Chương 48: Chapter 44. Bellhollow

The lower courtyard outside the Eastern Muster Hall was crowded by the time we reached it. Rows of academy carriages had been arranged beneath the towers, and each of them had a brass plate beside the door bearing its assigned team number, while students moved between them with field satchels, weapons and whatever else they had decided they could not survive a week without. Also, the mission choices were already causing arguments.

A few students were complaining loudly that their captains had refused to choose Bellhollow despite the harvest festival, while others seemed very pleased with themselves for having chosen assignments that involved ward inspections, deliveries or other work that could mostly be done indoors.

Elsewhere, teams compared destinations, argued over who would sit where, called goodbye to friends and climbed into their carriages as instructors moved through the courtyard making sure nobody ended up travelling with the wrong group. It was chaotic, but… I liked it. Our carriage was near the far end of the second row, GROUP 7 stamped clearly into the brass plate beside its door, but I slowed before we reached it and looked through the crowd. I hadn't seen Rael or Eydric.

There were enough students moving around that I thought I might simply have missed them, so I searched the groups still boarding their carriages, looking for Rael's face or the Vael crest among the uniforms.

"Brother?" I turned and found Jaerik had stopped beside me.

"What are you looking for?"

"Oh. Some friends." I looked back toward the other row.

"Rael and Eydric. I was trying to see which teams they're with, but I haven't seen them."

"Bah!" Varen suddenly hooked an arm around the back of my neck and started dragging me toward our carriage.

"Come on, cap."

"I can walk, you know?"

"Then walk!"

"I was looking for—""Haaa, you'll see them in Bellhollow if they picked it."

"How do you know they did?"

"I don't." Varen shrugged.

"But everyone except the nerds is picking Bellhollow." Tomás, walking behind us, immediately frowned.

"T-there are considerably better missions available from a training perspective, and I think choosing easier missions for early points will be better to pass the year." He said. Varen pointed backward at him.

"See?" To which Tomás made an annoyed tsk. I looked across the courtyard one last time, but there was still no Rael, and no Eydric. Well. If their teams had chosen Bellhollow, I would see them there, I supposed. So I let Varen steer me toward the carriage and one by one, we got in The carriage was larger inside than it looked from the courtyard, with two padded benches facing one another and enough room beneath them for our field satchels.

Kael claimed the corner nearest the door, his weapon resting between his knees. The enormous slab of metal he had carried yesterday had somehow folded itself down into the proportions of an ordinary sword, though after seeing it turn into a mace mid-swing, I was no longer particularly surprised by what the thing could do. Dren took the opposite end of him and immediately leaned back against the wall as if he intended to sleep the entire journey.

Jaerik sat beside him, Tomás squeezed himself into the remaining space, and Varen dropped heavily onto the bench beside Kael, leaving me the middle. I had barely settled when Gowyn climbed in after us, which drew a few looks. He gave none of them any attention, merely closed the door behind himself, placed my additional bag beneath the seat and took the narrow space beside me as naturally as if he had been travelling with this group for years.

Before anyone could ask about him, someone knocked twice against the carriage wall. It was Professor Ashara, standing outside the open window.

"Bellhollow is roughly three hours from here," she said.

"Depending on traffic leaving the valley, perhaps a little longer. You'll be taken directly to the farm assigned to your group, where arrangements have already been made for you to stay." Varen's expression brightened, which Ashara noticed.

"You may settle in when you arrive." His expression brightened further.

"You may eat." Brighter still.

"You may visit the town if your captain permits it." Varen turned toward me with such speed that I felt the movement beside me.

"However," Ashara continued, "your mission begins the moment the carriage reaches Bellhollow. I suggest you use what remains of the day to inspect the property, speak with its owners and familiarise yourselves with the surrounding land. Whether you begin hunting today or tomorrow morning is your captain's decision, but the week will not wait for you simply because you have chosen to wait for it." Ah. And neither would my seventy-two hours. Ashara rested one hand against the carriage door and looked across us.

