The Book of Hibernation

The laboratory on the banks of the Shiwa River was temporarily turned into a resting place for the wounded, and hot water was burning on all available stoves for easy access at any time.

The Knights of the Temple are counting the number of people and counting the casualties.

The workshop mages acted as caregivers. They didn't know much about medical treatment and couldn't treat wounds, but they could provide some herbs and incense to relieve the pain of the injured.

The pastor and Glora rushed over from the tent in the distance. After seeing the scene, the two ran to the deepest room of the laboratory, closed the door and whispered.

Captain Renault, as the leader of the detachment, was the highest ranking among the Temple Knights present, so he became the person in charge of the situation.

He gathered the uninjured city guards and workers, found out the locals who were familiar with the environment, and asked about the situation around the Khiva River, hoping to find a way to search for the missing.

The locals shook their heads one after another, telling him that after falling into the water, there would be no salvation, and disappearance basically equaled death.

The reason why there are people "missing" is that something has happened on the Khiva River that has not been seen for many years-in winter, the ice surface cracks.

Khiva is an incredible river.It originates from the Frost Plain, freezes all the way from the northwest to the southeast, and then flows north to form a large loop, then turns back to the original path, and finally enters the sea.The part to the west of Hetao has an unusually long freezing period, and it seems that there are only a few days of thawing in a year.

Especially in the severe winter months, the ice surface of the Khiva River is as solid as frozen ground, and even horse-drawn carts and ox-drawn carts can travel without error, and there is no problem in traveling in a convoy.People in the Northwest jokingly call it Glacier Avenue, which is enough to see how solid its ice surface is.

It is the end of winter and spring has not yet come, so it is said that the river surface is difficult to break.But today, the ice surface is not only shattered, it's not just a hole or two, but it has been completely broken in a considerable range.

Things started at dusk.

At that time, the Templars and City Guards had just begun to step on the ice to search.They expected that the necromancer would use the mist to hide and add some concealment spells. Even so, as long as there were enough people and a dragnet search, they would definitely be able to find the target.

In the original deployment, more people should have set foot on the ice.Just when everyone was about to set off, a strange thing happened: a large number of soldiers were unwell. At first, they were mildly fatigued, followed by dizziness, severe fatigue, blurred vision, and some even collapsed to the ground, unable to walk normally.

The Templars suspected that the necromancer had done something bad, such as poisoning where they didn't expect it.So they temporarily changed the plan, let those with symptoms go back to rest, and only let a few people with no symptoms set foot on the ice for preliminary inspections.

Not long after reaching the ice, a commotion was heard in the fog.That direction must be the hiding place of the necromancer.

The necromancer hid well, why did he suddenly make a fuss?

There are not many people in the city-state side, so they are very cautious. They did not rush over immediately, but cautiously maintained their formation and approached slowly.

Then they encountered the Hatred.Most of the city-state guards are locals, and they basically don't know what the swearers are; the execution team among the temple knights has only heard about this thing, but they have never faced it in person; Lake City Escort.

This vendetta uses an axe, which was also seen in the prison car robbery.Captain Raynor deployed a strategy, some of them were responsible for holding it down, while others took a detour to find the mage.

Originally this was feasible.While it's hard to defeat the Avengers, the Templar's Blessed Weapon can stop it.But at this time, there was a new change.

The appearance of the swearer changed, it changed from a human form into a burning black hurricane, and even the sky darkened a bit.At the same time, there was a loud noise from the direction of the river bank, as if the ice surface was smashed by something, and people heard the sound of giant objects creaking and moving.

Later they learned that it was several golems that broke through the ice.The largest is the triploid shield guard, there are two ordinary shield guards, and several humanoid golems chiseled with clay and bones.Necromancers hide them underwater near the shore all year round, in case they are needed.

Although there are many golems, the most dangerous thing at this time is not the golem, but the swearer.It seems that something is wrong, not only the shape has changed, but the behavior has also changed.

