Chi Myst'wing

It was when the Sol was at its peak, the armies had finally reached the lord"s mansion. The warriors all took rest from their tiresome travel and having to greet their supporters and citizens. They could have a real rest in the evening.

Lord Amo had been defeated, and Lord Xin was now the leader. The followers of Solluna who had once loved to suppress and oppress surrounding villagers were given chanced to reformed. There was less threat compare with the time before the battle of Igniswing. Lord Benevence"s influence got stronger after each victory. Lord Phopo was no more. So were Chief Ti and Lord Amo. The Alliance, the redragons and the Solluna all were the allies of the Warriors of Benevolence.

Late at evening, the warriors came to the lord"s mansion to celebrate the victory over Solluna.

"For our victory!" said Lord Benevence as he raised his goblet of wine.

Everyone raised their goblets and clinked theirs and had a gulp.

"For the unified and peaceful Eastern Land!" Everyone clinked their goblets and drank.

"For Mistress Sunu Myst"wing and Lady Chi Myst"wing! Let"s hope they would live a carefree and happy life."

Everyone clinked the goblets and drank.

In fact, the gathering was not just to celebrate the victory on Solluna, but also a farewell dinner and to wish Chi and her mama a happy and blessed life.

"Thank you, everyone," said Chi, blushing in red. Though she avoided almost everyone"s eyes, she never avoided her mama"s, friends" and her lord"s eyes.

Chi had awoken and did her exercise until the Sol dawned. For breakfast, Chi and Sunu had it with everyone in the cafeteria. After the breakfast, Vincere went to Chi who was standing at the balcony, facing the autumn garden.

"Chi," said Vincere. "I need not worry about the alliance"s traitor."

"But what about the other former alliance"s factions?" said Chi.

"They had either been weakened or join Lord Benevence"s soldiers. Finally, my papa"s wish had been fulfilled. Peace in the Eastern Land, not by my papa but by Lord Benevence. I found that Lord Benevence is really the leader I can trust. I wish to hand him my treasure piece. He"s the perfect leader to hold the treasure piece."

"What about the other half?" said Chi.

"Lord Amo still has it," said Vincere. "Sooner or later, he would be caught, and we will retrieve the half piece."

"Sister Violetia said her papa didn"t have any since her papa"s treasure had been stolen."

"If then," said Vincere. "Who has the other piece?"

"Not sure. But me believe Lord Benevence will find it out."

"There aren"t much on the list already," said Vincere. "Mag"knight, Moghul Earthshaker, Lady Felixia."

"Do you have any idea about who"s the most to steal Lord Amo"s treasure?"

"Perhaps we can find out when Lord Amo is captured," said Vincere.

"Chi-dear."

A soft voice came from behind Chi that she spun to it. A smile spread from her face when she saw her mama.

"Mama has packed up," said Sunu, carrying Chi"s green bag. "It"s time to go."

Chi switched back to Vincere. "Guess it"s time for me to make a move."

"Yes," said Vincere. "Let me accompany you for the last time Chi."

Chi nodded as she giggled. With Vincere accompanying Chi and Sunu, they made their way through the hall and reached the mansion"s entrance where they met with the rest to bid her farewell.

At the front yard, Sunu let Chi mounted on her back. Once Chi is steady, Chi turned to Lord Benevence, Zhanshi and the rest of the peacekeepers.

"Well," said Chi. "Me guess it"s time to say farewell. May the Universe take care of you all." Then, Chi and Sunu raised their hands and gave the warriors graceful waves.

"Same goes to you, Mistress Myst"wing and Sister Chi," said Lord Benevence, Zhanshi, Vincere and the others, returning the goodbye waves to Chi and Sunu.

Sunu spread her wings wide, flapping it and leapt to the air. In no time, everything Chi saw, the lord"s mansion and tall trees became smaller. So were Lord Benevence, Zhanshi and Vincere and the rest of warriors became smaller too. She kept looking behind toward her friends until they became small like ants as the view of Kinma City was zooming out. Now, Kinma City was like a greyish patch at the south lake. And Chi pa.s.sed the area between the two lakes, she remembered where she and Vincere had sold smuggled produce from the villages around the oblong northern lake.

It had been quite a long time since Chi had flown with her mama. This time she wasn"t a redragon, and she had to fly on her mama"s back. The wind was strong, whipping her face, yet she could feel her mama"s breath and her mama"s heart beating.

Since morning, Sunu had flown a great distance from Kinma City, and now it was evening. "Chi-dear, let"s find a place for rest and refresh." Now that Sunu breathing was heavier, she began to descend from her flight, and the view of a village began to zoom in. In the village open area, Sunu landed gracefully as Chi leapt on the ground.

