Suijusher, when interpreted using an archaic tongue of Heylan Imperial, meant “great tides that visited the empty winter”.
The local language of Heylan was slowly forgotten when the universal tongue began spreading among major continents. As of today, few people alive could still use it. However, a selected few cities and islands in Heylan still kept their old names, and they were still using their old dialect.
Suijusher, a city built upon one of the small islands offshore, was one of them.
Due to the mouthful of a name, many people preferred to call it the Winter Tide City. This city housed a large harbor named the Ranbo Wharf, which used to be a booming trading hub for merchants from far and wide. But since the Imperial started their war against the Goldspink Empire, the militaries took it for naval purposes.
Losing the financial advantage was a great blow to the city, but the people all bore with it when thinking about how much more profit they could gain by claiming Goldspink lands.
Their forces did proceed swimmingly at first. However, before the Heylans could celebrate their laurel, the situation of the war suddenly turned worse and against them, until they were placed on the losing side.
The leaders would never surrender now because they had dived too deep into the mess already. They had to push forward, both to regain their lost resources spent in the battles and to give their people a good answer.
The campaign waged on.
Soldiers needed money. Lots of them. When the royal rulers exhausted their storage, they set their eyes on farmers and citizens.
Added with heavier taxation than ever, the Winter Tide City had stumbled into a cold age for real. Faced with bad news from both inside and outside the country, people in the city were getting rather restless. Followed by more refugees came elevated crime rates and conflicts. Now, even best friends would not fully trust each other.
...
Two children in poor clothes stood in front of a bakery shop with sad looks. The shopkeeper, an overweight, middle-aged lady with a stern look, gazed at them.
One of the small refugees, Chaira, pleaded, “Please, Ma’am, we haven’t been eating in a while, and my sister feels very ill...”
“Get a mirror!” The woman was obviously not in a good mood. “You look in better shape than my daughter. Want to leech off my shop with your lies? Get lost. I have rent to pay!”
Chaira showed a dangerous look and kept gazing across the shop’s windows in hunger.
“We ain’t lying! Someone hurt my sister, I need to take care of her, but we really need some food. Please...” Chaira sobbed.
The shopkeeper released a hound she kept in the shop and chased the two beggars away. Her stern expression softened after the young intruders were gone.
The truth was, she wouldn’t mind helping kids in need in normal times. But neither her shop nor the city was in the right place to get generous right now.
“Gods help us...” She walked back into the shop and found a piece of bread. “Sorry, I can’t disregard my dear Nini.”
...
Chaira and his companion, Aarni, managed to shake off the dog after running all the way to the harbor.
Furious, Chaira spat into the ocean and cursed.
Aarni was already the weaker one. After the escape, the hunger got to him and caused him to collapse.
“You alright, Brother?” Chaira quickly helped Aarni up. “It’s fine, it’s fine... So no bread for us. I’ll just find some fish down there.”
Aarni shook his head madly. The first rule announced by the army after the harbor was turned into a military facility was that no citizens should set sail, either with a boat or not. Anyone found guilty would be executed on the spot.
Hungry as he was, Aarni didn’t wish his brother to take the risk. But as a mute, he could do nothing other than flailing his arms and moaning.
Aarni didn’t have a tongue—he lost it in an accident.
Chaira, however, only felt his rage growing when seeing his brother trying so hard to speak. Not to mention that their sister, Guina, was waiting for their return with nasty wounds.
“Damn that Vonman b*stard. He’s the reason you and Guina were captured by that witch! And she, she—” Two streams of tears ran down along Chaira’s dirt-covered cheeks.
“Mmmmf! Hmmmf!” Aarni kept mumbling.
“You think Vonman is good, after all that he did to you?!”
Chaira couldn’t understand what Vonman did to his family. They were in their pickle because of Vonman!
“Ugh forget about him. The coward’s not coming back anyway!”
Aarni cried silently, which further boosted Chaira’s inner rage. But the only thing he could do to vent it out was to yell loudly at the sky like a defeated dog.
A little girl in a princess skirt, who was enjoying the view on the shore, was attracted by Chaira’s voice and looked his way.
Chaira also saw her. He replaced his expression with a more hateful one.
He looked left and right. He made sure no one else was looking before rushing to the girl and knocking her into the water with a mighty kick.
“Now that feels better...”
Aarni gazed at him with a terrified look.
“Heh. That little bi*ch is the daughter of the filthy bread maker who attacked us earlier. Serves her right!” Chaira spat.
Aarni watched the drowning girl below slowly losing her strength but couldn’t do anything.
A moment later, they both headed to the suburbs of Winter Tide City in grim silence.
Aarni never talked to Chaira again; he knew his brother was mad right now.
Chaira didn’t feel any sense of guilt after what he did. Vonman killed people, Guina killed people, why couldn’t he follow their example?
With a downed mood, they arrived at their home; a simple shelter improvised out of junk and branches.
Apart from a broken bed, an unlit campfire, and a torn baby cot, there was a strong smell of blood that invaded their noses.
Someone spoke from inside the cot in a sharp voice, “Who’s it?”
“It’s just us, Guina.”
“*Slurp* You... You didn’t find anything today, I guess?”
“Those in the city see us like bugs! No one will give us anything. The bread seller at Ranbo Harbor even sent her beast after us.” Chaira suddenly began to laugh. “It’s not all about bad things, though. I threw her daughter overboard! Suppose she made it to the surface, the soldiers are gonna gut her for swimming where she shouldn’t!”
“Daughter of the baker. You talking about Nini?”
“What, you know her?” Chaira panicked. The only thing these wanderers could rely upon was the limited friendship of their kind. It would be bad if he killed Guina’s friend.
“Nini used to be my friend. *Slurp*” Guina sighed while causing more of her strange noise. “No matter. I don’t need more friends other than you.”
“Sorry. I’m not empty-handed though. I found some bush berries just now. It ain’t tasty, but I can make a drink out of it. Just wait.”
“*Slurp* Umhmm...”
While Chaira went off to fetch a pot, Aarni approached the baby cot and looked inside in sadness.
There was a small girl about the age of eight lying there, but without any of her limbs. Her shoulder joints and the bottom of her torso were fully wrapped in bloody bandages, which caused the bad smell in the shelter.
These weren’t only Guina’s injuries. Most of her lips were stitched up by messy threads, and she could only open her mouth very slightly.
On top of her right shoulder was a small ragdoll with a mouth that could move like that of a ventriloquist dummy. The doll used to be Guina’s favorite toy and what helped her study ventriloquism. Thanks to such a skill, she was able to talk to her family just fine.
“Don’t look like that, Aarni. *Slurp* Save your tears for after I’m dead, alright?” Guina spoke again with her unpleasant tone.
“Hmmm...” Aarni nodded sadly.
“Serious now, don’t be like that. You promised that you’ll let me teach you puppet talk. Let’s make that happen when I still have time.”
“You’ll always have time.” Chaira joined them with a bowl of green liquid. “We’ll survive this together.”
“Kekekek... I know my body, so I doubt it. But I’ll try. Just... I hope to see Vonman again.”
Chaira grimaced. “Did he put his spiders into your heads or something?! HE ruined us!”
“He didn’t.” Guina helped Aarni explain. “He’s a victim just like us.”
“Well, that a*shole sure looks too alive and kicking to be a victim!” Chaira snapped. “Give up. He won’t be back, no matter what you think.”
“Fine... But I’ll welcome him if he does show up.” Guina closed her eyes and lost herself in her memories.
As they bore with more stressful silence, they suddenly heard a lot of footsteps closing in.