In the beginning, it would stop all the knights, not obsessed with killing specific targets, but would not allow anyone to approach the center of the river, but now it frantically attacks all enemies within its reach, and will not stop until it is killed. People don't try to stop it.

When the golem climbed onto the ice and gradually approached, the swearers would even attack the golem, obviously no distinction between friend and foe.

The ice on the shore has been broken into a large piece. Because the ice layer is very strong overall and the frozen area is also large, people can still walk on the ice.Captain Renault observed the situation and felt that it was not good to go on like this, so he ordered everyone to retreat and find a place where they could go ashore as soon as possible.

Some knights of the execution team questioned this order, so they withdrew a little slower.

While they were hesitating, the golem and the out-of-control swearers were still attacking recklessly, ignoring their feet, and the ice surface began to shatter further, first turning into large ice floes, and then gradually breaking into smaller pieces. The weight began to tilt, collide, and continue to shatter...

In the end, a large area of ​​ice collapsed completely, and the golem and some humans fell into the glacier.

Falling into the water is fatal to a person, but it doesn't matter to a golem.The heads of the large shield guards could protrude from the surface of the river. Although the small golems sank to the bottom, they were not afraid of the cold or drowning, and they could still move normally, but they did not continue to attack people.

The actions of all the golems stagnated for a while, and then they all evacuated towards the north bank.

It is estimated that the situation on the side of the necromancer is also very bad. They must have been killed or injured, and some people fell into the water, and they need the help of the golem.

The scene at that time was extremely chaotic, people were busy saving themselves, and couldn't care about what the swearer was doing for a while, and could only pray that it would not come over.

At this time, a strong wind suddenly blew on the river, carrying flowing black clouds and mist.It was entangled with the Enemy, forming something like the eye of a typhoon, tearing apart the fog.

Someone climbed ashore and looked back, and the weird storm disappeared inexplicably, as if it had never appeared before.

The small storm ripped through the ice on the river, as if spring had come months early.

The city-state side could no longer continue to pursue the enemy, and did not know the enemy's casualties.Even if some of the necromancers survived, they would not be able to return to the south for the time being.

The south bank has been chaotic, until the early morning of another day, it gradually calmed down.

About the necromancer, about the exchange of hostages, about the arrangement of the whole day today... People originally had their own preparations and speculations, but now, it seems that everyone's speculations were wrong, and things did not go according to anyone's plan. expectations to develop.No one can say exactly what happened.

So many people spent a day and a night in the cold forest, but they didn't seem to have done anything meaningful.

By the second night the mist had gradually thinned, and then a northerly wind had blown it away completely.

On the third day, the workers dismantled the temporary laboratory, and the mages withdrew to the city.

Neither the knights nor the city-state guards evacuated, and everyone continued to search in the forest and by the river, looking for the bodies of the missing persons, and more importantly, the refiner and Kanai.

Some people think they were taken away by necromancers, while others think they were buried at the bottom of the river.Captain Renault thinks that these two conjectures are wrong, they must still be on the south bank, because the necromancer's delay in leaving must be because he didn't get what he wanted.

In the evening, the knights found a lot of corpses in the forest to the west. It was the group of dead hunters.

The wounds on the hunters were all caused by the same weapon. According to the priest's observation, the corpses still had the breath of undead creatures.She speculated that it was the swearers who did it, and no one else could kill so many hunters except the swearers.

====================

That same night, Aldin walked out of the Parliament Tower with a headache, and got into the carriage with his eyebrows held together.

He has been negotiating with the Carlos family for the past two days.People from the Carlos family insisted that Doris must have died. They were completely victims in this incident. Not only lost their property, but also lost the talents of the caravan, and also lost their important relatives who cannot be measured by money. It's Doris.

She is the half-sister of the previous Patriarch, and her seniority is older than the current Patriarch, so the Patriarch should call her aunt.The family spokesperson said that Doris' death was a very serious matter, no different from killing the Patriarch himself.

Since she is such a noble elder, how could she run around in various difficult areas, like a bodyguard... Everyone was thinking about this kind of question, but they didn't ask it.

