Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Unheeding

At first, little more than a whispering, loosening the last of the autumn-clenched leaves, stirring the palest of the ashes.
‘It’s coming’
‘Hours yet.’
Silent, she held her knowledge within.
Two hours passed.  A drift had formed, grey against centuries of soot.  Roof slates stirred, tapping a finger-bone tune.  She whispered another warning.  His eyes stayed shut, his breathing steady.
Time passed.
Air shifted, maybe five degrees, setting up a whistle ‘twixt wood and wall.
From nowhere, howling harshness, flinging an upward torrent of the largest of them.  Feathered and malevolent.
His eyes opened.  ‘Crows?’
‘Aye. A murdering of them.’

[This week's words for Prediction Fiction:  torrent, ashes, whistle]

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