The River's Secret
"Go."
"What about you, Captain?"
"Someone needs to keep watch, don't they? Besides, he's just a kid. Whatever you do, don't kill him or hurt him too badly. Bring him back alive."
"Understood. Everyone, follow me!"
"Yes!"
A group of camels galloped past, rushing down toward the riverbank.
After sending his men off, Huran watched the boy running across the flat, sandy plain with calm eyes. The moonlight reflecting off the river provided enough visibility to see the boy’s silhouette clearly as he sprinted across the desert.
"Poor kid."
Even if he had survived this long, it would be nearly impossible for him to survive what was coming. A boy of that age couldn't possibly stand against several mounted soldiers. Ensuring the boy was captured in one piece was the least Huran could do for him.
Great power demanded responsibilities that were impossible to bear. To demand such accountability from a child for serving a god—it wasn't the boy's fault. Huran didn't like it one bit.
"Besides, with a body like that, there's no way he could swim in a river with such a strong current."
If the boy died in despair while trying to run away, that would be a weight on Huran’s conscience.
"That’s why a moderate life is best."
Huran considered himself a moderate man. He would finish this job moderately, and then he would go back to living a moderate life. Standing guard, training, drilling his men, and blending into the daily lives of the citizens.
With a bitter smile, Huran watched the boy and the group of soldiers rapidly closing the distance. Suddenly, he straightened his back, leaning forward so far he nearly hung off the camel's neck.
"Wait, what is that?"
The boy had reached the river, but he didn't stop. To Huran’s eyes, it looked like the movements of someone who had decided to end it all.
The distance to the river was about twenty meters. It was a close call, but the soldiers might still be able to catch him. During those few heart-pounding seconds, Huran widened his eyes, capturing every detail of the pursuit.
Before the cavalryman leaning off his camel could snatch the boy up, the boy threw himself into the deep, rushing river.
"Damn it!"
Huran kicked the side of his mount and snapped the reins. The camel let out a cry and began to charge toward the riverbank at a terrifying speed.
However, his angle wasn't a straight line; it was a diagonal path, as if he were being pulled by the river’s flow.
Seeing Huran arrive at the river’s edge in an instant, the soldiers looked flustered.
"Captain? You said you’d observe from above—."
"The kid is about to die, and you're worried about that? Moror! And you two! Follow me! Move with the current! The rest of you, stay here and keep a close watch on the surface!"
At Huran’s command, the soldiers moved swiftly. After all, the "moderate" man was their captain, and they were well-trained soldiers.
Huran led his men, racing the camels along the river’s flow. Several minutes passed. Huran scanned the water with a troubled expression as he rode along the bank.
'Was he swept away by the rapids?'
Huran searched the water intently, praying that the boy was at least still alive.
But even after several minutes, there was no sign of the boy surfacing.
Just as Huran and his men were riding with bated breath, something finally broke the surface.
It was the boy.
"Rope!"
Huran shouted loudly as soon as he spotted him.
Huran caught the bundle of rope thrown by his subordinate, while the others moved to the opposite side of the river. It was a precaution to ensure the camel’s legs wouldn't get tangled in the rope. The lasso, which had been spinning in a large arc above Huran’s head, flew fiercely toward the river.
"Damn it!"
Huran cursed as he pulled the rope taut.
The length wasn't quite right. As he strained to pull the rope, which was tightening under the tension, he shouted toward the boy, who was barely keeping his head above water to breathe.
"Hold on a little longer! I'll save you!"
"Captain!"
At the sound of Moror’s voice, Huran turned to look at him. He looked where Moror was pointing, his hand stretched out, and felt his stomach turn.
There was a waterfall.
* * *
The surface of the Raoras River looked calm, but the current underneath was incredibly fast. Thanks to the boy’s ominous imagination—fearing that arrows might come flying—he had dived deep underwater, and it had been a disaster. Once submerged, the boy was tossed around so violently that he couldn't tell up from down.
"Glub, glub..."
Precious oxygen escaped his tightly shut lips in futile air bubbles, slipping through his fingers and drifting away.
In the midst of it, through his thinly opened eyes, the boy saw something. There were small, white and blue glowing things scattered on the riverbed. When his hand brushed against one by chance, he realized they were small pebbles deposited at the bottom of the river.
In the desperate situation where he might lose the thread of his life, the last words the voice had left him surfaced in his mind.
'Find what glows beneath the river.'
Was that what it meant by the stones?
With the pressure threatening to burst his lungs, the boy reached out. Amidst the swirling current, his hand grasped the glowing pebble.
