Early in the morning, we were recuperating in a rocky bay at the foot of Makross Mountain. The rope was wrapped around my heel, and I was sitting on a large rock, and a biting breeze blew the snow across my face. A steep curly wound is climbing along the uneven hillside, and we will trek this route in a few minutes.
Kate didn't care about tearing down his pieces of wood. He pulled one off his thigh abruptly, and I shrank back when I saw its width. I have minor wounds on my face and hands, but Kate hurt more in the barn collision. Earlier, he pulled out an 8-inch piece from the side of his neck and several shorter pieces from his wrist and knuckles. He either didn't admit the pain, or he didn't care.
"I can help you," I said. "if you need... "
"What can you do that I can't do?" He grasped tightly and pulled out the last fragment from his forehead, with blood spurting on it.
The atmosphere between us is far away to say the least. When the samurai was just a samurai, I was still sad for his suffocation before. Nevertheless, I feel that I should put my personal complaints aside-after all, being on Kate's side is the only way to collect information, and knowledge is always more valuable than trivial quarrels.
"I haven't thank you yet..." I started cautiously.
Kate threw the shard over his shoulder contemptuously, then showed me his back.
"The only reason you are here is to protect me," I continued. "You must have suffered. Your motive... is your own business. I respect this and I will try not to let you down in the future."
The result was better than I thought, judging from Kate's subtle nod, he agreed.
"You don't need to impress me," he said, staring at the clouds rising above his head.
"Can you tell me more about him?" I asked. "Stick, king?"
The samurai carefully studied the empty road we had walked the night before, where there were no wizards and swamps.
"The stick is elusive," he whispered, "he knows everything."
"Have you seen him?"
"Never, I doubted his existence."
"But... you know he lives there, right? How?"
"Show," he exhaled and said angrily. "If the stick is there, then you won't meet someone like it. He will ask for more than you can give. Let him down, and you will let down the scientist, the angel and yourself."
Kate then walked towards the winding mountain road, and I followed, taking into account the people I had given up in the mission of the Ninth Fort so far, especially Ms. L. I tried to forget her last expression, but every time I closed my eyes, that cold face appeared in my mind.
"I have no experience in mountaineering," I said, walking up to him. "I used to walk along the Ishpatina ridge when I came home on weekends, but that's all. Even so, I can hardly call it a mountain."
"Instinct," Kate replied, her palms cold. "The weather will not help us climb-if we can survive."
Those dark clouds made timely complaints, heralding difficult times in the future.
As expected, the route became steeper and steeper, oxygen became thinner and snow thicker. I connected to Kate by a rope tied around our waist, leaving a gap of about 6 feet between us. Eyes have been facing my feet, there is not much scenery, only a crooked black stone slab and the violent storms of our hard work.
Ahead, the samurai continued to fight until our rope became tight, forcing me like a wet dog. go ahead! go ahead! go ahead! There will be no stay here or anywhere.
We did it in this irritating way for a long time; Kate pushed me to pull-push-pull-push-pull! I already hate this rope and the man's insatiable demands on it. I hate it more than the sudden drop in temperature, the numbness of my limbs, and everything I hate the most in my life.
The ground is temporarily flat, but the vision is now blurred. The dazzling snow covered the upper and lower parts, unable to escape this slow death.
Kate shaved the ice from his stubble and the frost from his hair. I thought there would be an order to rest in the snowstorm, but no. Instead, he paused in front of me and knelt down.
"What are you...doing?" I asked, putting my hand in my armpit.
Kit's face was like a solid piece of ice. He drew the sword from its sheath with a click and lowered himself a bit.
"Kate?" I said in confusion. "everything is... "
Suddenly, with an angry grunt and a flash of steel, Kate slashed in the wind with his katana.
Sank!
Something substantial—like a big piece of flying butcher meat—shattered my back. I was stunned and lay quietly for a minute, hearing Kate's roar and the roar of a hungry animal.
