The Book of Hibernation

The night passed, and when it was daylight, Winter Thistle set out for the cave where the necromancer lived.The coordinates of the cave are not far away, much closer than going to Hamer Village.

After approaching the burrow, Winter Ji discovered that there were corpses not only in the burrow, but also outside the entrance.Judging from the clothes of the dead, some were casters and some were hunters of the dead.

The corpse was not badly decomposed.Since the forest was filled with the scent of undead creatures, animals didn't dare to approach it, so the corpse was not eaten by wild animals.Aside from the decapitation of some of the bodies, most are fairly intact.

There were corpses outside, so Winter Thistle didn't intend to go into the burrow.Yesterday he specially prepared some refreshing potions to protect the respiratory tract. There are dead bodies everywhere in the cave, the air must be very dirty.

Although he didn't go into the burrow anymore, he still had to pick out the corpses at close range. No matter how fresh the remains were, close contact with them was still disgusting.Winter Thistle took some of the potion, and rubbed some on the septum.

Winter Thistle picks out the corpse of a necromancer.The man was thin and relatively light.Winter Thistle pushed the corpse slowly with a force field spell, pushing the corpse all the way onto the sled.Even if he cast a spell to push the corpse, he still had to stand very close. The effect of the potion was limited, and he could still smell the strange smell.He is not very good at force field spells, and the spellcasting effect is relatively poor. If he is a mage like Kanai, he will be able to stand far away and use spells to easily grab corpses, just like an owl catches a field mouse.

Finally, the body was successfully put on the sled, and Winter Thistle was able to go.But he didn't move for a while.

There were rustling noises in the woods, and people approached from all directions and surrounded him.

Winter Ji didn't rush, just waiting in place.

After a while, a figure came out of the bushes and came to Winter Thistle.The man was tall and thin, dressed in black, with his head completely covered by a hood and mask.It really is a dead hunter.Only one of them came out, and there should be many ambushing nearby.

Winter Thistle's heart tightened.He took a deep breath calmly, maintaining a calm expression.

He looked at the hunter, and said first, "Great, I finally saw you."

After speaking, he stretched out a hand.The hunter in front of him trembled slightly, as if frightened by his sudden movement, he almost took a step back.

Winter Thistle thought silently: It is really rare that I can scare the hunter of the dead.

The hunter finally said, "What do you mean?" He moved his chin, pointing to Winter Thistle's hand.

Winter Thistle said: "Of course I don't want to shake hands with you, I want you to check me. You should have inspection methods, right? Check necromancer fluctuations or something."

The hunter did not answer, but just stared at the winter thistle.

At this time, a hand stretched out silently from the side, grabbing Winter Thistle's wrist.It was another hunter who came out, and it was the hunter code-named "Horned Owl".

Winter Thistle never noticed him so close.After all, Winter Thistle is not a warrior, and his vigilance is not enough. When talking to one person, he can't notice other people's movements.But he had long thought that there were other hunters nearby, so he wasn't too scared.

The screech owl began to examine the winter thistles.He took out an Otarot holy emblem, wrapped a chain around Winter Thistle's wrist, and stuck the side of the holy emblem with the crescent and white orchids on Winter Thistle's palm.

The temperature and color of the holy emblem have changed, indicating that it has sensed the fluctuations of the nearby necromantic system; Winter Thistle's skin was not injured, and from his expression, he did not feel any pain, which shows that he has never used death. Spiritual school arcane.He is not a necromancer, he is just dragging corpses here.

Of course, it was strange enough to drag corpses on purpose.

Seeing the inspection results, the hunters relaxed a little, at least they moved their hands away from their weapons.

The horned owl withdrew the holy emblem and said, "Just now I heard you say 'finally' to see us, why?"

Winter Thistle said, "Because I've always wanted to see you."

"Why do you want to see us?"

Winter Thistle looked around and said in a low voice, "Are there dead hunters around here? You guys are more alert than me, help me see if there are any people who shouldn't be here."