The Carlos family reprimanded Fessisit's guards, so many people can deal with the necromancer, but they can't save a woman; they also questioned Aldin, thinking that he only cared about Kanai and did not consider other living hostages. It was selfish interference in the decision-making of the temple, which led to the current situation; they also pointed out that the private soldiers of the Chamber of Commerce were not responsible for the search and rescue, but they did not evacuate in the forest for a long time. They must be secretly carrying out some kind of conspiracy...

In short, in the past few days, Aldin has been talking about these things with people every day, making his head dizzy.

Many members of the city-state council also participated in the talks. They were more like peacemakers, and they seemed to be watching a play with great interest. They couldn't help much anyway.

Aldin will be tired, and so will the Carlos family, so the annoying conversation finally came to an end for the time being.

It is said that the head of the Carlos family is coming in person, and there will be a lot of troubles to face.

===============

Aldin has been living in Glora's mansion these days.The carriage stopped at the door, and just as Aldin was about to enter the door, a woman's voice came from behind, calling his name.

He turned his head and saw a short figure in a cloak running towards the corner of the street.The guards on horseback wanted to stop him, but Aldin motioned for them to let them go.

The visitor took off his hood, revealing fiery red hair.Aldin clicked his tongue a few times: "Sure enough. I think you will definitely not die."

De Lisi's voice was much weaker than usual: "Okay, take me to eat something first, or I will die in front of you right away. Sigh, it's really been a long time since I suffered this."

During the meal, Aldin listened to De Lisi slowly talk about the experiences of the past few days.

She ran away from the necromancer, but she didn't dare to ask anyone for help.Ordinarily, she shouldn't be alive, she should be killed by her family's bodyguards, or buried underwater in the chaos.

She didn't go to the knights and guards, because she was worried that some of them would take advantage of the family.Although there is no evidence, but still be careful.

De Lisi secretly observed the camp in the forest.Aldin was not there at the time. Although Glora was also a member of the chamber of commerce, this person was the newly appointed person in charge. De Lisi didn't know her well, so she didn't dare approach her rashly.So she hid all the way, and now she finally found Aldin.

After the chat, De Lisi was almost full.Aldin poured a glass of wine for her: "You came just in time, you can do me a favor."

"Do you want me to go to the Council Tower to show that I am still alive?" De Lisi shook her head, "I understand the reason, but it is too abrupt? Others will think that you hid me, which is a bit deliberate. I need a A normal, reasonable chance to play."

Aldin laughed and said, "When I say you can help, I mean you can do another thing for me. And this thing just happens to be your 'reasonable opportunity to play'."

"Okay, then tell me."

=====================

Two days later, De Lisi appeared in front of Captain Renault.

Renault and his guards are still in the gem forest. On the one hand, they want to find the remains of the victims as much as possible, and on the other hand, they are obsessed with finding Kanai.

Renault told the pastor and Aldin that his team brought Kanai from White Lake City, and now they must be responsible to the end.

It was noon when I met Deris, and the knights were lighting a fire to cook.De Lisi said that she smelled things and found them along the way.Her hair was disheveled and she was still wearing the clothes she had been captured in, and the knights rushed to bring her blankets and hot water.

She said that after escaping from the necromancer, she just wanted to run far away and didn't pay attention to the direction, so she ran all the way deeper into the mountain forest.Later, she wanted to go back to find the village, but she got a little lost. Fortunately, she now met the Knights of the Temple.

After hearing her escape, Renault was very moved.He wanted to send someone to take her back to the city. Deliss said that she couldn't go now, but the knights should follow her. She wanted to take them to a place—that was a burrow she had inadvertently broken into. , she "surprisingly" discovered Kanai.

In this way, De Lisi took Renault to the cave, and successfully found Kanai who was still in a coma.

When exchanging hostages.Aldin did not participate in the whole process. Everyone knew that he was in the city and not in the forest.In this way, it would be inconvenient for him to take Kanai away directly.

