The Three Feathers - The Magnificent Journey of Joshua Aylong (13 page)

“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 lose 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.

“What do you mean?” Joshua asked.

“I am not sure. What I do know is that no one can look upon the lioness and be the same again.”

Everyone stood quietly for a while following the trail of their own thoughts. Wind walked toward the middle of the room.

“I know what you must do” her thoughts reached them. “Look down here.”

Joshua flew down from Krieg’s back and walked toward Wind.

“I saw it through your eyes. You might not remember. Your glimpse of her was too short. But look right here. Between her eyes.”

Where she stood, Joshua saw that two of the stone tiles were cracked. The shape of it was similar to the crack in the glass.

“You must stand here and look beyond the glass. But not only you. The three of you. The three of you came here. The three of you must find your way deep into the mountain.”

Joshua understood. So did Grey and Krieg. The horse walked over to stand with his front legs just before the crack.

“Can you make it up here, Grey?” Krieg asked.

“I think so,” the wolf answered.

“Do it.” Krieg stood, bracing himself while Grey trotted back ten yards and then turned and charged toward the horse. Just before Joshua thought he would crash into him, the wolf jumped and landed on Krieg’s back.

“Now it’s your turn,” Krieg thought to Joshua. “Come up here, red one, and tell us what you see.”

Joshua flew up and landed on the wolf’s back. In front of Joshua, about 15 yards away, was the west facing window with the crack just below his eye level. Beyond it in the distance the Great Wall extended upward into the sky. Joshua let his gaze rest on the small fracture and then go beyond it. Nothing happened. He tried to switch his focal point between the crack in the glass and the wall in the distance. Nothing.

“I can’t see anything,” he thought.

“Wait, Joshua.” Wind’s thoughts came to him like a whisper, a quiet breeze over fields of deepest green. “Wait and be still.”

And when Joshua forgot for one moment whether he should concentrate on the crack or the wall beyond, when he just let his eyes rest on nothing in particular, a shape suddenly carved itself out of the Great Wall. It was almost as if it sprang toward him. The three dimensional outline reminded him of the head of the lioness he had seen just before. But where the other was still, more detailed and directed inward, this one looked as if it was jumping straight at him. Joshua flew up in terror letting out a crow that echoed through the large dome. Grey jumped off the horse and Krieg went on his hind legs. For a moment the terror went through each of them like a wave crashing against the rocks.

“What was that?” Grey fought his instinct to run in the opposite direction.

“I don’t have the slightest idea,” Krieg answered. “But whatever it was, I don’t think it wants us to come anywhere near it.”

When Joshua looked toward the Wall it was normal again. There was no indication where the head of the lioness had just been.

“I know where we have to go,” Joshua sounded much more certain than he was.

“Where?” Grey asked.

“Do you see the small body of water straight ahead, right at the bottom of the wall?” Joshua looked in the direction of it.