After rushing out the cottage garden gates, Abrial sprinted to the top of a hill to study her surroundings.

It seemed, strangely, that she was much further from the house than she had been in Futou. Her stomach dropped. But quickly, it rose again, simmering with elation.

Finley had been strolling through a town market, and one Abrial had already been through — she was sure of it. Even if she couldn’t quite remember which one, she recognized the stands and the street. If she began traveling in the direction straight away from the mountains, in a few days she should finally meet Finley coming from the other direction! It was only a matter of finding the nearest town to steal some food for the short journey, and then — bam! She’d be reunited with Finley again, and everything would be better!

Unfortunately…there was just one problem. There…seemed to be not a single town in sight. For as far as Abrial could see in every direction, there were only grassy, green hills with the occasional greeting pine unraveling in an endless landscape.

Well…whatever! She’d be able to find somewhere eventually if she just started back in the direction she had been traveling in before being brought to this weirdo, secluded cottage, right? It shouldn’t take her long at all to get back to Gananjag, where she’d started.

At a brisk jog, she started down the hill. It was definitely painful, running with that searing wound in her side and the continued stinging of her palms, but she kept on going. She’d had worse injuries at the house. Who cared about a little cut and some raw palms?

Up one hill, and down. Up another hill, and down again. Abrial jogged and ran, her soon becoming heavy and ragged.

“Come on, Abrial,” she grumbled to herself, wheezing. “What are you, an old man?! You can definitely take more than this! It’s only been less than half an hour, and you’re already tired? You’ve run for hours before!”

Despite her self-scolding, her breathing soon became so heavy and rasping that she had to stop for a minute. At the top of a hill, she stumbled to a halt, and a wet, raw cough exploded from her throat. She bent over for a moment, hacking up phlegm into the grass. Her palms felt like someone was pressing a red-hot iron into them repeatedly, and the wound in her side felt like someone was repeatedly running a knife across it, re-slicing the skin.

Looking sickly as an old man, Abrial glanced up. She squinted. A glimmer of satisfaction glistened in her eyes.

A few hills ahead, there was a building! She couldn’t make it out well from here, but there seemed to be greenery around it. There was smoke rising from the chimney in an inviting manner. Someone lived there! Maybe they’d be nice enough to give her food before she continued on her way.

Abrial rested for another second, catching her breath. Then she restarted down the hill, this time limping and jogging at the same time.

When she finally neared the top of the hill the structure sat on, a peculiar feeling settled over her. It was like breath prickling cooly over her shoulders.

“Wait a minute…” she murmured.

What…the actual heck???

A peculiar, sour taste filled her mouth.

There was a thin, decorative wooden fence here, enclosing a wild garden. Abrial stumbled around the garden, searching for an entrance. When she found it, she recognized it right away. The break in the fence opened to a simple, cobblestoned path that led between two lines of pastel-colored laundry drifting in the breeze. Further inside the garden sat a squat, round white cottage with hay roofing and a large, open window. Leaning against the window, in almost exactly the same spot…

Was that pretty woman.

And she was even still stroking the little sparrow fondly, smiling down at it.

“Wh-what —? The…? Huh…?” Abrial stammered. Her breathing puffed erratically from running and the pain in her hands and side stung painfully. She fought to pull the pain under control.

The woman seemed to notice her at last. Her dark eyes sparkled with laughter.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“So,” she chuckled, “You’re back already! Impressive. I thought it would take you at least two hours to return in your condition, but it seems you’re an expert at pushing through pain at the expense of your body. Admirable! And extremely irresponsible. That’ll come back to bite your ankles, too.”

Abrial found herself glaring at the woman. Her lip curled into a scowl. Leaning down to press on her knees and gasp deep, wheezing breaths, Abrial retorted,

“You talk…like you know me, lady. That’s annoying. You don’t even know…who I am!”

The woman’s eyes crinkled into crescents. “I don’t know you, you’re right. We met by chance. Anyhow, take this wise old lady’s word and think about your health a little more. Go back inside and lie down. Your palm wounds have become infected from a lack of care, and if you continue as you’re going, your rib wound will get infected too. And then, how will you ever run around again?”

