Tales of Leo Attiel ~Portrait of the Headless Prince~

Volume 3, Chapter 6: Dangerous Pair

Part 1

“Kuon? Kuon, 'the fugitive from the mountain'!”

One mountain man was enraged at the name. Hearing it said, the others were all equally surprised, but that man's eyes were noticeably filled with fury.

“How dare you just come back here, you and your filthy blood, you fucking betrayer! To think that hunting game would lead to meeting a friend's enemy!”

It seemed that Datta must have been a friend of his. The man drew the broad sword at his waist.

“Don't move from there! By the horn of the bronze bull that Tei Tahra rides, I'll cut you down along with the evil spirit possessing you.”

He strode towards Kuon, his gleaming blade brandished over his head. Before Kuon had time to react,

“Kuon isn't a betrayer!” Sarah, who had only just managed to stand up, cried out.

Being yelled out face-to-face by a clearly foreign woman left the man considerably startled. Sarah opened her mouth even wider,

“Kuon never betrayed anyone. And first of all, there wouldn't been any point to his killing Datta! That man called Diu Wei set a trap. If you can't even understand...”

“Stop it, Sarah!”

This time, it was Kuon who yelled as he seized her. Sarah frantically broke free from his hand which was gripping her shoulder.

“What? Are you going to just let him take your life because of a misunderstanding? You can't possibly have come all the way here just to get yourself killed?”

“Don't interfere. I'll explain it myself.”

“Weren't you going to run away just now? You're the one who shouldn't interfere. I've been pissed off at that Diu person even since I heard your story, Kuon! Now, get Diu here. I'm going to let him have it.”

“Sarah!”

Just when Kuon reached to grab hold of Sarah's shoulder again, her posture unexpectedly collapsed completely. Taken by surprise, Kuon's hand let go of her, and Sarah fell sideways to the ground. Kuon hastily crouched down and lifted up her head. Her entire face was drenched from large beads of sweat. Diluted blood was mixed in within them. Her breathing was shallow and uneven.

While Kuon had lost his calm, unsure what to do, Aqua knelt by Sarah's feet and rolled up the hem of her skirt without asking permission.

There were several wounds puncturing Sarah's slender ankle. There was less blood than might have been expected, but what there was plenty of was a viscous, dark green liquid that was stuck to the puncture marks. Kuon could not stop himself from moaning when he saw it.

“She's been poisoned by the ashinaga,” said Aqua.

Kuon shouted at 'her' almost on reflex.

“Medicine... Don't you have an antidote!”

“There isn't any antidote that works against ashinaga poison,” Aqua's reply was perfectly calm. “If one of the hunters had been poisoned, we could have given them into the care of the shamans. But even then, they wouldn't be sure to be saved.”

The blood instantly drained from Kuon's face.

Sarah's eyes were closed as she gasped weakly for breath, and her earlier, reckless energy seemed almost impossible to believe. It looked like her voice could no longer even make a sound.

“P-Please,” Kuon pleaded in a trembling voice, “please take Sarah... this woman to the shamans. Sarah has nothing to do with my situation. So...”

“We've no reason to help someone who has nothing to do with us,” the man who had brandished a broad sword earlier laughed scornfully. But with a shake of the head, Aqua disagreed.

“Are you insane, Older Brother Koru?”

Aqua and him were not blood siblings, but that way of referring to him was probably because they were warriors from the same household and shared the same family name.

“Even if it costs them their life, a warrior's duty is to drive back those who try to invade the mountain. But this woman was injured by the prey we were chasing. What's wrong with at least giving her to the shamans to take care of?”

“It happened because that woman got in the way of our hunt,” the man called Koru, who seemed about thirty, squared his shoulders and shouted. “This is Kuon, the murderer whose despicable trap killed Datta, even though he'd always looked after him. Since that woman is with him, she's just as guilty. Her being poisoned by an ashinaga is Lord Tei Tahra's will.”

“Brother, that's...”

“Shut up, Aqua. You might be the head of the Holo's daughter, but you're no more than a newcomer to the unit. How dare a woman answer back to her older brother?”

In venting his anger, Koru provoked Aqua to utter fury. The circlets on 'her' arms clanged as 'she' strode up to 'her' 'older brother', 'her' slender face red with rage.

“Older Brother Koru, you've made three mistakes. The first was to act as though you know God's will even though you aren't a priest. The second was to talk as if this woman was a criminal. In these mountains, deciding who is guilty of a crime is the duty of the priestesses, who can hear God's voice. And finally, you treated me – a member of the Holo – like a woman. Not only did you spit on the Holo family, your words also sullied Lord Tei Tahra by misunderstanding his nature,” Aqua declared in a single breath.

The man called Koru went pale and could find nothing to answer. At that point, the man in armour, who appeared to be the leader of the group of hunters, pulled on his reins.

“If we stay here, we'll be attacked by another ashinaga. We'll take the woman to the mountains. As for Kuon, there's no other choice but to leave anything about him to the head priestess,” he declared his decision.

Several of the hunters hurriedly started to dismember the corpse of the armoured spider, while in the meantime, the men from the tribe took possession of Kuon's sword and of the gun that was still in Sarah's hand. Kuon lifted Sarah onto his back before anyone ordered him to do so, and started to climb out of the valley with his former companions.

Sarah was light. He wondered how such a small body could have crossed Allion's mountains without a single word of complaint, or followed him on the journey through the Kesmai Plains.

Just before sunset, they finally arrived at the hut the hunters were using. He laid Sarah down; her breathing was even more ragged than it had been earlier. Seeing her shaking hands, Kuon wanted to wrap them up in his own, but as soon as they arrived at the hut, Aqua tied up his feet, and he was placed far apart from Sarah.

“There should a shaman at the nearby meditation grounds,” said one of the hunters as he left the hut.

“Don't move,” Koru Holo bared his teeth at Kuon, who had been thrown into a corner of the hut. “Just let me see you even try to call in evil spirits. I'll kill the woman right away.”

Kuon didn't say anything in reply. Even if his feet had not been bound, he had never had the slightest intention of moving from where he was.

After what seemed like an eternity, the man who had left the hut returned with a shaman.

The shaman whore long robes, the hem of which had been dyed red, while strings of shells, animal horns or shiny minerals picked up in the mountain jingled and clanged as they hung from his neck down to his chest. His flowing, unkempt hair was partly white. His forehead and eyes were almost entirely hidden by a wide cloth wound around them, and, as though to replace them, a single large eye had been drawn in the centre of that cloth.

Generally speaking, those who conveyed God's voice to the people were all women and priestesses, while the priests, who belonged to the same priesthood, as well as the shaman were all men. Yet it was not as humans that they served by the god's side, as it was said that even though they were human, they all shared a divine protection. Just like the priestesses, they spent their time overseeing the various ceremonies, and, within the many hermitages that were scattered across the mountains, they underwent rigorous rites to ward against the incursion of evil. They also studied medicine and poison.

