Chapter 10 (1/2)
His foothold was unstable.
The sand continued to billow.
By his side, the ruba that had drawn the cart had collapsed from the weight.
Sohv desperately spurred on the ruba he rode as he reached out for the bit of other. His fingers grazed them. But that was as far as they went.
Following an eerie sound, the ground beneath their feet began to collapse. Together with the luggage cart, Sohv was being swallowed into the sand.
The sand free-fell.
Before he knew it, Sohv had been tossed from his ruba.
It felt like countless hands gripped his legs, and were dragging him to the depths of h.e.l.l. Did something await him down there? Just imagining it sent a tremble down his spine.
The cloud of sand blocked his vision. To protect himself from swallowing it, Sohv frantically moved his arms to pull the cloth around his neck up as far as his nose.
After who knew how many prayers to the G.o.d of the Earth, Karan, the sand finally stopped its movements.
Although he was buried to the chest in sand, he just barely succeeded in freeing his right arm. But just that much wouldn’t free him from the earth. Struggling to get out had simply sent him further down.
Now that the sand cloud had settled, the cart was immediately visible. It had been half swallowed in the tumult earlier, but the luggage portion covered by the canopy was unharmed. As for the front of the cart, the ruba attached there was giving its all to crawl out of the sand. As for his other ruba, it was pacing about restlessly beside him.
A relieved sigh left his mouth.
Looking around to survey the situation, he found a wall of sand all around him. But when he looked upwards, he found a blue sky. Sohv was at the bottom of a mortar made from the earth.
Just how would he climb out from here? Or would it be better to wait until somebody noticed and rescued him?
While he was running these ideas through his head, the cart ruba placed a forefoot atop the sand.
Sohv responded by immediately gripping a wheel just as the ruba crawled out of the sand. The ruba pulled on the cart, and Sohv’s body began to leave the earth as well. He somehow managed to get out as far as his knees. But that was when the cart stopped moving.
What’s going on?
Looking up, he found that the ruba was on its knees, blood running from its neck.
A weak cry reached his ears.
Just what on earth had happened?
Sohv simply watched in a daze as the ruba’s life extinguished.
*imouto*
It was only the other day that a new king was crowned in Yohk’Zai.
With the backing of Prime Minister Teo Keh, the nation which had been on the brink of civil war was seized in the blink of an eye by the new king. Even despite the huge numbers of those dissatisfied by his sudden appearance, and those who questioned his origins.
No sooner had King Huuron ascended to the throne did he begin to reform the military.
He gave focus to those with real ability. Those who refused to obey were forcefully replaced. In this manner, he spread his influence into every corner of the military, and with this army as his support, he placed a lid on the dissent towards him.
So striking was his rise to power that there were even jokes about him being the second coming of Founding King Tenuhg.
In about the span of the year, he tidied away problems of the other successor candidates. And at the end of that year, just as Yohk’Zai had gained a strong king again, and finally seemed to see a future again, a messenger from the neighbouring Ii’Jibro arrived.
That nation Ii’Jibro had once had strong trade and exchange with Yohk’Zai, but as Yohk’Zai met its decline, so had their exchanges.
The messenger brought with him a letter from the Queen.
She congratulated the new king on his ascendancy, and stated her desires to begin trading again. In order to work out the details, she wished to meet him in person. Although it would be impolite to ask him to come, as a woman a long journey would be rough on her body, and so she wished strongly that he would come to Ii’Jibro. So said the letter.
Her nation produced so many moon stones that its luminance rivalled the night sky, and was a large country that ruled the half of the Central Plains. There was no reason to put off diplomacy with them.
However, as a newly reborn country, it would not do for Yohk’Zai’s king to be absent. Thus, Prime Minister Teo Keh insisted that he would be going himself. He was stopped by King Huuron however, and in the end Huuron was the one who headed to Ii’Jibro.
At this moment, his troop was in the middle of their journey.
Rare for the time of year, they met no sandstorms and made great time. It was likely that they would arrive at the borders a full day earlier. Given that it would Sohv’s first time in another nation, he was bracing himself for anything.
When they had first pa.s.sed Ii’Jibro’s borders, they found that it was desert just like Yohk’Zai. As they continued in, just as they were musing about the rocky areas they were beginning to see, these areas became larger and larger, and by midday the gargantuan boulders were large enough that they had to crane their necks to look.
On the other hand, it was still more desert beneath their feet, and Sohv wondered in mystery as to why these boulders didn’t sink over time.
It was just as they were pa.s.sing by a few of these megaliths that something abnormal occurred.