I raised my head tentatively, and saw a big bag of white hair and black spots off my toes. I opened my eyes and panted hard—it was a cougar, bigger than a Volvo, wrestling, and there was something cutting under it. I heard the rubbing of its teeth and jaw; then suddenly, a terrible cracking sound came from its chest, followed by howling from its throat against the falling snow. I was so frightened that I shuffled back and the monster fell to the ground, lifeless.
The exhausted Kate squeezed out from under the beast, with deep tooth prints embedded on his forehead, blood flowed into a river, it was creepy. The expressionless Kate pressed a handful of snow on the wound and smeared it on the blood that blocked his vision.
"Shit!" I shouted. "You are such a mess!"
"I will heal."
"What is this?" I asked, standing up and poking my feet into the ball of hair and teeth.
"Snow Leopard," he said, taking the katana from its ribs. "I have killed a bigger..."
Finally, when the last breath was exhaled from the animal's lungs, we rested on this warm, dead thing.
The sky is like a storm on the sea, a violent storm, I have never seen such a sight. Snowflakes flow down the rising stone, like a water feature in a garden, making the road and the muddy of every step dangerous. We glided upwards until the end, we climbed up on our hands and knees, grabbed our fingernails and pushed us into the rickety rock. Our feet are as important as our grips.
Kate has maintained a tight rhythm-I can't bear it. Nevertheless, I dug very deep and found enough to continue digging, if I can't keep up. Forward-forward-forward! Push and pull-push and pull!
"How long will it take?!" I screamed behind him, my voice suppressed by the strong wind. "how much longer?"
The degree is getting higher and higher, and I realized why resting here is so dangerous. Less than feet to our left, a rolling boulder passed by us, two stories high. A certain and silent killer, if we were in its path, we would have been crushed under it. Therefore, our motto is to climb this slope as quickly as possible-no lack of attention, no rest.
God's breath tried to blow us down from the mountain, and now our rope was tight, Kate almost pulled me up to the side of the mountain; his tug entangled my belly tightly. Only when my clothes are soaked, and when my face, ears, neck and hands are hurt by ice, I will collapse. give up. Under my bondage. The rope ends.
"No more!" I kept screaming. "That's it! I've had enough! The deal!"
Kate continued to advance desperately, my body stagnated, and the guy who suddenly yanked my waist pulled me forward, trying to hit my face against the rock. After being knocked down by his strong world, Kate looked back, but did not show any concern for me. He just pulled our rope, cursed my weak body, and asked me to obey orders—be more careful—and stand up.
I barely glanced at him through the downpour, and the blood ran down my cheeks. "I can't! Too many! No more!"
Kate crossed her eyebrows like a magnet. He dropped the rope and strode towards me, his face pale and his cheeks swollen. He temporarily shielded me from the hail and grabbed the skin of my neck.
"stand up!"
Annoyingly, I slapped his clenched hand with my arm.
"No! Damn! Touch me! Don't touch me again, you bastard! I want to go back! I fucking go back now! If you don't go with me, I will go by myself! I don't need you! I don't care !"
The wind howled like the dying snow leopard, and Kit's palm rubbed against the hilt of the samurai sword like a magic lamp.
"One more word," he shouted suddenly, "I'll cut off your head!"
Lightning smashed the hillside, and thunder shook the sky. I am no longer angry, but stunned. In the soulless gaze of the samurai, I saw my guardian, my sword and shield were 100% serious, and he would chop off my head. Maybe he wants to do it.
"One more word!" he repeated, teasing the hilt and himself, waiting, longing...
I did not speak. Not grumbling. Instead, I stood up, there was a smell of water and blood on my lips, and I stared at Kate's soaked face. Our private storm lasted for a full 60 seconds.
"I can't believe they sent you to help me!" I cried. "Why you! Who the fuck are you?!"
"I have seen hell!" he roared back. "Lived for two hundred years! 00! If you can't continue now-you might as well lose your head! You can too!" (to be continued) (end of this chapter)