A New Life (3)
The next day, Chester and Monia set out for the Summit with the young warrior.
Before departing, they shared all sorts of stories with the young warrior, whose timid nature stood in sharp contrast to the rough, boisterous, warlike, and free-spirited People of the Summit they had met so far.
Setting those conversations aside for a moment, Chester’s impression after observing the young warrior was that, despite the title, the man was something of a veteran.
The scars on his body outnumbered even Black Wind’s. Yet the ornaments he wore were fewer—perhaps because he had claimed fewer decisive kills—only two bracelets tied above his elbows, swinging loosely as he moved.
Next to catch the eye was the weapon in his hand. He had lashed a stone to his waist with rope, calling it a treasured possession; it was a sort of stone knife.
A rock pointed at one end. More primitive than the stone knives Chester had made, yet unmistakably a “tool” with a clear purpose.
The People of the Summit possessed a civilization of sorts, but their overwhelming physical gifts had left the development of tools lagging far behind. Still, this timid young warrior’s discoveries might one day have led them toward a tool-using culture—Chester’s presence had merely accelerated that path dramatically.
True to his cautious nature, he constantly scanned his surroundings, and unlike the others who swaggered about with tails held high, he kept his own pressed tightly against his body. When asked why, he explained that long ago, while out hunting, something had suddenly lunged and bitten his tail; ever since, he had kept it close.
Timid and easily frightened, he nevertheless continued living as a young warrior. His fearful disposition had kept him from rising to the rank of adult warrior, yet through all the long years he had remained a young warrior, he had never given up on going out to hunt.
A man who kept thinking of ways even a coward like himself could join the hunt and play a useful part—that was the young warrior standing before them: Blue Sound.
True to his name, Blue Sound’s voice carried a deeper resonance than the other People of the Summit, like the note of a great wind instrument; when he spoke while weeping, it almost felt like listening to a performance.
At first he conversed with Chester carefully, but as the journey progressed he grew familiar with him—after all, he had already learned how to speak with Chester—and soon they were talking freely.
Through those talks Chester learned what Blue Sound used his stone axe for.
He was shaving branches with the sharp, pointed edge of the stone to make spears.
—Hit with this stone, blood flows a lot. Stab with something that looks the same, blood will flow a lot the same way. Prey that bleeds gets weak.
By that principle, what Blue Sound had crafted was the very source of power that had once allowed primitive humanity to protect itself from a harsh natural world and even hunt elephants dozens of times their size: the wooden spear.
He’s gone beyond simply using stones—he’s making weapons.
Of course it was no carefully finished piece; only the tip had been roughly pointed, and even that tip was poorly worked. Using a blunt stone axe with the strength of a Person of the Summit had split the grain in places, producing a spear that looked ready to break after a single use.
As they traveled, Chester taught Blue Sound various things. Now that the People of the Summit had accepted him as family, there was no longer any need to cling to notions of trade.
Hadn’t the People of the Summit themselves, when the sailors from outside had put Chester in danger, ignored everything else and come to his aid?
Blue Sound showed great interest in Chester’s crossbow and Monia’s bow. The sling, however, he ignored, deciding it would not be any more powerful in their hands.
The real problem was that Blue Sound talked a great deal. Once he grew comfortable with Chester and Monia, the timid demeanor vanished and the words poured out in torrents.
“Uh, that, um? What is he saying right now?”
“I don’t really know either…”
Monia, who had only recently begun learning the language from Chester, could not keep up, and even Chester struggled to follow the endless stream of speech accompanied by gestures and body language.
With difficulty Chester managed the conversations with Blue Sound as they wandered peacefully across the upper level of the Floating Island.
Of course it was not always easy. From time to time the monstrous beasts that lived on the upper level attacked them, and each time they barely escaped, somehow pressing onward toward the Summit.
In that respect the difference between Blue Sound and Black Wind was clear. Black Wind would have charged the beasts; fleeing would never have crossed his mind.
—I like birds. Tasty.
Blue Sound loved birds and brought them back for every meal. The birds gradually returning to the island as they left the cold regions became his food.
