"Violetidear."A voice sounded so harsh and loud that made Chi and Violetia jumped. They turned and saw Lord Amo, with his guards stood at his sides.
"Capture them!" Lord Amo instructed his guards.
"I"m sorry papa," said Violetia, seeing the guards moving toward Chi. When the guard came near to Chi, she had her reflexes by pushing the guards away.
Lord Amo wasn"t surprised. He had expected some resistant, and he raised his hand…
Chi felt became so light that she had levitated from the ground. She was like an object being summoned to Ziwo"s palm as she struggled to resist. The feeling of pressure was building in her body that she moaned…
"What do you want to steal, Chi?" said Lord Amo, setting his deadly gaze on Chi.
"No, papa, please don"t! Chi is my friend!" Violetia begged, but her papa ignored her.
"Ahhhh!
Chi let out a blood-curdling shriek. The pressure was so acute that Chi felt it so excruciating. Her body quivered as tears flowed from her eyes. Her body was so hot that she sweated. The extreme pain and heat made her felt she was out of her body. She mustered the only strength she still had to say, "me… Chi Myst"wing… Jing Myst"wing… my papa…"
What her mama said was true. At the mention of her papa, the pain now had become tolerable that it soon subsided.
"Papa… please stop!" Violetia"s voice was m.u.f.fled by her tears.
Lord Amo compelled not because of Violetia but of Chi"s papa, and he stopped his attack on Chi that he dropped his hand.
Chi was still feeling numb and pain that she didn"t feel she had dropped on the ground. She could hardly move. All she could do was regulating her deep breathing to restore her energy.
"Chi, are you alright?" Violetia had come to Chi, pulling her up. "I"m sorry what my papa had done to you."
"Put her in the dungeon!" Now Lord Amo"s guard could get hold of Chi without any resistant. Chi had no more strength even to stand that she was being dragged all along the way to the dungeon. And she was being flung into one of the cells. Now that she had the strength to sit, she rested her back on the cold stone wall.
"Chi, are you alright?"
Chi turned her head and saw Zhanshi and Vincere. They were in another cell and their faces had been reverted to their original faces. It looked that Violetia"s spell had worn off.
"Me… alright," said Chi. She still had her breathing deep and slow.
"Oh dear, did Lord Amo used his pressure skill on you?" said Zhanshi.
"Yes," said Chi as she heard a terrified gasped from Zhanshi. "Luckily, he stopped when me mentioned my papa."
"Thank goodness," said Zhanshi. "For me, I would have died if not for Vera and Violetia."
"We were being spotted before we could enter the treasure vault," said Vincere. "And we were being thrown here. But how?"
"Me think it was Lady Xin," said Chi. "Me saw her had a glance of you two."
"Bad luck," said Vincere. "She"s smart."
"And crafty," said Zhanshi.
"Zhanshi," said Chi. "What had happened between you and Lady Xin? When we met her in the palace, you seemed cold to her."
"This is an important conversation right now?" said Zhanshi.
"Right. Now, we should think how to get out," said Chi, as she scanned around the dim dungeon for anything that may be useful.
"You have any idea?" said Vincere.
"Right now, we shouldn"t use our powers to break off the dungeon," said Zhanshi. "This consumes tremendous power and produce a loud noise. And this will alert everyone. Besides that, Chi is weakened by Lord Amo"s attack. We need to break the iron bars with an exceptional method."
"What do you mean?" said Vincere, seeming baffled at Zhanshi"s explanation.
"Do you see a wooden bench and a pail of water at the corner?" Zhanshi directed Chi and Vincere"s view to the table where the guards had just left. "Wet cloth can bend metal."
"I get your point," said Vincere.
"Then, we will have to wait until it"s midnight when everyone sleeps." Zhanshi sat down on the cell"s floor, with crunching sound of dried hay.
"If only I know how to break the dungeon that had held me." Vincere sighed, looking down with disappointment.
Chi knew he was talking about the dungeon where they first met. "Then, we wouldn"t have met," said Chi as Vincere raised his head up to see her. "It"s destined that we could meet each other."
Their wait was lengthy and tedious as they watched the guards drinking and gambling with their money until the last guard had drunk and dozed off with loud mumbling.
