Author's Notes
Hi my friends!^_^
Are you surprised!? Well, I had plenty of time to write this week, and so here I am with a new (and long) chapter.
It's been quite easy to write this time, since I had this chapter and its events right in my mind long before begin to create it, and as always I hope you'll appreciate it.
Thanks to NewUniverse and the misterious Guest for their reviews (MW, tu ormai non fai testo, sei un abitudinario, e te ne sono grato^^), and to Sakata, RankClone and AkiraUzumaky for having favourited this story.
See you soon!^_^
12
Contrarily to almost every religion followed in Falmart, Fuhrer had never been printed, sculpted or represented in any sort of art.
He had no face, no aspect: it was said that the sole one to know it's true form was his Great Priest, which were allowed to be admitted to his might for a brief instant the moment that he was chosen by the konklave to take the burden of representing his glory among the mortals.
Fuhrer's church was based on faith. No icons, no statues or prints to pray. Only pure faith in Fuhrer was the key to receive his glory, a new and revolutionary concept for Falmart's religion, but despite this, Reich's inhabitants were more than happy due to the absence of icons, because in their eyes it was the proof that their faith was the purest and greatest of the entire world.
And as Great Priest of Fuhrer and leader of his cult, Magnus used to spend much of his time in the Great Temple located right at the side of the Imperial Palace, on the other side of the parade ground.
The temple was truly magnificent, marvelous and rich enough to compete with Hardy's and Emroy's ones, built to form a particular cross provided with four hooks, which was after all the official symbol of Fuhrer and his church.
On the inside everything was covered in jewels, gold and expansive marble, collected thanks to Reich's victorious campaigns in the latest fifty years, and was continuously improved thanks to the goods provided by the work of the dwarf slaves in the southern mines and caves.
The Großehalle, or the Hall of Glory, was the most sacred place, the holy ground where it was said that Fuhrer would make his appearance one day to spread his might over the entire world. Apart from the High Priest, only the Emperor, and the members of the Triumvirate were admitted to enter in that place, and only on certain occasions.
Everyone knew that Octavia was the strongest and most faithful member of the Triumvirate, not to say of all Reich, since her loyalty to Fuhrer and his church was absolute, as much as Magnus' faith in her, so the Holy Guards which used to survey the temple's main entrance were not surprised to see her approach early in the morning, simply dressed in her formal red and white General's uniform despite the snow, the wind and the terrible cold.
«I need to see his holiness. I have his authorization.» she said, and they immediately let her pass without questions.
The woman advanced along the main nave surrounded by high columns, respectfully stopping at the Großehalle's border avoiding putting a step into that sacred soil.
«Your Holiness» she said addressing to Magnus, kneeled in front of the altar at the room's center.
«The stars were less shining this night.» he replied without turning to her. «I suppose something happened far from here.»
«I have received a message from my spy in the diplomatic delegation. The Calibrians have accepted her majesty's proposals.»
A strange tremor hit the High Priest's hands, which closed more tightly around the baton and his sacred swastika's amulet.
«Reich is a magnanimous nation, they'll say. They're diplomatic, they'll say. They know the better way to act with other people, they'll say.»
Then, he turned slowly to Octavia, directly looking into her eyes with his own.
«You know what to do.»
The woman remained silent for a moment, than she respectfully made a little curtsy.
«As you command, Your Holiness. I'll take care of this personally.» she said before going away, leaving Magnus free to return to his payers.
Dante and his men were used to face the most difficult climate conditions, but the Mountain Range was proving to be a very hard task even for an expert, well-trained Alpini division like their own.
Just a few hours after having left the centaurs, the most impressive snowstorm ever seen had overthrown tons of snow over their head, covering the cliffs, the forests and the paths under a one meter high white sheet.
The unit's vehicles were equipped to face the worst conditions, but despite this they took almost one week to cross the highest pass, reaching often the point of being forced to hand-push the jeeps out from the snow, and in this sense the Herera's presence had proven to be unexpectedly useful.
Like all centaurs she was in possession of an incredible force, despite the cute face, the long hair and the gorgeous chest, and at the point she had been even able to train all by herself the three vehicles out from a pile of snow, earning more and more respect from Dante's squad with each passing day.
Obviously not everyone was so happy of her presence, since they simply needed to look at her to remember that one of their companions had been left behind, and she was still somewhere out there together with those horse-guys.
