Fandom: Akatsuki no Yona

The Courage After Dawn

Chapter 4: Third Encounter

Damn them…

Having found shelter in the midst of the bushland, Yong leant heavily on the trunk of a tree, ignoring the sharp edges and jagged rocks that dug into her back. One sleeved arm clutched onto her stomach where the pain was greatest, the other shakily undoing the bottom few buttons of her leathery brown vest and lifting up the thin layer of her white, long-sleeved tunic to assess the damage done.

The entire expanse of what used to be pale, scarred skin was stained purple from one huge bruise that was steadily forming. She flexed her stomach experimentally, only to groan as a wave of pain swept over her. Gingerly, she prodded at other places- her ribs and side in particular checking for broken bones. There were none, to her relief. Only some internal bleeding which she knew would heal by itself in a few days.

Sighing, she dropped her tunic and buttoned up her vest after readjusting her bandages across her chest and shifting the wooden plank back in place. Her shoulder stung- a shallow cut from that person's blade, slowly soaking her white sleeve crimson and with no little annoyance, she set to wrapping it up, rummaging through her large bag to find clean fabric.

Yong gritted her teeth as she worked, the taste of defeat still lingering strongly upon her tongue. The humiliation and anger flared within her as she realised the reason why she wasn't dead was probably because he had been holding back. Back then, in that split second, she had been aiming to maim, to injure, to slice a bloody crimson line from his shoulder to the opposite side. Yet he had used the blunt edge of his blade.

And that, for some reason, really infuriated her.

Did he think she wasn't good enough for him?

With that thought, Yong stood up abruptly, ignoring the screaming of her body. She swallowed, fisted the edge of her sleeve. He'll regret holding back on her. He'll regret humiliating her like this. And most importantly, he'll regret letting her live.

She smirked. It finally seemed like she had found something to do.

Tossing her bag over her shoulder, she set out back to the clearing, to chase after them. Her stomach growled loudly and she stopped in her tracks.

But first, she needed sustenance.

…

Hak ignored the slow burning pain across his chest as he pushed past the greenery and stepped over tree roots in the direction where the princess and the boy had taken. His wounds from before, had no doubt, tore open again from the fight with that hooded figure and the crimson was slowly soaking into his white bandages.

"Hak!"

It was a feminine tone that caught his attention. Said male looked up to see the red-haired princess run towards him, concern etched across her face, followed closely by Yoon.

"You're alright." Yona smiled up at him, relief etched across her features.

Hak snorted and flicked her hair half-heartedly. "Of course, dumbass. With small fry like that. Why wouldn't I be?"

And then he fell face first onto her shoulder.

"Hak!"

Dashing forward, Yoon ripped open the front of Hak's blue robes. "You idiot." He chastised with a concerned look as soon as the large red stain came into view. "You've re-opened your wounds."

"This… is nothing." The taller male rasped, hands trying to push Yoon aside as the boy immediately got to changing his bandage. The boy only smacked his hands away.

"Lay still you idiot!"

It didn't take them to re-wrap Hak's wound and as soon as they did, he insisted on continuing on their journey.

"So, what happened with that person?" Yona asked as they continued their trek down the dirt path.

"He fled. Wouldn't even talk."

"Could it have been someone sent from the castle? A soldier?" Yoon piped up, giving Yona a concerned glance. "What if it was a spy? Wouldn't the Princess be in danger then?"

"No." The Thunder Beast thought this over, furrowing his brows together. "He was by himself. If he really was a spy, he would have retreated the moment he located us. Instead, he attacked."

There was a short silence as they contemplated this.

"Ah." Yona abruptly slapped a fist into her open palm as if she had come across a life-changing revelation. "He must have been a bandit, planning on picking us off one by one then taking everything we have."

The other two deadpanned at her, Hak raising an eyebrow. "Some shitty bandit he was, then."

"No matter what, he's gone now." Yoon spoke up. "We should focus on getting to the White Dragon's village as quick as possible for the time being."

"Yeah." Yona agreed. "Let's do that."

The hooded figure didn't appear again for the rest of the day, and was quickly swept from the trio's minds as they covered more and more distance towards the village of the White Dragon.

…

But it was two days later, as they cut through a particularly grassy patch that Hak stiffened momentarily and looked around. Yona noticed his sudden change of pace.

"Hak?" She turned around, eyes wide. "What is it?"

"Feels like we're being followed." He replied tersely. Without looking away from a certain direction, he drew an arrow from his quiver and slung it onto his bow. Yona watched in slight awe as he drew it back and released, the arrow flying a high projectile path through the crisp air and hitting its mark solidly in the dense leaves of a specific tree, far away. There was a rustle and a few sparrows flew out, squawking in distress.

"Must have been my imagination. Thought there had been someone there…" Hak muttered and turned back to Yona, slinging the bow back to its resting position over his back. "Let's go Princess. Nothing to worry about."

"Ah, ok." Her look of confusion brightened as she waved cheerily to Yoon who turned back briefly to tell them to hurry up.

