The Book of Hibernation

The sea elves have a folk custom.When someone dies, her blood relatives or spouse need to observe the moon phase of the day, judge how long it is before the full moon, calculate the date between this time and the full moon, and bury the deceased on that day.If a full moon is supposed to occur on or around the day the loved one died, you need to find the date between that day and the next full moon.

After the funeral, the living relatives have to go out every night. When the moon is at its highest, he must be by the tomb of the deceased.By the next full moon, this behavior can end, and you don't have to go out every night. This period may only be a day or two, or it may be half a month.

Elves are different from humans.Human beings often sweep graves. They visit the deceased’s birthday and memorial day, important anniversaries, and in some places even on the May Festival, and in other places on the winter solstice. Or there is no special date, just to miss the deceased. to go.The habits of the elves are different. They only visit the grave after the burial and the full moon. After the full moon, the dead and the living are no longer related.In the days to come, elves will not visit graves.Although elves also have buildings and works of art commemorating ancient heroes, the concept of "grave sweeping" does not exist in folk life.

After Jin Ye passed away, Winter Thistle did not bury her strictly according to the custom of the elves.

The funeral was arranged with the help of human villagers, and all procedures followed human rules, without checking the phase of the moon, and without specially choosing a burial date for Jin Ye.Winter Thistle knew his mother well, and he knew that Jinye himself wouldn't mind.

But Winter Thistle went out every night until the next full moon, and stayed at Goldleaf's tomb until the full moon came home again.

Ordinarily, he didn't have to do this, and if he didn't follow all the rules, he didn't do it.But Winter Ji still wanted to go, not because of any obedience, but mainly because she wanted to go.

Winter Thistle came home very late, but Lilana was still awake.She put Ryan to sleep first, and then looked for work in the house alone. If there was really nothing to clean, she would sit there and do needlework non-stop.

At first Winter Thistle thought she was waiting for him, and was a little embarrassed.He later found out that Lilana was not waiting for him, and that he went to sleep soon after his return, while Lilana stayed awake, sewing by the fire.It was like this for several days.

Winter Thistle decided to ask her directly why she did this.Lilana didn't want to talk about it at first, and put him off coyly, but after talking, she couldn't help crying, which frightened Winter Thistle to a loss.

Finally, Lilana calmed down, and the two sat down to talk all night long.

Winter Thistle gradually understands Lilana's thoughts.She didn't intend to wait for Winter Ji to come home, and she didn't want to achieve any purpose, but she was so upset that she couldn't sleep.

She was sad, afraid, and blamed herself, and all kinds of complicated thoughts kept circling in her heart.

Jin Ye's death made her sad; while sad, she was also afraid, without Jin Ye's tolerance and protection, she didn't know what would happen in the future; this kind of thinking would make her blame herself, she felt that living here was already a Taking advantage of it, taking advantage of it, and even a little distrust of Winter Thistle...

Rilana was embarrassed when she said these thoughts.She could see that Winter Thistle was not hostile, but she couldn't help thinking wildly.

In the past few days, she has worked hard to make clothes, and the fabrics used are all her own old clothes.Not only does she make baby clothes, she also makes a lot of bigger ones for children of different ages.The future is uncertain, she wants to try her best to plan for Leon, even if it's just better than nothing.

After listening to Dong Ji, he left for a while, and when he came back, he brought a big cloth bag, which contained his old clothes and some unused cloth stuffed with gold leaves at home.

He said to Lilana: Your idea is very good, Ryan is still young, and human children grow very fast, and they will definitely need new clothes frequently.You put away these clothes and fabrics, maybe you can use them.I really don't know tailoring, so I can't help you with that, it's up to you.When Ryan grows up to be a teenager, he should be able to catch up with me in height, then you don't have to worry about making clothes, he can directly change clothes with me.

Lilana looked at him blankly.

Winter Thistle didn't say some fluffy words of comfort, nor made any promises, but Lilana listened to his words, looked at the bag of clothes and fabrics, and the anxiety in her heart subsided.

Later, Lilana burst into tears and laughed. In fact, she is not very old and mature, so she couldn't help but say something that seemed to spoil the atmosphere. She said: If in the future... If Ryan's height exceeds you, why? manage?

Winter Thistle laughed too.He said that when Ryan's height exceeds me, it means that he is already an adult. Humans are already adults in their teens, right?At that time, he could no longer rely on his mother and elder brother, and let him find his own way.

It's a pity that Lilana didn't see this day with her own eyes.

If not for being too weak, Lilana should have survived until today.After all, she was very young when she gave birth to Ryan.

But looking at Ryan, Winter Thistle had a secret thought: Fortunately Lilana is gone.

Fortunately, she couldn't see Ryan now.

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

The two brothers have returned to their hometown, to the old house on the border of the sea of ​​trees.

