The journey from Kalliu to Hunyadi Castle was difficult, and the return was even more difficult.
Anya controlled the horse on the horse, and placed the weak Cesare behind her. The two rode back along the way they came. When they passed through the foggy village again, Cesare was blurred and doubled. I saw several familiar little heads in my sight.
Those were a few child laborers who survived the circus. The four of them seemed to have found a job in the lumberyard in Fog Village. The four of them worked together to move a thick piece of wood, just like it was lifted from a horse-drawn carriage. It's like moving magic props up and down.
Seeing Anya and Cesare passing through the town on horseback, the little mutes stood on the roadside waving, unable to speak, but looking happy to see that the familiar people were still alive.
Anya seemed to say hello to them a few times, but Cesare was weak at the time and couldn't hear anything except tinnitus.
The horse they were riding on was originally Ilona's mount. When the silver-haired girl left the horse behind and left without saying a word, Cesare could only feel...
She was very sad, but before she had time to say anything, Ilona had already left, and she didn't know when she would see her again.
Thinking back on this journey, I started in a hurry and left in a panic. From venturing into the forest to save my sister Crocia, to now just wanting to go back to my sister and returning the same way, I can't tell whether all the efforts were worth it. when.
But maybe life is like this, confusing and always restless.
Although Cesare is no longer troubled by mycelial infection for the time being, his body's recovery is extremely slow. The numbness and weakness in his limbs have not been relieved. Not to mention driving a horse, even basic standing is a problem.
He could only sit behind Anya. When he was awake, he weakly pulled Anya's waist. When he was unconscious, he could only stick to Anya's back because of difficulty in breathing, feeling the girl's fragrance and comfortable body temperature.
The bumps on the horse's back made Cesare's teeth keep clenching, and his whole body shook several times and he almost fell.
My consciousness was drowsy, sometimes awake, and sometimes falling asleep uncontrollably. There were twenty-four hours a day, but I could not stay awake for a full hour. It seemed that the day passed very quickly.
One second the sun shone on my face, and the next second I seemed to see the moon.
He had no choice but to wait until those nightmares and hallucinations no longer haunted Cesare. Even if his recovery was slow, Cesare could feel that his body was gradually getting better, and the hyphae had temporarily given up fighting for his body.
Although it was only temporary, it was enough to give Cesare a chance to breathe.
Both of them were exhausted along the way and had almost no communication. Cesare also had little waking time to communicate with Anya.
Whenever he woke up from his drowsiness, Anya would always smile sweetly when she turned to look at him, but Cesare knew very well that the girl's body was not much lighter than his own, but she was just holding on. Just persist...
Anya's broken finger no longer bleeds and formed a brownish scab. The other large and small injuries on her body became more obvious in the sun. The red marks of the scabs made Cesare afraid to look directly at them. .
Her whole body was covered in wounds, and she looked like a young lady from a noble family.
Being missing two fingers seems to be much luckier than other disabilities, but Anya has obviously not adapted to the changes in her body.
It was always difficult for her to control the strength of her left hand holding the reins, and the horse was swaying left and right, making it difficult to avoid ravines in time when running on the road.
The bumps became more severe as a result.
The journey is too long and it is impossible to keep going. At night or when Anya is tired and collapses, she has to tie the horse to rest and find some food to let the horse relax its muscles.
The dry food he brought with him was almost eaten, but Cesare was still weak and could only fall on the spot and watched Anya bend down and speak playfully in his ear. "I'll be back soon." Then he ran all the way into the forest.
When she came back again, she found fresh fruits and filled the kettle with cool spring water.
When another day passed, watching Anya build the shelter little by little and light up the bonfire, it was obviously something very familiar to her, but due to her incomplete fingers, she always made mistakes, even some wood that was not heavy They will all be unsure.
All joking aside, if you were to put yourself in Cesare's shoes, you wouldn't be able to guarantee that you would have Anya's mentality.
She could laugh happily at such moments, as if becoming clumsy was an interesting adventure, and she didn't care about the impact it would have on the rest of her life.
Cesare just needs to sit back and enjoy the results, but he feels unspeakably uncomfortable in his heart. He can only be angry that his body cannot move since the control of the mycelium was released, and he can't do anything to help.
Without Anya, he would never have survived this journey. From the beginning, he only thought Anya was an inexplicable crazy girl, but now he owed this crazy girl too much.
After thinking about it, Cesare couldn't help but raise his dry throat when Anya walked towards him, and said ashamedly, "I'm sorry Anya..." No matter how many words he said, he didn't know how to say it.
For the first time, Cesare realized that he turned out to be a stupid person. Cesare originally thought that if his attitude could be firmer at first and not let Anya follow him into the carriage, he would not let the lovely girl suffer so much. suffering.
But he also knew that there were not so many ifs in the world, things had already happened, and Cesare also knew that Anya would not leave him and never experience these things again just because of his few nonsense words.
Anya is so kind at heart, much kinder than Cesare himself...
With a troubled conscience, her slightly opened mouth didn't know what to continue saying to Anya. And Anya bent down with a smile and stuffed a bright red apple into Cesare's mouth. Her lips and teeth, which had been thirsty for a long time, subconsciously bit down lightly the moment she felt the food.
The flesh is tender and juicy, crisp and sweet.
My throat smoked with thirst, and it suddenly felt so good to be soaked by the juice of the fruit. My taste buds, which had not been satisfied for a long time, felt the wonderful taste, which made my mood relax a lot.
Anya patted Cesare's head gently, as if she was treating a child tenderly.
"Don't be too happy too soon. When you get better, it will be your turn to take care of me."
There was no trace of resentment in what seemed like a complaint. It was more like comforting Cesare to make his self-blame feel better.
Cesare didn't know what else to respond besides silently nodding. He seemed to be infected by the girl's innocent smile and couldn't help but smile.
But deep fatigue surged into the brain again, and the muscles in the whole body became even more relaxed and weak. The eyelids became heavy and it was difficult to keep them open. I lost consciousness little by little... I lost the concept of time, let the sun set on the mountain top in a coma, and let the moon High in the sky again.
When he vaguely opened his eyes again, he heard the howling of wolves. The surrounding environment had darkened. The burning bonfire reflected several hunched black figures in the woods, each skinny and bones showing their fangs. , so hungry that his eyes flashed red.
The sound of his heartbeat echoed in his ears, and he felt that he and Anya were trapped in a pack of wolves. At this time, Anya was protecting him, holding a torch to drive away the creatures in the darkness.
The girl straightened her body and tried to make herself taller in the eyes of the wolf, instead of being food that could be easily chewed into pieces.
More and more wolf howls sounded around, but even though Cesare knew that danger was coming, his brain was half asleep and half awake, but his body did not wake up, as if suppressed by an invisible force.
The eyes opened a crack, but the body could not turn the head or raise the arms. The breathing became rapid, the heartbeat accelerated, no movement was possible, and the muscles were tense but uncontrollable.
My throat also seemed to be blocked and I couldn't make any sound.
Suddenly a wolf jumped out of the trees and rushed towards Cesare. He noticed it but was unable to dodge. A sharp pain came from his arm.
The fangs dug into Cesare's forearm, then dragged Cesare's body backwards, trying to drag him away from the campfire and into the darkness of the forest.
In a daze, I heard Anya shout.
"Hey! Bad dog! That food is not for you!"
The "thing" Anya said seemed to be referring to herself, but Cesare couldn't care so much. At the last moment of his consciousness, he saw a black-maned wolf opening its big mouth toward her face and biting it down.
Then the groggy consciousness disappeared into the darkness, and no one knew what happened next.
