Queen of the Hutyuns (2)

Before Xinyi and Ming reached the ball, Nianshi spoke. "Governor, I'm sorry, but you have to stay where you are. Only the mistress can come here."

Ming obeyed and stopped walking but, "Wait!" He pulled her toward him and looked straight into her eyes. "Promise me, you won't leave without me," Ming said with pleading eyes. His sincerity touched her, so she said: "I won't, so can I go now?"

Her casualness made Ming uncertain, so he didn't let her go but only stared at her, waiting. Xinyi knew what he meant and shrugged. "I promise. Is that enough? Or do I need to say more to ease your mind and trust me?"

"No, that is enough," he said with a smile as relief suffused his being. "Thank you," and let go of her hand.

For Ming to say thanks was something new to her and took her by surprise... and a slight smile broke on her face. However, she hurriedly looked away and faked a cough to cover her amazement. Yet-Ming noticed it and eased his heavy heart.

After that short exchange between the couple, Xinyi walked toward Nianshi and recognized a streaming spell surrounding the ball. 'Hmm, the black spirit is afraid of the spell.' The dragon saw her pondering face and explained. "This is a cleansing spell. The spirit will slowly disintegrate if it comes out from the ball."

"Oh, okay. So, what will I do next?"

Before replying to her, Nianshi addressed Ming first, "Please, let your people go back to the city and no one must eavesdrop on us or I'll eat them because what we'll be doing is dangerous. But you can stay, Governor, but you have to be silent." He said it as a warning, but he wouldn't hesitate if needed.

Ming thanked Nianshi for allowing him and told the city guards to leave, but the fretting city guards did not need any commands. In fact, they were more than glad to leave than to see Nianshi's intimidating presence.

After they left, "Sing the forest song and the spirits will come out and you can ask them," Nianshi said.

Thus, she closed her eyes and sang the same song when she appeased the animals. And while her melodious voice filled the area, Nianshi lifted the spell. To Ming's astonishment, he saw a cloud of black smoke came out from the thin crack. On this note, the dragon placed a finger on his lips as he glanced at Ming, who nodded in return.

While Xinyi sang, Nianshi suddenly spoke to her mind and jolted her in fright and cut the song near its ending. Seeing her shocked face, made Nianshi ashamed for not saying it earlier "Sorry, I don't mean to fright you but we need to talk this way because the spirit must only hear you and no one else or they'll get distracted."

Xinyi got his point and spoke in her mind. "Guide me. What else do I need to do?"

"Make it kneel." Xinyi did, and the spirit transformed into a shadow of a kneeling man.

"Who are you?" asked Xinyi.

"We are the Hutyuns, spirit minions of Kaos the great chameleon." Xinyi and Ming gasped together when they heard multiple voices speaking as one.

She breathed deep to clear her mind and asked again. "Where is this Kaos?"

"He is dead. The other Sorceress killed our great king Kaos."

The three of them furrowed their brows to hear this remarkable revelation. She continued, "Why did the Sorceress kill Kaos?"

"Because Kaos mined the Wag stone that could inhibit the Chiangda's powers. She not only killed Kaos but destroyed the mines." This statement made Ming curious about the stone and the mines, but he kept it to himself.

"Why did you possess the snake?"

"After Kaos died, we have no king, so we lived in the animal's bodies for years until you drove us away from the other night. So, we settled inside the snake."

Xinyi caught her breath, hearing what she did. "How? Ah, how did I do that?" she stuttered.

"You sang the same song that night and we came out but you didn't tell us what else to do and let us leave so we have to find new hosts. But since we still have no king, a few of us entered the old snake hidden in the mines and the others entered other animals too"

Embarrassment seized Xinyi and bit her lower lip. "Sorry, I didn't know at that time." Nianshi reminded her, "Continue asking."

"You said only a few are in the snake. So you mean there are more of you?"

"Yes."

"Where are they now?"

"We don't know. We are scattered here and afar, as long as there is a lonely being like this snake, we can live in them."

Xinyi frowned, feeling stupid with her ignorance but she continued. "And you said you waited for my command?"

"Yes."

"Are you saying I'm now your queen?"

Hearing her asked excited the Hutyuns. "No, but if you'll accept us, we will be your Hutyuns. We need a ruler to accept us and you have what it takes to be our ruler," the Hutyuns said with higher tones. Xinyi heard some animated murmurings from the kneeling shadow and made her uneasy.

"Oh my, they anticipated that I'll say yes," said Xinyi to Nianshi in her mind. But the latter remained silent, thinking about something the Hutyuns mentioned earlier.

His quietness bothered Xinyi and had a hard time deciding if she would accept the responsibility or not. For an unbound girl freely living in the valley, to become their queen meant responsibility and headache, which was against her simple desire, which was to live peacefully with humans.

She looked again at Nianshi for guidance, but the dragon's mind was not with them at this moment. This made her indecisive. Would it be fine to be the queen of these Hutyuns?