Some Sort of Glitch

by Wade Adrian

  Max seemed less bothered by them... or more bothered by something else.

  The stories the bandits were telling each other were great. A black monster just walking through all their defenses, disappearing, only to reappear blades buried in their friends.

  He was a bit tempted to let them go. That was a story with some legs. Put some fear into the rest of the bandits out there.

  Unfortunately the stories the former slaves were throwing around weren't much better. Probably what had Max down in the dumps. Guy lived for being the noble knight, which was all fine and well with the smiting knaves, but less so with the saved people being just as scared as the villains.

  On the other hand, that was pretty high on the Batman scale. Points for that.

  Birdman. Hmm. No. Crowman? Nah, that was lame. And sounded too much like cro-magnan. Nobody wants to be called caveman.

  And the wholesale murder thing wasn't very Batman, either.

  "Well, in keeping with getting this done ASAP, I have a suggestion, if you're down."

  Max grunted.

  Tom took that as Max being down.

  The cleric pointed over the wall. "Compass says Brynjar's castle is that way. They say it's too late in the day for riders to start out, so we can either wait until morning like we did at the Ladder or... I think one of your birds can probably make it there tonight. Half the time, probably. Less, since it will be a straight line."

  Max tilted his head and mumbled at Skip. The bird flapped down from the wall, coming to rest standing on Max's knee.

  It cawed.

  Paladin boy shook his head. "He doesn't know where that is. He lived near the Ladder."

  "He doesn't." Tom nodded. "But you do."

  Max frowned. "I don't like the sound of this."

  Tom shrugged, leaning against the same merlon as Max. "You did it before."

  "For like ten seconds. And I didn't fly so much as flap about and not fall."

  "I'm sure you can figure it out. Plenty of time to get your wings and still get there before they turn in for the night."

  Max sighed. "It's not just that. Using this... thing," he flicked the crow skull hanging around his neck, "is basically asking Corvi for help. I'm not a big fan of that."

  "She's that bad?"

  Max rolled his head around his shoulders for a moment. "Maybe? Maybe not? It's hard to tell. But I don't like being beholden to her."

  "You're not." Tom shrugged. "She wants this job done. You're doing it. Simple as that. When we're done you don't owe her any more than you owe Brynjar."

  "I don't think she sees it like that. The way she talks? This is more of an audition."

  "You already have a god."

  "Everyone involved is aware of that. Apparently she thinks I need two, or she would be better."

  "Huh." Tom nodded appreciatively. "I used that line just the other day. It's a good one. Classic."

  "It has nothing to do with me, of course. She wants me doing things for her for her sake."

  "Typical god, am I right?"

  Max gave Tom a level stare.

  "Sorry. I thought it was funny."

  "Maybe it is." Max shrugged one shoulder a bit. "Nothing seems funny right now."

  "All the more reason to get this done. Get you away from the crazy ex-god-lfriend."

  "That one was not funny." Max shook his head.

  "I tried really hard, though."

  "Did not go the distance."

  "Damn." Tom sighed. "Totally serious time though. Bird up. When the time comes to break off this thing with Corvi, I'll help."

  "You can't talk to her. She basically refuses to acknowledge you exist."

  "I'll ask Yar. I bet Yar can talk to her."

  "She... would not care for that."

  Tom smiled. "Sounds perfect. Let her help now, have Yar get rid of her later."

  Max hung his head. "And that sounds just fine to you? Make bargains, then weasel out of them?"

  "Dude, she might be big and powerful and shit, but she's still just an NPC. A digital barbie doll. I give no shits about what she thinks, and frankly, you don't have time to either. We do what we have to, we get out. Only goal on my plate. If I thought we could leave without getting hunted down like dogs, we'd be doing that." He muttered under his breath. "As if an army who knew the mountains better wasn't bad enough, they can use the birds in the fucking sky to find us."

  Max stared at the stone in front of him, Skip moving his little beaked head down into Max's face and making clicking sounds. "I thought you said they were turning into people."

  "Them getting smarter doesn't make them respectable, it makes them unpredictable. When all this is done, we do a hard reset, forget this ever happened." He shook his head. "We'll do something different next time. World war two maybe. I would love to see an M1 Garand right about now."

  "That's right, I forgot you don't respect real people either."

  "Respect is earned, grasshopper." Tom nodded sagely.

  "Well how did I earn it?"

  "You?" Tom tilted his head. "I can't recall. You kinda just grew on me. Like a fungus."

  "Inspiring."

  "Quite. Make with the flapping." Tom pushed off the wall and started walking toward the stairs. "I've got a hankering for that awful pizza they have in the cafeteria sometimes. I seriously doubt these backwater yokels can make anything close enough to suit. Chop chop."

  Max sat cross-legged on top of the wall. He had an unlit lantern beside him and had found a few cushions on chairs in one of the guard houses.

  Eira sat with her back to a stone merlon. "This is a bad idea."

  "That's an odd thing for you to say."

  "I serve Corvi, but I would question her telling me to fight a bear with my fists. She isn't the type of god to throw away her followers needlessly."

  "Well, that's good to know."

