Chương 69: A Frog In A Well

"Nice. It's… so fucking bright."

"Sshh."

"What do you mean sshh?! You're the one making noise."

"Sshh!" Lamb and Tiny were hiding behind a boulder, further hidden by the fog coming out from the darkness behind them. Lamb had her eyes squinted, still adjusting to the sun she had not seen for almost an hour. Still, she and Tiny made sure to keep their eyes open, staring at the group of people loitering in front of the cave.

"The map was right," Tiny whispered.

"These Black Masks truly did have a camp here." Black Masks stood around the camp. More than a few of them, with some eating near a small fire, while others watched the tunnel.

"Hm…" Lamb's eyebrows lowered as she saw even more cages. She did nod, however, when she saw the carts they were sitting on, as well as the horses tied to the trees. She tapped on Tiny, pointing him toward the tree closest to them.

"Are you crazy?" he quickly waved her off.

"We will be seen."

"You will be seen," she whispered.

"Then I will start picking them off one by one while they chase after you."

"What? I will die."

"No, you will not." She placed a hand on Tiny's shoulder.

"Did you not awaken your Breath a month ago?"

"Huh?" Tiny glanced at her with his eyes wide.

"No. Who even told you that?"

"The old bull."

"The duke? And you believed him?" Tiny sighed as he turned around.

"And we need to be quiet. We should return to the lord before—""What is taking so long?"

"Hnyah?!" Tiny's soul almost left his body when he saw Enel standing right in front of him, his long golden hair shining as he stepped out of the fog. Lamb covered his mouth, but it was already too late.

"What?" Enel tilted his head before he finally noticed the Black Masks outside the tunnel.

"Oh. They looked farther down on the map." And of course, the Black Masks noticed them, too.

"Who's there?!" Lamb and Tiny slowly turned toward the camp, and several Black Masks were now staring directly at them.

"Great. Just great, Enel." Lamb groaned, shaking her head as her hand lowered to her sword.

"You have god ears, M'lord. Why did you not use them to listen in on us?!"

"Lamb. It is rude to listen in on other people's conversation."

"Oh. Really? How convenient."

"Uh…" Tiny started tapping the two of them, his eyes focusing on the Black Masks now rushing toward them.

"Guys, they are coming!"

"W-who… who are these people?!"

"My... my pumpkins!"

"R-run!" Weeks earlier, not even a day after Enel and the party left the pumpkin hamlet, its people were now running for their lives. The hill next to their little settlement completely cleaved in half. It had been cut open, split from the base to the top, with smoke rising from the crevice. The roads that once passed between the pumpkin hamlet and the fields beyond it no longer existed, replaced by several craters connected by long scars in the earth.

And in the center of all the ruin, Lord Commander Duncan was sliding back through the mud. His boots tore into the ground, his ankles digging through the earth before he finally stopped. The same steam from the hill also rose from his armor, and blood ran from the corner of his mouth. Still, even in this state, his hands remained gripped around his sword. His eyes were fixed ahead, where a white golden beam tore through the air, heading straight toward him.

He exhaled, his fingers dancing in the air as he stepped forward. He slapped the word he wrote in his sword, then swung it against the incoming beam. His blade groaned and screamed at impact, and for a moment, Duncan held the beam back. His arms shook, and the ground beneath his feet cracked wider and wider.

And as he pushed forward once more, the beam split around him, one half completely tearing through the pumpkin field to his left, and the other punching straight through the large cliff a distance away behind him. The beam went straight through the cliff, and slowly, it separated from the rest of the plateau it stood on. The sound and the tremble it made as it crashed down to the ground, causing the rocks around Duncan to shake.

But Duncan's eyes did not even flinch, his eyes not wavering at all as he wrote three words in the air. Each of the words burned orange, then folded into his palm as he grabbed them all at once. [Vulkan, Molten,] he Breathed out, pointing his palm to the sky. An orange pulse flickered over his palm, and instantly, fire gathered above him, swelling into a sphere larger than the huts of the pumpkin hamlet.

