After walking for a long time in the dark, narrow and extremely depressing environment, the two brothers who finally saw the exit couldn't help themselves, and became excited. They immediately climbed up the stairs made of irregular stones one after the other.
After climbing up the stairs, they found that the exit of the secret passage was a small cave hidden behind trees in the forest. The opening of this cave was really very small, only allowing an adult to crawl in or out with his back bent.
The entrance of the cave is covered by weeds as high as a person and tree curtains. In order to prevent insects, ants or animals from entering by mistake, some poisonous plants seem to be specially planted.
Amu knew these poisonous plants. He had seen them in the illustration book in his father's study room. Most of them were plants that would not cause much harm as long as they were not eaten by mistake, but the smell was a bit pungent.
After avoiding these plants and crawling out from the dark passage, the two brothers stood in place and looked around for a while.
It was late at this moment, and night was in the sky. The forest was silent, except for the chirping of insects. Although it was much brighter than the dark passage, it could still be called pitch black.
Ashin said, "Where should we go next?"
"Wait a minute, wait until Dr. He Erqiu brings the other children over. We are not familiar with this forest, and we may get lost if we walk around." Amu placed the oil lamp in his hand on a large rock at random, and wiped it with his sleeve. After rubbing the flat side of the stone, he beckoned to his younger brother, "Come and sit down and have a rest."
Ashin obediently walked over to his brother and sat down. When he looked up, he saw that his brother was still standing, so he asked, "Aren't you going to sit down, brother?"
"I don't need it." Amu was always incredibly gentle when he treated his younger brother. He reached out and touched Ashin's cold face, "Is it still cold?"
Ashin thought for a while: "It's cold in the secret passage, so it won't be cold when you come out."
After Ashin finished speaking, he subconsciously pressed Amu's hand that was rubbing his cheek with his left hand. Then Ashin suddenly noticed a detail that he hadn't noticed before...or in other words, it was a detail that he had noticed before but didn't pay attention to.
Ah Mu stuck too close to him.
At this moment, Amu stroked Ashin's cheek and chin with his fingers little by little. The heads were also pressed together, and Ashin and Ashin's foreheads were almost touching each other's foreheads, and the breath sprayed on each other's faces, warm and hot breath.
So close that Ashin felt that Amu would kiss his lips anytime and anywhere.
They are indeed closer than ordinary brothers, probably because they are twins. But even if they are twins, at the age of sixteen, which is considered an adult age in Estonia, they shouldn't be so close, it's like... like...
Ashin couldn't describe it.
He never dared to dissect or understand the truth behind these questions, and he kept pretending that he knew nothing, that he was innocent and carefree.
He didn't dare to investigate, because he vaguely realized that the ending was not what he wanted to witness.
Ashin lowered his eyes, reached out and grabbed Amu's hand that was groping his cheek, and pulled Amu's hands away from his face. Immediately afterwards, Ashin said in a low tone: "Brother, I am not a child anymore."
Amu also seemed to be able to understand Ashina's slight refusal. He was silent for a moment, and he didn't know what kind of complicated emotions contained in his dark eyes. After a long while, he said: "In my eyes, you have always been a child."
"Amu! Axin!" Just as the two brothers were in a stalemate, Dr. He Erqiu's voice came from the exit of the secret passage over there, "Are you outside?"
"We are here!" Amu turned his head, separated from his younger brother, walked quickly to the exit of the secret passage, and took an oil lamp to look inside, and sure enough, he saw the familiar face of Dr. He Erqiu.
"Doctor, are there any other children?" Amu asked subconsciously.
Dr. Herqiu's face was a little gloomy, and he hesitated softly: "The situation is too bad. I only brought out four children, and the others are..."
After the doctor finished speaking, he stepped aside and let the young people behind him stand up. Amu took a closer look and found that three of the four people who followed Dr. He Erqiu were children about seven or eight years old. They seemed to be children of a certain blacksmith shop and farmers in the village.