The shaman who entered the hut was followed by two priestesses. Both were teenage girls, and they had probably been entrusted to the shaman as they were in the middle of their training. They wore long, plain robes, and not a single ornament. Being close in age to Kuon, they were acquaintances of his, but right now, he didn't have time to care about it.

The shaman knelt by Sarah's side and first examined her wounds. He stretched his hand out to the priestesses, and one of the girls produced a bundle of medicinal plants from a leather bag. The shaman covered the wounds with them.

“Ashinaga poison does not have any specific antidote,” he said to no one in particular, “so there's no choice but to use the poison from a horned snake on it.”

From his words, you might expect that horned snake poison would have a neutralising effect, but in fact, it too was a substance that could snatch a person's life away from the mountain god. When the two poisons mixed inside someone's body, they transformed into a third type of poison, causing the patient to suffer a raging fever, which would last all night. The odds were fifty-fifty that they would survive, and even if they did, they might have to offer as consecration their eyes, tongue or the ability to move any of their limbs. In other words, they might lose their eyesight, speech, or be affected in their arms and legs.

Kuon held his breath and did utter a sound.

“We don't have everything we need here. Let's carry her back to the hermitage,” said the shaman and, with the help of the hunters, he had Sarah carried out from the hut.

Naturally, Kuon could not go with them.

Wandering around the mountains after sundown was extremely dangerous, so they would stay at the hut until the next day. Kuon lay stretched out, his feet still tied together. He couldn't sleep. Even if he didn't want to think about it, he couldn't help but worry about Sarah. He would feel a lot easier if he just gnawed his way through the rope and ran to the shaman's place, but that would just cause unnecessary antagonism, and they might halt Sarah's medical treatment.

And so, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and wait for time to pass.

“Are you stupid?”

He suddenly noticed that Sarah was looking down at hime from above. Her hair, which was longer than it had been when they had met, tickled the tip of his nose as she spoke.

“Did you think I was going to die? Too bad for you. Fate and God love me. That's completely different from some stray dog.”

Beeh! The image of her sticking out her tongue rapidly receded from before Kuon's eyes. He was going to chase after her, but his legs wouldn't move.

Right, I was tied up... The moment Kuon realised that, he woke up. He must have dozed off at some point, and, of course, that image of Sarah had been no more than an illusion appearing in a dream.

The next morning, the party left the hut.

Although his legs had been untied, Kuon was surrounded front and back by brawny hunters. When he asked about Sarah, the only answer he received was that “there's been no communication from the Master Shaman.”

Currently, he had no choice but to follow them. They continued in silence along a path which was only discernible to the eyes of hunters who were very well used to the mountains.

At every one of the mountain passes, there were watchtowers for guards on lookout. Warriors were stationed there in shifts and every time the party passed by, they called out to them admiringly: “You've brought down some splendid prey!” Yet Koru and the others wore complicated expressions. The dead ashinaga – the dead armoured spider that they were carrying had been killed by Kuon and Sarah. But when the warriors on watch realised that Kuon was among the party, their attention immediately shifted and they started raising a fuss.

“Kuon the fugitive?”

“Yeah, that's Kuon, the guy who got possessed by evil!”

The warriors all made the sign to invoke Tei Tahra's protection. Kuon had survived ceremonial execution despite being possessed by evil spirits and betraying Datta, and all of them viewed him as an ominous existence.

“Tei Tahra, I implore your protection!”

“No, this is clearly God's will. Lord Tei Tahra's wooden staff has chased down evil!”

The party crossed the summits one after another, as voices rained down incessantly upon them. Just before sunset, they struck a course that detoured to the east of the mountain peaks, and lead Kuon to a cleft that opened up in a sheer cliff face.

Kuon felt a chill strong enough to make him his shiver for a moment.

He remembered. On the other side of that boulder that was shaped like a beast's raised claws was the rocky prison in which criminals were incarcerated. In the past, right after Diu Wei had screamed that “You killed my father!”, Kuon had been locked up within it.

There were ceremonial grounds nearby. Whenever criminals were thrown into the rock of imprisonment, the priestesses performed a divination by fire to determine their guilt.

Entering the cleft meant having to stoop, but although the interior was wide, the ceiling got lower and lower the further you went in. The very deepest part had been fitted with prison bars, and Kuon, whose arms and legs had both been tied up this time, was thrown into it.

He was left there, alone.

This did not mean that his guilt would be determined right then and there, but that for the time being, Kuon's presence would be reported to the village, and that he would remain locked up while waiting for the head of the tribe and the priestesses to reach a decision.

Night fell once more. As he lay where he was, Kuon's body felt heavier than usual. He was exhausted from having walked all day along the steep mountain paths, and, since he had not been given anything to eat at all that day, he was intensely hungry. On top of that, he was lying on bare rock, and the cold, damp surface was gradually leeching away his body heat.

Yet Kuon quickly forgot his overwhelming exhaustion and hunger, as well as his frigidly cold body.

I came back. I actually came back?

Because of worrying about Sarah, he hadn't really thought about it the previous night, but he was, undeniably, back in the birthplace that he was supposed to have abandoned. Once he realised that, Kuon felt dizzy.

In replacement of the physical pain he had felt, a shadow crept up to his mind. It was so icily cold that it made him shiver. The shadow stretched out its clammy hand and stroked him. Kuon shuddered. This was the same stagnant sludge which had assaulted him just before entering the mountains.

“Ah...” A short, involuntary breath escaped from him.

Its mouth curved into a smile.

Getting yourself locked up in the same place as before – you really are one stupid bastard, Kuon. What have you been doing and what's been going on for you in between the two? Was it just a dream? Maybe I never actually took a single step out of this prison, and just had a really long dream.

Right from the very start, what Kuon had done had been stupid.

Needless to say, he had not crossed the Kesmai Plains and returned to the Fangs out of nostalgia for his birthplace. The conversation in the restaurant that he had with Leo Attiel had stuck in his mind. The prince had pestered him into telling stories of the past, then Sarah had explained to him that the prince had wanted to get help from Kuon's old home.

At first, he had though that was just stupid. Was Leo really so cornered that he had to seriously consider something so ridiculous?

Kuon took pride in his own strength. Moreover, he believed that whatever the battle, it would be over once they took the head of the enemy general. The old Kuon would never have gone to the trouble of crossing the Kesmai Plains; instead, he would have ridden directly to Olt Rose to take down the 'enemy general' that was Darren. If Leo was having trouble, then removing the source of that trouble – Darren – would spell Leo's victory.

─ But Kuon had learned a lot at Conscon and after it. He realised that some things were impossible to achieve with nothing more than his own sword.

We need allies.

All of a sudden, Kuon hadn't been able to stay still anymore.

