Crane (12 page)

Hok was about to drop into the water to help Cheen when Fu pushed his way through the wall of willow leaves. Fu glanced around, looking confused.

“Help him!” Hok said.

“Seh?” Fu asked.

“No! Cheen! Help Cheen!”

“Where's Seh?”

“Just help Cheen! I'll look for Seh.”

Fu locked eyes with HaMo and seemed to understand. Fu sprang into action. He leaped out of chest-high water and splashed down next to HaMo, cocking a tiger-claw fist back to his ear.

Hok saw a mixture of concern and amusement wash across HaMo's face. HaMo released Cheen and took a step back, out of Fu's reach.

Cheen half stood, half slouched. Dirty liquid poured from his mouth in spurts like a broken
fountain. He began to wobble toward his sister at the base of the tree.

Fu and HaMo stood waist-deep in the river, sizing each other up. Hok twisted around and scanned the river outside the willow's canopy again, looking for Seh. She squinted through the heavy rain and was shocked to see him far downriver, struggling to stay afloat. He had never been a strong swimmer, and he seemed preoccupied with keeping one arm out of the water. It was his snake.

Hok turned back to Fu. Fu and HaMo were slowly circling one another.

“Fu!” Hok said. “I have to go help Seh!”

“No problem,” Fu replied. “I'll be right behind you. This won't take long.”

HaMo chuckled and Hok released the branch. As she drifted down, she heard HaMo say, “I like your spirit, boy. Forget your sister, I'm taking you to LaoShu instead—”

Hok hit the cold, shallow water feetfirst and began to swim.
What did HaMo mean by that?
she wondered.

Hok pushed HaMo out of her mind and headed for Seh with long, powerful strokes. The chilly water gave her extra incentive to keep her body in motion.

When she was halfway to Seh, Hok caught movement out of the corner of her eye. On the shore she saw two figures running. One was heading toward Fu and HaMo, the other toward Seh.

Judging by the first person's extraordinarily long
ponytail braid, the one heading for Fu and HaMo was Tonglong. The other person was tiny by comparison and dressed from head to toe in black. A hood as dark as night kept the second person's face out of the heavy rain and out of Hok's sight, but Hok knew exactly who it was. It was Seh's mother, AnGangseh, or
Cobra
—the woman who had captured Malao the day before.

AnGangseh reached the water's edge downriver of Seh and waded in up to her waist. She reached into her sleeve and Hok thought that AnGangseh was going to pull out something to extend her reach in order to help Seh as he floundered in the water. Instead, AnGangseh's wrist snapped powerfully outward in the direction of Seh's bobbing head.

Even under the darkened skies and pouring rain, Hok saw the flash of metal sink into Seh's neck. He choked loud enough for Hok to hear, and his body went limp in the water.

“No!” Hok cried. It was a throwing dart, and judging by Seh's reaction, Hok was certain it had been tipped with poison.

Hok began to swim furiously toward Seh. Behind her, she heard Fu roar—and then stop.

“No! No! No!” Hok shouted. Whatever had just happened to Fu had knocked
him
out, or worse.

Hok slowed in the water and raised her head toward AnGangseh. AnGangseh threw back her black hood and flashed a deadly beautiful smile at Hok as Seh drifted into her arms.

Hok was powerless to help. AnGangseh reached into Seh's robe and removed the dragon scroll he carried. She slipped the scroll up her sleeve and did the unthinkable.

Still staring at Hok, AnGangseh flipped Seh facedown in the river and shoved him into the current. Then she turned up her hood and slithered back to shore.

H
ok could not believe what she had just seen. She wished it was another bad dream but knew this was not the case. Seh was going to die.

Hok spread her arms wide and thrust them deep into the cold, muddy river, propelling herself forward at a frantic pace. Ahead of her in the darkness and pouring rain, Seh's unconscious body convulsed and rolled over in the river's current. At least he was now floating faceup. She might have a chance to save him.

Hok reached Seh and slipped behind him. She wrapped her arms around his chest, kicking her feet powerfully to keep both their heads above water. She leaned her head over Seh's shoulder and placed her ear in front of his lips. At the same time, she squeezed
his narrow rib cage, hoping to hear something telling.

Hok got more than an earful.

Seh suddenly retched, a thick stream of dirty river water and stomach bile spewing out of his mouth. Hok shuddered and shook her head. She tilted her face toward the sky and let the heavy rain wash her skin clean. Through her arms, Hok felt Seh's chest heaving. He was breathing.

However, Seh was still very much unconscious. Hok would have to swim for both of them. With one arm around her brother and the other arm—her injured arm—paddling with all her might, Hok began to slowly make her way toward the shore.

With her good arm around Seh's chest, Hok felt something wriggle beneath his collar. It was his snake. She had forgotten all about it. Hok fought the urge to pull her arm away and shifted her grip. The snake's colorful head poked out of Seh's collar, into the rain-soaked gloom.

Hok turned away. She glanced back upstream and her eyes widened. Tonglong had pulled his dragon boat out beyond the willow's canopy and was launching it into the river! AnGangseh was with him.

Hok sank as low in the water as possible, pulling Seh and the snake down with her. They needed to find cover. Hok spotted a large tree leaning into the swollen river and made for it with every bit of strength she had left.

Hok reached the tree and its jumble of twisted limbs as Tonglong pushed the dragon boat out into
the current with AnGangseh aboard. Hok slipped into the tangled mess with Seh in tow and locked one arm around him, the other around a thick, slippery limb. The current was much stronger here. If she wasn't careful, she and Seh would be washed out into the open.

