106 Trace
It is still before dawn.
It wasn’t raining, but clouds gathered in the sky, and the moon and stars hid beyond them.
He can’t even see his nose right in front of him. The ground looked down from the horse like a bottomless hole in hell.
Rudy put out hundreds of mouse creatures modeled after Jerry.
Pong-pong-pong, mice smaller than the palm of my hand jumped out of the air like air bubbles and jumped to the floor one after another.
They are demonic creatures created after ascending to the throne of the emperor. These children were mainly responsible for lighting up the dark streets at night.
As these mice glowed and spun around, Lilitha would laugh and run around the room together.
After drawing that image in his head for a while, Rudy gave a command to the mice in a low voice.
“Go ahead and light our way.”
The mice of light rushed forward.
The mice ran side by side in two lines like lanterns lighting up an airport runway, emitting beautiful lights from their bodies.
In the dark, two rows of little mice shimmered like luminous light.
It was a spectacle that could not be seen not only in the grasslands, but also in the Empire and other kingdoms.
Goruka, who was ahead of him, muttered something as he ran.
I couldn’t hear it well, but it seems to be a word that returns gratitude and respect to whether it is a meadow god or a spirit.
Also, Bonnie heard that creatures of light that are considered spirits sometimes appear in the meadow.
Goruka told me about the phoenix yesterday. The moment he first saw it, he thought it was a creature of a spirit descended from legend.
The cavalrymen rode their horses resolutely, relying on the light of the horse creature they had become accustomed to for several days before arriving at the border city.
Thousands of horses run away shaking the ground.
Rudy and the cavalrymen united as one and ran a little faster and farther to save the women and children.
After running for a while, the sky suddenly became hazy.
After running a little further, I saw several wolves in the distance.
The grassland is an endless expanse of land. The wolf’s features were small but distinctly recognizable.
Goruka raised a hand to signal to stop. Stop talking and start looking at the floor.
And at a certain point, I picked up the sand with my hands and rubbed it, or looked among the small grass around me.
Goruka got up with an expressionless face and came closer to Rudi and Boris.
“Anyway, it seems that some of the captives were injured. There is a little blood. It seems that the wolf smelled the blood and came after it.”
When wolves are driven, the steppe people abandon the injured and leave.
It would be different if it was his own tribe, but he did not protect slaves or people who were brought in, even if it was a woman he liked.
Even people with blood on them are thrown away, so even healthy people may die.
“Perhaps the steppe peoples haven’t noticed yet. If they had known, they would have abandoned it right away.”
Goruka looked at the sky and estimated the location of the phoenix.
Sometimes the phoenix flew high, sometimes a little low to let people know where it was heading and where it was aiming.
“If the location of those birds of light is accurate, I think we’ll have to run for another day or so. So far, a few that have just smelled the blood are chasing them, but the rest of the flock will follow them sooner or later. I think time is running out. “
Goruka spoke euphemistically, but even the slightest misstep would cost the victim his life.
If the injured person is abandoned, the wolf rushes as soon as the human pack leaves.
If it is a woman or a child, it is bitten without even resisting. The moment you are abandoned will be the time you die.
Rudy turned his head back and called out two magicians.
Those two are smaller than the others. Because it puts less strain on the horse, it boasted the fastest riding speed even when it was being trained by Boris along with Rudy.
“Boris, bring someone else. Me and the two of us go first.”
Boris furrowed his eyebrows slightly.
Unlike training, Boris didn’t really like Rudy going solo or going into dangerous situations alone.
But the one who won’t die even if you kill him is Rudy. Boris knew best that Rudy was stronger than anyone else.
“The demonic creature will tell us the path we passed.”
Boris still frowned at Rudi’s words, but lowered his head slightly.
“Goruka, let’s go.”
Goruka seems a bit surprised when Rudi tells him that he is leaving with only two of them. However, he immediately nodded and turned his head.
Goruka said as if he remembered.
“Plain horses are trained not to be afraid of wolves. But imperial horses won’t, so don’t get too close. If a horse is frightened by a wolf, it will run amok.”
“Ah, it’s okay. Me and those two horses may not be as good as meadow horses, but they don’t run wild.”
When training with the magician, he often went to the forest with his horse.
Both Rudy’s horse and Magician’s horse were the ones he rode at that time.
Although it has never faced as many wolves as in the grassland, it is trained enough not to run away in confusion at the sight of wolves.
As Goruka ran, Rudy and the two magicians followed suit.
The cavalryman’s steps also became faster.
However, the difference in distance, which was small at first, widened more and more over time.
While Rudy, Goruka, and the two magical soldiers ran freely across the endless grassland, the figure of the cavalry soldiers following them gradually faded away.
***
My daughter made a small noise every time the cart was shaken.
The injured thigh hurts.
He tore the underpants he wore inside and tied them tightly, but he couldn’t stop the bleeding.
When blood flowed from time to time, I wiped it with a piece of clothing I had torn up.
The wagon was filled with women, and last night the savages were in a strangely good mood.
Thanks to that, I haven’t noticed it yet, but I won’t be able to fake it if it hurts like this. My heart became restless.
I was lucky too.
Last night several women were dragged from the cart and raped by men.
