Chapter 27

Chapter 27.

The far edge of the eastern sky began to color faintly. The blue light that pushed aside the curtain of night revealed the outline of the forest. The trees that had been sunk in darkness regained their forms one by one.

Rian did not stir.

Cold dawn dew settled over his shoulders and hair. Damp chill dug into his skin, but he did not move, as if he were part of a rock that had existed here from the beginning. Only his senses were alive. The nerves throughout his body stretched out across the entire forest like a spiderweb.

From far away came the sound of birds chirping. The grass insects that had held their breath all night began to cry again. The forest, that enormous living thing, was waking from a long sleep.

But Rian’s gaze was fixed only on the empty road below, the place covered in gray dust.

The sun rose. The blood-colored dawn lifted, and dazzling sunlight shone over the forest. Shafts of light broke through the leaves and drew chaotic patterns on the ground.

Rian’s eyelids blinked once, very slowly. Amid the waiting that had continued all night, that was his only movement.

Time passed indifferently. The sun slowly rose toward the middle of the sky. The shadow of the rock Rian was leaning against grew shorter and shorter. The air began to grow thick and hot. Sweat should have flowed, but his body remained still as a dry branch.

Very slowly, soundlessly, his arm moved. There was no hesitation in the hand that grasped the canteen hanging at his waist. He carefully opened the lid so it would not make a scraping sound, and only lightly wetted his lips. It was not to quench his thirst. It was merely the bare minimum action to awaken his numbed senses.

He returned the canteen to its place and corrected his posture. No human emotion like boredom or impatience surfaced on his face. A starving beast was simply holding its breath on the path of its prey.

Then it happened.

Tap...... Thud-thud-thud......

A very faint sound caught Rian’s ear. It was not the sound of wind, nor the sound of insects. It was a periodic vibration shaking the ground.

The sound of horse hooves.

Rian’s gaze turned toward the eastern end of the road, where the sound was coming from. His pupils, which had not moved at all, contracted minutely and focused.

His eyes sharpened like shards of ice.

Strength entered the hand gripping the oak longbow resting on his knees. His callused fingers, like those of an artisan who had handled bows for decades, felt the touch of the bow familiarly.

A short while later, a cloud of hazy dust rose from the bend in the road.

Four cavalrymen appeared.

As if by prior agreement, they drove their horses while maintaining fixed intervals. The man at the front had clear pockmarks on his face. It matched the crude drawing on the parchment exactly.

‘Messenger Team Leader Pero.’

The three cavalrymen following behind him were heavily armed with helmets and armor, leaving no gaps. They were not simple escorts. Each of their movements carried both the ease of the experienced and a sharp vigilance.

Rian held his breath even more. He pushed his body another span deeper behind the rock. Now he had become completely one with the rock’s shadow.

Every one of their movements entered Rian’s vision like a slow picture.

Pero constantly turned his head to examine the surrounding terrain. His eyes thoroughly swept the ridgeline and the border of the forest like a hungry hawk.

Two of the escort cavalrymen guarded the forest to the left and right, and the remaining one watched the rear, maintaining a flawless four-sided defensive formation. Their hands rested on their sword hilts so they could draw at any moment.

As soon as they entered the open ground below the ridge where Rian lay in ambush, they spurred their horses without hesitation. They instantly raised their speed to the maximum.

THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!

Four warhorses charged madly. As if they were trying to dodge invisible arrows, they raced down the road like shafts loosed from a bow. The horses’ movements were hard to predict, and the riders lowered their bodies over their saddles to minimize the size of their targets.

‘No openings.’

Rian quietly reached his conclusion.

‘At that speed, with that level of vigilance, I can’t guarantee a hit.’

Two hundred meters. They had entered the effective range of the oak longbow, but that only applied to stationary targets. Against moving targets like that, and cavalrymen with the highest level of alertness at that, it was too much. Even if he shot, the odds of missing were high. And a single mistake would be no different from suicide, exposing his position.

Rian abandoned the thought of shooting the bow. He simply watched. He watched his prey, completely unaware of his existence, pass through the safe zone.

Pero’s party moved out of Rian’s line of aim in an instant and disappeared to the west.

Thud-thud-thud.......

The clamorous sound of hooves gradually grew distant. On the road, only the dust they had raised slowly settled beneath the sunlight.

Rian relaxed the strength in the hand holding the bow.

He became one with the rock again. The waiting began once more. When they returned, perhaps then they would show an opening.

***

The sun tilted westward and began staining the entire world red.

The heated air from the day cooled into a chill. The shadows of evening stretched long like snakes and encroached upon the forest.

Rian took a piece of hardtack out from inside his clothes. He put the rock-hard thing into his mouth and chewed it very slowly, as if melting it with saliva. It was to avoid making sound. He did not feel the food passing down his throat. It was merely a mechanical act of supplying the minimum fuel needed for survival.

