Chapter Thirty

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It was rare to see snow in the royal city because their mountain ranges never reached high enough, and the lower lands never experienced cold enough winters. Sometimes the cities and districts closer to the north would see a light layer of frost, but by the afternoon it would have melted. Because of this, Wang Bao was not made for cold weather. Wang Bao woke up when he felt Nakai sit up and he instantly felt the chill in the air. Nakai quickly wrapped the blanket around Wang Bao before he stepped out of the tent. Compared to the humid forest the day before, the campsite was almost a new place; the ground was still visible but a light layer of snow was covering the tents, as well as the small space where the fire had been. Ala was already awake; she was busy gathering wood to start a fire to make breakfast, as well as warm the area. Nakai squatted down by the fire pit and started building the fire without talking. They continued to work in silence until the flames had melted the snow around the pit, and Nakai ripped the gauze from his hand. With only a fresh layer of pinkish skin indicating any kind of injury, Nakai threw the gauze into the growing flames before turning to Ala. Both Alo and Wang Bao were asleep, and Nakai wanted to keep it that way while he talked with Ala. His voice was quiet but Ala could still hear him from the otherside of the fire.

"I don't expect you to like Wang Bao, but if you can't hold your tongue then I won't treat you kindly."

Ala stopped adding wood and looked at Nakai with a dark glare before spitting out.

"He's useless, I'm only stating the obvious."

Both Alo and Wang Bao came out of the tents reluctantly, and they heard what Ala had said. Alo turned to Wang Bao and saw some of the light in his eyes dim; running over to his sister, Alo angrily whispered in Ala's ear before she stormed off into the forest. All Wang Bao wanted to do was retreat back into the tent, but he knew it was best to deal with these sorts of things sooner rather than later, and he quickly followed Ala. Wang Bao didn't expect her to walk faster when she noticed him, and he struggled to keep up. It wasn't until Wang Bao could no longer see the camp that he stopped moving, the dark trees gave an odd feeling to the atmosphere and Wang Bao slowly called out.

"Ala?"

Wang Bao felt his gut telling him to move and he quickly dove to the side. Ala had thrown a rock the size of her head at Wang Bao, and he barely moved away in time with the rock landing where he had just been standing. Wang Bao felt the cold even more as he stumbled to his feet. Because the rock would have most likely killed him, Wang Bao paid more attention to his surroundings while staying light on his feet. All of a sudden Ala sprung out from behind a tree, and ran at him with an angry snarl. Her large hands were bent like claws while she swiped at Wang Bao's face. Her strikes were fast but sloppy because of her anger and Wang Bao was able to block most of them, the ones that did slip through left his cheeks burning with painful scratch marks. After Wang Bao managed to block several attacks in a row, Ala let out a loud screech. Before Wang Bao could expect it, Ala lunged forward and knocked him to the ground. Wang Bao felt the air leaving his lungs once he collided with the cold wet ground. Ala's claw-like hands had now closed into fists, with every heavy blow, Wang Bao managed to protect his face but his arms were becoming tender from the constant hits. With all of his strength, Wang Bao bucked his hips up before rolling on top of Ala. He struggled to hold her wrists down while shouting at her frantically.

"Why are you fighting me?!"

Instead of answering, Ala screamed in Wang Bao's face like an animal and he could see her eyes change from a warm brown to black. Wang Bao suddenly felt scared for his life and held nothing back as he punched Ala in the face. After the blow, Wang Bao wanted to retreat, but Ala had become even stronger than she already was, and he was rolled onto the ground again but his face pressed into the ground. Before Wang Bao could fight back in any way, he felt his arms being pulled back painfully, as if Ala wanted to tear Wang Bao's arms out of their sockets. Thinking he was actually going to lose his arms, Wang Bao let out a terrified cry. All of a sudden both Wang Bao and Ala heard fast footsteps running across the damp dirt, and Alo quickly tackled his sister to the ground. Nakai wasn't far behind as he scooped Wang Bao up from the ground, checking over his body with gentle hands. Nakai could see Wang Bao wasn't seriously injured, save for some dark bruising and sore shoulders, but he was trembling from the shock of everything; seeing Wang Bao stare at him with a wild yet distant gaze, Nakai couldn't help but turn around to see where Ala was.

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