Crane (11 page)

“I made a deal with him,” Hok said. “I knocked
out his guard—a general named Tsung—and released Ying. In return, Ying told me where we might find Malao.”

“You knocked out Tsung?” Mong said. He smiled. “Your kung fu must be exceptional. I'm sorry I missed it. You now need to be more wary than ever, you know. Tsung will hunt you down.”

Hok nodded. “I understand. Ying thought we should have killed him.”

“You probably should have listened to Ying,” Mong said. “No matter now. What's done is done. What did Ying have to say about Malao?”

“Ying told me about a small shack downstream from Kaifeng that he once used as a safe house. He says it's about an hour away and thinks Tonglong may have taken Malao there.”

Mong nodded. “I always suspected Ying had a hideout somewhere along the Yellow River. I don't know much about Tonglong, but I wouldn't put it past him to try to use Malao as bait to obtain the map scroll from you. He's probably already planning a trap. You'll have to be careful.”

Hok's thin eyebrows raised. “Be careful?”

“Your brother Malao needs you,” Bing said. “You must go to him.”

Mong walked around the table to where the dark-skinned girl was sitting and placed one of his enormous pale hands on her shoulder. She twisted her head up and grinned at him.

“This young woman is called Sum,” Mong said.
“She and her twin brother, Cheen, lived at the stronghold with us, and they followed me and my colleagues here to Kaifeng after Ying and Tonglong overcame us. She and her brother are as at home in the water as they are on land. Neither of them speaks and we don't know their names, so we've taken to calling them Sum and Cheen,
Shallow
and
Deep.
I saw them both in the water yesterday when Malao was captured, and we came to this boathouse as soon as the soldiers left the Jade Phoenix because I knew Sum and Cheen have been living here. Sum was waiting for us, and from her gestures we believe her brother has followed Tonglong's boat. She wants to take us to locate her brother, and find Malao.” Mong nodded toward the skiff.

“Sum wants to travel by
boat?”
Seh said. He swallowed hard.

Hok remembered that Seh hated boats. In fact, he disliked water in general. He wasn't a very good swimmer.

“A boat makes the most sense,” Mong said. “It's the quickest way to get down the river. If you hurry, you might be able to surprise them.”

Hok nodded and looked at Charles. This time, Charles held her gaze.

“My job is to stay here with your mother and GongJee,” Charles said. “I'd like to help you, but I must stay. I'm sorry.”

“I understand,” Hok said. “Thank you for helping my family.”

Charles blushed again.

“You can count me in,” said Fu with a low growl.

“Me too,” Seh added.

Sum nodded to Hok, and Hok nodded back.

Hok looked at Mong. “I guess that makes Fu, Seh, Sum, and me.”

“Excellent,” Mong said. “The four of you should fit in the skiff with enough room for Malao on the return trip. I suggest you leave immediately. With any luck, you'll be back by tomorrow. Someone will be waiting here for you.”

Hok straightened up. She realized that if something were to go wrong, she might not see her mother again for some time. Bing seemed to read her mind.

“We shall see each other again,” Bing said. “Soon.”

“Yes,” Hok replied. “Soon.” She bowed to her mother, and her mother stood and bowed back, low and deep. Hok knew that a mother could not give her daughter a greater sign of respect.

“Let's get you four moving,” Mong said.

H
ok, Seh, and Fu spent the next two hours hiding beneath a moldy tarp on the floor of the skiff. They peeked out occasionally peering at the southern shore through the heavy midmorning rain. Sum stood at the back of the boat, steadily poling it downstream.

The stretch of river they were currently on was strangely devoid of people. They hadn't seen another boat in quite a while, and they hadn't seen any buildings for more than an hour. Hok was considering closing her eyes to take a little break when Fu spotted something with his keen vision.

“There!” Fu whispered, poking one finger out from under the tarp. “A dragon boat.”

Hok strained her eyes. Soon she saw it, too. A boat
had been pulled up onto the bank beneath a huge willow tree with twin trunks. The boat, and the trunks, were barely visible through the thick wall of leaves and pouring rain. This was the place.

The skiff turned toward the willow, and Seh tensed beside Hok. “What is Sum doing?” Seh whispered. “We shouldn't head straight for shore here. It might be a trap.”

Fu swiveled his large head left, then right. “I don't think it's a trap. The closest line of cover is hundreds of paces away. There aren't any ambush points.”

Hok scanned the shore. “I think Fu is right. Tonglong's men probably just put their boat under the tree to keep it from filling with rainwater. Or maybe they're trying to hide it. If Fu hadn't pointed it out, I don't think I would have even noticed it. The willow leaves hang all the way down to the water's surface.”

“That's a poor hiding place,” Seh said. “I have a bad feeling about this. My snake seems uneasy, too. What about the tree itself? Maybe there's somebody hiding in it.”

“No,” Fu replied, scanning the tree, top to bottom. “It's empty.”

“Well, just in case,” Seh said, “I think we should continue farther downstream and then sneak back up along the shore on foot.”

“Well, I say we go straight to shore and take cover beneath that tree,” Fu said. “I've got to get out from under this rotting tarp. It smells worse than Malao's feet. Do you sense anyone?”

“I'm not sure,” Seh replied. “It's difficult to focus right now. The rain is distracting me. We need to get a little closer.”

As the skiff continued toward the willow, Hok glanced back at Sum. She expected to see Sum watching the river in front of the boat. Instead, Sum was staring intently off the rear of the skiff. Hok followed Sum's gaze and noticed a thin stick drifting toward them. It floated upright, with one end poking out of the water. Also, it was moving
against
the current.

