ICO: Castle in the Mist by Miyuki Miyabe, Alexander O. Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

frozen in stone, front legs rearing up, hooves inches away from another of the stony city dwellers.
    Toto’s breath stopped. Arrow Wind—
    “No!”
    A scream ripped from Toto’s throat and he started to run. I have to escape. I have to get out of this place—away from her. I have to get out of here alive, back to my village.
    Toto ran in a daze. He did not dare look behind him, but he could feel that face floating there in the sky, giving chase, the same way he understood without looking that the face was smiling.
    He pushed down a crowd of stone figures in his way, leapt over the fragments, and rounded a corner. A woman carrying a basket of ashen flowers crumbled into pieces at his feet when he slammed into her on the other side. Coughing from the dust, Toto ran even faster. If only he could reach the city wall, the gate where he had entered. Which way was it? Right, left? Where am I?
    He felt a frigid breeze blow over his head, and a scream rose in his throat as he tripped and fell to the ground. Just ahead he saw the yawning door of a house, propped open by a stick. The inside was darker than the street, but still that same uniform gray. Everything within had been turned to stone as well.
    Another breeze raced overhead, and Toto dashed into the house. As he darted through the door, something hit his leg and crumbled with a loud noise—a chair or a person, he wasn’t sure. Daylight streamed in through the window. Toto crouched low, crawling through the rooms of the house. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the dark swirling mass of the woman’s face outside the window. It warped as it moved, swelling first, then thinning into a line, speeding after him like an angry swarm of wasps.
    Toto shoved aside the rubble in the room with both hands, reaching a patch of wall beneath the window. He slumped, back to the wall. He was out of breath, and his heart felt like it might leap out of his throat.
    The face made no noise when it moved. In that, it was different than a buzzing swarm of insects, and it made it difficult for him to get up after he had found what felt like safety against the wall. What if he risked a peek outside only to see that face filling the sky, those dark eyes staring straight at him? He wished he had some way of guessing where it might be.
    A tear fell from his cheek—apparently he had been crying with fright, though he hadn’t noticed until now. Toto forced himself to steady his breath, and rubbed his face with his hands.
    He took a look around the room.
    A table carved from what had once been wood stood by his feet. There was a round cushion on the floor and a chair lying on its back. Everything was the color of ash. A tapestry hung on the wall opposite the window, the sort that was a specialty of Toksa’s weavers. He could still make out the design: an intricate depiction of the sun and the moon and the stars wheeling through the sky. Though it was drab now, Toto could imagine how it once looked, sparkling and bright—a masterpiece. The fabric would have been soft, yet weighty, the luxurious threads plush against the skin. Now it was more like a thin slice of dry, crusty bread stuck to the wall.
    I wonder how long the city has been like this. How long has it been since the city was last alive? A perfectly shaped fruit sat next to him on the floor. Its skin was unblemished. He touched it gently with one finger, and the surface crumbled, leaving a round impression in the shape of his fingertip. He grabbed it and squeezed as hard as he could; the fruit disintegrated into a fine gray dust that ran between his fingers. In time, Toto thought, that’s all that will remain of this place. Dust.
    As Toto took another shuddering breath, he noticed something—a pair of eyes near the floor on the other side of the room. They were looking in his direction. Gradually, he made out the form of a slender person, with the long hair of a woman, lying on her side. She had fine features and lay