Chapter 11
A Prayer to the Ravens
Tommy and Harry flew on towards Carolina. It was a long flight and Tommy, being the most unfit of the five, was starting to tire.
"Boy, I'm so darn exhausted."
"I know what you mean, brother," said Harry serenely. "I ain't as young as I used to be, but I get through it." Harry knew how rambunctious the others could be, but he did not care. He enjoyed their company immensely and would not have any one else for friends. In fact he was one of the few crows in existence, with the gift to tell them when they were going to far, and they would listen. Jim had always acknowledged him as the father figure of the group and they would always come to him with their problems.
"Try gliding," he said. "Just relax your wings and let the air currents do the rest."
"Ok," said Tommy anxiously. He stopped flapping his wings and…
"WHOA!"
Tommy had to flap again to get himself level with Harry.
"It ain't no good, Harry, I ain't exactly slim lined."
"Very well, we'll find somewhere to rest." Harry scanned the area looking for somewhere to land. He spotted a small house next to a running river. He pointed towards it and they both glided down towards it, landing on the fencing around the porch.
"Is that good enough for you?" inquired Harry.
"Yeah, I'll just stretch my wings and…"
He had barely finished speaking when the door opened. A man stepped out, his appearance was that of Native American. He immediately spotted the crows, who stood rooted to the spot in terror.
"It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said kindly. "There you go." He put a biscuit on the bench, took his fishing rod and went down towards the river. Tommy flew over to the biscuit.
"Tommy," called Harry. "What do you think you're doin'"
"Come on Harry, if he wanted to kill us I think he would have done it already."
Harry looked over at the river, the man seemed more interested with fishing, so he flew over to the bench. Tommy broke the biscuit in half and shared with Harry who looked around the porch. It was only then that he noticed that the porch was decorated with wooden carvings of bears, wolves, foxes and…
Harry couldn't believe his eyes. There was a wooden carving of a raven hanging just above the bench. Ravens were the ancestors of the modern crows and were considered far more wiser. Legend said that the last ravens were alive when the crows were banished, but died when they were unable to find food. However their spirits were still said to be watching and protecting the crows. Harry had always been a strong believer in that legend, even though there was nothing to show that the ravens existed. He bowed his head to the raven.
"O' honourable ravens, please guide us through what's to come, please show us an answer to our problems, please give us all a reason to believe again."
Harry looked up at the carving of the raven, and then at Tommy.
"Okay," said the fat crow swallowing the last biscuit. "Let's take to the sky."
Harry nodded, took one last look at the raven then flew off after Tommy. The man waved after them, the two crows looked back and smiled in reply.