The Mountains of the Thunder Bird
Hairan Highlands.
To obtain a pureblood Hairan, I had to head into the mountains of the Thunder Bird.
I began looking for a carriage bound that way, and by sheer luck I found one just about to depart. A single knight and three adventurers already sat aboard.
"You planning to ride as well?"
"Yes!"
"Come to sightsee the Hairan, have you?"
"No. I'm going to catch a horse."
"What, you...?"
The coachman burst into a hearty laugh at my answer, as if he could scarcely believe it. Then he held out his hand as though it made no difference either way.
"One silver."
The Thunder Bird's mountains must have been quite close, then. I placed a silver coin in his palm and climbed aboard.
"Off to see the Hairan, are you?"
Perhaps I had been staring too openly. The knight seated across from me struck up a conversation. I started at the sound of the voice that issued from within the gleaming silver helm—it was a woman's.
When I rounded my eyes at her, a soft laugh drifted out from inside the helmet.
"What, surprised I'm a woman?"
"Well..."
While I hesitated over a reply, the carriage lurched into motion.
"You've trained with the sword, haven't you?"
The lady knight showed considerable interest in me. Another woman who also wielded a blade—she must have felt a certain kinship. I found her pleasant enough myself, so we kept talking.
Her name was Rosen, and she had come to the Hairan Highlands in search of a steed of her own, just as most knights who visited this place did.
I asked her,
"Have you ever seen a pureblood Hairan?"
"I glimpsed one from afar when I was little."
"What did it look like?"
Rosen gave a light laugh and began to speak. Through the faintly drifting quality of her voice I could tell she was sifting through old memories.
"The Hairan's defining trait is its size."
"Its size?"
"It must have been twice as big as an ordinary riding horse—assuming I wasn't seeing things."
"Wow..."
"Its stiff mane stood out in every direction, almost like a lion's."
"Is it really a horse, then?"
Of course it was a horse. They said it could breed with other equine species, after all. She chuckled softly at my reaction and continued.
"The strangest thing is that they insist on eating only meat."
"They won't touch hay or anything?"
"Not a bite. Bring them regular horse feed and they'll throw a fit and smash the stable to pieces."
"Yikes..."
Rosen went on about the Hairan after that. She said their long legs were strong enough to shatter rock, and that when one lashed its tail like a whip, the skin of anyone struck by it had been torn clean open. Putting her words together, the creature sounded less like a horse and more like a monster.
"So riding a Hairan means staking your life on it."
"Exactly."
While we talked I glanced sideways. The three adventurers who had been sitting opposite had somehow edged closer and were now listening intently to Rosen's stories. When their eyes met ours they gave awkward little laughs and shuffled back to their seats.
"We've arrived!"
The coachman's voice rang out just then, and the carriage that had been racing along came to an abrupt halt. I jumped down and looked around.
Towering rock peaks stretched so far their ends could not be seen, and the gray clouds that had settled over them carried an inexplicable sense of foreboding. The mountains were utterly barren; spotting any living thing nearby looked next to impossible.
"Hey. Is this the right place?"
That was Rosen, who had also disembarked. Her question was directed at the driver's seat, and the coachman still sitting there gave a light laugh and nodded.
"Aye, this is the Thunder Bird's mountain range. The place of the legend where a giant bird appears."
As he spoke he pulled a stubby pipe from his coat and stuck it between his teeth. He chewed on it a few times before continuing.
"I'll be waiting, so if you feel like giving up, come on back. I'll take you home for another silver."
The coachman was clearly certain that every one of us would fail. The adventurers scowled as if the words had soured their mood, but they said nothing. They simply started climbing the great rock mountain first.
I began the ascent with Rosen. Even in her heavy armor she moved lightly, her steps almost catlike.
"Not too hard for you?"
"I'm fine."
I answered her question while climbing the steep slope with easy steps, thanks to the ogre-hide boots a skilled craftsman had made for me. The tough sinew and sturdy leather kept my ankles from twisting the wrong way.
We soon overtook the adventurers who had gone ahead. They were leaning against the incline, panting hard.
"Are there really Hairan here?"
"He says so, so we have no choice but to believe him."
Rosen answered my muttered question by pointing down the mountain. The coachman was still sitting in the same spot, smoking. The pale smoke rising from his pipe looked just like the gray clouds clinging to the mountain's mid-slope.
Rosen and I climbed without rest. How much time passed I could not say, but just as my breathing began to grow rough, a heavy sound rolled out from beyond the murky clouds that hung over the mountainside.
Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!
The sound drew nearer with every moment. Then, from between the pale clouds, something enormous revealed itself.
