WangXian Forever 6

Chapter 60 Captive

Yezi + Chihong + Xinghong: Gratak

Yezi grabbed her hidden knife.

"What are you doing? Chihong hissed at her.

"Something stupid, as usual." Xinghong replied, scowling.

"I'm getting ready to tackle those guards!" Yezi defended herself, her voice barely a whisper.

"You don't need that!" Chihong retorted with a humph.

"Watch this!" Xinghong grinned.

Both sisters crouched, facing each other. They raised their hands across their chests whirling and twisting. Already, Yezi could feel the wind picking up, but in a matter of seconds it was a strong gale, and she had to hang on to a tree trunk. She watched the strength of the wind move to concentrate just on the clearing where the two guards had dropped their spears and held on to each other, but they were being pummelled by loose twigs and branches, leaves became missiles, until finally they passed out.

"THAT IS SO COOL!" Yezi forgot where they were and yelled out in excitement. Her fists were already in the air in jubilation.

"Hush, their might be more guards inside there." Xinghong said, but there was a faint blush on her cheeks, pleased with Yezi's reaction.

"Less messy." Chihong rolled her eyes at the knife that Yezi quickly stashed away.

They motioned for Manu and Chicku to stay where they were, and moved forward quickly, jumping over green debris from the mini tornado that had attacked.

The square building had nothing special about it, but the lack of windows felt ominous. The single door was locked, and when the sisters tried to tackle it, Yezi beamed at them.

"Wait up, I think you'll find this is my forte!" Yezi kicked the door, which smashed open with the single hit.

She grinned at the shock on their faces, before they masked their surprise.

Inside, it was too dark, and they had to wait until their eyes adjusted to the lack of light, until Chihong summoned a dim yellow energy ball that rested in her palm.

Dry straw was scattered around the place, and they would have missed the body in the corner, but for the groan that came from that direction.

"Over there!"

Yezi recognised him immediately.

"It's Nie Huaisang!" She turned him over anxiously.

Chihong and Xinghong began transferring spiritual energy immediately, until his eyes fluttered open. He looked terrible, and confused about them, and where he was. Yezi pulled out a flask of water and poured some out into the lid, helping him to sip it carefully.

Chihong drew some dry biscuits from her pouch and he munched them slowly.

"Feeling better?" Yezi asked, still concerned for the poor fellow.

He nodded slowly, still dazed.

"Let's wait until you feel strong enough to stand up." Yezi encouraged him.

"What if the guards wake up? Or someone comes to check up on him?" Xinghong asked, looking towards the door.

"Not likely." Yezi replied. "They clearly didn't care about him, because they left him practically unguarded, I mean, just two guards mean nothing. And look where they kept him."

Nie Huaisang was trying to speak.

Yezi made him drink more water, before he was able to clear his throat enough to actually try. He said one word, but it was enough.

"Bait."

"What?!" Chihong couldn't help herself.

"He said, "bait"." Yezi rolled her eyes but was smiling.

"I heard him! But I wondered what he meant." Chihong defended herself, frowning.

"He probably means himself. Yao Wang kidnapped him to get our Shidi to come here."

"Well, it worked. Except that now we have to think of a way to get him out of here." Xinghong added.

"Let's just leave here first, and then make a plan of what we should do." Yezi suggested.

"That may well have been the first clever thing you've come up with." Chihong said, but she was smiling too, and the words lacked any ill feeling.

The two sisters were taller than Yezi, and they stood on either side of Nie Huaisang and helped him up. He was still quite weak, and unable to walk by himself, so the sisters supported his torso and together, they walked out of that dim, enclosed building.

He closed his eyes at the too bright sunlight, a faint sheen of sweat beading on his forehead, and Yezi hoped he had not caught a fever from his confinement.

The best possible solution would be to transfer him to earth as soon as they could, but without Hui Gai with them, it was the easiest but highly unlikeliest idea.

Outside, Manu waved at them, and they joined her and Chicku, who was staring at the lethargic man with huge black eyes.

"Let's bring him back to my place." Manu suggested. "The guards are changed every night, so we have a few hours before they discover that their prisoner is missing."

"How do you know so much about this place?" Yezi asked her.

From the look on the other two faces, Yezi could see that the sisters had been wondering about this too.

"Chicku saw them bringing him in. She likes humans." Manu patted her head fondly. "She's innocent like that. Most humans are scared of us, believing that we're evil creatures. She's too young to understand any of that. And...and I want her to remain that way for as long as possible."

Yezi stared at the child. How was it possible that this mere child possessed more compassion than she had seen from adults on earth? And to the point that she was able to do something about the wrongdoing she had seen? With help from her equally compassionate mother.

"You both...you both are just wonderful." Yezi breathed out, blinking back tears.

Chicku smiled up at her, her face full of joy, tail swishing animatedly behind them, and shyly took her hand as they walked forward.

Yezi was overcome by the small gesture. She didn't even bother wiping away the tears now.

Little pockets of kindness made all the difference, and it didn't matter which part of the world they were activated in. And Manu was an excellent mother in making sure that the beginnings of great characteristics were not snuffed out by the cruelty of the real world, instead nurturing the small sparks of decent thoughts into something more tangible. With her guidance, Yezi had no doubt that Chicku would grow up to be an example to the rest of the demon population, no, to the rest of the world as well.

She thought about her own upbringing. Had she had mentors like Manu growing up, next to their Mother Tree, would she have grown up the same? She was lucky enough to have a sister like Zhitiao, a nurturing presence in her own life. They had grown up together, but living in a military lifestyle had killed off all those emotions that would get in the way of their missions. But Zhitiao had done her best, and her efforts had not been unappreciated.

It took drastic change to make her realise that hostilities did not need to be present in every aspect of life, that peace was possible every single day. It was...freeing.

In a place like this, Manu was content with whatever she had, even to the point of feeding total strangers, letting them sleep with her. And she had inadvertently helped them complete their mission.

But, they weren't safe yet.