Not to mention that for her outstanding dimensions were a not simple problem to handle with her: she was fast and agile enough to follow the vehicles untiringly for an entire day or more, but she was decisively too big to sleep in a tent or inside the jeeps, so Dante and his soldiers had no choice but to prepare a special repair for her every night, creating some sort of tepee using an insulating tarp sustained by a metal pole and the cars' winches.
To be honest she always said she didn't need for such things, saying that as a centaur and a warrior she was more than able to provide for herself, sometimes barely putting a bit of stones made hot by a fire-camp under her equine belly and covering herself under a cloth to keep the hot air inside, but Dante after all was happy to provide a bit of comfort for her, at least to prove to her and her tribe that they were fine persons.
As expected the squad found the base around the first antenna, named alpha point, already evacuated and abandoned, since it was settled almost at the top of Mount Amaranth, so they moved to the second outpost, beta point, located on the other side of the Eastern Mountains, in a forest not far from the main valley of the Terminus River, or the Rho River for the Empire.
The sun had just risen, illuminating a narrow glade covered in snow and wet grass, when the sentry standing guard along the wooden wall all around the base noted the three vehicles approaching from the road for the mountains followed by a female centaur.
«Allies on sight!» he said, and the outpost's Commander, the thirty-six years old Lieutenant Sorru, climbed the wall to see for himself
«That's incredible, they did it. Open the gates!»
A couple of other soldiers manually opened the doors, than Dante and his men entered the base, stopping the jeeps right at the antenna's base.
«Lieutenant Sorru, Sassari Brigade's Sappers Division.» Sorru saluted
«Major Dante, Falcon-9.»
«We thought the winter had stopped you. But I was forgetting that you Alpini are a bunch of tough, strong sons of bitches.»
«We do our best.»
Dante then took a moment to look all around. Apart for the antenna, the sole buildings were a couple of prefabricates, a tent and an opened gazebo as kitchen, but the most curious thing was the round, almost thirty meters long logs wall built to protect the base, and judging both from the arrows stuck in the wood and the mounds in a corner there was a more than clear meaning behind its presence.
«Quite scenic.» the Major commented
«We do what we can.» Sorru replied. «Those goddam beasts used to attack us even twice per day, but when the winter arrived they fortunately stopped. Probably they moved toward the valley in wait for the next spring.»
Dante looked at the Lieutenant's men.
«We were asked to supply you. We couldn't bring you too much, but I suppose you'll need them.»
«You're a goddam blessing, Major. This cursed winter is so strong that we're neither able to receive aerial supplies with the helicopters.»
«Can I ask a place to rest for my men in exchange? At least until tomorrow?»
«Of course. We're not the Forte Village (ed: a famous sardinian summer village known to be one of the most expensive in the world), but always better than a jeep's seat.»
At that point Dante let his men free to take some rest, allowing them to reach the kitchen for a well-deserved lunch, but he remained behind to talk again with Sorru.
«So you've been attacked by the marauders?»
«Yes, sir. We inflicted many casualties, as you can see, but those are really stubborn, obstinate bastards. It's a real luck that we're all still alive. For now we're safe, but if the situation doesn't change and the HQ doesn't send more troops here quickly, we'll have no other option but to retreat. And with all the efforts put in building this goddamn antenna…»
«And the other settlements south of here?»
«They too have been attacked, especially Delta Point, but we don't know if it's the same gang yet. Despite the weak signal, we kept receiving reports from most of them till last week, but since then the radio is mute. I try to think that it's just a signal problem.»
«Do we have some information about the enemies' hideout?»
«Absolutely not. We knew the position of their settlement in this region, but they probably left it, and we have no idea where they're heading. We captured one of them during the last assault, a goblin or something, but he refuses to talk.»
«Let me try.» someone said behind their back
The soldiers turned, finding face to face with a blushed, almost embarrassed Herera.
«Sorry… I didn't want interrupt. But, Master Dante… maybe I could be able to make that goblin talk.»
«Think you can do it?»
«I… I don't know. But I know how to approach people like them. The goblins are arrogant and savage, but they get scared easily if they find someone stronger than them. And we centaurs are their natural enemies, since we fight every day to keep them far from our villages.»
Dante looked at Sorru.
«It's your base. What do you say?»
