Chapter 79 will be the last one. Do you want me to keep writing it all in this book or search for a middle to split it in two books on the risk book 1 has no logical cut?
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San knew the general direction he wanted to search a hut in. He remembered an old herb witch who lived up the mountains after getting exiled from the village. While she had likely found her unfortunate demise in the rough terrain that offered little food and protection long ago, he was positive that her hut would still be in a good condition.
They had no other options, so Wooyoung followed San dutifully over the lofty hills. To their left, the slope dropped into a steep patch of wood. Every step had to be placed with great patience and care, since slipping meant a long way down. Yet, they stuck to the forest since the snow-dusted trunks would catch their fall if one of them stumbled.
Wooyoung was glad that he only had to wander behind San. For the most part, he could ponder about San's smooth dealing with his immortality. The other man fascinated Wooyoung, and he still had many more questions that popped up in his mind. He didn't say them out loud for now, since San was busy finding a path for them that would safely bring them up the mountain.
The storm from last night showed in the forest. Some branches had broken off under the combined weight of the snow and the wind, and they littered the ground. The west side of all tree trunks was dusted with snow that splattered over the bark like white paint. The occasional rays of the sun that fell through the thick roof of trees and snow left bright patches on the white blanket covering the earth. Brilliant, they shone like quest locations.
Their long journey soon took them out of the forested ground. The earth under their feet exchanged for a solid rock that was both slippery and easier to make out under the thin sheen of snow. For a while, they climbed with their hands and feet over the side of the rock formations. The sun blasted down on them and made San's eyes glow whenever he checked on Wooyoung occasionally.
As noon passed and they took a brief break on the rocks to eat some snow so they would at least feed their bodies some fluid, the snow set in again. The grey clouds bunched around the mountain tops and cast their thick flocks over them.
From up here, the sight was breathtaking. The wintery landscape beneath them tapered into the ocean that contrasted with the white ice surrounding it. Wooyoung couldn't spot the village or any boats, but he knew the Vikings had to be down there.
"Let's go," San said after they had rested for a while. The hiking restarted, but they had reached the level San had needed to orient himself. Soon, they arrived at a crossing point over the mountain range. The Viking halted, wind and snowflakes in his raven hair as he looked around. To help, Wooyoung squinted with him into the distance.
"There it is! Can you see it?"
Wooyoung shuffled closer to align his sight with San's. In response, the Viking wrapped his arm around Wooyoung's shoulders and pointed into the distance.
About another hour of walk away from their vantage point, they spotted a forlorn little hut. It sat nestled on the platform a large boulder provided and was partly snowed in. The walls and door looked to be intact, however. It would be enough.
Glee warmed Wooyoung's chest. When he glanced up at San in awe, the Viking grinned at him triumphantly.
"Let's not waste any more time, come on," San animated him. With a little jump, Wooyoung followed him as they slowly descended the rocks again. San muttered at Wooyoung where to put his feet and hands for the safest route, and soon, they were back on the steep connection between the forest and the cliffs.
For a while, they wandered peacefully in the hut's direction. The wind whizzed around their cold ears and bit at Wooyoung's nose. He wanted to sit down and rest his aching legs, so he looked forward to the hut.
Before they reached it, however, a little squeak had San halt in his tracks. Wooyoung followed his gaze into the snow where the trail of some animal crossed their path. It led up the rocks and after a moment, the two men spotted the piglet trapped on a rock. Its distressed noises from a tiny snout dusted with snow sounded again as it searched for a way down from its position and found none. Stressed, the striped animal dashed right and left of the narrow space it had confined itself in.
Pity clawed at Wooyoung's heart. Before he could stop himself, his hand already pulled on San's coat. The Viking threw a gaze over his shoulder.
"We need to help him," Wooyoung pleaded with big eyes. When San shook his head at him, his heart sank.
"You should never approach a wild animal fledgling. The mother can't be far."
As if on cue, Wooyoung flinched at a rustling sound behind them. He whipped around to find the mother of the lost piglet coming up between the trees. Her snout sniffed out the trail of her young, but her fur stood the moment she spotted the two men barricading her path. Vicious little button eyes grew murderous.
"Don't move," San breathed. With slow movements, he inched his body in front of Wooyoung's. He didn't draw his weapon.
Wooyoung stayed silent as a grave. His stomach coiled anxiously as he eyed the sharp tusks of the animal.
Deliberately, the two men inched out of the way. Their movements were followed by the boar's flickering ears and eyes.
They didn't get far.
Threatened enough in her need to protect her baby, the boar went into attack mode so suddenly that Wooyoung's heart jumped in his chest. With a grunt, she dug her hooves into the ground and lowered her head to come at them. Snow flew into the air behind her when she stormed at them at high speed.
Wooyoung flinched away to run in a reflex, but San stayed rooted in the spot. His shoulders squared as he faced the boar head-on. Right before a collision, his hand let go of Wooyoung to allow him to jump off.
San embraced the incoming boar with a counterattack. With a brutal sound, his knee connected with the animal's head and sent her back. The boar lost her footing on the steep terrain that would likely have become their grave if they had run. As she tumbled down the hill, she squeaked and kicked to regain her bearings.
Shocked into stillness, Wooyoung still stared after her when San grabbed his hand to rip him in the hut's path. The snow made for a treacherous trip, but San's footing remained stable.
