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“I can assure you, it is not madness.” Solomon hobbled toward him, his walking stick tapping against the ground as he approached. “It is a bond you share calledvinculum.”
“How did you know we shared a bond?”
“I didn’t for certain, until just now.”
“Vinculum. What is that, exactly?”
“There are certain animals of this world who have an awareness, so to speak. They are familiars. Birds and cats are most prominent, and ravens, in particular, have the ability to slip into the world of the dead.”
The birds stole the baron’s focus again, as he sat mentally calculating the many ways he must have lost his mind. In his world, only Heaven and Hell existed, and those who spoke of Heaven were spared suspicion of madness, while those who spoke of Hell were subjected to torment and exorcism.
Where, then, did these creatures go to walk alongside the dead? And why had the baron been able to speak with them?
“What is the purpose of this bond?” the boy asked.
“The birds are the eyes and ears. Servants of your kind.”
“Servants? You mean I can command them to do something.”
“See for yourself.”
Confusion clouded him, but the baron pushed to his feet and stared out over the field of seemingly oblivious birds.I command you to take flight.
Not a breath later, every bird shot up into the air as if a predator approached and circled overhead.
On a shock of laughter, the baron raised his hand in the air.Now swoop!He brought his arm down to emphasize the order, and every bird did as commanded, swooping down across the open field before taking to the sky. He raised his hands again, this time without saying a word, and as if compelled by strings, the birds followed his every movement, swooping and darting toward the sky, circling and scattering. Arm in the air, he mentally ordered one of them to land on his outstretched arm, and he smiled when a bird broke free to perch there.
A tremble of fear washed over him, feeling the weight of the large bird and its claws digging into his flesh. He imagined its beak could’ve torn holes in him as easily as a well-sharpened blade, if the bird desired. Instead, it sat preening its feathers, entirely comfortable to perch there.
“This has to be one of the most fantastic days of my life,” the baron said, running his fingers over one of its soft feathers, and he lifted his arm to send the bird into flight. Not wanting to exhaust the poor creatures still flying overhead, he directed them to land in the field and go back to their aimless pecking in the grass.
“Still think I’m mad?” Solomon asked beside him.
“Yes. But I suppose that makes two of us.” Still struck with awe, he broke his stare to turn toward the older man. “What are you, that you have an awareness of such things?”
“I am a mere mortal.”
The star shape the boy had noticed before, in the corner of Solomon’s eye, caught his attention again. “Surely, there is more to you than that. Tell me. I swear I will not say a word.”
“I speak the truth. Nothing more than a mortal. I am from an ancient line of the Dra’Akon.”
“Who are they?”
“Hunters, borne of the gods, but fated to suffer pain and die as any human.”
The baron could not imagine one so knowledgeable and open to the impossible. Every human in his life would’ve surely shunned such things as speaking with birds and talk of other worlds outside of Heaven and Hell. “What do you hunt?”
“Whatever seeks to harm mankind. It is our duty to protect.”
Thoughts took him back to that night in the woods, when he’d seen evil in the flesh. “Are there others like my father?”
“There are others, though not entirely like him. His kind is rare.”
The baron had gleaned that much from his mother, though she did not entirely elaborate. “Are you here to kill him?”
“No. As much as I would enjoy such a task, it is not my place.”
“Why?” It pleased the boy to know he was not the only one who could see through the Lord Praecepsia’s façade.
