In the early hours, everyone was asleep, but Chinua was wide awake with a full bladder. Every time she tried to fall asleep, the urgency kept her awake. She waited until she was sure everyone was asleep before slowly getting up, trying not to disturb Khunbish and Khenbish.
When Chinua believed she had come far enough, she unbuckled her belt and squatted down, beginning to urinate.
Timicin was standing not far from Chinua. It was still dark, so he couldn't see what she was doing. "What are you doing?" he called out.
Chinua looked up at Timicin, who stood not far from her. She continued to urinate, saying, "I'm urinating."
Timicin turned around quickly, a flush of warmth crossing his face. "Tell me when you're done," he mumbled.
Chinua stood up, tightened her pants, and was about to walk toward Timicin when she felt cold steel press against the side of her right neck.
"Don't make trouble, or you'll die," the man whispered.
"Timicin, don't look back," Chinua said, her voice steady. "I have a stomachache. Maybe you need to walk a little further to avoid the smell."
Timicin frowned angrily. "What kind of person are you? Don't you feel ashamed to say these things?"
Chinua slowly walked away with the unknown man, her voice still calm. "What's the shame? Everyone does this," she said. "By the way, tell Khunbish not to let Khenbish feed me any more of those unknown black fish from yesterday."
Timicin took another step forward. "Don't talk about it, just go on with your business," he said, his arms crossed in front of his chest. After a long silence, Timicin heard no sound from Chinua. "Chinua! Are you finished?" Still nothing. "Chinua, are you finished?" Only the sound of the empty wind answered him. "Chinua, if you don't answer me, I'll turn around." However, he still couldn't hear anything. Timicin turned slowly but did not see Chinua. He rushed to the place where he last saw Chinua, but she was nowhere to be found. "Chinua! Not funny! Come out!" he yelled, only to hear his own voice echoing in his ears. "Chinua! Chinua!" He began to panic and started to search the area, but Chinua seemed to have just disappeared from their conversation. He quickly ran back to the sleeping group, waking Od first.
Od yawned. "What's the matter with you? Don't you know not to disturb a man's sleep?"
"Wake up, Chinua is gone," Timicin blurted out.
Khunbish and Khenbish woke up suddenly, as did the others.
"What did you say?" Haitao asked, already sitting up.
"Chinua went to pee, but she's gone," Timicin repeated.
Khunbish rushed to Timicin. "How?"
"I don't know," Timicin said panickedly. "She was talking to me, and then she just disappeared."
"Take us to the place where you last saw her," Haitao commanded, already on his feet.
Timicin led the group of nine to where Chinua was last seen. "Chinua was peeing here," he said, pointing to a tree thirty yards away. "I was standing over there. I asked her to finish. She didn't answer. That's when I decided to turn around, but the moment I did, she was gone."
"Chinua wouldn't leave without a clue," Khenbish said, his brow furrowed. "Did she say anything?"
"Chinua said to tell you to stop feeding her those unknown black fish from yesterday," Timicin replied, trying to recall every detail. "Those were the last words I heard her say."
Khenbish sighed and closed his eyes. "Yesterday's 'unknown black fish' means yesterday's unknown men in black."
"We have to see General Batzorig," Khunbish stated, already turning.
"You two go down; we'll continue to search," Haitao instructed. He looked at the eight men. "You three go that way," he said, pointing to Timicin, Od, and Erden. "You three go this way," he continued, indicating Terbish, Chaghatai, and Och. "Muunokhoi, come with me."
With a sword pointed at her throat, Chinua walked slowly into a cave. From where she stood, she could see the wounded intruder lying on the ground, bleeding. Chinua stopped in front of the wounded man. "What do you need?" she asked.
"Take us out of here. If you do, I won't kill you," the man with the sword said from behind Chinua. He pushed Chinua's back, and she staggered toward the wounded man. "Get down," he snarled. "Don't be stupid or I'll kill you."
Chinua looked at the wounded man, an arrow still in his left shoulder. "Give me a knife," she said.
The man scoffed. "Why should I?"
