The Three Feathers - The Magnificent Journey of Joshua Aylong

by Bolz, Stefan

  “I believe so. Since I saw the lioness I have had the sense that the memories of my companion have moved closer, her presence stronger in my thoughts. What I saw in the lioness reminded me of her and it brought her closer to me. At the same time it seems to hurt more. As if an old wound that was about to heal had been pried open and exposed to the elements once again. I feel at once better than I have for a long time and also much worse. In telling you this I realize how little I am making sense right now.”

  The wolf looked away from Joshua and toward the tower of Refuge.

  “I have also been thinking for a while now that whatever it is that awaits us inside the mountain, is probably not what we expect it to be. There might be answers there but I also know that they might not come in ways that we will understand or even want to. I cannot shake the uneasy feeling I get when my thoughts go there. Part of me thinks we should stay away from it. Far away.”

  “I know what you speak of, Grey. I have been feeling it myself. And if you tell me now that you think it better not to go I will obey your wishes. We can stay here or somehow find our way back to the surface.”

  “We might not even find the entrance to the mountain. It has been sealed centuries ago and I’m sure whoever did it, thought to not let anyone that just came along cross the threshold. I think the entrance might be harder to find than we think.”

  As Joshua thought of this, he realized that the turtle had slowed down and was almost at a complete stop, floating in the water.

  “Why are we stopping?” Joshua asked.

  There was no answer for a while.

  “Do you trust me, Joshua?” He heard the turtle’s thoughts.

  “Yes,” he answered without even thinking about it. “Yes I do.”

  “I’m so sorry I have to do this to you but I just remembered something.”

  With that, the turtle suddenly dropped down and her whole body disappeared into the water. Joshua didn’t have time to react. In an instant, he found himself half under the surface desperately gasping for air. He sank like a stone. In looking up he saw the silhouettes of the wolf and the two horses above him. He saw Grey try to reach him under water but he couldn’t get to him. Below him was the blackness of the abyss and in a moment of terror, Joshua realized that he was going to die and that there was nothing anybody could do about it. The question ‘why?’ briefly crossed his mind but before he could follow that thought he suddenly saw Alda in front of him. She was facing him under water.

  “Joshua, swim to the surface!” Her thoughts told him.

  “I can’t! I can’t swim.”

  “You can, Joshua.”

  “I can’t! Help me!”

  “I am helping you. Now swim to the surface!”

  “I can’t swim underwater. You have to help me or I’ll drown.”

  The panic he felt was overwhelming. He realized that he was getting weaker. He would have to do something really soon if he didn’t want to drown. He tried desperately to use his talons but it didn’t do much at all.

  “Push yourself up.” The turtle’s thoughts got louder in his mind.

  “I can’t!”

  “Push yourself up!”

  “I CAN’T! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND! I’M NOT MADE TO SWIM UNDER WATER!”

  More out of frustration, he pushed his wings downward gaining an upward lift.

  “Do it again, Joshua!” The turtle’s face was right in front of him. Why didn’t she just help him up?

  “DO IT AGAIN, JOSHUA!” Her thoughts were a crescendo, a cacophony of sound. More than anything he wanted to escape THAT. He pushed upward again. And again. He saw the light coming closer but he also felt that he didn’t have much more left in him.

  “Only a few more, Joshua!” Alda’s thoughts left no room for anything else in his mind.

  “Push!” He thought to himself.

  “Push downward to go upward!” The turtle thought to him.

  “Push downward to go upward!” He repeated her thought while squeezing the last ounce of strength out of his tired wings.

  And then he broke through the surface of the lake taking in a deep breath of air. It took a few moments before he could orient himself. He saw Grey, Krieg and Wind swimming close together not far away.

  “Are you alright?” Wind asked.

  Before he could say anything he saw that the three of them were lifted up and out of the water.

  “I’m so sorry. Hold on, coming up!” The turtle’s thoughts were loud but not unbearable.

  Suddenly Joshua felt the turtle’s shell under his talons as she came out of the water.