«Why not? Anything to make that bastard talk.»
«All right, you can try if you want.» said the Major after a brief moment
«The guy is in the first barrack.» said Sorru. «Tell the guard you have my permission, he will allow you entrance. Supposing you'll be able to enter, of course. I can order to take him out if you want.»
«Don't worry, Sir, it will not be a problem.» then Herera headed to the barracks
«Who's your horse-girl if I may?» Sorru questioned Dante when they were alone.
«It's a long story. You happen to have a radio connection with Castria?»
«Yes we have it, but it's still unstable. The antennas are not completely functional, not to mention the problems caused by the ice and the storms.»
«I need to contact HQ. Can I try?»
«Of course. Come, I take you to the radio.»
The external antenna was just a part of the complex.
The heart of the communication system was in the underground, inside the small cabin which was at the same time the antenna's basement and the radio station, where the impulses were stronger and clear.
Fortunately it was a relatively good day, the weather was good and the antenna on Mount Amaranth was working well thanks to the remote control, so the operator had been able to establish a line with Castria.
At that point, Dante asked to speak with Pedersoli, to which he made a brief but clear report about the situation faced by his squad with the centaurs, and Sorru was able to feel a bit of pain and shame in his words.
«And this is the situation, General. I'm terribly sorry. But I had to make a choice. And even if soldier Mazzega offered herself as a volunteer, the final decision has been mine, so I take complete responsibility for everything.»
«You have nothing to apologize for, Major Dante.» Pedersoli replied, barely audible cause of the noisy signal. «As you said, you had to make a choice. If you desire, I can send someone to recover the girl and take her to Castria, where she will be safer.»
«Unfortunately we can't do it, Sir. The pact says that the hostages will be returned back when we'll meet again this spring in the Imperial village of Moise, outside of the Mountain Range. This means that we're forced to take her with us.»
«I understand. In this case, I entrust her to you. Her life and soldier Mazzega's one are both in your hands now.»
«Yes' sir, thank you sir.»
«Given the situation, we cannot obviously try to recover Soldier Mazzega, since we could provoke a diplomatic incident. But I'll try to send someone behind the centaurs to be sure that they'll keep their word to keep her safe.»
«Thank you sir. This would mean a lot for me and my men. They too are worried for their companion.»
Suddenly the signal worsened, so it became necessary to cut off communications.
«General, you're fading! We'll proceed with our mission as planned!»
«All right, Major! I trust you and I wait for some good news! Pedersoli, out!»
Then the communication ceased, and further attempts to recover it proved to be useless.
«Unfortunately I fear this will be the last time you'll be able to speak with Castria before the end of your mission, Major.» Sorru said. «We in Beta Point are able to use the main antenna to partially bypass the Arlea Forest, but the other outposts are too far from here, and the signal is still not powerful enough.»
«We'll try to provide for ourselves. As always after all.»
«I'm sure you'll do it. After all, you're a Falcon Unit.»
In that moment a soldiered entered in the room as white as a sheet.
«Lieutenant, please come to the prison!»
The guard was occupied with smoking the first cigarette after a long time when he heard frightening and loud screams come from inside the barrack, but instead of trying to enter he preferred to send someone to search for the Lieutenant.
When Sorru and Dante entered in the room, they found the poor goblin stomped under Herera's clogs, covered in wounds and bruises; the girl was right above him, trying to make him talk trampling him and using at the same time the room's table as a club to threaten him.
«For the last time son of a dog! What are you and the other dishonorable beasts plotting against the people of Castria? Where are your companions? Tell me if you want to leave this place with your legs!»
«K… klikte sak may kar, keres gogon (S… suck my dick, you centaur whore).» he replied while trying to save his jaw from being destroyed.
Obviously she was more than able to understand, and this made her even more angry, so she raised her leg to deal him an even more powerful hit.
«Herera, no!» Dante shouted.
The girl then turned astonished to him, just in time to allow Sorru to put the prisoner in safety.
«Shit.» said the Lieutenant finding face to a face with a devastated ball of meat. «Call the medic!»
«Yes' sir!» the guard shouted before leaving.
Dante too reached the goblin, trying to help Sorru to keep him alive waiting for the medic.
«Master Dante…»
«Stop right now, Herera! You can't do this!»
«But… we must make him talk…»
«We don't torture our prisoner to extort them for information. We're not the AISE.»
