1

Far at the back of the caravan, near the last wagon, detached from all the commotion, Izumi heard the shouting and asked a knight standing nearby,

“Basilisks? What are they?”

“What?” the man gasped. “Have you never left your house before, madam!?”

“How rude, I went to the convenience store almost every day! Admitted, it was only across the street, but that still counts as 'leaving my house', technically.”

“Ask your countryman there! Surely he can tell you!”

“I have no idea,” Brian replied.

“Serpents, fools!” The knight lost his patience. “As deadly as they come! Basilisks can grow up to thirteen feet in length and weigh more than one hundred and fifty pounds. They can bite and spit, and one drop of their venom will kill a bull in the blink of an eye! They like to slither up the trees and drop on unsuspecting prey like wolverines. And they never hunt alone. You don't have armor, so get in the carriage and hide unless you want to die!”

“Well, at least it's not giant spiders,” Izumi shrugged. “Oh, did I jinx it?”

“Princess...” Brian gritted his teeth and left running towards the river.

“Hey!” the knight called after him. “Stay here, you madman! I've orders to watch you! Don't make me risk my life together with you!”

The squad leaders did their best to restore order, fend off the basilisks, and prepare everyone to cross the river. The knights working on the bridge had to search for their removed weapons and gear in the commotion. Their comrades running around, blocking the light, the panicked shrieks, and the giant reptiles added some difficulty to the search. Some didn't even try but chose to fight the toxic creatures without armor, only their work axes for weaponry. Then again, though having armor offered protection against the bites, it was hardly foolproof. The hideous reptiles could spit their venom accurately up to thirty feet, and even a bit spilling through the helmet visor proved instantly fatal.

The horses that had been left on their own were not fond of the new threat either.

One knight was snatched straight from the saddle, and his steed flew at once into a frenzy. The panic quickly spread to the other horses nearby, before reaching critical mass.

There was no holding back the avalanche anymore. Finding a solution to their distress in the incomplete bridge, the animals all rushed to it at once without waiting for permission.

“Look out!”

The workers could only scramble out of the way.

In short order, some fifty-odd stallions were surging over the logs. Traffic rules weren't obeyed. A number of mounts, knights and workers alike got knocked over the edge and cast into the chilling spring water. If they were fortunate. Those who got left under the stampede on solid land fared worse.

Only the outer logs on the left side had been tied so far and their bindings now took on the full stress. The ropes used weren't intended for bridgemaking, of course, and the several tons' worth of traffic tearing them left and right were truly testing the limits of hemp.

“It's breaking up!” the Colonel observed the state of the bridge and shouted. “Get the wagons across! The wagons first, the men can swim!”

As the way started to clear up, the wagon riders urged their steeds onward, through the crowd. The disordered knights tried to clear the road the best they could, but not everyone had the luxury of paying attention. A few got hit by the wheels or shaken off their mounts in the chaos. At least the survivors had mostly found their armors by now.

Izumi and the other passengers had to get off their ride to lessen the load on the bridge. After the leisurely journey so far, they now found themselves stranded on foot in the middle of a pitch black forest full of deadly creatures.

No one had the time to worry about them.

The first wagon crossed over the river easily enough.

The second had the mobile kitchen on board, including heavy stoves, barrels, crates, supply bags, and food. It sped over a bit too rashly for its size. The rider had to have been exceptionally skilled to get both the frenzied bulls and all the wheels of the wagon on the makeshift bridge in the first place; finer control was probably too much asked.

Nevertheless, as a result, the left side ropes on the southern end snapped.

The haphazard bridge was rapidly coming loose.

The third wagon followed shortly after the second, but the tail part ended up sliding sideways. One of the wheels dropped in the created crack between the logs on the edge.

The tall supply wagon tilted dangerously to the side and for a moment it seemed it would fall into the river. The powerful animals harnessed before it pulled on with all their might anyhow and managed to drag the whole load to the other side.

Regrettably, the way the wheels plowed through the crack cut the remaining ropes and sent the logs rolling sideways, one by one.

Luck didn't favor the remaining wagon.

The bulls made it across, but the wagon itself was carried away by the rolling trunks and eventually slipped through them into the river, rear first. The division of mass was too unequal and the sinking load pulled the animals back from the land. Making helpless noise, the bulls were thrown into the water, cut from their restraints. One immediately drifted downstream and tumbled down the rocky waterfall, while the other got pinned under a falling log and drowned.

The bridge had been reduced to less than half of its original width, but either way, the road was clear for the remaining knights to escape. They had held their ground bravely in the dark but didn't need a separate command to direct their horses across. Those in the minority, who still had retained control over theirs, that is. Most of the company had already lost their horses and could only keep out of the way and patiently wait for their turn.

Despite Yornwhal bravely continuing to show light, the horses kept slipping on the unbound logs that rolled under their hooves. Now and then, a horrified shriek followed by a heavy splash notified the others that the river had claimed more swimmers. Though it was hardly the season.

