Holo’s normally red-brown eyes flashed ruby bright.
To look on her was to be afraid; Holo the Wisewolf was among them.
“The humans, as well.”
Her cold voice reminded Lawrence of when he’d first seen her true form.
“Youngsters these days, I suppose I could say.”
Lawrence wondered for a moment what she was talking about, when suddenly he realized what she meant.
Though the immediate danger had passed, Norah did not understand why; doubt tinged her face. But there was no time to think. Preparing to face whatever crisis came next, Enek steadily carried out the rapid-fire orders given to him by his mistress.
Liebert clung desperately to his horse, trying only to avoid dropping the gold.
If they kept going at this speed, they would be able to put the forest behind them by sundown.
And to put this danger behind them, they had no choice but to try.
Then it resounded.
At first it seemed like the wind — there was a whoosh as the icy drizzle was blown back momentarily into the sky.
But it was soon clear that this was a strange wind indeed.
A normal gale didn’t chill one’s core the way this one did.
The wind was immediately followed by the sound.
A tremendous, forest-splitting roar battered their eardrums from one side.
The overwhelming blast was enough to freeze a person’s breath.
The horses stopped. The sheep stopped. Even the gallant sheepdog was frozen in his tracks.
The violent roar seemed to nail everyone to the ground.
They stood as statues, looking into the forest.
“Listen —,” said Holo quietly to Lawrence. Everything was still; the only sound was the drizzle falling on the earth. “This is a trouble I must bear. When I send the girl and the kid on, you’ll have to stay back for a time as well.”
“Wha — why?”
There in the stillness, Norah and Liebert did not seem to take notice of Holo and Lawrence’s exchange as they glared unblink-ingly into the forest.
But it wasn’t that they hadn’t noticed.
It was the same as a hound that had cornered a bird — even as the hunter moved its hand to strike, the bird could not fly away.
They were unable to take their eyes off the forest.
“Because what’s in that forest is no normal wolf. You understand, yes?”
Holo slowly looked away from the forest, turning to Lawrence.
His legs went weak at those eyes.
Her expression was well past displeasure; her eyes flashed with such anger that Lawrence wondered if she might rage at the very cobblestones in the road.
Her breath was slow, like the breathing of a demon-horse in hell.
“If I go along with them, the pack will chase the sheep no longer. Those sheep are not their aim.”
She turned back to the forest.
“Such cheap bluster. Such rough pride. Both prized by the young, I suppose.”
Holo was still mostly within Lawrence’s arms, and she seemed almost to swell as she spoke.
It took Lawrence a moment to realize that it was from the swishing of her tail beneath her robe.
“Go! They won’t move until you speak. You’re my partner — and partners cooperate, do they not?”
Holo’s expression was suddenly softer, and Lawrence found himself nodding.
He was a merchant and generally hopeless at anything save business.
For Holo’s part, there was none who knew more of wolves than she did.
“We’ll take it from here. The two of you take the gold and go on as planned!” Lawrence hadn’t planned to shout, but Norah and Liebert snapped out of their reveries as though they had heard voices in the middle of the night.
There were no objections. In situations like this, to leave the seemingly weak ones behind as a sacrifice so that the strong can live on was a well-used tactic.
But they did look at him questioningly—“Is it really all right?” their eyes asked.
No matter how established the tactic, what was possible for a grizzled mercenary band was not so for a regular traveler.
“We shall meet at the walls of Ruvinheigen. And we’ll all lie rich.” Of course, Holo had no intentions of becoming a sacrifice, but there was no way for the others to know that. At the same time, she could not very well explain herself, so she just smiled lightly as she spoke.
She was taking advantage of human nature. People wouldn’t waste the sacrifice of someone facing near-certain death with a smile and a faint hope. A clever wolf knew how to use that fact.
Liebert was the first to nod his agreement, followed by Norah.
Norah waved her staff, and time seemed to start moving again.
“The fortunes of war be with you,” said Liebert. Norah gave Holo a look more eloquent than words and then soon turned away. As he heard the sound of the sheep starting to run, Liebert followed after them.
Holo watched all this, then turned to Lawrence.
“You’ll need to stay away. If you get close, it could go badly. You understand, I know.”
Instead of answering, Lawrence took Holo’s hand before she dismounted from the horse.
“I won’t let you lose,” he said.
Her hand was surprisingly hot, and she returned his squeeze.
“Were you a proper male, I’d at least get a kiss for my trouble here.” Holo grinned for a moment before her expression tightened, and she hopped off the horse.
“Oh, that’s right. Here, take this for me,” she said, undoing the sash at her waist and taking her robe off quickly.
Her flowing chestnut hair, pointed wolf ears, and fluffy wolf tail were all exposed.
As was the slightly swaying wheat-filled leather pouch around her neck.
“It is my hope that this will all conclude peacefully, but I don’t know how it will go. When we meet up again, it will be cold if I’m naked, and a bit of a problem for you, too, I should think,” she said with a smile and then looked to the forest, unmoving.
