The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 75

“During one of the breaks between the teachings, Shidai told everyone one story. And it’s called the Forgotten Warrior.” Yun Qi began walking for the second hour in a row. “And this story says that if you go into the forest at night and say his name five times, then a warrior with half face and severed hands will appear in front of you. He will stand and scream until you close your eyes and count to 100. And you can’t move as long as you count. You can’t move at all. One move and the Forgotten Warrior will see you.” stopping, she looked back. A narrow and long corridor of trees and branches, passing the wind through itself, seemed to breathe. Looking at Longwei and Lei, who also stopped looking back, she whispered, “Shidai said it was true. We can check it now.”

“No!” cried Longwei. “I mean, why waste time.. We need to think about the path. About Sun’s warriors. Come on.”

“Are you scared?” Lei asked.

Walking up to him, Yun Qi took his hand and whispered, “Dad, if you are afraid, I will hold your hand.”

“Who said I’m scared?! Stop playing games. And why are you smiling?” Throwing snow at Lei, Longwei walked forward.

“Warrior Wu. Warrior Wu. Warrior Wu. Warrior Wu. Warrior Wu.” Yun Qi whispered five times in a row.

“I said stop it.” Longwei said, and suddenly heard someone breathing behind his back. Turning quickly, all he saw was the same long corridor of branches that caused dizziness. Hearing the rustle of leaves and the soft howl of the wind, Longwei thought that it was just his imagination, but hearing the breath again, he quickly closed his eyes as Yun Qi instructed.

Hearing the approach, feeling the breath that was getting closer and closer, Longwei wanted to move, but remembering Yun Qi’s words, he just froze in place.

The snowstorm intensified, then weakened, the rustle of leaves resembled footsteps and voices, trying not to scare himself with his imagination Longwei thought about Yun Qi and opening his eyes all he saw was a tunnel in front and behind.

“Yun Qi ?! Lei!” he shouted. Trying to see them in the darkness.

Covering his face with his hand from the snow and the wind, he shouted again, “Lei!”

Hearing nothing but his own heartbeat, Longwei, filled with fear, did not know what to do. Imagining that they were taken by the Sun’s warriors or that Warrior Wu actually existed, he shouted again but there was no answer.

Suddenly, at the very moment when he wanted to rush straight into the depths of the forest, someone grabbed him and slightly lifting, carried him away.

Pressing him against a tree, Lei shook quietly with laughter.

“Idiot! Let me go! Where is Yun Qi?” shouted Longwei grabbing his collar.

Laughing Lei replied, “She’s in the tent.”

“In the tent?! You set it all up! And how could I not guess!” Pushing him away, Longwei sighed heavily, emitting thick steam.

Coming closer, Lei leaning against the tree with both hands, thereby pressing Longwei even tighter, whispered, “I miss you. I miss you so much.”

Pushing him away once more, Longwei replied, “I will remind you of that. You know how scared I was.”

Drawing him close, Lei lightly touched his lips with his.

“What are you doing? We’re not alone. Go away.”

“She’s probably already asleep. And even more so, we’re alone here.”

“I can’t leave her alone. Sun’s warriors are around us. Stop it.”

“But I miss you so much.”

Laughing at the tickle, Longwei fell to the ground. “Lei.”

Lei hugged him and whispered something in his ear.

“What?!” Longwei exclaimed but covering his mouth Lei silenced him for a moment.

“Wait, did you hear that?” crouching down, Longwei looked at the very end of the tunnel.

“Voices.”

Moving faster than the wind, through the dense thickets of dried branches, Sun’s warriors, along with several beasts who served as hunting dogs, fled straight towards the tunnel where Longwei and Lei had just been.

Almost crawling, making their way into the thorny bush that withered many centuries ago, Longwei and Lei, dropping their heads as low as possible, held their breath.

“You go. Take Yun Qi out of here.” Lei whispered.

“And you? Stay here and fight?”

“Go now.”

Holding his only small knife in his hand, Longwei headed through the high snowdrifts towards where the quiet sounds were coming from.

“Yun Qi are you there?”

“Dad, I just saw the beast.” Yun Qi said, clutching a bloody sword in her hand.

“Did you kill that?”

“Yes. Where is Lei?”

“Come on. He’ll come later.”

“Faster!” the voices of the warriors were heard and the heavy breathing of the beasts was replaced by growls.

