The cinqhorne dropped them off on a beach almost identical to the one they had just left, from the colour of the sand to the length of the beach to the white cliffs that backed the scene.
The necromancer's gaze was fixed on these cliffs, as if her gaze would somehow bore a hole in them and allow her to see her homeland beyond them. Sou Yuet poked interestedly at some disparate patches of vegetation in the hind dunes, letting the necromancer take her time. Sunny rolled in the sand.
“Sorry.” The necromancer shook herself. “We should get going.”
“Hm. That would be a good idea,” Sou Yuet said, straightening up and looking over at the cliffs too.
“... There's someone up there, isn't there?”
“Yes.”
“And they've spotted us?”
“Yes.”
“And they look very friendly?”
Sou Yuet smiled cheerfully. “No.”
“Feck.”
“Shall we go?”
“Don't ask, just move!”
They ran.
Sou Yuet's lightness arts allowed them to skim across the sand with ease, Sunny close behind with her wide pawpads preventing her from sinking in the sand.
The necromancer floundered behind them.
An arrow zipped overhead with a harsh whine. The next, headed for the necromancer's shoulder, burst into a spray of narrow, bright green leaves and red berries. Sou Yuet skidded to a halt between the necromancer and the now-useless arrow, which landed with a spray of sand. The monk's eyes flashed green. “Sunny!”
The shi zi knocked the necromancer off her feet, and with her body now slung across Sunny's back, the pair raced pell-mell along the sand towards a rocky cliffline, with Sou Yuet guarding their rear.
At the cliffside, Sunny tensed her powerful back legs and began to jump, climbing the steep chalk face rapidly as it crumbled beneath her paws. Sou Yuet kept pace easily.
“Any idea why they might be attacking us?” they asked the necromancer casually, as if the three of them were taking a stroll through a park.
“Because the dumbarses that live on this goddamned piece of land will attack anything that moves!” She clung tight to the lunging shi zi's back. “They're using yew bows and arrows. Ye don't need to defend me.”
“Why not?”
“It's the same wood as these.” She pointed to the wooden slivers in her ears. “After what... With... Yew is the wood of the dead. It can't hurt me anymore.”
Sunny and Sou Yuet gained the top of the cliff, not pausing to admire the beautiful countryside that they now found themselves in. They dashed across lightly wooded grassland until the trees grew denser and they were finally hidden from view.
“Will they follow?”
“Might do,” the necromancer grunted, sliding from Sunny's back. In a moment, she was back in masculine form. Tugging aggressively at his robes, he scowled in the direction of the attackers.
“Calm down, Pang Yau.” Sou Yuet calmly rearranged the necromancer's robes, smoothing the fabric until they sat properly. “There.”
“Little busybody.”
“Where to now?”
There was no Jade Road to guide them here. The way had ended somewhere in the country they had just left, and they hadn't seen it in their efforts to stay hidden.
“Ye alright?”
“Hm?”
“Ye look a little...” The necromancer didn't finish his sentence. He ruffled the monk's hair, causing silvery-blond strands to stick out at odd angles. Sou Yuet sighed and removed their hairpin to tidy their hair again. “Was that necessary?”
“Absolutely. Ye look real good with yer hair messed up like that.”
By the end of the sentence, the necromancer was reflecting that this was perhaps an odd thing to say, and the expression on Sou Yuet's face indicated that this might be an odd thing to hear, so they both stopped speaking and silently headed west.
Oak and beech towered over them, shadowed by occasional stands of hawthorn and blackthorn. Most of the trees were bare, although signs of early spring were already beginning to peek through; tiny bright green buds swelling on empty branches. Sou Yuet kept pausing to stare at this promise of new growth, occasionally placing their hands on the tree trunks with an attentive expression.
“I'm sorry, I'm slowing us down.”
“Nah, it's fine. I'm not worried about those eejits. It's their wise-people we gotta look out for. They can cause all kinds of problems.”
“Such as?”
