Power of Three

if not by one
and not by two
but if by three
you call to me

It is habit for me to sleep on the ground with the herd. I suppose one day I will be too old and the ground too hard and cold for me to find pleasure in it. But seeing I have just reached my early twenties I figure I have a couple hundred thousand more nights before that happens. And I intend to enjoy every single one of them.

There is not much snow in the North .. we are too close to the equator .. thus our move for the bosk. Some of the mornings can get frosty though it usually melts off when the Central Fire reaches its peak.

It was one of these frosty mornings .. the hours darkest before the Fire reaches over the horizon to remind us that all is not lost ... that I woke with a light touch over my chest. My eyes snapping open and catching just shadows in the low light from the fire's coals .. not enough to explain the feathery touches. I sat strait up and instinctively brushed my hand and I knew then it was birds .. black birds. Touching my chest I was horrified to find they had torn open my leather jerkin and bandages ... and had been feeding on my chest. My fingers slid in the slick smear of my own blood across the now pock marked muscle of my chest over my heart. What in the hell? Was I now carrion for them to feast upon? Rotten bloated flesh to fall to the tumits and scavengers of the plains? I was alive .. damn it! I jumped to my feet kicking them away and they fled beneath the onslaught .. dark wings flapping wildly as they took to flight away from the outrider's fire. My boot coming in contact with one of them rather solidly .. that brought a nasty grin to twist my mouth.

Snarling and grumbling I set about to repair my bandages and jerkin as best I could until I returned to my wagon .. building up the fire to give me a little light. And what the bloody ... they came back. hovering around the circumference of light. There were three of them. I took great pleasure in the fact one of them was limping rather badly.

I was awake enough now and I realized them for what they were. A message .. an omen ... someone seeking my attention. But damn .. did they have to eat their way into my chest? Probably ... I had been very tired the night before and my sleep was deep ... far deeper than the realm of dreams. Still ...


That was just .. rude.