“Yun Qi, quickly climb the tree! Hurry!” Lifting her to the first branch, Longwei climbed up and held out his hand to her. “Hurry.

Once on the highest branch, Longwei looked out and immediately saw several warriors walking slowly in an unknown direction.

“They’re right here somewhere. These things are acting weird. Look at this. It’s sniffing the ground. Does that mean they’re over there?” asked one of them pointing forward.

“I don’t know about you, but they scare me.” said someone at the sight of ten or more beasts heading in their direction.

Clutching their swords in fear, they stood with their backs to each other and aiming the point directly at them, they shouted loudly.

The monsters got on all fours and stopped, and Yun Qi noticed that one of them raised his big head up. Hiding behind the branch they were quietly observing them.

“They’re not here. Come on.”

Not breathing, holding on tightly to the branch but feeling that under their weight it began to creak, Longwei closed his eyes and squeezed Yun Qi’s hand.

“Find them. Got it? Find them.” ordered the tall warrior holding out the scarf to the creature’s nose.

“Is that Longwei’s scarf?”

“Yes. And you know, every time I let it sniff his stuff, that monster immediately points the way.”

Sniffing the scarf, the beast stood up on two paws, looked thoughtfully around and, bending its crooked back, made a strange sound.

“What a disgusting creature this is.” someone said.

Suddenly the monster raised its red eyes upward, opened its mouth and approached the tree on which Yun Qi and Longwei were sitting.

Sniffing, it plunged its claws into the bark of a tree and again got down on all fours, then made a sound reminiscent of crying.

“And what does that mean? What are you trying to say? Are they somewhere close?”

Knowing that the monsters are good at climbing trees, Longwei, having managed to survive his cardiac arrest, squeezed his knife tighter. Catching Yun Qi’s eyes full of calmness, he shook his head and in response she pointed to another tree that was very close.

At first, not realizing what she meant, Longwei shrugged his shoulders, and only when he saw how she quickly and dexterously jumped from one tree to another, he rushed after her.

Jumping like a monkey from tree to tree, they quickly found themselves far from a bunch of soldiers and beasts.

When she stopped, Yun Qi looked down and said, “It seems they are not here. Dad, are you okay?”

“How do you jump so well? It’s amazing.” he said.

Breathing quickly, she leaned against a tree and replied, “This is another of my talents.” With a wave of her hand, she added, “Lei is already here too.”

Jumping on the branch that was higher, Lei, hanging down his head, said, “How are you? Didn’t they see you?”

“I thought you lost us.” Longwei said nervously.

“I followed you as soon as I neutralized four warriors and one beast. Here you go, you lost your sword.” Holding out a small sword with a red stone on the hilt to Longwei, Lei looked at Yun Qi and asked, “Where is the tent?”

“I hid it deep in the snowdrifts. They won’t find it.”

“We were almost caught. This is all your fault. With your jokes and games. We must not lose our vigilance. And we can not waste time on stupidity like the one you did to me.” Longwei said waving his arms.

Laughing, Yun Qi and Lei gave each other five.

“Both of you, stop it. How can you behave like that? Are you just out for a walk? We are on an important mission. The fate of the whole world and everyone depends on it. The lives of Xing Fu and Shidai, Baofeng-Xue and Delun, everyone’s lives depend on whether we will reach the kingdom or not. So please, let’s focus on the path.” Jumping down to the lower branch Longwei, attaching the warrior’s sword to his belt, said, “Nobody knows if we will survive in this journey.”

“Wait! Isn’t it better for us to keep going this way. I mean, look, here the trees are very close to each other and the branches are strong. And the sky is visible. If we continue our path jumping from one tree to another, then we’ll end up in the kingdom. This way it is faster than walking. And besides, the likelihood of being seen or caught is very low.” Yun Qi said happily swinging from side to side.

“We might fall.”

“She’s right. The further into the forest, the more impossible it is to go. And also, there the drifts get too deep.”

After looking up at the sky and making sure that the blizzard really was mostly raging far below, Longwei agreed. “Good. And there is a chance that we will see the moon.”

Jumping to another tree, Yun Qi was already far from them in the blink of an eye.

“I wonder how long we still have to go. And if we have enough strength and food to survive.” whispered Longwei.

“I thought about that too, but you know what Yun Qi said? She said that we have a goal, which means we will survive.”

“We have a goal, and that is why we will survive.” repeated Longwei, pushing his feet against the branch.