In the coldness of the morning, when even yawn-induced tears would freeze, the quiet tiny snowflakes dive into the earth, almost like dancing falling leaves. Hanging upside down, I watch the fleeting things pass upwards.
Out of the three of us, Obrecht is the least injured. More accurately, he didn't even have a single scratch. A bit more glow and it might've looked like some Encantado-kind, as they are widely known for their unparalleled beauty. Frankly, I think it's because of their body's constitution that they're like instant purifiers or detoxifiers—even to themselves.
My stray thoughts focus when I spot a little vine nudging and nudging Obrecht's unkepmt hair for him. I jump down from the tree and look down at myself— scratched, bleeding, and disorganized. And yet, I'm second on the "to-pamper list", according to my own ability.
I grab a vine and squeeze it like a stress ball, as the branches rustle upon Laris' arrival.
"..."
"Ah sst—" Laris hissed, looking more wounded than I am with a lot of scratches on his face, and a bad limp on his leg. I look away as if surveying the place instead.
"..." Maybe I'll stop being sour after all.
Noticing, I follow Obrecht's line of sight to gaze at the tall mountain wall that looked more like an extremely dangerous tall cliff.
"Pfft—" Obrecht laughs. I try to sock him but he avoids it easily and we all end up laughing more. Laris shakes his head with a smirk.
The feeling of having pulled off such a stunt over an unresolved dilemma makes us giddy for some reason.
Just about an hour ago, we were running through the halls of Queen's abode with split guards chasing us all over the place.
"No good", Laris backs up from a hallway when he saw guards approaching from that direction too.
"Here", Obrecht called out, opening a window quickly but carefully. It looks like he'd rather not give those women any reason to ask for marriage as a means of compensation for wrecking their property.
I'd rather not either.
"Wait!" A group of guards spot us jumping off the window from the second floor.
"..." Do you really think we'll wait? These guards, really...
I internally shake my head. Obrecht grabs me and I wrap my legs on his upper torso as he runs. I focus instead on yielding my ability.
"Go around to the gardens! They're running to the west-side gardens!"
Having involved with rebellion, being chased by guards like this is an obvious occupational hazard. The only difference was that they were chasing us to become some threesome pairing with their crown princess.
That's scarier than getting chased for a bounty!
The end of the garden was full of flowering trees with a looming wall. I jump down off Obrecht and watch Laris shift back to human form. He'd arrive earlier than us only to notify that the guards trapped us inside the west-side gardens.
"What now", Laris mumbles to himself.
A rhythm of mismatched steps stops as the Faerie guards try to corner us with their numbers.
"Stop running. I don't really see why you'd reject such a good offer", a familiar-faced guard mutters. He seems to be the same guy that couldn't hold his tongue in the throne room and got scolded by the Fae Queen.
"..." I'm not you, stultus. If you're so envious, why don't you dye your hair white and marry her instead.
I grit my teeth and imagine the air condensing beneath my feet. I almost fail the fourth time. The last time I did this was when I emerged from my own black cocoon, but I was more like a logical blank slate that time. Now I'm racked with so much thoughts and emotions that the attention keeps jumping.
Yelp—
Laris yelps in surprise as I make large foggy shadow hands and toss Obrecht and Laris over the mountain wall like some catapult. The guards gasp. When they realized we could still escape, they hasten their actions.
Unfortunately, I was already a few feet out of their reach by then. I force my mind to concentrate then run. I hear a gasp from someone below when they see me running midair. I nearly fell when my concentration slipped and there wasn't anything to step on. If there's any fleeting thought, it would be that the view of the forest from above was absolutely stunning.
"Videre!"
My eyes focus on one direction. One person and a wolf.
"Ob—!"
I toss a long shadow and reel Obrecht and Laris closer as we fall. The shadow vines couldn't completely protect us from the twigs and sharp branches, but they eased our fall just before hitting the ground.
Seeing a few inches before the ground right before my face, I sigh in relief and allow gravity to pull me by releasing my shadow abilities.
Sometimes simpletons that could hold one thought for so long are worth envying. An average person like me who has forty-eight thoughts per minute is struggling...
"Why are you sighing?" Obrecht comes over. He runs his fingers through my hair to fix it. Subconsciously, I lean in on his hand so he stops moving just to let me lean on it, and uses his other hand instead.