“Bewildering our senses so we lose our way. Hounding us with spirits, perhaps. They can't kill me, but they can bind me. That'd be a pain in the arse.”
“Did you have these problems when you travelled through here with your mother?”
“With Mam? Ha!” His eyes grew soft. “There's no way. Nobody would cross Mam. Nobody with any sense, anyway.”
Seeing Sou Yuet's questioning look, the necromancer walked on briskly. “Put those big eyes away, monk. I might tell ye some other time.”
In the end, the journey through Kantos was uneventful. No sign of their attackers was ever seen, and they easily skirted around the settlements that appeared on their path. Sou Yuet examined blackberry brambles and acorns, pocketing samples.
“When will we find the border?”
“We're already in Glēwom.”
There had been no change in scenery, no roads or walls to indicate they had already entered another territory. In those silent woods, there was only the three of them.
A crackle of snapping twigs underfoot made them all turn, surprised that they had not noticed the presence of another until that moment.
Between the trees stood a stag.
He examined them solemnly, twelve proud tines rising around his head. His fur was pure white.
Sou Yuet and the necromancer bowed respectfully. The stag continued to stare for a moment, before it dipped its head, and then walked away amongst the trees and vanished.
“What were ye bowing for, monk?”
“Why do you ask? You also bowed.”
“Yeah well I know his lordship though. Surprised to see him here, to be honest. Friend of Mam's.”
“When I saw him, I was reminded of a story Si fu told me,” Sou Yuet explained, as they began to walk once more. When he was young, he visited the Dzue Kingdom before it fell. There was a deer spirit that lived in the pine forest there. Lo Ma Luk... Si fu saw him, once. He wasn't really able to describe what he saw, but somehow, looking at that stag now, I had a sense of what he might have meant.”
“Bloody deer, getting everywhere.” He dodged to one side as a large branch dead branch came crashing down from an oak beside them. “STOP BEING SO PETTY!” he roared into the empty forest.
There was no response.
“Oak King my arse. He's just a petty old man,” the necromancer fumed, storming away. Sou Yuet tried not to laugh.
“It was nice of him to say hello.”
“Nice? He nearly dropped a tree on me!”
“That's an exaggeration. It was only a branch.”
“Are ye on his side or mine, ye traitor?”
“I'm always on your side,” Sou Yuet said simply.
The necromancer sighed, slowing. “How can ye say that so easily?”
“Easily? Is that how it seems...? My apologies, I'm not sure what else I should do to show my sincerity.”
“Ye- What is it now?”
The white stag had reappeared. They could see him a little distance off, considering them gravely with large black eyes. With a flick of his ears, he began to move slowly away, but stopped when they didn't move.
“I believe he wants us to follow him?”
“Ugh. Fine. Hey, Sunny, are ye hungry? Fancy some venison?”
Sou Yuet pinched his back.
“Ow! Don't pinch me, ye little-”
“He's leaving, Pang Yau.”
They followed the Oak King through the forest for hours, without meeting a single person. Evidently, he was escorting them safely, avoiding altercations with the local warring peoples. When the group paused to find food and take a break, Sou Yuet addressed the Oak King.
“Your Majesty, thank you for your kind assistance.” The monk bowed, taking care to stay well back from the white stag. He didn't seem to like anyone approaching him within five metres.
“Please tell us, have there been any disappearances of beings... legendary creatures? Those with divine or supernatural powers?”
The white stag blinked at the monk. He turned his head away, ears flicking, then back again.
“Don't be stingy, Uncle Karn.” The necromancer reappeared with a pheasant in hand, Snny following with another. He pulled a face at Sou Yuet. “Not much to eat except meat at the moment, I'm afraid.”
“There's some elderberries and hawberries a few paces that way,” Sou Yuet replied, the green glint in their eyes dispersing. “Uncle Karn?”
“Karn, the Oak King. The Hunter in the Forest. What other fancy names ye got?” the necromancer addressed this last question irreverently at the white stag who bestowed him with a look that on a human might have been called unimpressed. Still, he gave no other response, so the travellers settled down to eat. It seemed to the necromancer that Sou Yuet's silent prayer to the spirits of the creatures that they ate had become longer since their experience with the simurgh.
