The Three Feathers - The Magnificent Journey of Joshua Aylong

by Bolz, Stefan

  “I’m so glad you are both alive,” Krieg thought to them. “I was certain of your death and I felt it as my own.”

  “We are very glad to see you well, Krieg,” the wolf replied. “Tell us what happened.”

  And so Krieg told the story of how he and Wind escaped the crumbling path and made it up the steep incline to the surface. He told them about the beacon and seeing the sky people float up and about himself jumping into the abyss and passing through the clouds into the blackness of the Gate of Time. When he came out of the dark he suddenly felt a stabbing pain in his back and he realized that his fall had slowed. He became aware of his wings and began to make small adjustments to them to change direction and height. Then he saw Wind coming toward him. He felt her utter joy.

  “I live!” He thought.

  “Yes. And you can fly,” Wind replied.

  “I can fly!”

  It was a feeling unlike any other he had ever experienced. He felt weightless, gliding through the air, dizzy from the sheer height and feeling the air under his wings.

  “Come with me!” Wind turned toward the Wall and Krieg followed behind her. “We can use the upward winds,” she thought to him and he saw her suddenly far above him. A moment later he was carried upward at least 200 yards until he was next to her again.

  The exhilaration he felt was contagious and for a while both of them flew through the sky, at times gliding in almost complete silence and at others using their powerful wings to push upward. Eventually they set down in a small enclave of trees not far from the Wall to the north where the land was lush and the grass was deep green. It was warm there and the finest mist hung in the air. Moss covered the lower parts of the Wall. From high up, water ran down along it and where it hit the ground it disappeared into a narrow gap. Krieg realized that where they stood was the bottom end of the waterfall where he, Joshua and the wolf had barely escaped their fate.

  “We have to find them,” Krieg thought to Wind. He looked down at two half decomposed Hyenas right next to the small gap. “Even though it is the last thing I want to see, we must try to find their bodies. They should not become prey to worms and other vermin.”

  Wind could see the pain in Krieg’s eyes.

  “Then let us go and find them,” Wind answered and took a few steps. “Come.”

  Krieg gave his silent approval and Wind began to trot and soon galloped through the trees in long strides gaining speed until she reached a large clearing and lifted off the ground. She turned in the air and flew back toward Krieg who went up on his hind legs, pushing forward and racing through the trees to the same opening. His wings unfolded and he was in the air. He gained height until they were about 200 yards above the ground.

  “We should fly along the wall to the west,” Wind thought to Krieg, adjusting her wings accordingly.

  And so they flew along the majestic wall looking for any signs of Joshua and Grey but they couldn’t find them anywhere. In the distance they saw the shimmering lights of the ruins and the beacon rising up into the sky. Krieg could sense Wind’s wish to go there and stand on the ancient grounds of her city once more.

  “You are right, Krieg. My home is calling for me. But answering it must wait until we have found your friends. I have waited a thousand years and I can wait a little longer.”

  It was then when Krieg spotted a small red dot racing across the dam and toward the Refuge. And he saw the ice closing in on them and the spiders running for their lives and he flew down and found his friends again.

  13. LIONESS

  When Joshua and Grey told their part of the story, Wind listened intently, asking many questions about the city of light ruins and the beacon and the engravings on the plate of stone. Joshua had many questions for Wind as well, some of which she was able to answer. She spoke about the sky people who, for centuries, visited the city through the beacon to serve the Pegasus. They lived peacefully together until some of them began to mine the mountain for rare crystals. More and more of the sky people came through the beacon and the city became a thriving mining town. But in time, most of the sky people forgot their purpose to serve the Pegasus and they began to use them in the mines. They were strong creatures and able to sustain long times without food and water deep inside the mountain. Very few of the sky people realized that they were lost. Lost in greed and the underlying despair over what they were doing to the Pegasus. Some of the sky people began to oppose. Many lost their lives in their attempts to free the Pegasus from the mines.

  And one day, a small group of sky people who still believed in their purpose and that of their ancestors, destroyed the beacon, fully knowing that they would not be able to ever get back home. They fled deep into the ground. Without the beacon, the creatures of the dark came by night to take whoever was not able to find shelter. Without the beacon, the ice was able to reach far into the city and one day whoever was still above ground was prey to its deathly claws. Many died. The Pegasus that were still alive and weren’t killed by the dark ones, abandoned the crumbling city. Without the beacon there was no longer any purpose for being there. And without the beacon, the city began to fall. The sky people that were left swore never to let this happen again.

  Deep below the surface, they found stone plates filled with symbols of the knowledge of an ancient civilization; the one who had built the beacon in the first place. It was there were they found instructions to close the entrance to the mines; seal the Porte Des Lioness and build the labyrinth of mirrors that would allow only one with a true heart and certainty of purpose to reactivate the beacon and give the sky people another chance…

  Joshua suddenly found himself back in the dark tower room realizing that everyone was looking at him.

  “What are you looking at me for? I didn’t do anything,” he thought. “It obviously couldn’t have been me. I’m certainly not true in my heart and also not at all certain of my purpose. It must be you, Grey.”

