Arousing only the slightest curiosity from the sleepily yawning guards at the gate, they left the city of Ruvinheigen without incident.
Lawrence wore his usual merchant’s clothes; Liebert dressed in the kind of traveling clothes a city merchant might wear on a hunting trip. Holo had returned to her nun’s outfit, and Norah looked as she always did.
However, neither Lawrence nor Liebert used a wagon. Liebert sat astride his own horse, and Lawrence had put Holo upon another horse, which he led by the reins as he walked. The road was likely to be poor, and traveling without a wagon was significantly faster.
With Norah leading the way as she guided her seven sheep and her sheepdog Enek, the group headed northeast to the town of Lamtra.
It was like the road from Poroson – the route was unpopular with travelers, and the group went the entire day without encountering so much as one other person.
There was nothing worth calling conversation, and the only sounds were the bell on Norah’s staff and the bleating of her sheep.
The first interaction that even approached conversation came at sunset, when Norah stopped and began to make camp, which Liebert took issue with. With his almond-shaped eyes and smooth blond hair, he was every inch the spirited young employee entrusted with an important job. He advocated, in a rather high-strung fashion, for making more progress before stopping to camp.
But Liebert lacked travel experience. Once Lawrence explained things like how shepherds work and the risks of nighttime travel, Liebert was surprisingly understanding. He may have been high-strung, but he was by no means unreasonable.
Far from it, in fact, Lawrence realized Liebert was probably a good-natured man under normal circumstances once he offered a sincere apology.
“I am sorry. The pressure is getting to me, I think.”
Liebert had been entrusted with the continued existence of the Remelio Company. Sealed securely in the inside of his coat was a note for buying up gold – in the amount of six hundred lumione. Even his master, Remelio, was probably clasping his hands in prayer back in Ruvinheigen.
“Well, unlike me, you’re carrying an entire company on your back. It’s to be expected,” said Lawrence. Liebert looked slightly relieved and smiled.
The night passed quietly, and soon it was morning.
Among townspeople, breakfast is often regarded as a luxury, and many do not take it – but for those who live by travel, it is common sense.
Thus, they set off with all but Liebert chewing away on flat bread and jerky.
They stopped again just before noon.
It was just at the crest of a small hill; the road beneath their feet headed straight east, bending south at the summit of the next hill. All around them grew grass ideal for grazing; it stretched out in every direction.
But the road now turned away from their destination. Faintly visible to the north was the dark green line of the forest, and tracing that line west, they could see the craggy faces of the steep hills in the distance.
They would be heading between the hills and the forest, across fields where no wagon rolled and no traveler’s foot trod.
The fields dividing the craggy hills, which were so rugged that they were impassable even on foot, from the thick, eerie forest (that even knights hesitated to enter) were the quickest path to Lamtra.
No one in their right mind would take that route, which despite its entirely mundane appearance was ineffably terrifying. Though Holo sniffed at rumors of pagan sorcerers summoning wolves, it was hard not to wonder at them.
Unless they navigated the pass and arrived safely in Lamtra and unless they returned with gold, none of them had a future. Their faces met, and they all nodded with unspoken understanding.
“If we encounter wolves, do not panic. We will arrive safely,” said Norah with surprising resolve – it was reassuring, though Holo did not seem to find it at all amusing.
No doubt Holo the Wisewolf had something to say. When Lawrence met her eyes, she sneered slightly, but she soon regained her composure.
“God’s protection be with us,” Liebert prayed.
The rest followed suit.
The weather was good.
There was an occasional wind that stirred the cold air, making it brush against the travelers’ cheeks, but as they were walking, it was easily ignored.
Norah headed up the group along with Liebert on horseback; behind them came the seven sheep; and trailing the sheep was Lawrence, leading the horse on which Holo rode.
The farther north through the fields that they headed, the closer the hills drew, nudging them toward the forest’s edge. They kept as close to the forest as they could, since the horses might injure themselves on rockier terrain. However, as they got close enough to make out the gloomy form of the forest, its eeriness grew.
It was hard to say, but Lawrence thought he might have just heard a wolf howl.
“Hey.”
“Hm?”
“Do you think wolves will be a problem?” he asked, lowering his voice.
“No good. We’re already surrounded.”
Even that obvious joke made his breath catch in his throat for a moment.
Holo chuckled soundlessly. “I can guarantee your safety. The others, I don’t know about.”
“We’ll be in trouble unless everyone’s okay.”
“I truly do not know. The forest is downwind; if there are wolves, they’ve long since noticed us and started sharpening their fangs.”
Lawrence suddenly got the feeling that something in the forest was watching him.
He heard the sudden patter of an animal’s footfalls, and surprised, he turned to face the sound, seeing Enek run past him in a blur of black fur.
Enek chased after two stray sheep.
“Clever dog,” said Lawrence.
He had not meant anything by it, but Holo still sniffed in irritation.
“Being half-clever only invites death,” she said.
“… What do you mean?” he asked. It would be complicated if Liebert or Norah, ahead of them, were to overhear the conversation, so Lawrence spoke in a hushed voice.
