The star-studded night turned inexplicably gloomy. Perhaps the whole village already knew what had happened to their unwelcome guests, for not a soul ventured out to enjoy the clear, star-dusted sky. Baishui and Jiāo stood hidden behind a house, their eyes fixed on Saja's home. They watched, frozen, as a stream of villagers came and went, a grim procession. Then, a wagon was pulled into view. One by one, Yul, Abrafo, Michio, and U-ri were dragged unceremoniously into it, limp and unresponsive.
Saja surveyed his subordinates, his voice low and firm. "We must not leave a single trace of these people."
"Are we going to leave them at the usual place?" one man asked, his voice hushed.
Saja nodded curtly.
A man suddenly burst out of the house, his face pale with alarm. "Chief," he gasped, "the other two aren't in the hut, nor anywhere else!"
Saja's face clouded with worry. A chilling thought struck him: if the other two escaped Magior City, the village's sacred secret would be irrevocably revealed. "Hurry, find them now!" he barked, his voice laced with frantic desperation as he looked at his men. "No one will get out of here alive tonight! You know what will happen if any of these people get out of here alive!"
Baishui turned to Jiāo, his voice tight with growing panic. "Where is Hajime? I didn't see Hajime being dragged out…"
Jiāo's eyes darted to Saja's house. "Maybe he's still inside. He was when I went to peek."
Baishui looked at Jiāo, his decision made. "Lure them away."
Jiāo's mouth dropped open. "Me?" she stammered, pointing a disbelieving finger at herself.
"I said I want live bait, and you are that live bait," Baishui stated, his gaze unwavering. "What are you waiting for? All his men are here, so this is the perfect time to save them."
Jiāo shook her head in disbelief, but despite her reluctance, she forced herself from her hiding place and began to walk towards Saja's house, a deep sigh escaping her lips.
Jiāo ran towards the house, letting out a cry for help. Saja's men, startled, quickly scrambled to cover the five Tanzanies, trying to shield their inert forms from view.
"Chief… chief…" Jiāo wailed, her voice laced with feigned distress. "My lord and I went to the stream to watch the stars, but now I can't find him!"
Saja regarded her calmly. "Now, tell me slowly what happened to your lord."
"We were there for some time," Jiāo explained, feigning a trembling voice, "and my Lord said that he wanted to urinate. I waited for a long time, but he didn't come back. I went out to look for him but couldn't find him. I don't know where he went."
"Show us the last place you saw your master," Saja instructed, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Jiāo feigned a look of surprise, glancing around. "Oh, what about the others? Aren't they supposed to have dinner with you and your family?"
"Our dinner party is over, and they're off to bed already," Saja replied smoothly.
"Oh… then I won't bother them," Jiāo said, forcing a smile. "This way… my lord and I were over there." She pointed vaguely into the distance, towards the stream.
Saja and his men, though suspicious, followed Jiāo towards the stream.
Meanwhile, Baishui, working with frantic urgency, dragged the two horses to the wagon. He quickly tied the rope to the wagon and secured it to the saddles. His heart pounding, he rushed into Saja's house, his eyes scanning desperately until he spotted Hajime, lying motionless on the floor.
Baishui rushed to Hajime's side, shaking him gently. "Hajime," he whispered urgently. "Hajime…"
Hajime's eyes fluttered open, a soft murmur escaping his lips. "Yul…"
Baishui sighed, a frustrated frown marring his features. "You still think about him at times like this," he muttered, but there was a hint of something else in his voice – perhaps a touch of longing, or even jealousy. He quickly scooped Hajime into his arms and began to walk towards the front door, his steps swift and determined.
When they were halfway across the stream, Saja, his senses honed by years of guarding secrets, suddenly turned and stopped one of his men. "Go back and watch over our guests," he commanded, a prickle of unease forming in his mind.
The man grumbled under his breath, kicking at stones as he trudged back. He complained about the unfairness of everyone else going with Saja while he was left to guard the bodies of four unconscious men. Just as he was nearing Saja's house, his eyes widened in disbelief: he saw Baishui emerging from the house, carrying Hajime in his arms.
"Hey! Put the mage down!" he yelled, his voice laced with shock and rage, and he began to run towards Saja's house.
Baishui looked at the young man, a flicker of surprise in his eyes. "Mage?" he murmured, glancing at Hajime, then back at the young man standing a few feet away. His expression hardened. "If you want to live, stay away from us."
The young man gripped a small axe tightly in his right hand, a defiant sneer on his face. "It's like I'm afraid of you," he retorted, puffing out his chest.
Baishui looked at the young man with a cold, piercing gaze. "If you knew my abilities, you wouldn't stand here and threaten me with a toy weapon." As the words left his mouth, a stark realization hit him: his power had been taken away by his father. He was now no better than any ordinary mortal walking on this earth. But he had to maintain a brave front. He straightened his shoulders, his jaw set, and walked slowly towards the horses. He carefully placed Hajime onto one of the horses, turned, and shot another cold glance at the young man. "You still want to fight me?"
The young man stared back at Baishui, who returned his gaze with an unwavering intensity. When his eyes met Baishui's, he felt a strange, piercing sensation, as if Baishui's gaze had somehow penetrated his very heart. He had never been so terrified by a person's stare before. "Leave the mage, and I will let you go," he stammered, his voice trembling as he pointed his small axe at Baishui.
Baishui offered a thin, mocking smile. "Why don't you just turn a blind eye and live to see another sunrise?" He grabbed the reins of the horse.