The village huts were all built of dried weeds. Sunu and Chi began searching for any edible foods, and they pa.s.sed by a hut and heard a youngling"s snorting cry. Chi was the first to turn to the crying sound, followed by Sunu.

From the hut, came out a familiar man of a long white hair and a pale white face. Chi was startled to see he was Ziwo Amo. He was stuffing as much food from both of his hands. But he did not look all the same when he was in Solluna. He was now in fear and desperate for food. The crying sound that came from the hut grew louder and then a small piglet appeared by the door. While whimpering, the piglet throwing tantrum by hitting the floor and banging the door.

Seeing what Ziwo Amo had done, Chi felt her face now redder and warmer. It seemed that Ziwo Amo was still the same; bullying even the small little piglet. No wonder all his followers oppressed the surrounding villages. "Ziwo Amo, you even bully a small piglet!"

Ziwo Amo raised his face and saw Chi, giving her his most desperate and pitiful face. "Please Chi, I"m starving." Ziwo was like a child who was caught for misbehaving. This was, in fact, different from the egocentric Ziwo Amo that had almost killed her. He looked more like a beggar than a proud Lord Amo.

Not long, the piglet stopped crying and was replaced by a sniff.

Then, a sweet voice called out from the hut.

"Papa!"

A familiar lady in violet dress appeared at the hut"s door.

Ziwo Amo spun behind. "Violetidear. Look who"s coming."

Violetia switched her view to Chi and at the same time, Chi shouted, "Sister Violetia!"

"Sister Chi!"

Both names were called in the same moment when they ran toward one another and Chi and Violetia embracing though they hadn"t met for a long time.

"Sister Chi, this must be your mama?"

"Yes," said Chi as Sunu nodded with a grin to Violetia.

"Hi, Mistress Myst"wing," said Violetia and Sunu replied her.

"Lord Amo, it"s been a long time," said Sunu as Ziwo Amo was smiling.

"Mistress Myst"wing, you know my papa?" said Violetia, perplexed.

"Yes," said Sunu. "I had met your papa about twenty years ago. Jing-dear and your papa were like brothers."

Then, Amo said, "Sunu, you"re living good all the time?" Which then, Sunu answered, "yes."

"How do you find your papa, Sister Violetia?" said Chi.

"Crescent Bay. Papa had first met mama there, and papa used to take me there. So, I just had a lucky guess, and when I went there, papa was really there."

"Looks like your papa always misses your mama," said Chi.

Ziwo Amo laughed out loud all of a sudden, as his face was pinkish.

"And then, we travelled in disguise. My papa was starving when we came to this village. So, we had to sneak for any food, and we came to this hut. There was a big sandwich loaf. At first, we hesitated, but my papa was really hungry. But papa had s.n.a.t.c.hed the sandwich before I took out some money. At that time, a piglet happened to be there, and he was frightened by my papa"s face."

"Luckily, the baby stops crying," said Amo. "Otherwise I will throw him off."

"Papa," said Violetia. "That is terrible. It just a baby, anyway."

"Oh, just kidding," said Amo.

"Me had resigned," said Chi. "Me is no more Warrior of Benevolence." At that moment, Chi spotted Ziwo Amo had an involuntary twitch, and she knew the exact reason for that. "My mama and me are going to live in Nuwa"s Sanctuary."

"Nuwa," said Amo in his soft voice. "That sounds familiar…"

At that moment, at the hut"s door, Chi saw a female boar looking terrified. When Ziwo Amo turned back to see the female boar, she got even more terrified that she disappeared from sight in no time.

"Looks like we have been spotted," said Violetia. "All the villagers here still fear of my papa. We better run before the army comes."

"Why not you use your magic to change appearance?" said Chi.

"I wish so, but I have deprived of magical dust to do it. We better go now."

Thus, Sunu and Chi, who had met Ziwo and Violetia in boar village, decided to travel together. Along the way, they chatted happily as though they were like families. Violetia was so delighted that she could, at last, see her papa"s smile and she told Chi that she had found her long lost real papa. Sunu and Ziwo were half-delighted and half-melancholic when they exchanged their experiences after Brother Jing"s demise. For a few days of travelling northward, they had reached a town which Chi felt awfully familiar.

"Wait here," said Chi, looking to Ziwo and Violetia. "It"s dangerous to walk around. My mama and me will find food."

Leaving Violetia and Ziwo at the nearby brownish woods, Sunu and Chi tread upon the brown soil with fallen leaves and entered the town to find food for four of them.

