by Feng Yue
Snap!
The shock of the bursting sound awakened the sluggish teen.
Wolf Flute put down his hands, breathing heavily. His forehead exuded a cold sweat.
“Those were the so-called out-of-control notes, Ye.”
Wolf Flute wanted to raise his hands, but his body could not bear to, so he gave a bitter smile. “That’s it for today. Ye, I am a little bit tired. Please let me rest for a while.”
Ye Qingxuan was ready to leave, but was stopped again.
“Ye, even if you don’t become a musician, life can still be very good.” Wolf Flute stared at him while lying in the bed. “Do not be too obsessed with its aura.”
“I understand.” Ye Qingxuan reluctantly smiled as he pulled the door.
After a long time, someone knocked on the door again. Not waiting for him to answer, Father Bann pushed into the room.
“He’s gone.” Wolf Flute said lazily, “Congratulations, you will get a qualified little priest, but next time, can you tell him those cruel words yourself?”
Father Bann retorted, “Shouldn’t musicians be cruel?”
“Nobody said that one had to be cruel to be a musician…” Wolf Flute squeezed his eyes and whispered, “But not being cruel enough will not make for a happy life.”
“Looking at you, I understand exactly what you mean.” Father Bann nodded, which made Wolf Flute unable to breathe for a while.
After coughing for a long time, he finally uttered, “Hey, Father, why are you so bored that you have to destroy young people’s dreams like poking at soap bubbles? Everyone wanted to be a musician when they were younger, right? How wonderful to be a musician! I was cheated when I was young and thought that the musicians were so handsome and fun, and they could save lives, but the result was that it turned me into this messed up state. He would have understood it sooner or later.”
Father looked at him coldly, shaking his head. “This child is not the type to dream of all that glory. I am worried about his pursuit of some even more dangerous things.”
“Dangerous?” Wolf Flute grinned. “Could it be more dangerous than my situation?”
Father Bann seemed to be puzzled, wondering for a long time, then raised his eyebrows slowly.
“You mean, your mission being revealed?”
“I was really ordered to come, but my whereabouts were to be kept top secret. Everyone should think that I am now in my home in the desert to herd sheep, but unfortunately, on the way here, I actually encountered the world’s most wanted black musician. The most terrible thing was that he was the one from the School of Modifications, which counters me the most. I was not able to use my full abilities.
“So, I suspected that before I received the Master’s letter, that order had been leaked out. And, I doubted a more troublesome thing.”
“Oh?”
“I might not have gotten rid of the Rain Artist.” Wolf Flute was still laughing but his eyes narrowed coldly. “Maybe he followed behind me, and now is hidden in a little town far away enough that there is no help there. But I…I don’t even have any strength to catch a chicken.”
Father Bann was shocked.
For a moment, the room was full of silence.
–
Under the noon sunshine, Ye Qingxuan walked out of the church alone.
Hot sunshine mixed with the smell of salty ocean waves. He squinted his eyes at the sun, feeling the sunshine disperse the coldness in his body, but he still felt no strength.
Like falling from the abyss and staring at the darkness under his feet, he felt so weak.
“You have no talent…” he whispered as if he had told this to himself.
The finger with the ring flashed with pain. He pressed his finger and tried to hold in the pain. It seemed like it vanished cunningly, as if it had gotten into his bones and left the same illusion.
“Oh, talent.”
He scratched his head and sat tiredly on the base of the saints. At this time, he suddenly wanted to chat with Victor. If Victor was here, at least the two could go together to make some trouble, or do something crazy. Perhaps doing something stupid could not solve any problems, but at least it would make him feel better.
Now, he could not even find his friend when he was sad, which made him feel so lonely.
But soon, Ye Qingxuan found something that made him feel even more uneasy—Victor was missing.
–-
It was the afternoon when Ye Qingxuan heard the news that someone attacked the Thomas family’s brother Martin, breaking his hands.
He searched every place in town, but did not find a trace of Victor. The workers on the dock said that they had seen him the night before, but he disappeared after he and a few other people went to the bathroom.
The tramps and the orphans did not see Victor back in the town’s broken house where they gathered. He was not found anywhere they used to be together.
At first, Ye Qingxuan suspected the Thomas brothers’ revenge. He even risked stalking them outside of their house, only to find that the three brothers stayed at home nicely. The father roared at the defeated guards, ordering them to put the d*mn little kid into the prison.
He did not know where Victor was hiding, and even the garrison couldn’t find him.
The town of Lute was not a big place. For a street kid, it was an even smaller place to hide.
Since the night before, no one had seen him, and no one cared about where the little thief was.
Where was Victor?
After running around for an entire afternoon, Ye Qingxuan tried to catch his breath, squatting on the ground. He looked around at a loss, and then started to curse.
But when he saw a creature walking calmly towards him in the distance, his eyes suddenly lit up.
“Looking for someone really depends on you!” He rushed to hold the big yellow dog that wandered around every day. “Old Phil, please help!”
“Arf.”
