Chapter 134: Chapter 134 - Road To West ( Part 2 )
The morning crept silently.
Sunlight started slipping through the tall cedars, covering the whole campsite with the bright golden glow. Dewdrops sparkled on grass blades like a thousand diamonds before melting in the fog.
Jennie was already awake.
As always.
She sat close to the fading fire, carefully making tea in the small iron pot.
The scent of mountain herbs filled the air.
Excalibur and Leviathan, still hanging on her waist, whispered to Jennie.
"You barely slept again."
Jennie smiled faintly.
"I slept enough."
"Three hours."
"I’ve had less."
"That isn’t anything to be proud of."
Jennie only laughed.
Snow was still curled into the big ball in the camp.
Only his tail peeked out under the white coat.
Jennie poked him with a stick.
"Morning."
No reaction.
She tried to wake him up again.
"Snow."
Nothing happened.
Finally...
She waved a strip of dried meat right in front of Snow’s nose.
His ears twitched immediately.
"...I am awake now."
Jennie couldn’t help smiling.
"You were pretending."
"I was meditating."
"You were snoring."
"My meditation is very advanced."
Jennie raised her eyes.
"You drooled."
"...That was unintentional."
A quiet chuckle was heard from behind.
Both turned.
Roxy had just come out from her blanket.
For a moment...
Seeing Snow being caught red-handed in another shameful lie...
She smiled naturally.
"There he is," Jennie thought.
"That is the Roxy I know."
But the smile on her face disappeared quickly...
Replaced by thoughtful silence.
Jennie noticed it.
She said nothing.
After eating, they packed and went further to the west.
The forest became thinner.
Instead of it, there were gigantic mountains going beyond the horizon.
Their tops seemed to reach the clouds.
Waterfalls ran down the steep cliffs like silvery ribbons.
Old pine forests grew on nearly perpendicular slopes.
The air got colder each hour.
Snow took a deep breath.
"I missed it."
"Do you like mountains?" Jennie asked.
"I like the cold."
"The colder, the better."
He stretched leisurely.
"This almost reminds me of home."
Jennie looked around.
"It doesn’t look like a place where people can settle in."
Snow shrugged.
"Humans are strange."
"They tend to create villages where monsters would like to live."
"True."
Roxy kept walking several paces behind.
Her gaze was glued to the mountains.
Each turn of the road...
Each cliff...
Each stream...
Filling her heart with increasing excitement.
Jennie noticed that Roxy had become strangely quiet.
She even stopped humming to herself.
Somewhere in the middle of the day they came to the old stone bridge going over the crystal river.
Time had washed away most of the stone.
Flowers were blooming between its cracks.
Several stones fell into the rapid water underneath.
Jennie stepped onto the bridge first.
Snow went next.
Halfway...
They saw that Roxy had stopped.
She stood motionlessly at the entrance.
Her gaze was fixed on the bridge.
Almost...
Like she had seen it somewhere before.
Jennie went back.
"Roxy?"
The young mage blinked.
"...Sorry."
"I was distracted."
She rushed across the bridge.
But while crossing the weathered stone railings...
She unconsciously touched them with her fingers.
Gently.
Like caressing an old friend.
Jennie watched quietly.
She recognized that gesture.
People touch things only when they are associated with some memories.
The travel went on.
The mountain road went through the forests covered with emerald and gold colors.
Deer were silently watching them from the treetops and then disappeared among the bushes.
Birds were circling far above.
Streams crossed the road each couple of hundred meters.
Everything seemed to be quite peaceful.
However...
The silence around Roxy only grew.
Several hours later they reached the hill over the wide valley.
There were dozens of abandoned cottages down below.
Broken fences.
Collapsing roofs.
Fields overgrown with wild flowers.
Snow looked around.
"Abandoned village."
Jennie nodded.
"Many villages vanished after the Great Demon War."
"The survivors went somewhere else."
Roxy quietly whispered:
"...Not all of them."
Jennie almost wanted to ask what she meant.