He threw the fireball, and it roared across the ruined field, swallowing mud, grass, and whatever what was there into steam. But before it reached its target, another line of white golden beam clashed against it, splitting the flames in half. And from the flames, walked Prince Orryn. His cloak moved gently behind him, untouched by the heat that managed to tear everything on its path. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

In his right hand was a sword… seemingly made of light. A sword that was almost twice as tall as he was.

"Hm…" Orryn smiled as he casually lowered his sword, the blade humming softly despite digging and piercing through the ground like it did not exist at all. He tilted his head, smiling as he stared at Duncan. Duncan's eyes narrowed, and once again, he wrote in the air. Faster this time. [Earthmother, Volley.] Duncan slapped the words to the ground, and the mud around him burst open. Dozens of stones ripped from the earth, each as large as a cabbage, and each turning red as they shook violently.

And all of it shot toward the prince. He moved his head, and his eyes began to glow. Not with light, but with Scripts moving inside them. He blinked, and the stones slowed—no. Everything around him slowed as he took one step forward, swinging his sword only once. Once, and yet all the stones split in half at the same time, their pieces striking the ground behind him and leaving craters the size of houses. And yet, Orryn just continued walking as if they were just rain.

But as everything around him began moving normally again, Duncan vanished from where he stood. He appeared in front of Orryn, swinging down with enough force to bend the air. But Orryn just casually blocked it with his own sword using a single hand. The two blades met, and the shockwave flattened the grass beneath their feet for several yards. The huts of the pumpkin hamlet that had miraculously survived the entire time, now all blown away from the ripple.

The villagers who were already far away, still stumbling from the last of the shockwave.

"You are weaker than I remember, Lord Commander." Orryn smiled. Duncan gritted his teeth, looking the prince in the eyes.

"Your Highness."

"I was three when you started training me." Orryn's sword did not move despite Duncan pressing down with both hands.

"You were already at the Sixth Depth then, if I recall?" Duncan's left hand opened, and a Script was already in his palm. Orryn saw it, but his smile only widened.

"And yet, here you still are. Still at the Sixth Depth." Duncan did not listen to his words and let go of his sword, slamming his palm toward Orryn's chest. The Script exploded, and the dust it left behind swallowed them both. The ground behind Orryn split open, tearing a crevice through the field all the way into the distance, almost hitting some of the fleeing villagers. For a moment, nothing could be seen. But as the dust settled, Orryn still stood where he had been, but now holding Duncan's wrist.

The Lord Commander tried to pull back, but he could not. Orryn stretched his sword to the side, making it disappear before he placed his hand now free hand on Duncan's shoulder.

"Kh!" Duncan's knees struck the ground, the earth cracking beneath him.

"The Sword of the First Hour," Orryn whispered.

"What a mockery. I have read something from the books I received from one of the other realms that describes you and everyone else playing soldier. What was it again… Ah. A frog in a well. That describes you greatly, Lord Commander." Duncan did not say anything.

"You are to return to First Crown."

"But I was ordered to accompany you and—""You were assigned to be a Veilguard, Lord Commander." Orryn let go of him.

"So, guard something." Orryn then turned to look at the pumpkin hamlet, or whatever remained of it.

"I will follow the Oathrunner by myself."

"Is… Is it over? Nice." Tiny crawled out from one of the carts, and the fight was over. Enel was already throwing them into the carts they probably used to cage Valir's Crescent's children. There were some, however, who were already half-buried on the ground, unmoving. If Tiny was right, these were the Black Masks who laughed when Enel asked them about caging and tidying up children.

"Wow." Lamb saw him coming out.

"Why did you even bother coming out? You should have helped."

"Helped with what?" Tiny patted the dirt on his clothes.

"I am not as strong as the two of you."

"But did you not awaken your Breath?" Enel asked.

"He told you that, too?!" Tiny groaned.

"I do not have Breath!" And while Enel and Lamb laughed in amusement at Tiny's frustration, Guinevere slowly emerged from the tunnel with the children, all holding hands. The adults followed after them, and their faces and jaws fell the moment they saw the cages waiting beneath the mountain. There were blankets thrown over the bars, but it did nothing to hide the chains hanging from the sides. One of the women walked toward the nearest cage, placing both hands on the bars.

Her fingers shook as she stared through them, hard enough to rattle the cage.

"I…" Her lips trembled.

