A flock of birds flew silently over the slave caravan, cutting through the air.
Several wagons were pulling a pair of horses each with their muzzles tied.
Flakes of snow swiftly carried along the mountain range, forming layers of snow.
The mountain wind howled in the dark abyss opening up from the steep slope.
Morvian blew on his hands, trying to warm them, but nothing worked.
His long blond hair fluttered in the wind, tangled and soiled.
His hands were not in the best condition.
Countless cuts and abrasions all over his body, as well as frozen spots made the guy gulp.
However, he wasn't confident in his field right now.
Long dirty fingernails and long hair along with small but breasts indicated that he had entered the girl's body for the duration of the ordeal.
'What the hell? Not only does the trial already seem too difficult. It's also getting into the body of a girl who isn't noted for her physical attributes.''
Irritation was rising from the depths of his heart, but he quickly came to his senses.
'Calm down, instead of panicking, we need to assess the situation and decide what to do next.'-thinking, Morvian began to look around carefully.'Besides, something strange is clearly going on here.'
The slaves around him were in no better condition than he was, if not worse.
Some of them had frozen tear marks on their cheeks, as well as wounds bandaged with dirty cloth.
Some couldn't even sit up and lay quietly on the floor near their dirty feet.
Morvian noticed that despite their condition, everyone was trying to make as little sound as possible.
Even the horses' muzzles were tied up to keep them from neighing.
Morvian looked at the armed men driving the caravan.
They wore old armor and were all dirty and unwashed.
They had purposely slipped a layer of cloth between the iron so the armor wouldn't rattle.
All were silent, and only the sound of the wagons could be heard, which was almost hidden by the howling of the wind.
Another gust of wind blew an icy chill across Morvian's face and he shrank back to warm himself.
'I won't make it to the end of this trip at this rate. Not in this body.
He looked at the chain restraining his arms and legs and tried to move them.
A sharp pain pierced his wrists with his feet and he almost cried out in pain. He recovered in time, however, and glanced nervously at the guard beside their wagon.
Morvian looked at the rest of the captives, assessing their behavior.
'You can see that they are all aware of the situation by now and have gotten used to it. If, there were any of the pretenders here besides me, their reaction would be different from the others. But still... it's worth a try.'
Morvian thought about how he could get the attention of the other captives, but he couldn't think of anything better than calling out to them. He didn't really want to do that, however.
The memories of that blow were still freshly reverberating on the top of his head.
Therefore, he decided to do it quietly.
"Hey... can you hear me? Look at me."
The hum of the wind swallowed up Morvian's words that couldn't reach anyone.
'Damn... we'll have to do it this way and hope for luck.'
He folded his thumb and pinky and pressed his palm against his chest.
He couldn't move his hands much anyway, so he decided to just stay in that position and hope that if there was someone like him in that wagon, he would notice the sign.
One of the slaves seemed to notice the sign, but his tired look didn't change. Whereupon the martyr turned away from Morvian.
He sighed to himself and looked around again.
'All that remains is to watch and wait. I won't be able to do anything to the guards now anyway, so I'd better gather information.''
A flake of snow flew into his eye and he cringed.
'Besides... even though the challenge was harder than I thought, it can't be impossible. The chance will still present itself, we just have to wait.''
The caravan continued on its way and Morvian's thoughts proved to be true.
For after a while one of the slaves in the wagon shrieked at the top of his voice.
His cry carried across the mountain ridge, overcoming the howling of the wind.
Morvian jerked in surprise, but only stared at the madman.
The screamer's eyes turned black and his body began to convulse.
Before Morvian could think of anything, the screaming slave was snatched from the wagon by two guards and mercilessly thrown into the abyss.
From this action, Morvian was rendered speechless and his breathing hitched.
The body of the mad lad flew into the dark abyss and his scream was heard from the abyss for a few moments.
Soon, however, a loud slap was heard, and the screaming ceased.
The whole carriage stirred silently.
The slaves stared into the dark abyss in horror, covering their mouths.
Their bodies trembled and their eyes ran in different directions.
Morvian was in shock himself, and a nauseating cold feeling gripped his lungs.
He lived in poor neighborhoods, so in a way he was used to deaths... but this was too sudden.
He blackened his heart and stared at the guards that had thrown the poor slave out.
Their faces were dark and their eyes were twitching.
They nervously touched the hilt of their swords and stood still, trying not to move.
The guards weren't the only ones who stopped. The entire caravan of several wagons stopped moving.
The slaves also fell more silent than before, lumbering to the edges of the wagon, as far away from where the madman sat as possible.
Morvian thought it strange, but he too decided to lie low.
'What the hell is going on here! Why is everyone trying to be so quiet?'-he thought-'Is it fear? But of what?
Deep breathing tickled his ear and some drops hit his face.
Morvian froze in place, not daring to move. More from shock than of his own free will.
The slaves in front of him stared at him in horror.
No.
They were looking at something to the left of his head.
Without turning his head, he looked with his eyes to see what was to the left of his head. And his heart clenched at what he saw, and his hands trembled.
The black face of some creature with countless fangs stared blankly into the wagon.
Drops of saliva dripped from the monster's mouth, directly onto the slave sitting next to Morvian. However, the man did not move.
The white eyes moved thoughtlessly from side to side, not lingering on anyone.
The strong wind returned and flakes of snow exploded in a dance around the wagons.
Out of the white shroud of the storm, the same creatures appeared, but their behavior was different.
They rushed past the wagons, leaping into the abyss.
Morvian didn't have time to get a better look at them, but he didn't care right now.
His hair.
The wind blew treacherously right into Morvian's face and his long hair stirred.
The flow of the wind changed and his hair went straight to the creature's face.
'Fuck!
Morvian's heart almost jumped out of his chest and blood rushed in his temples.
Blonde curls, driven by the wind, danced across the black creature's muzzle.
The creature ignored the hair for a while, but after a few moments, it slowly turned its head toward Morvian.
The man slowly shrank away from the creature without making a sound.
Droplets of saliva fell directly on him, and disgusting breath filled his nose.
The white eyes looked directly at him, but seemed unfocused on him.
A realization came into his head.
'They're blind... and hearing is the only thing they have left. Even touch is almost non-existent.'
He swallowed quietly.
'What happens if they hear me... no, what happens if they hear him.'Morvian thought and looked at the guard who froze in place beside the wagon.
The same one who had struck him on the head earlier.
The eyes of the obese man in armor looked nervously at the small girl with blond hair.
The guard couldn't understand one thing.
How could she smile so madly, looking at him, when death was literally breathing in her face.