The Voyage In The Blizzard - Chapter 89

“When someone curses someone, then basically this curse is reflected on that person himself and goes to another person. And that’s all. But in the case of Jang Sun, everything is different. He used the ancient curse that engulfed the entire kingdom.”

“And Lan Jun’s act was perhaps the bravest thing I knew.” said Li Hua, flipping through the old diaries of her distant grandmother.

“He used a mirror to take the curse on himself.”

“And he also used blood. Thus, he deceived the dark forces. You see, it’s all about blood. And if I am the key to removing the curse, then my blood spilled on the ground will become the very mirror that will reflect the dark force and completely destroy it.” said Yun Qi..

Interrupting their conversation, Lei suddenly asked, “Your Majesty, why are you helping us? You could drive us away and say that you and your kingdom are living so well. Why do you need all this? Don’t you see danger in the soldiers, in those who live far away from this world?”

Raising her eyes over her round glasses, Li Hua calmly smiled and replied, “When it comes to help, there is no reason.”

“But why do you need all this? For your grandmother?”

“Here my answer will be simple. Yes. I do it for the sake of my grandmother. All my life I grew up reading the books she wrote. I always wanted to be like her. She is my ideal. And now knowing that her life was so tragic, I want to do everything in my power so that her soul finds peace. I want her to know that her beloved Lan Jun did not die in vain. That his death is not an easy act because of some kind of love. Helping you, I want my grandmother to be proud of me. And so that Lan Jun will be calm after he sees that Jang Sun has lost.”

Everyone sank into their own silence except for Yun Qi who said in response, “In that case, we need to go right now. I think we will quickly find that place by the rocky mountains.”

“Your Majesty, thank you for everything.” Longwei said kneeling. “Thank you for accepting us and now giving us the opportunity to live in a better world.”

Lightly touching his head, Li Hua said, “I am just doing my royal duty. Namely, the one that says that the queen should take care of everyone.”

“You are just like your distant grandmother.” added Lei.

Having made a bow again, the three of them headed towards the exit, but Li Hua stopped them.

“Take the royal horses. It will be more convenient and faster for you.” she said and with a graceful wave of her hand called her faithful assistant Changchang. She appeared out of nowhere and now stood in front of her. “Tell the ostler to pick the best three horses.”

Lei took a step forward and asked, “Are the animals here, only female ones?”

To which Li Hua laughed and replied, “Here, we have only horses. But these are unusual horses. After all, we have no right to keep wild animals against their will. But our horses don’t have a particular gender. They are magical ones.”

“I’ve never seen a horse.” Yun Qi added.

“Follow me.” Changchang told them.

“We thank the queen for her generosity.” Longwei said and made another bow before leaving.

Seeing horses for the first time, they did not know how to approach such a large and tall creature.

Three snow-white horses, with an ordinary mane and expressive eyes, stood straight and looked directly into the eyes of the strangers standing in front of them.

“So beautiful!” Yun Qi exclaimed and walked over to the first.

“Do not be afraid. They are very intelligent creatures.” Changchang said.

Striking horse’s soft mane, Yun Qi immediately became friends with the beautiful creature.

“It’s like snowballs in our world, only they are not fluffy and much larger.”

“And you use them to move around the kingdom?” asked Lei finding the courage to come closer.

“Yes. But very rarely. Basically, these creatures live their own lives. And believe me, their life is full of secrets. And it can be hard to keep them in one place.” Changchang said.

“Is it hard to hold them in one place? Are they running away?”

“They tend to fly away.” Changchang said, and before she could continue, the horse that was standing next to her suddenly flew up, revealing its newly appeared wings.

“It’s Pegasus.” she said, looking at the reaction of the three.

Spreading on both sides its snow-white wings, which were almost like a bird, the horse made a small circle high above them. As she watched the sunbeams create the image of a glowing horse, Yun Qi could not contain her admiration. “Amazing!”

Having circled again and then smoothly landed, the winged horse looked into everyone’s eyes as if observing their reactions.

Changchang quickly put a small saddle on horses’ backs and hooked a bridle on and said, “Don’t be afraid. I think after everything you’ve seen in that world, Pegasus is not that scary.”