Right, I'll go back to the mountains. Once the priestesses hear Tei Tahra's voice clearly, there's no way I'll be accused of any crime. And then, I can gather willing allies and the prince will be saved.

Considering Kuon's current situation, that had been some truly misplaced optimism.

But no, even back then, calling it optimism would be wrong, and instead, it was a feeling of needing to hurry.

Should I go?

Once that thought had occurred to him, his heart was filled with a such a fierce sense of urgency that it felt strange to think that he could have left the mountain for so long. As soon as 'should I go' turned into I have to go, he had crossed the Kesmai Plains as though he were chasing after that feeling.

Even so, once the mountains where he was born had been before his eyes, Kuon was struck with a different kind of emotion, albeit one that stemmed from the same root. For Kuon, it was exactly as Sarah had said.

“I'm scared” – And at the same time as he felt that emotion, Kuon could no longer comprehend why he had come back.

This has been mentioned plenty of times already, but he was not a pure-blood from the mountain. Because of that one fact, and just as he had said earlier, even his relatives had looked away from him. Yet Kuon was supposed to have been set free from that conflict. He was supposed to have obtained freedom, and to have escaped from the malice that was about to make him take the blame for a crime; from the guilt of “not being a pure-blood,” and the shackles and loneliness that went with it; and also from his fear.

So why did he come back? What was that sense of urgency that had made him feel that he had to go? Why had been able to make this decision so easily?

Unable to set his emotions free or to understand them, in the end, he had been thrown into the same prison where he had been less than a year ago, and he was as frightened now as he was back then.

Whywhywhy?

He trembled in terror. Once he started shaking, he could no longer gain control of himself.

Was it just to die? Was it just to go out of my way to be killed?

“That's exactly right,” a voice answered.

Without Kuon realising it, the stagnant sludge with its viscous hands had taken on a clear form. He trembled even more violently than before.

Even though he tried not to see that figure, and tried not hear that voice, it was in vain. This was a creature that did not exist outside of Kuon's perception.

The sludge now had pure white skin. In the darkness of the stony prison, only its eyes were burning a brilliant, bright red as they started intently at Kuon.

It was Gosro. The image of him as he had been after he had lost human intelligence and reasoning, and turned into a beast, hung over Kuon.

“You came back simply to die,” Gosro whispered, his breath carrying a strangely fishy smell. “Hey, boy. Hey, Kuon? I haven't forgotten. What you did with your own hands.”

Gosro stretched a white arm and grasped Kuon's hand. The boy's back arched under pressure from a strength that seemed unbelievable in an elderly man.

“There's no way I could forget. You pierced me through with the sword you were holding. And then you threw me into that burning hot fire. That means you chose to make me into a sacrifice so you could live as part of the mountain. But even so, you ran away?” Gosro's bright red tongue protruded from his mouth as he smiled. “You idiot. Like hell you could escape. Because if you could, why did I die? Why did you jab your sword through my flesh and bones and entrails?”

“Turning someone into a sacrifice means that you've agreed to suffer the same fate one day.”

Another Gosro peered upside down into Kuon's face. But no, it was yet another, lying flat to the ground, who brought his lips close to Kuon's ear.

“You should have realised 'who' I am by now, right? I, who was run through by all those swords and then burned in the flames, I became one with the mountain, the spirits and with Tei Tahra. That's right, Kuon. You didn't come here of your own will. It was me. I called you, Kuon.”

“Isn't it the fate you accepted yourself? The fate of offering your blood and flesh and soul to the mountain.”

“Say, Kuon,” at some point, the Gosro who covered him from the front had turned into Kuon's own figure. His skin was dyed chalk white, and his eyes had turned so red that it looked like tears of blood might start trickling from them at any moment. When the Kuon whose hands and feet were bound opened his eyes wide, swords were piercing the pure white Kuon from every direction. Next, a red dot of light flickered at his feet, which turned within an instant into a raging fire that swallowed his body whole.

“Help me!” Kuon cried. And struggled. He tried his hardest to swing his tied up limbs and shake of the images of Gosro and of himself being engulfed by flames. Yet as he squirmed and floundered, he, who could strike fear into the enemy even as a lone swordsman when he held a weapon, looked exactly like a child struggling to go against an adult who was telling him off. Seeing Kuon in that state, the Gosros burst out laughing.

“Help me! Help me! Help me!”

Kuon continued to scream as he rolled this way and that. Eventually, his own laughter started to mingle in chorus with that of the Gosros.

Part 2

After the death of Bishop Rogress, Conscon Temple hailed a man called Neil as its new leader.

He had originally served as a monastic assistant to an abbot, and was only just in his forties. He had close-cropped hair, and he was always mindful about being clean and tidy. He was a man whose emotions easily showed on his face, who laughed often, and who cried in times of hardship along with his friends and disciples. As such, he was a complete contrast to Bishop Rogress, who had always seemed as solid as a rock, but Neil's earnest personality inspired the love and respect of all.

It was said that he had been a shepherd when he was young, but that he had taken up the sword to protect his native land.

Recently, after completing his holy duties in the morning, his daily routine had been to walk around the mountain. The temple was currently in the middle of being restored. Neil halted his steps when he came upon several men busy rebuilding the main gate, which had been damaged by Allion's artillery fire.

During the battle, Neil had been one of those at this very gate. Gun in hand, he had desperately fought back. The ruins of the gate had been sprayed with blood, and Neil crossed himself before it as a way of paying his respects to the many who had fallen there – be they friend or foe – and to give thanks for his own survival.

About half of the Personal Guards that Leo had left at Conscon were pitching in to help reconstruct the buildings and gates. The more people helping, the better, and Neil thanked them for it. Still, the Personal Guards had their own purposes, and as for what the remaining half of the soldiers who were not helping with the reconstruction work were doing, they were spending their days drenched in sweat as they cut down trees to the back of the temple, and levelled a large patch of ground.

Camus, who was both Bishop Neil's assistant and a member of the Personal Guards, had taken several of the Guards with him and gone to Allion, and was currently there buying airships. Apparently, the prince had ordered him to do so. The ground which was being cleared and levelled was intended as a training space for airship pilots, and Neil had further been informed that there were plans to one day also purchase ships capable of holding several dozen people at a time.

The prince is full of energy, Neil thought admiringly.

Since he had learned from Bishop Rogress, he had absolutely no objection to increasing their weapons in order to defend themselves. Rogress had admirably demonstrated with his own life that one could not defend one's beliefs without power.

Yet even while Neil admired the vitality of youth, he could not help but feel suspicious. News of Atall's situation had reached the temple, and Neil was aware that the prince had picked a fight with a vassal-lord, and that as a result, Leo's position within the country had grown precarious.

The Personal Guards had been left at the temple because of that, and the fact that they were getting together something that could be called an 'air force' was proof that although he had temporarily been defeated, Leo was planning to mount a counter-attack at some point.