But...
She just looked at the valley.
Sometimes, silence is much kinder than curiosity.
When the afternoon was approaching, clouds gathered in the sky.
Cold winds blew from the mountains.
Jennie drew her cloak tightly.
She looked sideways.
Roxy’s hands were shaking.
Not because of the cold.
The shaking was so little.
Almost imperceptible.
But Jennie could notice it.
Because warriors learn to notice everything.
Every movement.
Every breath.
Every heartbeat.
Without saying a word, she slowed her pace.
Soon...
She found herself walking side by side with Roxy, instead of in front of her.
Neither of them said anything.
Just the steady rhythm of their footsteps was filling the air.
After several silent minutes...
Jennie gently offered a small piece of dried fruit.
Roxy looked at it questioningly.
"Hm?"
"You didn’t eat your dessert this morning."
Roxy blinked.
"...Really?"
Jennie smiled.
"You are always stealing mine."
"I don’t."
"You absolutely are."
"I... just..."
Roxy tried to find an excuse.
"...redistribute food."
Jennie chuckled softly.
"So this is how you call it now."
"It is friendship."
Snow spoke without turning around.
"It is definitely theft."
Roxy pouted.
"I liked you when you were sleeping."
"I heard that."
"I wanted you to."
For the first time that day...
Genuine smile appeared on Roxy’s face.
It stayed there only for a few seconds.
But Jennie considered those few seconds a triumph.
While the road was getting higher, the landscape became more familiar for Roxy.
She recognized the strangely-shaped boulder standing by the roadside.
The old watermill with a broken wheel.
Tree, split by the lightning long ago.
Her pace slowed down.
Again.
And again.
Finally...
She stopped completely.
Jennie turned around.
Roxy was looking at the distant mountains.
Her eyes were unfocused.
Like she was seeing something that others couldn’t see.
Memory.
Voice.
Home.
Jennie quietly walked back to her.
She stood beside Roxy.
Not in front of her.
Not behind her.
Beside.
The two just looked at the mountains.
Without questions.
Without pressure.
Only companionship.
After a long time...
Roxy took a deep breath.
"...Thank you."
Jennie tilted her head.
"For what?"
"For..."
Roxy looked aside.
"...Nothing."
Jennie smiled gently.
"If you say so."
She didn’t ask about the meaning of the words.
She didn’t need to.
Sometimes, gratitude isn’t for doing something.
Sometimes...
It is for staying.
The three travelers continued their way towards the mountains.
With every mile they crossed, the memories of Roxy became clearer, and the way ahead was no longer the journey into unknown land.
It was a slow, inevitable return home.
The western road gradually fell into silence with every new kilometer of travel.
The afternoon sun silently hid behind the mountains, leaving long shadows to fall along the path made of ancient stones. The thick cedar and pine forest enveloped travelers from all sides, rustling gently with the help of cold wind of the mountains.
Mist started falling down from the tops of the mountains.
At first, it was barely visible layer covering the road.
Then...
It started getting thicker.
Within minutes, it filled everything around travelers with pale gray.
Except for the sound of steps crushing the ground and of rustling leaves.
Snow frowned.
"This mist..."
"It’s normal."
"But too dense."
Jennie nodded.
"It looks like mountains hide something here."
Roxy was silent.
Her eyes never tore away from the road in front of her.
Every step she took was more and more difficult.
Jennie gave her a sidelong look.
Roxy’s breath started becoming unstable.
She gripped her wooden staff harder and harder.
But she kept going.
No one said anything.
Even Snow, who constantly complained, walked silently behind them.
The very mountain was trying to keep the silence.
One hour later...
The narrow road passed around the side of rocky mountain.
The mist became so dense that Jennie could hardly see in ten meters ahead of herself.
Subconsciously she put one hand on the silver hairpin hidden in her hair.
Excalibur whispered inside her thoughts.
"Be careful."
"Are you sensing any monsters?"
"No."
"What else then?"
There was a pause.