"Ah, lady," said a boarman from a stall full of steam buns. "Do you still remember me?"

Chi did take some time to recall the Cyaian who had just spoken to her. "Yes." At last, she remembered the boarman who had accused her as a misbehaved theft girl and the incident which several town officers tried to subdue her. And the awful town was, in fact, Well-met Town.

"I"m sorry for accusing you of a thief. Please forgive me. I really don"t know you are Lord Benevence"s warrior. I"m very sorry."

"And this redragon is," said the boarman, with a head full of invisible question marks when he sighted Sunu.

"My mama," said Chi.

The boarman felt so odd, switching between Sunu and Chi and back again. He had a look as though he was asking how could a lady had a redragon as her mama?

"My mama is really a redragon," said Chi.

And he snorted to laughter. "Madam, you have a very filial and kind daughter."

Sunu was more than a pleasure to hear about her daughter. The now-turned-kind boarman was kind to Chi since she had served Lord Benevence, bringing peace to the Land; and to Sunu since the redragons had turned friendly toward the Eastern Land. Otherwise, he would still treat her like a theft. It was Lord Benevence who had brought peace to the land, and everyone knows of his warriors. And Chi was proud to share the fame of Lord Benevence.

"Here are some buns for you," said the boarman, wrapping some buns with a paper bag and then pa.s.sed to them.

"Thank you," said Sunu and Chi.

The steamed buns were still as fragrant as the buns she had taken seasons ago. At last, her mama got a chance to taste the fragrant buns. But the buns weren"t enough for four of them that they continued to search for foods.

And they walked into the market where food stalls were abundant. Stalls were selling fresh produce while some selling cooked foods and some sold handicrafts.

Chi and Sunu pa.s.sed by some familiar-looking Cyaians, all had bare bodies. And Chi caught their dialogue –

"Vindicta is the agent of Ziwo Amo."

The mention of Vindicta attracted Chi"s attention; so, did Sunu"s. Vindicta was, of course, Lord"s Benevence"s warriors. There must be a mistake.

"Mama, they talk about Vincere." Chi spoke to Sunu in a voice-only her mama could hear, and she nodded. Thus, Chi walked toward the Cyaians who were speaking about Vindicta and the nearer she came, the more she heard about Vindicta.

"He is the one who had sold Imperiare"s tribe to Lord Amo, causing Imperiare to fall."

One of them, the ram noticed Chi coming. She realised it was the same group of the leo, tigris, ram and rhino that she, Zhanshi and Vincere had beaten in the last spring. The group of four jerked their heads back when they saw Chi. "Please, lady, please don"t attack us," They stepped backwards as Chi marched forward. It was not difficult for them to remember her since she and the other two had trashed them two seasons ago.

"Don"t worry," said Chi. "Me will not hurt you. Me just want to know about Vindicta."

"Vindicta?" said Longhorn. "Is he your friend?"

"Yes," said Chi, eyeing the ram which had just gulped his own saliva.

"Lord Benevence has found out that he"s the one who had sold information to Amo and had caused the downfall of the Imperiare. Now Lord Benevence had issued an order to hunt him."

Was that a mistake? Or had someone framed Vincere? Chi raised her brows, and the group of four shuddered with fear. They were frightened that she might trash them again.

"Is it true?" said Chi. "How do you get the news?"

"Yes, it"s true," said Ironclaw, nodding in fast motion. "From the notice board. There are his wanted-posters at each city and even in this town."

"Is there any mistake?" said Sunu, looking with doubt.

"Lady, I can bring you to see if you don"t believe it." This time, Goldmane spoke. He looked a little braver than the rest of his friends

"It"s alright," said Chi. "And thanks."

When Sunu gave her a look, Chi said, "mama, Vincere had been betrayed. Lord Benevence must be mistaken."

"It feels familiar," said Sunu as she t.i.tled her head down, looking as if she was in deep thought. "It was familiar with what had happened to Brother Jing."

"Why is it, mama?"

"Someone had also frame Brother Jing."

Sunu and Chi went to see Vindicta"s wanted poster at the notice board. The face of Vincere at the poster made them both feeling resented.

Wanted dead or alive: Vindicta Patriarca 10,000 xillars reward.

For being Lord Amo"s agent, causing the fall of Imperiare Kingdom and the death of Lord Imperiare.

How could Vindicta, no... Vincere had turned fugitive? All was well when Chi left Kinma City. What had happened actually? There must be an agent inside the Warrior of Benevolence. Who?

When Sunu and Chi returned to the woods where they had left Ziwo and Violetia, they told Ziwo and Violetia about the unexpected and shocking news.

