Harrison Harbor should have been quiet at night, but suddenly a raging fire broke out. The quiet darkness that enveloped the harbor suddenly brightened, and then a surging flame engulfed the building.
The fire illuminated half of the east of the harbor and was reflected on the surrounding sea surface, so that the fish at high tide were illuminated thoroughly, and their shadows ran around in panic on the seabed.
Many people were awakened by the sudden light and burning smell. The father woke up the child, the wife pushed the husband awake, and everyone ran out of the house with the most precious belongings in the house in confusion and natural fear of fire, without realizing that they were not wearing pants or that their clothes were reversed.
"Is it the lame Osenna's house?" On the side, the sharp-eyed people quickly discovered that the scope of the fire was not large. To be precise, only one house was affected.
The fire looked fierce, but because it rained yesterday afternoon, only the wooden structure in the house was actually ignited. The main beam and the roof had not collapsed, not to mention that the wind direction did not support the spread of the fire.
This made the neighbors around relieved. After all, Harrison Port is a city surrounded by rivers and seas. Putting out this level of fire is nothing. Someone immediately prepared to fetch water to put out the fire.
"Oops."
After confirming that their side was safe, the people who were familiar with Osenna remembered the key point. The sturdy fisherman slapped his thigh in annoyance: "It's okay that the lame one is gone, but Ian and Elan are also there!"
Osenna didn't have a good relationship with his neighbors. He rarely interacted with others, and he was not smooth in dealing with people. Even among his own people, few people cared about his safety.
But Ian and Elan were different.
The two brothers had the same mother but different fathers. Excluding the foreign Canaan Moor mercenary, their parents were good local people.
Ian's father was a member of the port guard, responsible for investigating monster nests in various places near the coast. Because he often killed monsters and got prey, he would share some meat with neighbors and relatives.
The mothers of both of them were rare literate people. They could read letters and notices for the neighbors, and they were good at pickling fish. They were also good at making fish floss for festivals.
But because of the violent storm that had not been seen in the South China Sea for 300 years eight years ago, the escort team that was going out to sea was wiped out - Ian's father was among them.
Almost everyone still remembers it.
That day, dense thunders stretched across the sky with roars, like tree branches, and purple lightning cut through the dark sky, illuminating the turbulent sea.
Ian was born in this storm and lost his father at the same time. More people also lost their husbands and sons.
Many houses were blown down, fishing boats capsized and sank, and many gaps were collapsed in the city walls on both sides of the east and west... Because of that abnormal storm, the whole city of Harrison Port was in mourning, and until now, the port has not fully recovered.
Osenna is not likable, but smart little Ian is different.
When he thought of this, a warm-hearted neighbor, who was also a member of the White People, immediately poured a bucket of water on himself and covered his head with a wet cloth.
He wanted to get closer to the fire and see what was going on inside the house.
This person was the fisherman who had spoken before, named Sainan. His skin was dark because he had been working at sea for many years. Apart from his white hair, he had no connection with the White People, but his dark skin was thick and tough, like a layer of fish scales under the skin.
Sainan was once rescued from a group of reef-eating sea otters by Ian's father. When Ian's father passed away and his mother was still alive, this kind-hearted fisherman often found excuses to send one or two fish to help.
He was indeed not afraid of fire, nor was he a fool, and had his own selfish desires.
Sainan thought, he would go to the fire to take a look, if he could save it, he would save it, if he couldn't, he would show his attitude. With such a sense of loyalty, how could everyone not choose him as the head fisherman?
But just as the daring fisherman approached the burning house, he was surprised to see a familiar young figure swaying in front of the fire.
Ian held the white-haired child in one hand and dragged the white-haired man with blood on his face with the other hand. The boy stepped on the shadows under the fire and staggered away from the house that was constantly groaning and about to collapse.
"Ian?!"
For a moment, the fisherman was stunned. He couldn't imagine why such a scene would happen.
