The White Witch has ruled for so long there are only five
talking birds left. Sallowpad the raven was one of the First
Council, so is perhaps the most important, but the phoenix is the
rarest. Farsight the eagle can fly highest and see farthest, in the
daytime anyway, but he lacks the wisdom of Glimfeather the owl and
the sense of humour of the jackdaw, so they both let him think he's
the most important.
They have worked out a daily routine for keeping watch on the
witch and her spies. The jackdaw calls it Neighbourhood Witch.
Every day one stays put and the four others patrol separately, all
visiting each of the other four nests just once, flying directly
from one to the next. After a rest, they fly home by whatever route
they please, but we're concerned just with the Neighbourhood Witch
flights.
Today, unusually, all four set off by flying eastwards from
their own nests to another nest, then northwards to a third,
westwards to a fourth and southwards on the last. "Eastwards"
doesn't mean "due east" you understand, but ending further east
than you started. Between them they flew all ten flightpaths
between their five nests.
Now, the further south a bird lives, the earlier it wakes up, so
the earliest bird was the one whose nest is at 21.184'N. Soon
enough he was off to check up on Sallowpad, then north to the Stone
Table, west to see Glimfeather and finally south, ending at
21.241'W
The next of the four to wake up went from her nest at 21.352'N
to visit the phoenix. The charred nest is quite distinctive, as you
can imagine, but quite normal. Then off northwards to the northern
marsh, which is truly boggy at this time of year, though that's not
a problem if you fly! After a rest she headed west, and found the
jackdaw's nest. She got to her destination at 21.401'W just before
sunset.
Eventually, the sun reached the next bird's nest and he set off,
muttering to himself that it was rather early. He was rather
frightened by the great noise in Shuddering Wood, but went there
anyway and finally reached 21.639'W safely.
At last the sun reached 21.620'N, and its occupant woke up. She
went east to the Dancing Lawn with its hollow tree trunk that she
had once built her own nest in. Then north to Farsight's eyrie and
west to the banks of the Great River, glinting in the afternoon sun
on its way to the Frozen Lake. Her journey's end was further west
than that of any of the others.
One of the birds is guarding a fabulous treasure, it is said.
You could find it, but beware; the witch may have planted red
herrings to mislead you. It's safest to go by a different route
from the others. Thanks to the CROW, you can go directly from any
nest to any other, even on the ground, though crossing rivers may
be a challenge. Trust only the birds and the messages they may
leave for you at their nests.
You enter the land at the Lantern Waste, of course, but don't be
put off. Most of it is much more attractive.
Look at my pictures.
Good luck.
Mr Tumnus