Flight of The Harpy's Heart

Chapter xx: Wailing Widow

The climbing steps to the Wailing Widow was tiring work, but thanks to the story of Maeda the foraging party were able to kill the boredom.

Aden and the party arrived at the Wailing Widow pass, they were presented with a path barely two spears span wide, with ridges and bedrock on each side. The path was also winding, ascending to the mountain with a hook peak.

They caught a breath and took a deep sigh while looking at the bedrock and the mountain wall, it was scattered with foliage and mountain trees growing out of the gap and crack on each side of the mountain wall.

They had to go deeper to the Wailing Widow pass to get the herbs.

As Aden stepped into the mouth of the Wailing Widow pass, the drizzle became torrent, and the ground trembled with each step, as if the very earth itself quivered in anticipation of the tempest to come. The air was charged with electric energy, sending shivers down his spine. The sky above was a maelstrom of roiling clouds, their dark masses swirling with an intensity that mirrored the churning sea below.

The wind howled like a vengeful spirit, its fury carrying the scent of rain and damp earth. The trees that clung desperately to the bedrock were bent and twisted by the constant onslaught, their branches swaying in a wild dance that mirrored the chaos above. Occasionally, a blinding flash of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the landscape with an eerie brilliance.

The thunder crashed like the roar of a beast, echoing through the valleys and reverberating within Aden's chest. The mountainside was streaked with rivulets of water, carving their paths with fierce determination. As he ascended, the rain became a torrent, drenching him to the bone. But there was a strange exhilaration amid the storm's fury, a feeling of being connected to something primal and untamed.

The lightning strikes were both awe-inspiring and terrifying. They cleaved the air with a searing brightness, momentarily turning night into day. Occasionally, they found their mark among the towering trees, splintering trunks and setting the forest ablaze in an instant. The ground itself became a battleground, where bolts of lightning struck with the force of a titan's wrath.

At the mountain's summit, the chaos reached its crescendo. The winds whipped with an intensity that threatened to tear Aden from his feet. The air was charged with an almost palpable tension as if the very fabric of reality was unraveling. The lightning strikes here were more frequent, more ferocious, casting an ethereal glow upon the jagged peaks and the world below.

Amidst the fury, there was a strange kind of beauty that emerged. The clash of elements, the dance of lightning and thunder, the relentless rain—it all wove together into a tapestry of nature's primal might. In the heart of Stormsteps Mountain, Aden became a witness to a spectacle that transcended the boundaries of the mundane world, where the very forces of nature seemed to come alive with a fierce and untamed spirit.

Walking at the front of the group, Ser Percival led the way, his face stern as if battling an internal conflict unknown to the others. The story of Maeda's actions had been weighing on the knight's mind since they entered this perilous mountain pass. As a knight and a student of law from the Regalyon Academy, he could not ignore the ethical dilemma.

"We don't have such things as war crimes or a Code of Conduct until recently," Ser Percival said, his voice breaking the uneasy silence as he opened up another conversation.

The others listened intently, their curiosity piqued by the learned knight's words.

"About two thousand years ago, when the oracle Yuad escorted our people out of the Damned City, they were attacked by the people of Biha. When they finally settled in a safe place, his God commanded him to take over their city and kill every man, married woman, child, and infant, bashing the babes against the rocks. They were to slaughter their livestock and..." Ser Percival paused, his jaw tightening. "And rape their virgin girls."