116 The Gorgons Lizard (2/2)

The girl besides An Ning stirred but even she didn't speak.They waited until Tsai Po's healing process was completed before they lifted him up and put him on the bed.The girl then sat silent on a chair besides the bed, watching Tsai Po sleeping peacefully. After making sure that He Heng was dead, An Ning covered his body in a blanket then lifted his corpse out and locked him inside another room.

The girl was still watching Tsai Po, the tears streaming quietly down her anguished face when An Ning returned to the room.

”He'll be fine,” An Ning said, feeling suddenly awkward.”He'll wake up soon.”

The girl nodded, sniffing wretchedly.

”Can you tell me what happened?”

”I don't know,” the girl said.”I woke up and I...I found them like this.”

”Is this Tsai Po's bedroom?”

The girl nodded.

”I sometimes take my breakfast with him after he comes back from a trip.He Heng, too.We..we've been together for some years now.My mother...she left me with my uncle before she became ill and died. He Heng...He Heng,” the girl sobbed.

An Ning let her cry.It was no use talking to her when she was still in shock so she made a decision and carried Tsai Po and the girl back to the Whimsy with her.

Nian Zhen was already going insane with worry about her when she arrived.The swathe of bandages unrolled the bodies of Tsai Po and the girl on the deck, startling the little group of people who gaped at them like they were phantoms who suddenly fell out of the sky.They stared at An Ning, at her crazy looking outfit and gulped soundlessly.

”How's Terri?” she asked, motioning to the girl, who got up and walked soundlessly towards her.”This girl is Tsai Po's niece.He Heng is dead as well as Indian, Gray, and Sumo.”

Nian Zhen looked at her as if he didn't understand what she was saying. Hank and Kari looked stupefied, their mouths open but no sound was coming out.

An Ning walked towards the twins and after making sure that they were okay, she motioned for the girl to sit down on one of the lounge chairs.The girl obeyed, still quiet, still in shock. Pollux poured water on a glass and gave it to her, smiling encouragingly as the girl took a sip then emptied its contents in one large gulp.

”Ning Ning,” Nian Zhen finally came out of his stupor and hoarsely asked.”What happened?”

”I don't know,” An Ning said.”Terri and the rest...they were attacked and beaten so badly and tied to cartwheels and left on top of the cliff on the other side of the island.Indian was...Indian was drained of his blood.”

”Drained of his blood?” Kari asked, her mouth shaking from shock.

”Someone stabbed him on the rib which opened a wound that made him bled continuously.I think...I think he and the rest were offered as some kind of sacrifice during a rite.”

”A sacrifice?”Nian Zhen was stunned.

”There was so much blood on the ground,”An Ning said, ”but only Indian was drained. And there were writings on the cartwheels that even I don't understand.”

”And He Heng?How did he die?” Nian Zhen asked.

”I don't know,” An Ning's smile was pained.”I found them inside Tsai Po's house.He Heng was already dead when I arrived and Tsai Po...”

”What about Tsai Po?” Hank demanded.

”He was close to dying.He was also beaten badly.They shattered his face, cracked a few ribs and broke one of his legs.”

All of them subconsciously turned to look at Tsai Po, who was lying on the ground still asleep.His face looked healthy and normal.There was no bruising on it.He didn't look like someone smashed him to a pulp either.He looked like a man who had one or two drinks and went to bed slightly intoxicated.

They looked at An Ning, a question in their eyes.

”She made him drink her blood,” the girl suddenly and woodenly said. ”Then he healed rapidly and we just waited for him to get better and she carried us here.” There was a stunned silence as the group tried to grapple and wrap their minds about what she said.”If only she could have arrived earlier.He Heng would have been still alive.”

The girl's iron control finally broke and she sobbed and wailed and wrapped thin arms around herself like an abandoned kitten left out in the cold to die.Pollux met her mother's eyes helplessly then went to the girl and gathered her in her arms.The two of them, both girls about the same age, clung to each other.Pollux again threw her mother a scared look but it was Tsai Po, who, awakened by the sound of this keening, went to the girl and took her in his arms.

An Ning watched them without an expression on her face.She stood a little farther back, somewhat isolated from the group. The sun shone through her lithe tall figure, the long hair gathered in a band in the middle of the black waterfall. The bandages around her suddenly tightened and sprang to life as An Ning leapt, her body suddenly blocking the sun as she free-falled, sword at ready, and went straight for the girl sobbing in Tsai Po's arms.

There was a loud cry, an alarm, and screaming as the swathe cleared the deck of chairs and tables, and people, then snatched Tsai Po away from the girl, who suddenly emitted an earth-shattering shriek that almost split the Whimsy and the entire island in half.

An Ning's sword struck down but the girl was quicker.In one surprise move, her body flew on air and she attacked An Ning with a broadsword that was as big and tall as she was.In her hand, however, the broadsword seemed light and thin like a toothpick.The broadsword again swung towards An Ning who surprisingly met it head on. At the last moment, however, before the blade could reach and inflict some damage, the gauze around An Ning formed a formidable and unbreakable barrier.An Ning's sword swung and in one deadly stroke, the end of the blade tore through a golden bracelet the girl wore on her right wrist.The bracelet shattered.An ear-splitting howl that reached the heavens thundered and almost broke their ears.

And the girl who was fighting viciously with An Ning was no more.In her place was a giant snake-like creature with twin heads at both ends of its thick, slimy and elongated body. The two heads differentiated themselves from the other by their color.One head with a small crown was red; and the other end with the figure of a knight on its forehead was blue.

The massive body floated as it coiled and uncoiled in the air, hissing viciously at An Ning as she tried to escape its poisonous breath.

The snake-like creature then slithered down to drop on the water, causing a massive wave that threatened to smash the barge along with the Fancy against the craggy face of the island.The thick wall of gauze, however, prevented the ships from colliding against the rocks.The gauze then recoiled as it flew back to An Ning, whom the serpent had trapped inside the writhing cage of its massive body.