"So, Vindicta is Vincere all along?" said Violetia. She was surprised while Ziwo Amo looked unperturbed as though he had known that.

"Mama, we need to save Vincere."

"Yes, Chi-dear," said Sunu. "It"s the best thing to do. Your papa will do the same."

"Sister Chi, we will do it together," said Violetia. When looking at her papa, she received his affirmative gesture.

Chi closed her eyes, and she spoke to herself, "Papa, please help us find Vincere." She took out her flute and blew a melodious tune. Seconds later, two equines came out from the horizon of gra.s.sland, galloping toward them. Ziwo rode an equine while Chi and Violetia rode the other one and they travelled toward Kinma City.

When the Sol hung low at the west, they were tired and stopped to rest near a farming village. With campfire and protection been prepared, they could have rest with peace in mind. They had dinner together with some of Chi"s favourites from Nuwa"s Sanctuary and Kinma City.

"Mama, me want to go to ask Lord Benevence," said Chi, putting down her bowl of salad to her lap.

Sunu, Ziwo and Violetia all stopped their meal and turned to Chi. They had a look as though Chi had done something unforgiven.

Then, Ziwo pursed his mouth as if he had something to say. "Chi, this happened in the Kinma City and right at the place of Lord Benevence. It is dangerous to seek Lord Benevence. Anyone could be an agent."

"But Vincere is in Kinma City. We must save him."

"Come to the second thought," said Sunu. "I don"t think we should go to Kinma City. By what of I think, Vincere must have escaped Kinma City. Otherwise, his wanted poster wouldn"t be at that town."

"Who had framed Vincere?" said Violetia.

"Now, the one who had frame Vincere," said Sunu. "Is also the one that caused the death of Brother Jing and Lavendia, stole your half piece, killed Chief Rouge and Phopo and the fake Vincere."

"Anyone is suspicious are those from the Alliance and Solluna," said Ziwo.

"Yes," said Sunu. "That includes Vera, Ziwo."

"All me could think is Vera," said Chi. "She is the most suspicious one."

"Vera could not have been the theft," said Ziwo. "Though she is crafty, she is loyal."

"How sure you are?" said Sunu, "A person could have changed. And we couldn"t make the a.s.sumption if someone is good to you, does not mean would never backstab you."

"You"re right," said Violetia. "Even my papa had changed." Violetia"s papa could feel a little discomfort that he turned to look somewhere else.

"Did Zhanshi knew Vincere"s true ident.i.ty?" said Ziwo.

"No," said Chi. "But he said he wanted to announce his true ident.i.ty and pa.s.sed the half piece to Lord Benevence."

"Probably someone had known of his true ident.i.ty," said Violetia. "And to prevent him from pa.s.sing the half piece to Lord Benevence."

"If like this," said Sunu. "How are we going to find out the culprit?" She turned around to see Ziwo and Violetia only shrugged.

"Mama," said Chi. "This world so complicated."

"Yes," said Sunu. "Chi-dear, it is."

What had happened to Vincere the moment Chi leave? Did someone in the Warriors of Benevolence was an agent and framed Vincere? And was it the same Cyaian who had killed Chief Rouge and Lord Phopo? Who was the real culprit behind all these?

Late at night, the rest had already slept. Chi knew it because of their snores. She was the one who could not sleep, still thinking of her friends. Was Zhanshi alright too? "Where can we find Vincere," Chi spoke to herself, while her eyes gazing at the cloudless night sky with a band of glittering stars. The night was cold and silent except for the fire cracking and the shrieking of insects.

Finally, her eyes became heavy that she dozed into sleep.

Everything was dark except that she could see herself. She had no idea where she was. There was a bright golden sphere shone before her. From the sphere, came a voice, "Chi-dear, you shall find Vincere in a village few miles east of the north lake." The voice was her papa. Once you find Vincere, travel to Nuwa"s Sanctuary. Never go Kinma City or seek Benevence…

"But why, papa?" said Chi. "Me want to ask Benevence who have framed Vincere."

"No, Chi-dear. That"s unnecessary. Kinma City is too dangerous right now. Going there is like suicide… just travel to Nuwa"s Sanctuary…"

Chi had awoken. The morning was still twilight for the Sol hadn"t appeared. With fresh hope and direction, she knew where she could find Vincere. And she began her exercise with a fresh and jovial mood. Soon her mama and the rest woke up and she told every one of them what she had dreamt of.

"A village east of the north lake." They looked at the map. River Spring Village. The village was once a middle point between Imperiare City and Kinma City, which they began their travel north-westward.