Chapter 24: Strongest

"Damn this bird. It didn't fall for it."

Kael's bony fingers tightened around the shaft of his scythe, the movement subtle beneath the folds of his cloak. His hollow eye sockets glinted faintly, catching the flicker of sunlight bouncing off the raven's feathers. He had lied to the bird, claiming the camel spider was the strongest monster in the desert, expecting it to puff up with admiration. But no, the raven was sharper than he had anticipated or so it thought.

"It is not the weakest," Kael insisted, his voice dry and hollow, echoing faintly in the arid desert air.

"It is… You liar!" The raven hopped to a higher perch on the gnarled branch of a dying acacia tree, tilting its head to glare at him.

"Don't call me a liar! You don't even know me, and it is not the weakest!" Kael's skeletal hand gestured sharply, the hem of his cloak brushing the dusty ground.

'This is childish. Fighting with a bird. What is wrong with me?' Kael thought, his skull tilting slightly as if shaking his head in disbelief. 'And here I thought ravens were supposed to be intelligent.'

"Trust me," Kael said, squaring his bony shoulders as though to project an air of authority. "I know this place very well! Although… not so well. But I know a few things!"

"Another lie," the raven cawed, its black eyes glittering like onyx.

"I am not lying, you damn bird!" Kael jabbed his scythe into the sand for emphasis, the weapon's curved blade gleaming like an ominous crescent moon. "I am a very strong, honest, and intelligent man!"

The raven hopped down a branch, its talons scraping faintly against the bark. "Says someone who lied about killing the strongest monster in the desert."

"It might not be the strongest," Kael shot back, his voice rising, "but that doesn't mean it's not among the strongest!"

'Now that is a solid point,' Kael thought smugly, straightening up. 'I've already won this ridiculous argument.'

The raven cocked its head to the side, its wings giving a faint flutter as though it were pondering his words. For a moment, Kael felt a strange thrill of victory in his chest or where his chest would have been if he had flesh. But the bird's next words crushed his triumph.

"Another lie."

Kael's jaw slackened, his skeletal mouth hanging open in disbelief. "But I just gave a valid point!"

"Not valid enough," the raven retorted, preening one of its wings nonchalantly.

"Why?"

"Because," the raven said, its tone maddeningly smug, "if it's really among the strongest, you'd need powerful skills and a strong weapon to defeat it. But you only used tricks and that long thing to kill it. You are weak, and the spider is weak."

Kael's fingers clenched around his scythe, the grinding of bone on wood almost inaudible over the raven's sharp voice. "Hey!" he snapped, his skeletal form looming as he took a step closer. "That 'long thing' has a name. It's called a scythe, you damn bird!"

The raven ignored him, turning its head as if something infinitely more interesting had appeared on the horizon. Kael froze, his mind whirling. He could practically feel the urge to swing his scythe surging through him, but no. Killing the bird would be… beneath him.

Then an idea struck him an idea so satisfying that if he'd had lips, he would've grinned. He straightened, the motion making his cloak ripple faintly in the hot desert breeze.

"Just so you know," he said, his voice dropping into an almost conspiratorial tone, "I have a true name."

The raven's sharp eyes widened, its beak parting slightly. The flurry of its wings stilled as it perched, frozen for a beat.

'That serves you right,' Kael thought smugly, resting a bony hand on the curve of his scythe.

"Uh… What's a true name?"