How does one find a gathering of crows? That was something for them to ponder while Alice argued the semantics of ‘murder’ against ‘conspiracy’. A pointless argument given her opponent was Waylan who was insisting on the latter just to be a contrarian. The rest of their group in the meantime thought about the logistics of finding said avians.“If there is a gathering place of some kind, the birds still need to get there,” Desir suggested.“Have you seen any crows?” Elizabeth sighed. “I have not, maybe because I wasn’t paying attention before now. They presumably hide beneath the treetops for most of the day while we fly right by overhead.”“I am keeping our heading,” Irwyn reminded them. “We are not on a schedule about the crows, but you promised the bandits gone by nightfall.”“That as well as us returning,” Desir nodded. “I don’t think they actually believed it to be more than a boast, so I want to see their faces when we do manage it. What proof are we thinking?”“Heads?” Elizabeth shrugged. “It doesn’t matter much.”“It does if it makes Alice flinch and Waylan squirm,” Desir shook his head. “He hides it better, but neither has stomach for the actually macabre. We spared all those assassins but will slaughter these bandits, no questions asked? Why?”“Suddenly you care?” Elizabeth frowned.“Me? Not at all,” Desir shook his head. “I might not be as coldhearted as you, but comparisons could be made. But this needs to be brought up before it turns into a needless mess. This has clearly gone disturbingly unaddressed for longer than I have been with you. And besides giving Alice’s ring more trauma to feast on, we also need to make sure there will be actual proof left. By that I mean Irwyn not burning everything to ash as our opening, including those supposed ruins.”“I wouldn’t have done that,” Irwyn said defensively.“Probably not, but you can be thoughtless sometimes. It’s better to point (...)