Augustus had never seen a world quite like this before, as a crow who had travelled all over the lands, which included city life, what was before him was scary. Everything was gone from the side of the mountain like it had been stripped bare. There was just a large valley of jagged rocks, no trees, no life and a silence like he had never heard before.
"This is scary, what is this place?" Augustus was still taking it all in.
"This is the valley of death, this is where the earth ran away. I was here on that day and it was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen. Every friend I had made, every place that I knew were all gone in an instant. It all happened so fast that all I could do was watch in fear, the events that happened here froze me so that I could not move." Ahaz paused remembering the horror of the moment.
"Caw, I have flown close to this place, yet have never seen it, never ventured here"
"No one does, there is a spirit of death that hangs in the air, not even the curious come this way. It was once a vibrant wood filled with families, food, life, now all gone in seconds"
Augustus looked around at all the destruction as far as he could see. He noticed that the side of the mountain was gone and the valley looked like the side of a mountain. Thinking he turned his head and it all came together for him. "The mountain broke".
"Very observant, my friend. From here you can see the whole picture, but when you are in the middle of it then it is very different. You see everything being swept away. The trees are pulled up and rushing down the hill, the rocks are crushing everything in sight, the earth rises and speeds by so fast, and you see all your friends being sucked into this wave of death and destruction. You sit helpless not knowing what to do" Ahaz began to weep.
"The day the earth ran away," Augustus now understood. He visualized that poor little fox being caught up in this wave of death and not knowing what to do, and the one who loved her giving their last moments of life to save her. It was like Garius who did the same for her and Augustus knew she was no ordinary fox. Now he began to realize how nature always chose to save her, she was more special than anyone even realized. "Sorry, caw, Ahaz, this is terrible."
Ahaz wiped his beak, shook his head and continued his story. "There was one miracle I saw that day that I will never forget. In the waves of death a small fox was being pulled down into it, she was screaming in pain and this large wolf began jumping from boulder, to tree, to boulder, it was a sight to behold how fast he was. He picked up the fox and got so close to the edge to rescue her, yet a tree grabbed his foot and began to pull him away. He threw the child as hard as he could so that she landed on the edge safely, then just before he vanished he called out in a language I do not know."
"Did you know this fox?"
"No, I had never seen her before or the wolf. Maybe they were just migrating through as the disaster started. I have shared this story around my parliament and no one knew of them or could tell me what the phrase that the wolf spoke even meant."
"Do you remember the phrase?"
"I'm an owl, of course, I remember every detail." He paused and thought about it "szary niebieski."
This shocked Augustus. "Are you sure it wasn't Nibelski?"
"I know what I heard, there was great noise that day, but that was clear with its echo. His dying words"
"So she heard incorrectly" Ausutus thought to himself. He decided not to tell her as he knew it would serve no good for her. She had lost everything, yet she had her name and he would not take that away from her.
The owl returned to his memories, "She was beautiful though and she had the most amazing colored stripe down her back. When I shared the stories of this a wise old owl perked up when he heard the description of her then he shared with me an ancient prophecy"
"Caw, what is prophecy?" Augustus did not know this word.
"It is a foretold event that someone speaks about and everyone remembers it. Someone can have a dream or a vision and write it down like a story or a song so that we remember it and wait for its arrival. I have not known of any that have come to pass, yet it is fascinating to hear" Ahaz stopped and looked silently across the land.
"Do you know this prophecy? Can I hear it?"
The owl shook himself as if waking from a sleep, "Oh, sorry, yes"
"A wolf of blue and grey
From the fires we are saved
A bringer of life from the flood
To unite the land with new blood"
"She is a fox, not a wolf, this is silly" Augustus saw the color match, but that was all. He had learned not to rely on superstitions a long time ago.
"Yes, I said the same, but the old owl really was convinced she was the one. We had spent a little time taking care of her, dropping food and leading her to water. She would hide in the vacant trees that had fallen, she had a way about her that was graceful, yet quick. Then one day she was gone." the owl said in his sorrow.
"She is with Garius, she has the stripe and the story of being thrown to the ledge by the wolf. She tells us that she is a wolf and not a fox."
Ahaz did not answer, instead he began to retreat into himself, into all those memories he carried. The owls kept their distance from her, helping only from afar. She was young and playful and they used that to make her follow to food they had prepared for her. He remembers the day she was gone as he had looked everywhere for her. He did not want to find a lifeless body, he had seen enough death. A wolf? A fox? She must be a fox, yet there was a wolf who saved her. It was confusing, it was tiring.
"Wake up!" Augustus screamed, making Ahaz lose his balance so he had to flap his wings hard to stay up there.
"I was not asleep! I was thinking."
"My mother says the same thing when she sleeps, you were snoring."
"Owls do not snore."
"Fine, you were snogging" Augustus was proud of this new word he created.
"I was not asleep, where was I?" Ahaz wondered and hoped he had not fallen asleep.
"The fox who ran away, she is with Garius."
"Yes, that is about all I know my friend. I could ask around to see if anyone in the parliament knows anything else."
"No, caw, that is already more than I expected. You solved many mysteries, you showed me where the earth runs away. I owe you much, Augustus never forgets."
"Well thank you, let her know the owls remember her and miss her."
Augustus flapped his feathers, "I will tell her, I will see her soon. Hope, maybe she will come to visit. Winter comes soon, the winds are here…maybe when warmth returns"
"You are kind Augustus, I too hope to see her. The moon chases the sun and will be here soon, farewell." and with that Ahaz flew off back to his tree to catch a little more sleep before night completely fell upon the land. Maybe he would even spoil himself and sleep in a little.
Augustus watched him leave and looked at the falling sun. He decided maybe he too would get some rest in the dead woods and then start his journey in the early morning. He did not like to fly when it was dark and so he leapt from his tree and followed Ahaz back to his place of resting to find his own quiet tree to sleep in.
It didn't take long to find a vacant tree on the edge of the wood, it was quiet, the only thing that would be making noise would be the owls sharing nighttime information with each other. Their gentle whispers sounded like the wind through hollow trees and Augustus found it rather comforting. Predators did not roam here due to all the spiky plants, not to mention the lack of food, so he settled in to think about the day.
A wolf of blue and grey
From the fires we are saved
A bringer of life from the flood
To unite the land with new blood
His thoughts began to get busy. She was a fox, yet she called herself a wolf….odd. She did have a blue/grey streak on her back across the full length of her body. From the fires we are saved…hmmm. Nothing came to mind. A bringer of life from the flood. Could the flood be the earth running, it would look like a flood. To unite the land with new blood. Ok, that one makes zero sense. Maybe if he was someone else, or a human with books he could figure it out. He would have to wait for time to tell him, then he remembered…Garius. Garius had quoted the first line "A wolf of blue and grey", did he know something? Was he protecting her because he believed in the prophecy….silly word. Crawfecy….now that was a word. Augustus knew that when it came to words that he was the master.
The sky grew dark, the owls began singing and Augustus felt very much at peace. He decided to keep some information back for a time before sharing it, but he hoped that Garius would recover enough that he could talk to him in private….in private, good luck. She was always with him.