"Alright, time for action," said Zhanshi as he sprang into action and began to undress his robe. He used his black robe and dragged the pail, pulling it nearer toward them. Then, he soaked his robe in the pail while Vincere broke the bench into several wooden pieces. Together, they knotted the cloth between two metal bars and with the wooden stile from the bench as a lever. They rotated the stile, tightening the knot... the metal bars screeching as they bend… Chi could only spectate as she was in a different cell.
When they had bent the cell bars wide enough for them to free, they heard the dungeon gate opened with shriek sound. Someone had broken into the dungeon.
"Brother Zhanshi? Sister Chi? Vindicta?"
The familiar voice came as she appeared from the shadow –
Violetia.
"I"m sorry for how my papa had treated you," said Violetia, "I thought papa would be forgiving when it is his birthday."
"We"re thieves," said Zhanshi. "That is obvious your papa was furious."
"My papa was angry with me for bringing thieves," said Violetia, "but papa would forget this soon."
"Sister Violetia," said Chi. "We"re sorry for dragging you down."
"It"s alright," said Violetia. "We"re friends."
Not only Chi, but Zhanshi and Vincere were paused at what Violetia had spoken – friends. The word itself was like a magic spell from Violetia. That was not impossible, even though they had just met for a short time. The ingredient for them to be friends was their same aspiration.
Violetia inserted the key and turned the lock. The gate swung open. "Come after me."
Together, Chi, Vincere and Zhanshi walked out of the dungeon with haste and came out to the palace yard. They were relieved that they could breathe in the fresh air since the air in the jail was stale and putrid with rats" defecations.
"I have prepared three fastest equines for you three." And Violetia took them to the west gate. "Ride westward until you reach a dock. From there, take a boat and follow the stream to escape. This is much longer but safer than travelling northward by land."
As three of them climbed on each equine, Chi turned to Violetia. "Sister Violetia, please come with us."
"Go now, fast!" said Violetia. "The palace gate had already open!"
From where they were, the rattling sound of metal told them the gate was opening.
"Sister Violetia," said Zhanshi. "Lord Benevence will attack Solluna soon. We don"t want you to be in danger."
Violetia just shook her head. "Since it is my kingdom is about to get attacked, I need to make sure my people would not be harmed. And I cannot just leave my papa."
"Fate is a cruel mistress," said Vincere.
"May you be protected," said Chi. "Those who are kind and compa.s.sionate will be blessed."
"Thank you for everything, Sister Violetia," said Zhanshi. "I don"t know how to repay you."
"Brother Zhanshi," said Violetia. "Can you ask Lord Benevence to spare my papa and my people? That"s the only thing you can do for me. Thank you."
"I will," said Zhanshi. "Lord Benevence is kind and benevolence. I"m sure he will."
"Thank you, Brother Zhanshi," said Violetia. She mustered a smile to Zhanshi. "Thank you, Sister Chi and Vindicta." And she beckoned the equines to move.
The equines neighed. Its" hooves knocked on the stony path with fast motion, and they rode through the palace gate and outside, toward the west.
Riding westward along the green plains, the Sol had risen from their behind. Chi looked over her shoulder and was awed by the splendour orange Sol and the horizon. Clouds were covering the Sol, splitting Sol"s ray into several smaller rays.
When they heard the sound of a water stream, they knew the dock was near. As they rode forward, the sound of steam turned louder, and they reached the wooden dock. A boat ducking near the dock had been waiting for them. They pulled the reins to stop the equines and dismounted from their equines.
Just after the trio had just dismounted, the ground was shaken with the sound of knocking hooves… A large group of equines must be coming toward them, so with the shouts of anger roared from the following group of equines. From the group, they saw Lord Amo with several of his followers. But how could Lord Amo have known?
"Siege them!" bellowed Lord Amo as his followers of Solluna dismounted from their equines. The black-robed followers leapt and surrounded the trio. There would be no escape for the thieves. Unless they fight their way out.
One among the black-robed followers the Solluna hesitated. "My lord, that is Sir Yu Zhanshi."
"He had left Solluna and already with our enemies!" That was Lord Amo"s only answer.
"Traitor!" The first bulky yet rash robed follower rushed forward, but Zhanshi could bring him down with ease. More of Ziwo"s followers rushed forward for them; Chi and Vincere used their own skills to fight. All of the followers were no match for the trio even when they strike together.
