Content Warning: Mild profanity

Early next morning, when muted sunlight reached into the burrow like a mother softly caressing the head of her sleeping child, Leiyu awoke and saw Prince Thallios still curled against him.  Their hands were still clasped together, the icy coldness of the prince’s fingers long thawed.

Leiyu looked out the burrow entrance.  Another day of trekking through this barren landscape.  At least they were making progress toward the mountains.  Were the Southern Region soldiers still even looking for them?  Somehow, having a tangible goal to work towards made this journey more anxiety-inducing.  When he was just wandering on his own, he had all the time in the world.  Now, every day where they had not found the sword yet fed into a gnawing sense of uncertainty.  Were they taking too long?  Were they on the right track?  Was the sword really there?  Would they end up dying in the wilderness?  

Of course, losing his life in the wilderness was a high risk when Leiyu began his soul journey years ago.  But the idea of dying while in pursuit of something was far more frustrating.  That was the sort of thing that turned hapless humans into hungry ghosts.

And so we’ll join the chorus of lost souls on this mountain, Leiyu thought.

Prince Thallios stirred and mumbled, slowly opening his eyes.  “Leiyu?”

“Your Highness?”

“You’re still here.  I’m glad.”

Leiyu sighed.  “Why wouldn’t I be here, Your Highness?”  He winced immediately.  Perhaps that sounded too curt.  “Did you have a nightmare, Your Highness?”

“No, not really, unless you consider this whole situation since we left home a nightmare.”  The prince sighed.  “But I’m still glad you’re here.  I’d be completely lost otherwise.”

Leiyu smiled, but inside he was frowning.  I wish things could be simpler, he thought.  “I’ll always be here, Your Highness.”  He heard Bakhat and the golden horse neigh outside.  “Ah, time to feed them.”

They slowly exited the burrow.  The overcast sky loomed over them like the interior of an ashy cocoon.  Leiyu fed the horses.  He noticed the fox fur and bones on the ground nearby.  Not a single fly hovering over the residual sinews of meat, which had dried overnight.  

It really is dead out here, Leiyu thought.  He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a very tiny dried piece of bread.  “Here, Your Highness,” he said, handing it over to Prince Thallios.  “I’m almost out.  You can have it.”

“What about you?” the prince asked.  “I can just split this.”

“Just take the whole thing, Your Highness,” Leiyu said.  “I can manage.  If I find another animal later, we can eat more.”

The prince’s eyes began to tear up.  “Leiyu, please.  You shouldn’t go hungry on my behalf.”

Leiyu reached into his sleeve and took out a small amount of oats.  “Keep the bread for yourself.  I’ll eat the horses’ food, but only a little, since they need it more.”

None of them were in great shape.  The horses’ ribs were starting to show.  The prince, who was slender to begin with, looked more and more gaunt by the day.  Even Leiyu, who was used to going days without food, had to tighten his belt.

After Leiyu finished chewing on the dried oats and the prince tearfully finished his meager portion of bread, they climbed on their weary steeds and trudged on.

***

As the rocks wore on and began to slope upwards, Leiyu decided that it would be wise to not leave hunting to the last minute.  He scanned their surroundings constantly, listening for any tiny movement of gravel or fluttering of wings.  Reaching into his sleeve, he took out the bow and quiver of arrows.  Prince Thallios gasped.

“Something wrong, Your Highness?” Leiyu asked.

“Your sleeve…” Prince Thallios said.  “I know you mentioned before that they were magic and you could store a lot of things in them, but seeing it is another matter.”

Leiyu shrugged and slung the quiver across his back.  He grabbed an arrow and nocked it against the bowstring.  Pulling the arrow back, he aimed toward the slope before them and released.  The arrow shrieked as it sliced through the air.  A short panicked bleat sounded out, followed by a thud.

“What was that?” Prince Thallios asked.

“Goat.  Blended in with the rocks pretty well.”

“How did you even see it?”

Leiyu smiled.  “Magic.”

Prince Thallios’ cheeks turned pink.  He looked like he wanted to say something, but no words came out.  Leiyu nudged Bakhat forward to collect the game at the bottom of the slope.  

The goat was larger than the fox from the night before.  Leiyu cut up the animal and sliced the meat into thin strips.  He gathered some sticks and dried grass to fashion a makeshift rack.  When it was completed, he hung the strips on the rack, like bloody laundry on a bamboo pole.

“Now we just wait for it to dry,” Leiyu said.

“Where did you learn how to do this?” Prince Thallios asked.

“From the Northern nomads.  I should have started doing this earlier, but it was easier to find fresh food in the forest.  Since we don’t know where the sword is, we need to prepare for the days where we can’t find anything new to eat.”

Prince Thallios sighed.  “Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Leiyu shrugged.  “Whatever help you need, I’ll provide it, Your Highness.”

“I wonder how my father did it,” the prince said.  “I never got around to asking him about his younger days, but I know he was involved in some battles while unifying the region.”

