They walked for hours.
The river curved lazily through the forest, its gentle noise offering a strange
calm amid the tension hanging between them. Taotao limped slower now, his
body still stiff from the snake bite days before, but he masked the pain with
sarcasm and muttered complaints.
Ju Xian trudged ahead, pretending she couldn't hear him.
> "If I get bit by anything else," he grumbled, "I'm retiring. Permanently."
> "You were never employed," she shot back without turning around.
The trees grew denser, shadows stretching longer. A thick fog began to
settle over the river, curling around their feet like smoke.
Then, a sound.
Snap.
They froze.
A soft rustle echoed from the thicket across the water. Then a low growl.
Ju Xian's hand instinctively reached for the small dagger she had strapped
beneath her sash.
A pair of glowing eyes appeared in the dark underbrush. A wild dog—no,
two—emerged from the fog, snarling and foaming.
Taotao groaned. "Why is nature personally trying to kill me?"
> "Don't move," Ju Xian warned, voice low. "Slowly back toward the slope
—"\n\nBut it was too late.
One of the dogs lunged.
Taotao swung his arm just in time, blocking it with a branch — but the
beast's jaws clamped down on his shoulder.
He cried out in pain and collapsed backward.
Ju Xian lunged, jabbing the dagger into the dog's side. It yelped and fell
away, and the second creature vanished into the trees.
Taotao lay on the ground, groaning. Blood soaked through his sleeve, teeth
marks already swelling on his skin.
"Another bite?" he croaked. "Really? Is this a theme now?"
Ju Xian tore open her bag and began pressing cloth to the wound, scowling
at him. "If you die now, I'm going to bring you back just to kill you myself."
But before she could finish wrapping the wound—
BOOM!
The ground shook.
A thunderous explosion echoed from beyond the woods. Birds erupted into
the sky. Smoke spiraled upward in the distance.
They both looked up sharply.
"That… wasn't thunder," Ju Xian whispered.
Taotao sat up, wincing. "That came from the east."
"someone," she breathed.
No more words were needed.
Ju Xian tightened the bandage. Taotao pushed himself upright. The forest
was no longer calm. The river no longer felt safe.
And something—some force neither of them could name—was drawing them
toward the smoke.