"I will not be travelling in the carriage. I have my own mount, and I will remain within reach for most of the journey and throughout the assignment. As I explained earlier, you should proceed under the assumption that I am observing even when you cannot see me." Her eyes moved slowly from Tomás, to Jaerik, to Dren, to Kael, and finally stopped on Varen.

"While in Bellhollow, you represent Sartheon. I expect all six of you to behave accordingly." Varen placed one hand over his chest and gave her one of the sweetest smile I had seen on any human being.

"Professor, I am wounded that you would even feel the need to say so." Ashara stared at him, but Varen continued smiling. She stared a little longer, then..

"Aridis."

"Yes, Professor?"

"Good luck."

"... Thank you, Professor." She stepped away from the carriage and pulled the door shut. Through the window, I watched her walk toward a dark horse waiting several yards away, take the reins from one of the stablehands and swing herself into the saddle with ease. Then our driver gathered his own reins.

"Hyah!" The horses leaned forward, the carriage gave a soft jolt beneath us, and the courtyard began sliding past the windows. For perhaps three seconds, nobody said anything. Then Varen slowly turned his head toward Gowyn, looking him up and down.

"So," he said, "who the fuck is this guy?" Gowyn remained silent and simply looked at Varen. The carriage rocked beneath us as the horses picked up speed down the road from Sartheon, and for several seconds the two of them remained like that, Gowyn sitting perfectly straight beside me with his hands resting loosely over his knees, Varen leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs and breathing loudly, which was a bit irritating, to be honest. Wait, was he doing this on purpose? …Anyway. I cleared my throat.

"He's my cousin, Varen. Gowyn Aridis." I gestured slightly between them.

"He's also my Shadow." Varen's eyebrows went up.

"Oh." Then he leaned back.

"I see." Something about the way he said it made me suspicious there was more coming. And there was.

"So that's the guy who's gonna be snitching to your family, then."

"What does that mean?" Varen looked at me.

"What? Snitching?"

"Hm-mm." His face went blank for a moment, then he looked around the carriage as if checking whether anybody else had heard me.

"You don't know what snitching means?" This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"... No?" Varen slowly looked back at me.

"It means running off and telling somebody what you did. Reporting everything. You know, you break curfew, he writes home. You get drunk, he writes home. You kiss somebody's daughter behind a barn, he writes home. You accidentally burn down half of Bellhollow—""Why would I accidentally burn down half of Bellhollow?"

"That's not the point."

"I mean, it seems quite relevant."

"The point is," Varen said, waving a hand at Gowyn, "whatever stupid shit you do, he tells your family about it." I opened my mouth immediately.

"Gowyn wouldn't—" Then I stopped. Gowyn was still staring at Varen, and he had not denied a single word. … Unfortunately, now that I actually thought about it, neither could I. The elders had barely allowed me beyond the estate walls in sixteen years. They inspected my room while I was gone, controlled my lessons, my meals, the books I was permitted to read and nearly every hour of my day.

The idea that they had suddenly sent me halfway across the kingdom to Sartheon with a cousin assigned to follow me everywhere and had not expected that cousin to report back was... Well. Unlikely. I glanced sideways at Gowyn who kept looking at Varen with the same unreadable expression he wore most of the time. I had never seen him writing a report, but then again, I slept. And he did have several hours every day in which I had absolutely no idea where he was.

Actually, the more I thought about it, the more certain I became that Gowyn had probably written home several times already.

"... He is also here for my protection," I said. That was not quite the defence I had intended. Varen's mouth slowly curled upward.

"Didn't say he wasn't, cap." He then leaned forward again and planted his forearms across his knees.

"Listen up, Shadow." Gowyn remained unreadable.

"My old man always says there's no point making enemies when you can make friends instead, and you don't look that much older than the rest of us anyway, so I'm thinking we start this properly."" Our ages?" I asked. Varen glanced at me.

"Yeah. I'm sixteen. Aren't you?" I would have gasped, had Tomás not been faster. While the others seemed amused.

"What?!" Varen looked over.

"What do you mean, what?"

"You're sixteen?"

"... Yes?" Said a confused looking Varen. I had assumed he was at least twenty. Possibly older. He had a goatee already, tattoos running the length of both arms and climbing the side of his neck, shoulders wide enough that he took up considerably more than his fair portion of the carriage bench, and the sort of muscle I had only ever seen on fully grown men at the Aridis training grounds.