«A… ISE?»
«Oh, forget it. But such methods are not allowed in my squad.»
When the medic arrived Herera was ordered to leave the prison, so the girl ruefully reached the kitchen, where she met Zori busy enjoying the first good meal in almost two weeks. The sutler offered her something too, but she was too discomforted and dejected for eat.
«You should eat.» Zori said sitting at the common table. «Who knows when we'll have the opportunity to eat again such good food. Are you not tired of those disgusting rations?»
«I'm not hungry…» she replied with a very depressed voice.
Being a centaur she wasn't obviously able to sit on a bench, but unlike the other times Zori had no heart to make fun of her.
«You centaurs.» she said instead. «You're always the same. Always to think that threatening and beating someone posing as saviors of the justice is enough to obtain everything.»
«Master Dante was so angry with me. But… why?»
The cobold smiled.
«They're a strange people. They can take your life away before you know it, but at the same time they have a great respect for that same life. All lives are precious for them, even the enemies'. Torturing, beating and even executing someone is wrong in their way of thinking.»
«Why do you follow them? You cobolds don't see anything but liberty and recklessness. You have respect for nothing, you have no laws or rules. But you're here, to take orders from a human like a goblin.»
«And here I thought that standardizing the species was an elven custom.» Zori replied pretending to be offended, but assuming a gentler pose just in time to spare Herera further embarrassment. «Obviously a centaur like you has no idea of what the ones like us, forced to spend our lives much closer to the humans than you, have to face every day. These are difficult times for us demi-humans. The Reich on north, the Empire on south. And both of them don't hold us in high regards. The Italians, or the Singing People as they call them, are different. When they arrived, most of us were scared. We thought they were the final blow to our few hopes for freedom. But they stopped Reich, they protected many of us, and differently from all other humans they never saw us as monsters, or inferior beings. They see us like… equals.»
«Equals!?» Herera replied. «The humans!?»
«They drink with us, they let us use their things, and they put their lives in danger to protect us. We have a few rules to respect, of course, but despite this we're free. I know that probably they have other reasons for acting like this, but do you have an idea of what it means for someone used to be treated like an object or a monster by the humans to meet someone like them?»
Then Zori smiled even more, and despite her red fur Herera clearly noted her blushing.
«Some of us are even finding love with them. Can you believe it?»
«Love!?» Herera jumped in disbelief. «This is madness! It's not possible!»
«I thought the same. But I saw it with my own eyes. Not only they don't see us as monsters, but they think that we're beautiful.» and at that point Zori took a strange metal sculpture connected to many keys by a ring from her shorts' pocket, showing it to the centaur. «This belongs to one of them. Pietro. The moment we met, he immediately treated me like his most precious treasure, and when I told him that I was about to depart for this mission he gave me this, making me swear to come back and bring it back to him.»
«What's this?»
«They call them keyrings. These are the keys of his home on the other world. He said that he couldn't come back without being sure that I was safe. He also said that next time he came back home, he would have done it together with me.
Do you understand? He did a proposal! And I'm not the only one! Even my friend Kyatya, a cat-girl, has received a proposal from one of them!»
Almost if she was trying to preserve her external appearance of a strong-willed cobold Zori after that put her treasure away, recovering her usual attitude, but at that point Herera was already speechless.
«I… can't believe it…» said the centaur «But… what about you. Do you think you'll accept his proposal?»
«I don't know yet. He's a gentle and handsome man, but he's even a bit too much kind with me. I would like to find a stronger one. As you said, we cobolds are a fearsome race, and having a partner that literally falls before us instead of fightng is a bit… unusual.»
Herera lowered her eyes.
«I'm sorry… I didn't want to…»
«Don't worry. After all, we're more than proud of our being lawless barbarians. It's part of our soul.» then Zori turned her lips in a pleasurable smile. «We decided to trust them. And they're proving to be a very interesting and trustworthy people.»
«A trustworthy people…»
«In any case, let's forget about this for a while. Eat something and don't think too much about it.» then Zori turned to the sutler. «Ehi, boss! One big portion for my horse-friend!»
«Here it comes!»
«Wait, I'm not like you cobolds. I don't eat meat.»
«Don't worry, this is not meat.» smiled Zori. «It's their most famous meal, pasta.»
«Pasta?»
