Six Of Foxes (Six Foxes)

The Reader 3

The storm came, and the ship was like a toy in a tub. Torn sailcloth, ropes that crisscross each other, and screaming passengers.

    The reader remembers the darkness under the water, the cold, the silence in the depths. At the next moment, the Reader appeared on the surface while flapping and spitting out salt water. Someone clasped his chest and they were moving through the water. The cold temperature was unbearable, but somehow he was still able to live.

     "Let's get up, you little blob of muscle." Clear and fluffy Barchen language, as if spoken by the tongue of nobility. The reader turned and was shaken when he saw that the young witch they had captured on the west coast of Mudik Island was holding her and muttering in her own Juwel language. He knew that the girl was not a real Knuddelbanger. Somehow the girl was able to get out of the cage and the shackles. The reader panics and, if he were not shaken or numb, he would have thrashed.

    "Move," the girl stinged in the language of Barchen. "For the sake of Goddess Shi, how much is your body weight?"

    The girl was tired, swimming around while jumping the weights of the two of them. The girl saved his life. Wh why?

    The reader kicks their feet while pushing them forward. To his surprise, he heard the girl slowly getting along. "Thank you to the Saints" said the girl. "Let's go swimming, you stupid giant."

    "Where are we?" ask Reader.

    "I don't know" replied the girl. The reader could hear the horror in his voice.

    The reader kicks his foot to get away from the witch.

    "Don't!" screech the girl. "Don't let go."

    However, Reader pedals strongly and releases him from the wizard's grasp. As soon as Reader was freed from the girl's embrace, the cold instantly ambushed her. The girl apparently used her momentary magic to warm the Reader's body. Reader reached out to reach the girl in the darkness.

    "Sikir?" call him shivering, ashamed of his fear and his voice. The word means witch in the language of Barchen, but she has no other nickname for the young woman.

    "Dushenka!" the witch shouted, the young woman swam to the Reader spot and felt her fingers coming into contact with the girl's hand in the dark black water. The reader grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her closer. The body of the youngster is not warm, but once they are connected, the pain recedes in the Reader's arms and legs. Gratitude and disgust instantly gripped him.

    "We have to find land" the girl stinged. "I can't swim and defend both of our hearts."

    "Let me swim" said Reader. "You're the one who swims." The reader clasped the girl's back to her chest, her arms running forward, just like the way the girl held her just a moment ago, as if she had drowned. And rightly so, or rather they would have drowned if not frozen.

    Readers kick their feet in a regular rhythm, trying not to expend a lot of energy, but they know the effort will be in vain. They were not far from land when the storm hit, but the atmosphere was pitch-black. They may be approaching the coast or even away from the ocean. There was nothing but their breath and the rushing waves of the sea.

    "Why did you save me?" The reader finally asked.

    "Stop wasting energy. Don't talk."

    "Why?"

    "Because you're human" the girl angrily replied.

    Lies. If they land, the girl needs a Bearchen to survive, one who knows a place in the region. The reader kept kicking, but his leg muscles were exhausted and he could feel the chill running through his body.

    "Nothing's tired yet, Witch?"

    Reader could feel the girl shake off her weariness and in an instant, blood flowed back in Reader's hands and feet.

    "I'll call your speed, Dushenka. If we die, you'll be in charge of nature there."

    Speedy reader smile small. The young man was very brave. It was already visible when he was still locked up.

    They go through the night like that, taunting each other when one starts to lackluster. They are just companions of the sea, ice, and the occasional rumble that signals the arrival of waves or hungry creatures that approach them underwater.

    "Look" whispered the witch as dawn came, meeting bright red as a rose. Reader faintly sees. Mainlands.

    They have no time to be happy and happy. The magician turned his head back, leaning against the Reader's shoulders as the young man swam all out, inch by inch, sometimes crashing backwards as if the waves were unwilling to release them from their clutches. Finally, their feet touch the bottom of the sea and move them to the beach, half-swimming and half-crawling. They broke away and immediately felt the pain that flooded the Reader's body.

    Walking was impossible at first, it was difficult to make their legs obey, what else their bodies trembled violently. Nevertheless, Reader was finally able to stand. He was considering just putting his feet up, looking for a shelter without the girl. The magician could only crawl, his hair ruffled down his face, and thought Reader he wanted to lie there and not get up.

    Reader takes a step forward, another step, then turns the body. Whatever the reason for the girl, she had saved his life. Not just once, but many times. Reader approached the girl limping and then extended her hand.