Then it happened.

Thud-thud-thud.......

Again, the sound of horse hooves came from the west.

Rian’s gaze turned toward the end of the road again. His body had already assumed a perfect ambush posture.

Pero’s party was returning.

Their vigilance was a little more relaxed than it had been in the morning. It was likely because of the relief that came after completing their mission safely. The horses’ speed was also incomparably slower than the morning’s charge.

Below the ridge where Rian was, at the very point they had passed through at full speed that morning, they pulled on the reins and slowed down. Relief from having safely passed through the section they had judged most dangerous was loosening their shoulders.

Pero straightened his back on his horse and turned his neck as if it felt stiff.

At that moment, one escort grumbled. His voice was soaked in fatigue.

“How much longer do we have to keep up this madness, Team Leader?

Another escort immediately agreed.

“Exactly. Ever since we got hit by that ghost-like bastard at Gallows Heights, everyone’s become too sensitive. We combed through every speck of dust for three whole days, but nothing came up, did it?”

‘Ghost.’

Rian’s brow moved so minutely that it was almost impossible to notice.

Pero snapped at them sharply. A nervous tension was soaked into his voice.

“Shut your mouths. It is an order from above. If you value your lives, stay quiet.”

As he said that, Pero nervously swept his gaze over the surrounding forest. His eyes briefly passed over the ridge where Rian was hidden, but he did not discover Rian concealed within the perfect camouflage.

“That bastard may still be hiding somewhere around here. That bastard is not normal. He pierced a commander’s throat without leaving a single trace behind. Keep your heads on straight!”

Their short conversation. Yet inside it was all the information Rian had wanted.

His sniping had been reported immediately to the imperial army command. They were calling him the “Ghost of Gallows Heights” and had raised their level of vigilance to the maximum in order to search him out. The ironclad alertness Pero’s party had shown was not a coincidence.

The escort cavalrymen closed their mouths at Pero’s bitter reprimand.

After looking around once more, Pero spurred his horse with a displeased expression.

The four cavalrymen disappeared toward the east again.

Only silence remained on the road once more. The evening shadows were deepening further.

‘Targeting them on this road is impossible.’

Rian made his final judgment.

‘They already know the hunter exists. They won’t give me two chances in the same place.’

Today’s vigilance would be strengthened even further tomorrow. They might add more troops, or they might take a different route altogether.

Rian did not wait any longer.

Quietly and swiftly, he rose to his feet. His body had been stiff all day, but not even a small sound came from his joints. Like a well-honed blade, his body existed only for efficient movement.

He picked up a fallen twig nearby and carefully swept away the spot where he had stayed. He raised the pressed grass with his hand and erased the faint footprints left behind. He collected all the leaves he had stuck into the cracks of the rocks for camouflage and put them into his pack. It was to leave no artificial traces in nature.

A short while later, all traces that a person had stayed there for more than half a day had vanished without a trace. Only the rock, the grass, and the wind remained.

Rian took the old parchment map from inside his clothes.

The last remaining light of sunset faintly illuminated the crudely drawn map. His finger slowly traced Pero’s route.

Most of it was open plain or gentle hills. It was optimal terrain for cavalry, but the worst terrain for a sniper. There were no suitable places to hide.

His finger stopped at one point.

Half a day’s distance east from his current position. It was a section where the road continued between narrow valleys.

‘Steep cliffs on both sides. A place where vision is limited, and they can’t pick up speed.’

Rian’s eyes stared at one point on the map as though they would pierce through it.

‘No matter how vigilant they are, in terrain like this, they’ll have no choice but to focus on the road ahead more than the tops of the cliffs to their left and right.’

Because they could not climb cliffs on horseback. Their gazes would naturally be drawn forward. And their speed would inevitably drop sharply.

‘This is the place.’

A new hunting ground had been decided.

Rian folded the map and tucked it deep inside his clothes again. He readjusted the bow on his back and tightened the quiver so it would not shake. Every preparation was finished in an instant.

For the last time, he looked back once in the eastern direction where Pero had disappeared. There was no regret in his eyes over letting his prey go. They contained only the cold conviction of having found a new hunting ground.

Rian turned and moved toward the opposite side of the ridge, into the forest where darkness was rapidly falling.

There was not an inch of hesitation in his movements.

With his footsteps muffled, he seeped between the trees like a shadow. The night forest was not something to fear for him. Rather, it was the safest ally that hid his body.

His eyes had already adjusted perfectly to the darkness. Relying on moonlight and starlight, he read the terrain and moved along beast trails, finding the shortest route forward.

He was no longer the one who waited.

He was a predator moving first to drive his prey into a more certain trap.

Rian’s figure disappeared completely into the thick darkness.

Awooooo!

From far away came the faint howl of a starving wolf.