Sweating and panting profusely, a purple-haired boy was scurrying through the moonless woods, looking back once every few seconds at the ill-lit bushes, which orchestrated a sinister symphony as initiated by the heartless gale. Something stocky and stalwart ferreted out his footsteps stealthier than a leopard and pruned the distance while leaving less to no traces.
Blinded by the unnerving darkness and his own heartbeat echoing in ears, the battered boy bumped into numerous trunks but adeptly rolled past them. Tiny roots and broad branches tested his luck, but they failed to make his four limbs touch the ground simultaneously. In case they succeeded, whatever was hounding him would succeed in its attempt at clutching him in a fatal grip.
Out of breath, huffing and puffing like a dog trying to escape a never-ending maze riddled with dog-killers and those who owned them, his panicky eyes would invite ruth in many a heart.
His entire dress soaked in sweat, and in tatters, exposed the bruises that blemished his body as droplets of blood unceasingly leaked down from his brow ridge and blinded one of his eyes.
Enlivened by the opening of the window of opportunity, the trunks, roots, and branches now cackled in a cacophonous breeze that birthed the raspy rustling of leaves and grating din of branches.
His eyes caught sight of strange flashing lights now and then, but he had no time to think much less change his course to investigate.
In sooth, the star-crossed fellow was Burton.
Not many forests could affright him, but these woods were outlandish, for the grieving winds tingled his skin, and the crispy melodies of the leaves stirred his soul into a frenzy. The sounds his ears discerned weren’t the natural sounds of the wild. As far as his eyes could see or ears could hear, no squirrels scurried through the foliage, no crows cawed, no birds trilled, no frogs croaked, no crickets chirped, no snakes hissed, but there was this imperceptible sonance that originated from an obscure source and in turn weakened his knees.
However, the possessor of the heart that roughened up from bearing the hopes of his father and his clan, in particular, was not an easy game even for the dreary woods.
With no time to respire or ruminate, his entire focus was on nothing else but doing a vanishing act from all the things that put him off his stroke in an iteration.
For all his efforts, escaping out of the woods appeared beyond belief with no end in sight.
More bumping, and more tripping—ever incessant—made the blaring growls reach his ears and spread dread to the whole of his body. Nature struck him as another foe.
The two opponents were too strapping, and all he hoped for was a bit of control over his own thoughts and emotions, to figure things out.
As the wind grew wilder by the second and the cardinal silhouette behind him got closer and closer, he caught a glimpse of a sparkling golden light ahead floating in midair. His feet picked up the pace by instinct as he ran ahead. The silhouette chasing him streaked faster as well. Just as Burton got closer, he saw that the sparkling golden light was actually a tiny floating bell. Without a second thought, he jumped at it.
When Burton’s hand was about to touch the bell, the silhouette just reached the spot with a sweeping slash that ended up barely tearing through Burton’s cloth as he got sucked away by the bell.
In Burton’s room, 10-K41.
Burton fell on his butt. As he realized where he was, he kept chewing on something that was in his mouth, even though his heart still pounded erratically. His body was still hot. “That damn thing, and that milkwoman—whoever she was,” he looked at the book and quickly threw it aside. “I almost got killed because of that bell or whatever it was.” He shook his head and then stared at the book in disquiet. “That fellow who gave this to me, what was his goal? To kill me?” he went into deep thought while chewing gum that he had taken before he got sucked in by the bell.
A few seconds later, he looked at his arms and puzzled. He touched his face, but there was no blood. His body wasn’t covered in sweat as it should be. He also just realized that he stopped panting soon after he escaped out of that place. There weren’t even any cut wounds on his back. The only thing that remained the same was his heartbeat. “What’s going on?”
On the other hand, inside the room no 10-K42, Sariyu was immersed in reading the guidebook, especially on a particular page comprised of poesy.
