Feather Logic

Mira sat in the cave. The rain had stopped, and she poked her head through the hole she had crawled through the day before. The sky was blue, the sun was shining brightly, and the world looked friendly and inviting. There was not a soul in sight or sound for miles. Mira didn’t want to stay in the cave any longer. She was bored. The three days she was supposed to stay in the cave weren’t up yet, but she no longer even remembered why she had been there. She couldn’t recall anything. She climbed out and continued down the path that led further down the mountain. Mira felt carefree, the birds were chirping, and she wasn’t even in a hurry. She even started whistling because she was in such a good mood. But then she heard the sound of barking dogs, and it wasn’t even that far away. Instinctively, she began to run as fast as she could, and everything came back to her — how she had been chased and how she had been warned beforehand.

She could already see the wall that she considered the boundary of the territory. She wasn’t far from it, but neither were the silentarians. She felt her pulse pounding in her neck. Would she get caught just before the border? Perhaps she was running straight into their hands, as there might be others waiting by the wall. It was too late; there was no turning back to the cave. The dogs would track her down if she tried to hide. She had to risk climbing over the wall. The barking of the dogs grew fainter, but Mira didn’t pay attention to it. She ran toward the wall, swinging her arms as if someone were holding her back, and she had to shake them off. Finally, she reached the wall. But there was no passage there. The wall was too high and smooth to climb over easily.

Nervously, she run along the wall, hoping to find an opening. She kept running, glancing nervously around, checking for any sign of the silentarians. Then she found a tree that was climbable and close enough to the wall. Skilfully, like a little monkey, she worked her way up, swinging from branch to branch, until she reached the height of the wall. Then, she jumped onto the wall, slowly lowered herself, facing the wall on the other side. But before she could even touch the ground, she was grabbed from behind, her hands bound with a rope, and her face covered with a cloth. “No!” , Mira screamed loudly, struggling wildly, without any chance to escape.