"Remind me not to bring you back here", Laris tells me as dabs a few low grade healing potions on his face.
"You won't be able to bring me back even if you wanted to—is what he's saying", Obrecht mimics my way of talking.
"Mm." I nod in approval. "No more Faerie-kind-related stuff from now on."
"Seconded!"
"We're not voting, Ob." I laugh.
When we stop talking, the silence eats away the sound. Winter is a gluttonous monster. It eats away the sound that you may not hear much laughter or people around. It swallows the vitality of the earth and covers everything in a sea of vast white. It can also devour people and their hopes if one isn't careful in preparing for its arrival.
"The snow's early this year. Let's hope it's a good omen", Laris remarks, hand stretched out to catch a few flakes that turn to water upon his touch.
The Lycan-kind had a high body temperature after all. This is why even if the Lycan Kingdom was at the most northern part of the continent with raging snowstorms and cool summers throughout the year—they could withstand it. It may even bring them relief.
The three of us head out. We didn't get that far on the first day we exited the valley. By now, we're somewhere at the Great Western Forest. This place also experiences winter, but it's not as cold since we're closer to the border.
"...I get it now."
Two faces glance back.
"You brought me instead of Raguk for an easier escape."
I planned to make it sound a little more accusing, however, Laris simply shakes his head, as if saying, 'You're still stuck on that?' Although it looked a bit more like he's doting.
"That's correct. Good job, little brother."
"..." Maybe I shouldn't have spoken. Who needs your praise! I'm not some kid in need of doting!
A hand ruffles my hair. I grasp it and take a small bite, a bit displeased. Obrecht just lets me bite his hand to which I don't put any real biting pressure, and when I'm finished, we hold hands as we walk. A little while later, we find a part of the forest that had sparse trees enough to build our campfire and sleep. Laris leads while looking around slowly, the limp on his leg straining his movements.
Upon finding a good place to rest for the night, Laris took out a map to choose the best route back home. With the snow being early, there were a few places that were going to be harder to pass through.
Aside from a change in the environment due to the snow, as well frozen rivers, some beasts tend to migrate, some hibernate, and others might become desperate to hunt in packs because of the lack of food source in winter. It's better to plan than be careless. The whole reason why we're even safe on our previous journey was also because of Laris' planning.
"I'm going to look for firewood", I volunteer, seeing as Laris limped the whole way through. His foot would need rest to not aggravate itself.
It's because I'm rewarding him for doing a job preserving so far to walk even with a limp. Not because I'm guilty about my inability to protect him while falling...
Obrecht, "Do you want me to go with you?"
"No, I can do it by myself."
Laris nods at me when we cross gazes. He smiles apologetically that he can't help much. I shake my head at him. It's absolutely nothing to worry about anyway.
I'm simply rewarding you. Just stay quiet and accept it.
He resumes checking the map a little later, computing how long it'll take to get back.
For a while, I keep an eye at the direction until I head out. As the snow came early this season, I did not have to scavenge far for dry wood. It had just started after all. It wasn't long when the sound of crunching snow was heard.
Although I said I can do it alone, Obrecht still follows after me into the woods.
"...I can do it by myself, you know."
"I know." Obrecht takes the dry wood from my arms. "Let's just grab more so we can sleep more comfortably later. It'll be colder after all."
I study him for a moment. The reason sounds valid, but I doubt that's the only one he has for running after me.
Pulling his sleeve, he halts and looks at me. I rise up on the tips of my feet and kiss what I could reach—his jaw.
"I'm not going anywhere."
He simply stays quiet. He gives a noncommittal hum, then kisses my forehead.
Irrational fears are always the hardest to deal with. You try to be reasonable, yet you still end up frightened.
On the whole way, Obrecht and I are quiet. When we get back, a few crates of potions were pulled out to be used as tables and chairs. The utensils were already out but it wasn't complete as the other stuff were split among us. The other utensils are most probably in Tukare's bagpack.
This is odd.
"...Laris?"
I dump the wood in the middle of our small camp. Looking around, I see his celare stone lying on top of a crate.
Everything was in place; traces of the missing person everywhere, yet not even a hair or fur to be seen.
Where did Laris go?