If you want to do that, just do it!
Action precedes all principles.
Ah, but…,
Who told me this?
☆ ☆ ☆
She was tired of avoiding the rain. Azwin cursed the black clouds blocking the sky as she allowed the pouring rain to hit her. The sky was a clear blue, except right above her head where the clouds were.
No, she blamed the wrong thing. It’s not the clouds’ fault; it’s the forest’s fault. It’s the mountain’s fault for creating the clouds. Let’s just say that. Standing dumbly in the rain made Azwin feel stupid, so she took off her outer garment.
‘Might as well take a shower if I’m going to get wet.’
As soon as she took off her clothes, the rain stopped. She glared at the sky like someone who had been unexpectedly slapped by a stranger and then silently cursed it.
Azwin wrung the rainwater from her discarded clothes and let down her short, tied-up hair. Until recently, she had been braiding it in one or two strands, or letting it hang like a horse’s tail, but now it just tickled the back of her neck.
Azwin looked at her reflection in a puddle, where her face was barely distinguishable through the rainwater. She tried to trim her short hair with a dagger, but it was difficult without a mirror. There was no proper comb either. Her hair, which had been unceremoniously burned and cut a few nights ago, felt awkwardly out of place.
‘It’s a good thing there’s no mirror. I look a mess.’
Azwin, with her clothes tightly wrung out, went into a hollow under an old tree. It was a hideout she had found after wandering around for half a day.
Gerald was lying on a bed made of leaves, sleeping peacefully, unaware of the rain or thunder. Azwin took a towel from her backpack to dry herself, but the towel was wet too, so it wasn’t refreshing. She gave up and lay down next to Gerald, still undressed.
“Is it still raining?”
Gerald spoke with his eyes closed, as if he was still asleep.
“It comes and goes.”
“A typical morning in the Sky Mountains.”
“You speak as if ordering breakfast with hot tea. Do you realize we’ve been lost for almost a week?”
“Yes, I know, my lady.”
“Do you also know that we’re almost out of food?”
“That’s why I didn’t mention breakfast, my lady!”
Gerald turned over and lay on his side. Azwin pinched his shoulder.
“Ouch, why pinch me?”
Gerald’s eyes, wide open, stopped on Azwin’s exposed chest as he crossed his arms and glared at her. Normally, exposing oneself would embarrass the onlooker, but being so boldly stared at would embarrass the one exposed.
Gerald touched Azwin’s head and said.
“I forgive your sins.”
“What are you talking about! A man is supposed to warm a woman with his body heat when she’s undressed like this without saying anything.”
“Nah, I’m good. It’d be too hot if you cling to me.”
“Get hot then!”
Azwin took one of Gerald’s arms and lay with it as a pillow. Perhaps liking the touch of her hair, Gerald also hugged Azwin.
Gerald’s playful rejections were usually a cheerful consent. Even while joking around, Azwin sometimes stroked Gerald’s broad chest with her fingers. The well-defined muscles were a testament to his effort, and the numerous small scars and grotesque scars on his chest and back were marks of his life.
Azwin traced a long scar with her finger and asked about each one. He couldn’t remember most, but he told the stories of the ones he did.
“Aren’t you going to grow your hair out?”
Azwin asked, sitting on top of Gerald’s stomach.
“I hate men with long hair.”
“Why don’t you fall for my seduction?”
“That’s a philosophical question.”
Azwin frowned.
“Philosophy?”
“Never mind, I feel good now, so I won’t answer and just stay like this.”
“You won’t answer?”
“An answer, huh… Let’s see…”
Gerald teased her with a long pause before speaking.
“Ah, I won’t tell you.”
“Aw, tell me.”
Azwin’s unpredictable offense and defense, confusing even for the White Wolves, had Gerald scratching his neck, attacked by her charm.
“Alright, I’ll tell you. I have fallen for your seduction before. As I’ve said many times, it’s always you who doesn’t remember.”
“What are you talking about!”
Azwin yelled, going back through her memories to her first love and first experience, recalling every man in her head. Gerald’s laughter made it unclear whether he was joking or serious.
