Plans

Haunted echo that surrounds the glen
the heather creeping through
the burned out ruins
and I'm watching
and wondering
feeling spirits of long ago

(Clannad: Poison Glen)

Pomurnik smiled when he heard the familiar tapping sound coming from a window. He walked to it and opened it, holding his arm before him. If anyone had looked at him at the moment, he might have thought it strange, but only until a great raven flew in and seated itself on Pomurnik's arm, looking at him in a way one would not expect from a bird.

"I've been waiting for you, my friend." Pomurnik said, "Have you seen anything? Have you found him?"
The bird didn't reply - quite obviously, for birds of course don't speak, but there was something strange in its gaze. It gave away signs of intelligence and not just the kind that allows animals to learn quickly, but the real one. From the way how it looked at Pomurnik you would almost say it understood his every word. The raven lowered his head and raised it again, with his movements looking very much like a nod - just that it couldn't have been a nod, because a bird can't really nod in response to human questions, can they? Pomurnik, however, didn't act like he thought it at all strange.
"Are you sure it was him?" he asked.
The raven cackled, seeming almost annoyed. It looked straight into Pomurnik's face, its whole body expressing something like "Of course, do you think me a chicken?"

"I didn't want to underestimate you. Of course I believe you, dear friend," Pomurnik said, "It's only that..."
The raven cackled again, interrupting him. Pomurnik didn't finish the sentence and started again, differently.
"Where is he?" he asked, "Tell me. Show me." Pomurnik looked deep into the raven's eyes. If anyone had been in the chamber, he could have seen him standing there still, staring into eyes of a great bird sitting on his arm. He would probably have thought him quite mad. But there was nobody there and Pomurnik knew very well what he was doing. A series of images flew into his head, flooding his mind.

"You have done great, my friend." he smiled after a while, "Keep an eye on him... on them. I want to know as much as possible. If you can do it, of course."
The raven once more did something very much resembling a nod and then looked at Pomurnik in an almost human way of trying to look very important and reliable.
"I put my trust in you." Pomurnik said, "Now go."
The bird gave him one last look and then hopped to the window and flew out. Pomurnik stood at the window, watching it until it disappeared from his sight completely.

Then he turned back to his table, taking a map of Aberdeen. He bent over the map, studying it closely, drawing a line with his finger from the castle in one direction. A straight line, like the way a bird might have flown. Then he stopped.
He looked at the spot his finger stopped at almost like if he wanted to hypnotize it and make it tell him its secrets. He was imagining how it can look from above, from bird's perspective. A forest clearing... and some people in the middle of a small camp of tents. Even from a distance he could see a young man with long flowing black hair...
"That must be it." he said out loud, tapping with his finger on the map.
If someone had looked into the chamber at the moment, he would have seen him once more walking to the window and staring out of it for a long time, hypnotizing the forest outside. But there was nobody there and Pomurnik's mind was far away.