Ol' Flint the Crow

Flint's Second Tale pt. 12

For the longest time, I refused to be bathed by Edvrick; but I gave in, exhausted by his determination. Once I was clean and looked like a relatively normal animal again, washed of the blood, we set off with Nettle. The journey through the labyrinth was uneventful with no sign of either the mad humans or the mysterious beast flying above our heads.

After a few hours, we finally reached our destination, rather suddenly. I nearly leaped off Edvrick like a scared rabbit when we saw the foreboding Gok Temple with its curled spires sticking out like spikes. Two massive stone doors, which were broken on the corners, loomed in front of us.

However, the thing that really scared me out of my wits was the statue besides our left. Seated on a spiky throne, the god's profile peaked out of the fog. From its crocodile snot, teeth for shredding protruded out. Its lips curled into a smug sneer that showed no mercy for the animals depicted as wailing in pain beneath it. With its hands gripping to the chair handles, the Gok god faced the maze we had just left.

"Don't worry, Flint," Edvrick assured me. "It's just another statue. Nothing more."

My voice wavered while we walked up the uneven steps to the temple. "Edvrick, what's this Gok everyone keeps talkin' about?"

"A religion," Edvrick said matter-of-factly.

"What about?"

Not answering me, Edvrick followed Nettle into the broken doors ahead.

The halls of the Temple were made of pure stone; almost everything was carved from one solid piece. On either side of us there were statues of the gods, too many for me to count. Later, I learned that the differing sizes between the statues represented their prominence in the Gok religion.

Nettle seemed to be just as frightened as I was. She looked at each of the gods, one after the other, with a fearful look, like at any moment she was expecting them to stand up and seize her.

Too afraid to look them in the eye myself, my beak fell and reverently looked at their feet. Covering the floor, I noticed a pile of brownish grey dust sprinkled beneath these gods' talons or hooves. I scratched my head, wondering what this coarse dust was. Looking at every pile, I soon found out. Underneath the hooves of a sheep with swirling horns, was the discarded bones of a once living lamb who had been sacrificed ages ago. The bones were brittle like they would crumble at any moment, but I knew it to be a fellow animal.

Suddenly, my thoughts went back to the villagers. Splinterwood's grim words about buying me and the similar carved wood pictures depicting sacrifices burned in my little mind. Putting two and two together, I realized what was going on.

"Edvrick!" I squeaked. "There're animal bones here!"

My friend bitterly sighed out the words, "Yes, Flint... The Gok religion practices animal sacrifices."

"D-do the villagers know about this?!"

"Yes..."

It suddenly hit me. "That's who their ancestors were?! They're the offsprin' of the people who built this terrible place! They sacrificed these innocent animals, didn't they?!"

"That was a long time ago," Edvrick said brushing off my accusation.

"Ya knew about their history and didn't tell me?!" I jabbed my wing into the top of his skull.

"It doesn't matter what they did in the past, Flint! We're helping them now."

I was about to say something in response, but suddenly to my left the sound of chains rattling made me leap in fright. Inches away from us, a feral human, chained by the neck to the claws of a wolf idol, barked and howled at me. Trapped with the human were three others who bit and scratched at one another as they tried to snap at us.