Kingdom's Bloodline, page 413
"You could come to me. I might give you a good price."
Monty's eyes flickered. Thales looked at him soberly. "Remember, this is Thales Jadestar's promise."
Monty did not say a word.
"So, both of you, farewell." The young prince shrugged and smiled with all his teeth at the two men. As he uttered his final words, Thales swung his reins and snapped at the other two horses, chasing them away.
"Hold it!"
Thales' arm paused for a moment.
Monty looked up, panting. "It's very dangerous in the desert. The heat, the lack of water, the sandstorms, getting lost, the enemies; any of these could kill you."
Thales frowned a little.
"Only I know how to get in touch with the person who will receive you from the Secret Intelligence Department." The Raven of Death gritted his teeth and said in a trembling voice, "You could tie me up and take me with you. After all, I'm already badly injured. At least don't leave me here."
Thales sank into deep contemplation for a while as he listened to the Raven of Death. He turned around and gazed southwards. There was only endless rock and barren land on the horizon.
"If you ask me," Nicholas said coldly, "You will definitely die if you enter the Great Desert alone. But with him?" The Star Killer said sarcastically, "You will die in no time."
Monty glowered at him.
"You just said you would give me a good price, didn't you?" The Raven of Death looked at him. "How about we start now?"
Thales let out a sigh. "Alright. Your words have given me pause."
Monty's eyes lit up. However, Thales smiled again.
"But someone once told me that there is a good way to overcome hesitation."
Monty's face tensed.
"That would be..." Thales waved at him happily. "To not give myself any chances to hesitate."
The next moment, Thales snapped the reins and lashed at the horse with a solemn face.
*Gallop, gallop, gallop…*
As the horse galloped onwards, the Prince of Constellation rode off into the neverending horizon, leaving the border of Eckstedt without looking back…
...riding into freedom.
The two men who were left behind were stunned and looked at each other, at a loss for what to do.
A long time seemed to have passed.
Monty inhaled deeply as he dragged his wounded leg. He looked in Nicholas' direction with a serious expression.
"Damn it." Monty looked at the Rising Sun Saber next to Nicholas' feet. He frowned. "So, we have been fooled by a pubescent child?"
The Star Killer looked back at him coldly.
"He is not a pubescent child," Nicholas said in a chilly tone. "Count Lisban once said that, one day, he will be Eckstedt's most formidable enemy."
Monty paused for a while, thoughts running through his mind.
The next moment, while enduring the excruciating pain in his shoulder, Nicholas gathered strength in his legs and kicked the Rising Sun Saber up in the air before catching it with his right hand!
The Raven of Death let out an anguished groan as he watched Nicholas' movements. He collapsed against the rock behind him.
The Star Killer sucked in a deep breath. He moved the golden saber skillfully and with precision, using the hot blade to cut the arrow off to free himself from the rock.
Nicholas gritted his teeth and limped forward.
"Say it, old friend." With his trembling right hand holding the saber, he pointed the weapon at Monty who was on the ground. Nicholas' eyes were filled with complicated emotions. "Would you like to be roasted… or cut alive?"
The Raven of Death stared at him with a miserable look. "Why can't we just—"
"No!" Nicholas moved to the spot in front of Monty and interrupted him curtly.
Monty sighed and closed his eyes as he accepted his fate. Nicholas lifted the saber slowly.
At that exact moment...
*Whoosh!*
The sound of a gust of wind rose. A shadow suddenly appeared behind the Star Killer!
Nicholas's expression changed. He immediately turned around and brandished the saber.
*Shiiing!*
Nicholas was startled. He missed. There was no one behind him. The shadow had disappeared.
'What—'
Before the Star Killer could respond, that shadow re-appeared next to him!
*Bang!*
The Star Killer's arm and the attacker's fist clashed.
The attacker was not fast, but the accuracy and angle of his blow was far beyond what Nicholas expected, especially when it came to his next punch.
*Thud!*
The attacker viciously struck the wound in Nicholas' left arm!
"Urk!" Nicholas gritted his teeth and groaned, his movements frozen. Then, his enemy punched the wound left behind by the arrow in his right chest!
*Clang!*
The Star Killer's arm shuddered and he loosened his grip on the saber. He knelt down on one knee.
Nicholas had no more energy to care about his saber. He took deep breaths. While surprise and anger filled his body, he recognised the enemy before him.
He remembered his attack style, his silhouette, his...
Nicholas suddenly looked up!
"You…"
At that moment, the Star Killer completely lost his composure, and that was something that had never happened to him before. His expression was fierce as he screamed his head off, "YOU!!"
The other person hardly gave a response to this vicious anger, he only shook his head slowly.
"When you eat… you use your right hand, don't you?"
His voice was hoarse, his tone deep and low, as if he was mumbling to himself.
Nicholas was slightly startled. He stared at the person, the resentment and hatred in his eyes could practically fill up the entire world.
He screamed, as though he wanted to scream himself hoarse, "It's you—"
But within the next moment, the enemy's sword struck his temple viciously!
