Chương 46: The Oathrunner And His Sword

"Argh... ngh." At first, Lamb thought she was still standing. She could hear things moving around her—claws scraping against mud, roots dragging beneath the ground, something breathing close to her face. She tried to lift her sword, but she did not even know if her sword was in her hand... or if she still had a hand. She felt something blow past above her, and then heard a dying shriek. Another groan came after, farther away, before everything around her shook. She did not even know where she was anymore.

All she remembered was that she heard a voice.

"You did well." For a moment, everything went dark again as the words echoed in her mind. But then, her eyes snapped open. She tapped around her, quickly finding her sword before she rolled, swung, and felt the blade cut through empty air.

"Kh!" Pain rushed through her side hard enough that her teeth clicked together, but she forced herself up anyway. She relaxed for a moment, but then saw a figure sitting a few steps away from her.

"Die!" Lamb lunged, but the figure she was attacking did not even flinch at all—no. He only glanced at her with his tired blue eyes.

"Enel!" she shouted, the blade stopping a finger away from his throat. He still did not flinch. He only sat there on a broken root, elbows resting on his knees as he stared at her. Lamb stared back, and for a moment, her whole body froze before it sagged.

"Enel..." she whispered.

"Yes." She stared at him for a moment longer, then lowered her sword. She fell forward, her forehead dropping onto Enel's shoulder.

"Good. You... have no idea how many times this stupid forest pretended to be you. Wait..." Lamb lifted her head, then suddenly bit into Enel's arm, only for her teeth to grind across his flesh.

"Ack. Okay... It is you." Lamb tried to stand properly, pushing herself away from Enel as she licked her teeth. But the only thing she could really do was sit back down beside him, her eyes finally looking around. The clearing was not as crowded as it had been before—no, it was more crowded. Vemon corpses covered the mud in a wide circle around them, most of them mangled until they almost looked like part of the mud. Lamb looked at the corpses, then at Enel, then at the corpses again.

"Did you sleep?"

"No."

"Of course not." Lamb wiped blood from the corner of her mouth and winced when her fingers touched a split lip.

"How long was I out?"

"I... do not know." Enel moved closer, but slowly enough that she did not feel cornered. His cape was wrapped around his arm, torn into strips already, and Lamb's eyes immediately narrowed when she saw it.

"Lady Mira's going to kill you." Enel looked down.

"For what?"

"That was her drape."

"Ah." Enel looked at the ruined cloth, then at Lamb's bleeding shoulder.

"I think she will understand."

"No, she won't. She liked those drapes."

"Heh..." Enel almost smiled at that, and Lamb saw it, too. She smirked, then leaned closer to him. He knelt beside her and began wrapping the torn cape around the wound on her shoulder. Lamb winced through her teeth, but did not pull away. Enel's hands were gentle. Too gentle, perhaps, for someone whose fingers could break stone without trying.

"You are hurt badly," he said.

"Thank you for having such great insight, M'lord."

"You should not have gone back into the forest. You should have waited for me."

"Ah. There it is."

"Lamb."

"No." Lamb leaned back against the root and closed her only good eye for a moment.

"Let me speak first." Enel stopped tying the cloth to look at her.

"The family from the lower houses," Lamb said.

"The one whose boy went missing. They said they heard him crying from the forest, and of course, anyone not stupid would know the forest was playing tricks on their mind. The baron told them not to go, Lady Mira told them not to go, everyone told them not to go. But the mother ran in anyway."

"I know that much."

"Then you know she was stupid." Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Lamb."

"She was." Lamb opened her eye and looked at him.

"But I get it. If I heard you crying in there, I would go too. Where was I—ah, yes. So, Lady Mira went in after her. I went because Lady Mira went, and the scouts went because apparently everyone in Widow's Wall becomes stupid when someone runs into the haunted murder forest."

"You... found the mother, right?"

"Yes. Alive." Lamb's jaw tightened.

"She was not right in the head, though. Lady Mira had to knock some sense into her by knocking her out before she ran off again."

"And the boy?"

"Never saw him. He is probably not real at all." Enel looked toward the trees, thinking how possible that was now that he had experienced the Dark Forest for himself.

"After that, the forest changed," Lamb continued.

"One moment we were together, and the next, the scouts were gone. I heard one of them screaming from above me, but when I looked up, there was only mud. Lady Mira told me not to follow any voices."

"She told you that?"

"Yes."

"I wish someone told me that earlier."

"Did you follow voices?"

"... Yes." Lamb stared at him.

"M'lord."

"I know."

"You have god ears."

"I know."

"And you followed voices that were obviously fake."

"I was worried."

"Heh..." Lamb wanted to make fun of him. Truly, she did. But the disappointed look on his face made her stop.

"What did you hear?" she asked.

"You, Mother, a child, others. There was even an entire village with a big-headed baby. And..." Enel looked down at his hands.

"I also killed a spirit by accident." Lamb's eye widened.

"You killed a spirit?"

"I... thought it was corrupted. Maybe it was, but..." Enel's fingers curled.

"It became green again before it died." Lamb slowly looked toward the roots drinking from the vemon corpses.