And the last one is the person Amu doesn't really want to see—Suriel, the daughter of Orion Taya.
Su Lier tore off the hem of her dress, turned the long skirt into a short skirt, and tied the strips of cloth to her hands and feet as handguards. She wore what seemed to be her father's coat.
The girl's eyes looked very determined and tenacious from beginning to end.
"Come out quickly." Amu ignored the anxiety in his heart, and let Dr. He Erqiu wait for the group to come out of the secret passage.
As soon as Ashin over there saw Su Lier, his eyes lit up. He first called Dr. He Erqiu, then he put his eyes on Su Lier without any trace, and stammered, calling Su Lier. name.
Su Lier didn't seem to have any interest in Ashin, she just smiled politely at Ashin as a greeting.
Su Lier's attitude made Ashin purse his lips unconsciously, and his heart sank a lot.
Amu, who was next to him, saw this scene in his eyes, and he was slightly relieved. He knows that his younger brother has always liked Su Lier, but Ashin is usually bold and daring, but he is particularly sensitive and anxious in terms of feelings. Contact, will only look at from afar.
Compared with those boys in the village who enthusiastically surround Su Lier and flatter him every day, Ashin is really too reserved in this respect. It's no wonder that Su Lier has little impression of him.
Confessing to Su Lier on the day of the 16-year-old coming-of-age banquet, it has been Ashin's decision for so many years, and he can finally muster all the courage to make.
Unfortunately, it was destroyed by a group of pirates who appeared out of nowhere.
In this regard, Amu is more happy to see the results. He doesn't like Su Lier, especially when Ashin becomes more and more infatuated with Su Lier, A Mu's dislike for Su Lier becomes deeper.
To put it bluntly, it sounds like jealousy.
Ah Mu felt that the girl had disrupted the balance between their brothers.
As the person involved, Su Lier didn’t know anything about it. After she, Dr. He Erqiu and several children crawled out of the secret passage, Dr. He Erqiu began to recount the situation. The doctor said: “It’s very bad, very bad!”
Ashin worried: "What happened to my father!?"
"I don't know." Herqiu shook his head and pulled Sulier beside him, "Mr. Menshak and Sulier's father Taya went to resist those pirates together. Before leaving, Taya entrusted Sulier to me." The others seemed to be dead, there were corpses along the way, I only had time to take these few children."
Amu said: "Since we have brought Su Lier out, there is no need to delay. Let's go to the next town for help."
"That's right!" Ashin also responded, "Surier often goes hunting with her father, so she must be very familiar with this forest. It would be best for her to take us across the forest and go to the next town for help!"
Dr. He Erqiu turned to look at Su Lier and asked, "Su Lier, can you lead the way?"
Su Lier raised her head and looked around, showing embarrassment: "I can indeed lead the way...but..."
"What? Is there any problem?" Dr. Herqiu asked puzzled.
"This secret passage in Menshak Manor leads directly to the depths of the forest, which is the territory of wolves." Su Lier walked out a few steps, climbed up the relatively open rock, and looked at the surrounding environment for a while, "No Wrong, it is indeed the territory of the wolves, I saw a trap I set here several years ago hanging on a tree in the distance."
"My God!" Dr. He Erqiu couldn't help scratching his head with his hands when he heard the bad news. He looked at A Mu and A Xin, "What did your father think, to pass the secret passage for escape to the wolf's den?"
Before Ah Mu and Ashin spoke, Su Lier said, "Maybe I didn't think about it when I built the manor. My father said that this forest was not so lush before, and there were not many wild animals in the forest. These wolves It came later."
"Then what should we do?" Amu, who was facing Su Lier, was a little impatient, and lowered his voice and said to Su Lier, "Do you have any good ideas? Hunter Miss Su Lier?"
When Su Lier heard this, she squinted her eyes and turned to look at Amu, and then smiled at Amu: "Of course."
She reached out and pulled the coat that belonged to her father—it was a black fur coat.
