Fandom: Akatsuki no Yona

The Courage After Dawn

Chapter 5: Hostage

It was another sharp glance in her direction that had Yong ducking for cover under the leafy ferns, the brown on her person blending her into the surroundings. She stilled and let out an inaudible sigh when the man called Hak turned around as they trekked up the steep path. They were almost out of sight before she scampered forward again, pushing through greenery with calloused fingers and trying to keep her bulging bag from bobbing side to side. There was something in there that caused a rather raucous noise occasionally as she moved, making it difficult for her to execute the stealth she wanted.

Having followed the trio of strange young people through the mountainous trail for the past day, planning her next line of attack and merely... observing their movements, Yong felt the fatigue catch up to her. Yes. Observing. Gathering information for tactical advantage. She was definitely not stalking. Of course not. She was above such actions.

Yet she had never felt as much excitement as this. All this planning and executions and failures. It intrigued her, not unlike one of her usual heists.

But although a wanderer, one simply could not escape the bodily needs of rest. After spending the past days of constantly crouching in the shadows, scampering up trees and craning necks to better observe her opponents, Yong felt, quite frankly, like shit. Her leg muscles ached from the constant squatting, her neck had cricks in the most bothersome places and her hair was just as unruly and matted as ever. Really. She thought her bath was well overdue, judging by how even the dumbest of animals within a five-metre radius of her would scamper away.

But all in all, she couldn't vocalise exactly why she was subjecting herself to all of this just to follow these strangers. She could not describe these explosive feelings that she had bottled up inside of her even though she had tried convincing herself solemnly that the darkhaired boy was simply too good for her to beat. That she would never find that closure and that satisfaction of defeating him. That she'll probably will never really get over these losses. That really, she should just give up and go back to living the carefree life of a wanderer.

But as soon as she tried, she felt the most numbing sense of loss. As if he had lit a burning flame inside her. Despite telling herself to leave them alone, to stop bothering the three strange, strange people, she found her legs scampering to catch up with them. She found herself ducking under the leafy covers to keep them within sight. She found herself observing them with a sort of fascination she couldn't quite place.

Third times the charm, she kept telling herself.

And she had collated quite the pool of information just by observing. For one thing, that dark-haired male was ridiculously attentive to the smallest details and noises. From twenty feet away, it had been obvious that he'd heard the uncontrollable clanking of her clumsy bag from his sudden turn of his head in her direction. She had held still and luckily, he didn't choose to pursue it. And after the first few close calls, he'd even seemed to ignore it altogether. What luck.

The second thing about him, was that he was ridiculously protective of the young red-haired girl. Yong had been aware of this ever since their first meeting yet it still stuck out at her as how gentle he was with the girl, despite how they seemed to bicker. The young girl, herself seemed like any other young girl- uninteresting and plain with the exception of her brilliant hair. She laughed at the right things, stepped in when situations called for it and grew mad when teased. But the thing that Yong couldn't bring herself to label uninteresting were the looks on her face as she struggled.

Rich, sheltered people didn't struggle.

Somewhere, somehow when Yong hadn't noticed, the young girl had picked up the art of the bow. It was obvious how she'd never handled any sort of weapons before- her slender pale hands could testify to that, yet she had determinedly picked it up with shaking fingers. Having never drawn a bow in her life, Yong couldn't relate. Yet as she observed on, the girl had continued to improve at a rate that admittedly, impressed her to the degree that she'll neglect sleep to look down on her from her perch as the girl practiced and continued to miss her shots. And the scratches and scars and creases and bits of hardened dead skin would start accumulating on her once smooth hands.

And then the word 'uninteresting' was the furthest thing from Yong's mind in which she'll use to describe the girl. The sheer look of determination and intensity across the girl's face was enough to burn into her mind, even from such a far distance. Why? Why would she spend all that effort to learn a weapon when she had that strong of a guard dog? She didn't even need it. What did she hope to accomplish with such determination? What was there to accomplish in this harsh, cruel world of theirs?

And honestly, deep down, Yong felt something akin to envy growing in her stomach. But she shrugged it off.

The young boy that travelled with them was also, admittedly, amazing in his own way. That was, in his ability to turn something inedible into something that would even cause Yong to freeze in mid-bite of her piece of sun-dried meat to sniff at the faint smell of cooking that had wafted over.

