Chapter 3
It was an extremely long flight, and the crow felt the exhaustion keenly. Still, she refused to let the fatigue get the better of her. Her love was out there somewhere and she knew she had to find him as soon as possible.
The despair of seeing only an endless ocean heightened her anxiety. This can't possibly be a home to her kind. She knew that soon they were to have a family, and the thought of the loss of a proper home only compounded the fear that already lodged in her heart for her loved one.
Just when she thought that she could fly no more, that out of sheer fatigue she would have that vast ocean for a grave, she saw the island. She screamed out of pure relief and gave the last of her strength to speeding to that site of hope.
It was a little patch of land littered with small rocks and pebbles; only a few creatures would be able to stand upon it without their feet touching the waters. Nevertheless, it was dry and-- miracle of miracles! An olive sapling had begun to grow at the very center of the small isle, the first sign of life in an otherwise barren water-world.
But where was her beloved? She refused to think of the worst. He could not have been so easily defeated by a mere dove.
As she prepared to take wing again in spite of her exhaustion, she heard that which brought no small amount of joy to her heart. It was his voice! It came from the farthest shore of the small piece of land. She saw him then, trying to get up from the ground, taking faltering steps towards her. She rushed to him, her heart singing.
Bliss is not word enough for the sublimity of the lovers' reunion. No other touch could compare to those they shared at that moment as they staggered against each other.
"I knew you were still alive. I knew you would keep your promise!" she cried. "That traitorous dove could not have defeated you."
Suddenly he collapsed to the ground.
"The dove--" he whispered.
It was then that she noticed the blood on his face and all over his feathers, and saw the horrible truth-he was blind. Blood flowed from his eyes in a slow but steady trickle.
"When I saw him, I knew that Master Noah had been too impatient to wait for me; but still I welcomed him as a friend and shared with him the happiness of this new hope," he related slowly as he breathed heavily. "I turned my back to him in order to pluck a twig from the sapling so that we may return to the master with this wonderful news. I did not notice that he had picked up a stone. Once I turned back to him, he hurled the stone straight at my eye, then attacked me at once and scratched out my other eye."
His feathers trembled with restrained fury. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed. He had lost too much blood.
"Please be still. Conserve your strength, beloved," she begged him.
But he could not stop. She must know that he had meant to return to her no matter what.
"Sightless I fought with him and I knew that I had given him a few wounds, but he managed to escape anyway. I tried to fly back to the Ark. Even though I was blind, I still had my other senses. I could not forget what Master Noah told me. But it was you-you were the only thought in my mind," his voice softened.
"Yes, I always believed you would come back to me," she said softly, caressing his face. "Rest now, we have new land. There must be others out there waiting to be found. I will soon lay my eggs and we will have a family and a home at last."
His breathing slowed even more and became shallower, but he had to tell her-
"I tried to go back! But I was too weak--" his voice filled with anguish. "No matter what happens," he whispered to her, "I will return and I will have my revenge. I will make that evil pay for what it has stolen. I promise, I promise--"
"I believe you," she whispered softly as her beloved gave up his last breath with a promise to come back for revenge, promising to return to wreak terrible justice for the wrong that had been done to him-to them.
Into the ocean she nudged the lifeless body. This ocean that had been their prison will now be the place of his resurrection.
She would not go back to the Ark. She would find another land where she could lay the foundations of what their lost love had borne. And there, in their new home, she will wait for him to return. He was the crow, and he will come back to put the wrong things right.
THE END.
It was an extremely long flight, and the crow felt the exhaustion keenly. Still, she refused to let the fatigue get the better of her. Her love was out there somewhere and she knew she had to find him as soon as possible.
The despair of seeing only an endless ocean heightened her anxiety. This can't possibly be a home to her kind. She knew that soon they were to have a family, and the thought of the loss of a proper home only compounded the fear that already lodged in her heart for her loved one.
Just when she thought that she could fly no more, that out of sheer fatigue she would have that vast ocean for a grave, she saw the island. She screamed out of pure relief and gave the last of her strength to speeding to that site of hope.
It was a little patch of land littered with small rocks and pebbles; only a few creatures would be able to stand upon it without their feet touching the waters. Nevertheless, it was dry and-- miracle of miracles! An olive sapling had begun to grow at the very center of the small isle, the first sign of life in an otherwise barren water-world.
But where was her beloved? She refused to think of the worst. He could not have been so easily defeated by a mere dove.
As she prepared to take wing again in spite of her exhaustion, she heard that which brought no small amount of joy to her heart. It was his voice! It came from the farthest shore of the small piece of land. She saw him then, trying to get up from the ground, taking faltering steps towards her. She rushed to him, her heart singing.
Bliss is not word enough for the sublimity of the lovers' reunion. No other touch could compare to those they shared at that moment as they staggered against each other.
"I knew you were still alive. I knew you would keep your promise!" she cried. "That traitorous dove could not have defeated you."
Suddenly he collapsed to the ground.
"The dove--" he whispered.
It was then that she noticed the blood on his face and all over his feathers, and saw the horrible truth-he was blind. Blood flowed from his eyes in a slow but steady trickle.
"When I saw him, I knew that Master Noah had been too impatient to wait for me; but still I welcomed him as a friend and shared with him the happiness of this new hope," he related slowly as he breathed heavily. "I turned my back to him in order to pluck a twig from the sapling so that we may return to the master with this wonderful news. I did not notice that he had picked up a stone. Once I turned back to him, he hurled the stone straight at my eye, then attacked me at once and scratched out my other eye."
His feathers trembled with restrained fury. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed. He had lost too much blood.
"Please be still. Conserve your strength, beloved," she begged him.
But he could not stop. She must know that he had meant to return to her no matter what.
"Sightless I fought with him and I knew that I had given him a few wounds, but he managed to escape anyway. I tried to fly back to the Ark. Even though I was blind, I still had my other senses. I could not forget what Master Noah told me. But it was you-you were the only thought in my mind," his voice softened.
"Yes, I always believed you would come back to me," she said softly, caressing his face. "Rest now, we have new land. There must be others out there waiting to be found. I will soon lay my eggs and we will have a family and a home at last."
His breathing slowed even more and became shallower, but he had to tell her-
"I tried to go back! But I was too weak--" his voice filled with anguish. "No matter what happens," he whispered to her, "I will return and I will have my revenge. I will make that evil pay for what it has stolen. I promise, I promise--"
"I believe you," she whispered softly as her beloved gave up his last breath with a promise to come back for revenge, promising to return to wreak terrible justice for the wrong that had been done to him-to them.
Into the ocean she nudged the lifeless body. This ocean that had been their prison will now be the place of his resurrection.
She would not go back to the Ark. She would find another land where she could lay the foundations of what their lost love had borne. And there, in their new home, she will wait for him to return. He was the crow, and he will come back to put the wrong things right.
THE END.