Even sitting down, he looked less like a first-year student and more like somebody's hired mercenary who had wandered into Sartheon by mistake and decided to stay.

"You are not sixteen," Tomás said. Varen frowned.

"Wanna die, nerd?" That made Tomás panic, and quickly look down in front of him. Varen then rolled his eyes and looked toward me for support but I had none to offer.

"I mean, he's right, you know?" I said.

"You look considerably older than sixteen."

"Fuck both of you." For some reason, this did not offend me at all.

"But how long have you been at Sartheon, then?"

"I don't know, since last year?"

"Last year?"

"Yeah." Huh. I thought he was either first or second after Jaerik to have arrived here. Varen then threw both hands up.

"Aaaargh! Anyway, Shadow!" He snapped his attention back to Gowyn so abruptly that I almost laughed.

"We're going to Bellhollow, there's a festival, I know a few spots here and there, and I'm planning to enjoy myself before some professor decides we're all better people after three days of sleeping in mud." He pointed two fingers at Gowyn.

"So don't ruin the mood, yeah? No staring from corners, or writing down every stupid thing we do, and absolutely no running off to tell somebody's grandfather because we stayed out too late. You can even join us, I'll buy you some stuff. You like turkey legs, yeah?" Gowyn just continued looking at him.

"... Yeah?" Varen prompted. Another few seconds passed without any answer or reaction from Gowyn, then Varen slowly turned his head toward me.

"Is he mute or something?" he asked.

"I'm pretty sure I heard him speak at the dining hall."

"Well, erm..." I looked at Gowyn.

"Gowyn?" His eyes shifted toward me immediately.

"What do you think of Varen's proposal?" Gowyn considered the question for a moment, then inclined his head.

"I will conduct myself according to whatever the Young Lord asks of me." Varen's face tightened.

"That's not what I fucking asked." Gowyn looked forward again while Varen stared.

"Unbelievable," he muttered.

"Arrogant bastard. Look at him. Won't even answer me directly. Fucking noble Shadows..." Gowyn gave no indication that he had heard a word. Which, judging by the increasingly creative insults Varen continued muttering under his breath, seemed to offend him considerably more than if Gowyn had simply argued back. The rest of the journey went relatively well after that.

Varen eventually stopped trying to force Gowyn into conversation, Tomás pulled a small book from his satchel, and the others settled into whatever habits they seemed to to have for long carriage rides. I spent most of mine by the window. The valley changed slowly as Sartheon disappeared behind us, the high stone roads giving way to rolling fields, patches of woodland and little clusters of houses gathered along streams and crossroads.

Every so often we passed farmers working beyond low fences or wagons heading in the opposite direction, and I found myself following them with my eyes until they disappeared behind us. Three hours did not feel particularly long. Especially when Bellhollow finally appeared ahead. The first thing I noticed was the noise, and the second was the smell. Smoke rose from chimneys and cooking fires throughout the town, carrying the scent of something sweet enough that I leaned closer to the window without meaning to.

Coloured ribbons had been strung between buildings for the harvest festival, and people crowded the streets beneath them around stalls, wagons and tables already being prepared for whatever celebrations Varen had spent the entire morning promising me.

"Ooooh." Varen grinned from across the carriage.

"Told you." I ignored him because we were passing a stall where someone was turning strips of meat over a wide iron grill, and just beyond it another shop had an entire window filled with glazed pastries. I needed to remember that one. And the shop beside it. And whatever smelled like cinnamon farther down the street. The carriage continued deeper into Bellhollow, joining several other Sartheon carts arriving around the same time.

I spotted team numbers through the crowd as they separated at different junctions, some heading toward the eastern road while others continued through town toward farms farther out. Students were already climbing down from one carriage near the square, their field satchels drawing curious looks from townspeople as they passed. So Varen had been right about that too: a lot of us had chosen Bellhollow. I kept my attention outside as we went, memorising turns as best I could.