It was a fact that Leo Attiel was a unparalleled ally for the temple but, at the same time, Neil feared that his very existence might become dangerous to them.

It's fine as long as this is just meant to be a show of power to the vassals. But if it goes beyond that and he is actually harbouring a frightening ambition...

Leo was the second prince. His older brother Branton would one day succeed their father and become ruler. But what if Leo voiced an objection to that? What if he contended that “I deserve to be the sovereign-prince”? And what – if the time came – he intended to ask the temple to support him given their friendly relationship?

We'll be forced to make a choice. I believe that refusing to get involved in a country's internal power struggle would be the righteous decision, but then there's the fear that if His Highness Leo wins and becomes the next ruler of Atall, our relationship with them will deteriorate.

Even though they were currently at peace with Allion, he had heard that there were still many who still proclaimed hostile intentions towards the temple. If a rift appeared in their relationship with Atall, then Conscon would be surrounded by enemies on both sides.

Even if we just want follow God's warnings and live in righteous poverty, simply spreading those teachings to as many as we can... politics and war are never far behind, Neil lamented.

And thus, so that no power can threaten us, we unfortunately need 'power'.

It all came back down to Bishop Rogress' stance on the matter. And so it was that Neil spent his days with unease lurking not so far at the back his mind.

Camus came back a few days later, having apparently managed to purchase six airships. These were ornithopter-type vessels which had been built in the Kingdom of Garbera. In addition to ether repulsion, this model had wings which literally flapped, just like the birds whose shaped it mimicked. Compared to modern ships, with their unmoving wings, it was distinctly old-fashioned. Yet although they were lacking in speed, altitude capacity and flight endurance, their absolutely outstanding in-flight stability and low-cost engines meant that they were still being widely used.

The generic name for ships that floated in the sky was 'dragon stone ships', which came from the fact that the weightless metal which was the main component of airships was made from refining fossilised dragon bones. This refining process flourished within Garbera, and it was said that the make of their airships and the skill of their pilots was a clear cut above all others. It seemed that these ships, which Camus had managed to buy comparatively cheaply, had also originally been used to train new recruits in Garbera.

Moreover, the unfamiliar man he had hired and brought back with him to the temple had once taken part as a pilot in the airship races that were held at festivals and the like in Garbera. Camus intended to set him up as an instructor for everything from maintenance to how to handle the ships.

Training began the very next day. All the young men in the Personal Guards applied for it, and they were as exited as children who had been given new toys.

The first thing the instructor did was to give them a demonstration. The engine made a raspy, metallic sound when the low-altitude ornithopter took off. Appearance-wise, it was modelled on a Steller's sea eagle. Its overal span was about three metres long, and when the men working on rebuilding saw the artificial bird dancing through the sky, they gazed up in fascination. Whether they stared open-mouthed, cheered excitedly or got scared, they too were like children.

“If you pay too much attention to what's above, you'll trip over a branch or stone at your feet,” Neil, who was walking around the mountain that day as well, called out to them in a friendly voice.

At the time, he was headed somewhere else.

While one might have expected that here too, everyone's attention would be held by the airship, a single man was actually giving them all an impassioned speech, the topic of which appeared to be Bishop Rogress. In spite of himself, Neil stopped too stopped to listen,

“He was a truly magnificent man. His pious way of life was so, but it was his way of death that truly moved my heart...”

His way of death...

Neil frowned in displeasure. It was just as though the bishop had simply been a warrior.

The man continued about how extraordinary Bishop Rogress' suicide had been. The man had originally come to the temple as a mercenary, and had apparently settled down in one of the villages at the foot of the mountain after establishing a family there. He spoke of how he had seen companions kill themselves on the battlefield because they were so badly injured that they could barely even move.

“At first, it looked like the bishop had fatally slit his own throat with a dagger, but on investigation, it seems that he had stabbed himself in the heart. They say that the dagger had fallen to the floor when the bishop's corpse was found. So in other words, it wasn't a blade which was fixed in place, he actually pierced deep into his own chest with the dagger in his hand. That's not something you could do half-heartedly.”

The bishop had stabbed himself in the heart then had pulled out the blade. It was certainly an extraordinary scene to imagine. Neil unconsciously crossed himself, but as he did so, he felt a strong sense of incongruity. Given that it was Bishop Rogress, he would certainly have been able of going that far, yet Neil did not feel that he necessarily would have done so.

Did he do it to demonstrate his resolve? His resolve which was literally to die rather than to allow the King of Allion, someone he had once had a close relationship with, to go any further in his tyranny?

It was Lord Leo who had saved Conscon just before it fell to Allion's attacks. He had rushed from Atall, leading reinforcements, and had even slain Hayden, the enemy commander. But with that, they had only gained a temporary victory, and there was no denying the possibility that the war could have dragged on. Basically, it was Bishop Rogress' suicide which had led Allion to lay down its weapons.

Right, it was the bishop's death. If he hadn't died...

The forehead between Neil's eyebrows suddenly twitched and squirmed. A terrifying thought had taken shape in a corner of his mind.

At the around that same time, Leo Attiel was once again spending unquiet days in Guinbar.

When will Darren make his move?

His nerves were on edge as, unusually for him, he stayed in one place and helped organise the troops in Savan Roux's castle. Yet, unexpectedly, Darren was bidding his time.

Or perhaps it would be better to say that bidding his time allowed the situation to move in Darren's favour. The story of how Leo had led an army to invade Darham was now being talked about throughout the country. Even the vassal-lords, who had maintained a cautious attitude towards the prince since the events at Conscon, were openly starting to criticise him. Leo had already pegged Oswell as Darren's chief ally, but he was now joined by Tokamakk, whom Leo had seen at the banquet held in Hayden's honour, and Gimlé, the father of Percy's fiancée.

“That permanent army that the prince was loudly insisting on, was it just to eat away at our territories?”

“Since there's been no suitable explanation from His Highness, those troops should be dissolved right now.”

Opinions were lined up against Leo.

His support among the people also visibly started to fall away. The number of spectators at plays staring Leo in the main role were now starting to dwindle. Moreover, since his wedding to Florrie had still not taken place, this in turn was inviting unfortunate rumours that “relations with Allion might turn sour again,” and with it, people once more began talking about how this would all be Leo's fault for having opposed Allion.

Leo had to admit that he had made a mistake. Not knowing when Darren might attack, he had decided to remain in Guinbar, but had allowed Darren to take action in the capital, Tiwana. With no obstacle to hinder him there, he could do as he pleased and was steadily gaining allies and support. And since he was switching positions with Leo, it followed that the prince's side were earning nothing but enemies and ill will.

In spite of this, Leo and Savan gathered soldiers in Guinbar. They needed to remain cautious against Darren yet, ironically, this gave Darren the perfect excuse to legitimately take military action.