It was early morning.Yesterday Dong Ji stayed up all night, sitting in the study on the first floor.Now there are no spellcasting items here, just a messy room.

Ryan knocked on the door lightly twice, pushed the door open and walked in.

"Aren't you asleep?" Ryan looked at Winter Thistle.

Winter Thistle noticed that Ryan also had dark circles under his eyes, and said, "Did you not sleep too?"

Ryan smiled bitterly.

He brought a plate of baked baby potatoes.It was supposed to be delicious with some sauce, but they couldn't go out to buy it, and the seasoning in the house had been stored for too long, so they couldn't eat it.

After putting down the plate, Ryan went out again and brought a glass of water.

Normally, this matter doesn't have to be done in two parts, just hold the plate in one hand and the cup in the other, but now he has to do this.

His right hand is wrapped in gauze.From the time of the injury to the present, the gauze has been changed several times, the bleeding has already stopped, and the new gauze is very clean.

His right index finger was completely broken, and his middle finger was also severely injured. Although the bones seemed to be still connected, they could not move freely.

After bringing the food, Ryan stood there, not moving or speaking.

Winter Thistle glanced at the apparently unpalatable potatoes and lost his appetite.

"Have you figured it out yet?" Winter Thistle asked.

Ryan looked at him blankly.

Winter Ji reminded: "I'm counting the time. It's been fifteen days today, and it's impossible to connect completely. If you cooperate early, you might still have a chance... Now you can only settle for the next best thing. You Let me go out and use my own laboratory, then return the spell-casting material package to me, and hand over your severed finger, even if you can't connect it, it can be used as a reference... Then we will find the construction of the academy With the help of body experts, they can make exactly the same structural parts according to the structure of your fingers. Before the fingers rot, let’s do these first. This will restore some functions to your hands, although not as good as the original fingers , but maybe you can still hold a sword.”

Ryan shook his head lightly: "I can't hold the sword anymore, my sword fell into the Xiwa River."

"Then take the axe. How old are you, don't play dumb with me! Come on, get your fingers!"

Ryan shook his head again: "No, no need to do this."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and walked away, his footsteps were light and his figure was shaky.

Dong Ji subconsciously chased after her and walked to the door.But he couldn't go any further—he had a handcuff on one ankle.

The handcuffs were connected with a very long iron chain, extending all the way to the transom window in the upper part of the room. They were nailed to a ring on the ground, and the ring was nailed into the ground. Both it and the chain were made of a special alloy, which was very strong.

The chains and clasps are left over from gold leaf and were used to tie animals back then.They are not pets, but small and medium-sized animals for experiments.

As for the shackles, Ryan got them when he was in the execution squad, and he always carried them with him.The cuffs were resizable, and Ryan adjusted it to fit Winter Thistle's ankle.

At the same time, Ryan left the study, walked to the door of the house, and pushed the door open.

The morning sun slanted onto the floor in front of him. He first stepped onto the sun, and then moved forward a little bit to reach the door frame. He stopped for a while, and then stepped out... But his feet couldn't get out.

He was blocked by invisible walls.The spell was apparently done by the winter thistle.

Ryan was not surprised, just sighed.

This has been going on for a while.

After the two arrived in their hometown, Winter Thistle always wanted to leave, wanted to get the spell-casting items, and wanted to search Ryan's luggage to find the finger, so Ryan tied Winter Thistle.

Later, Ryan wanted to go out and thought of selling the mule cart in a nearby village.He went to the door, but found that he could not step out of the door.

What stopped him was a kind of transparent barrier, but it was very strange, it was not the kind of hard force field wall, and it seemed to only block one direction - the blades of grass in the wind could fly into the door, but the people inside could not walk through it Outside.

Lane went back to ask Winter Thistle.Winter Thistle said it was a defensive circle, not a force field.He also told Ryan: Since you are so stubborn, then don't even think about going anywhere, let's see which one of us can spend the other.

There were no spell-casting items in the study on the first floor, and the material bag of Winter Thistle was taken away by Ryan. There are not many spells that Winter Thistle can cast now.But a mage is a mage, and he can always do things that others can't think of.

Ryan didn't say anything, just accepted this silently.

Winter Thistle was always urging him and persuading him, but Lion didn't hear him.

The development of things up to this point starts with White Lake City.

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

On the day when the hymn of miracles was played, Ryan came to White Lake City according to the guidance, and successfully met Winter Thistle.

They talked very happily, talking about many things when they were young, and also talked about some unpleasant things in the previous years.Dong Ji made a statement first, saying that those things are in the past, and she doesn't want to get entangled anymore.

Winter Thistle took Ryan back to his residence, so that Ryan didn't have to spend money to live in the inn.Also in the process, Ryan found that someone seemed to be following them.