De Lisi is very suitable to be the person who finds Kanai.In doing so, not only can it justifiably bring Kanai back to the city, but it can also protect Delis to some extent.

As the news of De Lisi's survival spread, everything gradually settled.

The Patriarch of the Carlos family was still on his way. Hearing the news, he simply claimed that there was an urgent matter to deal with, and turned back halfway, leaving the rest of the matter to the speaker.

Delise was imprisoned by the necromancer for a long time, and she reported that she felt uncomfortable all over her body, so she was arranged to temporarily live in the guest room of the Parliament Tower, separated from the priest by a wall.

The pastor praised her courage very much and was willing to take care of her personally and help her take care of her body.

Kanai was also placed in the Council Tower and continued to be guarded by the White Lake City Guard.He didn't wake up, and showed no signs of waking up.

Aldin was in no hurry.Winter Thistle had said that Kanai would take "some time" to wake up.

That's good, Kanai really can't wake up immediately, if he wakes up immediately, the temple will definitely doubt whether he is Kanai or Wu Yun, Kanai will face strict control, and it will be difficult for Winter Thistle to escape.

The pastor checked Kanai, and Kanai still had the breath of an undead creature, which was exactly the same as before.This meant that everything was the same, and the monster was still trapped on him.

Knowing this result, Captain Renault was a little depressed.Although he is also a member of the temple, he does not want to maintain the status quo, he hopes that the monster and Kanai can be separated.

Although it is dangerous to release the monster, the danger should be borne by the temple, not by Kanai.

Renault complained a little frustrated: This operation was a bit embarrassing, so many people were tossing and turning, and nothing seemed to be done in the end.

The pastor enlightened him and said: Don't think so. They successfully expelled the necromancers, returned the gem forest to Fesisit, and maintained the safety of the city-state and nearby villages... This is a touching victory blessed by the day patrollers.

Since it is a victory, someone has to be rewarded.

The pastor drew up a list of honors to be submitted to the Great Temple of White Lake City.There are many people on the list, including the execution team, including the sacrificed De Caro, and also including the heroic Ryan who killed the enemy.

Unfortunately, this good news could not reach Ryan in time.

After the incident on the Khiva River, Ryan never entered the city. He first patrolled the forest and the countryside, and then suddenly left on leave.

The Knights of the Temple have a small period of free time to ask for leave every year. Ryan didn't use it last year, and used the accumulated leave this year.He handed over the command to another squad leader, and he left Fesisit alone. When asked where he was going, he said he was going back to his hometown.

Lane is gone, which creates a problem: Dorin is still at Gray Goose Inn.

It wasn't because Dolin didn't want to leave, but because Ryan sent two little knights to watch him in turn. The two lived and ate with Dolin, and they didn't allow him to leave.

Back then, Duoling was an important witness, so of course he had to be strictly "protected".Now that everything is over, there is no need to do this anymore, but the two little knights have not received the order to end the mission. According to the regulations, they have to continue to be on duty.

It's a funny thing to say: after many days, most people have completely forgotten about Dolin...

It wasn't until one day that the owner of the inn said that it was time to renew the rent, and the guard knight hadn't received the appropriation for the time being, and couldn't contact Ryan, so he went to the parliament tower to ask someone to ask, and everyone remembered that there was such a thing.

Among the knights, Captain Renault has a higher rank, and he can directly order the two knights. In this way, Dorin finally regained his freedom.

Dolin sees the light of day again, but doesn't know what to do now or where to go.

He is a patrol envoy from the island of Yoll. The mission of the patrol is to travel around, experience the wind and waves, observe the world outside the island of Yoll, and learn the strange customs... This is his purpose of leaving his hometown.

Ordinarily, he shouldn't be confused, he should happily devote himself to the next stage of experience.

He did not leave Fesisit right away, but spent the whole day wandering aimlessly in the streets and alleys.At dusk, he saw the formation of the Templar Knights passing through the central street, heading all the way to the southeast city gate. The leader was Renault, and there were several carriages behind.It's the escort from White Lake City.