"Memories."
Jennie blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"The places store the memories of people."
"Some of the memories leave deeper scars than any sword."
Jennie silently looked at Roxy.
Unconsciously...
Young mage had stopped almost completely.
Wind shifted.
Powerful wind gust fell down from the top of the mountain.
The thick mist parted like curtains.
Beyond them...
The valley could be seen.
Located between towering gray mountains was located small village.
With its stone houses having dark slate roof the village hung on the mountainside.
Thick smoke lazily rose from some chimneys.
In the middle of the settlement there was a small river crossing it, spanned by two old stone bridges.
Behind the village were thousands of abandoned mine openings carved in the mountainside.
Rusty cars of mine were resting silently on the broken rail tracks.
Big wood cranes, corroded by time, were leaning dangerously on one side.
The place was old.
Poor.
Forgotten.
But surprisingly peaceful in the evening.
Golden beams of the setting sun fell between the mountains, flooding the little village with warm amber light.
It was beautiful.
Lonely...
But beautiful.
Jennie silently observed the scenery.
"What a secret place..."
Snow silently narrowed his eyes.
"So this is..."
Before he had managed to finish...
He was interrupted by a soft voice.
"...Home."
Jennie instantly turned.
Roxy was completely petrified.
Her eyes were glued to the village lying below.
She was not blinking.
Her lips were trembling.
Her staff was slipping from her fingers.
"...Home."
She repeated the word.
This time...
Even softer.
As if saying it too loud will destroy illusion before her.
Jennie’s face softened.
"So..."
"This is your birthplace."
Roxy did not reply.
She could not.
The memories flooding her mind did not leave any space for the words.
She recognized everything.
The river where she used to catch tiny fishes with her own bare hands.
The windmill which never worked properly.
The crooked chimney leaning besides the bakery.
The little hill where children used to race at the festivals during spring.
Although many years have passed...
Nothing disappeared from her heart.
She simply buried it.
Now...
All the memories started flooding her at once.
Like a torrent bursting a dam.
Snow silently walked besides Jennie.
Neither of them spoke.
Neither interrupted.
The two simply looked at Roxy.
After long silence Snow whispered,
"You didn’t know."
Jennie silently shook her head.
"No."
"And you?"
Snow looked at the village.
"She never told me."
Jennie dropped her gaze.
"She was smiling."
Snow nodded.
"Sometimes..."
"The most happy people smile the brightest, because they don’t want anyone to see how much they’re suffering."
Jennie remained silent.
She understood these words better than anyone.
Once...
Leonis was smiling before every battle.
Not because he was not scared.
But because everyone else was looking to him for courage.
Sometimes...
The smile was not happiness.
It was armor.
She looked at Roxy.
For the first time since their meeting...
That armor was starting to crack.
The evening wind brought ordinary sounds from the village.
The ringing of blacksmith’s hammer.
Laughter of children nearby the river.
Barking of a dog somewhere far.
Ordinary sounds.
Simple sounds.
But every of them pierced Roxy’s heart like an arrow.
Tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.
She quickly wiped them off so that anyone would not see them.
Jennie pretended not to notice.
She just moved forward until she stood next to Roxy.
Not too close.
Not too far.
Just close enough to say without words...
You are not alone.
After several long minutes, Jennie finally said.
"We should find the inn before it will get dark."
Her voice was calm.
Soft.
Giving Roxy an excuse to move forward without forcing her into a conversation.
Roxy slightly nodded.
"...Yeah."
She took one hesitant step.
Then another.
Every step towards the village was becoming heavier than previous one.
As if she was not moving towards a place...
She was returning to the life she had lost.
When three travelers went down from the mountain road, neither of them noticed an old wooden sign which was standing next to the entrance to the valley.
Time had erased almost all the letters on it.
Only one word could be barely readable under the moss.
Ashvale.
The village from which Roxy had fled as a little child...
Finally accepted her back into it.
And somewhere behind its silent streets was hidden the secret of that night.