Leiyu looked over at the prince’s delicate face and then tried to remember what the king looked like.  What was the king like when he was the prince’s age?  Was he a warrior prince on horseback, riding into the chaos?  The ghost voices and battle sounds started to echo in the back of his mind.

After a shichen passed, the meat went from fresh juicy red to a dark brown leathery texture.  Leiyu picked the pieces off the rack and stashed the majority of them into his sleeve.  He kept a handful and split it between Prince Thallios and himself.  

***

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful.  No more animals crossed their path.  The morning gray had dissipated, and the sky was now cloudless and birdless.  The wind hissed like a taunting snake.  The slope before them became steeper, and the rocks narrowed until a ribbon-like path formed before them.

”We’ll have to go single file,” Leiyu said.  He nudged Bakhat forward.  “Follow closely.”

Bakhat and the golden horse slowly clopped up the narrow path.  The gravel tumbled down the slope behind them.  The ghost voices started to whisper loudly.

Away!  Away!

Begone, you insolent pests!

You’ll never make it!  You’ll never make it!

“Leiyu, those voices are creepy,” Prince Thallios said with a shudder.

Leiyu sighed and tossed another warding talisman into the air.  It glowed golden and fluttered in the wind.  The voices clamped down slightly, but were still audible.

They traveled up the narrow rocky path for another shichen, the silence between them drowned out by the menacing whispers.  The air thinned out the further they went.  Leiyu felt beads of chilled sweat roll down the side of his head.  He turned around to check on Prince Thallios.  The prince had covered up his head with the hood and was clutching the reins.

No point stopping now, Leiyu thought.  As long as there was no cave-in of the narrow pathway nor any sudden injuries, they had no reason to not continue moving forward.  He dug his boot against Bakhat’s side to keep him going.

At the beginning of the next shichen, the slope became gentler and the road widened.  They had reached a plateau.  The two horses trotted onto the flat ground, kicking up small clouds of dust.  Leiyu scanned their surroundings.

The ground before them formed an almost perfect circle.  The wall of another portion of the mountain bordered the far side of the ring.  Dead trees with gnarled branches lined the perimeter like skeletal claws.  Embedded in the far wall was a dark rectangular shape.  Leiyu and Prince Thallios went over to get a closer look.

As they approached, the details became more clear.  The rectangle was an entrance to the inside of the mountain.  A lintel with swirling floral designs stretched over the top.  On the sides were carvings of human-like figures with their arms and legs arranged like they were in mid-dance.

“This place looks like a temple,” Prince Thallios said.  “Do you think the sword is in there?”

Leiyu shrugged.  “We could take a look.”

They led their horses to the dead trees and tied the reins to low-hanging branches.  Then they made their way over to the entrance.  Leiyu gripped the hilt of his sword and slowly stepped over the threshold.

The interior looked like a cave.  It was mostly dark, save the single beam of muted sunlight near the back.  At the bottom of this illuminated column was a dull object protruding from the ground.

“What do you see?” Prince Thallios asked from outside the entrance.  Leiyu looked around the cave one more time.  No immediate threats so far.  He beckoned the prince with his hand.

Prince Thallios stepped over the threshold.  When he looked at the beam of light, he gasped.  “Is that…?”

Leiyu drew his own sword.  “We can take a closer look, but be careful.  I don’t know whether there are any traps in this cave.”

They slowly walked towards the back, footsteps echoing into the darkness.  The faint sound of dripping water punctuated the eerie almost silence.  As they approached the protruding object, Leiyu saw that it did indeed have the silhouette of a sword.  However, the hilt was rusted and the blade completely dull.

“Is this the Sword of Ages?” Prince Thallios asked as he stepped ahead of Leiyu.  “It must have been sitting here a long time if it looks like this.  It looked so ornate and vibrant in my book, but I guess that’s just an idealistic illustration.”  He reached out and touched the hilt.  Dusty residue flaked off and fell to the ground.  “I suppose we could just polish it and-”

The ground suddenly jolted and both of them fell to their knees.  The cave walls started shaking and debris fell from the ceiling.  Leiyu lunged forward to shield the prince, but hit an invisible wall instead.  He was propelled backwards into the darkness.  His sword fell out of his hand and clattered to his side.

What the hell? Leiyu thought.  He quickly got up and grabbed his sword.  Then he stopped in his tracks.

Dark threads shot out of the ground and spiraled around Prince Thallios and the rusty sword.  They closed in like a cocoon of midnight silk.

“Leiyu!” Prince Thallios screamed.  His face had a look of pure horror.

“Your Highness!” Leiyu ran forward.  He reached his free hand out, but the threads completely closed up and he could see the prince no more.  “Your Highness!”  He tightened his grip on the hilt and swung the sword at the cocoon.  It was as hard as obsidian, and his blade bounced back.

Terror seized his heart and distress chilled his bones.  Leiyu screamed at the top of his lungs.

“Prince Thallios!”