SWY 120

The moment the captain saw Ardelle, his eyes turned vicious.

“You little…!”

“I told you, didn’t I? That I’d be the one to end you with my own hands!”

Ardelle was a mess. Her lips were cracked, scabbed over in places, and cuts covered her neck and the backs of her hands.

Even her left pinky seemed injured, unable to straighten fully and curled halfway. Lestel, glaring with shared fury, handed her his axe and shouted,

“Shan, leave that bastard ali–”

“No need! Just kill him!”

Ardelle cut him off. Sharhan had intended to keep one of them alive for questioning, but from the look on Ardelle’s face, that wasn’t necessary.

“S-spare me…”

Without hesitation, Sharhan thrust his spear straight into the last man’s heart.

Just then, there was a wet thud. Ardelle had slammed the axe into the captain’s head. The blade had cracked his skull wide open, brain matter seeping from the wound. A sneer curled on Ardelle’s bloodstained lips.

“Fucker. I wanted to laugh as you got torn apart alive by the dead, but oh well. I’ll settle for being the one to take your last breath.”

She stomped on the captain’s chest and yanked the axe free, then turned away.

“You two made it out alive too, huh?”

Sharhan, wiping blood from his spear, spotted a man crawling away and threw his weapon. The spear pierced the man’s back. As he approached, he recognized the man as one who’d been kicked by Lightning. Another, the one Thunder had kicked in the chest, was already dead.

After confirming no one was left alive, Sharhan finally spoke to Ardelle.

“You don’t look okay, but… at least you’re alive. It looked like they got Derry and the kids. Are they still alive?”

Ardelle returned the axe to Lestel and answered hesitantly.

“They were, the last I saw… but now, I’m not sure. Still, I think they’re alive. Derry’s a mage. They wouldn’t kill a mage, right? He fought back with magic, so they know what he’s capable of.”

“How did they get caught?”

“We ran into those bastards on the way to Serman. We’d just survived an avalanche…”

Ardelle clenched her jaw. She’d lost one of the kids, but was grateful the others had made it out with her and Derry. But they hadn’t decided what to do next.

Sharhan and Lestel were nowhere to be found. They had no supplies. The house was destroyed, the area buried in snow. Hugging the terrified, trembling children close, they waited, until Thunder and Lightning, who’d escaped safely, returned on their own.

Eventually, after discussing it together, Ardelle and Derry decided to head to Serman with the kids on horseback. They figured that if Sharhan and Lestel had survived, they’d come to Selman, if only because of Iris.

Derry hoped to reunite with Sharhan and Lestel, while Ardelle, having lost her home with the children, hoped to use Lestel’s name to get into House Ailun’s estate. Even if the gates were shut tight, Lestel was the heir of a marquis. If he helped, they’d at least be safe inside.

Thankfully, they had a small stash of food in the saddlebags, and with Derry, water and fire were not an issue. They made good progress with three or four kids riding at once, but they ran into those men not long after arriving in Serman territory.

“Derry and I fought like hell, but there were ten grown men with weapons. We couldn’t win. Damn bastards. The world may be ending, but how can they beat children and drag them off?!”

Rage boiling over, Ardelle continued.

“I barely escaped. I tracked them down and… ha! Turns out they were the same bastards who’ve been kidnapping kids this whole time!”

“Is that true?!”

Samson, who had stayed back to avoid interrupting, suddenly stepped forward in a rush. Ardelle eyed the stranger warily.

“My nephew disappeared too! Vanished without a trace. We’ve suspected kidnapping… Please, did those bastards really take the kids?”

Finally lowering her guard, Ardelle nodded.

“Yes. There’s a big storehouse that’s their hideout. I heard the kids crying inside. I eavesdropped on them coming and going, and it sounded like their leader was the one ordering the kidnappings.”

“Why would they take children?!”

Samson burst out, his voice shaking with fury.

“I don’t know. But it’s definitely not for anything good.”

Clenching her bruised knuckles, Ardelle’s face filled with anxiety. She clearly feared for the children’s safety. She glanced between Sharhan and Lestel, who both looked grim, then asked cautiously,

“You’ll help… right?”

There was no need to ask what for.

“I’ll help!” Samson answered immediately. He was going to search for his nephew regardless. Sharhan and Lestel also nodded without hesitation.