‘Well, remembering or not between him and me isn’t important.’
Azwin forgot about it and wrapped herself on Gerald’s chest. She waited for a moment, leaning on his warmth for the cold morning air to become warm. Azwin broke the comfortable silence first.
“I wonder how our friends who went ahead to Lutia are doing?”
“If it’s Loyal and Dunmel, they would have handled it. Kassel will have Sheyden by his side. It’s more encouraging than the situation where three of us are missing and the two of us have to solve it, isn’t it?”
“I hope our absence hasn’t caused too much trouble.”
“What trouble could there be with the absence of a chatterbox, a giant and two starving cats?”
“Starving cats?”
Azwin stood up abruptly and poked Gerald’s nose with her finger.
“Right, starved. Meow! Shall I catch and eat you?”
Seeing Azwin’s narrowed eyes, Gerald chuckled. Azwin slowly approached his lips. Gerald said,
“Stop it.”
Azwin stopped and tilted her head in confusion.
‘I was rejected. Completely!’
Azwin asked, a bit surprised.
“Do you really… hate it?”
Gerald looked up at Azwin for a long time without answering.
“Is it because you’re not confident?”
Azwin teased him slightly.
Suddenly, Gerald grabbed her wrist and flipped her over. Now, the situation was reversed, and he was on top. Her hands were forcefully held above her head by one of his hands, and his thighs, as thick as her waist, tightly clamped around her hips, leaving her unable to move. It was the first time Gerald had used such force against Azwin.
‘Did my words hurt him?’
Gerald, holding her chin, shook it up and down and spoke in a joking tone.
“I like you, I want to, and I am confident.”
He moved his fingers from her chin and gently rubbed Azwin’s lips with his thumb, continuing.
“But it would be troublesome if I liked you too much, so I’ll pretend I can’t win and let myself be overpowered when I like you a little less.”
Gerald let go of Azwin’s hands and stood up.
“Drawing a line? You’re complicated.”
Azwin shot back. However, Gerald exhaled deeply and changed the subject.
“The rain has stopped. Let’s move.”
Gerald got dressed, slung his backpack over his shoulder, and went out with his ax, the blade wrapped in cloth, over his shoulder. Azwin dusted off the leaves stuck to her body and scratched her tangled hair.
“Was I too hasty?”
☆ ☆ ☆
A week ago, on a night of pouring rain. The two were climbing the Sky Mountains with Loyal, Dunmel, and Master Dethain of Lutia. Azwin kept grumbling that she, not Sheyden, should have been the one to escort Kassel, and Dethain was annoyed.
Azwin could hardly remember a week ago. She only knew it was the night after they had spent a night in the Sky Mountains because Gerald told her. At that time, she was too preoccupied with coming up with insults that would crush Dethain’s pride to harbor any other thoughts. There was no excitement about visiting the magical city of Lutia for the first time.
It all happened so quickly while Azwin was sulking.
If it had been flat ground, it might not have happened at all. It would have been as difficult as a plump fly passing through a newly spun, dense spider web to surprise Dunmel with his sharp senses. Azwin, on a good day, could have detected an arrow aimed at the back of her head, but in that forest, all her senses were a mess. It was like being surprised through two layers of spider webs.
Tripped by something and falling to the ground, Azwin let out a short grunt, but no sound came out. The noise she made did not reach even her own ears. She quickly turned around, pushing herself up with her hands. A rope had caught her ankle.
‘A snare trap?’
Azwin clutched the weeds on the ground but was quickly dragged away, unable to resist even for a moment. She was more startled by the fact that no sound was made than by being dragged away by the rope. Not only the sound of her shouting about the ambush but also the noise of her body being dragged, the rope being pulled, and the grass being torn up made no sound.
Azwin was pulled into the air without any chance to resist. Hanging upside down with one foot caught in the snare, she couldn’t see anything as blood rushed to her head. Her body swung violently, and she couldn’t tell up from down.
‘Stay calm.’
Azwin told herself.
‘Start with breathing.’