*Thud!*
Nicholas' furious and indignant shouts came to an abrupt halt. Under the heavy blows, the famous Star Killer fell to the ground in a heap and he lost his consciousness, just like that.
As the sun set in the west, the ambusher who defeated Nicholas in one blow slowly turned and faced the Raven of Death.
But at that moment, Monty stared at the person who came forward with a dumbfounded look on his face, as if he had forgotten about the pain in his body.
"You?"
The Raven of Death looked like he had been struck by lightning as he stared dazedly at the guest who had arrived unannounced.
A few seconds later, Monty sighed and closed his eyes. "It's you, huh? When did you arrive?"
The newcomer remained silent and did not speak, neither did he pay any attention to the almost dead Raven of Death. He only lifted his head slowly and looked to the south.
"The first rule," the ambusher said languidly.
Monty opened his eyes swiftly. "What?"
The Raven of Death stared at him in surprise. "Are you saying that you have been tailing us since that moment, and I… didn't even notice?" He began evaluating this person in shock.
The ambusher did not speak, as though he should not speak.
"I get it now." Eventually, Monty sighed and shook his head, like he had been freed of a burden.
"Spiky and the guards he led were hot on our heels, and we could not shake them off no matter what… So it was your doing. You don't have the confidence to defeat me alone," the Raven of Death said dejectedly. "So you intentionally chose not to attack but to lure him to this place to wait for the both of us to wound each other severely."
Monty let out a chuckle like he was mocking himself. He lowered his head dejectedly and no longer spoke.
The ambusher was still silent.
A few seconds later, the unwelcome guest slowly spoke and repeated his first sentence.
"The first rule?"
This time, there was a strange rise at the end of his sentence.
Monty frowned. "What…?"
In the next second, the ambusher suddenly attacked!
*Bang!*
He struck Monty's neck with a knife-hand strike.
Before the Raven of Death could even finish speaking, he already fell to the ground, unconscious.
The ambusher, who had just easily dealt with two of the Five War Generals, did not even cast a glance at Nicholas and Monty lying on the ground. He turned around slowly, and faced south to gaze as far as he could into the distance.
A light breeze blew at him, and his body disappeared into the air.
Chapter 366: Prince in the Deser |
Early morning, somewhere in the desert.
When the first rays of the sun shone on the darkness of the land, a monster, wrapped tightly in thick clothing, moved into its shelter under a huge rock, and climbed up awkwardly.
But it was not a natural awakening.
In the dark, the 'monster' stretched out its thick limbs and yawned exhaustedly. It yanked off the thick cloth over its face and sucked in a deep breath.
It was actually a teenager wrapped under all layers of cloth. While his head was still dazed, he stretched his hands out on the huge rock.
A cold breeze immediately blew past his palm, causing him to shudder.
'So cold.' Thales, who had wrapped himself tightly, shuddered. He rubbed his hands and touched his side. The fire he laboriously lit the day before, using branches and flintstones, had been extinguished at some unknown point in time.
He shook his head with fear lingering in him.
'Next time, I can't spend the night on such a high sand dune, the wind is too strong. And even if I had a rock to shield me from the wind, it didn't work.'
Under the bright sky, the prince leaned against the rock behind him as he thought to himself. He gazed at the endless desert, then spent thirty seconds to clear the sleepy haze from his mind.
During Thales' six years of education in Dragon Clouds City, almost every scholar who had the privilege of visiting Heroic Spirit Palace to teach the two prominent students described the Great Desert as 'hot', 'sunny', and all other words synonymous to those two.
'Damn.' Thales curled into himself and grumbled in his mind. 'They must have only heard rumors.'
The truth was that the desert was only scorching hot half the time. The other half, it was cold enough to store ice or even freeze Thales to death.
'Damn... Serves the Northlanders right for not being able to get into the Great Desert.'
Thales sighed, a well of emotions inside him, and lifted his gaze to stare at the small canyon beneath the giant rock and the endless sand dunes not far away.
Nature was the most wonderful painter. Under the red skyline, the rising and falling sand dunes were golden in color, and their curves were elegant and smooth. It was as though they formed the beautiful curve of a woman's back down to her posterior while she lay on her side. It gave off an indescribable sense of gentleness.
However, only Thales himself knew the merciless truth of this delightful beauty.
When it was sunrise, the chill of the night gradually disappeared, and there were still a few hours left before noon arrived with its scorching heat. This was what little precious time he had to be on his way.
Thales opened the bag and checked his replenishments.
'A piece of dry cheese, two small pieces of bread. As well as… the last waterskin.' He sighed.
Thales pursed his dry lips, endured the slight hunger in his stomach, and stuffed the cheese back into the bag.
He took out what little remained of the bread and chewed on it quietly in the still morning to give himself the energy he needed. He could not eat more until he found the next water source, because it would only make his body consume more water.
When he thought of this, Thales became more stressed.
The prince climbed up and dug a sand pit near the camp. He uncovered a piece of sackcloth and pulled out a few stones from it. He was glad to find that the bottom part of the stone was cold and wet.
The prince happily opened his mouth and sucked the moisture on the surface, treating them as though they were his lovers. It tasted strange, but if he could get a little water from them and did not need to consume his precious water, why should he complain?