  “I’m so very sorry I had to do this to you.”

  Grey shook himself. Wind and Krieg unfolded their wings moving them up and down several times to get at least some of the water out of them.

  “Alda what was that?” Wind thought.

  “I’m so sorry,” the turtle replied. “I’m so very sorry. I remembered something and I thought it was very important at the time that I did what I did but now I can’t remember anymore and it feels so silly and I’m so sorry to have done this to you.”

  Her words were accompanied by a frantic melody that didn’t seem to have any rhyme or reason to it.

  “Alda!” Wind moved toward her head and looked down at her. “Alda, can you please stop the music.”

  “Oh. Yes. So sorry!”

  And suddenly it was quiet. Joshua didn’t realize how loud and frantic the melody was until it was gone. He got up and shook himself several times, still in shock over what had just happened. He could have easily drowned.

  “Joshua.” He heard Alda in his thoughts, quiet now and not more than a whisper. “You must know that even though I cannot remember why I did what I did, I would have never let you drown. Never.”

  Joshua wasn’t sure what to think at that moment. “Next time a little warning would be good,” he replied.

  “Where you are going, my dear friend, there will be no warning.” Alda’s thoughts were quiet. A simple statement. Its power resonated within him. A sense of foreboding crept up in Joshua that he could neither deny nor push away. He realized that inevitably they would reach a point where they could not turn back any longer, where they could only go forward. He dreaded that moment already, knowing that it would come eventually.

  Krieg came over and gave him a slight nudge with his nose. “Are you okay?” He asked.

  “Yes, I will be. I guess. Once all the liquid has drained out of my nostrils and lungs,” Joshua replied. Krieg smiled in his thoughts.

  And that was that. Alda brought them safely back to shore where they jumped off her large back and onto the rocky shore that surrounded the lake. When the turtle came out of the water under many apologies for the rushing stream that came out of every crevice of her shell, Joshua was reminded again how big she was. Her head and neck alone were easily as long as Krieg. It would take her and Wind a while to reach the city, and even longer to get back to them. He just hoped he would find the entrance somehow and that he wouldn’t have made this journey for nothing.

  “Joshua,” Alda’s thought interrupted his.

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “For naught is nothing that you do, my dear friend. You will find the entrance into the mountain and you will find what you are looking for. I will see you again soon, I hope,” her large eyes looked at him and he could see the kindness in them and her well wishes for his journey. Krieg said his good bye’s to Wind and the three of them watched the Pegasus and Alda as they slowly walked through the valley and toward the path that led through the egg shaped boulders and spider trees up the hill that would eventually lead into the city of light ruins.

  For a while they could hear the turtle’s humming until it faded from their thoughts. Joshua couldn’t help but feel a sense of finality in their parting. He brushed the thought away and concentrated on the path ahead. It lead through the hills in the opposite direction along the rocky shore of the lake. The Refuge became smaller and smaller the longer they walk
ed. Krieg looked back once in a while until Wind and Alda disappeared behind a hill. Joshua could sense his friend’s pain over parting with her. He jumped onto the horses’ back.

  “You will see her again,” Joshua thought to him. “You will see her again soon.” And if he had doubted this before, he had forgotten all about it by now.

  The Great Wall rose before them, still a day’s walk away but within reach. Joshua thought of the next part of their journey and of what would await them. If he had known what was in store for them, he would have turned around and he would have fled and nothing and no one would have been able to stop him.

  16. CAPTURE

  They traveled west along the river that fed the Lake of Tears. To the south the glacier reached almost to its shore. The ice spanned from here to the southern part of the wall and a quarter of the way up, like hands reaching to the heavens. The ice of the glacier had a green hue to it as if it had come on suddenly, instantly freezing plants, grasses and vegetation, and from then on holding them in its cold embrace. The sun was at their back, illuminating the wall ahead in tones of gold and shimmering earth colors. Joshua figured that they didn’t have more than a day and a half of sunlight left before darkness would settle once more in Hollow’s Gate. They needed to reach the Porte Des Lioness by then for without the light of the beacon they had no protection from whatever creatures the night released upon them.