On the horse above him, Holo wore a sour expression.
“That dog, it knows what I am.”
“It does?”
“Hiding my ears and tail will fool humans but not a dog. Ever since we first met, it’s been looking at me in the most irritating way.”
Lawrence could tell Enek had been looking at them, but he had not realized why.
“But, here, what really irritates me” – Holo flicked her ears underneath her hood; she was quite angry – “is that dog’s eyes. Those eyes, they say, ‘Just you try touching the sheep. I’ll rip your throat out.’”
Lawrence smiled awkwardly, as if to say “surely not.” The flinty-eyed look he got from Holo made him wince.
“Nothing makes me so angry as a dog that doesn’t know its place,” said Holo, looking away.
Perhaps dogs and wolves were enemies in much the same way that crows and doves were.
“And anyway, I am Holo the Wisewolf. I won’t fall for some mere dog’s provocation,” she complained with a scowl. It was nearly impossible not to laugh.
But since it would be a problem if Holo got angry, Lawrence stifled his chuckle. “Indeed, that dog is no match for you. You’re stronger, smarter, and your tail fur is finer.”
It was obvious flattery, and the last compliment seemed to work.
Holo’s ears pricked up beneath her hood, and her face broke into a proud smile that no mask of composure could hope to hide.
She giggled. “Well, I see you understand the way of it, then.”
It was true – Lawrence did understand by now how to handle Holo, but of course, he didn’t say that and only inclined his head in a vague bow.
Eventually the grass grew sparse and the ocher soil more prominent.
The hills that spread out to the west were closer than ever and looked like an angry sea.
The group continued down the
road, though it barely rated as such when they had to cross large tree roots that occasionally slowed progress.
Soon the sound of the wind through the trees reached their ears.
Yet still they pressed onward, passing the second night of the journey without incident.
According to Norah, if they left at daybreak the next morning, they would reach Lamtra by midday. Thus, they would have spent less than half the travel time that it normally would have taken to use the established route. Their route was closer to a third or a quarter of the distance. If this path was cleared, trade with Lamtra would become simple. Looking back on the distance they had covered thus far, Lawrence realized that wolves had not been a problem. It was easy to wish there was a more proper road.
Of course, a road would also make Lamtra much more susceptible to assault. Ruvinheigen would find it hard to tolerate a pagan city situated so close. That had not happened yet, which made it easy to suspect that Lamtra secretly paid Ruvinheigen specifically to prevent such a road’s construction. Wherever there is power, there is also bribery, after all.
After a bland dinner, Lawrence sat deep in thought as he sipped some wine Liebert had brought. With no one to talk to, he was left to his own devices.
Holo had quickly finished her own wine and was now wrapped up in a blanket, leaning against Lawrence, fast asleep. Liebert, tired and unaccustomed to travel, dozed before the campfire.
Lawrence looked around and spotted Norah a bit farther from the campfire, stroking Enek on her lap. Evidently, if she stayed too close to the fire, her eyes would become accustomed to the light and that could cause problems if something were to happen.
Norah seemed to notice Lawrence looking at her; she glanced over at him.
She looked down at her hands, then back up, smiling pleasantly.
For a moment Lawrence didn’t see why she was smiling, but then he looked down at his own hands and understood.
Holo snored away on Lawrence’s lap – “the same as me,” Norah’s smile said.
Lawrence, though, was quite afraid to stroke Holo’s hair. The wolf on his lap was far more fearsome than Enek.
As he looked at Holo, peaceful and innocent as she slept, the temptation to caress her grew keener. Surely there would be no problem if he mimicked Norah with Enek.
Liebert was asleep, and Norah minded her sheep as she tended to Enek.
Lawrence set down the roughly hewn wooden cup he held and slowly moved his hand toward Holo.
He had stroked her head many times before, but suddenly it now seemed somehow sacred.
His hand trembled. Then, at that moment–
“–!”
Holo lifted her head up.
Lawrence hastily withdrew his hand; Holo eyed him warily but soon turned her attention elsewhere. Lawrence wondered what was happening when he noticed that Norah had gotten to her feet, as had Enek, teeth bared.
Everywhere he looked it was the same – pitch-black forest.
“Mr. Lawrence, get back!” shouted Norah urgently, and mostly by reflex, the merchant tried to do as he was told, but he was caught on something and could not stand.
He turned only to find that it was Holo, holding fast to his clothes, keeping his hands behind him. He was about to protest when a warning glare from Holo over his shoulder pierced him. If he had to guess, the look meant something like “ignore the girl and get behind me.”
Holo seemed to harbor an intense hostility toward Norah, and afraid to oppose her, when Holo stood, Lawrence stayed behind her.
Norah was absorbed in her own work, ringing the bell on her staff and directing Enek, rounding up the sleeping sheep and bringing them closer to the campfire, and then tapping the sleeping Liebert on the shoulder. Finally, she threw several more pieces of firewood onto the campfire.
Norah’s movements were practiced and calm, and her awkward manner around other people reminded Lawrence of his own clumsiness when dealing with people outside of business.
Liebert finally awoke and, sensing the tense atmosphere, followed Norah’s and Holo’s gazes, searching for wolves.
