The moon is up.
The moon rises over this forsaken desert called Nosferus, No Man's Land, where the only inhabitants are the dwarf race of Shem, the giant race of Ragon, and the wild monsters of the wilderness. The pale jewel of Iris seems to look down upon the dark and dreadful wilderness of rock and sand with a lonely, longing smile.
In the light of it, the village of Rak is huddled in the depths of the valleys.
The large village of Raku, which stretched out as if it were just another one of the black, regularly lined rocky mountains, seemed to be undergoing a night of unusual tension and turmoil.
The village of Laku is made up of two rows of earthen houses, each with a bowl on top of the other, clinging tightly to the sides of the valley.
At the very center of the row of bowls, there was a wide, round open space, which seemed to be the center of the village of Rak, as a square where various ceremonies were held. The semicircular houses that stood on either side of the square were much larger than the others.
Guin was invited to a house on the right side of the square. When he entered the house, he found that the floor - though it was only made of earth - had been cleared considerably, and that a fire had been lit in the middle of the floor. There was no way that the dwarf Shem's dwelling could fit the tall Guin, of course, and he had to fold himself in half to get around, but once he sat down on the hearth, he managed to settle down comfortably.
"Don't worry, the other guests are being well entertained by the women of Rak."
Roto said as he sat down opposite Guin. There were no decorations in the room at all, just a pile of earth hollowed out and supported by beams, but the hearth was still covered with many wolf pelts. One by one, the rak women brought jars of wine and other things.
But the men's attention was already elsewhere.
"Liard."
Roto says solemnly.
"Many times in the history of Shem, the colored demons of Mongol have crossed the river and terrified us. Each time, we have driven them deep into Nosferus - and, of course, we have crossed the river to attack them. Like the Karoi and the Gros. But we, the Rak, have never confronted the colored devils. Why don't they leave the Rak alone? Why can't Shem share the land with Shem and man share the land with man?
"Mongol wants to get his hands on Nosferus."
Guin says.
"Why this, this remote no-man's-land, as they call it? This is no place for them to live."
"I know."
Guin nodded. His huge leopard-headed shadow, half-lit by the furnace fire, flickered against the round earthen walls.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out, too. Why does Mongol have his eye on Nosferus? Of course, to advance into the Middle Kingdom, he must first fortify his rear. In the unlikely event that any of the nations of the Middle Plains succeed in moving Shem to their side, Gora will have an enemy on his back. Even if he were not allied with Shem, if Shem were to come across the Kes River at the same time as he had rushed to Staphorus Castle, the blow to Mongol would be the same. But--"
"..."
"However, the preparations of the Mongol army that Shiva and I and our scouting party had just seen were definitely not on the scale of a temporary counterattack by Mongols in a panic after the total destruction of Staphorus Castle. A splendid bridge, albeit a makeshift one, had been built over the River Kes, and the soldiers had begun to build a defensive wall on this side of the river. Smoke rose everywhere along the forest road from Alvon to Talos and Thurid, reminding us that messengers and supply wagons were coming and going all the time.
No, by no means, this is not a feat that can be accomplished overnight! But why? Why? Although Mongol had captured Paro and was now at the peak of victory, it must have required a great deal of post-processing, such as subduing Paro, organizing the conquering army, and hunting down the remnants of Paro who might be hiding underground or fleeing to the provinces for a later date. In other words, there is no other time when the center of Mongol looks to the frontier and is not suitable to devote troops as now.
And moreover, the one who would lead the invading army would be Princess Amneris of the High Priestesses-- Amneris is the right-hand man of Grand Duke Vlad, and reasonably speaking, the one who would proceed to the city of Paro, Crystal, establish the headquarters of the conquering army there, and stay there to become the new governor of Paro, It should be Amneris. In fact, she is said to have been in overall command of the Paro raid.
Why did she suddenly turn her back on the Crystal in the middle of her work, rush back to Torus in a panic, and show up here in the middle of nowhere to become the commander-in-chief of the Nosferus invasion force? There's something-- there's definitely something. Or something has happened that compels Mongol to turn his attention to Nosferus above all else.
I don't understand... what's in Nosferus? What is the secret of this no-man's-land that drives Mongol to it?"
Roto, and the rak on either side of him, listened with bated breath, as if afraid to disturb the thoughts of the giant leopard-headed war god.
Perhaps, even for Roto, Guin's words did not make sense half the time, but we can clearly see that the destination of their fall is closely connected to their own destiny.
And even at this very moment, like a tidal wave, the vanguard of the Mongol army might be moving towards the position of the village of Rak. The small, hairy, ape-like faces were tense as they finally realized that things were not going to be easy.
Guin, who had been sinking in silence and thought for some time, then raised his huge leopard head as if he had noticed for the first time the presence of the little ape-men who were waiting silently for him to open his mouth.
"Anyway--"
He said in a strong voice, as if he were trying to put unanswerable questions to rest for the moment.