“Savan has taken advantage of His Highness Leo's youthful ideals, he's twisted them, and he has won him over to his villainy,” Darren was now saying. “He's pursuing friendly relations with the temple. The prince's religious conversion was also all according to his plan. He's pretending to simply be building spaces for the Cross Faith within Atall, but in actual fact, he's extending his own power. It's the same as with the Personal Guards. Savan seized money and manpower from us, and created his own private militia.”

His powerful assertions didn't stop there.

“The marauders who attacked the prince in the resort area were probably also in his pay. And even now, Savan is continuing to gather soldiers. He is finally revealing his true colours as he prepares to send troops to each of our territories. And for now, his sights are on my Darham. Before now, he fabricated an issue at the quarry and was setting up a trap for me. On top of that, he probably hates me for having seen through him. It's not surprising that the first thing he wants to do is to shut me up, even if that means invading my lands tomorrow.”

His repeated tirades drew public opinion within the capital towards him.

You bet..

Leo Attiel was so angry that all the blood in his body seemed to be boiling.

You bet it could be 'even tomorrow'. It's that guy attacking us which wouldn't be in the least bit surprising. And I've gone and helped him prepare the ground...

Even though Sovereign-Prince Magrid had announced that he would investigate the matter at the resort area, he had not taken any concrete action. He had simply heard Leo and Darren's side of the story several times over through the messengers he dispatched. To misquote the King of Allion back when Leo had met with him, was Magrid planning to draw the curtain down by pretending that “each of you misunderstood the other”? Leo once again directed his anger at his father and sovereign.

A vassal raised his blade against a member of the ruling family, so why aren't you reacting more? Why can't you seem to imagine that the same bloodstained blade will one day fall on you, who shares the same blood? Are you afraid of changing the current situation? Are you so afraid of breaking the safe and fragile balance of peace and order?

That's right, it's fragile, Father. Even if it looks on the surface like nothing is changing, 'order' is constantly crumbling. You can't protect it anymore simply by looking away from trouble. If you turn your eyes away from fights, then even that fact alone means that your 'order' can't possibly maintain its shape, and is changing even now. Darren might be the very symbol of that. He makes sure to look like he is perpetuating the 'order' that the Sovereign-Prince believes in, but deep in his heart – in revenge against me and Savan – he's planning to create chaos like you've never seen before.

Leo's feelings were in disarray. Neither Percy nor Camus were nearby to offer counsel, while Kuon and Sarah had both disappeared a month ago. He thought that he could guess the reason for that, but as they not left behind any message, he had not positive proof of it. It felt like he was going back to that time at the banquet, when he was alone in the darkness without a single ally, while his surroundings stared inquisitively.

Part 3

It was a long, long night.

Just when the images of Gosro and of he himself, transformed into a sacrifice, finally faded, hunger and thirst took their turn to torment Kuon's body and mind. He tried to sleep, but couldn't. Every time he was about to drift off, the stagnant sludge reappeared once more, surrounding him, sneering, cursing and laughing at him. Kuon couldn't help but have both eyes wrenched open.

Less than a year ago, someone had rescued Kuon from this same prison. In futile hope, he imagined the same arm extending from beyond the darkness and pulling him to the outside.

Even now, he didn't know who had gotten him out. Maybe it was the real Warrior Raga? Since Raga was said to have the power to expel evil, perhaps he had seen through to the truth and had helped Kuon out. But no – Raga wouldn't have been so short and slight. So who was it? Was there someone in this village who would have come to his help even though it meant breaking the mountain's rules? Or had they been sent by Tei Tahra?

Kuon's thoughts tumbled about in confusion.

And the night wore further on.

More than once, Kuon thought that it might never end. In which case, he wouldn't be thrown to the fire. In exchange, however, he would be slowly eaten away by hunger and thirst, and by so much exhaustion that it seemed to press down on him like a grey weight.

He pictured how, when the morning sun finally rose, it would faintly illuminate the white skeletton he would have turned into inside the rocky prison. He didn't even notice that he was sobbing.

Kuon lifted his head at the sound of the grate of iron bars opening. His sense of time had grown vague, and it felt to him that it had already been several days since he had been shut away. At some point, although he did not know when, even the fear which had once been greater than pain had been worn away by the passage of unchanging time. His senses had dulled, and now, it was only physical agony that continued to gradually break him down.

Have they come to kill me?

Which was why, when he heard the door opening, rather than fear, what he felt was joy.

The one who stepped in through the open doorway was the leader of the tribe, Suo. Kuon could dimly make out that he only had one person with him who seemed to be acting as a bodyguard.

Suo was a very old man. He had already been old when Kuon was born, and, as a child, Kuon had sometimes thought that when he himself was old and came to the end of his life, maybe Suo would still be head of the tribe, and would still look the same.

Kuon felt a strange sense of nostalgia at the sight of that white hair, and of those long, drooping white eyebrows. It had not even been a year since he had fled from the mountains, but even though Suo might be here to announce his death, Kuon almost wanted to jump at him in delight.

Suo however wore the same expression as though they had just seen each other yesterday.

“So it's you, Kuon,” he muttered softly. “I didn't think we would ever meet again.”

“This is surely Tei Tahra's divine guidance,” said the single soldier who was accompanying Suo.

His muscular torso was stripped bare. Tusk-like ornaments extended from either side of his forehead, and half his face was covered by a mask in the shape of a beast opening its maw.

It was the warrior, Raga. Looking at him, Kuon understood that this was a different person from the Raga he had once known. His eyes widened slightly, but he was so numb to fear and to any other sensation that doing that was all the emotion he was capable of showing. “Lift him up,” said Suo, and even when Raga put his hands behind Kuon's shoulders and placed his back against the wall, Kuon barely had any reaction at all.

For a while, Suo observed Kuon from beneath his drooping eyebrows.

“Why did you come back at this point in time?” He asked. “You must have known that things would turn out this way. Surely you couldn't have thought that your crime would be forgiven less than a year later?”

“He must have gotten scared after wandering around like a beast once he left the mountain. As a criminal, how could he survive far from Tei Tahra's protection?”

“Raga, don't interrupt. I'm asking Kuon.”

Raga gave a respectful bow.

His eyes fixed on Kuon, Suo asked him the same question once more. Kuon remained distracted for a while, but when Raga's heavy hands struck him on the cheeks, he dully shook his head, then coughed repeatedly.

“I get it. I'll talk,” he said in a rough voice that sounded like it belonged to someone else, and began to briefly narrate what had happened to him since he had left the village.

He talked about how he had gone to Conscon Temple as a mercenary, how he and the companions he had met there had headed to the enemy headquarters to attack them by surprise, and how that had then ended in a strange meeting with Leo of the Principality of Atall. He also explained about how, since then, he had followed Leo and had been involved in the fights against Hayden and Darren.

With his senses still numbed, and talking in a voice that didn't seem to be his own, he found himself wondering whether he was truly talking about himself. No, in the first place, it seemed doubtful that this could possibly be his own experiences.