Su Lier said: "My father made the clothes on me from bear skin, which is the black bear we hunted not long ago. My father took it off and made this clothes. Only the blood stains were washed away, and there were still some blood stains left on it." Has a strong black bear smell."
"Bears and wolves will occasionally fight, and occasionally avoid each other to avoid disputes. They are very smart beasts." Su Lier said, "You follow me later, and I will lead you to avoid wolves as much as possible nest, and tell you the correct direction. If you unfortunately encounter wolves on the way, I will imitate the barking of bears to attract their attention, and then you just need to follow the direction I specified to escape as soon as possible.”
He Erqiu felt bad when he heard it: "Then what do you do!?"
"It doesn't matter, I often do this kind of thing." Sulier seemed very confident, "I have been hunting here with my father since I was a child. I am familiar with this forest as I am familiar with my backyard. There are many traps laid by my father in the forest. , If I feel bad, I will lure the wolves towards the trap, and the wolves will retreat after losing their soldiers, and I will be able to get out of danger soon."
Although Su Lier's words were full of confidence, He Erqiu still felt uneasy, but at this moment, He Erqiu didn't have much choice.
He Erqiu looked at the people around him. Except for Amu, Axin and Su Lier, the others were all children under ten years old.
Although Ah Mu and Ashin are two boys, they are usually carefully raised by Mr. Menshaq in their own big manor, and they live a life of young masters with no worries about food and clothing. The two young masters suddenly took up weapons and wolves Confrontation is obviously foolish and absurd, a deadly act.
But let Su Lier, a girl, fight against the wolves alone, He Erqiu couldn't feel at ease, he gritted his teeth and said to Su Lier: "If you encounter wolves, let me act together with you, if anything happens, At least I can protect you, and in the future... I can explain to your father Taya."
"No." Surprisingly, Su Lier refused without even thinking about it. She even looked at Herqiu with disgust: "You are useless to me, and you will get in the way if you follow me. I may need to protect you."
"But..." He Erqiu was dumbfounded, trying to save himself some face.
Su Lier interrupted him mercilessly: "Doctor, this forest is a battlefield for me. I am a soldier on this battlefield. I am never afraid of fighting or death. If I were afraid, I would have You won’t learn to be a hunter from my father.”
After all, Su Lier smiled at the doctor: "So, please trust me?"
So He Erqiu kept silent under Su Lier's smile, which was regarded as acquiescing to Su Lier's proposal. After a short discussion, the group embarked on the road to move on.
Suriel walked and talked, and told the doctor and Amu Ashin the specific direction of the town. She pointed to the sky above the forest, and she could see the sky shrouded in darkness through the gaps in the dense leaves. Moon—tonight is the night of the full moon.
"Follow the North Star in the sky and go north to get out of the forest, and then you can see the town after walking 100 meters." Su Lier pointed out the North Star in the sky to everyone, "But because there are many people in this forest The trap left by my father, so when you are leaving, I suggest that you explore the road with a longer branch, use it to push away the weeds, and test the traps hidden in the grass...or snakes."
Amu said, "Your father is really a 'trap master'."
Su Lier seemed to take this sentence as a compliment, and even smiled at A Mu again: "His skill in making traps is very good, I only learned a few superficial... But to be honest, the reason why Dad made so many traps is also for To deal with these wolves, I don’t know why, the number of wolves has increased recently, in order to prevent them from easily running out of the forest, many traps were set up around here.”
"Are there more and more wolves?" Amu's eyes darkened, seeming to contain unknown emotions that could not be analyzed. "Then you should be more careful."
Ashin, who was always lively and cheerful next to him, remained silent all the time, and did not speak. He also lowered his head and walked slowly beside Amu, occasionally raising his head to look at Suriel and his brother Amu.
Sulier and Amu, who were leading the way, began to chat for no reason. Sulier was in charge of exploring the way with a wooden stick, and Amu was holding his oil lamp to illuminate her.