“A poem about how the founder of the Shambala Sect used to be, huh… It’s wonderful, but what does it mean by he used to be?” Sariyu found it hard to breathe. “He’s like Uncle Sinario, one of the most committed guys I’ve known, but father’s commitment doesn’t even come close.” She couldn’t help but pity her own father, Kwame.
At someplace else on the same deck.
“Whew... I’ve finally found it.” Lirzod managed to come out of the maze-like corridors and stepped out into the open segment, seemingly exposed by the weather. “It should be morning now, but it’s so dark out here. It’s like night. Must be the work of the fog. I hope I find those mounts.” His eyes looked for two beings, and after a quick scan, he found those. “Good, they are sleeping.” His eyes lit up as he sneakily crouched on the floor, making sure no eyes caught his movements and hid in a small haystack situated right beside a stable.
He threw the sandwiches toward the foal from before. The foal was sleeping, so it had no idea even though food ended up not far away from its mouth.
His eyes locked on the two white horses, and when he saw those two horses bullying another horse, his eyes flickered with a threatening light. “Those two horses are unbelievable. I only wanted to scare them a bit, but they are asking for a long lesson.” Just as he was about to step out, the sound of footsteps reached his ears, making him pull back his foot.
“Uhm, the weather is so cold today. Is this the fourth time?” a man came in Lirzod’s direction, his eyes almost closed.
Who’s this chicken-head? Lirzod didn’t make a sound. Is he sleepwalking?
The man stopped a couple of feet away from Lirzod and unzipped his pants, sending chills down Lirzod’s spine. He froze like a chicken in the process of laying an egg.
After the salt stream had missed him by a few feet and fell on the grass instead, he sighed in relief. However, the sound made by the stream, as it soaked the dried grass of the haystack, entered his ears, he wanted to clamp them, but he couldn’t.
In a few seconds, the guy made himself scarce as driven by a strange song and a dance that resembled a drunken donkey.
“I come. You come. We come. How come?
He comes. She comes. They come. How come?
Yes, come. No, come. Well, come. How come?
Who comes? What comes? When come? How come?”
Lirzod paid no mind to the ramblings and mumblings of the man and quickly shifted places, distancing himself from the stained spot. He quietly waited for a few minutes, and because the dried grass scraped some parts of his skin during his shift, it itched at various places. He passed some more time in scratching.
Only after making sure that nobody was around, he came out and entered the stable. The three white horses were nearby, and he could tell one apart from another just by their faces, as two of them had ridiculously long faces while the one that messed with Burton had a relatively shorter face.
He ignored the one that kicked Burton and stopped behind the remaining two, which were readying themselves for a sleep. “Want to sleep happily after kicking me and my friend?” His head moved smoothly in random directions before he bent down and tied the tails of the two horses in multiple knots.
As he was busy in that process, two people entered the Exterior Slice and kept looking around. It took them no time to locate Lirzod. “Why did he come here?” Younger Darling sneered, ‘And what’s he doing there? Collecting poop?” he glanced at his brother. “Want me to handle him?”
“No. Let’s see what he’s up to,” Elder Darling looked up toward the distant figurehead of the ship. “We must be careful, in case, if that woman’s here.”
“Mm,” Younger Darling nodded, blowing out a not-so noisy breath.
The two brothers had asked random people about the direction Lirzod went, and as someone who held two sandwiches in his hand, Lirzod was noticed by many eyes. It was a surprise that none had tried to snatch them.
Lirzod finished in tying up the tails, but after looking at the horses, he sighed. Damn, these horses look really cool. I want to ride them. He shook his head. No. What am I thinking? Remember what you came here for, Lirzod! Thanks to keeping his feelings in check, he was able to move away. Just like he entered earlier, he came out of the stable in the same manner and again hid in the haystack. He wasted no time to pull tiny things out of his pocket, each of which was wrapped in colored paper. His eyes widened and took in light. It’s time to dance!