Without realizing it, Azwin had stopped breathing. She was so startled by being dragged away and the absence of sound that she had held her breath. But soon, she was able to breathe again.
‘Next, secure movement.’
Hanging upside down, Azwin gathered strength in her abdomen and quickly bent at the waist, grabbing the rope tied to her foot. Then she drew the knife from her waist and cut the rope below her foot.
Unable to guess how far she would fall, Azwin twisted her body in mid-air. Luckily, she landed feet first, without a clear view. Since traps often have a second trap or an enemy waiting nearby, Azwin immediately rolled to the side upon landing.
Her vision returned next. When she opened her eyes, she saw three spears stuck in the ground where she had just landed.
‘I would have been killed if I hadn’t dodged!’
Several faceless attackers jumped into view from the darkness. They pulled out the spears they had stuck in the ground. Azwin, without moving rashly, lay flat on the ground like a cat, watching their movements.
Although they had drawn their spears, the attackers did not come at her. In the darkness, where moonlight did not reach the ground due to the leaves, she couldn’t read their expressions, but they seemed to be surprised. She only learned later that their skin was dark.
‘Oh, my abs.’
The aftermath of bending her upper body with all her might to cut the rope caught up with her. But at a glance, the attackers seemed inexperienced with spears. Having been thoroughly beaten with spears by Sheyden, Azwin wasn’t scared at all by the three long spears. Instead, she induced the attackers to make their move, opting for a quick victory without even picking up a shield.
‘See, you’re perplexed because it didn’t go as you thought, right? Anxious? You want to deal with it quickly. So come on in.’
As Azwin had thought, they attacked first. Three spears thrust at her face and body. She tilted her head to let two spears pass by and broke the tip of the third spear. The sound that should have come from breaking it did not come.
‘Surely you attacked first? And it wasn’t just a threat; you meant to kill!’
Azwin deflected the incoming spear to the side and grabbed the broken end of her opponent’s spear. Normally, an opponent whose spear is caught would, in their confusion, grip it tightly or try to pull it back, not wanting it to be taken away. Azwin took advantage of this to dive into the enemy’s reach. Although she couldn’t see her opponent perfectly in the dark, cutting down an enemy in a straight line wasn’t that difficult.
‘Then I have no reason to go easy.’
With a familiar sensation, blood spurted to the left and right.
Another spear flew towards Azwin. She dodged it without even looking.
‘There are more. I don’t even know how many. Plus, it seems they can see well in the dark.’
Dodging and knocking away incoming spears, Azwin dispatched another one using the same method.
Still, the entire fight continued in silence. The enemies no longer approached. Azwin didn’t push her luck, knowing she was at a disadvantage.
Her eyes, now accustomed to the dark, noticed that the enemies had wings on their backs. It was frustrating not to know what was going on and not to hear any sounds.
‘Dunmel lives his whole life in a world like this. I need to be nicer to him from now on.’
Azwin pulled the shield she was carrying on her back along with her backpack. It wasn’t particularly heavy, but it hindered her movement.
Then something flew at her from the darkness. Used to detecting enemies by sound, Azwin’s reaction was slightly delayed, and she couldn’t fully block it.
A burst of flames threw her into the midst of the spear-wielding foes. Her face felt searing hot, and flames caught on one side of her hair, but she had no time to care about that. Lying on the ground, she had to dodge and block the spears coming at her with her entire body.
The fire went out as she rolled around, but several spears narrowly missed her shoulder and thigh. She barely managed to stand up and fend off the spears to break out of the encirclement when another fireball was thrown at her.
This time, prepared for it, she could swing her shield to knock it away, but the explosion was too powerful. Her light body was blown back by the force. The spear-wielding attackers timed their thrusts perfectly for that moment.
‘Wow, I’m gonna die.’
She had no confidence in blocking all the hidden spears against the dark backdrop. She couldn’t see the enemies well. Normally, in such cases, the enemy shouldn’t be able to spot her easily either, but it seemed they could see Azwin as if it were broad daylight. And she had no idea where these fireballs kept coming from.
‘If only I could hear something.’
Just as she thought that, her wish was granted.
“Aaaaah!”