"Do you want to live, or die here?" Chinua asked, her gaze steady.
The wounded man coughed. "Wang Yong, give her the knife."
Wang Yong hesitated or a moment, refusing to hand Chinua the dagger at his waist.
"It's an order," the wounded man insisted.
"Yes," Wang Yong conceded, taking the dagger from his side and handing it to Chinua.
Chinua took the knife. "Help me sit him up," she instructed. Wang Yong quickly followed behind the wounded man and supported him from behind. "I'm going to make another incision in your side..."
"Why?" Wang Yong asked frantically.
"Brother, this way, your injured partner won't die from internal bleeding," Chinua explained. She sighed, then instructed Wang Yong, "Hold his arm tightly."
Chinua touched the injured person and found that the wound was soft, indicating that there was fluid there, possibly an infection. She carefully made another incision at the soft spot, and blood spurted out immediately, giving off a strong smell. Slowly twisting the arrow, she pulled it out of the injured area. The wounded man didn't scream or make any sound to indicate he was in pain, but he passed out when Chinua pulled the arrow from his chest.
Chinua cleaned and bandaged the wound as best she could. She sighed, looking at Wang Yong. "I'm not a doctor," she said. "But looking at it and the smell of his wound, it means his wound is infected. If he isn't treated by a real doctor, he will die of a wound infection. I suggest you go down to the camp..." Chinua knew that Wang Yong would not leave this unconscious man behind. She quickly rushed out of the cave toward the entrance.
Wang Yong was about to get up and chase after Chinua, but the wounded man grabbed his hand weakly. "Don't..." he gasped.
"Crown prince, if we let her go, she will go get others. I will deal with her first and wait for me," Wang Yong insisted, and rushed after Chinua.
In the dark, damp cave, a small bonfire was lit, and the wounded man chuckled. He sighed, looked at the dark ceiling of the cave, and murmured weakly, "Who would have thought that the crown prince of the great Tanggolia Kingdom would die in a lonely cave thousands of miles away from home." He coughed, a dry, rattling sound. "The great prince, Yu Ge Ming... so pitiful... so pitiful. Ha...ha...ha..." He began to cough. He heard someone rushing into the cave, and at first glance, he thought it was Wang Yong, until the voice spoke.
Chinua knelt in front of Ge Ming. "There are a lot of soldiers here; we must leave now," she urged. She grabbed Ge Ming's right arm and slung it around her neck. "Come on," she said, "if you stay, you'll die."
"I'd rather die here than follow you to see those enemy soldiers," Ge Ming said, his voice raspy.
"Your life or death has no effect on me," Chinua stated bluntly. "You should think about those who are still waiting for you in Tanggolia."
"How do you know where I'm from?" Ge Ming asked, surprise flickering in his eyes.
"The choice is yours," Chinua said. "If I really wanted to hurt you, why would I come back for you?"
Ge Ming thought for a moment and extended his hand to Chinua. She helped him out of the cave, and they walked west.
It was dawn, and Chinua and Ge Ming were still some distance from the training camp. Chinua asked Ge Ming to sit on a rock.
"You wait here, I'll go get some water," Chinua instructed.
"We're in the badlands; there's no water here," Ge Ming said weakly.
Chinua looked at the pale man on the verge of death. "There's water on that mountain," she said.
Ge Ming chuckled, a hollow sound. "I won't make it."
Chinua looked down at the dying man. "You have the ability to travel thousands of miles to assassinate the second prince of Hmagol Kingdom," she said, her voice laced with challenge, "how come you don't even have the courage to climb the hill in front of you?" She rolled her eyes and looked at Ge Ming. "What a loser!"
Ge Ming looked up at Chinua. "A loser? I'm not a loser!"
"Then stand up and follow me up the mountain," Chinua challenged, pointing to the mountain a few hundred yards away. "Are you afraid?"
Ge Ming slowly got up and stood in front of Chinua. He bit his lip. "Who is afraid of you?" he retorted, a flicker of defiance in his eyes.
Chinua turned around, laughed lightly, and walked toward the mountain; the injured Ge Ming slowly followed behind her.