7. Hawk and the Crow

     "These are my beauties," said Adrius, gesturing up towards the rafters of the tower, where the chorus of croaking sounds told Devron at once that there were many crows roosting above him.  There were also several hawks perched alone and in somewhat aloof manner on the west side of the tower, sitting on stone perches where they could watch the sun sinking slowly in the west beyond the hills that surrounded Arkon.  The noble birds remained like stones, looking out into a world in which they had once soared with longing, but then Devron realized that he was only assuming that.  There was no way of knowing if they ever had, or if they had been raised and spent their whole life in this tower.
     "You seem deep in thought," observed the wizard, watching the guardsman, one of the few he had ever welcomed into his tower.  "What are you thinking about?  You might as well say, I can almost read minds you know."
     "I was just wondering if you had raised these birds from chicks or not," replied Devron, unnerved by the wizard's comment.  "And you can't really read minds can you?"
     "How would you know?"
     "You wouldn't have to ask so many questions like you did earlier."
     "Good deductive reasoning, and more than a little right," replied Adrius with a laugh.  "Yes of course I cannot really read minds, and as far as we of the inner circle know, few beings can.  It is one of the few private places left to people these days, where their true beliefs can be expressed without endangering their lives or fortunes."
     Adrius the Black led Devron up a flight of stairs that circled around the tower room, to a balcony quite close to the roosts of the birds above them.  A broad floor opened to his view as he climbed the stairs, and Devron could see a great desk surrounded by several book shelves and experimental devices, many of which supported vats and small glass cylinders the wizard described as vials containing one substance or another.
     "I am currently deep in study on the problem facing us in the dragon tomb on Gilmonda, but so far I have come up with nothing but one dead end after another," said the wizard.  One of the crows gave a croaking sound and flew down to the desk, alighting on a small perch made of rod iron that seemed meant for the purpose.  Adrius smoothed out the birds feather with his left hand, while moving some papers around with his right as he looked for something that seemed to be alluding him.
     "If I may ask, not understanding anything of dragons or wizards, what is the problem?"
     Adrius looked at the guardsman dumbfounded for a moment.  The crow croaked softly and bobbed its head as it cast a beady eye over Devron.
     "To put it simply, I am contending with mind of one of the most intelligent dragons who ever lived," replied Adrius after a moment.  "A dragon named Malkezdic."
     "And I am guessing that is very difficult."
     "As difficult and different to understand as the hawk and the crow."
     "But not so different," replied Devron.  "One kills his prey and eats it, but yet he is tamed by men to do their hunting for them.  He is not so free, although he may be so magnificent.  The eyes of men are ever on him.  The crow on the other hand is a wily creature that has no master because none want it, but it too lives off fallen prey, usually the prey of another hunter.  The crow thus has the advantage over the hawk, and the benefit of it sometimes."
     "I like you very much," replied Adrius.  "You have insight, and of course you are right.  This crow intends to best a hawk, and once this situation in Carthor is dealt with, I may take you to Gilmonda to see the problem for yourself."