Seeing how incapable of his followers, Lord Amo sighed. He somersaulted from his equine, raising both his palms, attracting rocks from the ground to his palms. When he landed, he launched a hail of rocks to the trio. Zhanshi punched each and every hailing rock with his dragon conquering skill. In contrast, Chi and Vincere with their strength deflecting skill, swirling their hands fast and managed to direct some back to Lord Amo, which he could crush it like crushing bugs.
"Let"s see how you all handle this," said Lord Amo. With his palm faced a nearby spruce tree, Lord Amo pulled the tree out from the ground. Although the tree was tall and large, he could pull it out without any sweat. Bits of soils fall from its root as the tree was being pulled out from the ground, levitating high to the sky. He rotated his palm, and the large tree swung to their direction…
"Papa! Please, stop!"
The faint voice came from a distance along with the sound of galloping equine. Lord Amo swung the tree away from their direction and switched his view. "Violetidear…"
Violetia stopped where her Chi, Zhanshi and Vincere stood and dismount from her equine and spread wide her arms, facing her papa. "Papa, please stop. They are my friends. If papa wants to kill them, then kill me too."
"Violetidear, come back to papa!"
"No papa, only for this time I shall never listen. Papa, I never live happily since mama died. Papa had changed so much. Papa had become someone I don"t recognize."
"Violetia!" There was no more sweetness in her father"s voice. "Papa did that to protect you! Everyone is dangerous!"
"No… Papa, please…" Violetia took out a dagger and placed it at her neck.
Chi, Zhanshi and Vincere were appalled. Even her papa was at her sudden action.
"Before me, is my papa. Behind me, is my friends." Violetia said with her voice sunken with her tears which only her papa could see. "If papa wish to kill my friends, then I would kill myself."
"Violetidear." Lord Amo"s voice turned into a softer tone. "Your friends can go."
"My friends, go!" said Violetia. She still had had not lower down her dagger.
The trio which had just faced a grave danger were relieved with Violetia"s help. They leapt into the boat and sailed along the river stream eastward. Once they were at the safe distant, Chi could see Violetia facing their direction.
The trio sat on the boat for a time they don"t know how long but they knew the Sol had travelled far across the sky that it hung another quarter of the sky before the dusk. They had reached their lord"s dock, and in surprise, Lord Benevence and Sunu were there and with a carriage awaiting them. How could their lord and Sunu be expecting them?
Upon landing, Chi leapt out from the boat, followed Zhanshi and Vincere. Chi and Sunu hurried for each other to embrace each"s loved one.
"Chi-dear, it"s your papa," said Sunu. "Yesterday, mama had a great discomfort and mama worried whether you had been in danger. Mama had a dream of papa telling mama Chi is alright, and Chi would come to this place. So, mama told Lord Benevence, and we waited here."
At that moment, Chi heard her mama sniffing tears. "Mama, me is now alright. Papa did really protect me. The moment Lord Amo attacked me, me mentioned my papa"s name, and he stopped."
"Thank goodness, Lord Amo still remember Brother Jing." Sunu had tears of grat.i.tude that she was glad Chi had returned safely. "Brother Jing did protect Zhanshi and Vincere too. Thank goodness…"
"We"re alright, Mistress Myst"wing," said Zhanshi and Vincere as they nodded. Then, they turned to Lord Benevence. "I"m sorry, my lord. We couldn"t find any treasure half-piece. We had been spotted and were threw into the dungeon. It was Violetia who had saved us."
"It"s alright," said Lord Benevence. "As long as my soldier is unharmed. It must be a dangerous and tiresome journey. Let"s return to my mansion."
And then, the trio climbed on the carriage. Along with Lord Benevence and Sunu, they travelled back to the lord"s mansion. Along the way, Chi, Zhanshi and Vincere couldn"t help to continue what they had discussed about with Violetia. Was it really Lord Amo"s treasure piece had been stolen? And who had taken the treasure piece? Was it really Lord Amo who had killed Chief Ti and Lord Phopo? If Lord Amo was the killer, he could have used a sharp blade to kill as how he had killed his enemies. And Chi wondered if her papa and Lord Amo were really brothers. If so, then why did he threw her to dungeon and then chased her so far to killed her and her friends?