Part III: The Lamb “H-hello, sir. If I have the right of it, Fox left off when we reached the-the battlefield? Well, I must admit my account may not be sufficient. You see, we all smelled it in the air long before we saw it. Wolf took my hair ribbons-the silk onces, sir-and tied them around my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see. But our brother was growing terribly tired. Cat had to take his turn carrying Songbird; her head was nestled right against his chest. ‘Careful, Songbird,’ Wolf told her, ‘Don’t look up.’ Our brothers led us throught the-the wreckage. But Fox, even as I was blinded, had a clear fire in him. He suggested that he and Cat should scavenge-he said since no one was here, we might find something useful to help us. He spoke of guns, and knives, and perhaps a lighter. He thought there might be rations or something for my arm…it was a rather disturbing thought, sir. The idea of touching…remains. I understood Fox wanted action, but Cat was quite harsh. He muttered that Fox was being consumed by ‘evil.’ Wolf told them both to be silent then. I don’t know his look, but he knew such talk was foul for Songbird’s ears. The poor dear was whimpering so…she is so very small, she can’t help it if she cries. But crying pulls on her skin, you see, and well…the guns don’t exactly care what the sound is. They would see something ‘other’ and…and they would shoot us.” “We were all so very weary, sir. But…we were the elder ones. We had already found our own ways to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Cat had his logic, Fox had his loyalty, and Wolf…well Wolf had his love for us. But Songbird didn’t have those things yet, and she was so terribly afraid. I-I used to sing nursery rhymes and lullabies for the little ones back at the house. At that moment, even though we were bound to remain silent…it was all I could think to do. While Fox went off to see what he might scavenge, Wolf remained on high alert, and Cat…well Cat found himself quite unable to provide comfort. So I did what I deemed necessary. I sang a nursery rhyme-ever so softly as so to remain quiet, but just enough to soothe Songbird and keep her from weeping. Alle meine Entchen… It is a needless detail, sir. But as I said, I was blindfolded at the time. This is simply my account on how the silence felt.” “As we finally reached the edge of the battlefield, Cat had set Songbird down-his own strength had quite given out by then-and the I was permitted to remove the silk ribbons. I should have liked to put them back on, sir, but I realized this was not the proper time to worry over one’s presentability. Wolf gently told us not to look back, and he saw to it I kept a hand on Songbird’s shoulder. We walked forward until we reached a…a road. Fox had armed himself, sir. He had a…a gun in his hands. Cat was visibly disgusted, but he bore arms now as well. Wolf was our leader of course, and his rule was quite simple: the weapons were last resort, not to be raised unless he gave the command. It was for self defense only. Fox and Cat understood, and so we moved on. The scent was inescapable now. As we walked we couldn’t help but see the ruins-the hollow shells of places that might have once been homes, much like ours-no…not like ours…but the structures were close enough to remind us. Vehicles would pass us by; we heard the rumble long before we saw the motor-cars, and we took the chance to hide in the brush as they went past. The soldiers…they did not appear like ‘evil men,’ sir. They…looked just like my brothers. They looked so weary but with a fire, a reason to move forward…I couldn’t help but see Fox and Wolf in their eyes….but…of course, we had to remain hidden and keep moving forward.” “My arm felt as though it were made of fire, sir. An inescapable burn with each movement. Our pace had slowed, my siblings were so very hungry…and so terribly tired…all I could do was continue my singing, and try and manage Songbird’s hair. We walked until, finally…we saw it. It was the first city we encountered that truly had people in it. It was quite a shock as you can imagine-to see so many adults, all without uniforms, and…and all of them without looking…wrong. They didn’t look evil, sir….not like…Father. For a moment, I had truly believed we had reached the end of our journey, that we would be saved, and it was safe. And for a moment it was safe…but I’m afraid it was short lived…” End of Part III: The Lamb
