White Devil Mountain Read Online Free PDF Page B

vanished, then reappeared.
    Crey’s face turned toward the door, an intrigued smile rising on it. “Got a visitor.”
    As he said that, there was a knock at the door.
    “A kid,” said the hoarse voice. The knock had sounded tiny and diffident.
    D looked at Crey.
    “Yeah, I know. Be seeing ya.” The knife master walked over to the door, grabbed the knob, and opened it. “C’mon in.”
    On the other side of the doorway stood a boy who looked to be seven or eight. In stark contrast to his thermal coat, worn through in numerous spots, the boy looked cultured.
    “C’mon in.”
    As Crey repeated his invitation, the boy stepped in without hesitation.
    “Thanks for coming. I’m D.”
    As the boy looked up at Crey, his face showed expectation and anxiety—and was then suffused with joy.
    “Just kidding—that’s him over there. He’s my brother from another mother. You know what that means?”
    “Yes, I know what it means,” the boy replied with a nod. “You’re best friends, right?” He had the voice and countenance of a clever child.
    “That’s right,” Crey said with a grave nod, then a shiver passed through him and he coughed once. “Mr. D can be a hard one to deal with. He ain’t the kind to hear requests too readily. Let me act as your go-between. You wanna climb Mount Shilla, don’t you?”
    “Yes,” the boy replied with a nod, his gaze alternating between Crey and D.
    “Care to tell us the situation?”
    “Yes.”
    The boy was going to nod a third time, but he was cut short by the egregious supernatural aura. It was the same air that’d just caused Crey to shudder and cough.
    “This man has nothing to do with me. Also, no one can accompany me. If you wish to climb the mountain, do so on your own.”
    “I can’t do it all alone!” said the boy, effortlessly breaking through the shackles of D’s unearthly aura. His weapon was single-mindedness. “My father went missing while climbing Mount Shilla last winter. During the winter they couldn’t send up a search party, and when they did launch one in the spring, half of them disappeared just like my father, and they never did find him. Ever since, no one’s gone up the mountain. Today, an uncle of mine who works in the town hall was good enough to tell me about you. I won’t be in the way at all. I’ll do whatever you say. I’ll even search for my father by myself. Just bring me with you for the climb—”
    “Were you born around here?” D asked. Though he spoke in a tone like ice, there was no unearthly aura to him now.
    “Uh-huh. Oh, I’m Lourié, by the way.”
    “D.”
    “I’m Crey.”
    When D gave him a hard look, the outlaw turned away despondently. “Okay, okay. See ya around, D.” Raising a hand in farewell, he left the room.
    “I, er—”
    The boy was about to speak when D stopped him, waiting the span of a breath before walking over to the door. Although he walked normally, his footfalls made no sound. Grabbing hold of the knob, he pulled.
    There stood Crey, with one ear pressed to the door. As D gazed at him without a word, he smiled sheepishly and said, “See ya.” This time he did indeed walk away. Even after watching him descending the stairs, D didn’t take his eyes off the man for a while.
    Finally shutting the door, he turned to Lourié and asked, “As a local, you know about White Devil Mountain, don’t you?”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you know how frightening the mountain can be. This isn’t like climbing an ordinary mountain in winter.”
    The boy’s tiny frame suddenly seemed to shrink to half its size.
    D continued, “All I know are the rumors. But on its peak stood the castle of one of the three most atrocious Nobles in all their accursed history. Though the Nobility may be destroyed and their castle fallen to ruin, they say their ghosts still roam the mountains, draining the blood of any who would dare the slopes.”
    The boy was speechless.
    “Nor are they the only thing that threatens climbers.