In his arms, the dirty old dog gazed at him, puzzled. It stuck out its slobbering tongue and licked its forepaws, and then put the front claw on Ye Qingxuan’s shoulder. This was probably Old Phil’s most special, comforting action. The whole process was so smooth like flowing water, but also had a trace of elegance, like a king canonizing a knight. There was no other dog that could imitate that.
“Hey buddy, this is all on you!” Ye Qingxuan shook Old Phil. “Go and find Victor!”
Old Phil was not happy with this. Its tail swatted at him, indicating that it was upset that Yezi had put him down. It then squatted on the ground, sticking his tongue out and showing no interest. The dog looked at Ye Qingxuan full of disdain.
“Do not be angry!” Ye Qingxuan squatted and rubbed its head. “I saved some sausage for you from last night!”
Upon hearing what he was saying, Old Phil sneezed. Its eyes became pleasant. Then it turned and used its tail to slap him twice to punish him for daring to rub its head “disrespectfully.” It lowered its head, sniffed around, and began to run.
First, Old Phil circled around the whole town, and sniffed around the broken house in the east of the town, then went straight to the south.
Ye Qingxuan followed Old Phil, passing the pier, passing the back door of the church, and passing the backyard of the Town Master’s house. Old Phil was still running forward…
And they were almost out of town.
9 Mistake
Although the Dark Ages had ended over a hundred years ago, the frenzy of the aether storm still remained in every corner of the world. Outside the colonies, danger still hid in the shadows. So almost everyone had been seriously warned by their parents, teachers, and the garrison,
“Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely do not go outside the colony!”
But Ye Qingxuan did not care. It was just a wall to climb over—that was not difficult for him at all.
But this direction, he was vaguely familiar with. Wasn’t this the direction to the lighthouse?
Usually when they went to the lighthouse
, they would cross through a forest. There was a longer route directly from the beach to the main entrance of the lighthouse, but he did not understand why Victor would choose such a dangerous shortcut.
If he wanted to leave, he could have chosen any ship from the dock. Quietly hidden in a cargo cabin, he would not be found. When the sailors did eventually find him, he would have been hundreds of miles away.
In the deep forest, Old Phil suddenly stopped.
He looked down at the ground.
Ye Qingxuan had never seen Old Phil with such a vicious look. It bared its teeth. Its front paws were shoveling the dirt on the ground, and glaring at a dark red spot of mud…it smelled like blood.
-
Ye Qingxuan did not hesitate. He sped through the forest and the thorns, and rushed to the foot of the lighthouse.
The heavy iron gate had been there for hundreds of years, and the dark surface was full of rust. But inside, it was still as clean as when it was new. The gate could not be opened with a key; instead, the password plate on the door needed to be rotated.
The priest gave the password to Ye Qingxuan, so Victor knew it as well.
But Victor had been too lazy to come to places like this. Why had he come here now?
Ye Qingxuan struggled to push the door open. The light from the sunset rushed into the space behind the door, illuminating flurries of rolling dust, the dark stairs, and a young man sitting on the stairs.
A strong smell of blood rushed towards Ye Qingxuan.
On the stairs, Victor had a small case in his arms. He was staring at the entrance silently, eyes vicious like a mad beast.
His arms were cut badly, deep to the bone. Even with the bandage, blood was still flowing out. But his hands were still clutching that dagger, ready to stab anything that would dare to come close.
When he saw Ye Qingxuan’s white hair, the ruthlessness in his eyes started to fade, until it finally dimmed down.
“Victor?” Ye Qingxuan was shocked. “How did you become like this?”
“Sorry you had to see me like this, Ye.” He forced a painful smile, and looked down at the bag in his arms. “I just wanted to steal some money before I ran away, but I got into trouble…”
-
“Last night, I was going to leave the dock and leave my troubles here. There was a ship going to Birmingham, temporarily docked here. Jensen, who was moving the cargo, told me he had a job for me.”
“A job?”
When he heard that word, Ye Qingxuan frowned. He certainly knew what the workers on the pier meant by “job.” It would be nothing more than stealing a passenger’s luggage or goods. These people had good repacking skills, and not much was usually stolen, so few would realize their things were missing. And once the passengers did realize they were missing things from their bags, they usually had already arrived at their destination.
“He told me someone was going to get off the ship tonight. It sounded like a man from some other town. He was wearing a ring with gemstones, clothes made of expensive material, and seemed to be very rich. So the two of them planned to steal something from this man.”
He paused, then continued with a husky voice, “I thought I was going to make some money for the trip, so I agreed. According to the plan, the two of them would distract him by selling him some local products, then I’d steal his small bag…”
“Were you caught?”
“It’s worse than that. I succeeded.”
Victor managed a terrible smile, his face seizing up unnaturally. “I stole the bag, then was supposed to meet them outside of the dock. But I had a stomachache, and did not get there on time.
When I got there, they were all dead.”
His pupils were dilated, frozen hands tightly gripping Ye Qingxuan, as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar, trembling slightly.
“They were all dead, Ye, cut into pieces and thrown into the sea.”
His voice sounded like a demon was ready to rush out of his throat, vague and cold. Ye Qingxuan was shocked, caught by surprise.
“All dead?”
“I saw the man cutting them into pieces with my own eyes.”
