The sun had chased away the night and Yoko and his thieves were once again on the move. Having gotten the information they needed from Morina's meeting, they had tied the two up and Yoko left three thieves behind to make sure they didn't escape. He was at a point now were he couldn't afford any more mistakes. Morina had provided the information that Sarkan was heading to Yoko's hideout with Satira. That much they knew. What he planned to do once he got there, he didn't know. Apparently Sarkhan had decided to keep that information to himself alone. The best they could hope for was to beat him there and be prepared. They had passed his border about twenty minutes ago. They were close to home.
Hiei and Amira appeared next to him as he led the others through the forest.
"No sign of Sarkan or Satira in the area." Amira responded dutifully. "I can't find anything to indicate that they have been here."
"Then we might be ahead of them, but keep alert. I want to know of anything that looks slightly out of the ordinary." Yoko ordered.
Amira nodded in confirmation, a blurred image of her indicating her sudden fast pace to fulfill her orders. Yoko turned to look at Hiei, who had been waiting for his turn.
"The guard posts are empty." Hiei responded solemnly. "No one is on guard. Amira may not have found trace of them, but something is wrong here."
Yoko merely turned to face forward thinking. Amira saw no sign of them, but Hiei claimed that the guard posts were empty? Yoko had trained his thieves better than that. Something had to be wrong for them to leave their posts unguarded; but if Amira said that there was no sign of Sarkan or his little minions, they should still be there. So how could both statements be true?
The group continued forward when Yoko came to a sudden stop. The thieves behind him bumped and jostled into one another, unprepared for the cease of their running. Amira walked up to the front rubbing her head annoyed.
"Want to let us in on what you're going to do next time!" She growled at Yoko. The silver fox paid no attention, just stared ahead in shock.
"What!" She growled louder, turning her head to see what was the problem. Her mouth fell open in a silent O. Hiei came to stand by her, the rest of the thieves all having the same reaction.
The normally green lush grass of spring had mysteriously started to die. As if an invisible line had been drawn and death began to slowly claim all vegetation worsening in form as it slowly moved inward. The line of death curved like a circle, and continued on in a gentle arc that stretched further than their eyes could see. The tiny purple flowers had slowly turned brown and further past that, black and the further inward it moved the worse it got. The colors of the ground went from green to rings of brown, then black, then a deathly white.
"Snow." Was all Yoko said looking at the wall of his hideout.
Little heaps of powered snow rested on the top, and more continued to gracefully fall from the sky, gently landing and spreading a white death on all it touched.
"It's snowing here?" Amira asked taking a step forward. "It's the middle of spring."
Hiei grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him.
Amira flashed him a look of irritation.
"You don't know what walking into that could do to you." He warned, keeping his hand on her arm, slightly loosening his grip. "Look what it did to the ground."
"It's snow." Amira reminded, for once not shaking off his touch.
"Unnatural snow." Yoko supplied. His stretched out his hand, trying to communicate with the dead plants. No response. "They are completely dead."
"We still have men in that hideout, we have to keep going." Amira insisted.
Yoko nodded. "Just us three." He ordered. "The rest of you stay here. It doesn't look like the snow spreads out this far. Wait here until further orders."
The thieves sat down where they stood, grateful at being able to avoid the cold and Yoko, Amira and Hiei slowly walked ahead. Their footsteps crunching in the fresh blanket of white.