Chapter 10
The next day, the lessons in binary started.
"Now, you know a bit about how binary works, yes?" Favian asked.
"A very small bit, I had a tutor who brushed by it."
"Can I help? I'm a genius! I won best looking 6 times in row!" Mountakaber said proudly.
"And that can help us how?" I muttered to Favian.
He chuckled and shrugged.
He then proceeded to teach me how to write in binary.
I got a massive headache just reading the instructions. Don't ask me how he got paper, I don't know.
The scroll read:
How to Write Capital and Lowercase Letters in Binary
1. Write on the paper the numbers 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1.
2. Start with 65, and now write capital letters next to those numbers (A65 B66 C67...) on a separate piece of paper.
3. Do the same thing once again, except but this time start with 97 and write lowercase letters (a97 b98 c99) on the extra paper.
4. Notice that now each binary letter will be 8 digits but it will only be 1's and 0's. The 128 64 32... thing was what each one meant.
The 1's mean on and the 0's mean off. So a capital A would be 01000001.
5. Understand that the reason for this is because there isn't a 128 because there's a 0 in the position but there is a 1 in the 64 position and there is a 1 in the 1 position so it's 64+165 and 65 was the number next the 2nd step.
6. Do this with any letter and you can write in binary.
I knew even the smartest person didn't learn a new language in a day, much less a language using numbers!
It would take a while.
"I give up!" I said in despair, the tenth day we had been working on it.
The wolves had been giving us pitiful scraps of meat and small portions of water. I was running out of energy. And patience.
"You're close!"
The numbers he had given me were pathetically simple. To him.
01000011 01101100 01100001 01110010 01100001
Simple, right?
Wrong.
I bent over the paper again.
"01000011 is a capital 'C'…" I muttered.
In two hours, I figured out it said "Clara."
I thought I was done, foolish me.
"Now you need to write a letter to the Kings and Queens. Using binary." he told me the next day.
That will take me weeks! I thought dejectedly.
"I will help you. It needs to be in your handwriting though."
"I don't know that they know how to read binary." I protested.
"Oreius does."
I threw him a questioning look.
"He taught me."
Of course he did, go figure.
So we set to work on writing the letter, with Mountakaber interrupting every five minutes.
01000110 01101111 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110100 00101110
Forest.
"Did you know that female birds throw themselves at me?" Mountakaber asked Favian.
"You told me. Multiple times."
00100000 01000011 01100001 01110110 01100101 00101110 00100000
Cave.
"Clara, are you aware that I have the most stunning tail-feathers of all my kin?"
"Hmm…oh really? That's interesting."
01010111 01101111 01101100 01110110 01100101 01110011
Wolves.
"Are you aware that my beak is the cleanest of all my friends?" the bird said pompously.
"He has friends?" I whispered to Favian.
He rolled his eyes and motioned for me to start writing again.
00100000 00110011 00101110 00100000
3.
"Favian, my stunning feathers make every male bird green with envy. What should I do about it?"
"Hide."
"But then…I won't see myself if I hide."
"No. Hide from me."
01000110 01101001 01101110 01100101 00101110 00100000
Fine.
"Did you know…?" Mountakaber was promptly cut off by Favian's threatening glare.
01000111 00101110 01001111 00101110 01010100 00101110 01010100 00100000 00001101 00001010
G.O.T.T.
This stood for Guardian of the throne. I only hoped they would figure it out.
Mountakaber wing had healed, and we forced him to agree to fly with the message to Cair Paravel. By force, I mean forced.
We gave him strict instructions not to return to the cave unless he had their Majesties with him.
When the wolves were sleeping, they evidently thought we had no way of escaping; Mountakaber flew out into the night.
"Do you think he'll make it?" I asked Favian.
"Knowing him? Who knows? One thing is for certain. We won't have to listen to his incessant chatter."
"He'll never have to worry about self-image problem, that's for sure."
That night, I fell asleep thinking about my Father.
Father, I miss you. Why did you leave me? I'm so scared. So alone.
The next morning, I woke up early. Unable to fall asleep again I sat up against the wall of the cave, and thought.
Oh, Aslan, please let them understand my message. Please. Please.
Later that morning, a wolf can in to give us their leftover, picked -over food.
"Where's the bird?" his harsh voice asked.
"He died, from malnutrition." Favian lied smoothly.
We had already figured out what to say, regarding Mountakaber's sudden disappearance. And I hide my necklace from sight.
"All the better. Less mouths to feed. Less yammering to hear."
After tossing us fat mixed with segments of meat, he left.
As we chewed on the fat, I gasped.
"Of course! I can retrieve my weapons! Why didn't I think of that before?" I said.
"Best not do it yet. We must wait to give Mountakaber time to take the message to Cair Paravel." Favian advised.
Sighing forlornly, I sipped the water they gave.
A wolf at the entrance of the cave spoke, startling us.
"We've waited long enough. Ransom won't appease us, only blood. Your blood."
