rewrite where even the ending changed.
Thanks for being here to join Cawnor and his friends on their journey to the ocean. If you've been here before, you'll notice differences, for the better I hope. If it is your first time, enjoy!
one
Cawnor Crow
Sunset. Cawnor flew high, higher than any of the other crows of the flock. He had to fly that high to see the gold and pink of the setting sun as it burnt a path across the far off sea. It was so far away, but on a clear evening he could just make it out. He always flew the heights at twilight on such days. The twinkling beauty filled him with longing. The rest of the flock was forgotten below.
Cawnor only descended when the sun had completely set, and the last bit of the orange had vanished.
He was just above the treetops when a frightened cry called out from the ground.
Rebecca!
Gliding, he looped back and landed high in a tall tree. He hopped down lower being careful not to shake the branches.
Rebecca spoke to someone Cawnor couldn’t see. “I told you to leave me alone! That’s not funny. Get out of my way right now or I’ll—”
“You’ll what? Scream? You tried that already and no one came. You should know better than to go north of the stream after dark. The flock is bedding down. You’re lucky I came along.”
Cawnor recognized the second voice. It belonged to Kraven. Cawnor’s feathers ruffled, and his eyes narrowed. He hopped lower so that he could see. Amidst the deepening shadows, he could just make it out.
Kraven had the much smaller Rebecca backed up against a blackberry bush. She moved left. He blocked her. Rebecca tried to push off and fly away. Kraven knocked her back, causing her wing to snag on the thorny branch.
“Stop pretending you don’t like me and give me a little peck.”
Cawnor launched himself off the branch. Kraven was bigger, but Cawnor struck his shoulder with both talons and his momentum sent Kraven tumbling.
“Leave her alone!”
Kraven got up and dusted himself off. He regarded Cawnor with pitiless eyes. He spread his wings and shook off a clinging white blackberry petal.
“Cawnor, go away. This doesn’t concern you.”
“I will, but Rebecca is coming with me.”
Kraven cawed an ugly, mocking laugh.
“I don’t care where she goes. However, before you go there is one thing that you should see.”
Kraven scratched the ground as if scratching for a potato bug. He appeared to pick up something. Kraven opened his wings for balance and held out his closed foot. Cawnor hesitated, but then leaned forward slightly, trying to see what Kraven held.
“Behind you!” Rebecca yelled.
Cawnor jumped right just as an unseen attacker flew at him from the rear. He was buffeted by a wing but, thanks to Rebecca’s warning, the talons missed.
That Rafe had ambushed him didn’t surprise Cawnor. When Kraven was present, Rafe was usually lurking nearby.
Kraven and Rafe cawed at him with derision. Both were older and larger, but Cawnor stood his ground. Rebecca was nearly free of the thorns, but not quite.
“Afraid to fight your own battles, as usual,” said Cawnor, stalling.
Rafe ranged out to one side. They would attack from different directions. Cawnor was not inclined to wait for it. He leapt at Kraven, claws forward. Kraven squawked in surprise and fell back. Cawnor didn’t press. He flew up before Rafe could join in and landed near Rebecca. Quickly, he used his beak to untangle her.
“What’s going on here?” said a new voice.
Tor had arrived.
Kraven’s demeanor shifted instantly from aggressive to nonchalant. Tor was older than either of them and just as big. More important, he was friendly with Cawnor.
“Nothing’s going on here,” Kraven said. “Isn’t that right, Rafe?”
“Sure, nothing at all.”
“In fact, we were just leaving. Come on.”
Kraven and Rafe pushed off and took flight, heading across the stream where the rest of the flock was.
“Are the two of you alright? I heard fighting.”
Cawnor bobbed his head. “We’re fine. You’ve got good timing. Kraven caught Rebecca alone and decided to give her some unwanted attention. I came to escort her back to the flock.”
“Always the gentleman. Kraven looked a bit disheveled. Do you think he’ll tell his father?”
Kraven’s father was the flock leader, Endrex.
“He might, but I don’t think so. He’d have to explain how the fight started. Rebecca, how’s your leg?”
“It’s okay. Thank you, Cawnor. Kraven gives me the creeps. Give him a peck indeed! A peck in his eye is more like it.”
“I shouldn’t have interfered then. I would have loved to have seen that,” Cawnor said.
The last light had fled the sky.
Tor spread his wings. “We should go home. Come.”
two
Ocean Talk
The flock spread out over the mesa enjoying the morning sun. Most birds
“Yes, he was very brave,” Rebecca said to Mellori. “Standing up to both of those bullies like that.”
Cawnor felt himself grow warm.
“Foolish is more like it. It sounds like if Tor hadn’t shown up Cawnor would have been worm-meat.”
“Nonsense. He could have held them off long enough for me to get free of that bush. Then I’d have helped. I’m stronger than I look.”
Tor chuckled. “It was lucky that Cawnor was nearby.”
“Yes, what were you doing over there?” Mellori asked.
Cawnor looked embarrassed. “I was...well, I was looking at the ocean.”
“The ocean? I see the ocean nearly every day. What’s so special about that?”
“A thin, shiny strip that you think nothing about.”
“What is there to think about?”
“What is there to think about?! There’s...well it’s marvelous and mysterious and powerful.”
“How would you know? You’ve never been there.”
“No. But if you flew the heights at the edge of the mesa, like I do when the sun sets on a clear day, you’d know that I’m telling the truth.”
No one said anything for a moment. Cawnor scratched the soft earth and looked around. He glanced at Rebecca but looked down when their eyes nearly met. Instead, his gaze fell past her shoulder and landed on a skinny, awkward-looking crow standing a dozen feet away.