“So it really was true that he hates cooked food.”
“Seems so.”
When he ate the birds he caught, Blue Sound preferred to devour them raw after nothing more than a rough plucking of feathers. Apparently his refusal of their dinner invitation because he disliked cooked food had been genuine.
In truth, the other People of the Summit would have eaten the same way. It was only Monia’s cooking that had changed their habits.
—The head is the best part. Want to try?
—We can’t eat raw; it’s dangerous for us.
—Right, that’s right. Forgot. Sorry.
Watching Blue Sound swallow several birds whole, Chester and Monia prepared their own meal from the ones he had brought.
They plucked the feathers, cleaned the innards, and made the meat edible. Most of the offal went to Ant, but the edible parts—heart, liver, and the like—they roasted separately.
Monia carefully tore into a roasted bird heart while gazing at the Summit, now so close.
Once before, when Chester had collapsed, she had come here twice. But then all her attention had been fixed on him, and she had not really seen the place.
Looking at it like this, it’s truly enormous.
Just as a sheer cliff rose abruptly from the lower level to the upper, another towering mountain—steep as if carved by some hand—stood between the upper level and the Summit.
Water cascaded from countless points on the nearly vertical face, flowing out across the island. The mountain was always wet and thoroughly slippery, making the climb no easy task.
It was not impossible. But it was hard. And there were almost no places to rest—only the caves scattered here and there, or the trees growing straight out from the rock face. Nothing else offered a pause.
Chester could brace himself in narrow crevices and rest, but that was possible only because of his skill and physical ability.
In other words, without gear, an ordinary person could not climb it.
Yes—a place that seemed cut off from the world. And above it waited the Grace that healed every wound with its fantastical power, and the overflowing nature that thrived under that Grace.
A world without hunger.
It really does feel like heaven.
A world free of pain and hunger was the form of paradise held out by nearly every religion.
Having finished the bird heart, Monia next picked up a roasted insect.
“Ugh.”
A plump white grub. Holding the grub, Monia twisted her face into a grimace, carefully brought it toward her mouth—and dropped it.
“Uuugh…!”
“You ate spiders. And this one’s cooked.”
“You can’t eat them raw!”
“This one you can.”
“You hit me whenever I tried to eat something raw!”
“Rabbits you can’t eat raw.”
Chester chewed a grub with a steady crunch while watching Monia. Blue Sound, who had already finished his meal, quietly watched her as well.
“Krrgh! Is watching me eat bugs that much fun?! Why are you staring like that!”
“Just eat it already.”
“Kyaaaah!”
After one more shriek, Monia picked up the nicely browned grub again.
“……!”
What—what on earth was she supposed to say about this!
Squeezing her eyes shut, Monia cried out.
“At least the first time I want to eat them at a normal size!”
“That is a normal size.”
“Liar! No way!”
“Look at the size of the ones you and I are eating.”
“This isn’t reality!!”
In the end, Monia failed to eat a single grub that day.
Several days after Monia’s failure with the grubs, the two humans, one ant-wolf, and one Person of the Summit finally reached the foot of the mountain that would take them to the Summit.
“Ohh. First time climbing this sober.”
Chester gazed up at the towering mountain and said as much, then looked at Monia.
“Monia, think you can manage?”
“I want to climb as far as I can under my own power.”
If she asked, Blue Sound would help without hesitation, but since they were climbing anyway, she wanted to go as far as her own strength would take her.
When Monia made her wishes clear, Chester nodded in understanding and spoke with Blue Sound.
Blue Sound, who had planned to carry both of them and Ant, agreed, carefully settled Ant into the backpack Chester had lent him, and prepared to climb with only the ant-wolf.
“The knack is a lot like climbing trees. Use your legs more than your arms, always watch your surroundings, and make footholds as you go. Got it?”
“Yeah!”
“If your hands get cut it’ll be hard to climb, so wear the gloves. Lots of places where the rock’s broken sharp—you’ll get sliced.”
“Already ready.”
“Good. Let’s go.”
Toward the Summit.