A scream came from one end of the darkness, the direction the fireballs were coming from. At the same time, it was as if someone had suddenly unplugged her ears, and sounds burst forth like a flood.
An axe spun horizontally through the air and lodged next to Azwin. It had tremendous speed and power. If that axe had targeted Azwin’s face, she would have died without being able to block it, even seeing it coming. But the axe split the head of an enemy who was targeting Azwin from behind.
She knew without checking who had helped her. Azwin immediately dispatched two confused enemies. To one trying to flee, she threw the spear he had dropped, hitting him in the back. The remaining enemies didn’t dare attack anymore and all fled.
Gerald emerged from the darkness, pulling out the axe lodged in a head. He wiped the bloody blade and asked,
“Did you get caught too?”
“You as well?”
“There were only three of them for me. Looks like they planned to kill you first and then gang up on me, but their calculations were off.”
Azwin shouldered her backpack and shield again.
Gerald approached and gently touched her face.
“Are you hurt?”
“I almost got roasted, but this is nothing.”
“You might get a scar.”
Gerald said with concern.
Azwin tried to brush it off nonchalantly while shaking her braided hair behind her, but she was startled to see her hair crumble to ashes.
“My hair’s gone!”
“If it’s just the hair that’s burnt, that’s fine. Does your face hurt?”
“It stings a bit.”
“Let’s apply some medicine quickly.”
Azwin said irritably as she shook her head,
“Suddenly, someone grabbed my ankle! I screamed, but it seems no sound was made.”
“Same here. I killed one by chance, and then I started to hear. Must have been a sorcerer.”
“Blocking sound? Seriously, these sorcerers… Are we going to Lutia, where these types of people swarm?”
Azwin continued irritably.
“But what were those things? Their faces were dark, and they had wings… And their ears were long. Could they be the fairies of the Sky Mountains or something?”
“How would I know something you don’t? Let’s just drop it and hurry after Dethain. Dunmel won’t be able to find us in this forest. Do they even know we’re missing?”
“Let’s get out of here first. Those things might come back.”
The two hurried back the way they came. However, the path taken by their group did not reappear.
“This way.”
“No, it’s that way.”
Gerald pointed in one direction, but Azwin was certain it was the opposite. She had a strong intuition, as if the group was right in front of them!
“Isn’t it this way?”
Gerald asked.
“I’m telling you, it’s that way.”
Azwin insisted.
“Then let’s go with that.”
Gerald went along with Azwin’s opinion. But even after a while, Dethain and the others did not appear.
“Are you sure this is the right way?”
Gerald asked.
“It’s the right way. I bet my hair on it!”
Azwin said. And they wandered for five days.
In the end, Azwin cut off her braided hair. It was a symbol of her defeat, and she even conducted a grand funeral pyre for it.
Gerald never said anything like “If we had gone the way I suggested, we wouldn’t have gotten lost.” He didn’t even mention they seemed to be lost. It was obvious they were lost without saying so.
For the first time since becoming a White Wolf, Azwin felt too ashamed to face Gerald.
☆ ☆ ☆
“Komo du…”
Usually, waking up from a nap would blur one’s sense of time, but now she couldn’t even calculate how many days had passed since they’d been separated from their group.
Azwin was trying to count the days when she found herself muttering something unexpected.
“Run… mu.”
After repeating the same phrase a couple of times with a bleary eye, Gerald, waking up, asked,
“Have you lost your language due to the influence of the Sky Mountains?”
“Shut it.”
Azwin repeated the phrase again and then asked. Komo du, Run mu.
“What do you think these words mean?”
Gerald asked back,
“Where did you even hear such strange words?”
“In a dream.”
“Forget about such a nonsense dream. If we go by that, I’ve heard a dozen languages in my dreams.”
“That’s not it. I keep hearing these sounds when I sleep.”
Gerald was startled.
“The voice of a ghost?”
“Ugh.”
The two packed up and started moving again. However, without a direction, their movement amounted to nothing more than aimless walking.
“Maybe, after that fight ended, if we had just stayed put, Dethain would have come to find us?”