    When the girl looked up, her grim face mirrored the hatred and fatigue. On his face, Reader saw shame and gratitude simultaneously. The reader knows that the girl is the mirror. The reader can make his own decisions. His debt to the young man requires that. The reader reaches down and pulls the girl to her feet, then they walk away from the beach limping.

    They're heading in the direction that Reader estimates, west. As it was almost dark, Reader began to panic, they saw an abandoned whaling camp. The door is not locked. They practically fell from the doorway.

    "Thank you," the girl eroded as she collapsed to the side of the round furnace.

    The reader said nothing. That they found this camp a sheer fortune. If they were stranded a few miles further away, and of course their history could be over.

    Whalers left humus and dry firewood in the furnace. The reader tries to start a fire, trying hard so that the wood does not just emit smoke. He was already tired and clumsy, when he heard the swish behind him, Reader turned her head and almost dropped the hollow wood he used to raise the small fire.

"What are you doing?" hardic Reader.

    The girl glanced over her shoulder - which was tel*nj*ng- - and said\, "What should I do?"

    "Replace your clothes!"

    The girl twirled her eyeballs. "I don't want to freeze to death to protect your sense of propriety."

    The reader clutched the wood firmly, but the young man ignored it and continued taking off his clothes, trousers, and clothes, even the underwear-then bandaged themselves with a slab of seagrass reindeer skin stacked near the door.

    "For the sake of Goddess Shi, the smell," the girl grumbled as she shifted. Each time he moved, the skin of the deer was blistered so that there were densely rounded calves, white skin, and cleavage. The movement was deliberate, Reader was convinced. The girl was teasing him. He must focus on the fire. He could die if he did not sustain the fire, he might still die. If only the girl stopped making a fuss. Inflatable wood broken in Reader hand.

    The girl snorted and lay down on the skin of an animal while supporting her elbow. "For the sake of Goddess Shi, Dushenka. I just want to warm my body. I promise I won't cook you while you're sleeping."

    "I'm not afraid of you" Reader said annoyedly.

    The girl grinned savagely. "Then you're as stupid as you look."

    Reader then crouched down beside the fire, she should have been next to the witch. The sun has set, while the temperature has dropped. Currently, Reader must fight so that their teeth do not flutter, to survive they need fire to warm their bodies, and Reader also does not want to bother. But he didn't want to get close to the girl. Because he's a killer Reader said inwardly. Thats why. This girl is a murderer and a witch.

    Reader forced herself to get up and get closer to the blanket, but Silva reached out to stop her.

    "Don't go near, your clothes are soaking wet."

    "You can smooth our blood flow."

    "I'm exhausted" said the girl angrily. "And as soon as I fall asleep, only this fire will warm us. From here alone, I can see that you're shivering. Are all the Barchen shy cats like you?"

    No. gabe. Might as well. The reader really doesn't know. "Is all Knoulbar sevulgar you?"

    "Male and female soldiers trained side by side in the First and Second Armies. Not much chance to be embarrassed."

    "It is not natural for women to fight."

    "It is not natural that the folly of a man is of the same height as his, but you are. Did you swim for miles just to die in this hut?"

    "This is a cottage, not a shack. After all, we don't necessarily swim for miles."

    SIlva let out an irritated sigh and curled sideways, approaching the fire as closely as possible. "I'm too tired to fight." He closed his eyes. "I can't believe your face will be the last sight I see before I die."

    "Be closer, Dushenka," said the girl.

    Reader embraced Silva, pinning the girl's back to his chest. The young man gasped in shock and shifted misgivings.

    "Don't move much" says Reader. He was once close to the girls - not often, really - but nobody resembled this girl. His body is insane.

    "You're cold and wet," the girl complained as she shuddered. "It's like lying next to a giant octopus."

    "You told me to come closer!"

    "Let's relax a little bit" the girl ordered and, as Reader complied, she flipped over to face the young man.

    "What are you doing?" ask Reader while turning back in panic.

    "Silence, Dushenka. I'm not gonna bother you."

    Reader blue eyes squinting. "I hate the way you talk." Did he imagine the heartache that flashed through the girl's mind? As if his words could impact a witch.

    "Do you think I care if you like or hate what?"

    The girl pressed her hands against Reader's chest, concentrating on her heart. He must not do this, must not show weakness, but as the blood flows to his body warms, the relief and relaxation that runs him is too favourable to resist.

    The reader reluctantly squeezes the item slightly under the touch of the Knoulbar. The girl then turns around and pulls Reader's arm so it re-embraces her. "Thank you, Big Stupid."

    Reader lying. He likes the way Silva talks.

>><<>><<>><<

He still likes the way Silva talks until now. He could hear her babbling to Krista behind him, trying to teach Krista the Baarchen language.

