‘Never forget, Themar. You are more talented than anyone I’ve seen. If you put your mind to it, no one can catch up to you.’
Dunmel stood on a thick branch, staring blankly into the distant forest, when he suddenly recalled his master’s words, left like a last will before death.
‘Why am I thinking of this now?’
Just thinking of his master made his heart ache. Dunmel shook off the thought.
He had observed the forest for quite a while, but there was nothing else that seemed like a target. All he could see was a horizon like a vast sea filled with trees instead of waves. If he stared too long, he felt disoriented, such was the expanse of the unending forest. During the day, the mountains piercing the sky might have been visible, but now, only the forest reflected in the moonlight was seen.
The Sky Mountains. The land of gods, forbidden to humans.
Dunmel waited for something to appear, facing the blowing wind with an anxious gaze. Although he knew it was futile, there was nothing else he could do. Sometimes he would notice a tree branch moving without wind or a rock-like object subtly shifting position, but these were not what Dunmel was looking for. They were just one of the many harmless creatures living in the Sky Mountains, as explained by Dethain, the sorcerer from Lutia.
‘I wonder where Dethain is searching in this vast forest right now?’
Dunmel yawned long and looked down. In the barely visible grey darkness, Loyal was sending hand signals. Loyal’s sign language was much slower than the other friends, but he always tried his best for precise communication.
‘See anything?’
‘Nothing.’
Dunmel also made his hand gestures large for Loyal to easily understand.
‘Let me know if you see something.’
‘And you let me know if you hear anything.’
Dunmel replied with sign language and leaned back against the branch. It was too dark below the tree. Relying solely on vision, Dunmel hated dark places. That’s why he preferred the treetops where there was at least a bit of starlight and moonlight.
‘Are Azwin and Gerald both safe?’
Knowing it was impossible, Dunmel still tried to find traces of Azwin and Gerald somewhere in the forest. Both seemed untroubled no matter where they were in the world, but once they disappeared in the Sky Mountains, Dunmel felt as worried as a father who lost his child in a market.
Until recently, Dunmel and the other White Wolves, were on a pleasant journey to Nadium with Kassel. But two evenings ago, a torrential downpour struck, and Kassel, who had gone out to find an inn, did not return, and something went wrong.
Kassel didn’t return until the next day, early morning. Instead, Dethain, the sorcerer from Lutia, came to the barn where they were staying.
Dethain requested to take everyone to Lutia. A dangerous situation had arisen in Lutia, difficult for the sorcerers to handle, and the White Wolves needed to come. There was a ‘small’ friction between Dethain and the White Wolves about leaving Kassel behind.
After the argument, Sheyden decided to stay, and the rest followed Dethain.
On the way to the Sky Mountains, Azwin kept complaining that she should have stayed behind. The rest were reluctant to follow Dethain to the Sky Mountains. Dunmel thought they should follow if it was an order, but he didn’t try hard to persuade his friends.
The incident happened about three hours ago, in the evening.
Suddenly, fog began to roll in. They were almost blind and worried, but Dethain said it was normal.
‘When you travel on foot through the Sky Mountains, most of the time is spent moving through fog or rain. We’ve just been lucky so far.’
‘I’d prefer the rain. I’m dying of sleepiness; it would help me wake up, at least.’
That was the last thing Azwin said.
It wasn’t long after Dunmel chuckled at her words, relayed by Loyal, that Azwin disappeared.
At first, they didn’t make much of Azwin leaving her spot. She wasn’t the type to report every move she made. But almost simultaneously, Gerald also went missing. That’s when Dunmel realized something was wrong. The three ahead stopped and called for Gerald and Azwin, but there was no response.
Dethain ordered Loyal and Dunmel not to move a step and hurriedly left the spot. About an hour later, he returned, sweating profusely, and said,
‘The two have disappeared.’
Truth be told, even if the forest was dense and trees obscured the view, Dunmel could find anyone. He located people by their presence, so he was better at finding people in the forest than in bustling cities. But the forest in the Sky Mountains was different from those in Acrand. The strange aura emitted by the trees and bushes almost hid human presence.
Dunmel had no choice but to believe Dethain’s words.
After moving to a more suitable place for camping, Dethain left again to search for the two. Dunmel and Loyal were waiting for him, alone for about three hours.