And with everything aside, the group seemed to fit together so well. They looked after each other, called out when one strayed too far away, bickered and laughed with each other. They were determinedly pushing forward along that steep slope and covered possibly more distance than Yong has in a week but for what? What could be their motive as to want to cover so much distance in so little time? What… just what was the point? After all they were all young and capable. They had their entire lives out in front of them, so why? Why the rush?

And so Yong observed them, thinking up new tactics every now and then to defeat the guy who had beaten her not once, not twice, but three times now- granted he was unaware of the first time they've ever crossed blades but nevertheless she couldn't quite place the anger that unfurled in her stomach at the thought of him. No. It wasn't anger. It was...

She found herself unable to answer. But never mind that- she was too far gone to turn back. The past few days would have been a waste if she turned back now. No. She had to defeat that Hak guy and regain her pride. That was her goal for now. A shallow one, but one all the same.

And with that in mind and a silent chuckle, she continued with her stalking- no, her observing.

…

"He's still following us."

"Still?" Yoon voiced with an air of annoyance as he turned to look in the same direction Hak was facing. He couldn't make out the figure hiding under the ferns, but he could sure make out the large baggage that he seemed to always carry around, jutting out from the greenery. "And how is it that someone can fail this badly at hiding?" His outburst was hushed to an angry whisper.

"What if he knows our identities?" Yona spoke up, a small quiver to her voice. "There has to be some reason he's following us so intently. Maybe we should just talk to him and find out why he's always following us."

"No way." Hak deadpanned as they continued to trek up the steep incline. "If by any chance that he's suspicious of us, we'll only be confirming his suspicions by confronting him head on. And who knows if he'll just attack us again."

"Oho. Is the great Thunder Beast scared-?" Yona began with a teasing grin.

"No." He replied resolutely, sending her a blank look. "I'd just hate to fight the same small fry again and again."

Yona made a face at him.

"But you know." They both turned their attention to Yoon, who was tapping his rolled up map into his left palm in thought. "He seems quite fixated on the Thunder Beast, I mean, he barely paid you or me any attention." He gestured to Yona before turning to Hak abruptly with a small frown. "Just who exactly have you pissed off in the past?"

The duo thought for a moment before responding simultaneously. "A lot of people."

Yoon slapped a palm over his forehead.

Like usual, the sky turned orange and then dusk fell as the trio continued to travel, finally going off the rocky pathway and cutting into the depths of a forest. Having found a small clearing, they decided to make their camp for the night.

"We're almost at the place Ik-su told us." Yoon notified them before stowing away his bundle of maps. The light of the campfire lit up his face and made his brown hair orange.

"Really? That's great!" Yona cheered, taking a bite into the roasted possum meat that Hak had hunted just earlier. "At this rate, we'll be able to gather all the dragons in no time."

Hak smirked, leaning against a tree trunk. "Don't be so naïve, Princess. Who knows if they even want to come with us."

Yona deflated almost immediately. "Well. I guess we can't make them if they don't want to…"

They quieted as they finished their food, the only sounds being the shrill cries of wild animals, the rustling of the trees and the crackling of the fire. Immediately after, Yona had declared herself full and promptly curled up to sleep. Yoon, who had already made himself comfortable on a grassy patch was alerted to Hak's subtle analysis of their area.

"Is he still there?" He asked in a hushed whisper.

Hak took his time in answering. "I can't pinpoint his location, but probably." He replied lowly, settling down against the tree trunk again, his weapon within an arm's reach. "Get some sleep, Yoon. If we're this close already then we should set out early tomorrow. Perhaps our stalker may bore of us."

"Yeah, you're right." Yoon agreed and yawned, tucking into his short cloak to ward off the chill. "Good night." He mumbled and then he was asleep, lightly snoring away.

Making one last turn of his head to look at his surroundings, Hak sighed before brushing a palm over Yona's forehead and combing the red strands aside. A smile tugged at his lips at the soft snores that emanated from her pink lips- that was, until she turned over abruptly to mumble something, simultaneously breaking the trance.

He withdrew his hand as if burnt and shook his head briefly as if to clear it. And with that, he leant his head against the wood and slowly felt his eyes droop close.