The riders were followed by the men on foot, who fared little better. Balancing on the round trunks in their heavy armors took a talent for acrobatics and a great deal of patience, which few had, as they fled for their lives

The situation had gone from dire to desperate, and on to a veritable circus, too pitiful to laugh at.

Finally, the chaos started to subside and most of the company had made it across the stream. The bridge was practically nothing but a miscellaneous assortment of trees arbitrarily spread over the water by now.

“Princess! Why are you still here! You have to go!” As the commotion cleared, Brian was able to locate Yuliana, who remained standing near the bridgehead.

“Has everyone passed yet?” she asked. “Where's Izumi!?”

“She wasn't in the wagon?”

“The last one? No, don't tell me...”

“I'm right here, though,” Izumi appeared beside them from the dark.

Since all the passengers had been ordered out, she had been spared from the plunge. Following so far behind all the others, she hadn't been troubled by basilisks in the dark either.

“What are you waiting for!?” Yuliana shouted at her. “Hurry up and get going!”

“I thought I'd see you through first—oops!”

Izumi suddenly swung her sword upward, right next to Brian. To Yuliana, it looked like she had cut the knight, but soon realized the woman's aim had been higher up. Following the sound of metal striking against a tough and heavy object in the dark, something fell on the road at the Langorian's feet.

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“I might be a bit late in asking this,” Izumi said. “But is it okay to kill these things?”

Yuliana looked down and saw a long, sleek body covered in green scales on the ground. It had been cut in two but the bottom half still wriggled, dark blue liquid spilling from the wound. In disgust, she stepped back, but had no time to be disgusted much longer, spotting movement in the corner of her eye,

“Behind you!” she yelled at Izumi.

A serpent at least nine feet long stood up like a cobra on the road, towering over the woman. It had two fin-like appendices a foot beneath a large, triangular head. With the length of jaws that it now displayed in full, it could have easily swallowed a small dog whole.

Reacting immediately to the warning, Izumi crouched, turned, and swung the greatsword again, slicing diagonally through the basilisk. The decapitated head part fell on her, but expecting it, she managed to catch it with her free left hand and hold it up, as heavy as it had to have been.

“My, is it really a snake if it has limbs?” Izumi stood up and pondered, turning the head away right as a shot of venom was reflexively discharged from the glands in its mouth.

“Look out!” Yuliana yelled at her. “Its blood is toxic as well! You get any of it on your skin, you'll be sick for a week! Put it away!”

“Oh, someone's studied,” Izumi said, not letting go of the basilisk head.

“It's common knowledge! Hurry up and get over the river!”

“I will, I will. It's not like I'm here because I want to be. But can I keep this as a troph—”

“No! Go!”

The woman cautiously tossed the serpent head away and went nimbly running over one of the detached logs. Thanks to her light attire and sense of balance, she made it across with ease. Yuliana and Brian followed after. But they soon discovered that it was hardly as simple as the woman had made it look.

“Wah!” Yuliana took a bad step, lost her balance and fell. She managed to grab hold of another trunk, but still dipped half into the water. The stream was freezing cold and bit through her thighs and crotch with vicious intensity, at the same time filling her boots. How had the knights been able to swim over it earlier and endure the pain without a word of complaint? For a moment, Yuliana was vividly reminded how sheltered her life until now had been—but this wasn't the time to be lost in thought.

“Yulia!” Brian dropped to his knees and reached out to her. “Take my hand!”

From his hand, the princess's attention was directed to a strange movement behind the man.

“Brian! Watch out!” she shrieked, realizing she wasn't seeing things.

One of the smaller basilisks had followed the man, coiling around the log he was on. Her warning came too late. The serpent quickly wrapped around his leg and lifted its head up, baring its fangs. He was trapped. And unarmed.

But Izumi hadn't abandoned the two.

Running back like a ninja, she hopped on the trunk next to Brian and cut off the basilisk's head. In its dying struggle, however, the creature's body violently twisted around the tree and the knight's leg.

"Gh!" The raw strength of it threw Brian off balance and he fell into the river.

“Brian!” Yuliana tried to grab the man as the current took him past her. But she couldn't keep hold of her own support one-handed with the clumsy gauntlet. Her grip slipped immediately and she ended up getting pulled away with the man, into the river.

Izumi could only helplessly watch the two drift away.

“My, I always fail the escort missions.”

Brian remained fully submerged. By his senseless, helpless spasming, it was clear he didn't know how to swim. It was a regrettably rare skill among the Langorians, as their kingdom stood mainly on vast, lakeless prairie, where it was unneeded.