Azwin asked, blaming herself for their current situation.
Gerald, walking ahead, chuckled.
“It’s a law that people who are bad with directions strongly insist on the wrong one.”
Azwin couldn’t say anything back. Gerald, finding amusement, said,
“You also have your moments of self-blame? Just kidding. Stop saying things like that. Everyone gets lost in the Sky Mountains anyway. Even if we had gone the direction I mentioned, it wouldn’t have been the right one. If we had stayed put, we might have been attacked again. So what if we wander for days? Anything could happen…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Gerald stopped walking. He pointed to strange tracks in front of them and said,
“See, something did happen.”
There were enormous footprints. Gerald measured the deeply imprinted part with his hand, which easily spanned two spans.
“What do you make of this beast? It must be about the size of two houses, right?”
Gerald asked, arms crossed.
Azwin carefully observed the shape of the footprints and answered,
“A four-legged lizard the size of a two-story building? No, judging by the claw marks, it’s closer to a bird. A creature this size couldn’t possibly live in such a wooded area, so it means it’s passing through, and another creature is following it.”
Gerald also placed his palm on the smaller footprints Azwin had discovered.
“This smaller one seems like a smaller animal compared to the big one. A tiger, maybe?”
“I’ve heard rumors that the Sky Mountains don’t have carnivorous animals. But who knows? How much can humans know about a forest as vast as this continent?”
“Either way, it’s a strange companionship. Could the big one be a dragon?”
“It’s not impossible.”
They thought deeply before looking at each other.
“What do we do?”
Azwin asked first.
“We weren’t exactly walking in a particular direction anyway. If it’s an animal of the Sky Mountains, at least it won’t be going in circles like us. Let’s follow it.”
“But what if we end up at a nest where these creatures swarm?”
“Do you think such a big creature lives in herds?”
“Usually, large carnivores live alone.”
“Are we deciding it’s a carnivore?”
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if these huge creatures were all gathered, munching on grass?”
They burst into laughter, then simultaneously fell silent.
“I’ve been thinking since we lost the group, can I say something, Gerry?”
Azwin said.
“Don’t!”
Gerald refused to listen.
“We might have to live in the Sky Mountains for the rest of our lives.”
“Why ask if you’re going to say it anyway? But why think that?”
“There are stories about the best hunters who went to hunt the animals of the Sky Mountains and never returned, or travelers who tested their way-finding skills and came back as old men. That traveler returned as an old man and said, ‘I spent 30 years mapping the Sky Mountains, only to realize I was just going back and forth between two mountains. No wonder there were only two patterns to the mountains…’ Based on those stories, we could live here forever. Neither of us is particularly great at finding our way.”
Gerald burst into hearty laughter at Azwin’s story. His laughter echoed back.
“In the beginning, there were two gods. One created a woman and the other a man, and they sent them down to this land to spread their offspring, naming them Azwin and Gerald. Does that make you feel a bit better?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Let’s leave Lutia’s affairs to Loyal and Dunmel, let Sheyden and Kassel play in Nadium, and we can enjoy adventures here. Who knows? Maybe after 30 years, you can return to Aranthia and say something like, ‘I wandered the Sky Mountains for 30 years, but exploring Azwin’s body was far more enjoyable!'”
Azwin laughed hard.
Gerald led the way again.
“Let’s go. The last adventure of two White Wolves being in the Sky Mountains is rather dramatic.”
“Right! Starting with a carnivore the size of a house is even more dramatic.”
They started following the footprints earnestly. Gerald seemed to find everything amusing, chuckling away. Azwin asked,
“I feel less burdened thinking of this as an adventure, but what’s there to laugh about?”
“It would be fun to add, ‘The two would come to greatly regret following those footprints…’ to our story.”
“Stop making unfunny jokes and laughing by yourself.”
But Azwin laughed too.
‘If that’s what you want to do, then do it! Move instead of worrying. So, let’s follow these footprints for now.’
With that mindset, Azwin followed Gerald.
–TL Notes–
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at patreon.com/MattReading
Join my Discord! https://discord.gg/jB26ePk9