…

The next morning, Yong awoke to the dull and irregular thunk thunk of arrows hitting wood or clattering into the bushes. It was still early, with a chill in the air that had her drawing her thin blanket closer to her body to keep what little warmth that hadn't already been sapped away. Almost reluctantly, she had dug out the brown and red muffler from the depths of her bag and wrapped it securely around her neck, covering the bottom half of her face. It was scratchy but warm against her neck, giving off the faint scent of metal and smoke. The loose ends of the scarf trailed to end just past her shoulders. White light filtered in through the leaves above her. A stray caterpillar crawled across her shoulder, one that she flicked off with a lazy yawn.

Slowly and carefully manoeuvring herself so she didn't fall off her perch and out of the tree, Yong brushed herself down, shaking the leaves and debris and bugs off her clothing that had fallen on her during the night. Her long dark hair was starting to become matted up once again, sticking out of her hair tie in a frizzled mess from the constant ruffling against the back of her hood. Dark green eyes blinked wearily, the right side of her cheeks indented from pressing it into the rugged tree bark all night. She patted her cheeks half-heartedly, pinching them through the scarf to relieve them of the fatigue before swinging her legs freely off the branch and into empty space. And from there, she stretched out her joints that had cramped up, rolling her shoulders and brushing over the bruises from two days before.

It wasn't the best of positions to sleep but it was no doubt the safer option to sleeping on the ground, especially when she was a lone traveller. She had been used to it for a long time now.

Only when she deemed herself organised once again that, after leaving her baggage securely on the current limb of the tree, deftly clambered up the trunk with a practiced ease before settling on the highest point that could hold her weight.

From there, after sweeping the hanging branches of leaves aside, she could see most things that weren't obscured by dense greenery. A gently flowing stream lay immediately west of her and to the south east direction, was the clearing where the red-haired girl and her companions had resided in for the night. The dull sounds of something whacking wood was of course…

Yong slid down to a lower branch, holding on with one hand whilst pushing aside the leaves with the other. And from her perch there, she could catch glimpses of the red-haired girl who was once again practicing her archery with shaking hands. Her eyebrows raised in surprise when one arrow hit the dead centre of a tree trunk the girl had been aiming for, narrowly missing the couple of other arrows that had already been there.

Progress. The girl was actually making so much progress in the last two days that had Yong looking away in slight self-resentment. Meanwhile, Yong had not advanced even one step in her own personal mission and the urge to go practice her swordsmanship was strong. She quickly shook her head to rid herself of these thoughts. She knew she was strong. After all, she hadn't survived all these years by playing the pacifist. She had fought, robbed, killed and through all her matches- foot soldiers, bandits and civilians alike, she hadn't yet encountered a match who she couldn't defeat, one way or another.

Deliberating slowly, Yong took a long swig from her bottle before drawing out some cold sun-dried pieces of meat from her bag. She pushed down her muffler to munch on them routinely, stomach growling as the mounting scents of cooking stew wafted over with the wind. Her legs swung lightly from the branch as she shifted to a more comfortable position, all the while gazing out to all the forest that lay spread out under her.

The morning passed rather peacefully. Slowly, the sun made its way into the sky until its yellow presence was splashed all over the greenery. And finally, Yong was alerted to movement in that little clearing as the group began their travels again. Hoisting her bag up to her shoulder and strapping her sword to her belt, Yong observed as they disappeared from sight before jumping down from the tree to stride lazily after them.

It was almost noon when the group came into Yong's line of sight again and she quickly slid behind a thick tree trunk to hide her presence. From what she could make out, the girl had her head bowed slightly as she stood next to one of the trees with the dark-haired male towering behind her as he spoke a few words to the young boy that travelled with them.

The boy looked concerned, asking another question back before shaking his head with a smile. And although Yong had never been proficient in lip-reading, she was fairly sure that the boy had just been told to go ahead.

Which was brilliant, really.

Slipping out from behind her cover, Yong took a quick detour around the path to follow the boy as he left, heart thumping in slight excitement. Although the dark-haired male wasn't as protective of the boy than of the young girl, there was definitely some bond between them all that held them together. A bond of trust and friendship that she could manipulate. And soon with the help of a little hostage, morals be damned, she was going to have that person's throat at her blade. And she was going to savour it.

