"Oh my God!"
"The prisoner has escaped!"
"A prisoner of war has taken a horse!"
The frantic fugitives, clinging to the back of the madly galloping hippopotamus, heard the mingled shrieks of the Mongols' camp like the roar of Garm, the dog of hell.
"After them!"
"Go after him!"
"Bring out the horse!"
Amneris's high-pitched scream and the crack of his sword as he tried to kill the sandworm were interspersed with the throaty commands of the captains who were trying to organize their ranks.
The two horsemen, their manes fluttering in the dawn breeze of Nosferus, gallop eastward between the rocks. To the east, where the light of the dawn star has faded and the sun is now shining over the mysterious mountains of Canaan, towards the eastern horizon of freedom and life.
"Hi, hi!"
Again and again Istvan struck the horse in the belly. Now a crossbow and shouts of anger came from behind him, and he could not shake off the fear that a long hand would stretch out and grab his mane and drag him down.
Guin was far more calm. With Remus clinging tightly to his waist, he pulled the horse over to Istvan's horse,
"Don't be so hasty. If you push too hard, the horse will get sick sooner.
He pointed out in a calm voice. Istvan turned around with Linda in front of him.
I exhaled a low breath of relief, knowing that the camp of Mongol, illuminated by the morning sun and obscured by the white and gray rocky ground, was already as small as a distant vision or moss clinging to the ground, and that the ominous clump of dust heading towards us was not yet recognized.
The rest was just a flood of abuse and curses.
"By the fire-breathing black pig of Dole! By that foul, stinking mud! By its owner, whom I shall never see again, I shall--never again, I shall--"
"I, Ist--Vern."
As the fierce and horrible curse was spat at her, Linda's pretty face crumpled up in a hysterical voice that could not be described as crying, laughing or screaming.
"Oh--thank you, and forgive me, Red Mercenary, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I told you you'd be asleep by now. While you were being chased by Sand Sandworm! You can hit me with one of those. ..."
"If I slap you, you'll give me a gold coin."
Istvan was in a bad mood.
"Your gratitude, you nasty pearl of Paro, I'm an idiot," he said with a ragged cape of limp-wristed yarn, "for one thing, a mercenary should never work for free, which is the first rule of battlefield business. The next is that a mercenary should not be swayed by passion.
Goddamn it, don't say thank you. Thank you ain't nothing."
Guin, who was running alongside the horse, heard the mercenary's indignation as if he were a naughty boy.
He didn't say anything, and his leopard head was incapable of such a gesture as a grin, so it wasn't at all obvious from the surface, but behind the round leopard head, his yellowish, steely eyes glowed with a funny, irresistible light. He could see that the mercenary was uncharacteristically embarrassed.
He must have thought it was a noisy embarrassment, by the way. Guin's eyes flashed humorously.
But poor Linda didn't understand men well enough to understand such things. The little queen of Paro was terribly displeased to have her gratitude and apology rejected in such a manner.
"I would ask you to refrain from using such vulgar language, even in my presence, Istvan of Valachia."
Linda said coolly, trying to put on as much dignity as she could as she clung to the horse's neck and straddled Istvan's saddle.
"And if my gratitude is so unworthy of you, it is not worthy of being accepted. Don't be so sorrowful about your free labor. But if the throne of Paro is restored, I will repay you tenfold. So you have nothing to worry about."
"You say you'll pay properly."
Said the mercenary with a pout.
"The Red Mercenary is expensive to hire."
"I don't know."
"A million runs."
"That's not usury."
Linda was angry.
"You take advantage of people's weaknesses."
"Or a position. How about adding me to the ranks of the Lords of Paro?"
"How brazen of you!"
"Now the only two heirs to the Holy Royal House of Paro, the Prophetess Linda and her successor Prince Remus, have been saved from the fate of being tortured at the hands of their avenger, Gora, and then put on a high execution platform!"
"Alright. Then I promise, if we can rebuild Paro in good time, I will appoint you as the Holy Knight Captain of the Crystal Palace."
"If you take comfort in the fact that it's a fairy tale that can't possibly be true, you might be in trouble later on if you shoot off a bunch of empty bills."
Istvan was so eager to remind the princess that he was secretly counting on Paro's rebirth that he revealed his secret account.
Linda didn't notice one bit,
"There are no two words for the men of the Holy Royal House of Paro, Istvan of Valachia."
"You must make him the Holy Knight Marquis of the Crystal Palace."
"Yes."
"Of course, you'll have to pay the market rate, not to mention the million, but that's besides the point."
"I know."
"Very well."
Istvan licked his tongue with a smile, like a cat that has licked milk. In his black, lively eyes there was an inauspicious gleam, as if he had thought of something inauspicious.
"By the way--"
He said with great pleasure.
"That's for saving you and your brother from Mongol's pursuers earlier. But we're not safe yet. We'll be pursued from behind, and we'll have to make a difficult journey through Nosferus, a journey that may take many months, and beyond that, the land of Canaan, an ancient mountain range full of mysteries and legends.
