As evening fell, Rose arrived on the outskirts of a village that seemed devoid of any sign of life.
-"My God, what is this?"
The houses were built of stone and mud; their doors were shut, and their windows covered with thick curtains, as if the eyes were too shy to look at passersby.
But what caught her attention wasn't the silence, but the crows; they were circling in unison like a sweeping sandstorm over the rooftops, emitting strangely harmonious sounds that sent shivers down the spine.
As if warning of an approaching doom-a fate one must flee from without looking back. There were no sounds of children or the clatter of pots and pans inside the houses, only the whistling of the wind, the cawing of the crows, and the sound of "Cor-Montis" hooves on the dry soil, which only added to the terror.
Every step felt unwelcome, and shadows watched from behind the curtains.
I'd taken the wrong path… ''What kind of hell is this? I wish I'd taken a different turn''. -"Let's get out of here, come on!"
When Rose turned around, a small child fell in front of her. The horse's hooves nearly took his life; she dodged him by a hair's breadth, shouting:
-"Are you blind or something? If you want to die, go somewhere else, out of my way!"
A thin woman emerged from the shadows, her face pale, afraid to approach. She bowed before Rose in great fear:
-"I beg you to forgive me… don't hurt my child… punish me instead."
Rose looked at her in utter bewilderment and laughed sarcastically:
-"Do you think I'm some kind of torturer or something? Get your kid out of my face!"
At that moment, she caught a glimpse of prying eyes watching her from the shadows. It occurred to her: "Why not ask her? It won't hurt me."
She said,
-"Excuse me, I'd like to ask you something… Do you recognize this symbol?"
Then she showed her the symbol drawn on the letter.
A silver shield and a gleaming sword with a circular pommel.
The crows grew restless, and the woman froze for a moment, afraid that someone might overhear their conversation, then whispered in a voice choked with fear:
-"We don't talk about that… They've wiped its existence from the face of the earth."
-"Wait… Who is she?"
-"It's the Castle of the Sword…"
Time stood still for a moment, and Rose felt sadness and fear creeping into her heart.
-"It can't be… What should I do? She said she was erased… What should I do?"
After a long pause, Rose decided to press on, despite the circumstances that were holding her back.
-"Please, guide me to her... I'll give you food for your child, just tell me where to find her."
The woman replied:
-"I don't want anything... just go on your way... don't bring bad luck upon us."
Despite all of Rose's attempts, the woman refused to speak, until Rose realized there was no point in trying.
Rose took out a loaf of bread and offered it to her:
-"This is to make up for the trouble."
Rose mounted her horse
and turned her back toward the village.
The woman looked at the horse in horror and cried out without hesitation:
-"The brand on your horse is the mark of that cursed castle."
Rose looked in surprise toward the heart of the mountain:
-"What? A brand? Where?"
She jumped down quickly to inspect the horse.
-"It really is… Why didn't I notice it?"
The woman approached stealthily and whispered in her ear:
-"They've wiped out all the villages…"
She kept staring at it in bewilderment. "That doesn't make sense… I thought it was a mark left by its former owner…"
-"It really is a brand… Is that my teacher? Was he there?"
-"My teacher is a good person… No, it can't be…"
Rose mounted the horse in a hurry, her face filled with astonishment, heading toward the village's border. In complete bewilderment, she realized that the world was no longer as she thought it was; everyone had a secret buried in the deepest part of themselves that Rose hadn't been able to reach during her journey with the stranger. The sun began to set.
Suddenly, a familiar, fragile, and trembling voice pierced the air:
-"Follow the sunset… it will guide you to your destination."
Rose quickly turned toward the source of the voice; it was that woman, and in the midst of her bewilderment, she vanished from sight.
Rose gazed at the sun's disk slanting toward the horizon, and felt something stir in her heart once more:
-"So… toward the sunset."
"Cor-Montis " struck the ground with his hooves, and Rose set off toward the blazing sunset, like a fire in the dry grass.