Its widely spread mane called to mind a true lion's, and its massive frame made it look like something that had transcended the very species of horse.
"A Hairan...!"
The horse that had appeared was indeed a Hairan. Black mane streaming, it came charging out, scarlet eyes flashing, then veered and raced off in another direction.
Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!
The way it ran across the sloping rock face looked as effortless as galloping on flat ground. The heavy footfalls must have come from it being a wild horse without shoes.
In that instant Rosen bolted after the direction the Hairan had taken. Until now she had been matching my pace; now she pulled away at an astonishing speed.
"It's a Hairan!"
The adventurers' voices rose from below. They too must have spotted it, for they began running in excited shouts. With things as they were, I had no choice but to run as well.
I poured mana into my legs and chased after Rosen. My short legs stretched out without hesitation, kicking hard against the solid rock. What made up for my meager muscles was the starlight mana that flowed from my heart.
Even with mana reinforcing my body, my speed did not explode upward. The magic only assisted; to produce greater power I still had to train my flesh itself. I was running fast, yet the gap between Rosen and me refused to close. She vanished just as the Hairan had vanished over the ridge.
"Hah... hah..."
I stopped on the mid-slope where the clouds had settled and gasped for breath. The pale mist floating around me made it impossible to see ahead. Climbing a sloping rock face while blind was no easy task. I began to pick my way carefully through the clouds.
"Hairan!"
"Catch the Hairan!"
Just then the adventurers came pounding up late and plunged into the clouds after it. They pushed through the murk and vanished exactly as Rosen had. No presence remained, and no footfalls could be heard. It was a thoroughly eerie situation. Given how fast they had been running, the idea that they could put enough distance between us in mere seconds for their steps to fall silent was absurd.
I halted and frowned. Could there be a cliff just ahead?
The moment the thought formed, a vast shadow wavered into view beyond the pale clouds. It was overwhelmingly huge—far too large to be a Hairan or a person—and no sound of feet striking the ground accompanied it. It simply drifted.
People say that when a human witnesses something beyond the bounds of understanding, they feel terror. That was precisely me in that moment. The endlessly moving shadow proved it was alive, and it forced me to imagine, however vaguely, the shape of the being itself. Something with a body that enormous moving without making a single sound sent chills racing over my skin.
I carefully turned to leave. In that instant the pale clouds blackened all at once, as though the shadow had swallowed the mist whole. Or perhaps I was the one being swallowed by the shadow.
I sucked in a ragged breath and hurriedly drew my sword.
Shiiing—!
At that very moment—
Flash—!
Light blazed. In the suddenly brightened space beyond the clouds I saw a wing covered in enormous feathers. The instant the light faded, the sound arrived late.
KRA-KOOM!
Thunder that seemed ready to split my eardrums roared across the sky. The giant bird revealed its presence, wreathed in lightning and storm clouds. The silent-flying bird moved as if sweeping the clouds aside. Overwhelmed by that motion, I could only step slowly backward. Even with my sword drawn I could not bring myself to swing it.
KRA-KOOM!
Another rough peal of thunder burst forth. With the flashing light the giant bird's form grew clearer still. Its enormous eyes, set in a body covered in black feathers, seemed to fix on me. I could not even think of moving mana to cast a spell. I simply kept retreating, crushed by its sheer presence.
And then, as I continued to back away—
"Ah..."
A vacant voice spilled from my lips and scattered into nothing. The leg I had stretched behind me found no purchase and flailed in empty air. My balance shattered; a faint wind and a sensation of weightlessness arrived together. I had misstepped. I was falling.
I thrashed desperately, but my pitiful gestures only scattered the black clouds coiled with lightning.
"Hyaaaaah!"
I screamed, and at the same time a heavy thud reached my ears. Pain flooded in a beat later, and I realized my body was tumbling and rolling after the fall. How long I spun in that chaos I could not tell, but eventually I noticed that the storm clouds that had filled the surroundings were gone.
"Hah... hah..."
I checked my condition while gasping for breath. Aside from a throbbing right ankle and a lightly scraped forehead, I seemed unharmed. Thank the heavens. I let out a long sigh of relief.
In that moment something approached from behind me.
Prrrrh—!
A rough snort and a vivid sense of presence. I whirled around in shock. The enormous horse looked down at me, blinked once, then simply flopped down beside me. The mane spread like a lion's, the massive body, and the scarlet eyes all declared its identity.
"A Hairan...?"
It was the very Hairan everyone had been chasing. Prrrrh—! The Hairan drew closer and laid its great body down. Contrary to the rumors of its ferocity, it seemed remarkably gentle. I carefully reached out and stroked its back.