Her name was Wia. Cawnor had never spoken to her, but everyone knew her reputation. Wia was strange. Wia was not right in the head.
Wia was staring at him.
Startled, Cawnor looked away—right at Rebecca, who was also looking at him. He swallowed hard but didn’t—couldn’t look away. She smiled a little, and then she was the one to look down. Cawnor melted and forgot all about Wia.
Then Rebecca looked at Tor normal as could be, as if that last moment hadn’t happened. Cawnor felt a little faint. Maybe he was imagining things.
“Tor, have you ever been to the ocean?” she asked.
“Hmm? No. My old flock lived east of here, on the edge of the desert. I traveled around after I left, but this was as far west as I got.”
Tor was the only foreigner in the Flock of the Mesa. Endrex was strict about not letting strangers encroach the flock’s territory. He was just as strict about not letting crows leave. But Tor was large and an obvious fighter, so when he’d shown up six months earlier, Endrex had relented and had let Tor join.
“The desert sounds romantic,” Mellori said. “I’d love to hear about it.”
“I’ve been to the ocean,” said a thin voice from behind Rebecca.
No one heard her. Conversation continued, until the voice came again, a little louder this time.
“I’ve been to the ocean.”
The four crows looked and saw Wia standing right behind Rebecca.
“You’ve been to the ocean?” said Mellori. “I don’t believe it. You never go anywhere. Sometimes you don’t leave your tree for days.”
“True. But I’ve been there...in my mind. I’ve been to lots of places. I’ve been to Tor’s desert...there’s a fence with a big yellow sign and a white, metal dome that men made.”
Mellori laughed. “Don’t listen to this one; she’s touched.”
Cawnor thought it sounded incredible, but he noticed the way Tor’s beak hung open as he stared at the bedraggled bird.
“Mellori, that isn’t nice,” Rebecca said.
“Caw, caw, caw!” Mellori laughed so hard her wings flapped.
“Mellori!”
“Wia, what was it like?” Cawnor asked.
Wia was already flying away.
“Wonderful, Mellori; you’ve flown her off,” Rebecca said.
“Aww, Rebecca, she’s crazy.”
Tor scratched the ground thoughtfully. “I’m not so sure. There was a big white dome with a fence and a yellow sign near my birth-flock’s territory. Just like she said.”
Mellori was unimpressed. “She probably heard you talk about it.”
Tor cocked his head. “Maybe.”
Caaww!
Cawnor looked up and immediately ducked as a pair of birds dove towards him—Kraven and Rafe. They pulled up at the last moment, banked, turned, and then landed in the middle of the four. Rafe laughed. Kraven looked smug.
“What are you doing?! You might have run into the girls,” Cawnor said.
“Nonsense. It was just a little fun. We have perfect control. No one was in any danger.”
“What do you want, Kraven?” asked Tor.
“Well, as you know, Endrex is going to announce the newest additions to the Black Wing in three days. This morning he told me that I’ll be appointed. Rafe too.”
“Big deal. Endrex is your father. Even if you get appointed, it’s not because you deserve it,” Mellori said.
“You wound me. Surely you aren’t suggesting that the flock leader is showing favoritism? But you’re wrong; it is a big deal. Cawnor, you’re aware that members of the Black Wing get their pick of mates.” He was speaking to Cawnor but looking at Rebecca.
Rebecca looked down.
Cawnor stiffened, and his eyes narrowed. His muscles tensed as he prepared to launch himself at Kraven for the second time in two days. Tor stepped in front of him, one wing held out.
“Cawnor, no. It’s what he wants. There are too many witnesses here. You’d be taken to the Purple Throne for judgment.”
Slowly, Cawnor backed up and forced himself to relax. Tor locked eyes with Kraven.
“It’s time for you to leave. Now.”
Kraven chuckled and bobbed his head.
“Of course. Rafe and I have important things to attend. Rebecca, I’ll see you soon.”
The pair flew off and disappeared from sight. No one saw them turn and sneak back taking a hidden perch from where they could observe Cawnor and the others.
“I can’t stay here if Kraven and Rafe are in the Black Wing,” Cawnor was saying.
“You? You aren’t going to be mated to him,” said Rebecca. “What do you suggest?”
“We’ll have to leave. And soon.”
Tor hopped forward.
“Wait. There is one other option. Endrex asked me to join the Black Wing too. He seems to value what I say. Perhaps I can talk to him.”
“What? Why didn’t you tell me that?”
“I didn’t know if I was going to accept. Let’s wait a few days. I’ll talk to Endrex. If it doesn’t go well, we’ll all go. Except for you, my friends, I don’t have any ties here. Seeing the ocean has a certain appeal.”
“No. I’m not going to let you three go off without me,” said Mellori. “If you go, count me in.”
“Alright,” Cawnor said, smiling. “It’s decided.”
Excited, the four crows flew off, wheeling and darting. From his perch, Kraven watched them through slitted eyes. When he thought it was safe to come out, he went in search of his father.
three
Endrex's Warning
Tor spoke with Endrex the next day. He found the flock leader flying with his personal guard along the edge of the eastern mountains, the furthest extent of the flock’s territory in that direction.
Endrex’s guard was made up of six of the largest, most experienced members of the Black Wing.
When Tor approached, three of Endrex’s guards broke away to intercept him.
“What do you want?” asked a crow called Grall, a formidable fighter, despite having a leg that had been mauled by a vulture two years past.
“I need to speak with Endrex.”
They were flying parallel to the flock leader. Grall glanced over his shoulder. Endrex nodded.
“Let him approach. Come, Tor. Fly with me.”
The guards kept the leader in their center, but backed up enough to give them privacy.
Tor waited for Endrex to speak first. They flew fifty feet up, while the mountains loomed off to the left.