Later, those people disappeared again, as if they didn't follow them all the time.Ryan thought he was thinking too much and misunderstood ordinary passers-by.

After arriving at Winter Thistle's residence, everything was peaceful at first.In the early morning of the next day, Ryan inadvertently looked out through the closed window of the room on the second floor, and found that the stalkers had appeared again and were surrounding the house little by little.

After Ryan reminded Winter Thistle, Winter Thistle guessed who it was, probably from Maida.

Winter Thistle told Ryan about the general situation.In Ryan's view, neither Maida nor Aldin is a good thing, and it is right for the wicked to kill each other, but Winter Thistle is involved, and he will definitely not stand by.

Seeing Ryan's eagerness to try, Dong Ji told him to be calm and not to act rashly.

Dongji intends to pretend that she doesn't know anything, wait for Maida's people to come to the door, have a good chat with them, pretend to cooperate, and try to delay the time.

But Ryan couldn't stay here, and Winter Thistle told him to slip out of the house and go to the Great Sept to find Aldin.Aldin should have been at the temple for the past two days.

When he got to the Cathedral, Ryan might meet other priests and knights first.Winter Thistle tells Ryan not to talk to those people, they may not know who Aldin is; you can ask the leader of Renault, and Renault will take him to Aldin.

Winter Thistle specially told Ryan that he must leave quietly, so as not to be discovered on the road, because there may be Maida's eyes and ears on the street.

He gave Ryan some masking agent, and just to be sure, he also gave him the Silent Feather Talisman and taught him how to use it.

Lane questions the arrangement.He asked Winter Thistle, can this be solved?Aldin must have a solution?

Winter Thistle said that this was a matter within the chamber of commerce, and Aldin knew what to do.

Lane was still reluctant.He also suggested that Winter Thistle should also use some masking agent, and the two of them slipped away together and never came back.

Winter Thistle refuses.He said that this is not the solution, and Mai Da will continue to look for him, and may even go to Shuhai's hometown.Therefore, it is better to stabilize the people in Maida and let them relax their vigilance, so that Aldin can make arrangements early and take the lead in the dark. If he is lucky, he may be able to completely solve this matter in White Lake City.

Ryan thought about it and finally agreed.

He used masking agent, and he also used the Silent Feather.According to the operation requirements, he warmed up the Silent Feather Talisman, bit it in his mouth, and tasted the faint sour taste on the tip of his tongue, indicating that the spell had taken effect, and then put it where it could touch the skin, such as the neckline, sleeves or even shoes.Lane put it under the glove, against the back of his hand.

He finished this in a secluded corner outside the door, and then quietly returned to the house.

After using the masking agent and the Silent Feather Talisman, not only were the followers unable to see or hear him, but even Winter Thistle could not detect him, and had no idea that he was back.

Not long after, people from Maida came to the door.They saw Ryan leaving from the main entrance just now, and they thought the timing was perfect because there was only Dong Ji in the room.

They sneaked into the house without knocking, searched everywhere, and left guards at various locations.

This time, Maida showed up in person.After confirming that Winter Ji was the only one here, he walked up to the second floor with confidence.

Ryan watched them from the shadows.Ryan had seen Mai Da yesterday when he found out that someone was following him. Mai Da's clothes were no different from the others. It was hard to tell who was the leader when a group of people mixed together.

Seeing Mai Da, Dongji was a little surprised, but she didn't make a big fuss.

Mai Da pretended that he wanted to discuss cooperation with Dongji, saying that meeting like this was a last resort, because of various interests, he deliberately bypassed Aldin, the chief.

These people can also be regarded as first courtesy and then soldiers.Maida chatted with Dong Ji for a long time, he has been testing Dong Ji, observing whether Dong Ji is the fake Rosen, and testing his attitude towards Aldin.

In fact, Dongji is not very good at talking to people like this, it's okay to lie to a mage, but he doesn't have much confidence in lying to people like Mai Da, but he can only try his best to deal with it.

In the end, Mai Da proposed to take Dong Ji to another place to continue the chat, and to show him some factories and so on.Dong Ji neither agreed immediately nor refused forcefully, kept asking this and that, and deliberately asked some questions related to professional skills, but Mai Da couldn't answer them, and Dong Ji refused to ignore the questions, deliberately and blindly being truthful...

The smile on Maida's face slowly disappeared.Winter Thistle realized that Maida sensed that he was stalling for time.

For these people, it is difficult to talk about spells with Winter Thistle, but it is easy to subdue Winter Thistle.

Mai Da called in one of the people at the door, and showed the prepared things.They brought ropes, and they also brought medicine-soaked hand towels.Winter Thistle was tied up, but the potion on the towel failed to stun him, only made him a little dizzy and weak, and he was still able to speak and struggle slightly.