What do you think, if I manage to overcome all those difficulties and bring you safely to Argos or Cheironia, what will I give you for your reward?"
"Come on, it's--"
"Don't forget the market price that the work you did just now is the Holy Knight Marquis of the Crystal Palace."
Istvan reminded him slyly.
"Depending on that, I'm a mercenary who can't say no to you if you hire me. I'll give my sword to you without question and swear to be loyal to you and your brother until my contract is broken or renewed."
"No matter what you say, we're the heirs to a throne with no country..."
Linda clammed up.
Istvan licked his tongue.
"How about, for starters, a crystal public to your left!"
At the same time, he broke in two and burst into laughter, nearly knocking me off the saddle.
"Well!"
Linda's face immediately turned red,
"My God! Lord Crystal! You don't mean to tell me that my husband, the regent, the third in line to the throne, is the Lord of Lords, Istvan of Valachia!"
"If I help you rebuild Paro properly, you still won't marry me, will you, Princess?"
Istvan gasped and gasped and laughed like a madman. Suddenly he became serious,
"I'm not all that ugly, I'm afraid."
And then he starts laughing again.
Linda finally became so angry that she couldn't even speak.
"Get me off the horse! Put me down now! I'd rather be fed to the sandworms of Nosferus than have to insult the Princess of Paro by letting this rude man do whatever he wants! Stop horse now!"
"What are you two talking about, childish?
Guin, unable to restrain himself, chided him with a barking laugh. This time, however, Istvan was offended.
"Oh, I see. So it's nothing but an insult to the Paro royal family for the princess to even think of me marrying her. Because I'm the son of a poor fisherman from Valyria, a lowly horseman born with mud on my toes and a scoundrel who's been slinging mud for war work since I was four. All right!
All right, I'll apologize for insulting the princess! In return, listen, I was born with a ball in my hand, and the witch foretold that one day I would be king of some kingdom. And that one day the Lady of Light would appear before me and give me a kingdom and a darkness.
Look, I'll never forget. When I'm king, I'll remember that you, the little queen of Paro, took my praise as an insult. ..."
"I have no--"
"Come on, that's enough."
Guin clicked his tongue, breaking up their endless argument.
"Istvan, Linda is only a child. You can't blame her for trying."
She licked him, but in her mind she was smiling, thinking that Istvan was still a child. With indignant eyes, Linda looked out over the wilderness of No Man's Land, where it was already dawning and the hot day was about to begin again.
The sky is a hazy mixture of violets and blues, and in the wilderness, where only whitish-brown rocks and lichen cling to them, angel hair like a faint white thread flies and flies in the air.
The desolate scene suddenly reminded Linda of something she had forgotten, and she forgot her indignation and twisted her head to look back at Istvan.
"Yes! What about Suni-- what about Suni! You're not really eating it, are you? ..."
"Don't joke about it."
Istvan is still in a bad mood.
"That skinny, stinky monkey that I took in, it took off faster than you could see it fall into Gora's hands. It splashed happily across the rocks. What an ungrateful, ungrateful monkey-- a damnable one, anyway."
"Suni?"
Linda seemed shocked. She realized that, far more than she had expected, she had found solace in the loyalty of her small, loyal, furry friend during the many hardships they had shared since they had met in the small room in the tower of Staphorus Castle.
There was nothing Linda could say in reply, so she kept her mouth shut and rocked silently on the back of the horse. But her violet eyes were filled with distrust and defiance of the mercenaries, and her eyelashes with sorrow. The wilderness of Nosferus went on forever, and the sound of the horse's hooves alone echoed on the deserted rock.
The horse has moved on.
It was Guin who first found it.
"--look."
He said in a calm voice and turned his head back. Everyone turned to see what was going on and then turned pale.
There's a small patch of dust to the west.
"It's the tracker.
Istvan says with a swooshing sound of his breath.
"Yeah."
"You're finally catching up. Even though we got off to a slow start, I thought it was too good to be true."
"Yeah."
Meanwhile, the dust grew larger and larger in front of their eyes. It was time for their horses to get tired.
In addition, each of them was carrying an extra burden, albeit a light one, the Paro twins. For a while their pace was much slower, and while they were quarrelling, their angry pursuers were steadily closing in on them.
No one spoke to me for a while.
After a while, Istvan became languid,
"So, what do you do, Guin?"
"Yes."
Guin shrugged his thick shoulders .
"Let's hear what you think."
"We hide! If you can't run, you can't fight, there's no other way!"
"Hide and seek?"
Guin seemed to be thinking,
"But how long will it last?"
"No," said Remus, "they will not give up! We don't have any food and they do, and they just have to be patient and wait.
"Nobody's asking you, kid."
Istvan said bitterly.
"So you got a better idea, monster?"
"There's no such thing as a good idea."
Guin said gravely, strangely oracular.
"Then what?"
"Only, you said you couldn't run and fight, but I'm thinking that's not true either."
"You will fight! By the flaming sword of the Lure!"
Istvan shouted in dismay, and looked at the soldiers who were still far away, but certainly closing in on them.
"Can't you tell which platoon it is?"