"I… I sent my son to this?" She fell to her knees, and unfortunately for her, the only one to approach was Guinevere.

"No. You sold him to this," she said while looking at the chains.

"You smiled while you did it, too. And you laughed while you ate the food they paid for your son." Another man turned away, vomiting into the grass. Other cried silently, unable to even look at their children. Enel also did not look at them, just walking past as he grabbed the Black Mask Lamb had knocked out earlier, placing him in the same cage as the others.

Bernard started grabbing the horses tied on the trees, and with all the carts the Black Masks had, they parents were now also able to rest their feet as they continued their travel as a caravan. For a while, no one spoke much. The children were tired, and immediately fell asleep soon after, wrapped in cloth and blankets that still smelled faintly of the flowers of Valir's Crescent. The adults sat beside them, staring at nothing. And a whole week passed like that.

By the time they reached the town Guinevere had marked, the children had begun speaking again. Not cheerfully, not yet… but enough.

"What… are those?" The town was a small trading town called Ebonmouth, a town that mined monster eggs from warm caverns beneath the hills nearby. And fortunately for Enel and the party, the town had a lot of trade moving in and out of the duchy. Guinevere was able to hire several wagons, arranging a convoy toward Widow's Wall, hiring drivers, guards, and even a bard to keep the children happy.

"My lady. Is it done?" Enel approached.

"Yes, my lord. Is there… something wrong?" Guinevere asked as he noticed the hurried look on Enel's face. Lamb approached, wiping a bead of sweat from her chin.

"Oh, there is. There definitely is. It turns out these people mine monster eggs of some sort, and they also have a lot of monsters in the bazaar." Lamb pointed at the colorful tents lined up on the square.

"The monsters are… all acting up." Enel sighed.

"I regret to inform you that it is because of me, my lady. Monsters and animals… tend to dislike me."

"You have told me, yes." Guinevere nodded.

"The refugees are being loaded as we speak, my lord. It—""Brother Enel!" The twins rushed toward Enel, waving at him before they stopped to catch their breath right in front of him.

"There… there are so many things here, Brother Enel," Mira said.

"I… I saw a humos with black skin. She… she looked beautiful," Alma whispered, still gasping for air. And as she brushed her hair back, the golden flower pin fell to the ground. Alma stared at it for a while, before finally reaching it and handing it to her sister.

"This… this is yours," she said. Mira looked at the pin, then at her sister, and slowly took it.

"It… it looked bad on you anyway," she whispered. Alma gasped at that.

"It did not! It looked worse on you! It—""Alma." Alma quickly looked up as Enel called for her, only to see him holding out another golden pin.

"Wow…" Alma breathed out.

"Is that for me…? A beetle?"

"It… is a flower."

"Wow…" Alma took it, then quickly attached it to her hair.

"H-how do I look, Brother Enel?"

"Y—""I want one, too!" And before Enel could even say anything, the other children started rushing in.

"Ah! Me too!"

"Brother Enel! I want one!" Guinevere stared at the growing mob of children, then to Enel.

"I told you, my lord," she whispered.

"Do not give out gold so casually."

"... You did." And soon, Mira and Alma stood on the back of one of the wagons, waving both hands until their arms shook.

"Brother Enel!" Alma shouted.

"Brother Enel!" Mira shouted with her.

"We… we will wait for you in Widow's Wall. Okay?!"

"Yes!" Enel waved back. Lamb waved too, then wiped a tear trailing down from her eyes.

"Agh… something got in my eye!"

"Sure. Right…" Tiny smirked at her, then also waved at the children. Guinevere did not really say her farewell and only wrote something in her book while watching the wagons roll farther down the road. Soon, the convoy turned beyond the trees… and they were gone. Enel lowered his hand, the smile on his face fading away as he turned to the others.

"Now then…" he whispered.

"Shall we see if their god is real?" Tiny swallowed.

"And… what if he is?" Enel looked toward the southwest road, where the map said Valir was resting.

"Then I need all of you to run as fast as you can." Lamb's smile also disappeared.

"M'lord…"

"Please," Enel said, turning to Bernard.

"Sir Bernard, are you good to travel?"

"M'lord."

"What is it?"

"... They also took our cart and horses."

"... Ah."