Three people walked out of the wasteland, slowly entering a passageway filled with gravel and rubble. On both sides of the rocky road, thickets of thorns proliferated.

"Big brother, is there really a long-haired tiger in there?"

The elder brother shook his head, not knowing. The elders had always used the story of the long-haired tiger to frighten little children. He had never seen a live tiger called Garland. Tiger skins, yes, everyone had seen them. The chief's throne even had one. The tiger looked especially ferocious, its fur incomparably luxurious. The tribespeople were not allowed to casually touch it. Sagie often climbed up to play on it, though.

"Father always said there were tigers in this thorny land." Sagie looked around curiously. "He always scared us, saying he'd throw any disobedient child in here to feed the tigers."

"Why don't we go in and take a look?" Sagie suggested.

"Aren't you afraid?"

"What do I have to fear with big brother here!"

Garland was also curious, more playful by nature. He had never had any thoughts of fear or worry before, wanting to explore every interesting place. Both were still children at heart, thinking that there was no rush to reach Guelden on this trip, taking a detour made no difference. It was just a small path, and the journey was boring anyway.

"Then let's go take a look. If we meet a tiger, we'll feed Gwenk to it," Garland said with a laugh.

"Oh my lord!" Gwenk jumped up upon hearing this. "You can't do that! Forget it, I don't want to go down, I'm afraid." Gwenk hugged the horse's rear, refusing to walk, letting the horse's tail sweep across his face unbothered.

The two brothers pulled and dragged at him to no avail.

"Then we're leaving you, this stinky, ugly freak!" Garland waved his hand dismissively.

"Oh no, what if he takes our horses away while we're gone!" Sagie quickly waved his hands.

"What's there to fear? If he dares make trouble, we'll catch him and bring him back to feed the tiger."

The two youths laughed merrily and entered the thicket of thorns. At first, Sagie looked back to see Gwenk waving at them. After walking a bit further in, the surroundings grew denser with black vines. The vines were covered in sharp thorns that could easily cut the skin. Cutting the vines made them bleed pink sap, which caused redness and rashes when touching the skin. Garland wrapped his hands with a handkerchief and walked in front, constantly hacking away at vines while Sagie followed behind.

There were no visible paths through the thickets.

"Big brother, we won't be hacking away in here all day, will we?"

"You're right." Garland was also struggling. There was nothing here but vines.

"Let's go back and circle the thicket from the outside."

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After speaking, the two brothers retraced their steps. Logically, they should be able to reach the place where they parted with Gwenk shortly. But strangely, after walking for a long time, they were still deep inside the thicket! It seemed the vines grew quickly, erasing the path they came in by. Looking for traces of their trail, they could no longer find the entrance.

"Did we go the wrong way?" The two walked in the opposite direction for a long time again, their stomachs rumbling with hunger. Only then did they realize they were completely trapped.

Deep inside the thicket, the vines blocked out the sun. They could no longer ascertain the sun's direction. Big brother shouted loudly for Gwenk several times, but the forest gave no response. It seemed they were very far from the entrance now.

"Wandering around like this is pointless. If we keep going, we may very well starve to death."

"What should we do, big brother!" Sagie regretted suggesting this. "It's all my fault. The Guelden princess will likely become a widow now..."

"Don't say things like that! A real man can't casually speak of regret!" Garland patted his head. "We'll think of something."

Walking downward seemed endless. Big brother thought, since they walked downhill to get in, to get out they should head wherever was higher! That way, even if they didn't get out, they could look around for directions from a vantage point.

So big brother took little brother's hand, groping for areas with gravel as they walked upward.

After walking for a while, the thorns grew sparse and gravel increased. After walking some more, there were large boulders everywhere - the two brothers had climbed up to a mountainside! Looking back now, the place where they parted with Gwenk should be behind the mountain. It was past noon, and the two were dizzy from hunger.

They took out rations to eat atop a large mid-mountain boulder.

"Do you want to keep going, Sagie?" They might still make it out before nightfall if they pushed on now.

"I don't know..." Sagie gnawed on his favorite dried fish. "We already went halfway..." Big brother, what else could be up the mountain?"

The rocks looked bare, with only a few small trees growing in the cracks.

Garland was also conflicted for a bit before remembering: "Sagie, let's look around the mountain for suitable beasts. When we reach the Guelden tribe, if they recognize us, we can't show up empty-handed."

"Ah, big brother thinks of everything! Hehehe, let's keep looking for the long-haired tiger."

After eating their fill, the two continued climbing up the cliff. Higher up became extremely steep. They had to use both hands and all their strength. The mountain wind blew fiercely, and they climbed where it was downwind as much as possible.

Garland kept looking back. The scenery below was becoming more expansive. It turned out this "mountain" wasn't much higher than the wastelands. There was a natural ravine between the stone mountain and wasteland - the thicket they passed through earlier.

"Sagie, look how beautiful the scenery is here."

"It looks beautiful, but it's tiring to walk. I wish we could fly like birds."

In the cracks of the rocks lived small creatures. Unsure when they'd return, the two left specific markings near the animals' nests to get them all in one go on the way back.

As evening approached, Sagie faintly heard the sounds "awoo-" and "awoo-" in the distance.

"Brother, listen!" Sagie excitedly pulled at his brother's sleeve. "That must be the long-haired tiger!"

Listening closely, the sound was extremely fierce and violent - definitely made by a ferocious beast. And a beast wouldn't howl for no reason. It sounded like the beast was fighting!

"Let's go see quickly!"

The tiger's roars echoed ambiguously between the rocks, mixed with reverberations, making it hard to discern. The two brothers squeezed through some large boulders, the younger pointing behind a thicket of vines: "It seems to be coming from back here."

Pressing their ears, the roars were indeed coming intermittently from behind the vines.

"Yes, that's right." Garland raised his hunting knife, hacking away vines to barely open a path through. Following the sound, after walking a bit, the view suddenly opened up - deep inside the thicket was an open clearing!

Looking into the clearing, a fierce tiger was leaping around, emitting terrifying roars. This tiger had shiny golden fur, a ring of hair around its head swaying like a long mane - the so-called "long-haired tiger." And beside the tiger, another youth was fighting it!