Chapter 51

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Chapter 51: Cover the Sunlight

Letizia walked quietly through the forest, holding a short bow in her hands and a small package on her back.

This was already the territory of Angaso Forest. In the past, her parents would never allow her to come here alone. Letizia only heard about this dark forest from the mouths of the household workers: towering trees blocked out the sun, the forest’s depths were dark and cool even at noon in summer; vines, roots, and thorny wild grass covered every inch of land, poisonous insects and wild animals eyed any newcomers from the shadows. It was said that cannibals lived in the forest, shooting arrows through the heads of lost good people and carrying them away with their heads hanging on long bows.

For a long time, these frightening stories were the source of Letizia’s nightmares. As she grew older, she secretly felt that the servants were not telling the truth, otherwise why would there be so many hunters coming in and out of the forest? At the appropriate time of year, the fat meat of the forest’s deer and the exquisite antlers of the bucks were important economic resources for Deer Horn Town, which was also why the town was named as such. Whatever dangers Angaso Forest held, they did not seem enough to disrupt the lives of the nearby residents.

It was actually the soldiers who claimed they would eliminate all the dangers in the forest who almost ruined the townspeople’s livelihoods.

When Letizia first came to Angaso Forest, she didn’t see endless trees or strange animals. Instead, there were just a few small trees growing sparsely. It was more like a small tree grove than a big forest. The sparse grove couldn’t hide the legendary big brown bears, and you had to look up for a long time to spot a bird or two. People with wooden staffs walked among the trees, occasionally tapping the tree trunks with their staffs, like farmers checking on each seedling.

"Just a month or two ago, this place was just an open space," Amazonian sighed. "It’s a pity. If you had come here before last year, you would have seen fluffy grass everywhere, and large groups of green butterflies shining like the river under the sunlight. It’s the breeding season of the Diamond-tailed Parrots now. In previous years, they would chatter non-stop on every big branch, mimicking the sounds of passing wild animals, until an Angaso lion had enough and bit off their necks…"

This sounded fascinating, completely different from what Letizia had heard about Angaso Forest before. Listening to the teacher’s stories, she couldn’t help feeling a sense of regret.

It’s incredible to think that Letizia is now learning under the hands that once haunted her in childhood nightmares.

She moved stealthily among the shadows of the trees, her steps on the gravel ground and branches making no sound. This skill was learned from the "People-eating tribe" in stories — the Amazonian, who were fierce like warriors in attack but moved lightly like birds when hidden. The first time she saw them demonstrate this skill, Letizia was enchanted and imitated it diligently. In the end, she was unexpectedly chosen as an Amazon warrior apprentice. Her parents were shocked because they only intended for her to learn about herbs when they sent her to the school of a different tribe.

Despite the teacher’s praise for her progress, Letizia felt like if Amazonians were eagles in the forest, she was just a young chick learning to fly. She had been studying hard for a while now and could slip out of the house without getting caught, but she clearly wasn’t qualified enough to show off in front of her teacher.

This was why Letizia chose to wander into the forest at this time.

As the moon was setting in the west and the morning star shone less brightly in the increasingly clear sky, the cool air of early morning surrounded her, energizing her. The Amazonians stationed here had not yet started their morning exercises, and the night guards had just changed shift, leaving a barely noticeable gap. This was the perfect time, but not for any enemy to seize the opportunity. Only someone trained by the Amazons who knew the inside information could possibly make it past the patrols and wander into an unimportant area.

Letizia had an inside contact.

She heard the call of the bluetit, chirp-chirp- tweet! Short-short-long, clear and pleasant. Since the trees had returned, birds had also come back. The bluetit was the most common visitor this season. Letizia got the signal of safety and ran forward quickly. She used a small bow to tap on the tree trunk, making a sound that had a special meaning to another person’s ear.

A soft ladder was lowered from above, Letizia put the small bow on her back and climbed up using her hands and feet.