Wooyoung wanted to look back to see if the boar followed them, but the twist of his body would slow him down. So instead he stared at their feet so he wouldn't slip in his surprise.
He didn't notice that San had got hurt until the blood seeping through his pants spotted the snow red under his feet. Chocked up by the cold air, Wooyoung called out to him to point it out. San only grunted in response and hurried along. His blood left an easy trail, so they had to get to safety first before they worried about his wounds.
They made it to the hut before the boar could pursue them. As San wrenched the ice-covered door open, Wooyoung stood watch. Between the rocks and the snow, he spotted neither the boar nor the piglet.
They finally made it inside the hut. It was still decorated by dried herbs and bowls on the single shelf, but the layer of age that clung to everything told a story of abandonment. San slammed the door shut behind them and used a wooden plank he found behind it to barricade it. Then he sunk against the wall with a heave.
Shivering, Wooyoung stood opposite of him as he caught his breath. The hut was tiny, barely enough to fit a bed and a desk. But it had a fireplace connected to the roof. Icy air came from above, but the wood stacked in a corner was dry.
Still shocked from yet another traumatising experience in Norway, Wooyoung left his body to its automatic responses. First, he stumbled into San's direction to drag him off the wall and over to the bed. Only when the man had sat down on the dry straw covered by a dirtied blanket and Wooyoung had pulled the axe off his back, he moved on. San leaned back against the wall. His face had got slightly paler after the attack, but he breathed fine. When Wooyoung knelt in front of him to roll up the fabric of his soaked pants, he winced, but he swallowed any pain.
The boar's tusk had left a deep scratch along San's calf. The dull object had ripped through his pants and flesh to leave a gaping wound. Wooyoung wasn't sure if it needed stitches, but he had nothing with him for that, anyway.
With flittering hands, Wooyoung pressed the ripped fabric of San's pants to the wound. When it bled through within seconds to stain his hands red, he panicked again.
"Fuck."
As Wooyoung looked around anxiously to find something to fix San with, a gentle grip on his wrist distracted him.
"Wooyoung," San called out. Wooyoung's eyes flickered up to him, wide with shock and dread. San's smile bordered on a grimace.
"I'll take care of it. Make a fire, please."
"Yes. Good idea, yes." Wooyoung swallowed his rambling to crawl over to the fireplace. He stacked three pieces of wood inside of it and ripped some herbs from the bundles on the ceiling to use them as igniters. After some struggle with a stick, a piece of bark, and the herbs, sparks flew, and the herbs caught fire.
Wooyoung neatly tucked the burning piece of bark among the logs. Once the fire spread by itself, he stood to return to San.
While Wooyoung had been busy, the Viking had cut off the lowest stripe of his long cloak with a knife he carried on his belt. He wrapped it tightly around his calf so the blood flow would be stopped. When Wooyoung knelt down in front of him with concerned eyes once more, the Viking hummed.
"I will be fine, don't worry."
"They carry a lot of diseases," Wooyoung whispered. Even if San healed easily because of his immortal health and his body's resilience, diseases were vicious. Boars carried tuberculosis and hepatitis.
"I can't catch diseases. Immortal, remember?" San patted his own chest proudly. His words supplied a weak comfort, but he had to know best. Wooyoung still eyed his leg warily as if it might come off any second. He was still young, so he hadn't seen too many wounds up close in yet. Yongguk had told him of a companion of his that once got stabbed with a sword and it had been a horrible sight. Disturbed by yet another part of the Viking life, Wooyoung swallowed his fear.
"But you still bleed," he pointed out. As long as San bled, he could die of blood loss. Then he wouldn't be as immortal.
"Yes, but I heal fast and the injury is not the worst I ever dealt with. I won't die away under your hands." San's soft dimples were back on his face when he reached out to pull Wooyoung to his feet. Once Wooyoung sat on the uncomfortably poky but at least soft bed, the Viking leaned back again. For a while, they just rested their exhausted bodies. Wooyoung had rushed around in shock and panic ever since he arrived. Despite not having found the person he was supposed to talk to, he didn't want to linger any moment longer. He already learned much more about immortality on this mission than any other.
But San's injury had him hesitant to suggest he left right away. He didn't want to ditch the man with his wound. Wooyoung had a few more days before Yongguk would send Seungyoun to check on him. Until then, Wooyoung could tend to San as a repayment for all his help here.
"Can you starve?" Wooyoung asked after a while of silence. The fire crackled lively by now and warmth spread through the frosty room. Still chilled to his very core, Wooyoung huddled into San's warm coat. San pushed his cloak off his shoulders far sooner than him.
"I probably could. I believe I just don't age and that my body is resilient to sicknesses. But I can be beheaded as well as weakness can end my existence."
Wooyoung nodded wordlessly. When he stood, San looked after him curiously.
"What are you doing?"
"Melting some water," Wooyoung said as he tugged a pot from the dusty shelf to use it to collect some clean snow. "I might not find food but I will make sure we won't be thirsty."
Before he left the hut, San handed him his knife. He flipped it so only the grip pointed at Wooyoung. Insecure, his fingers coiled around the polished tip with runes carved into it. They meant strength and agility.
"Take this. If you catch a rabbit or squirrel, I can skin it for you."
Wooyoung doubted he could. Still, he nodded and took the knife. Then, he went out to do his best to repay his debt.