  "Yours isn't a power she grants often. I've never heard of someone attempting something like this."

  "Then you can name it after me." Max took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves.

  It had been a long day.

  His head wasn't exactly in the best place... but Tom wasn't wrong. Time was a factor.

  He held the crow skull in both hands.

  Skip stood on the stone before him, watching. Curious. He kept looking down at his leg. It had taken a few minutes to convince him not to simply tear off the rolled up note.

  He was no carrier pigeon. Another of the birds might have a better temperament for this sort of thing, but he knew Skip best. He held onto hope, most likely in vain, that it would help.

  Eira laid a hand on Max's shoulder.

  He'd requested it this time.

  She muttered. "Going to sit here how long?"

  "Probably a few hours."

  "This old cushion isn't that comfortable."

  "Best I could do on short notice." Max bowed his head and shut his eyes. He tried to slow his breathing.

  Last time he had done this almost by accident. Corvi had said he could see through Skip's eyes, which had worked, but sort of leaning in too far had put him in the drivers seat.

  Pilots chair?

  Whatever.

  "Ambitious, aren't we?" Corvi's voice echoed around him.

  He'd expected her to be nosy. He didn't alter his behavior. Slow breathing. Eyes shut. His mind reached out for Skip.

  He could basically see the bird in the dark before him. A squiggly white outline.

  "If you prefer," he muttered, barely speaking, but more than enough for Corvi to hear, "you can go and tell them instead. It would be faster, I'm sure."

  "It would be, yes. But I'm intrigued by this method of yours... and I don't serve you."

  "The feeling is mutual." The words might have only been in his mind.

  Didn't matter.

  With Eira helping, Corvi could hear them.

  The shape of Skip materialized in the dark. The outline filled in, squiggly lines playing over his form until they solidified, bits of
color appeared, and he could basically see the bird in a sea of nothing.

  That was the easy part.

  He let out a slow breath as he moved forward, purely in his mind, in the empty black space.

  The bird grew closer and closer until it was all that existed in the emptyness.

  In an instant he could see again, the world awash in vibrant color. More colors than he remembered, playing over things like the rainbow in an oil slick.

  More than his mind could make sense of.

  Not that much of this made sense. He was staring up at a giant. A seated man twenty feet tall if he was an inch...

  Which, of course, was him.

  Ugh, did he really smell that bad? He hadn't noticed... he also hadn't been able to see just how much blood had dried on his clothes. The stains were perfectly visible to Skip, like Max was wearing clothes tidied on the set of a bad horror movie.

  Maybe a bath after he got back...

  "The last bath was certainly fun... and memorable." Corvi's tone was mocking, and yet somehow appreciative.

  Through Skip's eyes Max could clearly see Eira squirm a bit.

  Well, at least someone else found that to be an inappropriate topic.

  Seeing through the bird's eyes was relatively easy. He'd accomplished it in a few hours of practice, and the process so far had only really taken a few seconds.

  The tricky part was yet to come.

  On some level, he was still aware he was seated and breathing calmly, his hands wrapped around the crow skull pendant.

  His senses, though, were being fed information from the bird. He saw, heard, and even smelled what Skip did. He could feel the cold stones under the bird's feet, the breeze playing with his feathers.

  The weird part was going further. Trying to convince his mind he was the bird.

  It took a few moments... but he got Skip to hop a few times before stretching his wings.

  Not at all like walking or moving his arms. Those things simply didn't apply, or translate. Not remotely. The way Skip got around was just flat out different. The systems that controlled a bird and a person were not readily compatible.

  And it had kind of been easier when he'd only needed to do this for a second, and Skip had already been flying.

  His sense of self, of sitting, breathing... was dim.

  Distant.

  "You realize this is extremely dangerous, yes?"

  Corvi's voice was louder than ever. Extremely close.

  "Do not lose yourself to this. You are far more useful to me as a man than a bird."

  "You could still go in my place..." It was incredibly strange to hear his voice come from somewhere else. He heard it with Skip's ears.

  Corvi's voice let out a huff. "No doubt. But your actions only add to my power. It would simply be a shame to see you lost needlessly. Horses can carry a message just as well."

  "Not really." Max watched his own face smile. "Horses can't travel as the crow flies."

  Neither Eira nor Corvi seemed to get it. Colloquialism. Tom would have gotten it.

  Skip hopped higher and higher, his wings flapping with greater urgency each time.

  It got easier with each attempt. Made more sense.

  And yet on the whole it was still incredibly strange.

  Ugh. And druids did this shit for fun?

  This might not have had all that much to do with shape shifting, really. Mind swapping. Doubtful this was something anyone making the game ever intended, a player taking over an animal.

  For a brief moment... he left the ground behind. Wings flapped in time, legs pulled up tight after a hop... he took to the air well enough to land on top of the merlon behind where he and Eira were seated.

  The world beyond was freaking huge. Everything was big. Well, that kind of thing was bound to happen when you suddenly found yourself to be a foot and a half tall.

  He heard himself take a deep breath...

  So weird.

  "I'm not sure if you are brave or foolish."

  Height was a help here. More time to get it right... and he could let go if he really needed to. Skip could save himself from a fall.