The young man took three hurried steps forward towards Baishui, his eyes wide with desperate resolve. "Stop!" he shouted, but the words caught in his throat. Seeing Baishui's sweet face suddenly darken as he turned fully to face him, the young man recoiled, backing away in fright.
"How dare you give me orders?" Baishui's usually pleasant face was suddenly contorted by a terrifying fury, and, impossibly, lightning began to flicker ominously in the night sky above them.
The young man stumbled back in sheer terror, away from Baishui. He tripped and fell to the ground, staring up at Baishui in unadulterated horror. "You… you… you…" His lips trembled so violently he couldn't even form words.
Baishui smoothly jumped onto the horse, with Hajime already positioned in front of him. He pulled the wagon, hitched to the two horses, away from Saja's house, leaving the young man cowering on the ground.
After leading the group of men in a wide circle around the stream and back towards the guest huts, Jiāo noticed the unsettling flashes of lightning in the otherwise clear night sky.
The men following Jiāo also noticed the flickering lightning. Even the hardened villagers began to mutter amongst themselves, discussing how rare it was to have rain when it wasn't the rainy season.
"Are you sure that's where you went?" Saja asked Jiāo, his gaze sharp with renewed suspicion.
Jiāo nodded her head, her face a mask of feigned innocence.
"If this path is correct," Saja continued, "then your lord should have returned long ago."
Jiāo burst into innocent tears. "Chief," she wailed, "what if something happens to my lord? How can I face my master?"
Seeing that Jiāo was just a petite woman, seemingly harmless, Saja felt no threat from her. "You go back to your hut to rest first," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle, "and I will call your other friends. With more people, we can better track down your lost lord."
Jiāo managed a grateful smile, a hint of triumph in her eyes. "Thank you so much, Chief." She then walked towards the last hut, seemingly compliant.
"Chief, are we really leaving her?" one of the men asked, hesitant.
"She's just a petite woman who isn't a threat," Saja dismissed, looking at his men. "Let's go back and solve our main problems first. Remember that we need that mage. Without the blood of that mage, our people will always be trapped in this valley."
"Understood." The men nodded in unison towards Saja.
"You two stay here and guard that woman," Saja commanded, pointing to two of his men. "Make sure she doesn't leave that hut until we get back."
"Yes, Chief," the two men replied, nodding obediently.
Saja and his other men rushed back to Saja's house.
Jiāo, meanwhile, peeked through a crack in the window, watching Saja and his men disappear. With calculated movements, she slowly opened the rear window and climbed out, sitting silently on the bamboo window frame, gazing at the full moon reflected in the stream below. Then, with a graceful leap, she jumped off. As she plunged into the water, she slowly transformed from head to toe into a small, shimmering white dwarf lantern shark. There was only a tiny splash as the white dwarf lantern shark entered the water, but the two guards by the last hut glanced over.
"What's that sound?" asked the younger guard.
"The fish are enjoying the moon," replied the older man, dismissing it.
When Saja and his men returned to Saja's house, they found the young man who had been sent back still sitting on the ground, trembling uncontrollably and unable to move. Saja rushed to him. "Where are the guests?!" he demanded, his voice frantic.
The young man was still shaking, his words barely a whisper. "That… that… the man in white took them away…"
"Where is the mage?!" Saja yelled, his voice wild with fury.
The young man continued to tremble, stammering out his words. "He took away… the mage… with him."
Saja, in a fit of rage, kicked the young man twice. "Why did you allow this to happen?!" he roared frantically.
Two men quickly lifted the young man from the ground. The young man looked at Saja, his eyes wide with horror. "Chi… chi… chief… that man… he is not human…" he stammered, his lips trembling uncontrollably.
Saja grabbed the young man's collar, his teeth gritted. "Then who is he?" he demanded.
"The dragon head… he has a dragon head," the young man whimpered, staring at Saja in pure terror.
Just then, the two guards Saja had left behind came running from the distance, panting.
"Chief!" they yelled.
"What's wrong?!" Saja demanded, turning to them.
"The lady we were guarding disappeared without a trace!" one of the men gasped. "We were guarding the front door like you said!"
Saja shoved the trembling young man away. "Call everyone, take out our bows and arrows!" he commanded the man standing in front of him, his voice cold and determined. "Whether it's a dragon or a snake, today, we must bring the mage back. We need his blood."
Baishui, waiting by the stream, worried that Jiāo would be too late. He picked up a rock and began to mark his trail, meticulously carving symbols into the earth so that if he had to leave Jiāo behind, she could still find him and the others.
Just as he was about to finish marking his tracks, a small white dwarf lantern shark swam right up to him.
"Ninth Prince… Ninth Prince… pick me up." The miniature voice, almost a whistle, surprised him.
Baishui put down the stone in his hand and looked around, bewildered.
"Pick me up," the tiny voice called again, more insistently. "Under your feet."
Baishui looked down and saw the white dwarf lantern shark swimming eagerly around his feet. He quickly, yet gently, snatched the small shark out of the water.
"What took you so long?" he muttered, walking back to the two horses and the wagon, holding the white dwarf lantern shark in his right hand.
The white dwarf lantern shark leaped out of Baishui's hand onto the ground, and as it landed, it slowly transformed, the shimmering form of Jiāo emerging. She shook her head, disoriented for a moment, then slowly stood up. "You didn't tell me where we should meet," Jiāo retorted, walking to the other horse. "I was also looking for you while swimming downstream." She was about to open her mouth to say more when she saw the ominous glow of many torches rapidly approaching them. "Ninth Prince, let's go! They are gaining on us!" A few arrows whizzed past them, narrowly missing. Jiāo swiftly jumped onto her horse. "Hurry!"