"Good morning, Letizia!"

Her little friend was waiting for her in the cabin, smiling with eight white teeth, waving his hand casually.

"Good morning to you too, Alan!" Letizia replied, took off her backpack and handed him the books inside.

Alan took the books and sat down, reading eagerly. Letizia was used to his full concentration, walked past his light source, and went to the boxes at the back. The stacked wooden boxes served as a table, with scrolls brought by Alan placed on top. Letizia picked up a scroll, carefully unfolded it, and studied the Amazonian archery illustrations in the light from the window.

Becoming an apprentice to the Amazonians was an unexpected mix of joy and worry, while making friends with Alan, the Amazonian boy, was a happy accident. Letizia was so nervous the first time she went to the underground Training Ground that she almost fainted – not because she was afraid of the assessment, but because she realized she was afraid of the dark confined space – thanks to Alan for pulling her out for fresh air to distract her attention, so she didn’t leave a timid impression on her archery teacher, who was also Alan’s sister.

They quickly bonded, from being cautious to sharing everything. When Alan found out Letizia was a merchant’s daughter with a brother studying at Red Gum County School, he was very excited. "How about this," he said, "I’ll bring you my sister’s archery manual, and you bring me your family’s books, sound good?"

"Really?" Letizia exclaimed, feeling both excited and hesitant.

"It’s our secret, nobody else knows," Alan said with a mischievous smile.

So their secret meeting place was decided. Alan found this treehouse, and Amazonian built it as a lookout tower and storage room. In the morning, nobody would come to this cluttered place. It was not far from the settlement that Amazonian built on the ground, nor was it far from the Training Ground where the warriors trained new recruits. Alan and Letizia could easily come here. The young Amazonian brought her sister’s training notes and archery diagrams for the human girl, and in return, Letizia used her father’s books or her brother’s textbooks.

While learning archery, Letizia also learned basic Amazonian writing. The Amazonian writing was relatively simple, and the scrolls used for archery diagrams were more like symbols. By looking at the pictures, one could understand the meaning. If they didn’t understand, they could ask Alan. Alan hadn’t learned the common writing before, but shortly after being able to openly enter human towns with the Amazonian, the queen required all eligible members to learn the common language reading and writing. Alan had a clever mind and was full of interest.

Letizia was a squire’s daughter. Although she didn’t study as much as her brother did, she at least knew how to read under the guidance of her private tutor. She also learned some accounting, although she was not very good at it. Her mother would sigh about it, thinking that she wouldn’t manage finances well in the future when she marries someone else and might be deceived by someone else’s accountant. Letizia had picked up some basic knowledge, so she was even more impressed by Alan’s intelligence.

"Wow, you’re even better than my brother!" Letizia looked at the calculations written by Alan in her notebook and said, "I’ve never seen anyone calculate so quickly, not even my dad!"

Alan proudly lifted his head, showing an unsuccessfully modest smile. "I want to be a merchant," he said. "I calculate fast and I’m good at bargaining. Once I learn more, I can do even better than now."

"That’s great! You’ll become a wealthy merchant!" Letizia sincerely said, "You should tell your mom and dad! If they know how talented you are, they’ll definitely send you to school, like the one my brother is attending. I heard that people who graduate from there can become successful merchants or officials in the future. Then you won’t have to secretly study here!"

Alan pursed his lips and said, "Why do you have to study in secret? You can just ask my sister; the warriors’ teachings are always open."

Indeed, the Amazon warrior teaching Letizia was strict but also a great teacher who shared her knowledge generously.

"I’m afraid to ask too many questions, the teacher might think I’m dumb," Letizia said, "I don’t want to get kicked out."

Letizia used to go to school seriously, but since it was an all-boys school, her parents got her a private tutor. She struggled a lot in the essential courses for merchants, no matter how hard she tried, she could only just keep up. The teacher and her father talked about it, and the next day she stopped going to class. The merchant thought it was not worth wasting money on her, so it was better for her to stay at home and learn about housekeeping, cooking, grooming, and maybe marry into a good family.

