Chapter 1677: Near Jameen
Oly let out a laugh when she heard their stomach growling. “I can hear your hunger from where I am. Here, take it. I won’t go hungry just by you eating a few bites.”
She handed over a piece of bread each to Ning and Shara, keeping 3 for herself. She slathered some more jam over her piece and began eating it.
Shara could smell the sweet jam before she even took the bread. She looked at it for a bit and began eating as well.
Ning ate the bread as well.
“Oh my god!” Shara shouted with just the first bite. “This is so good.”
Oly smiled. “Isn’t it? That jam is the best that the bakery makes. I don’t know what special ingredient the baker puts in it, but he makes it so delicious.”
“The bread is soft too,” Ning said.
“I would say it’s on the chewy side of it,” Oly said. “Do you only eat hard bread or what?”
Ning gave an awkward smile.
“I mean, I would say it’s still soft for how long it’s stayed out most likely,” Shara said.
“Yeah, that’s what I meant,” Ning said. “You’ve been riding all night long. The bread should’ve been stale, but it’s not.”
“I think the bread was actually made yesterday morning,” Oly said, chewing her piece as she did. “So it’s actually a day old.”
Ning nodded as he chewed as well.
Oly took out her water pouch to drink but after a few mouthfuls, there was nothing remaining. “Shit! Do you guys have some water? I’m out.”
“Oh yes,” Shara said, handing over the leather pouch that they kept around.
“Thank you,” Oly said, taking the pouch. “Aren’t we going to continue riding? We might be late.”
“Oh,” Ning said, hurriedly shoving the last bits of the bread into his mouth before turning around to start riding once again.
His horses neighed and began moving across the bridge.
They slowly crossed the long bridge and arrived at a large forest. “This forest goes on for a while,” Oly explained. “Once we cross it, we arrive at an open field on the other side. And not long after that, it’s Jameen.”
“I see,” Ning said, taking the horses along.
“How much further would you say it is in terms of time?” Shara asked.
Oly gave an awkward smile. “Hopefully not too long or else that would be a problem,” she said.
They continued the journey as the sun slowly dipped in the sky. They were still in the forest around evening time. When they finally got out of it into a large stretch of open land, the sun began setting in the sky.
Shara yawned throughout the journey, bored and tired out of her mind. “I’m going to sleep. Wake me up when we get there,” she said and lay down on the cart to fall asleep.
Ning yawned out loud as well. “It’s getting dark,” he said. “Are we going to get there in time?” he asked.
Oly looked out. “No, we still have more than an hour’s journey,” she said. “This is a problem.”
“Don’t worry, we can take you there,” Ning said, yawning once more.
“That’s alright,” Oly said. “You guys top around here. I can get there faster on foot than on this carriage,” she said.
Ning looked up at the cloudy night. “It’s cloudy with no moon. And it will rain anytime now,” he said.
“I can’t stay though. I need to get back as soon as I can or I will miss my brother,” she said.
Ning frowned. “What do we do then?” he asked.
Oly looked at him, shaking her head. “Look at you, you’re tired. You need rest. I will leave alone.”
She got to the back of the cart and pulled something out from her packs. A lantern.
“I will leave on my own. I can’t worry about rain or whatever,” she said.
“What about your horse?” Ning said.
“I’m afraid he’ll have to stay here,” she said. “Can you look after it for the night? I will either return tomorrow morning or send someone to get him. He needs rest too.”
Ning looked back at the horse and nodded.
“Alright, I’ll take care of him,” Ning said. “You should go now before it’s too late.”
The woman nodded and lit up her lantern before getting out of the cart. “If I’m not back tomorrow, just come to the city. Everyone will know who I am. They will tell you where to go.”
“Okay,” Ning said and waved her away.
Oly made her way through the open road with her tiny lantern, rushing more than walking. Soon enough, she disappeared in the distance.
Ning took the cart off the road to the grassy plains and let them settle. He got out of the place for a bit, stretching a bit.
He let the horses graze for a bit and then got back into the cart, preparing to sleep. He knew he needed to eat before he slept, but he didn’t feel like eating at the moment.
He checked on Shara who was deep asleep and then went to lay down himself.
* * * * *
Oly walked through the night with the tiny lantern in her hand, making her way through the road. She looked at the sky, thankful that it didn’t rain.
Even though it would help her if it did rain, she didn’t want rain when she was outside like this.
At some point, she looked on ahead and saw what she was looking for. She had come across it again. The cart.
“They should have both fallen asleep by now,” she thought, making her way to the cart.
The horses were fast asleep at the front and her horse at the back was asleep too. She slowly made her way to her horse and reached into the pack for something.
“Hmm?” she couldn’t find it. “Where did I put it?”
She searched for it time and again, but she couldn’t find it.
“Looking for this?” Ning asked from within the cart.
The woman quickly moved back from her horse, looking in Ning’s direction. Ning slowly stepped out of the cart, holding a long carving knife.
Oly slowly stepped back, looking in his direction. “Oh, hey. You’re awake. I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Sure you didn’t,” Ning said, slowly twirling the knife around.
“That’s my knife,” Oly said. “Can I have it back?”
“For what?” Ning asked. “So you can kill me with it?”
“K-kill you?” Oly asked.
“I don’t see why else you would return for the knife,” Ning said. “Still, do give me the excuse. I’m curious what you will say, why you decided to return in the dead of the night when you’re supposed to be meeting your brother right now. Does he even exist?”
Lightning flashed and Ning saw the wicked look on the woman’s face.
“How are you still awake?” she asked. “You should’ve been knocked out like that girl.”
“I should,” Ning said. “But I wasn’t.”
He brought out something and showed it to the woman. The woman looked at his palm and saw the pieces of bread that he was supposed to have eaten.
“Huh?” I saw you eat those.
“You saw what your biased mind wanted you to see,” Ning said, dropping the bread from his hand. He had his doubts about the bread and jam, so he had put it into his inventory with each bit instead of swallowing it. If there was nothing, he would’ve eaten it afterward.
But after seeing Shara’s situation, he was sure something had been put into it.
“What did you poison? The bread or the jam?” Ning asked.
The woman looked at him for a second and shrugged. “Both,” she said.
Ning raised an eyebrow. “Both?” he asked, surprised “I would’ve assumed you would only poison one. Wait, if you poisoned both, then what was the antidote?”
“My water,” she said. “I only keep enough to not have it affect me.”
Ning nodded. “What exactly was the poison?” he asked. “It wasn’t meant to kill us, was it?”
“No, it was not,” Oly said. “Unfortunately, I don’t have the luxury to let you die in peace.”
“Don’t have the luxury?” Ning asked. “You sound as if you are being forced by someone.”
Lightning flashed again and Ning saw the woman’s face more clearly. It looked quite pale.
“I do not like it when you are awake. I don’t like seeing people cut into pieces while they are awake,” she said. “That’s why I make you fall asleep. It’s not much but it’s all I can do.”
Ning frowned. Something here was not right. “You are a serial killer, aren’t you? You’re no bandit. That much I can tell,” he said. “And it does not look like you do it for the thrill, nor are you delivering judgment on criminals, so why?”
The woman shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” Ning said.
The woman shook her head. “I can’t explain it to you.”
“Very well,” Ning said. “Then I suppose I can waste no more time. Get down on your knees so I can tie you up. You are not leaving anywhere now.”
“I’m sorry. I could not give you a painless death.”
“Enough talking, sister,” a voice came, surprising Ning. Ning looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was the horse. Or rather, it was something inside of that horse.
A glimmering white light emerged from that horse, flying out toward the woman. Ning looked at it and realized what it was.
A Vengeful Spirit.
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