Raga appeared to feel the same way. Kuon had always been a poor talker, and he clearly found it irritating to listen to his words.

“Enough already. Chief, what's the point of listening to this endless talk?”

“I believe I told you not to interrupt.”

“If it's to hunt down a beast or an enemy, I can wait without moving while the sun rises and sets any number of times, but the time spent here is just wasted. From the very start, everything that's come out of this guy's mouth is just random nonsense.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Even here, where he was born, Kuon has never had either friends or companions. And on top of that, he's the bastard who killed the leader of the Wei, who looked after him. It's completely impossible to believe that he's found and fought for a master and companions in a some culture we know nothing about. Even if he got hired somewhere as a soldier, he'd definitely cause trouble all day long until he finally got himself killed.”

Neither Warrior Raga nor Suo, the village chief, noticed it. With his hands and feet still bound, and his back leaning against the wall, Kuon smiled faintly.

True. That really is true.

It felt to him like the story he had told was a tale belonging to some other person.

Obviously, I got dragged to the rock of imprisonment after Datta died. That was just a dream I had in the meantime. I'm an unwanted spawn with half of my blood not even human – how could I have left the mountain...

“What's the matter, Kuon? Can't talk anymore?” Raga gave a small, scornful laugh. “You're no good at lying. All you've been doing after slipping out of your shackles is run and hide around here like a baby rabbit. But now that you've given up on running away and come back...”

“He's not lying.”

They heard the voice of someone who could not possibly be there.

The one who had appeared, her hand against the cleft in the rock, was Sarah. Kuon actually suspected she was another illusion.

“Who the hell are you?”

Raga reached for the sword at his waist, but when he saw the face of the next person to walk in through the opening, he looked surprised and took his hand away from the hilt.

“Come and give me a hand.”

Prompted by that hoarse voice, Raga hurried to the cleft and stretched out his brawny arms. The one he helped pull inside that way was Mist, the highest-ranked of all the priestesses.

This elderly lady was even older than Suo, and her back was so terribly bent that she could no longer walk by herself. Whenever she moved through the village, she did so carried in a hamper on a soldier's back. With the passage of time, her eyelids had grown heavy and hooded her eyes, so that it seemed likely that they must barely be able to see anymore, yet when she turned towards Kuon –

“Oh, Kuon. It's you, Kuon. It really is,” she spoke in a strangely happy voice.

“This is a surprise, Mistress Mist,” Suo brought a hand to his chest and offered her the greeting given to priestesses. “Why have you come to such a filthy prison? Is it perhaps because you have heard the decision from that exalted voice?”

“To be sure, that child left the mountain without waiting to hear the voice of Tei Tahra's decision. I'll need to ask for it again.” Mist continued inwards, supported by Raga's arm at her waist, and pointed a bony finger at Sarah. “More importantly: this girl. This morning, I learned that this girl, who had only just woken up by the grace of Tei Tahra was saying that she wanted to see Kuon no matter what. Through the other priestesses, I also heard a very interesting story. So I felt like bringing myself over here, even if it meant breaking these old bones to do so.”

“Story? What story?”

“Didn't you both hear it too? The story of why Kuon deliberately returned to the mountains after having left them.”

“You can't believe a single one of his words,” Raga roared.

“He isn't lying,” Sarah once again flatly contradicted him. She stared unflinchingly at the eyes drawn on the beast mask. “He is, incontrovertibly, a platoon leader in the Personal Guards affiliated to His Highness, Prince Leo Attiel, second prince of the Principality of Atall. I, Sarah, a nun from Conscon Temple, swear to it.”

“By the crown of ivy that Tei Tahra wears, I don't need to listen to the words of a heathen.”

“Now, now, listen to her story, Warrior Raga. Not everything can be settled with swords and bulging biceps, you know.”

Rebuked by Priestess Mist, Raga could not longer say anything. Having successfully caught Mist's interest, Sarah formally knelt in front of Suo.

“In the name of His Highness, Lord Leo of Atall, I present a request to Master Suo, chief of this village.”

Kuon stared vacantly at her as she did so. For him, everything separated Suo and Sarah – they existed, so to speak, in different worlds, so simply seeing them face each other and have a conversation was a strange scene in and of itself.

Another thing which he found surprising was how smoothly Sarah stated her business. She explained that their lord and master, Leo Attiel, was currently caught in an appalling trap and was facing a terrible plight. He needed strong soldiers to extricate himself from it. Hearing that there were warriors well-suited to his crusade in the land that Kuon – a platoon leader in his Personal Guards – hailed from, Leo Attiel had shown considerable interest.

“We implore your assistance, Master Suo. It goes without saying that we will prepare rewards worthy of you all as thanks. Please lend us the strength that your brave warriors have fostered in these mountains, and help Lord Leo carry out justice.”

She had been in the grip of a fierce fever up until just that very morning, but she fervently appealed to her listeners' emotions, and spoke so eloquently it seemed unthinkable that she had recently been suffering. Suo gazed at the girl with admiration.

“And so that was why you crossed all the way over the dangerous Kesmai Plains? You truly went to great lengths to get here. However,” Suo's long white swayed as he shook his head, “our tribe does not take part in any fights beyond these mountains. We have never sided with any power, nor yielded to any threat. No matter how righteous and just they might be, nor how many rewards they have piled up, it has nothing to do with us. The weak will be destroyed, and the strong will prosper; that is all there is to it. Please transmit that message to your lord, Leo.”

“But, Master Suo...”

“Enough!” Raga let out a thunderous roar. “The Chief has already made his decision. If you want to overturn it, then you have to defeat me, the strongest warrior of our tribe. But an outsider like you doesn't have the right to try.”

“It's as he says. I ask that you leave at once. We will not spit on Lord Leo's honour, so I will have several of our warriors accompany you until you have gone down from the mountain. We will also provide you with horses and provisions.”

After he had finished speaking, Suo turned away from her, as though he had already lost interest in the outsider. Having received an eye signal from him, the soldiers were about to draw towards her.

“Please wait,” Sarah hurriedly strung her words together. “You said that I'm to leave the mountain, but what about Kuon?”

“Since Kuon is a member of our tribe, an outsider has no business interfering.”

It was Raga who had answered her. Sarah glared fearlessly at him.

“Are you planning on killing him?”

“Kuon is a criminal. As for what form his punishment will take, it is not for mere humans such as ourselves to know.”

Raga's words implied that what came next would be left to God's decision. Sarah interpreted it as saying that – Kuon will be killed. Her face pale, she looked around her. She had no allies. Even Mist, who had declared that Sarah's story was 'interesting', showed no sign of speaking up in Kuon's favour.

In that instant, the courteous expression vanished from Sarah's face, and it was replaced by one that Kuon knew well. In other words, it was the look she wore right before exploding with anger. Now listen here, you savages! – Kuon shuddered at the thought that she burst out with that any moment now.