He tossed one of them, and it hit the floor behind the two horses with a bang. Like spring chickens, the three horses bounced off their bellies and out of their sleep. Another bang resounded at their feet, and pint-sized sparks and strangulating smoke spread out, scaring the living daylights out of the horses. Above all, the particular two-of-the-three horses danced to the tunes set by Lirzod, who kept throwing things from his hidden spot. Having their tails tied to one another, their bodies nastily bumped into each other, furthering them to kick each other with their rear limbs, and the side-splitting show they put exercised two lips, a jaw, and an almost satiated pair of eyes.
“Why’s he throwing firecrackers at horses?” Younger Darling had a blank face.
It wasn’t just the three horses, but the ones in the other stables awoke and flummoxed from the hassle at hand.
“Oh, no!” Lirzod was startled. “I didn’t want to disturb the other horses.” He stopped throwing crackers right away.
However, even though the sounds were not loud enough to be heard from hundreds of meters, their repetition combined with the neighs reached some human ears and forced them to gain consciousness.
“What’s with the smoke? Did some punk light a cigar nearby?”
Some made their way to the ruckus-running spot in haste, forcing Lirzod to hide a bit deep.
By the time men reached the spot, all they could see were a couple of sparks here and there, but lots of smoke still spread in a zigzag fashion. And to add to their confusion, two horses were at war.
“What the hell happened here?” they split into groups and focused on different elements to consider.
“Crackers?” Seeing the torn paper and dark powder imprints on the floor, some men found out the cause without a fuss, while others helped the horses regain their composure.
“So these things made the noises? No wonder the horses were thrown into chaos.”
The men tried to calm the horses down. “Why the heck are their tails knotted into a mess?”
“How would I know? Let’s just get on with this and sleep.”
“Are you kidding? Someone did a number on these salient horses. If we don’t find the brain behind this, our minds won’t have peace.”
The other guy got startled. “Yeah, you might be right. My bad.” There were many cases where entries or hollows secretly kidnapped horses for various reasons. If a horse went missing, the guards were forced to pay the worth of the horse in coins. On the ship, the worth of any pure white horse was its weight in silver.
As they did their work, Lirzod’s lips curled down, but then he felt a bit relieved. It’s over, finally. “Hmm?” At that moment, he glanced down diagonally and saw a minikin amount of smoke coming out from a spot on the haystack. The next second, his eyes enlarged, then his chest shrank. You’ve gotta be kidding me. He wanted to come out, but if he did, he would be found out. If he didn’t, however, the fire might roast him alive.
Before he could come to a decision, the fire grew in size and spread at speed. “Oi, look! Fire!” In no time, it caught many people’s eyes. There wasn’t much water nearby, other than the Dyed Splurge—a drink made from the washing of rice or curry bowls and leftover food—typically fed to cattle. Because there wasn’t even soil underneath their feet, everyone was forced to throw buckets of Dyed Splurge on the haystack. Worry could be seen on their faces, which came from both smelling that thing and from the thought of paying for the haystack.
However, their efforts went in vain as the fire didn’t die down, and the haystack made strange cracking noises muffled by the dry grass.
At this point, all the actions of the men slowed down. It was but a small haystack, one among dozens, that they were trying to stop from spreading the fire. Adding fuel to their thoughts, the Dyed Splurge almost finished, leaving people with no other choice but to watch with covered noses as the red blazes rose high into the air, lighting up the locality.
A silhouette slipped past those men and stopped only a couple of feet away from the haystack where the Dyed Splurge hadn’t spoiled the floor. With a wave of the arm, the fire died down almost instantly.
“Madam Stussy!” Tens of the workers who had gathered there by then got down to one of their knees. “Please forgive us just this once.”
“I’ll overlook it this time.” Her voice was obscured by the kerchief masking her nose and mouth. “All of you go and bring enough water to clean this place to the fullest extent,” she coldly glanced at the men, implanting shivers through the whole of their bodies. Worsted by worry, they abruptly left in a disordered fashion to bring back water. Her arrival simmered down the horses as well.
