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

mighty war horse were no match for the stone.
    “Is there something we can do?” Joshua asked.
    “No.” Krieg answered.
    When he looked at Joshua, his eyes spoke to him more than anything.
    “I have fought many wars. I have seen despair in friend and foe. I have seen pain and loss and plenty of it but nothing captures my heart more than someone’s inability to fight for freedom.”
    Grey and Joshua looked at each other, sharing in their friend’s sorrow. Krieg walked close to the Pegasus and laid his head on the stone. Joshua watched as a single tear dropped down from the eyes of the war horse and landed on the head of the Pegasus.
    All was quiet. Suddenly it was as if the air became denser around the plateau on which they stood. Something moved even though nothing was visible to the naked eye. There was a stirring and each of them felt it deep within themselves as if something inside each of them, something that was captured and held prisoner a long time ago, was finally set free. Joshua and the wolf stepped back. Was it a trick their mind played on them, an optical illusion of sorts, when some of the stone feathers of the Pegasus’ massive wings began to move slightly in the wind?
    Joshua realized at that moment that they were witnessing something that had not happened in eons, if ever. At that moment he became aware of the Pegasus. Not her features, but her mind. It was as if it had been submerged deep within her and finally found its way to the surface. There was an utter lightness to her being. Her mind was like a fountain of clear water sparkling in the sun. The sense of relief in her was so contagious that Joshua closed his eyes and let it envelop him completely.
    When he opened his eyes, he saw her wings begin to move. The sheer joy of her slowly regaining freedom had no boundaries. The wind streaming off her massive wings pushed Joshua down to the ground and suddenly there was a rumbling from deep inside the mountain, as if it finally released her into freedom. The sound of the compressed air below her wings was like thunder. And then they heard a crack. Like a lightning strike, it went through them. Joshua didn’t know what was happening at first. It all seemed to occur in slow motion. He saw the Pegasus on her hind legs, her massive wings moving up and down. He saw Krieg standing to the side watching. Joshua felt more than saw the wolf, slightly behind him across from the Pegasus and toward the edge of the Plateau.
    Suddenly the ground beneath them gave way. At first Joshua thought that Krieg and the Pegasus, together with the cliff behind them, moved away from him. But then he realized that he and Grey were moving away from them. At that moment he knew what the cracking sound was. A large part of the plateau on which they stood was breaking off, taking him and the wolf with it and disappearing into the depth below. And then he fell.
     

8. J UMP
    Krieg saw Joshua and the wolf disappear over the cliff. It took all his strength not to jump after them, but he knew that this would be certain death. The Pegasus was still partially embedded in the stone when Krieg saw that the path began to crumble and break off.
    “We have to leave!” He thought to the Pegasus. “We have to leave now!”
    The Pegasus looked around in panic trying frantically to free herself. “Help me!” The thought stood clearly in Krieg’s mind. “I don’t want to die and I’m still too weak to fly.”
    He began to kick the rock next to her with his hind legs. The stone began to loosen but not fast enough for him. The path back to safety crumbled more and more but suddenly the Pegasus was free.
    “Run!” She thought to him.
    She didn’t have to tell him twice. He took off racing up the crumbling path. The moment they stepped off the plateau, it broke off and disappeared into the depth below. It was now as if the destruction of the path raced Krieg and the Pegasus. As fast as they ran, the breaking of the path gained on them until