So the Ravens in the Boneyard pulled my arm bones and leg bones out of my body. And while they prepared their replacements, a very large Raven stood on my chest and fed me worms.
Bitter meats.
Bitter treats.
That which is vital
is always hard eats.
Like any recalcitrant fledgling, I would turn my head away at first. But the Raven was insistent, and the moment the worm touched my lips I would eagerly slurp it off the bird’s beak and gulp the whole thing down. So it went until I started playing with my food and a worm bounced off my face and almost got lost amid the pile of skulls I was lying on.
~zip~ ~splat~ ~slurp~ A quick change of my tongue from mammalian to amphibian rescued the snack. And caught the eye of every corvid in the vicinity.
«Who gave you that tongue?!»
Oops. I don’t think I was supposed to do that. At once I knew the answer, and knew when the giver snuck it into my mouth and how. But I was hesitant to answer in the same way one is hesitant to answer one’s parents. They probably already knew, but somehow it was less damning if I could keep from saying the name.
The Ravens were having none of that shit.
They pecked and slashed at my mouth until I opened my jaw. Viciously, they tore the offending tongue out of my head, making sure to remove it in pieces so it couldn’t go anywhere on its own volition. They made sure to go into the flesh of the lower jaw and into the throat, removing even the roots of the tongue muscle. They devoured what was taken, pulling it apart to demonstrate their offense at its presence among them, and its presence in my mouth.
They never explained to me why.
So here I am, my legs and arms devoid of bones but still having flesh, and no tongue in my head. It reminded me of another dream, another place, where I was held captive in such a state. A forgotten fear awoke and I panicked.
I remember shrieking to make the bones vibrate. The shrieking stopped when a Raven lightly pecked me between the eyes. «You’re not there now. And if you were, you wouldn’t be their prey again. They would be yours. And it would be a fun hunt. If you don’t call us to feast after we will be very cross with you.»
I just nodded. I was very tired. I’m going to have to answer for the loss of that tongue, and I’m not sure how the giver is going to take it. Tricksters are never easy to predict, after all. Exhausted, I surrendered to deeper sleep.
“Hey. Get up lazy bones. Got something to show you.” I rubbed my eyes and sat up on pile of bones. Then I realized I had just rubbed my eyes and took a look at myself. The flesh was the same, though the rough scars of earlier Raven interventions had been refined into yet another series of tattoos on my shoulders. They matched something I had discussed with [a person] elsewhen. The bones underneath were sore and new. New to me, anyway. And sore in the way that bones feel when mending. “You gotta move around, or you’ll get stiff. Come on.”
I hefted myself up off the bones and lumber awkwardly after the Boneburner. “Where we going and where’s the handbasket?”
Ke laughed a sharp corvid bark. “The new tongue fits well. That was nice and smooth. Good.” Oh yeah, the tongue. I wiggled it around in my mouth trying to feel where the seams were, but it held fast no matter how I maneuvered it.
“Since you’re on the up with what happened, why did they replace my bones? Again?”
“You’ve outgrown the previous set of arms, and finally worn down the legs to a significant degree, so why not replace them again while they had you for the arms.”
Ke stopped at a small hill made of bones and ash. A tall pike was mounted on the crest, angled to point towards a valley. The place was familiar but I was missing the landmarks that identified it. “Wait. Again? But they only replaced my arm bones once, and never the legs.”
Ke gripped the pike and tried to wiggle it. The pike did not move nor did the substrate it was embedded in. “[Keri], how many times have you died in this life?”
“Twice.”
“That you remember.” That ke spoke with the finality of a statement, implying that my count was inaccurate and low, was very unnerving.
“… Yea. I guess you can say that. Third party witnesses told me about it after, so I suppose if some shit happened while I was alone, I wouldn’t consciously know of it.”
“Yea. You could say that.” Ke gestured into the valley. “Look familiar?”
I followed kir lead. There was a strange absence among the piles of bones. A large circular track ground deep into the surface. Within that boundary, a great pit had been burned out. Several hundred feet deep, it looked like the aftermath of an archeological dig looted savagely by thieves. The dirt still carried the scent of intense heat and the shattering of organic molecules from those temperatures.
“The Bone Temple.” I looked back at the pike. “I mounted the betrayer’s head here. Don’t tell me the bastards are going to try and rebuild!”
“Hah. No. Those that escaped the flames and remained in the Boneyard have been caught and dealt with. Some fled back to [your realm], though. You may see them again, masquerading as spirit guides and pretend gods to the gullible and the naive. You know your mandate as a Boneburner. Do not touch their living victim. But spare them no mercy.”
“So that’s why the equipment upgrade.”
Ke barked again in laughter. “Ah, no. You’re just that hard on your gear now that you’ve pulled your head out of your ass.”
“And the tongue?”
Ke sucked on a tooth for a moment, and I was hardpressed to tell if kirs or one ke had picked up off the ground. “Yea… the tongue. Don’t you worry about that. A more proper one has been grafted in place, so you’ll most likely not notice anything new. But as for the giver…” Ke spat and I heard something hard bounce off a scapula. “Well… not your fault, so don’t worry about it.”
We walked away from the pit that used to be the Bone Temple. Our topic segued into different forms of anthropomorphic corvids and representations of corvids in different art styles.