  The wolf smiled in his thoughts. So did Krieg and Wind.

  “What” Joshua thought. “Let me explain to you why it couldn’t have been me. First of all, pure of heart I’m certainly not. I have abandoned my fellow chickens and with that sentenced them to death for which I am responsible. My heart is anything but pure. It is the opposite. And since I have found you I have pushed you into an ordeal that almost cost you your lives. Several times over. So, don’t tell me that I’m anything but what I am: nothing.”

  Joshua looked at his friends and could not understand why they didn’t agree with him.

  “Grey, am I not right? You almost lost your life twice now, actually three times if you count the labyrinth. And you Krieg, I…” Joshua seemed to have lost the thread of his arguments.

  “You mean you didn’t save me?” Krieg thought to him. “You didn’t stand up to three men who would have definitely killed me right there? You weren’t the one saving us in the Great Falls?

  “Krieg, I… that wasn’t… I didn’t save you. It was the wolf and then you saved us from the men and without the wolf I would be dead and without you I would be dead and—”

  “Joshua,” Wind’s thoughts came to him like a warm ray of sun on a cold and dreary day. “Perfection was never necessary. Willingness was. And of that you have plenty. Your heart is open and that is all. Mistakes cannot stop you from finding your destiny. And in searching for your own you are finding it for others. You began this journey for yourself. But you will end it for everyone.”

  Joshua was stunned. He never thought this, never held such lofty ideas about himself. And even though Wind’s thoughts were like balm on his soul, he could only accept them partially, and with many reservations. He could not believe they would ever become his only truth. There was just no way. He was who he was and accepting himself as more than that was something he could only see in others and not himself. He could see greatness in Krieg. He could see greatness in Grey and certainly in Wind. But whatever it was that grew within himself, it was safer not to go anywhere near it.

  * *
*

  At first, Joshua wasn’t aware of the shifting patterns of light and shadow on the floor. Then he saw the bodies of the spiders stir and suddenly move downward. As if compelled by an invisible force, they left behind the safety of the Refuge to return to their home deep underground. With the spiders gone a magnificent landscape revealed itself. To the north the city of light ruins shimmered through the large pines. The path into the city, past the large egg-shaped boulders and spider trees, now had taken on a completely different meaning. There was no more fear in Joshua. Just wonder. To the west and beyond the receding ice, the Great Wall of Hollow’s Gate went straight up into the sky.

  Joshua walked over to the southern facing side of the dome. As he approached the glass wall, he realized how high up the tower room was. Far below him, the surface of the Lake of Tears shimmered in shades of dark blue and turquoise. In its center the water disappeared into a circular crater of massive proportions. Joshua was dizzied by the height and the sheer force of the water as it rushed into the abyss below. Behind the two lakes, ice crawled far up the Great Wall reflecting the sunlight in myriads of crystals.

  Joshua suddenly knew why it was called the Lake of Tears. It wasn’t because of its tear-shaped form. It was because of the spiders mourning their own. He felt a strange connection to them since he knew of their fate. He could no longer be afraid of them. He began to grasp that they were somehow part of the whole that spanned the world around him.

  “Joshua,” the wolf appeared next to him. “I think I know where we should go. I just don’t know how we can find it.”

  “I had the same thought, Grey.”

  When they turned they saw Wind and Krieg, dwarfed against the tall window on the other side of the tower.

  “Wind, you said the sky people sealed the entrance to the mountain?”

  “Yes.” Wind answered. “They sealed the entrance. It is completely invisible and cannot be seen. Not by day light, not by moon light, and not in the hours in between. It cannot be found.”

  As Joshua and Grey walked over the stone floor that was painted in patterns of fading colors, there was the trace of a memory Joshua could not grasp. Whenever he thought he caught it, it eluded him.

  “Look around,” he thought to them. “Do you see anything out of the ordinary?”

  “There is nothing in here, Joshua,” Grey answered.

  “I know. But there has to be. I can’t remember what it is. I’m missing something.” Joshua turned, looked through the large windows in all directions; looked beyond them into the landscape and far into the distance.

  “Wind, which direction is the sealed entrance you mentioned?” Joshua asked.

  “West. The mines are west of here,” Wind answered.

  Joshua went to the large glass window to the west and looked through it. He concentrated on scanning the Great Wall in the distance for any irregularities.

  “Maybe we have to get closer in order to see it,” Krieg thought to them.

  “Or maybe higher up!” Wind replied “Maybe we have to fly there and see if we can find it from the air”

  “It’s a possibility. But I don’t think that’s it,” Joshua answered. “Grey, do you remember when we met the large Turtle. It was something she said, I’m sure of it. I just can’t remember what it was.”

  Joshua moved backwards slowly while looking intently through the glass and beyond.

  “There is nothing. I can’t remember what she said. It’s useless. We’re never going to find it,” Joshua thought more to himself than to the others. At that moment a small beam of sunlight broke through the clouds and for a millisecond, he was blinded by its reflection. Then it was gone.

  He looked at his companions.

  “I will fly there,” Wind thought. “At least it is something I can do. If I can’t find it I will come back and see if we can look for it otherwise.”