The horned owl sneered: "We have confirmed that the person who shouldn't be here is you."

"Well, I'm going to tell you something."

"Say."

Winter Ji asked: "You have your own way of obtaining information, you should already know the location of the last hostage exchange?"

The scops owl didn't answer, which was regarded as acquiescing.They knew more than that they had already scouted near the laboratory, but they didn't get too close.

Winter Thistle said, "You have been deceived."

"what?"

"I want to wake up the dark cloud and return him to the necromancer, but the transaction place is not in the laboratory by the river. At that time, the necromancer will let some living corpses stand on the river in the fog, pretending to be It looks like, in fact, they don't go to the trading place at all."

The scops owl didn't speak for a long time.The other hunter was also obviously stunned.Dongji couldn't help but think, it's a pity that they couldn't see their expressions through the mask.

After thinking for a moment, the horned owl said, "The remaining hostages..."

Dong Ji sighed: "How can there be any hostages? During the second exchange, the hostages who were still alive were basically released, and the necromancer had no more hostages in his hands. In order not to arouse suspicion, the necromancer pretended to still hold them." They pretended to release them next time, but in fact the rest of the hostages were already dead, and the city-state didn’t know about it. I don’t need to explain this, do you? You should know better than me.”

There was a slight snort from inside the mask, and the screech owl seemed to be chuckling.He does not deny the allegations in Winter Thistle's language.

After laughing, the hunter said: "There are still people alive. The red-haired bastard and her caravan are still alive."

The dead hunters always called Deris like this, and they obviously didn't care how the half-elf in front of them would feel.

Winter Thistle didn't mind the verbal offense, as if she hadn't noticed.

Winter Thistle said: "Deris's caravan is the necromancer's accomplices, and they are not real hostages."

Hearing this, the dead hunters were not surprised. It is estimated that they had suspected this for a long time, but they have not been able to confirm it.The Carlos family was famous, and the hunter must have known what they used to do.

Winter Thistle said: "Anyway, today I came here to find the corpse, just to use it as a cover-up. I will replace Kanai's body with the corpse, and find an assistant to replace me, and I will go to another place to complete the spell. And give the dark cloud to the necromancer. In this way, everything is over."

The Horned Owl stared at Winter Thistle, and paced slowly around him.

"Why didn't you tell the temple and the city-state guard about this?" asked the horned owl.

Winter Thistle shook her head: "Among them, some people already knew what you did, but they didn't make it public. In other words, they knew that a large number of hostages died, but pretended not to know, and continued Finish the rest of the deal...haven't you ever wondered why?"

Originally, the screech owl knew the reason—because it could wipe out the remaining necromancers.

But now that Dongji said this, he suddenly realized that there was indeed something wrong with it...

If the hostage was killed by the necromancer, then the responsibility lies with the city-state, the chamber of commerce and the temple, and they should be blamed for not handling the matter properly; but if the necromancer did not breach the contract, the city-state also handled it properly, but the hostage was killed by a third party ... Then this matter is not the fault of the city-state and the chamber of commerce, nor is it that the temple made a wrong decision.

It is not city-states, chambers of commerce, or temples that are responsible.Who else could it be?

Someone has to take responsibility for the tragedy before things end with dignity.

The hunters have been observing the actions of the city-state, and they have indeed seen some subtle changes recently: for example, the number of temple knights has increased, not only the two execution teams have merged, but also a team of guard knights has been transferred from other places; , the Chamber of Commerce transferred a large number of private soldiers into the forest in the name of sending more workers. Everyone can see that these people are not workers.

Now it seems that these signs just support what Winter Ji said.

The screech owl bowed its head in silence.The companion next to him was more impatient than him, and couldn't help sighing: "It seems that someone escaped that time? Otherwise, who brought the news out..."

Winter Thistle understood what the man meant, and followed up: "Perhaps you know an elf of the Isle of Yor's blood? He is alive and well, and has been transferred to the city. He has a good relationship with the Templar Knights. Testimonials The reliability is very high. And the elf has good eyesight, he must have seen the whole process of your killing."