"What is certain, however, is that Mongol's determination is so great that any one of the three great tribes, at least the Rak, the Karoi and the Glo, would have no chance against them alone. You see... And the village of Rak is closest to the path of the invading army in the direction of the Kes. It will probably take at least a few more days, if not more, for the invasion force to find this valley-guarded village without maps or directions. But it would be equally dangerous to count on the good fortune that they would pass it by unobserved and head inland. Mongol has 15,000-- Rak has 2,000, with all he can fight. Now, we could move further into the country, or we could go out and intercept them, but that's out of the question. There's only one thing left to do: ..."
"But ..."
Roto's bright eyes flashed with dark thoughts, and he almost said something, but he just shook his head and kept his mouth shut.
"Let's leave the village and run for it. Now."
Suddenly, one of the petty chiefs standing behind him shouted in a hurried voice.
"That's all there is. Colored devils ride horses. They've got tools to push the stone farther. And--"
"Reno!"
Roto called. His voice was filled with the sound of a stern reprimand. But Reno paid no heed to it.
"And what Liard says is very, very impossible. There's no way Rak could join forces with Kaloy or that vicious Glo. Glo catches us and eats us. He'll eat this Raak, a Shem! As for the Karoi, how many women and children have fallen into their hands and been made slaves of the Karoi? ..."
"It's not all about that."
Another clan leader took Lino.
"There are about 2,000 Karoi, and about that many Gros - Lhasa, Tubai, and all the smaller herds combined, but they don't even come close to the number of demons in Mongol."
"What about you?"
Guin turned to him and asked. The Rak answered nervously.
"It's Ev, Leard."
"So, Ev, Lino, and the rest of you, listen up. I've been thinking about it. On the way here, the lads told me of the discord among the tribes of Shem and that even if we gathered them all together they'd only amount to seven thousand five hundred, eight thousand at most. Moreover, this one has no crossbow and no horse. His body is small. Besides, the current 15,000 may not be enough to stop Mongol's invading army. If we have secured a supply line, established a base on the Kesu River, and made up our minds to fight for a certain length of time, we must assume that there will still be 5,000 - no, 10,000 or 20,000 reinforcements at a moment's notice.
But ..."
"I can't."
This time, there was more than one voice of despair among the petty chiefs.
"Raq is finished."
"We will be slaves to the devil."
"I'm fucked.
Roto turned his head and started to open his mouth to rebuke his men, but before he could do so, a very high-pitched voice broke out.
"Let's run away. Let's abandon the village and hide the women, children and old people in the mountains."
"Seb!"
"It's the only way."
The owner of the voice stood up, looked around, and ranted.
"It's the only way to escape the demons of Mongol. Let's go north. To the mountains of the north... yes, to Asgarn in the north by way of the Dogtooth Mountains and Dzug Hetud."
Yes, that's the way to go, they said. Guin looked around at them. There was agitation, disbelief, and fear on every face.
A situation was being created in which people were ready to stand up at any moment, gather food and drink without delay, and run toward the north, leaving their villages behind.
"Wait. Listen to me--"
Guin tried to lean out.
But sooner than that,
"I shouldn't!"
A youthful voice came from the far end. The voice continued to shout.
"You can run-- you can go north after you've lost the battle."
"What - isn't that Sheba?"
As if Seb was angry,
"Sit down. There's no order for a young thing like you to talk."
"What are you going to do, move north and wait for the demons of Mongol to give up and go away? If they build castles and settle down here, there will be no place for us to return to."
"They can't stay here in Nosferus that long. Think of it as a winter's endurance."
"And there's not much food in the mountains to the north. If Mongol and his men, who have taken this area as their territory, send their troops there, Raku will be annihilated."
"You can't fight it and win anyway."
Seb kept saying. Sheba tries to talk back.
Seeing this, Loto slowly stood up. He held out his hands to control them.
"This is not the time for a fight."
"That's right."
Guin said in a hushed voice.
"We don't have a lot of time left. Besides-- listen. I have an idea."
"You think--?"
The eyes of Roto, Sheba, Seb, Eeb, Reno, and the other twenty or so chiefs of Rach were turned at once to the monstrous figure of the leopard-headed man, flickering high above the fire.
"It's ...."
Guin opens his mouth, slowly.
At that moment, there was a commotion at the entrance of the house, and a young Rak came running into the room, as if he were dodging the chiefs who were standing around him. He bowed his head to Lothor and Guin, noting the elders in the crowd.
"The Tubai chiefs and the Lhasa clan are on their way here. They will soon be entering the valley."
"That was fast."
Guin said. Roto nodded.
"Tubai and Lhasa are related by raku. Lhasa has a village in the neighboring mountains."
"Anyway, we're in the middle of nowhere.
Guin said with encouragement in his voice.
"Let's go out to the square. There, I'll speak to the chiefs as well as to all the people of Rak, separately--all of you, out."
Raku and the others obeyed without hesitation. Shiva stayed by Guin's side, looking up at him with worried eyes.
He nodded as if to say, "Don't worry about it. A grave murmur escaped softly from the leopard's head.
"Tubai and Rasa... the question is, Kaloy and Glo. The question is whether they will support an alliance with the Rak. ..."
"Liard--?"
Sheba peers up at him as if to ask a question. Guin shakes his head and begins to move, folding his body tightly to get out.