She snickered silently as the path winded deeper still into the forest. She may not be strong enough to cause him physical humiliation, but she was going to break his mentality. Disrupt it. She was going to make a show out of injuring the little one and strike when that man's mental and emotional state was in disarray. She supposed that the girl would probably have a better effect, but for some reason it felt wrong- a show or not, spilling the blood of that strange girl seemed too harsh.

The trees grew denser together and the familiar stench of earth blew at her in the light breeze. Gradually, she drew closer as the boy continued to trek, looking at his map every now and then. The bag upon her back rustled audibly at every odd step yet was concealed by the rustling of the trees.

Closer and closer, she dared to go, sliding neatly behind trees as she went. She knew she only had one chance to knock him out unconscious before he became suspicious.

But just as she took a slightly too harried step, the wind stilled and the forest fell into a momentary silence. By coincidence, her bag had decided to let out a distinctly metallic rattle that amplified in that exact moment.

Her target froze in place, no doubt having heard the noise. Before Yong could even move, the light-haired boy whipped his head in her direction with surprised eyes before bolting.

It took another second for her to comprehend this. To comprehend that her target was getting away. With a snarled curse, Yong jumped up immediately to give chase, her overlarge bag bouncing on her back as she ran. With her longer legs and strides, she easily caught up with him, the back of his figure in her line of sight before he made a sharp turn into the trees, causing Yong to skid as she tried to veer left.

Leaves and thorns whipped scratched at her as she gave chase, a thick tree trunk at every turn to block her path. The young's boy's head bobbed in between the greenery and without hesitation, she jumped up onto low branches, and ducked under leaves, drawing a few disposable blades from her bag as she went.

She threw it at the feet of the boy, missing by a mile as he managed to jump over it before veering a sudden right. Yong narrowed her eyes in concentration as he managed to get a little more further from her. Heart thumping, she felt the adrenaline rise within her, twirling her blade once in habit before launching it towards her target's open back. It slashed at his ankle, and the boy stumbled.

In those precious moments, Yong darted towards him with all the speed she had, hand raised as if to knock him unconscious. To her surprise, the boy turned around at the last second, green eyes clashing with clear blue ones and he tackled her hard, using the weight of her bag to bring her on her back in an almost impressive manoeuvre if the boy wasn't so amateurish.

Her hood flew off in the exchange as they grappled, the muffler sliding down from her face. Yong gained the advantage as soon as she managed to roll over onto her knees and the young boy growled at her before pulling the ends of her scarf, and choking her momentarily before she kicked him cleanly in the stomach, causing him to release her. He stumbled some ways back, gasping and panting in exertion.

"What… What do you want with me?" He demanded as soon as there was a metre's distance between them. "I thought it was the Thunder Beast you were after!"

The Thunder Beast? Yong frowned in slight confusion before realising he probably meant the tall male that accompanied the trio. The person she must defeat.

"I needed a hostage." She replied after some consideration, palm on the hilt of her sword. After all, if he was going to be her hostage anyways, there was no point in hiding it.

The boy looked at her warily for a moment before realisation hit him. "So, you mean, you've become too cowardly to attack him head on and decided you needed a hostage situation to help your case?"

Yong looked at him and decided, instantly, that he was pissing her off. "I am no coward." She declared in response. "I had simply considered my strategies before deciding on one." Quickly, she threw her hood back on, sliding her sword out in an arc. "So, will you be a willing hostage for me?"

"Hell no." The boy looked at her as if she was crazy, eyes darting as if looking for an escape route, before widening in surprise as he noticed that the once visible surroundings around them had been clouded over with a thick fog that made it difficult to see more than a few feet in front of them. "Wha- what is this?"

There was a sudden, unnatural wind that had Yong's eyes flashing around her, her five senses suddenly alert. Having been so engaged in acquiring her target, Yong hadn't noticed the sudden, strange fog that had covered the area around them and instinctively stiffened into a defensive pose.

"Leave… Leave this area at once!" Came a disembodied voice that seemed to come from all around them in echoes. "Leave or you'll incur the wrath of the Gods."

There was the steady chanting of them to leave and on a split-second decision, Yong moved towards the boy, ignoring his sudden flinch and guarded, distrustful gaze as he looked between her and the mist-covered areas behind him, as if deciding between the lesser of the two evils. She snorted. At least the boy was smart enough to know when to stay in place.