Her tail bristled as though struck by lightning.
Lawrence hesitated over what to say.
What finally came out was short: “Let’s meet again.”
He didn’t wait for a reply before spurring the horse on.
Saying he didn’t want to remain there would have been a lie.
But what could he accomplish if he did? Lawrence knew Holo’s true form. Even if she were cornered by mercenaries or bandits, she could get away.
Lawrence drove the horse on. The sleet got heavier.
His face was strained and not just because of the cold.
For the first time in his life, he cursed himself for not being born a knight.
It appeared that Norah and Liebert had traveled some distance ahead in a short time. Lawrence did as he was told and had the horse at a gallop in order to put distance between himself and Holo, but even running at a fair pace, he had yet to catch sight of Norah or Liebert.
He no longer felt those unpleasant gazes, so this was probably a good opportunity to make progress. That was certainly true from Norah and Liebert’s perspective — they would not want to waste Lawrence and Holo’s deaths.
Lawrence smiled grimly to himself at the thought, and the concern about losing his way flitted in and out of his mind.
However, it soon dispersed. He was not especially familiar with the territory, but once the sun went down, he would have to stop, and he couldn’t lose his way while at a standstill.
As long as he kept the hills to his right and the forest to his left, he would not stray too far off course.
Additionally, farther down the way the grass was clipped short and called a road, and if he followed that, it would take him straight to Ruvinheigen. Even if he never caught up with Norah and Liebert, there was little to be worried about.
Lawrence was more worried that his horse would stumble over a stone and fall, so he pulled back on th
e reins to slow the animal and then looked back over his shoulder.
Holo had long since disappeared behind him, but if the wolves changed their minds and came after him, they would cover the distance quickly.
He fought back the temptation to stay there and turned forward again, spurring the horse on to a walk.
He had Holo’s robe; it was still warm. It seemed like a bad omen to leave clothing behind as a token. Lawrence felt himself grip the robe tightly.
But if Holo found it necessary to take wolf form, she would be in trouble if she had no clothes to change into.
She was even more rational than Lawrence the merchant.
Lawrence sighed deeply, shaking out the robe, which had a good deal of shed fur on it, probably from Holo’s tail. He folded the garment up and stuffed it inside his own coat, which was already fairly wet, but that was better than holding it under his arm. Holo had taken the most dangerous role of all, so the least he could do was make sure her clothes weren’t soaking wet when she returned.
The drizzle was getting heavier; it would be real rain by nightfall.
Lawrence continued on horseback for a bit, then stopped in the middle of the path, deciding that he had come far enough. Even if he had not put a lot of distance between them, it would require some effort for Holo to catch up with him — assuming she was in human form.
However, standing there in the middle of the road was tantamount to suicide. The cold had already numbed Lawrence’s hands as they gripped the reins. It would be better to take shelter in the forest and keep an eye out for Holo coming down the road. He was worried about freezing to death before she ever found him.
Lawrence dismounted under the trees at the edge of the forest, looking back up the road. The space between the forest and the hills was mostly open. Norah and Liebert had probably already cleared the edge of the forest and were making their way straight to Ruvinheigen.
They were moving faster than normal, so it was entirely possible.
If so, then truly the only thing that remained to be done was feeding the gold to the sheep and entering the city.
As long as that went well, the gold smuggling would have wiped out his debt and turned a large profit for him to boot.
Lawrence’s promised share would clear his debt and leave him with 150 lumione. That was a staggering amount of money, but still small in comparison to the total profit the smuggling would yield. They had bought up roughly six hundred lumione worth of gold, and avoiding the taxes on it meant that it would be multiplied tenfold. If he had been greedier, he probably could have gotten a larger share. After all, he was an accomplice to smuggling, a fact the rest could hardly ignore.
He stopped himself. Being greedy invited misfortune. It was the way of the world.
Lawrence tried to keep his mind off the cold as he gathered up what dry wood he could find, taking some tinder from a carefully waterproofed bag on the horse and starting a fire.
There was nothing around him. It was quiet without so much as a hint of an animal in the area.
As he dried his clothes, Lawrence wondered if Holo was all right, thinking of the robe she had taken off.
Such thoughts did him no good, he realized, but he couldn’t help himself. His was the sin of helplessness, he felt.
He kept watch over the plains as the drizzle continued to fall.
How long had he stared at the unmoving scenery? His clothes were mostly dry. The first log he had set fire to was now ash.
Perhaps he would go check on her.
The seductive thought began to fill his mind.
There was a change in his field of vision. He rubbed his eyes. There was no mistaking it. It was a person.
“Holo!” he shouted, standing in spite of himself and grabbing Holo’s now-dry clothes as he began to run. He would not possibly encounter anybody else in a place like this.
But as he ran out in the rain, he soon realized that it was not Holo.
There were three human forms, and they were on horseback.