He retreated, hand clutching his chest – no doubt feeling for the six hundred lumione note that was concealed there – as he got behind Enek, whose tail fur was standing on end as he bared his fangs.
The camp’s defense arrangements settled, the only sounds that remained were the uneasy baas of the sheep, Enek’s ragged breathing, and the crackling of the campfire.
There was no sound from the ebony woods. The moon was out, and there was no wind. Naturally being a mere merchant, Lawrence could hardly sense any presences in the forest.
But Norah, Enek, and Holo were utterly motionless as they looked into the woods.
For all he could tell, they might have been staring at catfish swimming in a black pond.
Strangely, he could not hear so much as a hint of a wolf’s howl. Lawrence had been attacked by wolves many times in his travels, and such attacks always came with howls. And yet none were audible.
He wondered if there really were any.
Time crawled by with agonizing slowness.
There was no baying. The only reason Lawrence could keep his guard up was Holo – he trusted her implicitly, and she was still the very picture of seriousness.
Liebert, seeing Norah and Holo as mere girls, was another matter entirely.
The color returned to his previously frightened, pale face, and he began to cast his gaze here and there doubtfully.
There was movement the instant he opened his mouth.
Norah held her staff in the crook of her right arm and with her left hand took hold of the horn affixed to her side. Holo saw the gesture and was unamused – perhaps because wolves and hunting horns were ever in conflict.
Just as wolves howled and bears scratched themselves on trees, shepherds announced their presence with the blow of a horn. No animal could reproduce that long, drawn-out note, which unmistakably betrayed the presence of a shepherd.
The note rang out in the night and was swallowed by the forest. If there were indeed wolves nearby, they now knew that a skilled shepherd was among them.
But still, no howling rang out. The group’s opponents maintained absolute silence.
“… Did we chase them off?” asked Liebert uncertainly.
“I’m not sure… At the very least, they seem to have backed away.”
Liebert knitted his brow at Norah’s vague answer, but seeing Enek stop baring his teeth and set about the work of rounding up the sheep, he accepted that the immediate danger had passed.
Perhaps he had decided that animals understood other animals.
“The wolves in this area are always like this. I hardly ever hear them howl, and they do not seem to attack – they just watch…”
The young employee of the Remelio Company paled at Norah’s words, as though she had been talking about corpses returning to life and rising from their graves. Liebert was more timid than he looked.
“’Tis a bit strange they don’t even howl,” murmured Holo, still looking into the forest. Liebert gave her a skeptical look – this town girl who wasn’t even a shepherd, what did she know of wolves?
It wasn’t that Liebert had an especially bad disposition – many townspeople were like this, but their assumptions still grated on Holo’s nerves.
“It could be aught besides wolves. For example, the spirit of a traveler who died here.”
Liebert’s face went sheet white. The wisewolf had exposed his cowardice.
“Still–”
Holo tugged at Lawrence’s sleeve once she had finished teasing the poor lamb. Her voice was low, so Lawrence leaned down to put his ear level with her.
“I was half-serious. I have a bad feeling.”
This journey was no ordinary one. They had to make it safely to and from Lamtra. If the group failed, whether they ran or met their fate, Lawrence’s life as a merchant would be over.
He gave Holo a baleful look as if to say, “Don’t try to frighte
n me with your foolish stories,” but she just vaguely surveyed the forest.
Apparently she wasn’t joking.
“Hmm, we seem to be out of firewood,” said Norah brightly, perhaps to dispel the still-tense atmosphere. Lawrence agreed, and Holo finally averted her gaze from the forest and nodded. Liebert nodded as well, probably mostly out of a sense of obligation.
“I’ll just go gather some more then, shall I?” said Norah, perhaps confident in her night vision.
Lawrence felt bad leaving it just to her. “I’ll come as well.”
Holo chimed in. “As shall I.”
Not knowing the first thing about starting a campfire, Liebert had not raised a finger to tend it, but now he must have felt entirely ill at ease.
“I-I’ll help, too!” he said, clearing his throat, afraid of being left all alone.
Holo smiled unpleasantly at him.
They walked into the forest to gather firewood, and Lawrence wondered if the bestial aura he felt was just his imagination.
Yet there were no further incidents, and the night passed quietly.
When Lamtra finally came into view, Lawrence breathed a sigh of genuine relief.
With the deep forest to their right and the rugged hills to the left, their passage had felt akin to going down an endless back alley.
But his sigh of relief did not come from reaching the end of that alley. He had experienced far worse trails many times in the past. No, the relief came from the fact that the strange gaze he had felt upon him the previous night was gone.
Lawrence knew it wasn’t simply his imagination since Holo and Norah had been continuously on guard as well. There was definitely something within the forest that separated Ruvinheigen and Lamtra – something that even knight brigades feared.
Even so, they had made the trip out successfully, so the return trip should also be possible. Lawrence was still uneasy about it, but Norah was with them, and she had made the trek many times and never been attacked once. Relying on her shepherding skills – as well as Holo – would see them through somehow.
Then all they had to do was bring in the gold.
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