The Clan of Outcasts [Season 3]

Part 27: "Queen of Crows"

The jay bobbed three times, and with a high, shrill song, it fluttered into the air. At once, the swirl of birds rose into the air and dispersed.

"Sweet Justice!" gasped a voice once the last pigeon disappeared. Mal turned to see her mother standing at the door of their house, watching the sky as if she had just seen the great flock of many birds depart. She looked upon her daughter with a stunned, confused expression. "What was all that?"

Mal grinned. "It's all right, they were just birds, Mama," she said.

Her mother frowned. "Just birds, she says. Do you know what destruction these just birds have caused to our fields? Don't you know they are the reason that we might not have enough food to last the winter?"

Mal shook her head. "Don't worry, Mama--I've taken care of it." She stepped forward to take her mother's hands.

"Taken care?" Her mother squinted, her wrinkled hands clasping at the pendant hanging around her neck. "What do you mean, child? How is inviting a flock of birds down to our fields taking care of preserving the harvest?"

Mal smiled and leaned forward to whisper her secret. "I can speak to the birds, Mama--I spoke to these ones, and told them to leave our crops alone. We won't have to worry about a single bird ever again."

Her mother's eyes flew wide and her face blanched. "You... You talked to them?" She gasped. "How is this possible?"

Mal shrugged. "I don't know how it happened, it just did--"

"Well, don't do it again!" The older woman's lip trembled and her forehead knit into deep furrows. "If anybody saw you, child... You have to understand how unnatural it is... They'd send you away, just like your brother--"

"My what?" Mal's sharp ears caught the last comment, although her mother's voice had fallen considerably. "What did you say, mother?"

"I don't want to lose you, Mallory!" Her mother declared, shuffling back into the house.

Mal followed close behind. "No, not that--the other thing. Mama," she waited until she was sure she had her mother's attention. "Are you saying I used to have a brother? I thought you couldn't have any children once you had me."

"That's true," Her mother said, fussing with the mince pie she was making for supper. "You were the only child I ever bore, and I never regretted it. You have been such a comfort to me all your life. Just you, all by yourself."

"What about my brother?" Mal pressed, reluctant to touch anything until her mother explained herself.

"What brother?" Her mother responded immediately. "You sound foolish when you talk about things that don't exist, Mallory."

Mal stomped her foot on the hollow floorboards. "You just said that the village authorities sent my brother away! Why would they do such a thing?"

"They don't!" Her mother finally turned around to face her. "Do not question things you wouldn't begin to understand. Just promise me one thing, Mallory--" She took her daughter's face in her hands. "Never ever reveal this secret about the birds to anyone, and don't let anyone catch you talking to them. Promise me!"

Mallory couldn't look away from those desperate, searching eyes. "I promise, Mama."

>>>>>>

The White Castle (North)

Present Day...

Queen Mallory smiled to herself as she remembered that fateful day in that little backwater village, when she found her incredible power. It took about a year for neighbors and friends to start resenting her family, as their crops grew and thrived. She had done her best, at first, to try and honor her promise to her mother and ignore the birds begging and calling for her attention; but the more birds seemed to show up whenever she was around, or herald her arrival wherever she went, the more people couldn't help but take notice--and begin teasing her.

Mallory sniffed and scowled at the recollection of those cruel taunts. It served them right, that whoever disparaged her over her avian friends would find themselves suddenly beset by angry flocks wherever they went. Anyone who called her "bird girl" or whistled at her with mockery in their expression would never know a moment's rest, as day and night birds serenaded them, or built their nests overnight in the most inconvenient places. But really--who was to blame? Surely a mere human could not have such absolute control over the wild animals!

Then the famine hit, and the desperate woodland residents visited the farms more frequently, as less food grew in the parched soil--except on Mallory's farm, where the vegetables and crops grew unscathed. That was the last straw for many of the villagers, and they began blaming her openly for causing the famine.

She picked up a dark feather that had fallen beside her throne. That moment, when the abuse became physical and personal, was when she started calling on the crows to defend her. They were always on hand, always willing to do whatever she asked, especially when it meant causing discomfort for humans.

Her parents finally decided that perhaps it would be best for her to find a new home for herself, away from all of these mistrustful people, and Mallory marked her own departure by razing all of the viable vegetation in the entire community with the largest murder of crows anyone had ever seen.