Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [109]
The old wizard sat across from him at the table and spread out the map. He had to hold the edges down to keep them from curling back. The wizard’s hands were so thin they looked almost skeletal.
“This is the map to the Cave of Trials. Follow this path, and even the greatest fool in the land could find it,” he said with a significant look at Wataru.
Wataru looked over the map, and felt an immediate and profound sense of disappointment. The map in Saga II was a work of art. This looked like a kid’s doodle. Even a sketch of the way from Wataru’s apartment to the nearest train station would have been more complicated.
“So, this is where we are now?” Wataru asked, pointing to a picture of five huts in a circle.
“Precisely.”
“So I just need to go into the forest to the north, straight from here?” A single road led northward on the map.
“Precisely.”
“That’s all?” Wataru said with a laugh. “I didn’t need a map to find that!”
“Yet you need a guide to climb a great mountain—even though the only way to go is up,” the wizard said solemnly.
“Climb? I have to climb somewhere?”
The wizard gave Wataru a swift slap to the forehead. “It was a metaphor,” he barked. “I said you’re going to the Cave of Trials. You don’t climb a cave, boy.”
Wataru sighed. “Right. So, why do I have to go to this Cave of Trials, anyway? Is there something there?”
“What, Mitsuru did not tell you? That is where you will prepare for your journey.”
“Here?” Wataru said, stabbing at map where Cave of Trials was written. “But it’s just a name. Don’t you have a map of the cave itself?”
“Of course not. It wouldn’t be much of a trial if I did, now would it?” the wizard said, rolling his eyes. “Listen, you will go into the cave, and then you will have your map. When you come out, you will be ready for your journey. That’s how it works.”
I get it! Wataru clapped his hands together. “So the dungeon has, like, a global positioning system feature!”
Slap! went the wizard’s hand on his forehead. “I’ve never heard of such a spell. And there is no such thing in Vision as a spell of which I’ve not heard. Foolish words, spoken by a foolish mouth.”
“But I’ve played all the games in the Saga series, I know all about role-playing games! You see…”
Wataru trailed off. The old wizard was scowling at him in ominous silence.
“Now, go,” the wizard said, pointing out the window. “The Northwood is that way.”
“Right, I’m off,” Wataru said, standing. “Wait, don’t I get a weapon or something?”
“Weapon?” The old man lifted a bristly white eyebrow.
“Yeah, like a sword or staff.”
“We have no such things here.”
“Nothing?”
“No,” the wizard answered crisply. “Now leave.”
“But what if I get attacked by a monster?”
“Then run.”
“Well, if I can, sure, but…”
“Just run fast.”
“Right. Got it. Great advice.”
The wizard glared at him again. Wataru turned and headed for the front door. Just as he was about to step outside, the wizard added, “If you are that worried, you might try picking up a stick in the Northwood. Find one sturdy and strong.”
Fine. Great. Wataru left the hut, cutting across the soft grass that grew between the houses, toward the thick green forest to the north.
A stiff wind blew at his back, lifting his hair. He could hear a birdsong, fwee fwee, like a whistle, carried past him on the breeze.
Chapter 2
The Cave of Trials
The air in the Northwood seemed somehow cooler than it had been in the woods Wataru had passed through on the way to the village. He could still hear the beautiful birdsong but couldn’t see a single creature—not even a butterfly flitting