Blood Like Sparks
Miko pointed to the parchment and shook her head vigorously. “the instructions are quite plain. Place the crystal in your fireplace or firepit. Do not place near flammable articles or small children. Crystal can become quite hot...”
Juro nodded his head rapidly. “Yes, yes, I know that fire is hot, so I expect magic fire to be the same. How does it work?”
“Right...” she crouched by the fire pit they had hastily dug, and tried to read by the light of the rising moon. “Place both hands on crystal and concentrate.”
“That’s what I’ve been doing for the last ten minutes!”
“Read it for yourself, then!” She tossed the paper at him and walked over to their tent to begin fidgeting with the strings. “Insufferable man,” she muttered, and then turned around to let her tongue fly for the first time since they had been married, a week past.
What she saw stilled her tongue. A tiger in the shape of the man was crouched over her new husband, holding the paper in its long, wicked talons, and studying the ornately carved crystal in his other hand. Juro was quivering where he stood, but didn’t dare move.
“Hmm... it does seem pretty simple, Juro. Tell, me who has taught you to read, but has made you forget how to light a fire without magic?”
Juro stammered for a few seconds, his face as pale as the moon. Blood Like Sparks placed the parchment in his hands, then gently placed one paw on his face and pushed him into a seated position. “You, girl, answer my question.”
“The chosen of the Sun taught us to read, and they also taught us that we will be a great nation soon, with many people from all over creation. The forests are sacred places, and we need grain for our horses. To burn is to waste our land, and fill it with smoke like wretched Nexus.”
Blood Like Sparks growled at her, leaping over to stand inches from her face and shout with his full voice, “They think they can change the people, but not change the land? They are the same!” He punctuated his speech by clawing a deep gash in the earth with a stamp of his foot.
Miko stood upright and nodded her head once, gulping. “Okay.”
“Hmm...” He looked at her suspiciously. He said, “I’m not certain this is the best hunting range anymore, Heart Wings.”
“That’s not my...”
“He was talking to me.” An immense raven was suddenly standing at the peak of her tent, picking at her feathers. Her voice rasped slightly as she spoke, but otherwise sounded quite human. “What do you want me to say, Sparks? Head south and claim the Mask’s dooryard? East? I’m not signing up for a crusade against civilization today, no thank you. I like a good city every now and then. North? Listen, I could go on for hours. This is the threshold, it’s where we live. Gods on our left, elders on our right, the dead beneath us and the seventh legion above us.”
“Then why stay here, in this country, where the pompous sun-lovers have a foothold?”
“If they lose all these fights they’re picking, no big deal. We can carve out our own turf like everyone else in the chaos. Good manses here, by the way. And if they win...”
“If they win...”
The raven winked at him. “If they win, then something really big is starting here... maybe we can get in on the ground floor?”
“Blood Like Sparks serves no man!” He raised his fists into the air over his head and howled out a long, deep cry, that made even the brave Miko cover her ears.
“Right, right, answers to no one, doesn’t take crap, so on and so on. Now give the nice people back their toy before they piss themselves and let’s get moving. I’m hungry as hell.”
The mighty full moon lunar nodded his head, dropped the crystal beside the terrified couple, and loped off into the night.
