The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 31
Waking up in sweat, Longwei looked around in fear.
Lei was awake. Reading the book of his grandfather, propping his face with his hand, he looked like a beautiful statue that froze, keeping the wisdom of the ages.
For the first time being able to take his time to see him like that, Longwei’s eyes wandered over his long hair that was gathered back, over his broad shoulders that were dressed in a thin shirt without one sleeve, along the lines of his strong body, along the curve of his legs. On the fingers that seemed to belong not to a warrior but to a great pianist.
Having carefully studied him from the side, Longwei for the first time was able to see something beautiful besides nature. And that was Lei.
Noticing his gaze on himself, Lei closed the book and turned his head. There was surprise and even joy on his face.
“How do you feel?”.
“Good.”
“Can you get up?”
“I think yes.”
“We’ll have to go soon. The dragons are already asleep and we just need to wait a little more.”
“Lei. May I ask?”
Turning his head to the side, Lei nodded and placed the book aside.
Longwei standing up walked up to him and whispered a question that puzzled and surprised him. A question that Lei had never heard before, but so wanted to hear. Namely: Would you like to change your life someday?
Having lost all his might, Lei, who had always been strong, serious, but now in front of this young man, looked like fragile ice, like thin wings of a bird, like a weak wind that was unable to swing the thinnest branch.
Lei just made a sound that was both yes and no. But then came the words, “It’s time for us to go. Take these stones. Don’t drop them along the way.”
“And why we did not take the candle? It’s so dark.” said Longwei, stumbling over the stones. “Where are you?” Feeling Lei’s hand on his, he involuntarily smiled and immediately removed that smile from his face. “And why are we doing all this.” He whispered.
“For each other’s sake.” Lei answered coldly and continued, “Dragons are very sensitive to light. Especially to fire. Once you light a fire, they will immediately smell it.”
“Do you even know where to go?”
“I know.”
“And where are we going? Do you even see something?”
“You can see everything if you want.”
Holding his breath, Longwei looked straight ahead with wide eyes. The hot air cooled a little and now he could feel the blizzard. A slight, aching pain in the leg seemed to disappear over time, but then returned again.
Stopping, Lei suddenly pulled Longwei towards him. So much so that their bodies pressed to each other.
“What are you doing?”
“Hush.” saying this, it was audible that Lei split the stone and stretched out his hand forward. It was only then that Longwei heard the dragon’s heavy breathing. But it was hard to tell where it came from.
After standing in one place for only a few seconds, Lei pulled his hand and they walked in the other direction.
“Have you collected dragon’s breath?” Longwei asked in a whisper.
“Yes.”
“And it’s so easy.”
“It’s easy if you remain silent.”
Not knowing how much time had passed as they wandered in the darkness like this, Longwei touched Lei’s hand to convince himself that he did not get lost and walked as quietly as possible. But that was almost impossible. Small stones underfoot made a slight noise and the only solution was to take off his shoes.
“What are you doing?” Lei asked.
“Taking off my shoes. This will make less noise from us.”
After repeating after him, Lei could be heard tossing his shoes aside.
Stepping quietly and as slowly as possible, they were holding stones in their hands and every time they felt hot breath they stopped and froze for a few seconds.
Unable to endure the darkness and silence any longer, Longwei asked, “These dragons, they are all around us? Then why don’t we bump into them? Don’t they feel us?”
Lei answered in a subtle whisper, “As my grandfather said, in order to be near dragons and be unnoticed for them, you should always walk only one way. To the right. The steps should be slow and small.”
“Why exactly to the right?” he asked.
“This is another mystery. I don’t know.”
“Didn’t your grandfather explain why?”
“No. He left a lot of mysteries. But all we needed to know he has said.”
“In your family, everyone is mysterious. No wonder.” Longwei said, raising his voice slightly. “How many more stones do you have left?”
“One.”
“How many of them do we have?”
“Five.”
“It’s good that this Ju Long didn’t tell us to bring fifty stones.”
“Hush. A little more and we’ll get out of here.”
Taking another step to the right, Longwei felt hot air. Holding his breath, he was sure that another step and he would touch the hard skin of the dragon.
Suddenly his entire body began to tremble and his legs began to weaken. For the first time, he felt fear.
Fear that paralyzed all his thoughts and movements.
A click, the stone broke into pieces, breathing, inhaling and exhaling, hot steam filled everything around.
The click and stone closed, leaving light burns on Lei’s numb skin.
And the moment it was time to go, Longwei was unable to take a step. Although he could feel Lei pulling his hand.
Taking a deep breath, Longwei’s heartbeat suddenly became audible as distinctly as if it were beating somewhere outside his chest.
And at the very moment when gazes from the darkness pierced both of them, Longwei took a step towards Lei and the bright, blinding fire finally destroyed the darkness.
Spreading their wings after sleep, several dragons with open mouths, eyes almost closed from sleep breathed out fire. And this fire hung over Lei and Longwei, who stood close to each other.
Fire played in their dilated pupils, fire played on their frightened, surprised, in love faces. The fire eclipsed the night, turning it into a hot stream of a nonexistent day.
Looking intently into the fire that burned in Lei’s eyes, Longwei suddenly whispered softly, “I love you.”
To which the fire in Lei’s eyes became even brighter, and now it was not the fire of dragons that played in his large eyes, but the fire of his heart, which had extinguished a long time ago and was now re-ignited.
And on this night, they miraculously remained unnoticed. And only due to the fact that everything around suddenly ceased to exist for them for a meek moment. And only thanks to the fire in their eyes and only thanks to the flame of a newly born, forbidden love.