"Vemons are animals and other creatures corrupted by the Veil," she said.

"That is what Axe always said. But... he failed to mention the spirits."

"Hm... they are suffering."

"Then what do you think the Veil is?"

"I do not know." Enel looked at the trees.

"What do you think it is?"

"Something we should stab until it stops making problems."

"Lamb."

"What? It has worked in our favor so far, and I plan on doing it again." Enel stared at her bruised face.

"M-mostly worked," Lamb said.

"But watch this." Lamb raised her finger, smoke coming out as she started writing in the air. [Heal,] she Breathed out, grabbing the word at the same time before lightly slapping it on her face.

"Kh!" That was a mistake, however, as evident from her wincing in pain. Enel then watched as the wounds on her face began to close, and the bruises began to swell less and less... very slowly.

"W-wait. This... this will be done in a few seconds." It took three minutes. Still, Enel did not say anything and just watched in astonishment.

"T-tadaa!" Lamb removed her hand from her face, and although some parts of it were still clearly swollen and she still had cuts, it was... good enough.

"Pft..." Enel snorted at her other eye that was still slightly squinted. But the smile on his face faded away as soon as his eyes returned to all the blood still stuck on her clothes.

"You need to go back." Lamb's smile faded immediately.

"No."

"It is... too dangerous for you to be here."

"I was here before you, Enel."

"And what would have happened if I did not arrive on time?"

"You would have."

"What if I did not?"

"You would have. Because I would make sure to stay alive before you arrived."

"Lamb." His voice deepened, and so did hers.

"No." Enel looked at her for a long moment, closed his eyes, then sighed.

"I can move faster alone."

"That is true." Lamb shrugged.

"But if being fast was enough here, then you would have already found Lady Mira."

"That..."

"And even if I obeyed that stupid order of yours," Lamb said, pointing weakly at the trees, "I do not even know the way."

"Oh." Enel opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he opened it again.

"You are right." For a moment, the two of them only stared at each other, until Lamb snorted and pushed him away. Enel laughed at this as he allowed himself to sway back. Their exasperated laughs showed how exhausted both of them were, but Lamb stopped laughing first as she held her side.

"Ow. Fuck. D-do not make me laugh." And of course, that made them laugh even harder. For the first time since Enel left the Crown's Guild, his shoulders relaxed. The two of them became quiet after that, only staring ahead at the trees that looked like they were changing each time they moved their heads.

"Do... you think all Veils are like this?" Lamb asked.

"Because if they are... I want to see more of them."

"I still think you should find a way to go back, Lamb."

"You are still on that?"

"You are the hero of Widow's Wall," Enel said.

"It needs you."

"You need me." Lamb planted her sword in the mud and forced herself up. She shook a little, and Enel almost reached for her.

"But aside from you, Lady Mira needs me. I was here before you, Enel. I have been fighting for days without end. You do not get to tell me to go home." She lifted her sword and pointed it at him.

"I am your sword, Enel." The trees around them shifted softly, as if something had leaned closer to listen to her words.

"I am not as strong as you. I know that. I am not stupid, but I can stand where you cannot look. I can cut what you hesitate to cut, and if you keep running ahead, I will just be chasing after you." Enel stared up at her for a moment, then slowly stood and nodded.

"Then... please stand beside me for as long as you can." Lamb grinned.

"Finally. Now, let us stop wasting our time here. Onward!" They started walking after that. Not quickly, because even though Lamb had healed most of her wounds, some of them still caused her to wince with each step. Enel noticed this, and he walked beside her with his eyes half closed, listening to everything around and beyond them.

"Something is—" Enel whispered as he opened his eyes. He was about to move, but Lamb, who had been limping a moment ago, lunged forward before he could take another step. She rushed toward the vemon that emerged from the large roots above them, and the vemon responded by leaping toward her. The vemon opened its jaws, but Lamb ducked, thrusting her sword up straight through its mouth and out the back of its skull. She twisted, then kicked the corpse aside before spinning in the air and landing back beside Enel.

And like nothing happened, they just continued walking forward without even uttering a word to each other. After a few minutes, another creature came from the left. Lamb moved again, cutting one of its limbs, then another, then driving her blade through its eye. But before she could pull her blade out, another vemon darted past her... and she did not even turn. She just casually continued to pull her blade out, then turned to Enel, who had already crushed the other vemon's head.

And then, once again, they continued walking without saying anything. The forest continued to change around them. The leaves became white, and flowers that looked sculpted from bones began to bloom along the roots. The mud became shallow water, then dry roots, then ash that puffed beneath their boots with each step. The voices continued calling from every direction, but Enel no longer followed them.

What he focused on was Lamb's breathing and her steps, anchoring himself to them from time to time whenever he exhausted himself listening beyond the trees. But then, he stopped when Lamb suddenly stopped.

"Enel."

"What is it?" Enel fully opened his eyes, then turned to where she was looking. And there, past what seemed like vines clumped together in circles, half buried into the pile... was Mira's axe.

"That..." Lamb's grip on her sword tightened. Because on the handle was a hand still gripping it. A severed hand.

"No." Enel took one step forward.

"Lamb. Is it... Mother...?"