“Of course we’re saving Derry and the kids. Where’s the storehouse?”

“There was a little building next to it, like a guard post?”

Lestel, thinking he knew the place she meant, asked,

“You mean that big storehouse? Could it be the tax storehouse in Serman’s domain? I was hoping not, but… someone must’ve taken it over. Did that so-called leader have many men?”

“I don’t know exactly. Some were probably out looking for more kids, and some were guarding the storehouse. But even at a guess, there were over twenty.”

Compared to just the four of them, that wasn’t a great ratio. Samson grimaced, calculating their odds.

“Is it too much for just us?”

Ardelle asked nervously, her face clouded.

“We won’t know until we try. More than that… I just hope Derry and the kids are still alive.”

Lestel patted Sharhan’s shoulder. Looking up at the sky, he muttered,

“The sun will set in about an hour.”

“For now, let’s find somewhere to stay for the night and make a plan.”

“Agreed.”

They were all anxious, but charging in recklessly was a bad idea. The enemy had numbers. They needed a strategy.

“There’s a cabin I stayed in last night. Not far from here. Let’s go there.”

***

The place Ardelle led them to was a mountain cabin. It seemed to have belonged to a herb gatherer, there were dried herbs left around inside. There was even a brazier and some pots and bowls, someone had probably lived and cooked there. It wasn’t spacious, and four people would barely fit lying down, but it would do for one night.

“How is it?”

“Not bad.”

After checking the interior, Sharhan walked over to Thunder and Lightning and unfastened the bags tied to their saddles. The two horses, delighted to see their master again, nuzzled him like puppies. Sharhan didn’t tie them up, just in case.

“Yeah, I’m glad to see you too. Thank you for surviving. If anything happens again, get yourselves to safety.”

He patted Lightning’s neck and carried the gear inside. The four sat in a circle and nibbled on jerky from Samson and dried herbs left in the hut, just enough to keep hunger at bay.

They didn’t light a fire, in case any of the enemy were nearby. The air inside the hut was freezing.

“Um… miss, would you like some water?”

“Call me Ardelle. And… I know it’s shameless, but yes, I’ll gladly take some.”

Her ears turned red with embarrassment, being empty-handed, she felt bad even drinking Samson’s water. But she accepted. They needed any food or drink they could get to recover some strength.

Samson shared his water with Ardelle, while Sharhan split his with Lestel. It was barely enough, only a few drops each. Sharhan smacked his lips, then suddenly snapped his fingers.

“Wait, we have the water stone!”

“Water stone? What’s that?”

“Didn’t Derry use it?”

“He can make water with magic. Why would he use it?”

“Can someone explain what a water stone is?!”

Sharhan raised a hand to tell Ardelle to wait and rummaged through the bags. The magic stones were all untouched,?water, heat, even smoke stones.

He’d figured Derry hadn’t used the water stone since he could make water himself, and Ardelle’s wide eyes confirmed she’d never even heard of it.

Over Sharhan’s shoulder, Lestel pointed and said,

“Let’s use the heatstones too.”

“Both?”

“We haven’t gone near fire for days. Everyone’s probably frozen stiff.”

They hadn’t lit a fire since leaving the old couple’s house. Every night, they’d just huddled together to share body heat. But it wasn’t enough to sleep well in the biting cold.

Sharhan nodded and tossed two heat stones. Lestel got up and placed one in each corner of the hut. Ardelle and Samson watched with curiosity.

Then Ardelle crawled toward one of the stones and gasped.

“These are… artifacts?”

“Yeah.”

“You were hiding these?”

“We didn’t hide them. We could use the fireplace back at the villa, and after that… wait, why didn’t we use them?”

“Because I didn’t know we had them.”

“Derry didn’t tell you?”

“No.”

Apparently, since Derry could make fire himself, he hadn’t thought to use the stones. They’d been saved for after they met Iris, but even if Derry had used them for the kids in an emergency, no one would’ve blamed him.

“Ahh… this is nice.”

The warmth wasn’t instant, but it was enough to loosen up their stiff, curled bodies.

Ardelle sat right next to the stone, rubbing her hands to thaw her fingers. Even Samson looked dazed with comfort. For a moment, peace settled over the tiny mountain cabin.