Chapter eight.

The first harbinger of trouble.

The next morning was sunny and warm. Clear weather was overshadowed by only one incident - Leni broke loose.

Shortly before that, I was just standing nearby and discussing with Drevin the question of the speedy construction of a canopy over the entrance to the cave, when I discovered that the master did not listen to me at all and, with his jaw hanging to the ground and glazed eyes, stared somewhere behind me. Intrigued, I turned around, and that's when it happened.

A small figure fell off a sheer wall, frantically waving its arms and emitting a heart-rending cry, in an instant covered the distance to the ground and inelegantly crashed into it, raising a high fountain of mud. Glory to the Creator, this momentous event took place at a height of only fifteen cubits from the ground, and Leni escaped with a broken arm in two places, a bruised back and numerous scratches and abrasions. Lucky.

Of course, we learned all this later, and at the