The knights were formally dressed, their armor polished like silver.The priest did not ride in a carriage, but rode alongside Raynor in his vestments.

The locals on both sides of the road lined up to see them off, thanking them for everything they had done for the Gem Forest... It seemed that they had completed their task and were going to return to the Great Temple with Kanai's body.

Thinking of Kanai, Dorin couldn't help sighing.

When Kanai injured him, he once felt that this mage was fierce and terrifying. Later, when he heard that Kanai sacrificed himself to catch monsters, he felt that this man was respectable and pitiful.

In the concept of the elves on the island of Yole, if an elf voluntarily sacrifices himself in exchange for something he does not own, whether he is giving up his whole life or part of the important things in his life, it is unhealthy and unreasonable .Someone does this because he underestimates his own worth and underestimates himself.

Because of the pervasiveness of this conception on the Isle of Yoll, the Outbound Emissary is an anomaly on the Isle of Yoll.Most elves think that those who go on patrol are giving up important things, and the happiness they already have is precious. They gave up the high-priced happiness and exchanged a bunch of low-priced things.So why are the emissaries willing to give up?It must be because their lives are unsatisfactory, so they casually gave up their lives in exchange for illusory things.

Thinking of Kanai, Dorling thought of these concepts in his hometown of Yoll Island.

According to his understanding of human beings, most human beings don't seem to think so, and it seems that some people think similarly.

The formation of the Temple Knights has already left the city gate, going further and further away.Watching and listening to all this, Dorin always felt that his eyes and ears were covered with a layer of veil, as if he was watching an unreasonable hallucination.

He thought in a daze: Maybe it is really like what Ryan said, I am indeed a person who has no principles, no clear purpose, and is always erratic, so I sympathize with Kanai inexplicably.

Or maybe it's because I'm an Elf of Yoll, not a human, that I feel out of place with everything around me.

Duo Lin was still standing there, when suddenly someone patted him on the shoulder from behind.He turned to see the half-elf Doris smiling at him.

De Lisi put on a northern-style lady's gown, her signature red hair was fluffy and bright, and her expression returned to its former cheerfulness.

"My good countryman, I finally found you!" She came up and took Dorin's arm.

Dolin hid for a while, and De Lisi deliberately continued to post it, just not letting him hide.

Strictly speaking, the two of them can be considered from the same hometown. Doris's elven blood comes from the Isle of Yoll, not the sea of ​​trees in the hometown of Winter Thistle.Looking at her now, Duo Lin didn't seem to be as repulsive as before, probably because they had suffered together in the necromancer's cave.

De Lisi asked Dolin about his experience these days with concern, asked him if he was injured later, and walked away naturally while talking.

Before they knew it, the two walked to a tavern.Dorin was puzzled for a moment, and De Lisi said that she was hungry. She had been to this small shop a few times, and it was cheap and delicious. She also reported a bunch of sausage baked vegetables, creamy amaranth soup... how much is there today? Lin has been in a trance, his senses have been blunted, and he has not been in the mood to eat after wandering outside for so long, and now he really feels cold and hungry gradually.

So Delisi walked into the tavern with Dorin on her arm.The environment of this tavern is simple, not a refined place, and there are very few people in the shop.De Lisi took Duolin all the way up to the second floor, saying that she was going to eat in the room where she stayed, and just let the boss deliver the food, so that it would be quiet and convenient for chatting.

Dorin asked her what she wanted to talk about, and De Lisi looked sad and gave a vague answer, to the effect that because of a lot of things that happened a while ago, she was upset and wanted to talk to someone who had shared experiences.

Dorin could understand the feeling and followed her.

On the second floor, De Lisi opened the door of the second room and turned aside to let Dorin in first.

Dorin didn't think much, and stepped into the door.In the room, food has been prepared on the wooden round table, and Aldin is sitting by the table.

Dorin's face darkened, and he turned and left.It's a pity that he didn't have time, and De Lisi closed the door from the outside.