"How could you get kicked out?" Alan lifted his head from the book pages and looked at Letizia, "You’re the best student among them! They all praise you as a natural Amazonian. My sister even got into a fight with others to teach you this. She had to win the fight before teaching you."

Letizia gasped in surprise as she played with the short bowstring. The training was really exhausting, especially for a merchant’s daughter who had a comfortable upbringing. The daily combat training drained all her energy, making her unable to focus on anything other than the target in front of her, the short bow in her hand, and the screaming soreness in her hands and feet. Was she really doing well?

"But," Letizia hesitated, "I’m a girl…"

Her brother was indifferent to her being chosen as an Amazon apprentice, he thought this nonsense would soon stop. How could his pampered little sister endure warrior training? Her mother had similar thoughts, "Something must be wrong, my poor darling!" She called out, embracing the exhausted Letizia, believing that it was improper for a country gentlewoman’s daughter to learn to sweat and be brutal like those barbaric women. How could she get married in the future if she became tough and fierce like them?

"Stop crying, we can’t afford to offend those different tribes now," Letizia’s father impatiently said. He had drunk more that day, disappointed upon hearing the news. This merchant saw business opportunities in the magical power of Druids and sent all his nephews (except for his promising eldest son) to attend Hybrid’s classes. Only his daughter was chosen, not by a Druid, but by those sword-wielding Amazons. He looked at Letizia, sighed, and muttered, "Why always the wrong choices…"

However, Letizia liked it here. She enjoyed the feeling of hitting the bull’s eye with an arrow, the freedom of running in the wind, the teacher’s approving gaze, and the applause of onlookers. Here, she felt like she had found her place.

"What?" Alan said, "Is there a problem being a girl?"

"Girls might not be very suitable as warriors," Letizia said honestly. "As adults, women are not as strong as men, lack explosive power, have a more gentle nature, act emotionally, and well, lack aggressiveness?"

She became more uncertain as Alan stared at her in shock, looking like he wanted to question her but also wanted to laugh. "Is it true?" he said. "Do you know how long warriors have argued about having to teach men from other tribes?"

"Huh?" Letizia looked confused.

"Haven’t you noticed yet?" Alan closed the book and pointed towards the Training Ground. "Have you ever seen a male Amazon warrior?"

Letizia tried to remember but couldn’t. She cautiously said, "I thought it was for teaching female students only…?"

The only approval her mother had about this was that her teacher was also a woman. "Although unconventional," she said, "at least it doesn’t damage Letizia’s reputation."

"That’s not true!" Alan exclaimed. "Among us, only women can be warriors and leaders! Because men are considered less agile, lack endurance and resilience compared to women, are controlled by instinct when impulsive, lack empathy for multi-dimensional thinking, and need to be led and protected by women."

Now it was Letizia’s turn to be shocked, they stared at each other in silence for a full minute before bursting into laughter.

"So strange." Letizia laughed until tears fell, struggling to express something, she repeated one word, "So strange."

"Of course not," shrugged Alan. "My parents are gone, and my sister is overly protective of me. She wouldn’t let me go to the market in the foreigner’s camp. ‘How will you protect yourself, little Alan?’ he imitated with a disdainful tone, waving his hand. ‘Boys shouldn’t do this, boys shouldn’t do that,’ on and on. If I were a girl, she would encourage me to explore outside, seeing it as necessary for growth."

"My parents too," Letizia said sympathetically. "If only we could switch places. I was born on your side, you were born on our side."

"Yeah… but now both sides are tied together," Alan pondered, stroking his chin, his eyes flashing with a thought. "Do you think it’s possible that, after a while, both sides will become more balanced? Like flour and water turning into dough, anyone can be a warrior, anyone can be a merchant, do whatever you like, it doesn’t matter who you are."