Seh and Fu must have noticed, too. Hok heard Seh hiss softly and Fu begin to growl. Fu's growling intensified when the stick suddenly disappeared beneath the surface.

A moment later, a teenage boy's head rose from the murky water directly behind the skiff. He had a long hollow stick in his teeth. He locked eyes with Sum, and a huge grin spread across his curiously flat face. Sum returned the smile. There was no question that the boy in the water was Sum's brother, Cheen. He had been using the stick to breathe while approaching underwater. Seh and Fu immediately relaxed.

Cheen pointed down the river, along the southern shore. He raised one hand out of the water and sketched a simple building in the air with one finger, then began to scratch one armpit like a monkey.

“Malao!” Fu said, and stood, pushing the tarp back. “Let's go and—”

Seh grabbed Fu's arm and jerked him toward the floor. The shallow skiff rocked violently. “Get down, Pussycat!” Seh whispered. “What if someone sees you?”

“There's no one out there,” Fu growled.

“You don't know that,” Seh said.

“No,” Fu replied. “We're almost to the shore and nothing's happened yet. That means Tonglong and his men are probably huddled in the shack in front of a warm fire. They won't expect us to be traveling in weather like this. Let's go get them!”

“We need more information first,” Seh hissed.

Hok glanced toward the riverbank. Fu was probably right, but a little more information couldn't hurt, either. Hok knew that Cheen and Sum didn't speak, so she tried to think of a question Cheen might be able to answer without words. “How many people are with Malao?”

Cheen raised three fingers.

Seh looked at Hok and his eyebrows raised. “That's good to know,” Seh said. “Tonglong must have sent the soldiers back upstream to look for us. The three are probably Tonglong, AnGangseh, and HaMo.”

Cheen nodded.

“I like these odds,” Fu said. “There are five of us and only three of them. Let's get them!”

Cheen and Sum nodded as if in agreement, then froze. Something was wrong.

They reached the willow tree, and the front of the
skiff brushed against the low-hanging branches before passing beneath them. Hok ducked as the branches neared her head, and off the back of the boat she saw Cheen dive beneath the surface of the water and swim away. Sum dropped to her knees and gripped the sides of the skiff, staring straight ahead.

Puzzled, Hok turned toward shore as her body passed beneath the low-hanging willow leaves. Beneath the tree's canopy, she saw a hollow stick poking up out of the water. It was right in front of the boat.

“Watch out!” Fu shouted, pointing toward the stick. He stood, and the bow of the skiff suddenly shot skyward. Hok was flung into the wall of willow leaves, and she managed to grab hold of one of the sinewy branches. It held her weight.

Hok found herself dangling above the river's surface in the pouring rain while her brothers sailed beyond the tree limbs. As Seh and Fu splashed down into the rain-swollen river behind her, she heard them yell out simultaneously, “HaMo!”

Hok ducked her head back under the tree's canopy and saw a large man in the water. He had single-handedly upended their skiff. He was fat but obviously very strong, and resembled an enormous frog or perhaps a river toad.

A very angry river toad.

“N
ow
there's
something you don't see every day,” the fat man said to Hok. “A young crane dangling from a tree like a frightened monkey. Did you learn that technique from your little brother Malao?”

The fat man chuckled and stood. He had been on his knees in the river, hiding under the water. Hok realized that he was the same man she had seen at the front of Tonglong's dragon boat yesterday. He must be HaMo, or
Toad.
Muddy water flowed around his bulging midsection as he began to wade toward her.

Hok wished she had learned a few treetop monkey-style kung fu techniques from Malao. Malao would be very good at defending himself with his feet while hanging from his hands. Crane stylists,
however, had no such techniques. Hok would have to improvise.

HaMo was two steps away from her when something exploded out of the water directly beneath her feet. Hok instinctively pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down. It was Cheen. Quick as an eel, he slammed his palms into HaMo's chest, but HaMo didn't budge.

Hok glanced behind HaMo and saw Sum surface in the shallow water. She began to pound on the back of HaMo's knees. However, HaMo's thick legs didn't buckle. It seemed he was not going to let himself be toppled backward, or in any other direction.

Fu roared and Hok leaned her head outside the willow's canopy. Fu was splashing toward them through the river and heavy rain. Hok saw their skiff upside down, hung up on several large rocks. It was empty. She had no idea where Seh had gone.

HaMo let out a tremendous
CROAK!,
and Hok ducked her head back under the canopy to see him squat into the water with Sum still behind him. HaMo's hands dropped straight down in front of him all the way to the river bottom, and he shifted his weight forward onto his arms.

“Sum!” Hok cried out. “Back away—”

But it was too late. HaMo unleashed both his legs straight back behind himself, striking Sum square in the hips. She was lifted out of the water and sent hurling through the air onto the riverbank. She slammed into the willow's twin trunks and her head snapped
back, striking the tree with a hollow thud. Sum slumped to the ground.

Cheen let out a high-pitched shriek, and HaMo stood up. Cheen threw his entire body forward, slamming both his fists into HaMo's enormous belly. Hok knew that Cheen's double hammer-hand blow would have dropped any of her brothers or former teachers to their knees. However, HaMo's stomach absorbed the impact like pond water absorbs a thrown pebble. Ripples of fat radiated out from HaMo's midsection as he grabbed hold of Cheen's neck with his two thick hands and thrust Cheen's head deep into the muddy river.