  Joshua nodded. “That might be the only way.”

  “I will go with you,” Krieg thought to her.

  “You can watch us through the windows. We will return if we don’t find anything.” Wind, followed by Krieg, was already on her way to the opening in the floor.

  “Wait. Wind, wait. I remember… Grey, the turtle said something about glass. A piece of glass. Shattered glass? Do you remember?—”

  “The glass is cracked,” Grey answered. “She said something about a crack in the glass.”

  “Yes!” Joshua could not contain his excitement. “A crack in the glass!”

  “What does this mean?” Krieg asked.

  “I’m not sure. Hold on,” he replied, backing away from the westerly window again and this time concentrating on the glass, not on the landscape beyond it. His eyes went up and down, side to side. And when he almost thought it wasn’t there, he saw it. It was a small fracture in one of the large glass panels. So small it was completely invisible at first glance.

  “Here it is. Look up there!”

  Wind and Krieg came back to where Joshua stood. The wolf moved closer as well. They all looked up and now saw a thin and slightly curved horizontal line. The ends were rounded upward.

  “Now what?” Grey asked.

  “Now we have to find the right angle to look at it,” Joshua replied.

  “Right angle?” Krieg walked toward the large window. The crack was just above his head.

  “Can you see anything?” Joshua asked.

  “No,” Krieg answered. “Nothing.”

  “Krieg, may I fly on your back?”

  “Sure,” Krieg answered.

  Joshua flew onto Krieg’s back. But he could barely see over the horse’s head.

  “That’s not it either,” he thought to the others.

  As he looked around he realized that, from up here, the large stone tiles in the floor didn’t look that random anymore. There was a symmetry to it that he did not recognize before.

  “Krieg, I have an idea but it seems foolish even as I think it,” Joshua thought.

  “What is it?” Krieg answered.

  Joshua looked up to the ceiling high above them. The thought alone made him squirm.

  “Can you take me up there?”

  Krieg looked up. About eight stories above them the walls met the half round dome like ceiling.

  “Are you sure you want me to?” Krieg asked.

  “Yes. No. Yes.” Joshua suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore. It more and more felt like a silly idea. He could sense Grey’s concern for Krieg.

  “Forget it I… it doesn’t make sense. Forget it,” Joshua thought.

  “I’ll take you,” Krieg answered.

  Joshua looked at Krieg. So did Wind. She nodded ever so slightly. Grey gave his silent approval as well and stepped back to give Krieg the space he needed.

  “Be careful,” Wind’s thoughts whispered. “You don’t have a hundred yards.”

  “I will be,” he answered.

  And with that, he unfolded his wings and moved backwards toward the corner. He figured he had about fourty yards to take off. Not enough.

  “Krieg, are you sure you can do this?” Joshua asked, feeling his apprehension.

  “Yes. I can do this for you. For us. Just hold on tight.”

  He went on his hind legs and jumped forward. Joshua dug his talons into Krieg’s coat and tried to stay as low as possible as they gained speed and power. The other side of the large room came closer fast. Krieg’s massive wings pushed downward, creating an upward draft and suddenly they were in the air. Too close to the other corner, Krieg wasn’t able to turn. He had to use all his strength to push upward and not stall and fall like a stone. Slowly—too slow for Joshua—they gained height and moved away from the corner toward the middle of the room. Joshua felt a wave of dizziness washing over him as he looked down. From up here Wind and Grey seemed small in comparison to the large dome. He looked from them onto the floor.

  And suddenly he saw it. Krieg must have seen it at the same time. A frightened gasp escaped the horse and for a moment Joshua thought he would l
ose control. But Krieg caught himself and for a few seconds they hovered high above looking down into the face of a lioness.

  It was painted into the mosaic of the floor tiles, impossible to see from below. But from up here her head filled the entire floor. Her green eyes seemed to penetrate deep into Joshua’s soul. There were white markings on her cheeks, a pink nose and dark patches between her eyes and on her forehead. There was no danger in her expression. Just clear and unchallenged authority. Joshua heard her thoughts echoing inside his mind.

  “If you want to continue on this journey you must find me deep within you. Otherwise the mountain will not release you once you have entered its domain.”

  Her thoughts stirred something inside Joshua, something he could not yet grasp or even begin to understand. For a few moments longer they hovered high above. Joshua could not look away from her. She held his gaze until they landed next to their companions. From here the face of the lioness had once again disappeared. There were only pieces of colored stone with no unified pattern at all. Her thoughts, however, stood clear in Joshua’s mind, her image unmistakably connected to them. It became clear to him at that moment that what she had told him were not mere suggestions. She had given him an order that he would do well to heed.

  * * *

  Wind was the first to break the silence that held them all within its spell. She began to weep quietly.

  “You have seen the lioness, Joshua,” she thought to him.

  “Yes, I have.” Still stunned by what he had witnessed, Joshua looked from Wind to Grey.

  “We have seen her through your eyes,” the wolf answered his gaze. “Until this moment I thought her a mere legend, no more than myth carried through the generations. But when I saw her it was as if I knew her and have known her since the dawn of time.”

  “This changes everything,” Wind thought to them.