There was a bakery near the square that had to be the one Varen mentioned, a narrow street full of hanging signs that looked worth investigating, several food stalls I fully intended to return to, and farther ahead I caught sight of what appeared to be the beginning of the festival grounds. Seventy-two hours… Surely there would be time. Eventually the crowds thinned and the houses spread farther apart, giving way once again to fields bordered by low stone walls and wooden fences.

The road narrowed beneath us, and after another few minutes the carriage turned through an open gate onto a long dirt track. At the end of it stood a farmhouse. Several smaller buildings surrounded it, along with a barn, fenced pasture and broad stretches of cropland extending toward the distant tree line.

Even from the carriage I could see places where the fields had been torn apart, dark furrows cutting through rows that should have been straight, while one section of fence leaned inward as if something heavy had gone through it instead of around. Then the carriage slowed, and finally stopped in front of the farmhouse, and the door had barely opened before Varen pushed his way out first. He landed in the dirt, threw both arms over his head and groaned as his back cracked loudly enough for me to hear it from inside.

"Fuck meeee. How is that thing spatially expanded and still too small?" Jaerik climbed down after him and stretched more calmly, rolling one broad shoulder, then the other.

"Pain is merely the body's way of reminding us that comfort is temporary, brother." Varen stared at him.

"You know, sometimes I really wish your body would remind you to shut the fuck up." Jaerik just smiled serenely. One by one, the rest of us climbed out. I was halfway through adjusting my satchel when I noticed Professor Ashara some distance away, standing beside a small house near the barn. It seemed she had beaten us here. She was speaking with an older man in work clothes, grey-haired and stooped slightly at the shoulders, who kept gesturing toward the damaged fields as he spoke. Then—" Woof!"

I turned toward the sound, finding a small creature running toward us. For one confused second I had no idea what I was looking at. It came bounding across the yard on four little legs, mostly white with patches of brown around its ears and one eye, its rough fur bouncing with every stride. Its ears were half upright, half folded, and its tail was moving so quickly behind it that its entire backside seemed involved. It slowed only when it reached us, nose immediately dropping to the ground.

The creature sniffed Kael's boot, moved to Dren, sneezed, then came toward me and began investigating my shoes with extraordinary seriousness before circling around my leg. I held very still, which Varen noticed.

"... Are you afraid of that dog?" I looked at him, frowning.

"T-that's a dog?"

"What else would it be?" I looked back down at the thing. See, I knew dogs. There were many at the estate. Large ones, mostly, bred for guarding the grounds and patrol routes, with thick shoulders, heavy jaws and warning signs posted around their kennels. I had been told from childhood not to approach them without their handlers, and the few I had seen up close had generally been barking at something. But this creature was tiny, barely reaching past my calf. Was Varen was having me on?

"That doesn't look like a dog. I've seen dogs before."

"There are hundreds of breeds, cap." Varen gestured down at it.

"Some are huge, some are tiny, some hunt, some guard things, some mostly exist to eat food and annoy people." The dog seemed to have finished deciding whether I was suspicious, because it pressed its side against my ankle and looked up at me, mouth slightly open and tail still going.

"Oh." I crouched carefully and held out my hand. It immediately pushed its nose against my fingers, sniffed them, then licked the side of my thumb. Which made me laugh despite myself. Its fur was much softer than it looked, especially around the ears, and when I scratched beneath its chin it leaned into my hand so enthusiastically that I nearly lost my balance.

"Hello, I'm Howl." The dog gave another excited little huff, turned in a tight circle and then, without warning, dropped onto its back in the dirt with all four paws curled toward its chest. I froze.

"... What happened?" Varen made a strangled noise behind me.

"It wants you to rub its belly."

"Oh." So I did. The moment my hand touched its stomach, its back leg started kicking uncontrollably against the air. It was so funny that I laughed, rubbing faster while the dog wriggled happily beneath my hand, tail sweeping little lines through the dirt. Behind me, someone sighed.

"He's losing his mind over a dog," Dren muttered. Tomás sounded equally bewildered.

"What kind of childhood did you even have?" I looked back at them, still smiling, while the dog pawed impatiently at my wrist for stopping.

"... One without the right kind of dogs, I think."