    "No, Udes-leegh. The last syllable must be extended a little."

    "Oldesleh?" Krista tried.

    "Little but-so this way. Think of the Kalterville language as an antelope, which jumps from word to word" Silva explained. "Then the Barchen language is the same as the seagull, which swoops and swoops here and there." His hands became birds that waded through the air. Just then, Silva turned his head and caught Reader watching him.

    Reader throbs. "Don't eat snow" he suggested. "Later you'll be dehydrated and your body temperature will drop." He pushed forward, wanting to quickly get to the following hill in order to keep their distance. However, upon arriving at the peak, he suddenly stopped.

    He turned his back while raising his hand. "Stop! You guys don't want--"

    Already late. Silva covered his mouth with his hands. Krista raises her hand to reject the troops. Tera head bobbles. Reyn was about to vomit. Ken stood petrified, his expression unreadable.

    Firewood has been stacked on top of the cliff. Whoever was in charge had lit the fire behind the boulder that protected the wind, but the edge of the stone was unable to prevent the fire from being extinguished. Three pegs have been poured into the ice-covered ground and three charred bodies are tied there, their skin blackened and the cracks are still smoky.

    "Eck," Reyn swore. "What's this?"

    "This is what the people of Barchen did to Knoulbar" Silva said. His face was empty, his green eyes were glaring.

    "It's a criminal act" Reader said, his stomach churning. "Burning has been illegal since--"

    Silva spun suddenly to face him and pushed his chest firmly. "Don't you dare," snapped Silva, his anger burning. "Try telling me when was the last time someone was tried for burning Knoulbar alive. Do you think killing a dog is an act of murder?"

    "Silva-"

    "If the killer is wearing a uniform, is his name not murder?"

    That's when they heard it.

    "For the sake of Goddess Shi," said Tera. "One is still alive."

    The voice came back, heart-wrenching, from the black body at the far right. It was impossible to tell from his figure whether the person was male or female. His hair was already burnt out, his clothes were smeared with his body. The black skin flakes off in a number of places, resulting in red meat.

    Sobs spilled from Silva's throat. He raised his hand, but so trembling his body, he could not use his power to end that person's suffering. He turned his teary eyes to the others. "I. please, anyone...."

    Tera moves first. Two shots blared and the body shook. The gun then returns Tera to the sheath.

    "Damn it, Tera." growled Ken. "You just announced our presence for miles."

    "At best they think we're a hunting party."

    "Just Krista's gonna step in."

    "I don't want to" said Krista quietly. "Thank you, Tera."

    Ken's jaw twitched, but he didn't say anything more.

    "Thank you" isak Silva. He darted first into the frozen ground, following the path that split the snow. He walked away crying. Reader following. Only a few distinctive markers in this area make it easy not to misdirect.

    "Silva, you can't run away from the group---"

    "This is where you come back, Reader," said Silva grimly. "This is how you serve. Are you proud of it?"

    "I never sent a Knoulbar to a campfire. Knoulbar must be tried fairly-"

    Silva turned around to face Reader, tears frozen in his cheek.

    "When, then, was Knoulbar never found innocent at the end of a supposedly fair trial?"

    "I-i-"

    "We are guilty of having. Our crime is ourselves."

    Reader was silent, and when he spoke up he was caught between feeling ashamed of what he was trying to convey, which he still considered to be true until now. "Silva, has it ever been in your mind that maybe.. your existence goes against destiny?"

    Silva's eyes lit up in green flames. The girl stepped forward and the Bearchen felt the overflowing anger from the Knoulbar. "Maybe you're the one who shouldn't exist, Reader. Weak and mushy. You adore the jungle's waiters and ice spirits who don't bother to show themselves, but when you see true power, you step on it."

    "Don't scoff at anything you don't understand."

    "My scorn offends you?" A satisfied expression on Silva's face. "Juwel is rebuilding himself. So did the Second Army. When we're done rehabilitating, hopefully the Second Army will meet you fairly as you deserve. May Dushenka be shackled and charged for your crimes so that the world knows exactly what you've done."

    "If you really want to see half-dead Juwel rise, why aren't you there?"

    "I want you to be forgiven, Reader. That way, you can be here as the Second Army raced north and wiped out this damned land. May they burn your fields and poison the land. Hopefully they bring your friends and family to burn alive."

    "Your wish has been fulfilled, Live. My mother, my father, my sister. Fire-calling warriors, the oppressed Knoulbar you love, they burned down my village. I don't have anything, so I won't lose anything anymore."

    Silva laughed bitterly. "Maybe you're staying in Raregate too little, Reader. There will always be something missing."