Chapter 54 Chapter Fifty-Three

This is a deep cave.We follow the black bird calling itself Sylph into the depths of the earth, with thick mud under its feet and cold water dripping from its head. "Where is this?" Emily said tremblingly in the dark. "The bottom of the lake," Silver answered her. "Our current hiding place." "Is it safe here?" "We've been here a week," said Silver, "and they haven't seen us yet." "You?" Emily had just raised a question, and the answer was soon revealed.Passing through the circuitous hole, a faint light gradually came from ahead, and after a few more steps, the light gradually intensified as the cave gradually widened.Turning a corner, a torch was stuck on the rock wall, illuminating the open space deep underground.

The air became more and more humid, and I could faintly hear the sound of rushing water, like a waterfall deep in the jungle, flying straight down, passing through the soil muffled and faintly, and there was also the crisp sound of the flames peeling off from the nearby torches. Like crackling firecrackers.Because it's too quiet here.There were about forty or fifty people gathered in twos and threes in the open space in front of us. They were holding their weapons tightly and staring at us with glass-like bird eyes. "Relax." Sylph stretched out his hands, "They are not our enemies."

"Then who are they?" A woman's voice sounded from the crowd.She was holding a sword, and she wore a simple armor over a short linen robe, and a bird head with pure white feathers on her shoulders. "Don't be nervous, Melanie, my sister." Silf said calmly, and he nodded to the blind pheasant who sent us, "They came from Pentos, and the village over there has been burned gone." "More than a dozen villages have been burned this month!" Another cuckoo-like gray bird cried out, showing its red throat, "Are they trying to drive us all to extinction?"

Amidst the clamor of the crowd, Melanie raised her long sword, "We must resist!" All the people immediately raised their weapons to echo her, and the crowd in the cave suddenly became excited. Silf raised his hand again for silence. "Pack up your luggage and count your weapons. Let's leave here early tomorrow morning and head towards the royal city." He made a simple decision.Amid the cheers of the crowd, he said to the cuckoo: "Go first, take a few people to the south, and join Neisser's army; and you..." He said to the white bird Melanie who was eager to try, "Immediately Send a message to Sekhmet. Tell her the war has begun."

As he gave orders, his blue feathers fluttered like a bright banner.But I suddenly discovered that this feather does not grow in the middle.It is located behind and to the left above Silph's head, while the symmetrical position to the right is empty.But when I noticed it, of course Emily, who was always sharp-eyed, noticed it too. "Did you...lose it in the war?" she asked cautiously. Silver shook his head, "In the past, we didn't have so many wars." "That is……" "I cut it off myself." "Why? It's so beautiful!" Emily expressed her incomprehension.

"Stranger, haven't you noticed?" Sylph gestured to the people who were packing up in the open space, "Beauty doesn't belong to our group." Following the direction of his fingers, I saw the group of people with bird heads and human bodies, which were similar to the villagers I saw just now. Although they were of different types, most of them were ugly grayish brown and black in color, and there were also a small number of white birds. It looks like Melanie, but the white is very unnaturally white, as if all the colors have been washed in bleach, and the feathers are gray and dull, looking sickly.

I looked at Melanie who was delegating tasks to a swift not far away. I remembered that Sylph had just mentioned that she was his sister.Looking closely, they do have almost the same appearance, but Sylph's feathers are pure black, and he also has a pair of crystal-like bright and inclusive blue eyes.But Melanie's eyes were terrifying blood red.She also has no feathers on her head. I heard Sylph say sadly: "All the people here, because of their unremarkable appearance, have been at the bottom of society since the day they were born. They include all races without bright feathers, the disabled, the old and the weak, Albinos, and most of the women of WindClan."

"Why?" Emily asked immediately. This girl loves to ask questions so much that even her boyfriend couldn't help it this time. "What's the reason?" Xiao S shouted at her, "They are birds!" Several people who were polishing their weapons nearby immediately raised their heads and stared at him, and it was only then that Xiao S realized his gaffe. "Sorry." He said quickly, curling his lips. "Nothing." Sylph waved his hand.Those few people lowered their heads and continued to work on their own affairs. Emily tilted her head and thought for a while, and seemed to have finally figured out that in a country where "classification is based on appearance", "why the social status of female birds is lower than that of male birds".But she soon had a new question, and she managed to open it before Xiao S stopped her.

"So there are no women in your upper class?" Emily asked. "Oh, of course." Sylph replied, "parrots are an example. Their plumage is almost as beautiful as that of men. They are good at praising and singing, and they are very active in the court. But there are very few other things. Because almost all Wind Clan women are not outstanding in appearance compared to men." His explanations were so simple that Emily understood them right away.She nodded thoughtfully. "Please forgive me." D, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "I respect your decision, and I admire your decision even more. It's just that after seeing those heavily armed eagle soldiers, I believe that the royal city must be heavily guarded. How do you plan to win? Woolen cloth?"

"Frankly, we have no hope of winning," Silver said, "but we're going to die if we stay here." "Don't say that! Give your people some hope!" Emily said dissatisfied. "Thank you for your suggestion." Sylph looked at the kind girl and smiled. "Actually, all of us are well aware of the current bad situation, but this does not mean that we will sit and wait to die." "Good job!" Little S gave him a thumbs up, "Please let us join you and do our part." Emily glared at him.I was also a little surprised.I don't remember him being such a brave man.But after going through the mermaid arena and the council court, the four of us have lived and died together.I turned to look at D, who nodded at me.

"We're stuck here," he said to Sylph, "and we have nowhere to go but with you." Before the words were finished, there was a sudden commotion behind us.Immediately afterwards, a choking smoke faintly began to pervade the interior of the cave. "They found us!" "They set fire to the entrance of the cave!" "They tried to smoke us!" Several people inspecting the situation ran over in a panic from the entrance of the cave, and there were screams in the cave one after another, causing chaos among the originally orderly crowd. "Quiet!" Sylph stood on a stone, he held a sword, and ordered calmly, "Plan change, Melanie, take your team and all weapons, and leave the back hole immediately! Everyone else, Follow me lightly!" He gestured to us, "Follow me." The people quietly divided into two teams. Melanie's team was all female warriors. Although they had different shapes and feathers, they were all strong and vigorous, holding shields and long knives, daggers on their waists, and arrows on their backs. pot.Silver's team consisted mostly of young men, and the blind pheasant was among us. The smoke in the cave is getting thicker, and some people have started coughing.But none of them yelled again.After all the women followed Melanie into another cave, Sylph waved his hand, and the rest quietly followed him into the depths of the cave. The torches had been extinguished, and it was pitch black.I feel like we're climbing, but we're getting wet underfoot, soaking my hair and shoulders from the dripping overhead.Going further, the unpleasant smell of smoke has almost disappeared, and the sound of running water I heard before is more and more clear. It's extremely wet here, and with the weak light ahead, you can see moss on the slippery stone walls on both sides.The sound of rushing water covered everything. I tiptoed cautiously, over Sylph's shoulder, and I saw a waterfall.