Before he finished speaking, they both heard a noise.

The two teenagers meeting secretly here were very alert, ready to react to any sound. They quickly packed their bags, restored the treehouse to its undisturbed state, and then cautiously peeked outside.

Not far away, there was a commotion at the gathering place of the Amazonians.

What’s happening? The two young heads squeezed through a small window, watching the large figure of a person moving back and forth in the distance, quickly entering an opening on the ground. They strained their ears to listen, but couldn’t make out anything clearly.

"Is today a special day for you guys?" Letizia asked.

"No, it’s not any special day," Alan denied.

"Yes…" Letizia said in confusion, "I was supposed to have training this morning. If there was something going on, the teacher would have told me beforehand, right?"

They were all puzzled, but unlike the well-protected local noblewoman, Alan sensed a hint of tension in the air. He remembered past dangers and ruled them out one by one: whether it was the withering curse destroying the forest or the cannon tearing the land apart, there were always signs beforehand. Now with sentinels watching the north and the adult in the dungeon aware of any impending attack, why would they need to hide in the dungeon altogether? Was there something wrong with the dungeon itself?

Alan gazed into the distance, where the northern horizon was quiet. When he looked back at the gathering place, it had quieted down, with no one outside.

"Let’s go down!" Alan said decisively.

The eerie silence in the forest set off alarm bells in his mind, and the Amazonian youth preferred being caught by his sister rather than taking risks. They climbed down from the treehouse to the ground. It was still dark, with less than an hour until dawn, the bright morning light shining through the trees…

Suddenly, the sky darkened.

They heard bird calls.

How could this sound be described? It wasn’t chirping or twittering like common bird calls. Even the forest dwellers couldn’t recognize this kind of call as originating from any bird. It was more like a bird call simply because the two young boys couldn’t imagine any creature making such a sharp shriek.

Something was blocking the sunlight nearby. Was it a cloud?

For a brief moment, Alan thought a giant dragon was flying overhead. As an Amazonian living in the forest, he had seen riders take their dragons for a stroll. But a quick glance revealed it wasn’t a dragon. It was pure white and rounded, like a spindle with many small protrusions, its tip pointing straight towards them.

It was so huge that before it completely moved above them, it had already swallowed some of the morning light. How big was it exactly? It was hard to judge because it was flying so high, as high as the clouds, as white as the clouds, but unlike clouds that maintain such a stable shape when moving towards a clear target. In terms of speed, it didn’t seem fast, but with every blink, it seemed to get closer. Letizia and Alan exchanged uncertain glances.

Letizia quickly said, "Should we go…?"

Alan swiftly replied, "Let’s go!"

They ran as fast as they could, heading towards the gathering place in the Amazon.

What used to feel so close now seemed incredibly far away. They ran as fast as they could, still feeling their legs were too short. But it didn’t matter, right? Letizia hoped with a hint of luck, thinking, "It looks so far, but we’ll surely be faster than it, no matter what."

The enormous creature in the sky wasn’t that fast indeed.

The sharp whistling sound grew closer.

Just a moment ago, the sound was like the wind or a bird’s call from an unknown location. Now, it became clearer, unmistakably coming from behind them. Letizia ran with her head down, while Alan, looking back, suddenly narrowed his pupils.

The sky was suddenly filled with dark shadows of "flying birds". One bird was following closely behind them, so close that they could see its appearance clearly. It glided without flapping its wings, with its wings outstretched flat, and there was something sharp shining underneath its body.

Letizia was pushed out and she fell to the ground, sliding several meters due to the force, causing her chin to bleed. A strong wind blew over her head as she groaned and turned over, realizing that a large chunk of her hair behind had been cut off.

"Get out of the way!" shouted Alan from behind.