Although Hak continued to remain on guard, their journey continued on with no mishaps. That was, until a few hours later after they crossed a stream and had settled back onto the dusty trail that an ambush occurred.

Just as they had passed under two particularly tall trees with dense green leaves, that Hak stiffened, shoving Yona out of the way and throwing out his quandao to deflect the two small blades as they whistled towards him. One dug into the ground harmlessly at his feet, the other wedged into the wood of a tree.

"Show yourself!" He called out, as soon as he made sure no one was hurt.

For a moment there was a rustling silence. And then without warning, another two blades flew at him, aiming for his chest. Hak deflected them easily and they fell like flies.

"From there, huh?" He muttered, snorting as he found his target. But before he could run to that place to drag them out, the enemy showed themselves in a split second, rustling past leaves and branches as they made a series of nimble leaps to the ground, and springing towards the trio.

A sharp glint of metal was the only warning before Hak was pulling Yona out of the way, yelling at them to get to safety as he undid the bindings on his weapon and simultaneously deflecting the would-have-been head blow. As soon as he was pushed back from the surprise attack, a handful of dry dirt slammed him in the face and he was forced to retreat as the blade was thrust at him once again.

Playing dirty huh? He coughed, wiped his eyes harshly with the back of his hand before spitting out the residues that had flown into his mouth. A second handful of dirt was blown at him but he dodged it this time, and instead, ducked under to lunge at his attacker from below, sweeping out his leg to land a blow at the back of the stranger's knees which buckled immediately and by instinct, had stabbed their sword into the ground to keep them up.

But the figure wasn't done. As soon as Hak had a clear view of his opponent again, the small blades came whistling at him, his attacker's arm a windmill as they withdrew a variety of sharp weapons from the sides of their bag, which Hak only noticed now, to be bulging. Senbons, kunais and other small blades and sharp objects where thrown at him, each one rather scarily accurate and… was that a chopstick?

He took the time to look back where the said deflected weapon had lodged into the tree beside him and confirmed that indeed, it had been a chopstick. A wooden chopstick sharpened to a point.

A small screech drew his attention to his two companions who were huddled in the tall grasses, in Hak's opinion, way too close to the battleground as a stray blade whistled past them.

"What did I say about getting to safety?" He yelled in frustration behind his back, deflecting the flying projectiles with his quandao.

He didn't hear the shouts of confirmation. All that he knew was that this had to stop. Grunting in effort, he ignored the burning of his chest to rush forward, narrowing his eyes as the attacker also rushed forward.

But they were slow. Much slower than he had expected. Being long-ranged, Hak quickly knocked the sword out of the hooded figure's grip, and fell instantly into a defensive pose, expecting the figure to retaliate with more flying blades.

But what he didn't expect, was the simple blow to the wrist to knock the figure off-balance. They stumbled and flailed before falling backwards, dragged by the weight of their baggage. Like a turtle, the figure crashed heavily onto their back, a massive cloud of dust unfurling around them.

And as the dust settled, it became obvious as to who their stalker was.

"It's you again!" Yoon accused, pointing a finger in recognition, as he and Yona ran up to where Hak held the figure at blade-point. And indeed it was unmistakably the hooded attacker from before, a few days ago. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Why are you attacking us?" Yona asked as she peered from behind Hak's shoulder to look down on the stranger.

They sat there, with their knees apart and hands on the ground behind them to support their weight. A brown tattered coat that fell around them like a robe, clasped at the neck and tied at the midsection with a piece of fraying rope. Their hood, which had remained in place, cast a dark shadow over the top of their face, leaving only the sharp of their nose to be seen, their lips and chin hidden under a high collar.

"Who are you? Why were you following us? Speak." Hak demanded, pushing the blade of the quandao against their neck in a threatening gesture.

At first there was silence, causing Yona to almost question if the figure was mute. And then came the laughing.

It was a low, dry laugh and having found their balance again, slowly placed their hands up in a sign of surrender. Their voice was low but airy.

"So you got me. Are you going to kill me now?"

"Depending on how you answer our questions."

The figure seemed to smile, and chuckled as if there wasn't a blade at their neck. "Well… if you're not going to kill me then…"

They trailed off, and in a split second, the glint of something metallic appeared in their right hand and there was a sudden movement as Hak jerked forward, as if torn between ending them right there and then or to jump to shield Yona with his body as the metallic object was thrown sharply at her.

Simultaneously, there was a massive burst of blackness and smoke at such proximity that it clogged their windpipes and vision, causing the three of them to flinch and choke in surprise. By the time, Hak had gathered himself enough to clear it, the stranger was gone, leaving behind a patch of blackened grass.

And at his feet, was the metallic object the figure had thrown at them just moments before: a simple, slightly rusted bent paperclip, the kind that people used for picking locks. Hak picked it up, crushing it between his fingers before throwing it behind his shoulder, not sure as to laugh or to be enraged that he had been tricked by such a diversion.

"Damnit. He got away again."