He said this just to increase the credibility of his intelligence, lest the hunter think he was bluffing.

Dorin was still alive, but Winter Thistle didn't know if he was alive or not.Since Duolin ran into Hamer Village, Dongji hadn't seen Duolin again, so he didn't know where he was.Anyway, he's definitely not in the forest, as long as the dead hunter can't find him.

The screech owl was still pacing slowly, and finally stopped behind Winter Thistle.

He leaned forward slightly, and asked in Winter Thistle's ear, "Why are you telling us this?"

Winter Thistle said: "In order to let you go to the right place, so that we can get rid of the necromancer."

"You want to kill them too? Why?"

Winter Thistle smiled weakly: "Why else? You are hunters of the dead, you should know more about necromancers than I do, right? They might take me to the North Shore, I don't want to go."

This reason is actually not difficult to understand, and anyone would think so.

Winter Thistle noticed that both the Horned Owl and the other hunter were clenching their fists more and more tightly, probably because his words brought back some painful memories for them.

Back in Harbor City, the female hunter had stated a terrible thing in a self-deprecating tone.It is said that every dead hunter has experienced the misery brought by undead creatures, so he turned it into hatred.

"We understand what you mean," the horned owl said coldly, "but you are too confident, don't you think that if you tell us this, we will let you go? These days, we have many opportunities Kill you. The reason why you don't do it is because the allies don't want us to touch you. But now..."

He didn't finish.Winter Thistle finished the sentence for him in his mind: Now it seems that those so-called allies have obviously abandoned the dead hunter.After all, they are inherently unreliable.

Winter Thistle said, "Why are you scaring me? It's meaningless. I'm not your enemy, and I'm not afraid of you. Do you know why... because whether it's you, necromancers, or guards, everyone in this place Anyone can kill me. There are so many things I have to be afraid of, and you are just one of them, not so prominent."

In this way, the Winter Thistle kept its back to the screech owl.After he finished speaking, the screech owl did not speak for a long time, and then only responded with a soft "hmm".

"If you have no other questions, just take this." Winter Thistle raised a hand, with a note prepared in advance between his fingers: "This is the real location that the necromancer told me."

The hunter approached and took the note away.

Just as Winter Thistle was about to retract his hand, the hunter grabbed his wrist and put the Otarot holy symbol that he had just used into his palm.

"You take it," said the hunter. "It's not enough to rely on the map and the coordinates. You'll have to rely on this to find you. If you throw it away, we'll know."

They are going to use the tracing object spell again, the same as when they raided the cave.Use a small object to track the location of the target.

Apparently the hunters did not fully trust the winter thistle.Winter Thistle is also prepared for this.He nodded and accepted the holy emblem.

There was a rustle in the nearby trees.Winter Thistle looked up and saw that the hunters had left.

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

Dorin woke up once.It was on horseback, Lane was trotting, and he was sitting on Lane's chest.For safety, Lane tied the two together with two straps.

Dorin struggled subconsciously after waking up, asking where he was going.Lane sighed, stopped his horse, and put a wet handkerchief over Dorin's mouth and nose.

The hand towels had a weird smell, like alcohol, pepper and live fish mixed together.Dorling soon fell asleep again.

The recipe Lane uses comes from winter thistle.It's not magic, just a few common herbs mixed with distilled alcohol.Long ago, when they lived on the edge of the Sea of ​​Trees, Winter Thistle had taught him this formula, which could be used for hunting.The prey does not need to take medicine, as long as it smells a certain concentration, it will fall asleep.The hunter drank a sip of distilled wine without adding medicine in advance, and then put mint leaves under his tongue, so that he would not stun himself by mistake.

It is not difficult to prepare the formula. The key point is to observe the weight of the prey and control the dosage accordingly.Ryan is not very proficient, and he doesn't know how much should be used for Dolin. He prepared a small wine barrel, which is full of this medicinal wine, and soaked two towels for easy access at any time.