"Boy. Stand behind me." Yong ordered, her grip tightening on the roughly wrapped handle of her sword.

"Don't call me boy, you don't look much older than me." The brunette shot back at her but didn't move from his place. "And no. You stink."

Yong felt her eye twitch. But covered him anyways. After all, he was her precious hostage. How else would she defeat the so-called Thunder Beast, if she didn't have an advantage?

The boy scowled. "Weren't you planning on killing me earlier?"

"Is this really the time to be complaining?" She asked, slowly backing away from the densest part of the mist and forcing her hostage to step back with her.

The chanting continued as Yong slowly backed away, only to stop as she realised that the boy wasn't moving at all. Instead, he had a contemplative look on his face, before opening his mouth.

"Are you the people of the White Dragon village?" He yelled out before Yong could slap a hand to his mouth.

The chanting stopped abruptly.

Yong swallowed nervously. The silence sounded almost deadly. A group of people, she could probably fend off, but these people were hidden and they had both numbers and advantage. And she swore, she could hear the tight drawstring of a bow meaning she'll probably be shot the moment she lunged at them. She narrowed her eyes at the boy who looked like he was about to continue talking. Did he even know what he was dealing with here?

The voice echoed around the area, somehow even more booming and menacingly than before. "So you know of our hidden village. Then I'm afraid that we cannot let you leave alive."

The whistling was the only warning before Yong jumped back almost clumsily, dodging the arrow that sank into the ground inches from her. She gritted her teeth, and without looking, flicked a blade into the mist where the arrow had come from. There was a small cry and then the arrows flew at them at a rapid pace. Yong, who had never had to deal with deflecting so many arrows at once, was overwhelmed almost immediately, as she lunged for the back of the nearest tree trunk, gasping as the barrage of arrows sinking into wood echoed noisily behind her. One sunk into her bag, another whistled past so close it frayed the fabric. She deflected the few that were aimed at her front with her sword.

"Stop this and hear me out!" The boy yelled out loudly through the barrage. Honestly, Yong was surprised he hadn't been hit already. Then again, they were probably most likely aiming at her since she had retaliated first. "We're looking for the White Dragon!" He continued to yell out. "We were sent to find the White Dragon by-"

An arrow whistled dangerously past her cheek, just as she managed to deflect the one going towards her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, there was an arrow that was on its path to the centre of the light-haired boy's face. His eyes widened- obviously he had noticed it in mid-speech and tried to flinch away.

"-the priest, Ik-Su! We mean no harm!"

A sharp blade spun through the air and hacked down the arrow. It fell in two splintered halves harmlessly onto the forest floor. If possible, Yoon's aquamarine eyes widened even more, mouth dropping open as he turned to gape at Yong whose arm was still left frozen in the throwing position. Neither of them spoke, not when their eyes spoke volumes, Yoon's betraying his shock and surprise and asking why while Yong's widened and narrowed immediately after as if asking herself the same thing. She was asking herself why. Why did she feel the sudden impulse to save that boy? An image of him lying on that forest floor flew into her head, an arrow lodged in his shattered skull and his blood splattering against the green and brown and painting his fair hair crimson. And she instantly decided that she never wanted to see that image.

It took her another moment to realise that it was not the time to stop and be overcome by emotions and swiftly, she ducked behind the safety of her tree again, shoulders squared and her blade held defensively to brace herself for another oncoming barrage.

But to her surprise, there was nothing. Instead, the booming echoes returned.

"Priest?" They echoed.

There was a long silence as if they were contemplating a very serious matter. Yong held her breath, utilising this time to gather herself together and plan for an escape from these psychotic people. She had no obligation to help the boy but he was to be her hostage, and no doubt, Yong knew she would regret it later if she fled empty-handed. In a silent rustle of her hooded coat, she reached for the boy's wrist, dragging him behind her.

Meanwhile Yoon didn't bother resisting. He took a little comfort in seeing the seemingly sturdy behind of his captor. His limbs shook, eyes still wide. Never had he come so close to dying as in that moment that arrow came into his vision. Shaking his head briefly, he cleared his mind. It was expected after all. The Princess and the Thunder Beast had warned him already of these happenings as he took on their mission as his own. And he promised Ik-Soo after all. There was no way he was dying before that idiotic priest.