The warm feel of his blood flowing slowly started to return to Kuon's limbs, which had been as cold and numb as though they had been turned to stone. Or perhaps it was returning to his heart itself.

That's enough already, Sarah, just leave it – Just as Kuon was mustering his energy to open his cracked lips and speak, Sarah was a split-second faster, and said something that no one there had been expecting.

“That won't be tolerated.”

“What won't be tolerated?” asked Raga.

Sarah scowled at him – or rather, she glared at all the mountain people gathered there, Kuon included.

“It's obviously already been decided. Kuon will be killed.”

“And? Who won't tolerate it?” Raga's voice held the trace of a smile. “The pagan god you believe in? Are you saying divine punishment will fall on us from the heavens the second we kill Kuon? How stupid. We're under Tei Tahra's protection, and that kind of threat won't...”

“The one who won't tolerate it is neither God nor myself. It's His Highness Leo Attiel,” Sarah's voice was shot out like an arrow. Her upturned eyes were filled with strength.

“It's just as we told you earlier: Kuon is now a retainer to Lord Leo. If he hears that Kuon brutally lost his life while requesting your help, His Highness certainly won't leave things at that. Raising your hand against him means making an enemy out of all of Atall. And? Isn't it your tribe's policy not to take sides in any fight?” she said straight out.

Raga stayed silent for a moment. On the other hand, Suo, the head of the tribe, seemed to have regained the interest that he had previously lost.

“And how would Lord Leo know what fate befell his retainers? You might have been attacked by ashinaga on the Kesmai Plains. Or maybe targeted by bandits before you had even crossed the border,” he said.

Contained in his words was the implicit meaning that we can kill you as well as Kuon to keep your mouth shut.

But Sarah didn't back down.

“Didn't you notice? We didn't arrive all the way here, just the two of us. One of the nomadic clans guided us, and they know that we were coming to these mountains. And if we fail to return within a month, a search party will be sent without fail from Atall to the south. There, they will hear about things in detail from the nomads. And once His Highness Leo learns that Kuon and my tracks end here, in these mountains, well, what will you gentlemen do?” she threatened in return.

The earlier situation had reversed, and Suo stopped talking while Raga now took his place.

“Let him try!” he barked as he took a step forward. “We'll get rid of any intruders. Who cares if it's Atall or whoever, as long as we have Tei Tahra's divine protection, and Warrior Raga's strength, we won't let anyone take these mountains from us.”

Kuon had gone beyond surprise and was momentarily bereft of speech he was so dumbfounded. Sarah's retorts were completely absurd. Even though she could leave if she just forgot about him, she was placing both the tribe's fate and Kuon's on the scales, and adding her own for good measure as she risked her life in these negotiations.

What an idiot, he thought in spite of himself. He'd felt the same way when he had watched her shoot a bandit through the head at Conscon, except that time, he had noticed that her legs had been shaking, ever so slightly.

Why, Sarah? Why are you doing something so stupid?

Kuon couldn't understand. And it wasn't only Sarah that he couldn't understand.

No, it wasn't just Sarah.

For Kuon, the many people he had met after leaving the mountains, and the numerous events that had happened were impossible to decipher. Whether it was those who believed in a god other than Tei Tahra, or the young nobleman who had no sooner finished fighting a neighbouring country than he turned his blade against his own countrymen, or those who didn't stand up to fight even though they knew danger was approaching their land, or the many customs that prevailed in towns – he didn't understand any of them.

Ah...

Within Kuon's mind, scenes had begun vividly spinning around. At first, they had been grey-tinted and had sunk into darkness, just like illustrations of stories far removed from reality. But, as he stared intently at them, they had started to glow faintly with colour. The colours gradually grew in number and in brightness, until finally, various scenes from his memory were painted in a flood of brilliant hues.

“It's impossible to believe that man found and fought for a master and companions. Even if he got hired somewhere as a soldier, he'd definitely cause trouble all day long until he finally got himself killed.” – That was what Raga had said a while earlier.

And he was exactly right: Kuon had barely been hired as a mercenary at Conscon before he was already causing an uproar. He had fought over food with a bandit chief, whose name he had already forgotten. The bandit leader had a whole bunch of subordinates, but Kuon was all by himself. Any mistake would have gotten him killed. No, even if he hadn't been killed that time, the same thing would have repeated over and over, until one time, he would definitely have died, and his corpse would have been left to rot among the weeds on the side of a road, without anybody taking any notice of it.

Nowadays, he realised that himself. So how did someone as stupid as he had been manage to survive in an unfamiliar culture in the middle of war? How... he didn't even need to wonder about it.

It's because I wasn't alone.

Thinking back on all the fights since Conscon, there had always been people beside him. And not only during the fighting, but also in the scenes of daily life.

“Kuon” – There was always some there who called out to him.

“Were you brawling again, Kuon?” Percy asked helplessly, even though there was a crease between his eyebrows.

“Kuon, it looks like you're steadily memorising the tenets of the Holy Scriptures. What, still not? From now on, I'll be instructing you while keeping you under strict supervision, so there's no escape!” Camus pronounced with a stern expression.

“Kuon,” when she caught sight of him, Sarah came running up, the hem of her novice's robes fluttering.

Even though he himself couldn't remember having done anything, whenever he saw her rush over like that, he felt a strange feeling of guilt, and wondered if he'd done something bad to her. That was probably because Sarah was always far too honest about her emotions, and because she was always launching attacks on him. Even when the reasons she gave for them were completely unreasonable. Like, for example: “Our match from last time hasn't ended yet. What will it be today? And let's forget about a rematch footrace, because I definitely won't lose at whatever we do next.”

And then, there was one other. Leo Attiel.

Even a man from the tribe who had know and spent time with Kuon since he was born had concluded that “there was no way Kuon could live in that civilisation,” yet Leo had made him his subordinate, and had sometimes even entrusted him with hundreds of men.

They had barely exchanged any private conversations. If you added up all the time the two of them had spoken together, it probably wouldn't amount to more than three hours. Still, in his own way, Kuon understood how difficult Leo's situation was. And because of that, and even if it was only ever so slight, he felt a certain sympathy for him.

Kuon's senses, which felt as though they had been paralysed by poison, slowly started to return. The blood circulated through his veins, and warmed his hands and feet. It was certainly as though blood and flesh were returning to an abandoned corpse but, at the same time, it meant that the fear he had forgotten for a time also came back to him.

Let us say it as often as it needs to be said: Kuon was afraid. Not since coming back within sight of the mountain; no, he had constantly been afraid ever since he had fled the mountain, just after Datta died.

Just as he had told Sarah, after escaping from the mountains, Kuon had headed north by tracing the location of the nomadic tribes who roamed the Kesmai Plains.

