TFM 74

Chapter 74

***

He tilted his head to one side. His damaged senses occasionally malfunctioned.

He waited for the buzzing sound to subside, then pushed past the woman and stepped inside the barracks.

Perhaps they had burned herbs again all night; the dim space was thick with the acrid smell of smoke. But mixed in with it was a peculiar scent, the kind one might expect from fruit on the verge of rotting.

It was the strange odor that had begun to emanate from the woman’s (Talia’s) skin at some point.

He held his breath for a moment, then slowly drew in a breath. Then he quietly called out to her.

“Talia.”

There was no reply. Yet he could sense her presence.

He stepped into the cluttered space, where bowls, wine bottles, and water glasses lay scattered about, his eyes darting busily around. Then, spotting a pile of clothes heaped beside the rumpled bed, he stopped in his tracks.

He bent down in front of a large chest placed in one corner of the barracks.

As he carefully lifted the lid, a small figure curled up in a ball came into view.

Once again, his body reacted strangely. It felt as if he’d been kicked in the solar plexus by a horse’s hoof.

He calmed his churning stomach and placed his hand on her shoulder.

The woman, who had been burying her face in her knees, lifted her head.

Beneath her drenched eyelashes, a pair of pure, unclouded blue eyes were revealed. Clear tears spread across her transparent skin, like a creature dwelling in the deep sea.

He cupped her damp cheek, stroked her slightly flushed chin, and gently tilted her hunched head back.

Perhaps from being scratched somewhere, there were a few scrapes on her slender neck. As he examined them closely, a cracked voice emerged from between her lips, which were red as if stained with blood.

“The monsters… did you defeat them all?”

He looked into the woman’s eyes again.

Her deep blue irises, submerged in water, flickered precariously.

He recalled the first time he had met those eyes.

It was the first color he had seen on the day he regained his sight.

Feeling a tightness in the back of his throat, he took a deep breath and lifted her stiff body.

Supple, soft arms wrapped around his neck as if it were the most natural thing in the world. A faint sob moistened his taut skin.

“I thought… I was going to be taken again.”

Varkas tightened his arms around her.

That will never happen again.

The words that had been dancing on the tip of his tongue slipped back down his throat. Since the accident, he had found himself swallowing his words in her presence time and again.

Those words, swallowed over and over, piled up in his stomach like sediment.

Frowning at the uncomfortable sensation of a boulder pressing down on his insides, he gently stroked her slender, intermittently trembling back.

Her stiff body gradually relaxed and wrapped itself around him softly. He lifted her head slightly from his shoulder to look at her face and saw her eyes closed as if in exhaustion.

He ran his thumb over her drooping golden eyelashes, then adjusted her slipping body in his arms and quickly scanned the room.

He spotted a cloak hanging on a tent pole. He snatched it up, draped it over her body, and stepped outside.

As he hurried across the camp, several mounted warriors who were busily dismantling their tents cast curious glances his way. He pulled the cloak up to cover her hair.

Ever since she had been less than five cubits (about 150 centimeters) tall, the men had been staring at her with the hungry eyes of wild dogs. And this woman, though she feared it, would sometimes expose herself defenselessly before their eyes. As if she didn’t mind being torn to pieces and killed.

He pulled her even closer to his chest and quickened his pace, as if to shake off those intrusive stares.

When he entered his tent and laid her on the bed, her body—which had visibly wasted away over the past few months—came into view.

A sigh rose in his throat.

What annoyed him was the fact that her gauntness was pushing her beauty in a dangerous direction. Varkas, who had been letting his gaze slide over her bony nape, emaciated shoulders, and prominent collarbones, turned his eyes toward the entrance of the barracks.

The young servant who had followed him to attend to his needs was glancing at her. His half-dead nerves stood on end.

He dismissed all the attendants and shut the entrance tightly. It wasn’t a very good idea. The barracks were now filled with the sweet, cloying scent she exuded.

A strange, parching thirst made his throat feel like it was burning, and he swallowed dryly.

As he roughly scraped back his damp hair and shot a furious glance, her pale cheeks, smudged with dried tear stains, filled his vision.

The words she had blurted out in terror years ago echoed in his mind.

“He… he said that. It’s as if I’m addicted… I have no choice but to keep… keep looking for it.”

He pressed his molars firmly against the soft flesh inside his cheek. He tasted a faint hint of blood.

He tapped his temples with his fingertips, then picked up the coat left in the corner of the room.

As he stepped outside, the pungent smell of blood filled his lungs.

He inhaled it deeply, as if to wash away the sticky odor lingering in the back of his throat, when Barakan, who had finished arming himself, approached him.

“We’re almost ready. Once we tidy up your quarters, we can leave immediately. Shall we clear it out now?”

“In an hour.”

After a brief pause, Varkas spoke in a subdued voice.

“Let’s catch our breath first, then set out.”

A hint of amusement flashed across the other man’s lips.

He shrugged and replied in a light tone.

“As you command.”

The man turned immediately to relay the orders to his men.

Varkas sat perched on a water canteen, gazing at the Norden Plains faintly visible through the dense row of trees.

A gust of dry wind swept past, roughly scraping his face.

A familiar scent wafted through the air.

When had he smelled that before?

As he searched his hazy memories, the howl of a wolf echoed from the distance.

He turned his head.

The mournful sound stretched out from the edge of the forest.

***

Her weakened body could not endure the long journey and she fell ill with a fever.

Talia, staring up at the swaying ceiling, tossed and turned, gasping for breath. The carriage moved at a speed barely faster than walking, but even that faint vibration was torture to her.

Talia clutched her head, the headache so intense it felt as if her skull were splitting.

Just then, the sharp sound of a horn echoed from outside. Had they finally reached their destination? She struggled to sit up and peered out the window. Her fever-blurred vision was filled with the vast landscape of a wide plain.

Talia’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar sight. A deep blue meadow stretched endlessly, as if touching the sky. A gust of wind swept across the lush grass.

She opened the window to cool her flushed face with the refreshing breeze.

“That is Kalmore right there.”

Startled by the sudden voice, she turned her head and saw a man riding a horse just a short distance away. As he drew closer, he offered her a friendly smile.

“My name is Tyron. We met before—do you remember me?”

She kept her lips tightly sealed, shooting him a wary glance. The man’s smile faded slightly. After exchanging a brief, probing look, he continued speaking gently, undeterred by her coldness.

“You don’t seem to be feeling well.”

“….”

“We’ll be arriving at Raedgo Castle soon. Look, can you see the castle walls over there?”

The man pointed ahead.

Talia followed the direction of his finger.

At the edge of the horizon, she saw grayish-brown castle walls that looked as if they had been fashioned from ash and sand. She craned her neck out the window to get a closer look.

Raedgo Castle appeared as though it had been built by stacking massive boulders.

The thick, unadorned outer walls encircled the base of the hill without a single gap, and atop them stood tall, large and small towers and bastions, all composed of nothing but straight lines.

She instinctively wrapped her arms around her neck.

Perhaps it was because the place where she was to live from now on looked so bleak. A chill ran down her spine.

***

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