* * *
"Guh... Guh-!"
Huran, having reached the front of the waterfall, pulled on the reins. He raised his hand, and the camel stopped, letting out a ragged breath. Behind him, his subordinates, who had been following at a distance, caught up.
"Captain!"
"Did you see the kid surface anywhere along the way?"
"No, sir."
"Tsk!"
Huran clicked his tongue irritably and stared at the waterfall. Could the current have become so fast that they couldn't keep up with the speed at which the boy was being swept away?
He tossed the wet rope to his subordinate and looked back toward the waterfall with a regretful expression.
'I'm sorry.'
He whispered a small apology to himself and announced to his men,
"We're heading back."
"Sir? But the kid..."
"He didn't surface even in this depth and current. The chances of him being alive are almost zero. Send a dispatch to the administrative districts downstream to the west; if a body washes up, have them recover it for identification."
"A-all right."
"We didn't get the result we wanted, but you all worked hard."
With those words, Huran turned his mount around. The soldiers began to follow him silently. The sound of the camels' snorting and footsteps, and the silence of the desert, enveloped them.
On the other side of the river, far upstream from the tributaries, the soaked boy was watching them—though they had no idea.
They drifted further and further away.
The boy, who had been watching them with his mouth tightly shut, soon disappeared behind a sand dune on the other side of the river. Only the wet footprints left pitifully in the sand whispered to the wind about what had happened at the Raoras River that night.
* * *
Hamses spoke in an emotionless tone.
"What did you just say?"
"I discovered the boy who had been swept away by the river to escape, but I was unable to retrieve him."
Huran stood before him in a rigid posture, staring straight ahead.
"Did I not tell you to capture him?"
"I apologize."
Hamses glared at Huran for a moment, then sighed at Huran’s attitude of offering no excuses.
"Let's hear the situation."
"...We encountered a waterfall. The camels were exhausted from the long search and pursuit. We rode along the Raoras River for quite some time, but the boy surfaced only once and never appeared again."
"How long was 'quite some time'?"
"I cannot be certain, but it was over ten minutes. I didn't think a child could hold his breath underwater for that long, so I returned first."
Huran knew well that it was better to refrain from expressing his own position to someone who commanded based on authority. Hamses could not press him further, as Huran only said exactly what was necessary and kept his mouth shut.
"I trusted you with this, and I am disappointed."
"I apologize."
Huran felt a lump in his throat. He felt like spitting out a string of curses, but he managed to suppress the temptation. If he said the wrong thing, it would be his own head on the line.
"However, before coming here, I did send dispatches to the administrative districts below the waterfall. I told them to secure the boy if he is found, whether he is alive or dead."
"That... was well done."
Huran didn't miss the slight change in High Priest Hamses' expression. Had he meddled unnecessarily?
"Anyway, you've worked hard. There will be appropriate compensation for the efforts of your guard unit today."
Hamses finished his words and stepped away. Huran rose naturally to see him off, but Hamses shook his head.
"No need. One shouldn't torment those who have already worked hard."
In the end, Huran saw Hamses off with a polite bow, then rubbed his tired eyelids with his fingers and leaned back into a wide leather hammock.
The image of the boy who had been swept away and never surfaced still haunted him.
Huran wondered. A boy who survived the ritual burial. If he were to catch that boy again, was he ultimately the one delivering a deferred death sentence? The boy had even risked drowning to escape.
'Yes, this is enough.'
He had done as much as he could. His passion had flared for a moment, but the boy's fate was unknown. He would return to the daily life of the guard unit.
Huran, yielding his body to the moderate flow once again, checked the time.
It was almost time for the shift change.
* * *
The boy walked for a long time and only reached a place to rest at dawn. In Cellabris, there were occasional places where water streams from the river branched out to form oases. The place the boy arrived at was, fortunately, one of those spots.
[Let's rest here for a bit.]
At the voice's words, the boy collapsed onto the spot. Extreme fatigue and the cold made his body tremble violently. His teeth chattered as he covered himself with large, awning-like leaves that acted as a blanket.
[Hold on a little longer. You'll be fine soon.]
The boy soon understood what that meant. From his left wrist, heat began to radiate, warming his cold, shivering body.
"The bracelet...?"
Was it because he was so exhausted? There were questions popping into his head, but without the energy to ponder them, his eyes slowly closed.
[Yes, sleep for now. It won't be too late to talk tomorrow.]
With the voice fading away as his last thought, the boy fell into a deep sleep.