When The Birds Fly South by Stanton A. Coblentz

Author:Stanton A. Coblentz [Coblentz, Stanton A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Sci-Fi
Publisher: Newcastle Publishing
Published: 1980-04-19T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XIII

THE BIRDS FLY NORTH

It was with flaming expectation and a growing joy that I watched the spring gradually burst into blossom. The appearance of the first green grass, the unfolding of the pale yellowish leaves on the trees, the budding of the earliest wildflowers and the cloudy pink and white of the orchards, were as successive signals from a new world. And the clear bright skies, the fresh gentle breezes, and the birds twittering from unseen branches, all seemed to join in murmuring the same refrain; the warmer days were coming, the days of my deliverance! Soon, very soon, the Ibandru would be back! And among the Ibandru I should see Yasma!

Every morning now I awakened with reborn hope; and every morning, and all the day, I would go ambling about the village, peering into the deserted huts and glancing toward the woods for sign of some welcome returning figure. But at first all my waiting seemed of no avail. The Ibandru did not return; and in the evening I would slouch back to my cabin in dejection that would always make way for new hope. Day after day passed thus; and meantime the last traces of winter were vanishing, the fields became dotted with waving rose-red and violet and pale lemon tints; the diciduous trees were taking on a sturdier green; insects began to chirp and murmure in many a reviving chorus; and the woods seemed more thickly populated with winged singers.

And while I waited and still waited, insidious fears crept into my mind. Could it be that the Ibandru would not return at all? -- that Yasma had vanished forever, like the enchanted princess of a fairy tale?

But after I had tormented myself to the utmost, a veil wsa suddenly lifted.

One clear day in mid-April I had strolled toward the woods, forgetting my sorrows in contemplating the green spectacle of the valley. Suddenly my attention was attracted by a swift-moving triangle of black dots, which came winging across the mountains from beyond Yulada, approaching with great speed and disappearing above the white-tipped opposite ranges. I don not know why, but these birds -- the first I had observed flying north -- filled me with an unreasonable hope; long after they were out of sight I stood staring at the blue sky into which they had faded, as though somehow it held the secret at which I clutched.

I was aroused from my reveries by the startled feeling that I was no linger alone. At first there was no clear reason for this impression; it wsa as thought I had been informed by some vague super-sense. Awakened to reality, I peered into thickets, peered up at the sky, scanned the trees and the earth alertly -- but there was no sight or sound to confirm my suspicions. Minutes passed, and still I waited, expectant of some unusual event...

And then, while wonder kept pace with impatience, I thought I heard a faint rustling in the woods. I was not sure, but I listened intently .

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.