19.EH Family

“The falcon is a new thing too, right?” Donghae asked me and I nodded my head.

We were once again fearlessly walking through the jungle. I took the wolf form on me because that way my senses would be the sharpest. I did see the city from above but it was very easy to get lost on the way there. The jungle was full of smells, false clues and deaf sounds. Of course, there was also Donghae, who took the reins again after I told him the direction. I was glad that Hae´s mood returned and he was cheerfully almost skipping behind me.

“Yes,” I answered, “and I practiced flying too so you wouldn´t get injured again.” I could almost feel Donghae rolling his eyes, he didn´t say anything on the topic, though.

“But you could transform into an owl, right?” I smiled as it seemed that Donghae was in his curious mode.

“At first I wanted to get better at controlling the white owl form but I realised it wasn´t suitable for our journey. The owl was the best for night watch,” I chuckled, “but I figured I would need a stronger and faster bird to keep the danger away from you.”

“You make it sound like I´m troublesome,” Donghae huffed and pushed a large palm leaf away in his sulking rage. The leaf possibly hit Kyuhyun´s face, or at least I guessed so by the curse that came from the hunter´s lips.

“I never thought of you as troublesome, Hae,” I said quietly, so only he would hear me. I was still embarrassed for my feelings, even though everyone else apart from Donghae already knew about them.

“Good boy,” Donghae cooed and rubbed my back. I didn´t know if he was mocking me or praising me, therefore I only hummed. It´s not like it wasn´t pleasant.

The jungle was very thick and it was a little hard to breathe. The wind was blowing above the crowns of the trees but beneath it was humid and hot. We would get soon tired, but if we withstand it, we can reach the city of gods by tomorrow.

I looked up, feeling sweat soak my fur. The hot sun seemed only like a mirage because it was covered in fog. Wild birds were fleeing away from us, unidentified rattling in the bushes was making my hairs bristle. We were walking in slow pace, Donghae took the lead with a short machete in his hand. I couldn´t cut the leaves and branches with my paws after all. I tried to look up at the crowns of the trees as much as possible because I couldn´t stand the sight in front of me for various reasons.

Donghae had his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and veins were popping on his forearms and neck as he was fighting with the bush. Sweat was sliding down his forehead and his shirt was soaked through. There was a huge wet map on his broad back and my sensitive snout kept picking up the intense smell of hard work and exhaustion. But Donghae was excited to be a real explorer, a real adventurer, and I didn´t have the heart to ruin for him by acting all protective. I had to withstand the odour.

“Hey!” Kyuhyun called and Donghae turned around so swiftly that he almost cut off my ears with the machete. I growled at him and he apologized teary-eyed.

“What?” I called back.

“I think we lost Zhoumi!” Kyuhyun yelled while running toward us. “He was still behind back in the clearing but I haven´t seen him ever since.”

“Damn,” I hissed, “I hope he only got lost and nothing worse.”

“We should return to the clearing, we can´t leave him,” Donghae decided and I nodded.

“Go ahead wolf and sniff him out,” Kyuhyun seemed serious for once, “we will slowly follow you back to the clearing.”

“Alright,” I said but wasn´t very pleased by the idea of leaving Donghae from my sight.

“Come on, don´t waste time, Hyukkie,” Donghae was quickly untying the harness from my body, “Zhoumi might be in danger!”

I sighed and obediently rushed back with my snout towards the ground. I couldn´t pick up Zhoumi´s smell at all, it wasn´t until I reached the clearing, when I could detect him. Right away I began following the smell, it seemed that Zhoumi went the wrong way but in the right direction. I turned around and dove into the jungle one more time. It was if he was following us but from the side, I frowned. Something was odd, the track followed up to the place where we realised Zhoumi was gone, where it suddenly turned toward the right path. Either Zhoumi heard us and caught up to the group, or the answer is much darker.

The smell I was now following was the combination of our four smells. Mine, Donghae´s, Kyuhyun´s and also Zhoumi´s. I spent half an hour walking in a circle. I started having strange thoughts. Did perhaps Zhoumi fall behind on purpose? What reason would he have for that? Unknowingly I quickened my pace, until I was running. And then I suddenly stopped.

“Don´t move!” Zhoumi ordered and I did just that.

To my utmost fear, Zhoumi was standing behind Donghae. With his left hand holding the short man tightly, in his right hand he was the short machete. I didn´t understand how Donghae became suddenly a hostage and I felt terribly scared. I didn´t know the oriental man at all.

“I´m sorry, everything happened so fast,” Kyuhyun, who was standing a few steps from me was disarmed, his gun was lying on the ground. I breathed in and then growled.

“Don´t even think about doing anything,” Zhoumi warned, pressing the machete to Donghae´s neck, “your human form, quickly!”

I was so shocked that I listened to everything I was ordered. Transforming into a man in no time. Only then a thought crossed my mind, that I should have turned into a bear that fears no weapon, or a mouse that can quickly disappear from sight. It was too late, so much for the element of surprise.

“Why are you doing this, Zhoumi?” Donghae asked and I begged him silently to not do anything stupid.

“Isn´t it obvious? We´re almost there!” Zhoumi was smiling widely but his eyes were weird, as if polluted.

“You want the gold for yourself? If there is any, it would be enough for us all,” Donghae fearlessly spoke again. My body was paralysed, I’ve never been paralysed by fear before.

“I come from a very poor village,” Zhoumi began explaining, “things are really bad so I decided I would go and find an answer in the rich villages of the south. Imagine if I said I found a city made out of gold! My family and everyone would be saved!”

“Do something, he´s out of it,” Kyuhuyn quietly hissed when Zhoumi got lost in his story.

But I couldn´t do anything. For the first time, I couldn´t bring myself to think. Zhoumi was obviously out of it, if he was a terrible choice of a colleague or if he was confused by the magic of the jungle, I didn´t know but he was very dangerous in any case. My body was trembling and I could feel myself sweat under the long leather coat. My feet were glued to the ground and my eyes to Donghae. He had a bruise on his neck and a little wound from the machete from Zhoumi´s careless handling. At this point he could get slaughtered by accident. My nerves gave away.

“Don´t,” I uttered when tears filled my eyes. Donghae saw me crying and was watching me in shock, perhaps realising that I couldn´t help him. I kneeled, my knees hit the ground hard but I couldn´t care less. I love him, so… “don´t harm Donghae, kill me instead.”

Asa! So, all 15 suju members appeared in the series, Hyuk put on all possible forms and Donghae found the treasures. All that´s left now is the last chapter!!! in case anyone ordered an epilogue, it would come out separated. Thank you for reading, your cheerful comments and let´s see each other for the last time next week! - PandaHero