But soon, he reacted. The man gritted his teeth and walked quickly to Ian. He picked up Ian and Elan in his arms with one hand, and grabbed the obviously unconscious 'Osenna' with the other hand, and then strode back to a safe area.
Sainan had the strength to do so. The catch he usually moved was heavier than the three of them combined. When retreating, he asked in confusion: "What happened? How did the fire start? Osenna... How did your uncle become like this?"
Although it was just a brief glance, Sainan could see that Osenna had deep bone wounds on his face, and extremely serious knife wounds on his arms and body.
Fortunately, Osenna was tall and strong. Although these injuries were serious, they did not look fatal for the time being.
But why did he get knife wounds?
Sainan's first thought was that when Osenna, the scum, was beating Ian, Ian resisted and stabbed him several times - and it felt that Osenna was not so strong before, a little heavy!
But this thought only flashed through his mind. After all, it was too ridiculous. How could an eight-year-old child have the strength to fight with an adult and tear so many deep bone scars on the other party?
As for Osenna's weight... Hey, maybe he looks thin in his clothes?
But then, Ian's answer with a little crying made him feel ridiculous, uneasy and shocked.
"Yes, it's the Redwood native!"
Ian, who was held in Sainan's arms, was sobbing softly. He stuttered and said, "An aboriginal came secretly and wanted to take my brother and me away... He had cigarettes, but I had a headache and couldn't sleep, so I found out..."
"My uncle had a fight with the aboriginal and accidentally knocked over the brazier..."
Soon, Sainan, who took the two brothers and the seriously injured 'Osenna' to a safe place, roughly knew what happened.
Ian's words were a bit confusing, and there were children's sobs, which made the people around him feel distressed, but he unexpectedly explained the key information quite clearly.
After Ian repeated the narration again, everyone roughly understood the outline.
——The natives from the redwood forest sneaked into the port and wanted to secretly kidnap the brothers Ian and Elan with sleeping smoke.
Elan was naturally knocked unconscious, but Ian couldn't sleep because of the injury on his head a few days ago, and he discovered the strangeness of the sleeping smoke.
After Ian shouted to wake up Osenna and alarmed the natives, the lame guy actually burst into blood and fought with the natives who wanted to forcibly kidnap the two brothers.
Although Osenna was inconvenient to move, the house was small, and he was born with a sturdy physique. He endured the knife wound and strangled and stabbed the natives to death with a pitchfork and bare hands.
While tumbling with the last native, Osenna overturned the brazier used to dehumidify the house. This brazier is usually placed in the kitchen to store fire, but because there were moldy clothes in the house recently, it was placed outside to dehumidify.
The sparks ignited the clothes, the algae oil lamp that was overturned and leaking oil, and then ignited the tables, chairs and floor next to it, and the fire quickly spread.
Then, it was the scene that everyone saw - Ian couldn't put out the fire, so he tried his best to bring his brother and unconscious uncle out.
"Good boy, you have strength and courage!"
Everything went smoothly and naturally, and it was reasonable. Sainan didn't doubt him. He rubbed Ian's face hard and praised the boy's decisiveness.
If Ian hesitated for a while, the three of them would never get out of the fire.
However, the sharp-eyed fisherman also noticed that Ian had been holding a small bag tightly in his hand while talking.
The style of the bag was rough and primitive, obviously the style of the indigenous people.
"...What is that?"
Among the onlookers, an equally sharp-eyed herbalist also noticed this.
He usually walks in the mountains and forests, and eyesight is the most important thing. At first, he didn't pay much attention to Ian, so he didn't notice it.
But just now, he smelled a faint floral scent, and thinking of the "sleeping smoke" mentioned by Ian before, the herbalist who was worried about the fire and wore his clothes backwards suddenly felt something in his heart: "Ian, let me see the package."
"Huh?" Hearing this, Ian shrank back in fear and took a half step back. He stuttered and replied: "But, this is what my uncle told me to keep well..."
This answer obviously made the herbalist impatient, and he stretched out his hand.
"Let me see it!"