North x Northwest

“…You need to go a little faster…”

“…”

Shail’s advice, however, fell on deaf ears.

‘How strange. Something is definitely wrong here. Is it really me they’re after?’

“…My lady, please speed up a little more…”

‘Who would try to kill me? Who on earth? Who would want to do this?…’

“…Who?”

“Pardon?”

“No. No one wants to kill me.”

“What?”

“If that person wanted me dead, he would’ve left me dead. He wouldn’t drag someone who has already been dead for several years back to the Empire just to try to kill me again…”

“What are you talking about?”

As if possessed, Lil kept looking back.

Before long the attack resumed, but not a single arrow flew in her direction. The realisation that it was so safe, turned her blood cold.

“…I’m not the real target…”

The moment Lil verbalised her conclusion, she recalled Venua’s words through an auditory hallucination.

{ “Do you think I will simply leave the Marquess alone?” }

Lil, who had stopped talking mid-sentence, followed this ‘Marquess’ with her eyes.

“…But Edgar…”

A rain of arrows poured down on Ed, who had mounted a new horse. He similarly counterattacked with a bow, but the treeless terrain put him at a great disadvantage given that the battle was at long distance. With several guards in front of him already fallen while trying to block the attacks, Ed lowered his torso and steered his horse towards a cliff outside the trade route to get out of the attackers’ range. It wasn’t a high cliff, but it looked incredibly precarious as he stood at the edge.

{ “His Majesty might not want to give him up, but there’s always a way for me to avoid the eyes of even the imperial family.” }

The reins in Lil’s hands interlocked with her leather gloves and made a tight sound. She turned her horse at once and kicked the stirrups like crazy.

As the cool wind grazed her ears, Venua’s voice pierced her mind again and again.

{ “Sooner or later, I will cut off his head and shut him up for good.” }

Lil shouted a name, almost hysterical.

“Edgar!”

Leaving the well-paved main road and riding towards the cliff, her horse’s hooves hit the dirt and couldn’t help but slow down. Even though she tried to push her horse harder, the situation didn’t improve, so Lil had no choice but to grip the reins and look anxiously at the forest.

At that time, the forest shook noticeably as several horses fled to the other side. It looked like the assailants began retreating as though they had finished with their last wave of attack. However, Lil couldn’t rest assured.

‘The reinforcements haven’t even reached this part yet. And I don’t think assailants would miss an opportunity like this… What? Who? Who on earth could do something crazy like this? To assassinate a Marquess?’

Lil’s mind, which had gone completely blank, spewed out a different voice this time. It was her own voice.

{ “What did my brother do? No, what did he order you to do?” }

She remembered Maxwell’s expression. At that time, she had made a guess based on his clearly distressed face.

{ “Is it something you can’t handle?” }

{ “If someone’s life is on the line, you should tell me!” }

‘What made Maxwell come to me, and why did he show up in broad daylight to warn me?’

Lil lifted her head in realisation.

Someone rode out of the forest. It was a person who could aim a huge crossbow without losing his balance even on a moving horse. A person who seemed to have given up on everything and had no qualms even when several guns were pointed at him. Lil also took her gun from her pocket. Unfortunately, she still had a long way to go.

Ed, on the other hand, was already within Maxwell’s range, and Lil knew too well the ridiculous range of that huge crossbow. She hoped that Ed could dodge it properly, but she soon noticed that one of his legs was limping, like his whole body was slowly sinking beneath the ground. He could barely maintain his balance, let alone hold on to the reins.

Lil called to him like a scream.

“Edgar!”

‘It will be too late…’

Lil took her foot out of the stirrups and positioned it onto her saddle.

– Bang! –

Simultaneously with Lil’s gunfire, a thick arrow escaped Maxwell’s bow and flew towards Ed.

Ed had his back turned against Maxwell, fighting another opponent, when the arrow struck his left upper arm with terrifying force. At the same time, Ed bent down onto the saddle to avoid his opponent’s sword when another arrow pierced the side of his horse. Lil couldn’t tell who lost their balance first, Ed or the horse, but Ed’s body started falling next to the beast nonetheless. A third arrow grazed through his hair and scattered in the air.

Lil stepped on the saddle, leaned, and stretched her hands forward. She barely managed to grab Ed’s limp arm, but her body was unable to withstand Ed’s weight and similarly fell down. Lil hugged him in a panic as they both fell and rolled down the tilted ground. Lil tried to protect Ed’s head with all her might. Although they were approaching the edge of the cliff, there was nothing else she could do and in the next moment, her body had lost its touch with the ground that had been grazing them.

They were falling.

Lil instinctively stretched out one arm in an attempt to grab at least a clump of grass. However, her left hand, which couldn’t support the weight of two people, only slid along the ground at a high speed. It felt like her palm and wrist were being torn apart. All she could do was graze a rock and a few blades of grass.

The earth wasn’t on her side. It threw her hand away from the cliff. As soon as her pain stopped, she knew that death came next. The pain had been paradise. Yet as the power of gravity forcefully coiled around her legs to suck them into an unfathomable pit, the fingers of her left hand suddenly twitched…

“Shit!”

Someone overhead tugged her left hand. Raising her head, Lil embraced the raw pain that came with the feeling of her arm being ripped off with joy.

The newly risen sun dimly illuminated Linhardt’s face. Whereas Lil exerted her best effort into her right arm that was holding onto Ed, Linhardt shouted as if hoping for a response from his cousin.

“Edgar!”

Lil, who found it difficult to speak in this position, answered intermittently.

“He… he’s unconscious…”

“Damn it, there’s no safe place to lower you!”

“..!”

From the corner of her eye, Lil saw Linhardt’s other hand barely holding on to the edge of the cliff.

“Hold on. Soldiers are coming.”

“…”

“Please just a little longer…”

But gravity was too cruel and rendered Linhardt’s wishes meaningless. In fact, it was a miracle that Lil hadn’t dropped Ed yet. Not only was her right arm unable to pull Ed’s body up, but Ed was slowly slipping through her grasp as well. Their arms were shaking convulsively. If Linhardt couldn’t pull them up right now, the outcome was expected to be grim.

“My right hand… I think… I’m going to… lose him…”

“No!”

Lil initially thought it was just her arms that were shaking, but no, her entire body was trembling. It was obvious she couldn’t last for a few more seconds. Lil closed her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth.

‘I cannot lose Ed again… How many times have I not regretted this before… That I should’ve followed him and saved him…’

After making up her mind, Lil opened her eyes with newfound determination. Linhardt sensed something and shook his head instantly.

‘We tried, but there seems to be no other way.’

“Listen… carefully. Down here… in the Smuggler’s Forest… there are buildings…”

“What crazy talk!”

Linhardt, unable to bear it any longer, grabbed her with both hands. However, the speed at which Lil was losing Ed was faster than the speed at which Linhardt could pull them up.

“On the beach… the nearest hut…”

“Come to your senses! What on earth are you planning to do?!”

“…Find us…”

Lil shook off Linhardt herself.

Time, which seemed to have been stopped till that very moment, instantaneously ran again. Lil tightly cradled Ed with her arms in their crushing fall.

‘I can’t lose him this time.’

Burying her face in the crook of Ed’s limp neck, a strange feeling of relief welled up in her, even though her hope about their survival was faint…

– – – – –

TN: The most literal meaning of a cliffhanger.