Chapter 32 - A New Plan

Fa Min was shaken and stirred, but not badly injured. Once I stopped my mini earthquake, he would be able to walk normally. For now, we moved through the bushes on our hands and knees.

Mother nature’s beasts had done most of the hard work. Between the many poisonous insects and animals, the forces that rose against us on both sides of the river had been decimated. The few survivors were none other than Captain Weng, the brute Min had talked about, and the witch.

I thanked the animals and dismissed them before they lost more of their numbers.

“I’ll cancel the earthquake now.” I looked at Min “We will need to get rid of the brute and Weng before addressing the mage.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to go for the mage first?”

I raised an eyebrow. Of course, it was! But I didn’t want to have to worry about the other two when fighting the Mage. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to easily defeat her.

“Will you and Ling be able to defeat the other two while I take care of the mage?” I raised an eyebrow “we don’t know how strong she is, or how many more elements she has under her control.” I shook my head “No, I’d rather we take on the minions first.”

We kept moving under the cover of the tall grass until we reached the place where Min had last seen the two men. We were fortunate that they were together.

Unfortunately, so was the witch.

Fortunately, they were arguing with each other.

Unfortunately, we weren’t armed.

“…and the others?”

Weng shook his head “On the other bank, perhaps. Here there’s only us.”

“What was that?” the brute asked. He sounded angry and tired

“That was most likely chi-magic. Wood, probably” the woman’s tone was cultured, yet she had a foreign accent that I had heard before but couldn’t place. “How many elements can he use?” she asked Weng.

The captain frowned “all of them.”

“Shit” the other two chorused

After a moment of silence, the brute asked: “why haven’t they attacked? Could they have left?”

“There are only two men against us three, and they are unarmed.” The woman answered, “I doubt the prince will want to leave before interrogating us.”

“Shh! I think I heard something.”

Of course, they had heard something. My water dragon was still moving through the bushes. I had ordered it to cause a distraction while I concentrated on my fire-breathing technique.

I needed to time it right, and that meant time.

I looked at my companions. Fa Min was determined while Ling simply looked worried for me.. I smiled at them both and whispered my new plan.