Even though there was no wind, the sand began to move.
The sound of the breeze pa.s.sing through the boulders sounded like the cries of the d.a.m.ned, somebody said.
Unease spread through the soldiers, and order was beginning to collapse.
One of the carts at the end of the line was moving particularly slowly, and by the time Sohv realised, he had begun to run.
And then, Sohv was swallowed by the sand…
*imouto*
Blood flowed endlessly from the ruba’s neck, and dyed the sand red.
Even forgetting to pull out his legs from the sand, Sohv who had been focused on the ruba suddenly noticed writhing in the sand nearby, and drew his sword in preparation.
An unpleasant grating sound rang out, followed by a dent in the sand.
Sohv gulped.
From the hole appeared a huge insect. From its head forked two large horns, and on their inner side projected a number of sharp spikes.
Getting caught between them equated to death.
With his sword still brandished, Sohv tried to remove his feet from the sand, just before the insect turned its focus from the cart to him.
He felt a cold sweat run down his back.
Suddenly.
-garari-
A pleasant noise sounded from behind him, and warm steam flowed through the air.
With his sword still pointed at the insect, Sohv turned his head back, and his eyes widened.
Was this a waking dream caused by his fear?
Or was this some phantom of a mirage?
At either rate, it was impossible for it to be reality. Because the scene in front of him was even more unbelievable than the enormous insect; it was the sudden appearance of some naked woman.
“What the heck is that…?”
And finally the illusion was complete with auditory hallucinations.
“h.e.l.l if I know.”
Although he knew that it was all a phantasm, he found himself answering due to how real the woman’s voice sounded.
“It’s kinda… insect-y, hey?”
“Yeah, but the size is ridiculous.”
“Are you being attacked?”
“It seems like I’m being attacked.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you ran?”
“I can’t. I’m protecting the cart. It’s the presents that we painstakingly gathered for Ii’Jibro. We cannot lose it.”
“Think you can win?”
“h.e.l.l if I know!” he replied roughly to the somewhat carefree woman’s question.
Right now wasn’t the time to be answering the idiotic questions of a hallucination.
The insect moved its six multi-jointed legs to approach.
The woman behind him muttered “…whoa, that’s grotesque”.
Little by little, little by little, the insect continued to bridge the gap, before stopping. Or so he thought, when it suddenly closed the remaining distance in one leap and attacked him.
“UWAAAAAAAAAAH!”
“GYAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Sohv screamed, and the illusion’s overlapped his.
As he screamed, he swung his sword from low to high. However. It was a moment too early.
The sword only severed a single one of its legs, and it landed right before him.
“NOOOOOOOOOO!” once more screamed the phantasm from the rear.
Something flew past his ear.
It was a ball made from a vividly coloured cloth. The cloth ball had struck the insect dead-on, and from inside some kind of powder had flown out.
And although he didn’t know why, when the powder scattered, the insect let out an anguished cry from its whole body, as though it was about to die.
“N-, Now! Come on, now! Finish it!”
Coming back to his senses, Sohv thrust his sword into its back.
After pa.s.sing through a tough sh.e.l.l, he could feel soft meat from the tip of his sword.
The insect started to retreat. Sohv tried to withdraw his sword, but he was too slow, and the grip parted from his hands.
“Ahhhh… What the heck are you doing!” scolded the illusion.
Feeling an odd sort of unfairness about this situation, he took a step forward to try and retrieve his sword.
It was at that moment when from the rim of the ma.s.sive hole he was in, blue cloth billowed in the air, as somebody jumped right in.
Landing inside, and sliding down the sand to the very base, the newcomer ran as he drew his sword, and cut down the insect from behind.
“King!”
Together with the scream, soldier after soldier descended into the hole. When about ten of them had entered, the commander at the rim stopped the rest of the soldiers.
As for the ones inside, they had already stabbed towards the near-dead insect, and it was finally finished off.
The blue man who had been first to jump in turned his gaze towards Sohv.
Sohv audibly gulped.
Before the man’s sharp gaze, Sohv couldn’t manage to remain calm.
The man removed the navy overcoat that adorned his back, and approached.
But he pa.s.sed by Sohv, and continued further behind.
“It’s been a while. Very nice get-up as usual, but unfortunately it’s bad for soldiers fresh from a fight.”
“It’s been a while. …It’s not like I’m naked because I want to be, though.”
When Sohv turned around, he found that the man in blue―――King Huuron, had draped his overcoat around the illusion… or rather, the woman that he had mistaken for an illusion.
“Thanks.”
The woman gave a light bow.