He had always been watching his back. For Kuon, who had never had the opportunity to be involved with trading, it was the first time he had even met human beings other than the mountain people. And so, while he was of course cautious because he had no way of knowing when the nomads might turn those large blades they used to hack of the meat from their livestock against him, what made him tremble more than anything was the fear that his native village might send assassins against him.

Finally, he had crossed the Pass of the Wailing Tresses and entered into Atall's territory, where he had heard the rumours about Conscon that had led him to become a mercenary.

Facing actual combat, the wariness of not knowing when a pursuer might appear was soon just as worn down as Kuon himself had been only a few minutes earlier.

As he learned about the rules of the outside world, he started feeling that the laws and rituals of the mountain were hideously distorted. Besides that, he had wanted to burst out laughing when he realised that there innumerable gods in this world other than Tei Tahra. To think that when he was living in such a confined space, he had been terrified of a god that only tyrannised such a tiny world, and of that god's messengers.

When he had first started as a mercenary at Conscon, all he had wanted was food enough to survive but then, before he knew it, he had become eager to accomplish some glorious feat. He wanted to become famous, to be called a hero, and to prove that he had been right when he chose to leave the mountains.

Or perhaps what he was anxious to do was to fulfil the prediction made at his coming-of-age ceremony, when it had been said that “Kuon Wei will one day bring forth more gold than the mountains can hold,” and show all of them, back at the mountain.

This was supposed to be the proof that he had overcome the traditions and the shackles of his birthplace, but in reality, it was the exact opposite: it was sign that his native land still continued to hold him back.

I didn't run away. One day, I'll day go back with my hands filled with gold. So my existence isn't harmful to Tei Tahra. Holding on to that belief was simply a way to obtain a sense of security, to still be part of the mountain and to still be with Tei Tahra, even though he was far from his birthplace.

The fear which was deeply ingrained in his heart and soul could not be wiped away so easily.

After he had become a mercenary, both the overflowing zeal that Percy and the others had observed with amazement, and the dull listlessness he had sometimes displayed where simply the result of his unbearable insecurities.

Suo had asked him, “Why did you come back?”

And Kuon himself had wondered the same thing – Why did I come back? – as he stood before his native mountains, and also as he writhed across the prison's stone floor.

It was obvious.

The answer was exactly the same as the one to 'Sarah's stupid behaviour,' which had seemed 'incomprehensible' to him just a short while ago.

“Throw this woman out,” Raga bellowed in a voice that seemed to rumble to the pit of his stomach. “Chief, there's no need to kill her. Let her hurry back to Atall. It doesn't matter what kind of man this Leo is, I won't run from any challenge.”

Raga's figure was undeniably valiant, but Kuon did not fail to notice the anguished expression that flitted across Suo's face at that moment. No matter how much the mountain people might have the advantage of the terrain, or how brave their warriors were, fighting against the forces of an entire country would be far too much for them.

Yet having said that, allowing Kuon – who had once fled the mountain – to return to Atall would mean utterly disrupting the rules that protected the mountain.

Having understood that hesitation, Kuon came to a decision.

“If no one else is going to do it, I'll throw her out. Chief, you won't be stopping me, right?” Raga strode towards Sarah and reached to grasp hold of her shoulders. Just as she was about to quickly dodge –

“Chief Suo...”

Everyone there started in surprise, and turned to look at the boy whose back was leaning against the stone wall. It was as if they had all forgotten his existence until that moment.

Below the mask, Raga opened his mouth wide.

“You stay silent, Kuon. The priestesses will be sure to judge you not only for murdering Datta, but also for the crime of having brought war to the tribe.”

He took a swipe of his brawny arms towards Kuon, as if to tell him not to interfere. However –

“It's just as you say, Warrior Raga. I'll wait here for Tei Tahra's judgement.”

“What?”

“Whatever Sarah... – whatever that woman says, I'll stay here.”

“Kuon!” At his words, Sarah was the first to cry out.

“This is what I've decided for myself. Since I accept whatever crime the mountain accuses me of, as well as whatever punishment they decide, it's impossible for Lord Leo to retaliate in revenge.”

Those words brought an end Sarah's negotiation tactic's, even though she had finally managed to make Suo falter and hesitate. She was just about to scream at him, half-frantic with fury.

“But, before that,” Kuon spoke forcefully, looking at Raga, “you said something, Warrior Raga. You said that as an outsider, Sarah didn't have the right to try and change the Chief's policy by challenging you to a duel.”

“And what about it?”

“What about me?”

“What?”

After gasping in surprise, Raga then shook head contemptuously towards the one he was speaking to.

“What do you think you're saying? A criminal can't challenge Raga. If that was possible, everyone who received the death sentence would choose to challenge me, since they would already have one foot in the grave anyway. Do you want Raga to have to deal with every single criminal?”

“Wrong. The only time anyone can challenge Raga to a duel is when they oppose a decision from the chief. Only the mountain god, Tei Tahra – or basically, only the priestesses who can relay his voice, can decide if someone's guilty. Not the chief. So a criminal can't challenge Raga just because he's not happy with his sentence.”

“You fool. That's why I said...”

“My guilt hasn't been decided yet, so I'm not a criminal yet.”

“What?” This time, Suo said it too.

The two of them looked towards the aged Priestess Mist, and she replied in a voice that was like the low pipping of a flute.

“Kuon disappeared before we could clarify his crime and decide whether he was guilty. It's a fact that Lord Tei Tahra has not yet pronounced His judgement.”

“That's completely ridiculous,” Raga yelled, his brawny shoulders heaving up and down. “Even if that's true, this man escaped from the mountain. A man who left the tribe can't challenge Raga.”

“That's wrong too.”

“What's wrong!”

Raga's fury was now so strong, it was as though thunder was about to crash down. But Kuon's eyes were also blazing with the force of a fire.

“I said I'd wait for Tei Tahra's judgement. Both Suo and Mist look like they intend for me to receive it too. Since I'm leaving my fate to the mountain god, I'm not an outsider. And, Warrior Raga, you yourself said it to Sarah, too: 'Kuon is part of our tribe'. And that's exactly right. Even if my innocence is in doubt and I left the mountain, right now, I'm still a member of the tribe.”

Even Raga was left speechless.

I'm a member of the tribe – just how long had Kuon waited for the day he would be able to proudly declare that? Yet right now, Kuon wasn't boasting.

“As so, in the same way that I have to obey its laws and fulfil its obligations, I can call upon my rights as a member of the tribe.”

It was in order to survive. It was in order to save Sarah, and to rescue Leo, Percy and Camus from the danger he wanted to help them out of. For that, Kuon was willing to wield his words like weapons as much as he needed to.

“I object to Chief Suo's decision to refuse Lord Leo's request. I make use of my right, and challenge Warrior Raga to a duel. Whether I win in a fight with him, I leave to Tei Tahra's judgement.”