The Flight of the Raven (2014)

 The Flight of the Raven

By Marcus Levis

27/12/2014

It was a night as black as coal and as cold and winters breath, one of the times of day when man, woman and child were holed up nicely inside their homes, all snuggly and warm, while the creatures of the night came out in search of food. The most majestic of these night creatures is the gorgeous raven. The bigger, smarter and often more beautiful cousin to the lowly crow, they are also often a quite lucky sighting. But this night, you were not apt to come across one, as their sleek black feathered bodies and beautiful majestic wings flapped through the night as their beaded eyes searched upon the ground for any significant food source.

The raven flapped its large wings and flew overhead of a large forest, having such good night vision as ravens do, it was rather easy for him to see the ground from up where he flew. From this distance he could see, but a lowly mouse running its way along the ground, it too in search of food maybe, but tonight, it was going to be food.

The raven dove with the perfect grace and precision like a diver on an Olympic diving board, and headed on almost the perfect beeline for the little mouse. Just before he could get to the mouse he heard the cawing of two crows, but he did not alter his course, they were but lesser birds of prey, they would have to let him take his earnings…if he got to it first.

He continued to dive towards the ground with the utmost precision, but before he got there, the crows were already ahead of him, as they were already on the ground to begin with. The raven landed on the ground with grace, and a small puff of dirt went up in the air, cloaking him for a brief moment before falling away and revealing to the crows what was to come.

The raven gave the crows a look of displeasure. I found that food first, spotted it from the skies above you before you had even given it a thought, it is mine by all rights.

The crows began cawing at him in a very bird-like laughter and then gave the raven a look of annoyance. We are tired of all of you ravens laying claim to all of our food, what’s ours IS OURS, we found it and I have it in my claw, IT…IS…MINE!

The raven looked at the crow’s mangled, yellow claw, and clutched in it, was the tiny mouse that the raven was hoping would make a nice dinner, but alas, the crow was trying to make it a rather tough time for the raven to even get so much as a whiff of it. He would have to maybe try something a little more forceful.

 The raven’s look turned menacing.  YOU LISTEN HERE YOU IGNORANT SCUM! You are NOTHING without the assistance of the ravens! You had better give me what I deserve before I take it from you, and leave you for the birds!

The crows gave a bit of a recoil, but then they too put on menacing looks. You ravens think that you are all that huh? Well, we shall see about that!

The crow without the mouse leapt at the raven, and began to claw and snap at the raven’s face. Feathers began to fly all around, black as the night that it was, and a sleek as the wind.

The raven began to fight back with its claws and much larger beak and managed to get the crow’s neck into its mouth and hold it there and hold it tightly, slowly cutting off the air to the crow. The crow was struggling to breathe, and was squirming violently, the raven was struggling to hold on to the crow as it squirmed and wriggled around in its mouth, but eventually the struggling slowed down, and the crow stopped breathing and died in the mouth of the raven.

The corps of the crow flopped out of the raven’s mouth onto the ground, like a child would flop into a bed. The lifeless bird lay on the ground, eyes wide open, as if frozen in peril, and in an endless struggle.

The other crow now had a look of fear in his eyes as he clutched onto the mouse, the mouse wiggled around in the crows clutches, completely helpless from the rather voracious appetite of the raven. The mouse squeaked and attempted to free itself, but inevitably couldn’t.

A loud, booming screech came from the tree above the crow, raven and mouse. It was the grand owl. The crow and raven both recoiled and fell back, the crow released the mouse upon falling to the ground, the mouse scurried off into the night, thankful to be alive. The grand owl flapped his wings and landed with a small thud upon the ground before the three of them. He screeched again in anger. I AM VERY DISSAPPOINTED IN ALL THREE OF YOU! RAVEN! You feel you have an entitlement to everything just because of what you are, and because you are bigger than this crow. You need to GET A GRIP! You are nothing more than any of the other birds!

The raven shook his head and tried to regain his senses, he now realized that he has acted impulsively and was not supposed to have killed that crow, especially over something as small as a mouse.

The grand owl now turned to the crow.  AND YOU! CROW! You need to not get hot-headed and violent just because someone challenges you for something, you have half a brain, so USE IT! Your friend died because of your STUIPIDITY! NOW DON’T LET THIS HAPPEN AGAIN, MUCH LESS INFRONT OF MY HOME!

The grand owl’s humongous, white wings, flapped the snowy owl up and into the air and off into the night.

The crow and raven looked at each other, with questioning eyes, but also sad eyes. The crow leapt up into the air and was gone in an instance. The raven sat on the ground and thought to himself. He wondered how he could have acted in such a way, and why he lashed out when he was challenged by a bird he viewed his entire life as lesser…it was unimaginable to think he did something like this, but he knew for sure…it would never happen again.

The raven took back into his majestic flight, off towards the rising, golden glow of the sun as dawn is breaking into action. The day has begun, and the night is now over, but what will come of lessons learned? Sometimes it is better off, to let some things go.