Глава 8

The Draco carries the Elafia on her back. Only now does she notice: this little deer looks so delicate and light, but her weight is so, so unbearably heavy on her back... As heavy as the weight of this whole world.

Stop...

I won't!

Who did it... Who did it... Who did this to you?!

Was it the Patrol Unit...?! The villagers?! Those bastards... Those bastards... I'll burn them all... I...

Wait, don't tell me... Was it the Infected we exiled...?!

Those ungrateful shitheads... No, no... If the Shieldguards gave them any rations...

Talulah...!

Alina... I'm listening... Just tell me!

I won't tell you...!

Why?! Why?! Are you not going to at least give me the chance to avenge you?!

You mustn't... Don't you remember what you said to me yourself?

You mustn't fight for revenge. You've already chosen, Talulah. You've already chosen a path to follow...

Giving up halfway... all because of me...? I won't have it...

Don't hold this against anybody... You mustn't.

What are you talking about?! What are you saying?! How can I not...? How am I supposed to not hold this against anyone?!!!

You told me yourself...! You said yourself that you can't harbor hatred against anyone... or you'd be... swallowed up... by that old man who placed that curse on you...

...Even if those Arts never existed in the first place... Wouldn't you still... be taken over... by all those things that represented who he was?

You told me that yourself.

Right... Right. But... But... Those people... Those...

...You know where they came from... and why they did that.

You said it yourself... Those people... aren't our enemies...

Stop... Alina... Don't speak...!

No... Talulah... Everything you said... I remember... so you must remember yourself...

These aren't the people... you need to crush... It's Ursus... That drove them into that corner...

It's Ursus... and... the world as it is...

It's okay... That's enough, Alina... I get it now!

Talulah... There is one thing you can detest... Everything they did, you can scorn.

But... never hate... anyone.

Do you agree with me...? Do you think what I said... is right? Are our lives... meaningful at all? Ugh... I don't know.

I'm not sure what it was... that we did wrong... but I know very well just what that curse... is all about.

Your rage... can burn down the entire plain... but you mustn't hate...

Alina...

I'm worried. Talulah, I'm so worried. If I'm not here anymore, you must have Yelena remind you... All this...

Alina, stop! Don't go on! I don't... I don't want you gone. All of you need to be here with me. You, Yelena, Sasha, Eno... All of you...

I don't want to lose any of you...!

Talulah... but all of us...

All of us met... so that we could part one day.

The white-haired Draco keeps trudging on in the cold, endless snowfield. On her back, the Elafia girl trembles away, pausing only to take in deep breaths now and then.

Snow drops down from the Elafia's horns. As Talulah slogs along, the snow-covered trees behind her begin to burn alight in silence. She has unknowingly begun to set her path ablaze.

The snowfields before her eyes are vast and endless. On her back, Alina is the only warmth she can feel.

Talulah feels each and every beat of Alina's heart through her back, and they grow weaker and weaker by the moment.

She wants to scream. She wants to cry. She wants to squeeze everything she feels out of her lungs, as though it could erase all this from her body.

But Talulah stays silent the entire time.

Talulah...

We'll be there soon, Alina... We're almost there!

Don't close your eyes... Don't close your eyes!

It's far...

You don't... need to lie.

The snowstorm is growing.

Talu...lah...?

I'm listening, Alina. Tell me. What's the matter?

...Snow... is warmer... than I ever imagined.

I'm sorry... I still don't... have all the things we talked about... written down.

It's okay. It's okay, Alina. It doesn't matter.

The children... Eno in particular... You need to...

I'm listening! Go on, Alina... I'm listening!!

You need to... do more... than just talk to him...

It's getting hot... Talulah...

...I don't want to die... I still haven't... your sister...

You must... live on...

This will do it.

Talulah will not remember what happens next.

She has no memories of anything after that.

She melted away each and every last thing she should have remembered, along with the snow.

She leaves behind only a trail of flames, and, with the exception of Alina, everything behind her is burned away in the inferno of her wake.

And Talulah treks on in the snow toward her parting with her dear friend.

Talulah! You're finally back! You didn't answer our calls, what—

...What... Who's that on your back...?

She's not breathing! Medic! Get over here, now! Talulah, just hang on...

...Talulah?

(What? She's walking right by... Where is she going?!)

Talulah, you may be the leader here, but that doesn't make it any less serious to leave—

Wait.

Yelena...?

Let her go.

(Do you know the poor little girl...?)

(Not really. I think... she's a teacher at the settlement.)

(Oh, she's a teacher. Poor kids. That's another person they could look up to, gone.)

(But why is Talulah...)

(Everyone has secrets they want to keep to themselves..)

(Whatever happened, it's hers alone to remember.)

With the Elafia still on her back, the Draco walks past the encampment. Their contours slowly begin to blur until they both disappear into the edge of the forest.

No one knows what happened after that.

They could only watch as the Draco walked into the darkness of the night.

All these corpses... have started to rot.

They're W's men. A bunch of mercenary devils.

This makes no sense. We haven't done anything to these guys. They were lynched, and clearly they were killed off in secret.

When did all this internal cleanup begin anyway?

No idea. My guess is it happened within the last few days.

One thing is clear, though. Talulah's been planning this for a long time. Damn it. I can't believe we didn't even see through her facade until it was too late. She really strung us along, that monster!

Regardless of whether they willingly obeyed her or not, it was Talulah who ordered the Sarkaz mercenaries to fight us. So is there a point to killing them off? What is she even trying to accomplish? Setting an example?

No, I doubt it... No one can threaten even a lone Sarkaz, let alone a whole group of them.

Yeah, that's right. They do say that the devils will kill whoever that dares threaten them, and if you ask me, the ones we have in the guerrillas are living proof of that.

That makes no sense, then. If these guys were killed because they stuck with W, then whose side is W on?

Well, maybe you'd like to take a little guess? I just might give you a little something if you get it right.

Stop where you are! Put your hands up!

Now, now. Let's not be hasty. Keep your weapons to yourselves. Wow. That's a big sword. New blood from Rhodes Island, I presume?

...W...!

It was you... You are the one who killed Scout!