Startled, Unen lifted her head—or tried to. Just as she was about to look up, she caught wind of a voice. She focused her complete attention on straining her ears to pick up on it.
<<…the…one…who…us…>>
The voices faded into a sudden gust of wind that took away the forest’s presence and the distinct smell.
When Unen returned to her senses, she found herself amid the ruckus of the cheap saloon that hadn’t changed one bit in the moments she had zoned out. Once more the aroma of cut-rate food and human bodies crammed into a room far too small returned.
“It can’t be…” she muttered, “has Hereh…?” She frantically glanced around the saloon.
Up until three years ago, Unen occasionally heard a voice unheard by others. It was a mysterious voice whose age and gender were indistinct. In fact, she wasn’t sure if the voiceless murmurs even made a sound. The inexplicable murmur tickling Unen’s ears moments ago held the same feeling as the one she heard three years ago. But the dense redolence of the sea of trees that engulfed her this time was a completely new experience.
And now the person who took her seriously whenever she told him her nonsensical experiences of hearing voiceless murmurs—who smiled while he patted her on the head with his warm hand—had become nothing more than a faint memory.
“What’s wrong, Unen? Did you say something just now?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
Unen gave Irena a reassuring smile, then slowly took a deep breath. Right, there’s no way he would be here. Lightly shaking her head to drive the nostalgic memories back into the recesses of her mind, she returned her attention to the scene in front of her.
An unusual commotion had started up near the saloon entrance while she was distracted. The raucous voices spread to the corners of the building like ripples on a pond before giving way to the silence of a placid lake.
A tall young man stood in the entrance, his back framed by the setting sunlight. He was an unfamiliar face to the crowd. A long sword hung at his waist.
The young man headed straight for the bar counter inside the still-as-death saloon. He didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by all the eyes burrowing into him.
From his appearance, he looked to be around his early twenties. Ashen hair cut close to his head swayed over his brow, which was darkly tanned by the sun. Blue eyes gleamed from their sockets with a sharpness reminiscent of birds of prey. His tightly pressed together lips made his hardened countenance appear all the more valiant.
Leaving absolute silence trailing behind him, the young man stood before the counter.
“W-Welcome. What will you have?” the old barkeep nervously asked the unfamiliar customer.
Without easing a muscle in his stiff face, the young man answered back with a curt, “I’m searching for Sparrow Eyes.”
It felt like fingers made of ice crawled along Unen’s spine the moment he uttered that name.
The man who kept refusing their job offer looked up at Unen and Irena, cupped his hand around his mouth, and whispered, “Hey, did you hear that? Sparrow Eyes has gotten surprisingly famous. Isn’t that a customer?”
In spite of the fact that he was whispering, his voice hung loudly in the air of the silent saloon.
Sure enough, the young man in question turned his head toward the girls.
In that exact moment, Unen’s ears caught the faint murmur again—sounding slightly clearer this time than before.
<<…the one who protects…the one…who…us…>>
At the same time, the scarcely audible, voiceless murmur resounded in her chest. The trees then shot up around her, blotting out the sky. What in the world was it that she glimpsed in the shadow of the evergreen needles?
<<Unen…Ende…Baina>>
Reality snapped back into focus just as the quiet yet powerful ownerless voice rushed at Unen’s face.
Her eyes traced the shape of the muscular body towering over her until they met the falcon-like gaze piercing through her.
Unen carefully stared back at the young man.
Is the sudden return of the Murmur and this man related? What in the world is that Murmur anyway? I haven’t felt that voiceless Murmur even once since that warm hand was lost to me…
“Are you the one called Sparrow Eyes?” he asked Irena, after comparing her to Unen.
“Wrong person.” Broadcasting her displeasure, Irena tilted her chin upward.
The man who had instigated this uncomfortable confrontation shook with laughter. “Wrong one, mister. Sparrow Eyes ain’t the pretty little lady but the shorty there. See how Short Stuff’s hair is the color of a sparrow?”
The young man’s eyes widened in surprise, as if to protest, “But this one doesn’t look any older than a small child.”
His reaction wasn’t uncommon by any means. That didn’t lessen Unen’s displeasure, however, and she snorted loudly. “I know there are people who call me Sparrow Eyes. But I have no idea if the ‘Sparrow Eyes’ you’re looking for is me.”
“…It can’t be—did he have…a child?”
Unen blinked several times. She didn’t have a jot about what he was going on about. But before she had the chance to ask him what he meant, the young man pulled a rolled-up sheepskin parchment from his chest pocket and showed the familiar map to her.
“Are you the one who made this map?”
The neighboring town’s mayor hired Unen to make that map last spring.
“I am?”
Menace immediately filled his gaze. “Who taught you surveying and mapmaking?”
It was then that Unen guessed what he was after.
Three years ago, and the last time Unen had heard the Murmur, outsiders appeared before her. They had been a duo of churlish men from a faraway land who angrily interrogated her in harsh shouts, then left after intimidating her with a parting threat. There was no question in her mind that the young man in front of her was searching for the same person as the men from three years ago.
Unen quietly swallowed back the saliva filling her mouth as she cautiously sorted out what she needed to keep hidden and what she should tell him to skirt further trouble.
Irena stepped between the young man and Unen. “Hey, you, did you come here to hire Sparrow Eyes or not?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then there’s no need for you to waste your time on him, Unen.” Irena grabbed her hand. “The sun’s going to set soon too. Let’s hurry home.”
Slow to react to her friend’s unexpected action, Unen was pulled in front of the young man toward the exit before she could form an opinion.
“Ah, hey, wait! I’m not done talking—” The man grabbed Unen’s other arm as Irena dragged her forward.
✦ ✦ ✦
The excessive force pulling her in the opposite direction further destabilized her already unstable stance, causing her to lurch backward. Irena looked over her shoulder as soon as she felt the jerk on her hand. Upon seeing his tight grip on Unen’s arm, she slid her left leg across the floor in one fluid movement.
Drunks escaped with their chairs in hand at exactly the same moment Irena’s sweeping kick knocked the young man’s legs out from under him.
“Let’s go! Unen!” Irena yanked on Unen’s hand without even glimpsing where the young man landed on the floor. He jerkily sat up in the direction Unen was being pulled toward, right in the path of her feet.
“Ah! Hey, Irena! Wai—”
At the rate they were going, Unen was about to land a kick to his face. Using all her strength, she tried to pull back her foot.
Similarly sensing the imminent danger, the young man lowered himself to the ground with remarkable reflexes.
Still, Unen felt an indescribable sensation through the sole of her boot as her foot came down. Wooden floorboards didn’t squish like that.
“Irena! Wait! I stepped on him! I just stepped on that man!”
The saloon exploded in an uproar. Influenced by their drunkenness, the majority of customers blithely cheered the girls on while mocking the young man, the few sober ones taking the time to ask him, “You okay, young man?”
Unen tried her hardest to put as little weight into the foot that stepped on him, but it was impossible to make the impact completely painless. She was flustered with guilt and a desire to go back and apologize, but Irena mercilessly dragged her away. With Unen’s small size, there was no way she could win against her sword-trained friend.
“Umm, err, sorry!” she called out nervously behind her.
Barely getting in her apology, Unen exited the Scarecrow Nose. The sound of jeering laughter filled the previous silence as the saloon patrons returned to merrymaking.