Loyal wasn’t too worried. If only one of them had disappeared, maybe, but since both vanished together, he guessed they probably went off to talk secretly somewhere and just lost their way. Although Dunmel felt uneasy, he hoped Loyal’s simple guess was correct.
As darkness fell, Dunmel was reminded of the darkness he saw in the underground of the Red Rose Count.
The bizarre conversation between the huge shadow and the Red Rose Count was still vivid in his memory. Also clear was the process of carrying Latilda out after the Count’s death and the whispers he should not have been able to hear.
Latilda, thought to be dead, came back to life. Dunmel was startled to see her revive as he watched the crumbling castle. Others might have thought she was just mistaken to be dead, but Dunmel, who could feel life directly, saw clearly how she returned from death.
It was a sight both horrific and beautiful. It was both a resurrection of a corpse and a miracle of life reborn.
‘Am I… alive?’
That was the first thing Latilda said when she revived. It was the question Dunmel wanted to ask. Without a word, she picked up a sharp stone from the ground.
‘Even though I begged, Father always did what he wanted.’
Latilda jabbed the stone into her forehead. Drops of red blood fell. Unfazed, she struck her forehead again with the stone in her hand. Dunmel caught her hand just in time.
‘Who are you?’
Latilda asked, looking up with blood streaming down her face.
Dunmel let go of her hand and wrote with his dagger on the ground.
‘Can’t speak.’
Latilda nodded as she looked down at the words he wrote.
— Loyal’s friend.
‘He left you here.’
Dunmel looked at her faintly smiling and continued writing short words on the ground.
— Don’t die.
‘You’re one of the White Wolves, right? I remember seeing you at the party.’
Dunmel nodded and then wrote again.
— I will bring Loyal.
‘How can I face him now, after all this time?’
Dunmel emphasized in larger letters.
— I will bring Loyal. Don’t die and wait.
Latilda nodded her expressionless face. But at that time, Dunmel couldn’t be sure she would stay alive until he brought Loyal. Nor did he know why he had to.
‘Could she have been resurrected by an evil force? Could she have come back to life to wield an evil power like her father?’
With such worries, Dunmel ran to Blackfoot. He looked back several times on the way, feeling as if Latilda had become a witch of darkness and was following him.
When he visited her after the Normant incident, Latilda was exuding the aura of an ordinary life, busy with her work. But Dunmel had a vague premonition of the future. Latilda would not end her life ordinarily. Something centered around her would happen in the near future. Something that would fulfill the words written in the cellar, ‘Let everything be done according to His will!’
Everyone except Kassel was beginning to forget the horrific incident in Camort, but Dunmel believed it was the starting point of the misfortunes occurring on the continent. Meylumil had told them to inform the Queen and plan a response, and he himself would investigate whether this was an isolated incident or part of a larger one.
Dunmel was tormented by his inability to disclose that this incident might be connected to his past. But what would change even if he spoke? Master Karlsten had told him to disclose it when the time came, but he didn’t specify when.
When he returned to Aranthia, Dunmel wanted to discuss this with the Queen. But so far, the Queen had never asked who commissioned the assassination. Even when Dunmel tried to bring it up, she evaded or quickly changed the subject.
Master Karlsten. The Queen of Aranthia. The Red Rose Count. Latilda. Blackfoot. Everything seemed connected. But he couldn’t say it.
‘Kassel might talk about it someday.’
Dunmel thought.
‘When I return after finishing this task, I should consult with Kassel, not Her Majesty.’
As he came down from the tree, he saw Loyal fiddling with a necklace he was wearing. Dunmel asked him through sign language what it was.
“Latilda gave it to me. She said to remember her request whenever I look at this necklace.”
‘What request?’
“To come back and kill her if she ever turns into someone like her father.”
Dunmel slowly nodded. Latilda must have sensed that her resurrection was not a good thing. If the White Wolves had to confront Latilda again, Dunmel decided he should lead. He couldn’t leave that task to Loyal.
Loyal sighed.
“When I first met Latilda, I remembered the task Her Majesty had given me. To fight while protecting someone. I didn’t understand what it meant. But after failing to protect Latilda, I started to grasp what Her Majesty meant. I hadn’t completed the task. That’s why I wanted to stay by her side.”
‘Did you come to like her?’
Dunmel asked through sign language.
“Does it seem that way?”
‘I wouldn’t know.’
