[Lomenár] The Six Stormcrows

The tale Lomenár told at the storytelling evening (2/8 2014). A free adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairytale "The Six Swans".

Several millennia ago there was a man living together with his children deep within the forests of Feralas. His family and village had thought it strange that he'd wanted to live so far away from the rest of them, but after his mate had died he hadn't wanted to live in the village any longer. So, he'd gathered up his children and left. It wasn't just his living arrangements that was unusual, the number of children he had was quite unusual as well, since he had six sons and one daughter, Beraidwen. He treasured this last gift his mate had left him with and loved them all dearly, but his grief over his mate's death was still very strong and not a day went by without him missing her.

The years went by and the children grew up. The six brothers all had an aptitude for the druidic arts, whereas Beraidwen was destined to walk the path of a Sentinel. The siblings were very close and as the youngest, and the only female, the girl was fiercely protective of her brothers. So, when the day came that her father brought with him a woman back home, Sia Shadowflame, and proclaimed her to be his new mate, and their new mother, Beraidwen hated her right away.

The woman was very beautiful, with long silvery hair down to her waist and shining silver eyes. Her skin was smooth as marble and the pale shimmering blue of a Moonwell's waters. Beraidwen still sensed that something was amiss with the woman however, and she also saw that her father was clearly deep under her spell. It took a lot of convincing, but finally her brothers saw it too and they decided to do something about it. They'd gather in the forest one night and ask Malorne to help them, to lend them his power to banish the foul sorceress from their hearts and lands forever.

But the sorceress found out about their plans and interrupted them during the ceremony. The brothers told Beraidwen to run, to save herself and she heeded her brothers' words for once, running as fast as she could to get away. The sorceress cackled with glee as she summoned her fel powers and began to cast a spell.
"You who thought to use the measly powers of the forest to get rid of me, see the might of the arcane and cower before it! You will have the wings of those forms that you cherish so much... forever!" She released her spell and before her hovered the six brothers in the air, in the form of Stormcrows.

The sorceress searched long and hard for Beraidwen, but gave up when she was nowhere to be found.

That night Malorne appeared before a frightened and despairing Beraidwen and spoke to her.
"The foul sorceress magic can be undone and cleansed from your brothers, but it will require a great sacrifice from you."
"Anything! I'll do anything within my power to save them!" Beraidwen said, hope returning to her eyes.
"Very well... to save your brothers you will need to harvest briarthorn, and from its fibres you will have to make thread and weave six shirts..."
"I can do that!" Beraidwen said.
"...had that been all, your task would have been an easy one indeed. No, your sacrifice will have to be bigger than that. For the duration of your harvesting, spinning, weaving and sewing you will have to remain completely quiet. Not a word, song or sound may cross your lips. You may tell your story to no one, unless you want the spell to become permanent. Twice a year, you will be able to see your brothers. Once at midsummer and once at the Lunar festival. But that is all. The remainder of the time they will be in their spelled forms."
Beraidwen nodded, resigned, but her soul was soaring with newfound hope.

For those of you who don't know, briarthorn is a wicked herb with sharp barbs and thorns and as Beraidwen were harvesting them she cut her hands repeatedly and the wicked barbs buried themselves deep into her flesh, leaving her hands swollen and useless for days. It was painful work, but she kept at it... never uttering a single sound.

She kept well away from people, since she knew that Shadowflame was still looking for her, but one day she accidentally crossed the path of a group of druids belonging to the cenarion circle. They were intrigued by her and asked her a myriad of questions, none of which she could answer. They looked at her hands and peeked into her bags with the harvested briarthorn and couldn't for the life of them understand why she would hurt herself thus.

They brought her back with them to their settlement to care for her. She allowed them to administer to her hands, but as soon as they were done she just continued her gruelling work to spin, weave and sew the shirts of briarthorn. The druids shook their heads and let her be.

As the days passed into months and the months into years Beraidwen felt that the urgency to finish the shirts was growing stronger and stronger by every passing day. The time was slowly running out for her and her brothers.

But the druids' unease over her behaviour was also growing stronger and stronger each day, and they were silently wondering what was wrong with her. They began to ponder the possibility that she might be possessed by some evil and talked amongst themselves and began to make preparations for a ritual that would help banish whatever evil they feared had taken a hold of Beraidwen.

The druids' ritual was a dangerous one, and could very well end up killing Beraidwen in the process, but they figured that it would be worth the risk, if they could remove whatever it was that was possessing Beraidwen and making her hurt herself for no reason. All the while Beraidwen worked tirelessly to finish the shirts; the end was in sight. She had finished all the shirts but one. The last one was missing it's left sleeve.

The day of the ritual dawned and the druids came to the hut where Beraidwen was staying. She struggled as they dragged her from the hut, but to no avail. They tied her to a post and lit fires of burning herbs all around her. The idea was that the herbs would send her into a deep sleep, so that the druids could enter her dream and heal her mind from there. But one wrong move and they could accidentally kill her while she was sleeping. Beraidwen, confused and panicked about this sudden turn of events scanned the heavens for any signs of her brothers... but there were none.

The herbs were slowly beginning to cloud her mind and make her drowsy, but her panic kept her awake just a little while longer... and good that it did! Because at the last minute the winged forms of her brothers came swooping down all around her. She threw the shirts around their necks and their feathered forms melted away, revealing her beloved brothers. Only the youngest brother, whose shirt was missing a sleeve, was not completely restored. He would always wear the large black wing of a crow instead of his left arm.

Since she could now speak, she could explain and tell her story to the cenarion druids and they listened to her in wonder. The cenarion druids were astonished at her faith and dedication and were deeply troubled as the tale mentioned the sorceress Shadowflame. After the joyful reunion Beraidwen gathered her brothers and together they went back home, and with their newfound knowledge and power they were able to vanquish the sorceress. The brothers went on to become respected members of the Cenarion Circle, and Beraidwen... well, she eventually joined the Sentinels, as was her destiny, and she is to this day ever watching for the dangers of the highborne.