  Joshua was still not convinced that they would be able to find the actual entrance. He had seen the contours of the face of the lioness embedded in the wall for only a brief moment. That glimpse had been too brief to remember any specific details now. The only part that had stayed with him was the small body of water he had seen right below it. If they followed the river there was a good chance that they would find the entrance.

  From here, the wall looked flat, smooth and impenetrable. Nothing gave even the slightest indication of the head of the lioness. Joshua became more and more convinced that whatever he had seen from high up in the tower was an optical illusion, some kind of device to induce enough fear in whoever looked at it to stay far away. But something didn’t quite make sense here. Why go through all the trouble to make whoever searches for it stand exactly at a certain spot and look through the cracked glass at exactly the right location to then be told to not go any further? Was it a warning, meant for the few who figured out where to look not to enter?

  The more he thought about it the more it felt to Joshua that he was part of a game someone else played and just a figure in it and nothing more. But that was exactly the opposite of what he had felt when he saw the face of the lioness in the tiles of the tower room. He felt her strength and her unchallenged authority and even though he could not feel her within himself she had told him, in no uncertain terms, that it was crucial for him to look for her and find her. Was that the answer? What did he know that he didn’t realize he knew? What was in him that lay idle and unnoticed under thick layers of fear and his belief that he couldn’t possibly be part of something larger than himself? But wasn’t that what he had set out to finding in the first place? What did he fly out of the pen for, other than to find something that was greater than himself? But would he find it deep inside a mountain?

  They had crossed the crest of a small hill. From here the path along the river in front of them lead all the way to where the river ended in a small pond at the bottom of the Great Wall. The pond itself lay in the shadows as the sun was setting behind the rim of Hollow’s Gate. Night would come soon. If they wouldn’t be able to find the entrance in daylight, what were the chances of finding it at night? And who knew what would be waiting for them down here once the sun had set completely.

  For a while now, Joshua had felt the presence of his companions next to him. He realized that it wasn’t necessary to form a specific thought and communicate it with them in order for him to feel their bond. They had been walking for hours with very little conversation between them. However, he could sense Grey’s and Krieg’s presence without words now and he knew they had shared in his thoughts and ideas along the way. He knew of Krieg’s thoughts about Wind and the sting of her absence in his heart. Here and there her thoughts brushed against Krieg’s mind, and Joshua glimpsed an image of her and Alda as they began their slow ascent on the path up the hill that would eventually lead them past the entrances to the spider holes and into the city of light ruins.

  “I should have gone with her,” Krieg interrupted Joshua’s thoughts. “I shouldn’t have let her go alone.”

  “She can take care of herself, Krieg,” Grey replied. “And she is not alone. They should easily reach the city during daylight.”

  “I think we made a mistake,” Krieg’s thoughts were accompanied by a sudden sense of fear. “If they reach the city just before dark they will have to stay there for a week in order to be safe. In order for us to make it, we have to be inside the mountain by then.”

  “She can fly back, Krieg,” Joshua tried to sound more convinced than he was. “It would only be a short distance through the air. And Alda has survived many nights down here.”

  Krieg thought about this. “I guess you’re right,” he replied.

  Joshua could sense Krieg’s conflict of whether or not he should stay with them or go to find Wind and go with her. Joshua looked at Grey who gave his silent approval.

  “Krieg, if you wish to go and make sure she is ok we can meet you both at the entrance. It will take us a while to find it anyway,” Joshua thought.

  “If you don’t mind, I would like to go to see her safely reach the city.”

  “Go,” Grey answered. “We will search for the entrance and meet you both there.”

  Joshua flew down from the horse’s back to stand in front of him. Krieg bowed his head and gently touched Joshua’s head with his nose.

  “Go,” Joshua thought quietly to him. “We will wait for your return.”