  His taloned feet leapt from the top of the stone, his wings raised high and flapping down in one giant gust.

  The sky welcomed him... sort of. He faltered and dropped, falling well below where Max and Eira were seated before he managed to get his wings back under control.

  Calm. Rhythmic.

  "A brave fool."

  Corvi didn't exactly sound disappointed.

  "Do keep an eye on his body, Eira dear, but you need not hold so tight. I have him."

  Well, that was disconcerting.

  Brynjar's castle was due south. With the sun on its way to setting, that meant keeping it to his right.

  He'd also more or less aligned the attempt to the right direction in the first place.

  It was a big place, he wasn't likely to miss it.

  "Use the air currents. Glide. You'll not make it a tenth of the way flapping like that."

  Well she wasn't wrong. Once he was high enough it was simple to stay aloft just by letting the air do most of the work.

  Super weird.

  Time was difficult to discern. Skip's concept of time didn't extend much beyond day or night, with brief thoughts about sunrise and sunset relating to the availability to food.

  Max had a lot more thoughts, downright worries. It was getting difficult to see and he wasn't there yet.

  "The city will be lit, dear. Quite visible in the night, especially from the sky."

  Corvi hadn't spoken much. He got the impression she didn't want to distract him, and he was grateful for that.

  There had been a few... issues along the way. Any time flying got too easy, or he was distracted by something shiny, her voice would appear, calling him back. Keeping him on task.

  A point of light in the distance caught his eye. He turned, letting an updraft slow him and take him higher.

  That... might be the place.

  Huh. He wasn't even tired.

  Of course, Skip might be exhausted. They were still two separate entities.

  "He will make the trip, though I doubt he'll be making a return trip tonight."

  Fear flickered across Max's mind. It was neat to fly, no doubt, but the idea of being stuck as a bird, even just for a night, was not appealing. How would he convince anyone he wasn't just some crazy crow? He'd probably end up in a cage.

  Again.

  "Fear not, you will return to yourself when you let go of this form."

  But that would leave Skip at Brynjar's castle...

  "You do seem to enjoy finding things to worry over, dear. The bird will be fine. I will return him to you. He is a dutiful servant."

  Not the word Max would have chosen... but it worked.

  The castle grew into a large shape in short order. Skip was no slouch on covering distance. It was going to be difficult to go back to walking after this...

  "You'll need to circle around to find the proper window."

  Proper? Well, she knew the place better. He did as he was instructed, swinging left of the main building and looping around.

  "That one, there."

  A pair of large windows stood open to the night air, light and sound pouring out.

  He hadn't exactly landed... ever, really.

  This should be interesting.

  He dived into the window, his wings held in close.

  The room was massive, exposed beams, hanging drapery...

  It was the main hall. He'd been here before.

  Long tables were filled with diners doubling as revelers. He could hear the story of the Ladder being told, a dozen voices at a dozen different places in the telling.

  Some of them must have been talking about some other Ladder, or some other time it was conquered. Blatant lies otherwise.

  "Tales often grow in the telling. They will speak of your victories for years to come."

  There. At the head of the largest table he saw B
rynjar... and Tovi.

  "Brynjar will be in his cups at this hour. Tovi will understand."

  Max spread his wings wide and flapped, doing his best to slow down. It wasn't the most graceful landing... but he kept his feet as his talons scraped the wooden table.

  Diners on all sides backed away, some falling over benches, others jumping to their feet.

  Tovi remained in her seat, one eyebrow raised.

  Max hopped the bird over to her.

  Once more he felt rather tiny, the cups that wreaked of mead reaching to his shoulders. He made an effort to avoid stepping on plates.

  It seemed the polite thing to do.

  He stopped in front of Tovi and gave an awkward bow, lowering his head and flapping his wings out behind slightly. When he straightened again he extended his leg that had the note tied around it.

  It had survived the trip, though it was a bit worn around the edges.

  She untied the knot with a gentle hand, a small smile playing over her lips.

  "This is quite novel." Corvi seemed to approve. "She is amused."

  She patted the bird on the head... it was a bit too rough, but then again, he had hollow bones at the moment so any touch would probably feel heavy to him.

  Her eyes grew wide as she read the note.

  "My my."

  The giant known as Brynjar leaned forward, his eyes wary of the note and the messenger. He had been one of those that recoiled at the sudden appearance of a crow in their midst, but he recovered swiftly enough.

  He also seemed perfectly sober. "What's this then?"

  "A message from our friends. It would seem they have taken the Turtle."

  Conversation ceased around the table, fading away into the distance like a ripple in a pond.

  Certainly unexpected so soon, but there was something else...

  Brynjar was sober, but wary of the bird. He might not have accepted the note so readily.

  Crows were part of Corvi's domain. A crow had brought this amazing news... to Tovi, and not to Brynjar.

  A sign of favor for her.

  A sign that one god was acting, where others might not be. A show of power, in the seat of power.

  Corvi's voice bubbled up, amused laughter for a moment. "You're not exactly a quick study, but I do appreciate the extraordinary efforts you put forth on my behalf, dear."