“Mr. Lawrence, is that you?”
Apparently they had heard Lawrence’s voice as he called out.
And, when they called his name, Lawrence realized they were from the Remelio Company.
But what where they doing here?
“Mr. Lawrence, are you all right?”
He had no recollection of any of their faces. One had a bow at his back, a sword hung from the belt of another, and the third carried a long spear. Their faces and postures showed that they were more used to travel than a town merchant like Liebert, and they wore rain gear as though they were used to it and were ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
“We heard from Mr. Liebert — we couldn’t just stay at the company—so we came out and waited at the edge of the forest. Thank goodness you’re — ”
The words cut off there.
The men, perhaps slightly older than Lawrence, had caught sight of the robe that he held.
It was Holo’s and thus on the smallish side and obviously for a woman.
The obvious conclusion was not a good one.
They must be thinking he held on to the robe as a last memento, that she had met with tragedy. They had surely heard him call out Holo’s name before.
As Lawrence expected, they looked at him sympathetically.
He tried to think of how he might clear up the misunderstanding when he noticed something strange.
The three men had simultaneously taken a deep breath, and Lawrence caught a glimpse of something like relief on their faces.
No doubt not a one of them thought this showed, but his merchant’s eye caught it. They were probably glad that Lawrence had not succumbed to despair and become impossible to manage.
“And your things?”
If they felt pity for this poor man whose beloved companion had been killed by wolves, the point for broaching the subject had passed. If they dwelt on the topic too long, there was no telling when his emotions would explode. It was often the strangely composed ones who were dangerous.
Knowing it would be foolish to try and explain the misunderstanding, Lawrence merely gestured behind him.
“Over there. The horse, as well.”
“I see. Let’s take some shelter for a bit.”
The tone was casual, but the three men’s expressions were tight as they dismounted.
They were probably wondering if they were going to find the girl’s wolf-mauled body.
Lawrence turned on his heel to lead them to his horse.
Some moments later, his mind went blank from shock.
“I won’t ask you not to think badly of us,” came a calm voice.
Lawrence’s left arm was twisted from behind, and a spear pointed at his flank. There was a sword at his throat.
The droplets that ran down his face were not only rain.
“...So the Remelio Company is betraying me?” Lawrence somehow managed to ask, stifling the cry as he felt his shoulder twisted.
It was luck that kept him from dropping Holo’s clothes.
“It’s insurance.”
The sword at his throat was pulled away so that he could be tied up.
The men confiscated Holo’s robe and bound Lawrence up like a piece of luggage.
“It weighed heavy on us to hear there would be a girl with you, so that’s lucky, anyway.”
The expressions of relief earlier were because Holo had not been there.
The men had known that if someone tried to be a hero, they would not pass the day without seeing blood.
“I know it will sound like an excuse, but we’re on the brink here. We have to eliminate any danger we can.”
The Remelio Company clearly assumed that Lawrence planned to blackmail them. Even if they did manage to come back from the edge of bankruptcy by smuggling gold, anyone who knew that fact had as good as a knife to the company’s throat.
I would never do something so stupid, Lawrence thought to himself, but then he realized he had been thinking of it just a mome
nt ago.
A large enough amount of money could cloud anyone’s eyes.
Those who chose the path of the merchant knew this.
“You can keep the robe.”
Holo’s clothing was tossed at Lawrence’s bound hands.
Lawrence grabbed at the robe with all his strength, somehow sealing away his anger at this betrayal.
The fact that they had tied him up meant that he was not going to find himself impaled on a blade immediately. He could not get himself killed for pointless resistance. However, it was plain to see that the men had no intention of letting him live, either.
They were probably wondering whether to simply leave him in the cold or in the forest, where the wolves might come. It was a reasonable question, as far as it went.
But there was something important the men had overlooked. They thought Holo was dead.
If Lawrence could rejoin her, all kinds of revenge became possible.
He could not die here. He had to repay this betrayal.
The anger was a cold stone in his gut as Lawrence feigned meek resignation.
“Don’t think it doesn’t wound me that I can’t say we’ll meet again.”
Lawrence’s forehead burned at the man’s casual speech, but he bore it silently, not looking over his shoulder.
“It’s depressing to think about what happens next.”
“Hey,” interrupted another of the Remelio Company men, as if to warn off unnecessary chatter.
What could possibly be depressing now at this last stage?
It was something that Lawrence mustn’t hear apparently, even though he was about to die.
“C’mon, let us talk. I can’t just keep quiet. You’re the same, right?”
The one being addressed was at a loss for words for a moment. Lawrence ignored his own rage in order to listen.
What were they talking about?
“But that’s the girl this guy had with him. Who cares if he hears — ”
It can’t be, his heart cried out within him.
“See, look — ”
The man in front of Lawrence delivered a vicious kick to him at the same time that another punched his face.
Lawrence’s head swam from the brutal shock, and when he came to, he was lying prostrate on the ground.