  Krieg exchanged a short glance with Grey, then turned around and first trotted, then began to gallop. When his wings unfolded he lifted up and with powerful flaps he rose into the air.

  * * *

  Wind and Alda had reached the area of the egg-shaped boulders and made their way up the windy path. In her conversation with the turtle, Wind had discovered memories that she thought she had lost. They were memories of her childhood when she was raised in a group of foals. Each foal was given to the care of one of the children of the sky people. The sky children made sure that each foal had enough food and water; they brushed them and took them out to ride regularly. The child Wind was given to was called Leannah. But it wasn’t only Leannah that took care of the foal. The connection and responsibility was mutual and reciprocal. Child and foal taught each other of each other and so began to form a bond that would last a life time.

  When Alda told her the story of Leannah, Wind was overcome with emotion, surprised over the strength of the bond she still felt to the child. She did not remember what had become of her. Only that, one day, shortly after Wind had gotten her wings, the children were taken and brought deep underground to work in the mines. The day the men came to take Leannah out of the stables was so clear and vivid, it seemed to Wind as if it had happened yesterday. But she also felt that there was still an area of her memory that was clouded in mist and inaccessible to both her and Alda. It was a memory of a darker time, a time that forgetfulness still kept in its merciful embrace.

  Wind was glad for Alda’s lighter memories and Alda was happy to share them with her, as they were her memories as well. So deeply were they immersed in their conversation, that Wind thought she had stumbled over a root or part of a branch at first. But when it happened to her other foot she looked down and saw a bundle of white threads, sticky and thick, wrapped around her ankles.

  “What is this?” She thought to Alda who walked slightly ahead of her. The turtle turned her head. Her eyes widened and Wind instinctively opened her wings. But before she could unfold them they were covered in more of the sticky threads. At the same time, both her fr
ont legs were pulled from under her and she fell down.

  Now she could see behind her. There were hundreds and hundreds of spiders moving toward them. Out of her peripheral vision she saw many more spilling out of the holes in the ground.

  “I thought they weren’t dangerous,” was the last clear thought Wind could form. To the crescendo of Alda’s cacophonous music, and within moments, the spiders had wrapped Wind in a cocoon from which there was no escape. She fought it but that tightened the spider’s web and made it more impenetrable. Alda saw the terror in Wind’s eyes when she was taken; first pulled then carried by countless spiders up toward one of the holes.

  The turtle turned. Too slowly she moved her massive body under enormous strain as fast as she could toward the hole into which the Pegasus had been carried. Most of the spiders had disappeared already. They left as fast as they came, lead by one single terror-inducing command. When moments later the turtle was alone, she heard the cries of the Griffon Vulture as she landed less than five yards from Alda’s head. The vulture brought with her the stench of death and decay and the insane. Her feathers were blackened, half decomposed. A slimy liquid dripped out of her mouth. One eye was grey, blind yet looking at her from beyond, demanding her attention.

  “I should have remembered,” Alda thought to herself. “I could have remembered.”

  “Yes. You could have saved them all. Too late now. A pity.” The Vulture cocked her head. “All the wisdom of the world is at your disposal and you forgot? Remember this: I will wait for the dreamer, the red rooster, inside the mountain. If he does not come, the Pegasus dies. And I will make sure to take my time with her. The last thing I will feast on is her heart and she will die knowing that she has failed to fulfill her destiny.”

  The moment the vulture spread her massive wings to fly off, Alda saw a shadow blocking the low sun for a moment. She saw the silhouette of the war horse coming toward them from above. The vulture saw him also. Krieg landed and galloped the last part of the distance between himself and the vulture. When he reached her, the vulture lifted off and with only a few powerful flaps of her wings was already high up in the air, her eerie cries hollow and poised to fester in Krieg’s mind telling him of his own demise. Krieg turned around and galloped in long strides then lifted off gaining height and momentum. He turned in the air to face her. The vulture flew toward him, wings wide, talons spread, her blind eye fixed on the war horse. Krieg had fought many battles; most of them head on toward the enemy. He did not withdraw from her.