The dragon boat raced downstream through the heavy rain with surprising speed. AnGangseh was at the bow, Tonglong at the stern. Each was rowing with a single paddle. Otherwise, the boat was empty. Soon they were close enough for Hok to hear them.

“Sssteer clear of that tree in the water,” AnGangseh said, pointing to Hok's hiding place.

“But what if the girl is hiding in there?” Tonglong asked. “Or Seh?”

“Forget about them,” AnGangseh said. “Ssseh is as good as dead, and the girl is no longer of value to us. HaMo is sssatisfied with the monkey and tiger boys as payment. Those boys will earn him a fortune. We have what we desire, and it isn't worth our time to capture the girl and turn her in to the authorities. We need to make haste.”

“Then make haste we shall,” Tonglong replied.

And just like that, the dragon boat passed.

Hok sighed with relief. She looked at Seh still locked under her arm.
How could a mother talk about her son that way?
she wondered.

Hok took a few moments to catch her breath, and her mind began to race.
What was HaMo going to do with Malao and Fu?
she wondered.
Turn them in for
the reward she'd seen posted in Kaifeng?
At least they were still alive—for now.

Hok began to shiver in the chilly water, and she decided to get moving. She shoved herself clear of the tangled tree limbs and gave Seh a tug.

Seh didn't budge.

Hok tugged on Seh again. He remained anchored.

Hok looked closer and realized that one of Seh's feet was hung up on something. Try as she might, she couldn't get him free.

Hok wondered what she should do next. She was quickly running out of energy. All this swimming was taking its toll.

As if in response, Hok saw a second boat approaching through the darkness and heavy rain. It was Cheen on the skiff, scanning the shore.

That's right,
Hok remembered.
The skiff had gotten hung up upstream. Cheen must have pulled it free and righted it. He's looking for us.

Hok lifted herself as high as possible in the water and waved one arm while still holding on to Seh. Cheen saw her.

As Cheen pulled alongside the tree, Hok saw Sum, unconscious on the floor of the skiff. “I am happy to see you,” Hok said. “My brother Seh is stuck. Would you please help?”

Cheen nodded and pointed to the shore. Hok knew exactly what he meant. He was going to run the skiff aground, then swim out to help. In no time, Cheen had done just that. When he reached Hok's side, he dove into the river's murky depths.

A moment later, Seh was free. Hok held on to him tightly and she began to swim as best she could toward the shore.

Cheen surfaced next to Hok and helped her get Seh onto the slippery riverbank. The rising river was quickly swallowing trees and eroding large chunks of the muddy shoreline. They wouldn't be safe there for long. Hok had to hurry.

Hok and Cheen laid Seh beneath a large oak, away from the water's edge, and Cheen went back to Sum, who was still unconscious in the skiff.

Hok needed to look at Seh's neck. She reached down to pull his collar back, and something stirred beneath it—his snake.

Hok jerked her hand away and grabbed a stick. She pushed Seh's soaking wet collar down and peered at his neck from several different angles. It looked like AnGangseh's poison dart hadn't sunk too deep. There was a small laceration, but the dart was not still embedded in the wound. This was good.

On the other hand, Hok was all too aware of potential complications from poison delivered by dart. A sticky residue was required to make the poison stick to the dart. That same sticky residue also made the poison stick to the wound. Hopefully, the river water and heavy rain had washed most of the poison away as soon as the dart struck.

In her mind's eye, Hok began to flip through a hundred different texts on poisons. She shook her head.

She was wasting her time. Even if she did manage
to identify the poison, she had no antidotes. The best she could do would be to scour the area for herbs to help counter any side effects, though even that would likely be of little help. The only way to administer treatments to an unconscious person was to make a tea from the necessary ingredients and pour it down a patient's throat. She had no way of making a fire. She didn't even have a pot to boil water in.

Hok sighed and looked toward Cheen. He was standing over the skiff with his head in his hands. Hok could tell that he was crying.

Hok walked over to the skiff and looked down at Sum. It would be much more difficult to tell what was wrong with her. Whenever anyone had suffered a similar injury at Cangzhen, they had always waited until the person regained consciousness before attempting any sort of diagnosis. She could try to wake Sum up with special pungent herbs, but she didn't have any with her.

Hok placed her hand softly on Cheen's shoulder. “Thank you for helping me with my brother. I wish there were something I could do for your sister. If I only had a medicine bag with me, I—”

Cheen's body went rigid and he snapped his head up. Hok saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes. He pointed downriver excitedly. Perhaps he knew where to find some herbs.

Cheen pointed to Seh and motioned for Hok to stay next to the skiff. Hok nodded and watched as Cheen ran beneath the oak tree, carefully lifted Seh,
and carried him back to the boat. Cheen laid Seh inside the skiff next to his sister and motioned for Hok to help him push the skiff back into the river.

Hok glanced downriver and thought about Tong-long and AnGangseh. They were out there somewhere. HaMo was, too. AnGangseh had said that they weren't interested in her or Seh, but she couldn't be sure.

Hok ran her hands through her stubbly brown hair. Anything was better than standing around in the rain, watching the river rise. Besides, she had to at least try to treat Seh and Sum. Both might suffer long-term damage if left unattended, or even lose their lives.

Hok helped Cheen push the skiff back into the swollen river and climbed aboard.