Trapped

When Eva returned to the kitchen, she ran into Grete again. The older woman still seemed cold and reserved. She took the chicken eggs that Eva had collected in a no-nonsense manner. Eva would have liked to have cleared the air between them, apologized and explained that she didn't mean to pry into Grete's private affairs. But as long as she didn't know the reason for the dismissive reaction to her question about Leni's father, she didn't want to add fuel to the fire by inadvertently touching on yet another unknown taboo. So she simply took a broom and swept the floor in silence to defuse the situation. If she kept her eyes and ears open, she might learn more and could then improve relations with Julius' family.

As she was lost in thought, the patriarch entered the room with heavy steps. His presence immediately filled the room and all eyes turned to him.

“Grete,” he grumbled, ”check the supply of oil and salt and everything else we buy from the merchant. The pass is closed and we don't know when the next delivery will come through.”

“What?” Eva couldn't fully grasp what this message really meant for the people in the isolated valley, but to her ears it sounded dramatic. As far as she knew, the narrow footpath over the pass was the only lifeline of the village. If it was cut off, how long could the people here hold out?

She rushed outside and ran with her skirts flying across the village square to the path that led to the passageway through the surrounding high, forbidding wall of mountain giants. The sight that met her eyes almost brought Eva to her knees. Where yesterday a steep, narrow path had led between two peaks, an avalanche had descended. A towering barrier of ice and debris blocked any further progress. Eva now understood what the thunder last night really meant.

A huge flock of black birds was circling above the scene of the accident. Eva suspected that they were ravens, attracted by the carcasses of animals that had been caught and killed by the landslide. She wasn't entirely sure because she couldn't see any details due to the great distance. Besides, the birds looked much too large compared to the common ravens she knew. They must have been huge animals. She ruled out vultures or eagles because of their pitch-black plumage.

She had told herself and others that she wanted to stay here in the village permanently. But to see the only known way back to civilization blocked made her realize the significance of this statement for the first time. Her previous life was now just as out of reach for her as the other side of the ocean.

When a shadow fell over her, Eva noticed that she was no longer alone on the stony path. Julius had stepped next to her and looked at the disaster with an expressionless face. Eva was surprised that he didn't seem worried at all.

“What do we do now?“ she asked, hoping to hear something reassuring.

“Nothing,” was the succinct answer.

“But we have to clear a way out somehow!” Her voice almost cracked with concern. ”The village needs supplies. And what if someone gets sick or hurt? How are we supposed to get help?”

“We have always managed on our own here in the valley. This isn't the first time the pass has been buried. We have always survived. And we know how to help ourselves in an emergency.”

The lack of emotion in his deep bass made the hopelessness of the situation much clearer to Eva than the soberly presented facts. She would have liked to lean on him for comfort, but Julius didn't seem like the kind of man who would appreciate it.

She put a finger to her lip and thought aloud. “Maybe I could climb over the mountains and find another way out?”

Julius' voice thundered from the slopes. ”I'll tell you one last time: you won't go into the mountains alone anymore. Is that clear?”

Eva was tempted to cover her ears. Intimidated, she pulled her head between her shoulders. After a last longing look at the blocked path from the valley, she turned around hesitantly and trotted back to the village. The place she had hoped would offer her refuge and peace suddenly seemed like a prison to her. And what was Julius to her then?

Without turning around, she knew that he was following her. Or pursuing her? Without realizing it, she quickened her pace.

Inside her, a whirlwind of emotions raged. Fear, frustration and an enormous longing for freedom. When she entered the ring of stone houses, it seemed to her as if they closed around her and formed an impenetrable wall. Ravens flew in groups of two and three, perched on the roof ridges all around, and looked down at Eva with their small, shiny, black eyes.

Eva almost fled into the house. In the entrance, she almost collided with Adrian. He stared at her blankly. “What's the matter?” he wanted to know.

Eva was horrified. How could he, how could everyone in the village remain so calm and indifferent after a natural disaster had cut off their only connection to the outside world?

She stormed into the attic and threw herself sobbing on the hard bed.