Prompt: You're an ordinary peasant in a generic fantasy world. One day, a small bird flies down, perches on your shoulder, and whispers into your ear, "Sam, you were always nice to me. Don't go to the village square tomorrow." The bird flies away. Your name isn't Sam.121Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2Hbm0g5xos
"They're still searching for the assassin that tried to kill the king last moon." Two men on their way to the local tavern gossiped.
In every corner of the village, whispers about the king's failed assassination were peddled. Some of the rumours were outlandish, from the assassin being the king's dead brother to a little boy to one of the priestesses. I don't see why everyone is so happy to talk about the king. We've never seen him; he never leaves his palace and has never done anything for us except give away most of the fertile farm land to the neighbouring countries.
As I headed to the field, a little bird flew circles around me before perching on my shoulder.
"Sam, you were always nice to me. Don't go to the village square tomorrow." It said before flying away.
Was that a Whisper bird?
They say the temple and altars use the whisper birds to relay messages, especially predictions from the Divine Temple or the altars.
Sam? I'm not Sam.
There were four Sams in the village: the baker's son, the grave digger, the mute boy helping out at Digen's farm, and one of the guards. I had no idea which one the message was for.
It was a prediction for tomorrow; it would take too long if I tried to report that the message wasn't delivered. The altar is half a day away on foot. It would be best to just tell all of them not to go to the village square tomorrow. Hopefully, the right one will understand the message.
I went around and told all of them the same message. That a whisper bird had wrongly delivered a message for me that they shouldn't go to the village square tomorrow. They all looked at me like I was a fool.
I can't blame them; who would believe a whisper bird delivered the message to the wrong person? It was plausible that I was lying too. Whatever, I passed the message on and went about my day.
The next morning, when I passed by the square, there was a group of knights in black scale armour with green markings. They just sat alert on their horses, watching the village bustle around them.
There was a scream, and another knight in the same armour but with yellow markings walked out of the elder's house, dragging the old man behind him. He announced the village was hiding the king's assassin and would be purged. Drawing his sword, he lopped off the elder's head.
Everyone stopped moving. Some women screamed, and the crowd dispersed in every direction. The message I delivered to all the Sams played in my mind. The priestess knew the king's knights would slaughter the village.
But why did she try to save only Sam? And which one?
I looked around the square frantically.
All of them are here!
What part of stay away did they interpret as come see?! Sorry priestess, you made a mistake.
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