Victor looked at the scar on his arm, fear still in his eyes. “If I did not run so fast, maybe I’d be in pieces now too. Is this what Easterners mean by karma, Ye? It came so fast.”
“That’s bull. There is no karma in this world. You need to calm down.” Ye Qingxuan patted his shoulder. “Who is the guy? I will report him to the garrison…”
“It’s useless!” Victor interrupted him, grasping his shoulder, “Ye, leave. Do not stay here, and pretend you never saw me. You have no idea who I offended.”
Ye Qingxuan broke away from his hand and grabbed the small bag from his arms. The lock on the long black bag had been smashed, and you could feel how expensive it was by the soft texture of the leather.
Although he was prepared to see a bag full of jewelry or gold bars inside, Ye Qingxuan still could not help but take a deep breath once he saw what was in the bag.
Inside, there was a layer of soft sponge, with an additional layer of padded black brocade on top. It was a very fine brocade, one that felt as smooth as water. On the edge of the sponge layer, there were a few slots, holding some delicate spare parts. They were exquisite and gorgeous, with forged metal patterns.
But nothing could replace the radiance of what was in the middle of the bag.
It was made of dark red iron, crafted with an exquisite forging process, and hand painted by the craftsman. The smooth surface was spotless, reflecting the men’s pale faces.
It was a clarinet.
“Did you steal from a musician?!”
Ye Qingxuan was idly looking at the things in the bag, and felt a surge of coldness spread from his feet to his head.
“Victor, do you know what you’ve done?”
-
In the great sanctuary of Anglo, as early as a few decades ago, the Parliament issued a ruling: once a citizen had acquired the formal status of a musician, he automatically received the status of nobility, the same status as a baron.
No military service was necessary. One did not need to pay taxes, one did not even need to comply with the law. A musician could only be tried by a special court if a crime was committed. Any insult to the musicians would be seen as an insult to the kingdom, and the punishment would be just as grave.
This kind of status for musicians was considered the most common respect. Because it was also commonly known that once musicians decided to slaughter, nightmares would follow.
Once in the Hamelin area, a village had hired a vagrant musician to drive away outlaws from the mountain; however, they regretted it and refused to pay the musician, intending to drive him away with force. The furious musician started to play the pipe, controlling his group of ruthless employers to assemble into a line. They were singing and dancing while digging their own graves, then cut open each other’s wrists, and jumped into the coffins.
The whole village was obliterated—no one survived.
Even now, that musician was still on the most wanted list—number sixty-two, named “Hamelin’s Pied Piper.”
Similarly, there were dozens of such bedtime stories to scare children—creating seven devils to attack a castle; Snow White, the musician who killed the queen; the Red Hat who kidnapped the old grandmother and controlled beasts to attack a village; the puppet master who used a long-nosed puppet’s body to strangle children who lied; a gray witch who used a pumpkin carriage to kidnap the prince for a pair of crystal shoes; a sea witch who turned half her body into a fish and commanded a storm to drown the Prince’s fleet…
Some of these stories were fiction, and some were actually variations of true incidents. From these stories, there were still several parties on the most wanted list, rankings unchanged for over a decade.
Countless horrible rumors involved much blood, sweat and tears. Perhaps some had demonized the musicians, but at least one thing was clear—no one was to mess with a musici
an.
And now, Victor had stolen an instrument from a musician, something they treated as an essential part of their lives.
“I know a musician. Let’s go see him!” Ye Qingxuan put the clarinet back in the bag, and dragged Victor out of the windmill.
“Regardless of the price, I will ask him to help you get out of this trouble.” Ye Qingxuan whispered, “Victor, no matter who that musician is, I will not watch you die in front of me.”
“But it’s too late, Ye.”
Victor seemed to have felt something, and his look turned bitter.
He turned around and said, “He’s here.”
In the forest, a rotten stench of wind suddenly blew in. The leaves shook, with a rustling sound.
The sun had almost set below the sea, and the residual light illuminated the withered leaves of the branch, as well as the mist from afar.
The fog slowly came from all directions, like a living thing. It seemed very slow, but instantly drowned them. Numerous strange shadows flashed through the fog, wrapped in a cold and wet gray.
Gasping with fear, Ye Qingxuan heard a low voice singing vaguely, “Avalon Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down…”
Foul fog rose from all directions, thicker and thicker, until nothing could be seen. As if there was sorrow pulling at their hands, feet and hair, and slowing down their steps, they could barely breathe.
“Build it with iron bars, iron railings, iron railings…”
A sound with the friction of iron came from the paleness.
Ye Qingxuan felt the bag trembling with a low voice—it was the instrument echoing the familiar song, uttering to its master.
Suddenly, countless iron pieces whistled and cut through the silence.
10 Avalon Bridge Is Falling Down
In this foul fog, countless iron pieces scratched against each other sharply. The sound was like a dragon crawling on stones, its scales scraping against the stones, sparks flying from the friction.
Sound accompanied by a horrible stench rushed into his mouth, nose, and eardrum. It tortured his head, making Ye Qingxuan suddenly see black in front of his eyes, struggling to walk.