The water shortage was not his only threat.
Thales checked the temperature around him, then silently took off the clothes that kept him warm during the night, tied up his luggage, and reached for the embers which only had a little bit of warmth left in them. He smeared the upper half of his face, especially his eyelids, with ash.
When Thales discovered that his vision had turned blurry when he moved for an entire day in the endless desert, the fear and panic in him at that time had been so great that he could practically feel his heart trying to leap out of his chest.
Then he remembered this method. It was said that Northland hunters who stayed outside on the Day Before the Bitter Cold Winter for a long time would occasionally use this trick to avoid snow blindness, and Thales swore on the grounds of his three-day experience in the desert that this method was was equally effective in the desert.
Once Thales finished smearing his face black, he spread out the sackcloth used to gather water and tied it around his head, making sure that every single strand of his hair was wrapped up tightly. Thales did not think that the desert was very hot, even though everyone had told him that the greatest threat in the desert was heat, but once he had his headscarf tied around his head, it was quite useful at shielding him from the sun, serving as a windshield, and for moisturizing purposes.
He carefully examined his outfit from his gaiters to his cuffs. He took out the black cloth Jala gave him and used it as a mask to cover his mouth and nose, exposing only a pair of eyes. He carried his bag and the Crossbow of Time, grabbed two branches which served as staves, then verified that the direction in which the sun rose was to his left.
'May everything go well today. Please let me find a water source… or help.'
He was ready. The prince had wrapped himself up like a surprise gift. He took a deep breath and walked out of the shelter. He could not help but squint as wind and sand immediately blew straight at his face. It brought with it a chill from the night.
Before him was a large sand dune, Thales cautiously bypassed its center, and searched for a path that had a lower incline, which might mean he had to travel a long distance, but it would do. He avoided the wind as far as possible, climbed up the sand dune slowly, and went over it. On the first day he entered the desert, he had foolishly climbed up and down sand dunes in a straight path. After climbing over two sand dunes, he panted and his legs were numb. The current Thales had finally learned his lesson.
*Whoosh… Swoosh… Swoosh…*
The wind blew against his back. Tiny grains of sand hit the sackcloth behind his ear.
Thales, with the support from his staves, moved forward step by step. When he met a high slope, he made a detour, and when he ran into a low slope, he would go over it carefully.
The sun gradually rose and the cold desert slowly warmed up. He occasionally turned and looked around, only to see only yellow sand. He only heard the wind moaning in his ears, and there were no signs of any birds or animals.
The only plants were the low shrubs and willows with roots that ran deep into the ground. They lay on the sand, still and quiet.
Thales was the only person across vast sand dunes and boundless desert. No other person could be seen. Not even animal carcasses or bones could be found. At least that would remind him of the danger here and he could replace his dreariness with wariness.
Thales shook his head and tried to hum a little tune. He thought of some pleasant things. The prince who had been trapped in a cage for six years read a lot of wanderers' journals. He knew that in such an extreme environment, the most fatal thing was not the threats from the world around him, but the mental pressure caused by loneliness and panic.
Nothing could destroy a person more than isolation and loneliness.
This was Thales' fourth day in the desert. He did not know when he had entered the desert.
It seemed that Eckstedt and the City of Faraway Prayers did not draw an obvious boundary to set them apart from the famous Great Desert, such as erecting a border plate that said [Border of Eckstedt] or [Trespassers will be persecuted].
In truth, after the 'happy farewell' with the other two people, Thales rode his horse for a day before he first entered the desert—the Land of Barren Rocks.
There was huge bedrock all over the place. The terrain rose occasionally before it fell, and he was offered a clear view over a very large distance.
There were not many low shrubs, but there were not that few as well. This deceived Thales, making him think that he had yet to reach the Great Desert.
He had to go on. He tore a piece of jerky with his mouth and said to himself that he should be able to find the person who was to receive him at the transition point.
Thanks to Silver Shadowman's blessing, Thales could sense where he was going when he walked on the ground. He headed south all the way, and the slightly taller rock formations in the north slowly disappeared. The number of plants began to decrease, the heat wrought by the sun slowly increased, and his lips became drier day by day.
As he traveled further, he no longer saw barren bedrock, but instead saw gravel of various sizes; from the size of pots to his fist. Fortunately, the quality of the hooves of Northland warhorses were excellent, and Thales was free from the hassle of trudging through the land.
However, as Thales passed a deserted settlement on the road, and shook his head in disappointment when he was faced with an abandoned, dry well, the robust Northland warhorse showed an overwhelming reluctance to continue moving forward.
When it became more and more difficult to control the horse, the second prince suddenly realized something while he had been reciting all his geographical knowledge under his breath the whole way: At that some point of time, he had unknowingly entered a No Man's Land.
Half a day later, instead of wasting his energy dragging a horse that constantly wanted to turn back and forcing it to carry him on his journey, Thales reluctantly took his necessary replenishments and released the horse. He broke two thick branches, sharpened them into staves, used one of them to lift his luggage and the other to help him walk, then with great difficulty, he continued onwards.