Letizia did as she was told, not only because of the warning but also because of the sudden chill rising on her back. She rolled several meters holding a short bow, with a sharp metal object scraping the ground next to her right arm, raising a cloud of dust. It was only then that Letizia saw clearly what it was: a strange bird with a sharp hooked tail, about the size of a person, repeatedly diving towards them.

No, not just one.

There were many strange birds in the sky, their flock causing a buzzing sound that sent shivers down the spine, like a greatly magnified swarm of bees or a group of scorpions that could fly. How many were there exactly? Compared to the massive creatures far away in the sky, these close-knit shadows were even more terrifying, their red eyes glowing in the sky, like a flock of crows staring at a dying young animal.

Alan got up, crouched down, pulled Letizia up, and ran forward desperately. Letizia was terrified, having left her belongings where they were, clutching onto her short bow and quiver as if they were a lifeline, which they were not. She could hit bullseyes all day in the shooting range, but she had never faced even a single wild beast before, and the current situation was overwhelming for her.

The problem was, they couldn’t continue on their previous path.

There was an open space between the forest and the gathering point, stretching tens of meters. In the forest, they could maneuver around the trees, but in that open space, they were sitting ducks. Alan gritted his teeth, turned around, and ran in another direction. He remembered there was excess gravel piled up there, and their physique could squeeze into the gaps in the gravel pile.

A strange bird swooped in from the side, separating them. If Alan hadn’t let go in time, his right arm would have been cut off. He heard Letizia gasp, then stagger. Alan heard the snap of her ankle as an even more unfortunate thing happened.

Birds are getting closer.

It’s good that Sister is here, Alan thought in confusion. He shook his head vigorously to get rid of this useless thought, then took a deep breath and carried Letizia on his back.

Letizia was just a bit shorter than Alan, a teenage boy who hadn’t fully grown, so he couldn’t possibly run fast while carrying a girl his own age. He struggled to keep his balance and couldn’t move quickly, only managing to stay close to the trees to avoid the swooping hooks. Alan could see the pile of rocks in the distance. He gritted his teeth and quickened his pace…

A wrist-thick tree was cut in half, the top part of the tree flew off, along with Alan.

His head hit something and everything turned black. It felt like someone had stolen a chunk of time from him. When Alan opened his eyes again, he saw blood spreading from his chest and another bird approaching.

In his hallucination, he heard his sister drawing a bow.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

That wasn’t the sound of a longbow, and a longbow couldn’t shoot that fast. The first arrow missed the bird by a hair, the second bounced off its eye, but the third arrow was shot. Alan struggled to turn his head and saw Letizia drawing a short bow, smoothly firing arrow after arrow with incredible speed. Her talent and hard work erupted with amazing power at this critical moment. The human girl cried with trembling teeth, but her hands were steady as a rock.

The third arrow hit the same spot where the second arrow had struck. A tiny crack suddenly widened with the third impact, and the strange bird’s head, glowing red, shattered loudly. The screeching stopped abruptly as the creature fell, crashing headfirst into the mud.

Alan smiled despite blood gushing from his throat. He swallowed it, giving his companion a small smile. Letizia forced a smile, wiping away tears to focus on the next strange bird in her sights, raising her bow.

Even if every shot hit its mark, there was only enough arrows left in the quiver for one more takedown.

A shadow swept across the sky.

Letizia, fully concentrated on the flying birds, didn’t notice, but Alan lying on the ground did.

The birds made chaotic sounds, akin to a pack of hyenas sensing a lion’s presence. Strong winds made them wobble, then a gigantic shadow loomed overhead, plowing through and clearing a space. The once overpowering flock of birds dispersed instantly, countless falling to the ground with their glowing heads extinguished. A wave of heat passed through the sky, flames descending to ignite the birds’ wings.

"Hold on, little one!" the previously annoyingly smooth-talking rider’s voice sounded like a heavenly melody at that moment, "We’re here!"

A red dragon with a rider flew into the flock of birds, followed by smaller flying dragons behind them.

The dragon riders had arrived.