They had barely finished their meal when the white stag's head jerked up suddenly. His nostrils flared and his head swung around, looking intently.
In the distance, a dog howled.
“Ah, feck,” the necromancer growled. “Sunny, dig a pit real quick, we need to bury everything. Ah Yuet-”
“A large pack of dogs, and several people on horseback,” the monk said quickly, eyes glowing green fire. Faint green Wood energy rippled around their feet into the woods around them. “Do you know who they are?”
“They're mad, that's what they are. No time for talking, we've got to run.”
Sunny had buried the remains of their meal and the small fire they had built to cook the pheasants. She ran after the Oak King as Sou Yuet pulled the necromancer up onto the ginseng leaf and they flew through the woods.
The white stag was swift. Sunny could just about keep up and was tiring fast. Sou Yuet held the leaf steadily above her, but the sounds of the pursuers was getting louder.
“Will you not explain what's going on?”
“It's the Hunt,” the necromancer hissed, flattening himself to avoid being knocked into a tree branch. “When they're bored, they go chasing after something. The Oak King is one of their favourite targets, since they've never been able to catch him.”
“What will they do if they catch him?”
“It depends on the leader's mood. I've met some of those she's caught, in the fairy hills when I visited them with Mam. They're made 'guests', so to speak. They can only leave when the leader gets bored of them, and that could take decades. If they're human, they might come home to find their children are old and the rest of their families long gone.”
“And otherwise?”
“They die.”
“Neither of those things sounds like a nice option, particularly for a mortal human with no spiritual powers. Doesn't anyone try to stop them?”
“Like who?” the necromancer asked bluntly. “Unless they're affected directly, most of the divine spirits turn a blind eye. They reckon they've got better things to do than play protector to humanity.”
“That's unjust.” Sou Yuet clenched their teeth. “The divine beings of the old Five Kingdoms wouldn't have stood by like that.”
“Where are those divine beings now? Why aren't they out catching that fox-faced creep?”
“Si fu said they retreated to the Heavenly Realm,” Sou Yuet replied, flattening themselves against the leaf. Sunny was panting heavily, her bright blue tongue lolling, and the monk was seriously considering pulling her onto the leaf, although it would slow them down. The Oak King's white haunches flashed in the distance.
“Why?”
“They were exhausted after the Great Demon War and needed to rest.”
“How long ago was that?”
“About...”
“Well?”
“About two hundred years ago.”
“So they overdid it, got exhausted, and have had to rest, so far, for two hundred years. Have I got that right?”
Sou Yuet didn't reply.
“Look, I'm not saying that the lunatics around here are doing the right thing by standing to one side and letting this all happen. But I'm also saying that there's only so much that can be done.”
Sou Yuet still didn't speak.
“Ah Yuet, let's get out of this first and then we can talk philosophy, alright?”
“No.”
“What?”
Sunny tripped. She tumbled and smashed through several small spindly trees and shrubs, rising as quickly as she could with her chest heaving and a paw dragging. The necromancer found himself plunging in a small snowdrift as the leaf disappeared from underneath him. He surfaced to find Sou Yuet landing lightly beside Sunny as the baying of the chasing hounds rang in their ears and the Hunt emerged in their field of view for the first time.
The necromancer rose from the snowdrift, dusting himself down as his consciousness groped through the surrounding landscape for signs of the dead. “Damn it, monk. Why ye gotta get all righteous like that?” He stepped up on Sunny's other side, rolling his neck from side to side to loosen it up. “Is she alright?”
“She's pulled a muscle. She won't be able to run without seriously injuring herself.”
“We could be getting on yer leaf right now, but that's not happening, is it?”
“What do you think, Pang Yau?”
The necromancer bared his teeth at the approaching swarm of dogs and horses. “I guess not, ye crazy bastard. Looks like ye want to pick a fight.”
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