After entering Fesisit City, Ryan rode all the way to the Parliament Tower.The guards in front of the parliament tower went in to communicate, and after a while, the servants of Glora's family came out to greet him.

The attendant led Ryan into the tower and took him to the prepared room.Ryan kept hugging Dorin, and the attendant didn't ask any questions, as if he knew about the situation a long time ago.

That afternoon, Dorin finally woke up again.

When he first woke up, his vision was blurred and his body was heavy and limp. Although he was conscious, he couldn't speak, just like he couldn't move after a nightmare.

He lay with his eyes open for a long time, and finally his eyes gradually came into focus.He was in a room he had never seen before, lying on a soft bed, covered with a duvet, and his dirty clothes had been changed.

When he was wondering, Ryan's face appeared in the field of vision.

"Say something," Ryan told him.

Dorin had a lot to say, but didn't know what to say.

"Say something," Ryan repeated, "I don't know if the dose of the potion is right, don't make you sick."

"Why...why did you do that?" Dorin said.His voice was a little hoarse, but otherwise normal.

Ryan helped him up, helped him erect the pillow, let him lean against the head of the bed, and brought him the water glass he had prepared.

Dorin was still affected by the potion, and his arms were weak and trembling when he raised his hands, so Lane fed the cup to his mouth.

At first, Dorin didn't dare to drink at all, and Ryan didn't say anything, just waiting with a cup.

After waiting for a while, Duo Lin couldn't resist his thirst, so he finally lowered his head to drink water.

Ryan looked at him with a smile, cooperated with his movements, and thoughtfully gradually tilted the angle of the water glass.

Ryan suddenly asked, "Is De Carlo dead?"

Dorin froze.Lane put the glass aside and sat back down.

Ryan said: "Under normal circumstances, he should have escaped with you, or he had escaped alone. If you escaped and he didn't, he must be dead."

Dorin asked, "Did you know he was going to be caught?"

"Of course I don't know," Ryan smiled wryly, "just like I didn't know you would be arrested."

"But..." Dorin muttered, unable to say what should be followed by "but".

Ryan went on with his words: "But since it has happened, I have to accept it and then think about how to solve it."

Dorin looked at Ryan suspiciously.He almost wondered if his brain was broken, if he was still dreaming... He couldn't figure out what Ryan was doing.

What Ryan said seemed logical, but also seemed a little wrong.Duo Lin was in a daze, and couldn't tell exactly what was "wrong".

He tried hard to recall the past, and suddenly remembered the reason why he "fallen asleep".

Thinking of this, he curled up a little towards the wall, trying to get away from Ryan.Ryan's posture is relaxed now, and he doesn't seem to want to stun him again.

Ryan saw his fear and said to him, "Don't worry, I want you to wake up now."

"You...why do you..."

"Why put you to sleep?" Ryan said, "Because we haven't decided how... how to arrange for you."

Ryan paused while speaking, and Dorin thought he had changed the wording temporarily. He should have said, "I haven't decided what to do with you yet."

Dorin asked, "And now? Why am I awake again?"

Lane replied: "Now the second hostage exchange is over. It went well. It's time for us to move on to the next step."

Dorin was silent for a while.He probably understood that when he fled to Hammer Village, if he appeared in front of everyone and told everyone that "one of the hostages is dead", this news may cause confusion and affect the second exchange hostage.

Now that the second exchange is over, only the last one remains.At this time, Duo Lin stood up and said something, and the effect would be completely different.

Dolin's voice trembled a little: "You thought I was going to die, but I ran out, and this was beyond your expectation...Is that so?"

Ryan said: "Not exactly. I think there are two possibilities. First, you will continue to be held by the necromancer and then released during the second hostage exchange; second, you will die, and then we will will avenge you."

Dorin stared blankly at Ryan.He was not surprised by Ryan's attitude, but more because he couldn't keep up with Ryan's thinking.

Then there was a knock on the door.Ryan went to open the door, and a waiter outside asked, "Can he attend?"

"Okay," Ryan said.

"Then you bring him over, everyone is waiting."