In this regard, Yuliana was an exception among her people. The royal summer villa was built on a distant seashore, and a servant had taught her the basics after a near-death experience when she was still little. Still, with her armor weighing her down, simultaneously swimming against the current and holding the grown man up were beyond her. The river kept pulling them both downstream, towards the treacherous rapids. To save herself, she had to abandon the knight—but to Yuliana, that was an impossible choice. Even had she done that, it was unlikely that she had the strength to reach the shore.

Is this our end...?

Not all was lost, however.

While Yuliana desperately tried to keep her head above the surface, she suddenly heard a voice calling her.

“Hey! Princess! Catch!”

Yuliana looked up and saw Riswelze on the riverbank, throwing her a rope.

The assassin's accuracy was flawless and Yuliana was able to catch the end sent to her without too much difficulty. Several Imperial knights, who had successfully made it on the other side, joined in to help pull the two out of their predicament.

In no time, the princess and the Langorian soldier were coughing and shivering on solid land, drenched but very much alive.

The basilisks wouldn't pursue them over the stream, it seemed. Ectotherms as their smaller relatives, the water was too cold for the reptiles to challenge and the functionality of bridges was beyond their understanding.

The travelers were safe.

The company had made it through another deadly trap, some dry, some less so. But no one could bring themselves to celebrate the success. For too many souls, the journey had ended prematurely. The magic light was put out in order to not attract any more dangers, and for a good while, everyone had their hands full gathering the panicked horses. By the time they were ready to continue on, they discovered there was no need for torches either.

The impermeable blackness had sneakily become replaced by tones of deep blue and the forest around was drawn in everyone's eyes with gradually sharpening precision. The long night was at an end. And with light came renewed courage.

But it was not a mystery to anyone that this courage would still be tried many times before their mission could be over.

2

The sky in the far east had brightened up considerably by the time the company reached the woodcutter's outpost, making it some time between four and five in the morning by Izumi's estimation. The trip had taken them considerably longer than expected by the more optimistic calculations, but everyone greeted the sunrise mostly with sincere relief and gratitude. No one had expected a good night's sleep in the first place. There was a lot of work to be done before any rest was possible.

Izumi had expected to see something like a small village, and while her expectations were technically met, the sight awaiting at the destination was also a bit of a letdown.

No one lived at the outpost on a permanent basis, so it was presently vacant.

The locals would come here sporadically when their quest for income took them too far from Varnam to return home for the night. They would also make something of a pilgrimage to the woods twice a year, the headman explained; in the spring, to pray to Lord Matheus for a plentiful harvest; and again in the fall, to thank him for giving it.

Along a wide green slope stood a group of brown-painted little cabins, which could fit about eight sleepers each. To the right from the cabins, a short distance away, was a larger storage shed where tools, carriages, blankets, spare food, and such was kept. The back half of the elongated building was crammed full of copious amounts of firewood. On the opposite side, across the slope was a building of roughly the same size as the shed, with stone-made plinth. It was an animal shelter with room for approximately fifty horses and a stock of hay and grain.

Behind all these buildings, further up the slope, was a more refined, two-story cottage, intended for communal gatherings. In the little yard between the cottage and the cabins was also a round stone well with a simple pump installed.

The outpost was encircled by a simple, weather-worn roundpole fence. Its purpose was clearly more to hold the domesticated animals in, rather than to keep any wildlife out.

The nearby trees around the slope had been felled, providing everyone with a much-desired open air view and sense of space, following the suffocating forest. Towering northwest behind the outpost was a tall, bare, rocky hill, perhaps as high as thirty-five feet, with a narrow footpath going up its side.

The Imperial company gathered in formation before the houses and dismounted. A quick head count had been carried out after the river episode, but they now did it again in better lighting.

The result didn't turn out any less miserable.

“One hundred and twenty-five set out from Varnam,” Miragrave grimly summarized. “Now we are ninety-four. Four locals and twenty-seven of my knights are missing. Thirty-seven horses. One wagon in its entirety. What was in that wagon, Captain? Don't tell me it was the arrows?”

“Ma'am, the tents, mainly,” the knight answered. “Heaters, tables, chests, command materials, documents, maps...that sort of thing.”

“The silver lining in a shitty cloud,” the Colonel sighed. “Take ten volunteers and a cart, and go retrieve what you can.”

“Very well. Shall we look for survivors?”

The commander glanced at the crowd of knights standing nearby, before quietly answering,

“...You know the answer to that, Captain.”

The knight's figure tensed.

“Yes, ma'am!”

“Company.”

The troops straightened at the Colonel's address.

“You see houses before you but don't waste time recalling your mother's cooking now. This is a war zone you tread—treat it as such. You've witnessed some of the perils that Felorn has to offer. Stay on your toes. The squad leaders will plan the guard shifts and then come inspect the grounds with me. The rest, take a break. Have breakfast and gather your strength. It has been a long night and it will be a longer day still. But this is our home now. No one, not the woodland spirit or the goddess of ill fortune, will chase us out of it. And mark my words: before the day is over, this humble home of ours will be made a castle.”