"Of course - I've got my eye on a Baltic bird in a tree a tad away. ... There's a whole company of them, at least by my reckoning. Two white cavalry in the lead, the rest red."
"A squadron, huh?"
Guin sinks into thought.
"Maybe two platoons in addition to that."
"It's a little tough."
Guin said in a slow tone.
"Well, I'll see what I can do. Istvan, you don't know the geography of this area."
"I'm not proud of it, but I don't know what's going on."
"Look-- straight to the east, over there, even in daylight, is the ominous blackness of Canaan, the legendary ancient mountain range."
"I know that much."
"It is impossible for us to reach Canaan at once, but the village of the Laks mentioned by Suni must not be far from here. But the village of the Laks that Suni spoke of must not be far from here. Suni said that the village was 'where the head of the dog of Canaan looks like a finger on the left'."
"What the-- what the hell is that?"
"Look, and you will see a mountain on the leftmost side of Canaan. It is the highest peak of Canaan, the sacred peak of Pherath, and it is called Dzug Hetud, or Dog's Head Mountain, because it resembles a dog's head when seen from the west."
"..."
"Right now, you can only see half of its head, but here we are."
Guin straightened his hand and held up his index finger.
"Close one eye and run to the point where the length of your finger matches the height of the mountain's silhouette. Somewhere in a circle with a radius of one tad from there, you will surely find the village of Rak."
"..."
Guin turned and measured the distance between him and his pursuers, who could now make out each of the knights in the dust.
"Three men on one horse may not be fast enough, but you'll have to try somehow."
He says, as if this explains everything.
"Huh?"
Istvan made an unsure face. His black, apricot-shaped eyes, like those of a Kitai beauty, rolled back.
"Hey, Leopard head."
"And I'm sorry, but they took mine. Give me your sword, mercenary."
"Hey, hey--"
"No, don't! Guin!"
The mercenary and Linda shouted at the same time.
"It's okay. I know a lot of ways to stop it."
Guin lets out a little laugh,
"Hey, kids, maybe the Red Mercenary is right and my birthplace is here in Nosferus. Because I've just realized that I know more about this wasteland, its creatures, its geography, than I'll ever know about anything else."
"No, you can't. I won't let you! We don't have the right to make you sacrifice your life for us."
"Let's go!"
Guin seemed annoyed. He suddenly grabbed Remus by the waist, gently tore off the prince's hands, which were clinging to him in panic, and threw him violently at Istvan. The mercenary catches him at the last moment and places him back in the saddle.
"Guin, no--!"
"Don't, Guin--"
He does not care if the twins scream, he will hold out his hand. The mercenary pulls out the sword at his waist by its scabbard and throws it.
The leopard-headed warrior's strong hands firmly caught the great sword.
"Guin--!"
"Don't worry. We'll go to Suni's village later."
The warrior's fearless, howling laugh!
In the meantime, Mongol's pursuers had begun to reveal themselves, as if they had just emerged from the depths of obscurity!
Now the sound of their armor clasps touching their swords, and
"Oi, oi."
"Wait, men, halt. If you don't, the crossbow--"
Even the loud voice of threats and intimidation shouting in the mouth can be heard clearly on the wind.
"All right, go."
Guin said, swinging his sword just once, powerfully.
"I'll see you in the village of Rak!"
"All right, it's Rak's village. The dog's got a finger on his neck!"
Istvan screamed, his eyes glittering, and tried to kick horse in the side. Linda clung to his leg.
"No, no! Please!"
"Heigh ho! You've got to do something about these kids!"
Istvan screams. Guin brings the horse close and raises his sword and strikes Istvan on the horse's rump with the scabbard.
horse, exhausted, was surprised by this abuse. She summoned her last strength and ran.
"The village of Rak. It's three tads east!"
Guin shouted and turned the horse around without looking at him.
"Stop, stop!"
"Deserters, halt!
"I'll shoot!"
The cries of the pursuers now came like stones from a crossbow. On the horse's back, Guin grasped the reins in one hand and drew the scabbard of his sword in his mouth and threw it away.
"Leopard man, wait!"
"If you do not resist, I will not kill you. Surrender!
The cries that were being hurled at him were as imperceptible as the wind's roar and angel hair,
"Well... I don't know what to do. If only there were a colony of sand sundew worms or gluttonous bitgutters around here, it would be quicker."
"Guin!"
Hearing the sound of hooves running behind me and calling out,
"Idiot! Why did you come back?"
He yells in a voice like a whip. His eyes blaze with pale rage as he turns his head.
"Guin--no."
Istvan faltered and said.
"You can get that at ...."
His trembling hand rises and points to the east. Linda and Remus cling to the mercenary's saddle, their lips pale as they stare at Guin.
He turned his head slowly to look at them, and they pointed at him.
And I saw it.
From the eastern horizon, the horizon that should have promised them life and liberty, they will see a lump of dust approaching them slowly but steadily.
"You scissored me..."
The Red Mercenary says in a weak voice.
A horrible roar escaped from Guin's throat.
Just once.