The picture of the two standing together is inexplicably harmonious.
No, don't overthink it.
Ashin comforted himself silently in his heart, he knew that it was impossible for his brother to like Su Lier, because his brother actually...
Thinking of this, Ashin couldn't help clenching his fists.
Wouldn't it make you feel shameless? Relying on his elder brother's kindness to him, he enjoys his elder brother's love unscrupulously while pursuing the girl he likes as he pleases.
Ashin's mood fell into a sudden trough. But at this moment, the wolves that everyone had been guarding against did not appear. Instead, the pirates who landed in Estonia and entered their village appeared behind them!
Holding torches and guns, these pirates shouted loudly in a foreign language that Su Lier and the others could not understand, and followed the traces left by Su Lier and his party in the forest.
"How did these pirates catch up!?" He Erqiu looked back and saw the faint flames approaching from behind, and was shocked, "Could it be that they discovered the secret passage in the manor, so they followed along the secret passage!? "
Su Lier was also a little panicked, but she calmed down quickly. She climbed up a rock and stood up and down to look over there: "There are not many pursuers, and there are less than ten people by visual inspection. It may be that they have discovered a secret passage, so Follow up."
Amu also waited and watched, and said to Su Lier: "Miss Hunter, they are making all kinds of noisy noises, and they are also screaming ghosts. How likely is it to attract wolves?"
Su Lier just smiled: "The chances are very high. Maybe we can use these pursuers as bait. When they become bait for the pack of wolves, we will be able to leave this forest more easily and happily."
Things went as smoothly as Su Lier said, and there was no need for Su Lier and his party to intervene too much. They just needed to be careful and try their best to avoid the traps that might be hidden in the grass, and just go straight forward.
As expected, the group of pirates chasing soldiers behind them was targeted by the pack of wolves not long after. Lone wolves or wolves with fewer than five wolves may not attack multiple targets, but a pack of more than a dozen wolves seems to be more powerful. very different.
When Su Lier and the others were still advancing silently, they heard the sudden exclamation of the pirates behind them, mixed with the howling of wolves, followed by continuous gunshots.
"They carry guns." Su Lier frowned and said, "This is a little bit bad."
He Erqiu said, "Does it mean that the wolves will be scared away by the gunfire?"
"No, wolves have a strong desire for revenge." Su Lier's face turned serious, "My father and I have been fighting in this forest all year round. These wolves were afraid of gunshots earlier, but they have become immune to it. The 'gunshot' that kills them is very angry, and shooting near a wolf's den will irritate them."
Amu said, "Does that mean there will be more wolves outflanking them?"
"Yes." Su Lier waved to Amu and the others, "Let's hurry up, don't fall into the siege of wolves."
Immediately afterwards, the group of people quickened their pace, stumbling and trying to make a way in this dense forest, but sometimes the more anxious people are, the more trouble will come to them.
Sure enough, Su Lier and the others encountered wolves. When they walked to a relatively open place, there was a small rustling sound in the grass. Amu picked up the oil lamp in his hand, and sure enough, he saw a few long wolves in front of him. A very strong wolf.
These wolves are taller than the large sled dogs raised by some farmers in the village, with their drooping tails swinging from side to side, the fur on their bodies is black and white, and under the faint light, their eyes are a little scary yellow.
"Do as I said before!" Su Lier raised her voice and shouted to He Erqiu, Amu and others, "Now, run for me immediately!"
After Su Lier finished speaking, she rolled up her thick fur coat, nimbly like a galloping rabbit, she and He Erqiu's group split into two groups, and she ran in another direction. While making bear-like howls at the wolves - I have to say that she imitated it very well.
The wolves were indeed attracted by her. They seemed not to know whether to chase Su Lier or those humans. After hesitating for a moment, they followed Su Lier and ran away. Su Lier's bear barking was probably provocative. the taste of.