With a little more control over his emotions, Yoon twisted his hand to pinch a small flap of his captor's loose sleeve. The hooded stranger turned briefly towards him at the action as if surprised or confused and Yoon smirked shakily. He was ok. He was going to get out of this and find Hak and Yona again. After all, he was a hostage and hostages tended to have little value when dead. He'll be safe for now, sticking with the lesser of the two evils.

Yoon hadn't realised he had been holding his breath until his lungs burned for air. At his sharp intake of breath, the silence broke and the menacingly loud voiced echoed over them again.

"Very well." It paused for a split-second. "We'll take them back and see how the elders will deal with this."

Yoon's eyes lit up in relief, releasing his grip almost immediately. He had been given a chance. After all, the White Dragon was supposed to be their ally, not their enemy. No doubt the people of the White Dragon village would become more understanding after having things explained to them.

Meanwhile Yong scowled from under her hood. Like hell they were going back with those weirdos. Did they think she was stupid?

All at once, everything spurred into movement. People clad in white surged as one out of the mist and into view, carrying an assortment of bows and arrows and long white-hilted swords and spears. Without hesitation, Yong tugged harshly on the boy's wrist as she began sprinting in one direction- any direction. She just had to break free of the circle of white-haired people that surrounded them. But to her surprise, she jolted to a halt when the boy behind her dug his heels into the ground, refusing to move.

"What are you doing? Move!" She shouted harshly in his face, deadly green eyes narrowing into slits but he remained stubborn, even as the ring of white closed in on them.

"No! They're good people. They'll help us!" Yoon yelled back at her.

Us? What us? It couldn't have included her. But regardless, she wasn't going to let herself be taken in by this group of white-haired lunatics. Who cared about some white dragon village anyways.

A group of four white-clad people closed in. The rest stayed outside, keeping the circle intact with arrows strung in their bows, ready to fire at any time. An elbow here. A quick shove there. They were trying to force her into submission but Yong had nothing of it. Thank goodness, her sword was short-ranged. Her swings were met with a massive clang as she simultaneously tried to dodge the spear that came in on her from behind. She was fighting the best she could, with only one hand- the other still stubbornly keeping an iron grip on the struggling boy behind her.

Determinedly, she forced her way through the wall of white. The lack of mobility was quickly frustrating her. A well-aimed thrust of a spear cut through the junction between her neck and shoulder, cutting through her strap bag like knife through bread and scraping the top of Yong's shoulder. Yong hissed in pain, her heavy bag dropping with a metallic thud onto the forest floor. She thrust her sword forward then slashed downwards in retaliation at the one responsible for her wound. The person wasn't lucky enough to escape her attack and immediately their white uniform pants were splattered with crimson as the victim withdrew clutching at their thigh.

"No! Iliya!" A shout of alarm rang from behind her as the injured man sunk to his knee.

Heh. One down.

Yoon gasped behind her, before tugging insistently on his hand. "Stop it! Stop agitating them-"

Yong paid him no mind as all of a sudden, her opponents fury increased tenfold at the fall of one of their people. She cursed as she was forced to drop her hostage's arm for better mobility, using her reserve of blades that she kept hidden in the linings of her coat. The loss of her bag wasn't a bad thing, as what was lost was balanced by the gain in speed.

Deftly, she jumped out of the crowd to give herself more room before she was confronted again. She slashed and thrusted forward with her sword, catching someone's mid-section and following that up with a low sweep and stepping onto their head as they lay groaning on the floor. Two down. Blood splattered as she made a slice at another's open shoulder blade, one that was made shallow as the person was pulled back by their comrade. When they all seemed to be way too close, Yong used the trees around her to give herself a height advantage.

An arrow was fired close to her shoulder and she was forced to jump down again. Within all these people, they wouldn't dare fire for fear of friendly fire. Her sword met another person's blade again with a clang- a spear, and working quickly, she slid her blade towards its wooden shaft before snapping it with her metal blade, jumping back as it splintered off.

Breathing heavily, she flinched as a kick brushed her mid-section and would have gone ahead to thrust her sword into the person immediately in front of her if they all didn't jump back all of a sudden.