After everyone left the proximity, Stussy stared at the ashen-turned haystack for a moment before turning away. “Do you like the stench that much?”
Silence replaced every sound in the vicinity for the next few seconds.
Lirzod came out of the haystack, covered in the slimy Dyed Splurge, magnifying the malodor of the surroundings. With burning cheeks, teary eyes, and trembling chin, he ran straight at Stussy. “Miss Snow White! I thought I was going to die!” His arms spread wide open, trying to envelop her in a hermetic bind; however, his arms ended up curling around nothing but air. “Hmm?” Lirzod, still showering sadness out of his face, looked around until he caught sight of Stussy, who was standing a few meters away from him.
“Don’t come near me.” Her voice was cold. Lirzod forced out a smile and nodded as his feet came to a halt. “Good. Now tell me, what are you doing here?”
“I... I came for the horses, but I also came to meet you, of course,” Lirzod hurriedly answered, which made some of the slimy liquid enter his mouth. He spat ten times in the next three seconds.
“Why?”
“Just to ask if you’ve tasted any of the food I left or not.” His stomach churned as his eyes absorbed her image; however, the smell on his skin didn’t let him slip into a dream, while still standing.
“Would you have come out if I hadn’t stopped the fire?” Stussy’s tone contained wonder.
“This stuff, even Gouse wouldn’t eat this,” Lirzod shook his head as he rubbed the Dyed Splurge off his clothes. His eyes glowed as he looked at her, and the line made by his lips curled up at its corners. “I knew you would come and save me.”
“Is that why you kept throwing firecrackers into the fire?” Stussy narrowed her eyes.
Lirzod coughed, and his spine bent from the stroke. She noticed that! Clearing his throat, he clutched his chest and stood straight. “Those guards were trying to put down the fire, so I was left with no choice. And of course, if you hadn’t come out in time, I would have gotten out sooner or later.”
“No choice?” she raised her brows.
“I didn’t know whether they’ll allow me to meet you or not,” Lirzod shrugged.
“Is that all? Then what about the horses?”
All the lingering glow on Lirzod’s face vanished. She saw everything! His heartbeat went up and down in ways it never did before, while his hands covered his face.
“What are you doing?” Stussy leaked out a tight smile. “Stop fooling around, or I’ll throw you in the ocean, I swear.”
Lirzod’s chest pained and made him unable to speak. Seeing the girl smiling yet speaking in such a manner, reminded him of many girls whom he failed to get on his side. The thought alone raced his heartbeat and choked him. His feet rooted at the spot, he didn’t know how to react.
“Don’t doubt if I’ll do that or not,” Stussy took a step forward, her gaze darting at him. “I mean everything I meant.”
Lirzod took a step back, his limbs flailing and heart nearly exploding.
Meanwhile, in one of the corridors, the emotion-exuding Darling Twins were walking away in a hurry, leaving transparent traces of sweat behind.
“We just narrowly escaped with our lives!” Younger Darling sweated profusely from every pore on his body. “Even commanders can’t get an audience with that woman easily. How come that little runt knows her of all people? I can’t believe we almost picked a fight with the wrong person for a mere couple of sandwiches.”
“The Egg God left our side a little while, that’s why,” Elder Darling’s voice wasn’t as shaky as his brother’s, yet his heartbeat still rang in his ears. Though he was willing to take his chances, he lost it when Stussy briefly looked in his direction. Just remembering that moment gave him chills. “In any case, forget about that fool for now, and let’s take care of that Lirzod and get the hell out of this deck.”
“Yeah. Our deck is the safest spot for us.”
Their feet picked up the pace and headed toward the destination that was somewhere on the tenth deck. They may just be dashing away, but to the onlookers, it seemed like they were dancing, thanks to the jiggling fat on their bodies. It drove them into soundless laughter. To their luck, the brothers’ attention never turned to them.
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