After Su Lier lured the wolves away, Herqiu and his group, who were able to escape, continued to walk in the direction of the North Star that Su Lier had pointed out. But after walking for a while, He Erqiu's face became darker and darker. Finally, he seemed unable to bear it anymore, and said to Amu and Amu: "You take the children away, and I will go back to find Su Lier."
Amu said: "She doesn't need your help, she said it herself."
"Maybe she doesn't need me to deal with the wolves, but she needs me to deal with those pirates chasing soldiers." He Erqiu said, and even took out a pistol from his pocket.
"Doctor, you actually have a gun?" Amu asked in surprise.
He Erqiu said: "Of course I have, but this gun has few bullets, so it may not be of much use."
After all, He Erqiu remained silent and listened silently to the movement of the pirates chasing soldiers and the wolves fighting over there.
He Erqiu said: "Those pirates are very tenacious, and they seem to be able to survive being besieged by wolves for a while. I'm afraid they carry a lot of firepower. After being attracted by the gunshots, the surrounding wolves probably surrounded them. Even if Su Lier can Using the trap to get rid of part of it, she may still have a hard time getting out, so I'm going to help her, probably this is going to die, but bless me."
Amu calmly said, "I bless you, doctor."
Ashin said in horror: "Wait, doctor! It's useless for you to go there!"
"Whether it works or not will not be known until you try it." He Erqiu glanced at Amu and Axin, as well as the other children who had been shrinking together in fear.
"Protect these children, Ah Mu, and Ashin, I know you can do it."
Having said that, Dr. He Erqiu also followed Su Lier's footsteps and ran in another direction, so only Amu Ashin and three children who followed them obediently and dared not speak remained in the team.
Amu didn't waste any time, he pulled Ashin and moved on with the child.
On the way, Ashin looked preoccupied, and couldn't help but say to Amu: "Father... the doctor, and Su Lier... are they really all right?"
Amu comforted his younger brother in a tone that hardly seemed to be comforting: "It's okay."
"I feel... I'm useless, I can't help you with anything." Ashin said again, "Suriel is beautiful and strong, I... I don't deserve her."
"How could it be? Ashin also has the advantages of Ashin." Amu still looked at his younger brother tenderly.
Ashin said: "You are just coaxing me, I know."
"I didn't coax you. To me, Ashin is very, very good."
"Brother, do you like me?" Ashin asked coldly.
Amu paused for a moment and replied, "Of course I like you."
"It's not the kind of liking from relatives... I'm asking you, do you like me?" Ashin asked again.
This time Amu was stunned.
Then A Mu opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but he couldn't say it. He hesitated for a while before replying: "Is the answer to this question very important to you?"
"I don't know." Adao said, "But I want to know."
"If I answered yes... how would you respond to me?"
Ashin seemed to muster up his courage, and raised his head to stare at his brother: "This shouldn't be, brother, it can't be like this!"
"I knew you would say that." Amu smiled wryly, "So... Compared to me, you still prefer a girl like Su Lier?"
"I... I didn't mean that..." Ashin didn't know how to express himself correctly, he was eager to find the right language in his mind: "We are brothers, we can't be together..."
"Yeah, you like girls, of course we can't be together..." Amu almost expected the ending.
"No... brother... I..." Ashin wanted to explain something, but at this moment, they heard the howling of wolves from the forest behind them again, and this sound was very close to them.
"Run!" Amu stretched out his hand and grabbed the hands of the two children behind him. Ashin instinctively held the last one, and the two of them quickly ran northward with the children.
After walking for so long, in fact, the forest has been almost covered by them. It seems that they can see the open plain in front of them, and the fires belonging to the town are still shining in the farther place.
When they ran to the edge of the forest, the wolves behind seemed to follow. Amu and Axin could almost hear the rattling sound of wolf paws running on the ground. Amu and Axin had no choice but to push the children forward and point to The flames of the town ahead made them yell and run, while the brothers stayed behind, turning to face the wolves following.
Fortunately, there are not many, only three.