"Stop your resistance!" Came the voice, only now no longer as if amplified. They parted to shove a struggling body into her view- the fair-haired boy kicking and screeching at them. "Cease resistance at once and we will not harm this boy!"

That idiot… Still breathing heavily, Yong glanced to each side only to see herself surrounded by the same people clad in white, two or three of them being supported by their comrades, their front painted red. Arrows were still strung tightly on large bows, aimed at her. Truly, she felt defeated. The hostage that she had hoped to use was now being used against her.

Then slowly, she sheathed her sword, holding her hands up in surrender. "Fine." She said, still trying to catch her breath. "I surrender." Like approaching a startled wild animal, she inched step by step towards the white-haired people, towards where the boy was being threatened with a sword to his neck, looking at her with a mixture of fear, surprise and confusion.

"Stop moving!"

Yong hadn't been caught in a while. Whether as a wanted person, a thief, a civilian or just a person in the wrong place at the wrong time, she hadn't let herself be taken in by anyone. And there was utterly no way she was going to be taken now.

She stopped momentarily, eyes darting about as two of the people were sent forward to bring her in, spears held threateningly towards her, daring her to move a muscle. Yong waited and watched from the corners of her eyes as they drew closer.

A metre away.

A few steps away.

The female of the pair relaxed her grip on her weapon slightly to reach for Yong's hood. And Yong jolted into action. Single-handedly, she unclipped her last smoke-bomb from the edge of her sleeve and flicked off the latch with practiced ease. She closed her eyes and held her breath. All this happened within a split-second.

The area exploded in a mushroom-cloud of pitch darkness.

The air was filled with surprised yelps and intense coughing. Yong dived towards her memorised position of the boy, grasping a handful of his tunic and pulling him easily out of the darkness. Smoke permeated her senses and she resisted the urge to choke as they ran, the boy blindly running after her.

"There they are! Chase them!"

Outraged shouts followed them like a mantra. Yong cursed, knowing that she must have taken too long to drag her hostage out. Usually she was long gone before the people started to recover. She continued to run, pushing through ferns and ducking under low branches, until she was jolted to a halt when the boy behind her tripped over a branch and fell, crashing into the mud.

"You ok?" She asked without hesitation, trying and failing to pull him up again. The shouts behind them were getting closer. "We need to run."

He looked up at her uncertainly, face smeared with mud. Large aquamarine eyes met intense forest-green ones and narrowed in resolve. He got up shakily, rubbed his eyes and coughed a few times to get the lingering smoke out of his system. Yong tugged on his wrist and then they were running again. It also seemed that he had recovered all too soon.

"How many of those things do you even have?" He yelled at her, referring to her untimely smoke bombs as they ran, recalling the other various instance in which she had escaped by that method.

"That was the last one." Yong yelled back, almost regretfully. She'll have to come across some more gun-powder.

They sprinted deeper into the forest- so deep that the trees seemed to close in upon them. Traces of sunlight no longer filtered through the densest parts of the canopy. The very air seemed to bite at them as they ripped through ferns and thick vines, splashed past tiny brooks and dived into rustling bushes.

Behind them, they heard the quick efficient steps of their chasers that were drowned out by their heavy breaths and clumsy steps. Hidden thorns tore into their exposed skin, the pain diluted by the cold that suddenly assaulted them. It seemed like a blessing that suddenly, they saw sunlight filtering through the trees within their line of sight, like the light at the end of a very deep, dark tunnel.

A clearing? The edge of the forest? Were they close? And abruptly, the younger boy picked up his pace, running towards that light.

Yong's eyes widened in alarm. "Boy!" She reached out an arm and tried to call him back but missed. She could only watch as he ran into the light. His figure stilled as if time had stopped and within the next split-second he was gone, leaving only an echo of a startled yelp behind him.

Being right behind him, Yong skidded to a stop at the very edge of what seemed to be a sudden drop into a lower clearing. It wasn't that big of a drop- perhaps a couple metres. Steep but manageable as the rock side had a slight incline downwards.

The voices and crunching of steps were getting closer. Yong looked back for a split second, before making up her mind, and lowering herself to clamber down the rock side with the kind of grace that one only got from climbing trees on a regular basis.