They Mostly Come Out At Night by Benedict Patrick

blessed, this is true, but not with the power you speak of. We were given a resistance. A resistance to the poison of the flower." The king moved closer to his son now, his voice lowering to hide his words from surrounding ears. "I had the same fears as you, at your age. That is when my father told me that each Magpie King has to seek the flower for himself. Consuming it would turn any other man mad, its venom burning through their blood and their mind, but not our family. This is how I can do what I do when I walk the night. You too will find the flower to become king."
    Adahy's mind was buzzing with this revelation. All those years he had spent feeling unworthy of his title because this final fact had been kept from him. "How... where is the flower?"
    At this question, his father walked forward and clasped his son's head in his two great hands. "You already know where it is. The information is locked away in here. Your final test is to find that information, and then find the flower. Once you have done that, the two of us will walk the night together, and we can rid the forest of this plague of Wolves."
    Keeping his grip on Adahy's head, the Magpie King lowered himself onto his knees, bringing himself to the prince’s eye level. "Son, this is a quest for you, and you alone. You must do this by yourself, I cannot help. Do you understand?"
    Adahy nodded his head dumbly.
    Suddenly, the shrine door crashed open.
    "Sire, they are here. The Eyrie is-"
    The guard who uttered the warning disappeared back into the doorway from which he had come, pulled by an unseen force. Then the door burst open, a flood of Wolves rushing through it.
    "Artemis' bones," swore Adahy's father, in one movement mounting his cowl and pulling his son to him.
    The first Wolf leapt at the Magpie King, blood-stained claws flashing to catch him whilst he was vulnerable, without his sickles. The man grabbed the monster by its throat, and with a noise similar to the tearing of wet fabric he used both hands to pull its neck free from its body. Throwing the animal down, Adahy could see his father calculating the severity of their situation. There were about a dozen more Wolves in the building now, some advancing at the pair directly, but others skulking around the hall, looking to cut off all possibility of escape. Without his son to protect, Adahy was confident that his father would have faced these monsters head on, but would he be able to fight them and ensure that Adahy came to no harm? Screams from outside told the prince they would receive no aid from the shrine's guards, and also that more enemies were close by. He could see no chance of escape.
    Grabbing Adahy by his collar, the Magpie King leapt once again, this time upwards into the blackness of the rafters. Naturally, the Corvae shrine was home to a tiding of magpies, encouraged and cultured by generations of priests. As much kinship as the Corvae felt with the animals, the black and white birds remained wild and could not cope with the presence of two humans in their nest. With a cacophony of squawks and screams the birds flew forth, some making for holes in the rooftop, but most rushing towards the largest exit they could find - the front door. As the Magpie King had planned, he leapt down with the swarm of blackness, sheltered from his predators by the shock of an avian exodus. Adahy marvelled at his father's ingenuity, wondering if that too was a gift from the flower that had turned him into the Magpie King.
    Once outside, his father leapt towards the trees, his monochrome cloak billowing out behind him as they escaped the frustrated howls of the Wolves. The Magpie King's speed was more than a match for his enemies now that he was in the treetops, and soon Adahy felt that immediate danger was behind them.
    "Father, the priests. Should we not head back to help them?"
    The Magpie King's metal beak turned to regard his son, the black iron glinting in the moonlight. "We both know they are already dead.