Big Salmon Lake Black wings over blue waters

@Rook

While her generals led patrols throughout Blackfeather Woods, the raven queen took a score or so of hunters and lead them west. Her troops needed food, and one of the best supplies were in the lakes to the north and west. They needed to claim them in order to feed the multitude of fledglings and slaves that now lived in the trees in raven territory. While they could fix the food rationing by cutting down rations for prisoners and slaves, the queen still needed to feed the hungry and demanding mouths of the babes.

She lighted on a tree close to the waters, feeling the weak tree bend as her hunters landed on the branches. The one-eyed Matriarch turned to her followers. "Let's put this new plan to action, hmm?" Recently, one of her lieutants came up with the idea of dropping insects into the water and luriing fish towards the surface. It worked in the southern swamps, but they needed to try it on less familiar grounds.

Her ravens swooped down, some carrying crickets and beetles in their talons. Those few scattered the insects and flew upwards so not to scare off any fish. Now came the waiting game. Fishing was an awfully patient method of hunting.

A lone raven winged his way across a clear blue sky, chuckling quietly to himself as he flew. Rook was feeling pretty satisfied with himself after his latest meal at a fox's expense. The clever corvid had secretly observed the fox burying freshly killed prey, a young rabbit, beneath the leaf litter on the forest floor. After the fluffy hunter left the area, Rook swooped in and dug the food up, leaving only bones and tufts of fur behind for the unfortunate fox. "I only wish I could see the look on the dumb beast's face when he finds out!" He thought aloud.

Now Rook was on his way to cool off at the lake. Raiding caches was hard work, after all, and Rook felt he deserved a refreshing bath in the cool water.

As the lake came into view, Rook noticed a large group of his fellow ravens congregating in the trees along the shoreline. Although all ravens look pretty much the same, he could tell the birds were all strangers to him. He approached them confidently, perching in a tree nearby and observing them with curiosity. They seemed to be tossing bugs into the water.

"How odd," he thought. "Why are they throwing perfectly good food in the water?"

"Hey there," he cawed out to the group, hoping they'd take notice of him and let him in on their fun. "Is this some sort of game?"

One of the ravens cawed, though it was not one of her conspiracy. The unknown raven lighted on a tree nearby and called out to her ravens, asking if they were playing a game. One of the younger hunters, Feichín, looked aggravated at the intrusion of the foreigner. He flew towards the new raven, looking annoyed. "No we aren't playing a game, idiot." The young raven growled. Morrígan, flew onto the tree they perched on, signalling the rest of her followers to continue their duties.

"Feichín, that's enough. Go back to your duties." She commanded the young raven sharply. He bent his head submissively and went back to the rest of the hunters. "Who are you." She glared at the young male with her single eye.

Another raven fluttered over to Rook's branch. A younger male, like himself, though he could tell from the bird's body language that he hadn't come over to make friends.

"No we aren't playing a game, idiot."

"Well Sor-ry," Rook quipped sarcastically.

A commanding voice silenced the two young ravens. A third raven, an intimidating female alighted on the branch, sending the other male off with a sharp command. Then, she turned her attention to Rook.

"I'm Rook," he replied, realizing with a chill that this raven was missing one of her eyes. He wondered what had happened to her, but knew it'd be impolite to ask. "Just came over to see what you guys are up to."

Behind her, two of her ravens swooped down, their talons skimming the waters and catching a fish, cawing with triumph. Morrígan turned back to see them, gesturing with her head. "We are fishing." She said simply.

Her single eye examined the raven called Rook. He wasn't from any of their bloodlines. "Do you belong to a conspiracy, or are you a loner?" She questioned him.

Rook observed two of the ravens swooping down to lift a fish, attracted to the surface by the drowning bugs, clear out of the water.

"Wow, that's awesome," he said, clearly impressed. He'd never seen ravens actually catching fish before. "Us ravens may not have big teeth or claws, but we're way smarter than these dimwitted creatures."

"Do you belong to a conspiracy, or are you a loner?"

"Nah, I don't belong anywhere right now," he replied. "Well, I have some friends around somewhere, but we're not a conspiracy or anything." In fact, it had been a while since Rook had been part of anything. He'd been on his own almost as soon as he was strong enough to fly on his own.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name."

"Indeed we are." She said, chest puffed out a little. She was pleased by the young raven's awe. Maybe she could recruit this one? They needed all the warriors they could get ever since the last battle with Erebus. She had sent out as many recruiters as they could, but they needed their strength at their core now.

"I am Morrígan, Matriarch of the Corax Conspiracy of Blackfeather Woods to the east of here." she turned towards the dark forest off in the distance.