At last, Abrial recovered her breath. She straightened up with some difficulty.

“Lady, what kind of magic is this? How did you make it so that I ran in circles?”

The woman shrugged. “I’m afraid it can’t be helped. I guess you haven’t heard, but there’s a spirit in this region whose remnants lie nearby. Whenever a sick person comes to these regions, they can’t leave until they’re all healed up. Unless you find some way to defy an ancient spirit, you won’t be able to leave until you’re healed. Trying to escape is essentially pointless.”

Abria’s jaw clenched. Her pupils shrank.

Trying to escape is essentially pointless.

Pointless escape…she hated that kind of phrase. It made her think, right away, of gasping awake at night in her wide bed with dark curtains and feeling like the world was pressing in from all sides and suffocating her, cutting off her every route of freedom.

She remembered what her mental tutors had taught her, and drew in a deep breath. She exhaled, pressing a wisp of panicked air out.

Silly. You’re not at the house anymore! You’ve already escaped.

When she could speak properly again, she glowered up at the woman with the irritated eyes of a provoked panther.

“I want to go and see my friend Finley, lady,” she said through gritted teeth, her voice cold. “If you’re powerful enough to show me visions, aren’t you powerful enough to heal me up, or summon a wind to carry me to her so I don’t have to exert myself? Or powerful enough to commune with that ancient spirit and tell it to let me the fuck out of here?!”

The woman studied Abrial intently. Her eyes looked suddenly like gleaming, polished mineral, glittering with striking depth. Something dark glinted within.

Then she sighed deeply.

Standing, she approached Abrial. The sparrow hopped once on her shoulder, inspecting Abrial likewise.

“Listen here, you spunky little kid,” the woman began. Abrial frowned and opened her mouth to protest that nickname, but the woman shushed her by putting a long white finger to Abrial’s mouth. She continued: “While I can do some things, I can’t do everything. No matter how much you want to see your friend right now and how impatient you are, you’re going to have to wait. You won’t have to wait long. But you’re going to have to wait until you’re healed and back up to strength. The spirit in this valley won’t let you leave until that happens — trust me. I can tell right now that you’re gearing up to try and run away again —” Abrial made a noise in protest. But the truth was that she’d been tensing up her muscles to prepare herself to turn and run. The woman smirked at her, eyes sparkling. “Even though you just saw you can’t escape by running, you still plan to run. Admirable in a way, I suppose, since there’s no other option than to sit still. But stupid, too. You need rest, and you’re not leaving until I say you’ve rested enough. Got it?”

The woman finally removed her finger from Abrial’s mouth. Abrial scowled and twisted her lips to get off the feeling of that cool finger.

“You’re really annoying!” she muttered. “I don’t care if that spirit keeps trying to stop me! I’m getting to Finley ASAP whether a spirit’s trying to hold me down or not! And lady, you wouldn’t stop me if I tried to run again, right?”

The woman’s face split into an amused grin.

“Actually, this time, I will.”

With that, she reached her arms around Abrial as though pulling her into an embrace and expertly pressed two points on either side of her lower back.

Abrial’s body went slack. She melted to the ground like a rag doll.

The woman summoned a gentle wind to carry Abrial into the cottage through the large window. Abrial was softly deposited onto the bed, like a fragile newborn baby.

From the window, the woman waved at her, entertained. The sparrow landed on the windowsill and chirped pretentiously at Abrial’s limp form, as though it knew she couldn’t retaliate.

Inside her head, Abrial raged.

What did she do to me?

Did she attack my acupuncture points?

I’m breathing, but everything else is like mashed porridge! I’m a pile of rice! I’m a sack of potatoes! What the heck!!!

That was…seriously so rude!!!

I’ll get her for this when I can move again…

Before turning to leave, the woman laughed at the window, as though she could hear Abrial’s thoughts.

Simmering with fury, but reduced to a powerless heap, Abrial eventually drifted to sleep.