«It's made with wheat, water and salt, and they make it more flavorful using a strange red fruit and some cheese. Trust me, it's simply great.»
In the same moment, hundreds of miles further east, Chancellor Pharmenon was taking place for a breakfast in the magic school's main dining room, to which Radoni Sadee and Medea too had been invited.
«Where's Master Radoni?» the Chancellor asked seeing only Sadee and Medea
«Probably he stayed up to till late.» Medea replied. «He's preparing very hard for the challenge. He will reach us soon.»
Then the three decided to start breakfast in any case, in wait for the fourth guest.
«After what I saw during the exam, I have no doubts that you'll be able to win the challenge too.» said Pharmenon while opening his soft-boiled egg. «Master Radoni's thesis has been simply incredible, and even if I know that he comes from another world, I remained speechless when I saw that… miracle.»
«Trust me Chancellor, this is just the beginning» said Sadee «I spent more than fifty years in the other world, and I saw the most incredible things. Their knowledge of nature is outstanding, and they've been able to compensate their inability in using magic by pushing their scientific researches at the most unthinkable limits. Their thirst for new discoveries has no end, and for this their developmental progress is one hundred times faster than our own. For example, they have an instrument which they use to communicate with each other at a great distance, called telephone. When I reached their world those telephones were as big as a boot, now they're so small that one can use it in place of a common bracelet.»
«It's almost unbelievable. Even if I'm a sage and a chancellor, I find almost impossible that a civilization can reach such goals.»
«They turned the lack of magic into an advantage.» commented Medea. «Interesting.»
«By the way, this electricity thing has intrigued much of my students, and even a lot of sages. I already received many requests for more information, and even if just a week has passed since the exams took place someone has already begun to make researches in this field.
At this rate, I'll have to assign a chair to Master Radoni.»
«Unfortunately we're not authorized to share most of our knowledge with you, Chancellor.» respectfully said Sadee. «But I'm sure he'll be more than happy to discuss about the bases of Earth's science with anyone who will want to listen.»
«By the way, our main guest is quite late. Maybe we should send someone in search for him.»
Giuseppe's problem was that he used to lose the sense of time while he was occupied in doing pleasurable things, like study or prepare a thesis, and since the challenge's moment was just three weeks away, he had still many things to review.
For this, it was not unusual for him to fall asleep on the books or going to bed late, and this was the reason for which getting up early was really difficult for him.
In addition, since he was now officially a Sage he was required for him to wear his official uniform anytime he left his room, which was obviously really difficult to put due to all those garments and the three different layers of clothes, not to mention that running with that enormous soutane was almost impossible.
«Curse, I'm late!»
The professor was still trying to wear the fur jacket while running, so he wasn't able to note the person standing in the hallway right in front of him, so at the end both of them found themselves on the ground.
«Ouch!» he said, despite his now rounded butt had made the fall much less painful. «Sorry, it's my fault.»
«Are you ok?» replied a gentle and young voice.
Hearing it, Radoni had a strange sensation, and when he finally lifted the glance he found himself face to face with a young, gentle blonde mage.
Apparently they were the same age, but despite this he was wearing a student uniform, and judging from his precious pendant resembling a dragon head he came from a noble family.
When the young mage recognized her, the most embarrassed expression appeared on his face.
«M… Master Radika!? I'm sorry. I… I didn't want to…»
«Don't worry.» she said after a brief moment of disbelief. «It was my fault. I wasn't paying attention.»
Then he helped her getting up, but at a first time Radika didn't pay attention to the strange sense of warm she felt when their hands touched.
«I'm terribly sorry, Master Radika.»
«I said it's ok.» she replied
«My name is… Lyndon. Nice to meet you.»
«Your name is not from around here. Do you come from the Empire?»
«In fact. I'm from Perusia.»
«There's a fine magic school in Perusia. Why did you come so far from home?»
«I wanted to try something different. Magic in the Empire is so boring and standardized. The Plains' one instead is much more linked to the origins, so I thought this would be an interesting quest for me, since I come from a family of mages.»
«We're strangers in the same foreign land.» Radika smiled
«So it seems, Master Radika.» replied an embarrassed Lyndon
«Please, just don't call me Master. You make me feel a granny. Not to mention that I'm not you professor.»