Dunmel smiled.
‘Even if I tell you not to have such feelings, if you can’t help it, just let it flow naturally.’
“Am I not following your sign language well? Sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean?”
‘Do you think you’ve come to like Latilda? If so, after this task is over, go back to Camort. It’s better to have the mindset that you can leave the Wolf’s position at any time, rather than forcing yourself to stay. That way, you’ll be able to focus more on the present task.’
Loyal nodded, but not in agreement with Dunmel’s words.
At that moment, Dunmel felt a slight vibration in the ground. The shaking of the trees was unusual. An earthquake?
Dunmel stood up.
“Why? What happened?”
Although Loyal also had keen senses, they were not as sharp as Dunmel’s.
‘Wait a moment.’
Dunmel climbed back up the tree.
It didn’t take long to find the source of the vibration. Dunmel was in a state of heightened concentration, trying to locate just two presences in this vast forest, so the current disturbance was as clear as a giant ripple.
The location of the disturbance was a half day’s walk away.
In the forest where the trees were almost of equal height, looking like a sea level, waves were forming. The waves moved from northwest to southeast. Although the forest of the Sky Mountains sometimes moved on its own, this movement was entirely different.
Something large was passing through, shaking the trees. If it were day, he might have been able to see faintly what the giant object or beast causing the disturbance was, but it was night and too far away.
Koong koong. Only the low sounds vibrating the ground, trees, and air slowly reached him.
‘What is it?’
Something that looked like a fluttering flag on top of the shaking trees suddenly rose. Dunmel focused all his nerves and watched intently into the darkness. The fluttering cloak above the black waves of the forest looked almost like a ghost.
‘A person?’
In the forest obscured by trees, there seemed to be a huge creature walking, and atop it, a person was fluttering a cloak. It soon went back into the forest. The sight was fleeting and vanished before he could observe closely, leaving Dunmel unsure whether it was his imagination or an actual ghost.
He felt a thumping signal through the tree. Dunmel belatedly realized that Loyal was punching the tree.
Dunmel almost fell as he slid down the tree.
“Something has surrounded us.”
Loyal spoke briefly.
Dunmel surveyed the surroundings and quickly assessed the number of their encirclers. Nothing was visible to the eye, but Dunmel knew by sensing their presence. Even though the forest’s magic dulled the senses, they were too close to be unnoticed.
Dunmel spread out five fingers.
“Five people?”
Loyal asked.
Dunmel corrected him through sign language.
‘Five creatures.’
Five hidden monsters suddenly charged at them without warning. Their appearance was hard to describe. They looked like long-haired monkeys or cursed humans with hunched backs. Their faces, with blunt noses and droopy ears, were repulsive just to look at.
Eyes flashing in the darkness attacked from all sides. The creatures swung clubs with stones tied to the ends. The ground caved where they struck. Their strength was tremendous. Moreover, they were fast and recklessly charged at the swung swords, making it difficult to counter. But the two calmly stood back to back, responding to the ambush.
Loyal swiftly cut down two of them, and Dunmel plunged his knife into the necks of two others. Then the last one hesitated and ran away. Dunmel aimed his dagger at the back of its head, preparing to throw. But before he could, a bright white light flashed, and the monster was lifted into the air and knocked unconscious against a tree.
Dethain had arrived. The bright light from the sorcerer’s staff illuminated the surroundings, and Dunmel felt relieved.
Dethain, looking at the monster he had knocked down, said,
“Now these creatures have spread even here.”
Loyal, with no other choice, shouldered his backpack and followed Dethain, who was waiting ahead. Dethain took out a fist-sized bundle wrapped in leaves from his coat and handed it to them.
“What’s this?”
“It’s a warning in advance for continually ignoring the ‘Mozes.’ A medicinal herb.”
“Mozes?”
“That’s what we call these monsters. If you’re scratched by a Mozes’s claw or bitten by its teeth, you’ll die within two days, if not protected by magic.”
“Just don’t get scratched then.”
Loyal retorted, but still took one of the two herb pouches for himself and gave the other to Dunmel.
“I’m glad you’re confident.”
Dethain said, leading the way.
Dunmel, as if it was nothing, put the herb he received in his backpack and quickly checked his body to make sure he wasn’t scratched. However, Loyal just indifferently followed Dethain.
–TL Notes–
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