Beyond the ice lake, the ‘Nameless Forest’ had no moving life forms, so the Tildyen people called it the ‘Dead Forest.’ The only living things here were old trees with eyes and bugs crawling through the damp earth, that was all.
“…….”
Anya hid his body behind an old tree whose age was completely impossible to gauge. His face, still bearing traces of youth, was covered entirely with a dark gray mask except for his eyes. Between the lips hidden beneath the mask, rough breaths he couldn’t hold back were expelled. But fortunately, his breath didn’t reveal its existence as white vapor in the air.
Anya held his breath as much as possible as if submerged in deep water, but it was insufficient. The mask heaved with each breath. Thanks to no breath escaping, Anya could avoid his presence being discovered.
Fwish!
But that was arrogant delusion. An arrow flew swiftly from somewhere and embedded itself precisely in the tree trunk right in front of Anya’s nose. His position had been discovered in less than a few seconds. Anya immediately turned around and began running.
Huff, huff. His breath rose to his chin.
“The boy will die in less than 10 minutes.”
Sabelli’s gloomy voice echoed from behind. The old man’s voice seemed to have hands attached to it, as if it would grab Anya’s throat at any moment. Several arrows flew swiftly toward Anya again.
“Ugh!”
One of them grazed Anya’s forearm and embedded itself in the muddy ground. The dark leather armor became soaked with blood, but the dark color didn’t show it. In the burning pain of his forearm, Anya fell to his knees on the ground once. But he wasn’t even allowed the luxury of feeling pain. He got up and ran again.
“You cannot run forever. Are you a cowardly fugitive? Or a knight of high pride? Or perhaps a cunning mage?”
Along with Sabelli’s voice, this time even more arrows burst out from the darkness like a downpour. The ancient forest with no traces of human passage had no paths, but it had that many trees. Anya’s eyes began searching for a tree suitable to hide his body, white as winter air and thick from long life. Fortunately, there were many such trees here.
Back to square one. As if returning to the beginning, Anya hid his body behind a tree again. Thunk, several arrows embedded themselves in the trees on either side. That’s when it happened. An arrow embedded itself above the head of Anya, who had stuck his head out to observe the situation. Anya’s body flinched and trembled. Plop, the fur hat with the arrow in it fell beside his foot.
“5 minutes left.”
Really… this time he’d almost died. If he’d raised his head just a bit more, his face would have been pierced. As he instinctively sensed death, his legs trembled finely.
‘After bragging loudly to people that you’re not afraid of death… pathetic bastard.’
Anya harshly scolded himself for becoming stiffly frozen in fear. The thought of facing death alone in this lonely forest caused fear to surge physiologically.
Anya looked down at the thin thread bracelet hanging on his wrist.
‘Mage-nim, I’m fine. A great scholar can live sufficiently with just one arm.’
‘Three weeks. Finish and come back within that.’
Ronan and Evernight’s words flashed by.
He couldn’t give up like this. The time Sabelli had limited was running out. Anya closed both eyes and concentrated.
‘Sabelli-nim told me to steal his weapon within an hour. The scholar’s weapon is a bow. But how do I steal the bow when arrows keep flying?’
Fwish! Once again an arrow flew and grazed Anya’s cheek. Red blood stained over the mask.
‘Giving me that manual must be the hint.’
The red energy expanded its territory from around the right cheek area. To forget the pain and fear, Anya placed his hand on Haebing. In the forest was a peculiar heavy fragrance that the trees emitted. That scent, which he only now noticed, gave Anya a sense of stability to an odd degree.
‘Remember. I must remember.’
<Training Manual of the Blind Knights, Chapter 1: Fear itself is the root that blinds my eyes.>
“Fear not, for fear blinds the eyes and is a small reaper that guides my soul to the river of death.”
Once he grasped the clue, the contents of Chapter 1 of the book naturally flowed smoothly from his mouth. Although he’d memorized it from seeing it so much in the dark basement, it was an impressive passage that had captured Anya’s eyes.
“Fear blinds the eyes.”
“A small reaper that guides the soul to the river of death.”
Along with white breath, the sentences memorized from the book were muttered several times. With tender fingertips, he touched the smooth holster fastened at his waist. It was a treasure that the dwarf blacksmith Ban had made for him. Going down a bit further, he touched cold metal. It was the precious sword Haebing that Evernight had given him. Anya muttered with his eyes still closed.
“Fear not, like flowing water.”
At the same time, he drew Haebing from its sheath. Was it because the forest was too quiet? Somehow he had the illusion that Haebing was crying out. As Anya aimed Haebing toward the invisible abyss of the forest, he pulled up the half-lowered mask with his opposite hand.
“1 minute left.”
A rain of arrows twice as many as before poured down, piercing through the dense ceiling created by the trees. After taking a breath once, Anya spun Haebing round and round with one hand. Then he cut down one arrow flying toward him. The arrow shaft was cleanly severed and fell below.
The next one too, and the next arrow too.