But she, her daughter, and the women in the other cart were unharmed. I slept curled up on the meadow floor without a blanket, but I was never trampled by a man’s hand.
The untouched women seem to be gifts to other chieftains.
She was not very popular in the village, but the savages seemed to prefer plump, short women.
I don’t know what will happen after this. If you arrive, you may end up in a worse situation.
However, when the daughter’s body was found to have scars here, there was no follow-up. It was obvious what would happen. He is miserably eaten by beasts and dies.
The scariest thing in the meadow was the wolf.
Thieves and savages do not kill women, but wolves bite men and women of all ages. If you bleed, more of them come.
Wolves often came to the village too.
At that time, I listened to my husband several times.
It’s not just the husband.
Everyone in the village listens to adults until their ears are pierced from an early age.
If you get hurt, you should never go out of town. Not even near the wooden or stone walls that surround the village. Never go out of town or out of town alone. never never never never the wolf asks
In fact, on the outskirts of the village, wolves often came close to targeting livestock.
A few years ago, a three-year-old was bitten by a wolf and only bloody clothes were found.
Even villages where people live are dangerous. It would be even more so in a meadow without a single wall.
I don’t know what the savages will do, but looking at the treatment so far, they don’t take their daughter to the extent of treating her wounds or fighting wolves. That was clear.
The high sun slowly lowered. In a little while, a red sunset will color the sky. Another hellish night comes when women’s screams resound.
She closed her eyes and opened them. No, let’s not mind other people’s business. Right now, I have to focus only on my daughter. There was no time to be horrified at another woman’s misfortune.
Night is the time of wolves. If she is abandoned here and now, her daughter will surely die.
‘Just think about it. My daughter, my baby.’
She covered her daughter’s mouth with one hand and whispered.
“Son, please, bear with it even if it hurts. If you find out you’re hurt, you’ll be thrown away.”
The daughter is now thirteen. I do most of the housework and my body is already as big as my mother, but I am still young. If the situation is like this and it hurts, I scream without knowing it.
The daughter trembled and came into her arms.
The woman hugged her daughter as if covering her from above and brushed her back.
please be quiet shut up As I whispered in my ear, my daughter spoke in a small voice in her ear.
“Mom is scared.”
“It’s okay. Dad went to another village to ask for help. The lord will send soldiers to rescue us soon.”
“…really?”
“of course.”
“But how would the lord know where we went?”
Suddenly, the daughter stopped talking. I pulled away and looked at my daughter’s face, staring blankly at the sky with her eyes wide open.
“what’s the matter?”
She also turned and looked up at the sky.
High in the sky, in the cooling sun, something glistened.
“Mom, it’s a bird.”
The woman’s body stiffened.
That bird is definitely the one that shone in the far sky last night.
Last night, my daughter was in pain and couldn’t see it because she was paying attention to it.
But she saw it clearly.
The savages were bowing down on the ground muttering something as a shiny bird flew in the sky.
‘That bird must be the god of the savages or something like that.’
I don’t know who he is, but at least he won’t be there to help her and her daughter. Because that’s what savages hold up.
She blocked her daughter’s gaze and tried to lower her head.
But the daughter shook her head, looked up at the sky, and murmured.
“Mom, I think the bird laughed at me.”
What kind of nonsense is that? Not only can we not recognize whether a bird in the distance, far in the sky, is laughing, and there is no way that it will be smiling at us.
But the daughter muttered again.
“Somehow the bird seems to be saying it’s okay. It’s coming to rescue it, so I think it’s just a matter of waiting.”
The daughter spoke in a very serious voice, and suddenly she also looked up at the sky.
But to her, all she could see was something that looked like a bird flying in the distant sky. Doesn’t seem to be talking or talking to anything.
A bird of light, I thought surprisingly, but I wasn’t happy or happy. Rather afraid.
I remembered the scary stories of witches I heard as a child. Perhaps that could be the messenger of a soul-eating witch. Or to light up the desert for savages.
Whatever it is, it won’t be on her and her daughter’s side.
If I had been on their side, I wouldn’t have let them be captured by barbarians like this.
I told my daughter not to worry because her husband went to call for help, but she knew.
Rescue does not come.
The husband was stabbed by a savage just before getting on the horse.
With my own eyes, I saw with my own eyes that the flesh was sliced long as the knife passed by, exposing the white bone.
He must have died en route on horseback. He fell off his horse, or was bitten by a wolf, or died near his destination.
Even if her husband had fortunately arrived at the border city, there was no way the lord would send soldiers. He is not such a benevolent and good lord.
The woman muttered in her heart as she hugged her daughter tightly.
‘Maybe we should continue to live in the village of barbarians. Still, don’t despair or die. I must survive.’
And someday you have to go back.
There was still a young son at home in the village.
My husband hid our four-year-old son under a haystack.
I never saw it, but I always promised that.
If you have time to hide your daughter or son when barbarians or bandits attack, make sure to push them under the haystack.
So the husband clearly hid his young son.
It was clear that the son was alive and waiting for his mother to return.
I will definitely return, my son. certainly. So wait. wait for mom
While I was making that promise, my daughter suddenly shouted.