Winter Thistle understood the reason—half-elves and humans have slightly different physiques, so the formula should be adjusted.These people should have never kidnapped elves or half-elves before.

Maida kicked Winter Thistle angrily.When Winter Thistle curled up, Mai Da walked away and asked the subordinates to find so-and-so, as if referring to the one among them who was in charge of dispensing the potion.

The subordinates walked out of the room, and Maida approached Winter Thistle again.

He was about to reach out to grab the winter thistle, but suddenly fell down.

He was hit on the head by a shock and fell to the ground instantly, unconscious.

Immediately afterwards, the ax slashed down from his neck, leaving a shocking huge wound.

Witnessing the change at such a close distance, Winter Thistle saw Ryan directly.After all, the masking agent is to interfere with perception, not to be completely invisible.

Winter Ji subconsciously called out.He didn't want to call someone, it was just an instinctive reaction.But his voice did not reach the door.

Under the effect of the Silent Feather Talisman, the sounds of struggling, crashing, Maida falling to the ground, the sound of the ax chopping on the human body... can only be heard within a small area of ​​this room, and cannot be transmitted outside. .

Ryan knelt down, made a "shh" gesture to Winter Thistle, and said to him: I'm going to get rid of the others. After I get out, the room will not be muted, so don't make a sound.

Winter Thistle shook her head vigorously, urging Ryan not to do this.There are many ways to solve this matter, there is no need to kill people here directly.

Ryan watched Winter Thistle silently.At first his expression was calm, but gradually he frowned, his eyes turned red, as if he was about to cry...

Seeing him like this, Dongji was also stunned, thinking that she had persuaded Ryan.

Then Ryan squeezed the space between his eyebrows and apologized to Winter Thistle.

As a member of the execution team of the Temple of the Day, Ryan not only learned how to kill the enemy, but also learned how to put the opponent to sleep without hurting his life.

So he did.

He had done the same to Dorin before.

He first covered Winter Thistle's eyes, and then made Winter Thistle faint by hitting the nerve in his abdomen.

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

When Winter Thistle woke up, the sky was slightly golden and the vault was dark.It's not sunrise, it's the dusk of another day.

He was lying on the flatbed cart, covered with a thin blanket, while Ryan drove the mule cart ahead.

Seeing that he was awake, Ryan asked him if he was hungry or thirsty, and told him that he was going back to his hometown now. The mule cart was bought at a farm, and they had already left White Lake City.

Ryan's tone of voice was very brisk, and it could even be said to be elated, as if he had really left his hometown for a long time and wanted to go back to visit his relatives.

Dong Ji was stunned, unable to speak for a while.He was still bound with the rope, but Lane changed the binding, which was less uncomfortable, but he couldn't move.

Winter Thistle gradually learns that Lane really killed them all.Lane readily admits this.

Winter Thistle was silent for a long time.

He understood that it was meaningless to talk about right and wrong at this time.

So he said, "Ryan, you have violated the oath of knighthood."

Ryan turned his back to him and drove the car: "Yes. But I only violated part of it."

"What do you call a part?"

"Those people broke into the house without permission, attacked you, and tried to kidnap you. I witnessed all of the above. Faced with such evil deeds, the temple knights have the right to draw their swords to stop them... Although I don't have a sword, my The sword fell into the Khiva..."

Speaking of the sword, Ryan seemed to be in a trance, and his tone changed briefly.

But this small change was only for a moment, and he immediately returned to that clear tone: "We are supposed to protect the weak, uphold justice, and punish evil deeds."

Winter Thistle reminded: "Kill them all without trial, does this conform to the knight's oath?"

"That's where I broke my oath," Ryan said. "It was an emergency and I acted impulsively and inappropriately."

"So? You think you're doing well?"

"No, I'm not good. Although they are a bunch of villains, I also made a big mistake, and I will accept the corresponding punishment."

These words confused Winter Thistle.

When Ryan turned his head, the setting sun was slanting, his hair blown by the breeze was filled with golden light, but the smile on his face was engulfed in the shadow.

He held up his right hand to Winter Thistle.The right hand is wrapped with a bandage, which is not very well wrapped, and the bandage is not a real medical product, but just ordinary cloth.The cloth was soaked in blood, and the original color could no longer be seen.

He explained: "If a Templar knight acts impulsively, with improper means, and causes death, then what awaits the knight is not only a formal trial, but also additional punishment beyond the formal trial. The content of the punishment is to express repentance. The knight needs to cut off the index finger of his dominant hand. Depending on the situation, he may also need the index finger and the middle finger together... In short, he can no longer wield a sword and can no longer represent the justice of the day patrol. In order to preserve the basic living ability, he is allowed to keep his thumb .In the future, I will go to the trial, but the punishment must be completed as soon as possible, so I will execute it first."