Anya wielded Haebing while slipping between the arrows as if lightly dancing.
It was very… strange. Because the arrows flew very, very slowly, as if enchanted by magic. Like the wooden training dummies he’d struck down countless times with a wooden sword in Tildyen’s training grounds, eventually the arrows felt as if they weren’t moving. Beneath Anya’s feet, countless thin arrow shafts severed cleanly in half were strewn about.
“The arrows were enchanted with magic. The more fear the enemy feels, the faster the speed becomes and the greater the number.”
Sabelli walked out from the darkness. Anya looked at Sabelli while gasping for breath. Anya had cut down all the arrows. There seemed to be no more attacks. The moment he tried to put Haebing back in its sheath, Sabelli said,
“As I’ve always said. The moment the enemy lets down their guard. That moment is the most dangerous.”
From the opposite side not far from Anya, Sabelli lifted a huge bow. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pulled the bowstring and shot an arrow toward Anya. The arrow with red feathers charged swiftly toward Anya. It didn’t slow down.
That was a real arrow, not magic.
Anya’s eyes flashed fiercely. The boy hastily bent his waist backward. Then he swung Haebing in a half-moon shape toward the arrow passing over his body precariously. The arrow adorned with red feathers was cut cleanly in half and rolled miserably on the floor. Then the bow Sabelli had been holding disappeared into a handful of ash with a whoosh.
“That was close. Fortunately, a moment of time still remained.”
Sabelli smiled brightly while brushing off his ash-covered hands.
“You’ve passed the first stage.”
At those words, Anya smiled brightly with Haebing stuck in the muddy ground.
* * *
After a long time, Anya dreamed of his days as a prince. Since coming to Tildyen, he hadn’t always slept well, but he’d never dreamed of the imperial palace. Those days were like nightmares, so he’d shoved them into a corner of his memory and didn’t take them out even unconsciously.
‘How about it, cute little brother? It’ll be fun, right?’
Anya had many brothers. Not all of them were legitimate sons born of the Empress. But there was no other prince born of a foreigner of ambiguous origins like Anya. Among the 12 princes, Anya was the youngest and had the least power.
‘Hyung, hyung… I, I can’t see anything….’
One day, Royster called Anya saying they should play a fun game. Anya, who always lived confined in the separate palace, was overjoyed when Royster sent an attendant to his insignificant palace. Royster was the Empress’s legitimate son and the one who had most strongly inherited Father’s blood. Though all the princes didn’t say it, they admired and envied Royster.
‘Anya. Bark like a dog.’
Royster shook a well-baked bread and laughed. Anya was hungry. He knew he shouldn’t… but the young boy succumbed to starvation.
‘Woof….’
Even so, he knew shame. Royster stroked the chin of Anya, who made a small sound.
‘That’s right, you son of a bitch.’
The other princes began to mock him. Anya looked up at Royster desperately with tears welling up.
‘Are you saying you’re human too? You know shame. Do you want to earn this bread like a man?’
Anya nodded his head enthusiastically. At that time, Anya, who had just learned letters, was reading hero novels several times to comfort his loneliness.
‘Then let’s play a game with me. A fun and fair game.’
Royster kindly raised up the weak young body kneeling before him. When he held out his hand, the attendant beside him immediately offered a cloth string.
‘Turn around.’
Anya turned around without a shred of doubt. When Royster’s plump body stood behind him, Anya’s body was helplessly hidden. Royster covered Anya’s two eyes with cloth. The string tied along the back of his head was stretched out long.
‘Cute little brother.’
He took Anya’s hand and dragged him toward the door leading to the corridor. A refreshing spring breeze tickled Anya’s bangs.
‘If you just go toward that apple tree you see ahead, you win.’
‘But… hyung, hyung… I, I can’t see anything….’
Royster’s light laughter came from above.
‘You mustn’t hope for luck.’
Right. This is a game I’m playing with none other than Royster hyung, so if it’s too easy, it’s childish. Anya nodded his head slightly.
‘If, if I go to the a-, apple tree, you’ll give me bread?’
‘Yes.’
Anya groped his way forward. In the courtyard connected to where Royster stayed, there were no miscellaneous statues or objects. Thinking so, Anya’s steps, which had been advancing slowly, became a bit faster.
‘Around here… I must be almost there.’
As Anya’s intuition told him, the boy had almost reached the apple tree. He just needed to take one more step forward. Just as the small foot full of hope was about to break into a run, suddenly an arrow flew from behind. Anya was so startled that he screamed and crouched down on the spot. His limbs trembled violently in overwhelming fear.
‘You have to keep going, little brother.’
Royster laughed while pulling the bowstring. Anya was out of his mind with terror, but as if possessed, he crawled on the ground.
The arrow flew again and embedded itself in the apple tree right in front of Anya’s nose. When Anya finally burst into tears at the force of the arrow still vibrating finely at close range, laughter burst out from here and there.
‘You’re too innocent and stupid.’
Royster said while pulling out the arrow embedded right in front of Anya’s nose.
