Flash Fiction | Writing Challenge | Drabbles

The God’s Spy, a Shadow Lover

A response to the January 2026 Deluded Custodians challenge

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For those not acquainted with them, Huginn and Muninn, are ravens who hung around the Norse god, Odin. Anyone interested in Norse Mythology should check out out Daniel McCoy’s excellent Norse Mythology for Smart People web site. His book is darn good too.

A raven sits on a weathered and worn gravestone, far from the road. Most certainly it’s a raven, not a crow. It has presence and is ever so self-assured.

Not that crows are to be disparaged. Raucous? Yes, but also wise.

Ravens, however, are quintessential manifestations of both the profane and the divine; their majesty transcends the mundane. They are the god’s perfect spies.

I walk toward it. When I’m a body length away, the dark bird deigns to notice my presence.

“You’re a beauty,” I say.

It shifts its feet to face me, tilts its head, and preens.

It’s a first for me, flirting with a bird.

But what a bird this is. Its wingspan must be a full five feet.

And it’s female, beyond a doubt. Males of any species can be vain, but male vanity manifests in an entirely different manner.

This raven is delicate power personified. Yes, personified. I don’t doubt that in front of me is a self-willed and self-aware being.

And an ever-so-dangerous one. I’m know that I’m playing with hell fire but must say what I am thinking.

“If you were human I could love you. Deeply. Forever.”

I am Muninn, beloved of Odin. Memory and the all-encompassing delight on which souls soar blissfully to heaven are associated with my name.

Yes, ecstasy is but a state of mind. It can never become a state of being as to soar; one must also plummet.

I have flown beside Huginn since the start, but we are brother and sister, partners in justice, but not lovers, no.

We can manifest as humans, if we so choose. Huginn has shared many lives with humans who have then passed, to his sorrow.

Me? Never.

Although that may change. Yes, it might.

Thanks to Ann James for another excellent Deluded Custodians prompt.

[embed]‘Deluded Custodians’ January 2026 Challenge Three Drabbles: One Story, Three Takesmedium.com

And now, how about a bit of shameless self-promotion? After all, this is The Pub.

[embed]The Quest Party Arrives on Terra An excerpt from Adornments of Glory, an inter-world action novelmedium.com