«Gods know how much I would like to be your student in compensation. I was there during your discussion last week. You have put all of those arrogant mages to their place. And the things you did… it's been simply incredible. This electricity is an extraordinary magic.»
«There's nothing magical in electricity, Lyndon. Everything I did, everything I do every day, has nothing in common with magic. I'm not even a mage, neither I can hope to become one.»
«It's all so incredible. And it's even more incredible if one thinks that you are…» but he stopped, immediately blushing out of shame «Well…»
«A Warrior Bunny?» she said with no hesitation
«I'm sorry. I heard the stories about you. You're clearly a human, but your aspect…»
«I'm getting used to it. But if I can, you don't seem the kind of person which allow prejudices to influence your judgment.»
«You… think so?» he replied without stopping blushing
«Of course I do. Prejudice is not something that can be easily hidden, and I'm not seeing something like this in your eyes.»
«Well… I grow up with a warrior bunny as my playfellow… she was a poor girl which lived in a barrack not far from my house. I never saw her as a Warrior Bunny, just as a… friend…»
«And where is she now?»
«I… don't know. She departed with a ship when I was twelve years old. I suppose she's become a concubine, or even a whore in some brothel in Sadera.»
Lyndon remained silent for a moment, then he seemed to return to the refined and gentle student from right before.
«But as you said I try to not let myself be influenced by prejudices. And even if I know that His Grace is a human, seeing a respectful, gentle and educated warrior bunny right in front of me is the proof that all those voices about your people are just a bunch of stories.»
«And right here in front of me I see the proof that not all mages are a bunch of old geezers full of themselves.»
Lyndon laughed.
«Are you so sure of this? I could really be that kind of person in my heart.»
«No, you're not. Let's call it feminine intuition.»
Then Radika suddenly stopped talking, while her eyes took an astonished, almost shocked expression.
«Master Radika… is something wrong?»
«It's… it's nothing… sorry, but I must go. We'll talk about later.»
«Master Radika, wait.» Lyndon tried to say, but the professor was already running away toward the same direction she went moments before.
Radoni returned to his room, closing the door behind and indulging against it in fear and shock.
What had he just said?
Feminine intuition?
It hadn't been a slip of the tongue, neither something said without reflecting: he said it because she wanted to say it.
But it wasn't only that.
Despite having been forced to play a double-role cause of the secret identity the Chancellor had created for him, he had always done her best to remain faithful to his true self. But that night, when he went to the bathroom, the moment she was returning to her room he had found out having used the female one.
At a first moment he had thought it as an error, a joke due to lack of sleep: but now she was not sleepy, he was awake and aware of what she was doing.
«What's… happening… to me?»
Since the winter had already made most of the passes between Reich and the Plains useless, the sole way to return in Oder for the embassy was to reach the North Sea, where they'll have to find a ship waiting for them.
On a rainy evening, the convoy made of diplomats and soldiers was proceeding north across the Magregh Road, but the journey was made difficult cause of the mud on the trail and the storm; however, it was not possible to stop in wait for daylight or a better weather, since it was just a matter of time before the naval route between the Plains and Reich turned into an endless expanse of ice.
The ambassador was inside his covered sedan chair, occupied with trying to ignore the continuous bumps reading again and again the papers of the diplomatic alliance between Reich and Calibria.
At a certain point, the horseman driving the caravan noted a strange movement in front of him, as if someone had tried to vanish before being lighted by the torches, and immediately after an arrow hit him in the neck.
The ones right behind him saw him fall from the horse already dead and one moment later dozens of men appeared from the shadows, storming the column with spears, swords and daggers.
When the situation became clear, it was already too late. The soldiers escorting the column tried to fight back, but were killed almost immediately by unseen archers still hidden among the trees, and at that point the helpless diplomats begun to die en masse, killed with no mercy.
The ones which were carrying the ambassador's sedan chair had barely enough time to find out what was happening, and when the man carrying the front bars was killed by an archer the other one immediately left his position in an attempt to escape, but was killed in a couple of seconds by a spearman.
The ambassador, left alone, fell from his seat, covering his rich vest with mud and water, and when he managed to get up everyone around him were almost all dead.
«Why are you doing this?» he shouted to the assailants, which he was able to recognize despite the darkness. «We're the ambassadors of Her Highness Ygraine! We're your fell…» was his last word before an arrow passed across his open mouth.