Chapter Nine

When Mya, Nick, and Hilltop finally stumbled into the camp around mid afternoon, they found me sitting innocently under a tree fiddling with a rock I had found on the ground. Since they didn't look suspicious, I gathered that I had gotten away with breaking my promise to Hilltop. I was congratulating myself on my genius, but the mood was quickly killed by the dejected looks on their faces. Nick set down the food sack with a thump and passed me what looked to be an army ration bar. I munched on it while he talked.

"Sarae, I think I'm finally starting to believe you. I mean, how else would you have known what was about to happen?" He sighed heavily and started to eat a bar of his own. Mya and Hilltop were both eating apples after refusing the cardboard like food we were eating.

"Don't believe what they say for a second. They may say you will have control of your government, but really their control over Burma will be ten times worse than the English's." I interjected quickly.

"I know. I just wish the Burmese could get a break for once. My dad would know what to do. But he is stuck in at Hawk's Nest in a new labor camp made by the Japanese. Well, actually it is the Burmese that build it, not that they had a choice in the mater. I don't even know if he is alive!" He said the last part with so much sadness it made my heart heavy. Hilltop quickly spoke up, seeing the boy's distress.

"Kya Lei approached me today. He needs to get into the camp as well, so he has offered to help us. Tonight the village is having its market day. We can use the confusion to cover our entrance and ask the mahouts about your dad. We may even be able to see him if we are lucky. Sarae, I must ask you to stay behind again. I'm sorry for constantly leaving you alone, but it is just too dangerous. While we are there I will ask a witch woman I know of that travels with a group of peddlers if she knows of a way to help you back to your time. For now, though, we must try to get as much sleep as possible. We leave at dusk." With that we all made ourselves as comfortable as one can on the ground, and promptly fell asleep.

It wasn't a nice sleep like I had hoped, though. My dreams were plagued by nightmarish images of death and destruction - again. Was it impossible for me to get a few decent hours of sleep? It seemed that the world was coming to an end, and I watched over and over as my loved ones were killed right before my eyes. I was happy when Hilltop woke me to tell me that they were leaving. After they had been gone for a time, I got up and began pacing the camp site. Fear of my dreams kept me from going back to sleep.

Strange noises ripped the silence and scared me out of my wits. I heard cawing and a bush behind me rustled. Miss Pretty rumbled out her displeasure before turning back to her browsing.

"Yeah, I am being a baby aren't I Miss Pretty?!" I laughed nervously to myself. The bush rustled again, but I ignored it. Big mistake. Before I knew what was happening, I heard the click of the safety being taken off a gun. I spun around so fast I made myself dizzy, but when my vision cleared I saw a face I feared grinning lazily at me.

Captain Moto was holding a hand gun pointed directly at me, a really big gun I might add, the kind hunters use.I put my hands in the air with a squeak, and waited for the inevitable end. But the Captain just smirked and began to talk.

"Little pet, I have some questions for you." I tried not to tremble; a good soldier doesn't tremble in the face a gun. It was hard though; he looked like a hunter chasing its prey. And lucky me, I appeared to have prey written across my forehead in big bold letters.

"I've been watching this camp for the past thirty minutes. I know you are traveling with the monk and his 'novices'." Oh junk, he knew that Mya and Nick weren't really novices. My eyes widened in shock and dread. But to my surprise Captain Moto just laughed.

"Whatever doubt I had as to their identity has now disappeared due to the look on your face. You should be more careful pet; you give away more with your eyes than your words. Now, since I have had my suspicions confirmed, my mind wanders to two missing prisoners from Hawk's Nest by the names of Nick Freestone and Mya. I'm beginning to think that our wise old Hilltop has been harboring them all this time. Isn't that right my pet?" I wouldn't give away anything this time. He would have to torture what he wanted from me.

"What, cat got you tongue? I'll kill that cat for you. I've certainly had enough practice with the local tigers. I think I'm almost to twenty now. The vest I'm wearing right now is made from my latest kill's pelt. I skinned him myself, just like I will skin you if you don't start giving me some answers!" Spittle was flying from his mouth and his eyes gleamed manically. I had to roll my eyes at that, and whatever hold he had on me was broken. Arrogant bigot! His eyes narrowed when he saw mine roll, and he took a step closer to me and took aim at my knee. If he blew out my knee I would never be able to walk properly ever again. Just before he pulled the trigger, I saw a huge gray blur and the captain went flying into the air. He hit a tree with a crunch and slid down the trunk, unconscious. It was Hannibal! My charming prince in shining armor had come charging in, sort of.

The enraged bull elephant charged the captain, and I thought for sure he would be crushed. But Hannibal's tusks slid harmlessly through the hole in the vest, tearing it right of Captain Moto's back. With the vest hanging from his tusk like a dead animal, Hannibal charged into the forest dragging the vest against every tree he passed. Soon, he was gone from sight.

I was confused as to why Hannibal had gone for the vest when I remembered how much he hated tigers. When he was a younger elephant, he had been gentle and trustworthy. One night though, after his mahout had hobbled him with the rest of the elephants, he had wandered off. Later that night, miles from any help, he was attacked by a tiger. He couldn't defend himself properly because his feet had been tied together. He barely survived and was left with horrible scars. After that, he turned into the temperamental dangerous animal he is today. He wouldn't let anyone near his feet and whenever he saw something that even reminded him of a tiger, he attacked it. While reading that part of the book I had cried for the poor elephant.

At least some good had come out of the situation; now I had an unconscious captain that no doubt new about Nick's dad. I ran over to his prone form and quickly searched him for weapons. After about five minutes I had an impressive pile of knives, guns, grenades, and even a whip. I shuddered to think what it was used for. I took said whip and used it to hog tie Captain Moto. He was going nowhere trussed up like that.

"Well my dear Captain Moto," I said with satisfaction, wiping my hands off on my pajama bottoms, "When you wake up I have some questions of my own for you. And I also have a very pissed off boy that will do anything to get his father back. But one more thing…" I tore off a section of my shirt. I ended up having to hitch up my pants to cover the section of my stomach that was bared as a result. I would hate for his yelling to attract unwanted attention… I wadded the cloth into a ball and jammed it into Captain Moto's mouth with a deep sense of satisfaction. Father would be proud!