“Right, what are we so afraid of? We even rode on the back of a dragon.” Lei said and walked over to the horse who looked nimble than the others.

“Put your foot here and hold this.” Changchang said while showing how to saddle a horse. “Now kick off with your foot.”

Doing everything as she said, Lei was already on horseback.

“Hold on tight. Pegasus run faster than the wind.”

After doing the same, Longwei pulled the bridle and his horse immediately straightened its wings.

Touching the wing of the horse, Longwei said, “I must have seen the terrible monsters for so long that now the beautiful Pegasus seem terrifying to me.”

“Just tell me where you need to go and the horse will go. If you want you can use the sky instead of the earth.”

“Okay. Where do we go?” Longwei asked.

“To the rocky mountains.” Yun Qi replied and her horse was the first to step forward.

“There are many rocky mountains here. The path will take a long time. If you don’t find it, come back.” Changchang said to them.

Remembering his old dreams where the same green endless fields along which the snow-white horses galloped were described, Longwei, hearing the sound of the earth under the hooves, simply held his breath and contemplated what was happening.

Closing his eyes to give free rein, he felt the warm summer wind play with his hair.

Not wanting to open his eyes, fearing that this was all a dream, that if he opened them, he would be in a cold and damp cave with an painfully chilly wind, he spread his arms on both sides.

Trusting the strong muscles of the graceful horse, he was literally in flight.

And there was only eternity ahead.

Eternity and nothing else.

“Longwei, look!” Lei said pointing to the clouds that were in the form of birds.

Smiling in response to natural beauty, he at the same time felt the tears gather on his eyelashes.

“Dad!” Yun Qi exclaimed happily, filling her surroundings with her blazing laugh.

No, this is not a dream. The world from his dreams was actually real. And this reality for the first time in their lives was not frightening.

In the distance, seeing the waterfalls that poured down from the high mountains, at that very moment they lost themselves. Giving every part of their heart to the butterflies that flew by, the wind that pleasantly cooled them and the sun’s rays that warmed them destroyed all the fear.

“Everything will start anew. And everything will be fine.” at the same time, as if reading each other’s thoughts, Longwei and Lei thought.

Stopping her horse near the stone cliffs that resembled the spine of a beast, Yun Qi jumped down and touched the dark green grass.

“This is not the place.” she said.

“The place where Jang Sun cursed the whole world must be different in that nothing grows there. We’ll probably immediately notice the bare ground with a ominous aura.” Lei said to her.

“It seems to me not so simple.” Longwei inserted his sentence. “Spilling blood over the place where he died is too easy. The curse never goes away so easily.”

“What other way do you think there is? You lost the book. And there was still nothing written there.”

“We’ve already seen a lot of difficulties. Maybe the curse will actually be lifted as Yun Qi thinks. She’s still not an ordinary person. She has powers that can change everything around.” said Lei stroking the horse’s mane.

Without saying anything, Longwei stared ahead.

“Let’s just find that place and then figure out how to break the curse.” Yun Qi said.

Looking nervously around Longwei, being among the stone rocks for an hour, felt as if someone was watching them. Looking around, he several times grabbed his sword, but making sure that the creature that created the noise in the bushes was nothing more than a wild rabbit, he felt relieved.

“Are you okay?” Lei asked noticing the anxiety on his face.

“I have a feeling that someone is watching us.”

Stopping the horse, Lei jumped down and extended his hand to him. “Let’s walk. So we will feel more connected with the world.”

“Yun Qi stop.”

Approaching the ribbed rocks among which were beautiful glades filled with dandelions, Yun Qi could not pass by.

Having touched a fragile dandelion with her hand, she had to move with only one little finger so that the fragile part would immediately scatter on all sides, creating an image of snow. “Look, just like snow.” Tearing off one dandelion, she blew on it and the “snow” flew towards Lei.

“Summer snowfall.” Lei said doing the same as Yun Qi.

“We need to find that place quickly.” Longwei said and pulling Lei by the hand led him away from where they came from. “Yun Qi let’s go.”

“Dad!” a frightened cry from Yun Qi was heard. And the next thing they saw were several arrows that stuck into the ground.

Sun, standing on one of the rocks, shouted with a smile, “Glad to see you again!”