Free The Three Feathers - The Magnificent Journey of Joshua Aylong by Stefan Bolz Page A

lasts seven days but one night lasts as long and you want to be as far away from here as possible when the sun sets in the eastern sky.”
    “How did you survive?” Joshua asked.
    As the wolf looked at him Joshua began to see an image of Grey falling through the sky like a stone. He passed through the fog and when the blackness came, for an instant there were memories of the wolf’s companion at his side roaming the ice forests in deep winter. The sting of loss the wolf felt at that moment lingered in Joshua’s mind like an echo deep inside him. Then the blackness was gone and the ground came closer and closer until suddenly there was a pull and a piercing pain in the wolf’s sides. Joshua saw the eagle with the wolf in his talons gliding down toward the ground.
    “Did the eagle see you?” Joshua asked. “How could he see you and fly down to catch you so fast?”
    “It has to do with the Gate of Time,” Grey replied.
    “The Gate of Time?” Joshua asked.
    “Time down here flows slower than on the surface. A week down here is but a day above. The Gate of Time lies in the middle between the two worlds. It is an area you pass through to reach the bottom. It is an area where time does not exist, where the past and the future are equally balanced in the present.”
    “I’m not sure I understand,” Joshua must have shown his confusion for Grey stopped and turned toward him.
    “The eagles have their nests right below the Gate. They see through it and beyond. When I fell, Ayres saw me coming toward it. But because time flows differently above it, he saw me as if I fell very slowly. He recognized me and when I passed through the Gate, he caught me and brought me safely to the ground.”
    “How do you know him?” Joshua asked.
    “That, my friend, is a long story and one I am more than willing to share—after we eat.”
    And that was that. They walked a little further to a place where water ran over a few large rocks to create a small pool at the bottom. Grey left for a while to look for game. The earth around the pool was soft and there were berry bushes at the edge of the water. Joshua, for the first time in days, could still his hunger completely. And weren’t there the nagging concern for Krieg and what was to become of him, he would have been content.
     

10. M IRRORS
    “You don’t have to hide your food from me,” Joshua thought to the wolf when he came back. “I don’t mind you eating in front of me. You can’t be different than what you are.”
    “And you can’t help feeling uneasy. So, I eat away from you and then I come back,” the wolf replied.
    Joshua, as usual, could not escape the wolf’s logic. He knew better by now not to argue especially when it was clear that Grey was right.
    “I have so many questions,” Joshua thought.
    “I’m sure, in time they will be answered,” Grey thought back. “But what of Krieg and the Pegasus?”
    “Last I saw, they had reached the steep path that lead to the surface. I know nothing beyond that,” Joshua answered.
    “At least they are safe for now, it seems,” the wolf thought.
    But his concern betrayed him and Joshua knew that this was a mere hope the wolf held and not a certainty. For a while there was silence between them and all they heard was the chirping of the insects and the soft breeze rustling the tree tops and the grasses in the fields.
    “How do you know this place?” Joshua wasn’t so sure if he wanted to know the answer but he asked it anyway.
    “I don’t. At least I don’t remember. Wolves and eagles have always formed close bonds with each other throughout the ages. I have known Ayres since I was a cub. We both came from the Ice Forests and in our youth there was a time when we hunted the great white tundra together. No game was too big for us. There were huge buffalo that provided food for a moon for both our families. Once we left the days of our youth behind, Ayres answered the call to become the Guardian of the Gate. He has