Awaiting The Dawn

41: A Long Night For Awa

They all knew the disguises wouldn't fool the officials for very long. And it didn't need to for steps Mutiny and Kidnap (again) to work.

Her crew split off into three groups once they tied up the unconscious magistrate and officials.

Hisa's team had the 'fun' job. Which was setting an empty government ship on fire.

Her partner was the one to actually do the task, and she was in charge of keeping watch. Once done, they hid themselves close enough to watch the fire.

She tried very hard not to let her mind wander to Suzu. She tried, but Hisa couldn't help it when the smoke rose to the sky and the fire kept growing. She couldn't look away.

Hisa absently redid her braid as she continued to stare at the flames. Their part of this step was done, now the other groups just had to do theirs.

The team Ji-Ho joined would call every official in Awa to a 'sudden' and 'unexpected' fire on the dock.

The one led by Yan gathered as many people as they could to the docks. It was made up of whoever was tired of bowing to Kum-Ji and willing to stand up for their home, which turned out to be a large number of people.

It didn't take long for the chaos to start.

Men shouting to put out the fire, officials getting angry that someone did this and berating the citizens for walking around so late at night.

People were pushed around, but no swords were drawn yet. The fire was more important. They had to keep it from spreading to the other ships.

They didn't notice one pirate dressed as an official slip away amidst the chaos. Hisa left immediately after, glancing back at the disturbance.

She had left six of her crew to fight twenty officials, with only the element of confusion, a crowd of unhappy citizens, and only a handful of sedatives.

She turned away. They'd be fine. Hisa had to trust that.

.

Between her and one other pirate, they had to 'visit' the homes of eight people. According to Captain Gi-Gan, they were the arms and legs of Lord Kum-ji.

They split it up evenly. Four homes each. If they were quick enough, they wouldn't get caught. Better, they may be able to catch all eight before they know to flee.

Hisa snuck into the first home with ease. It was barely guarded. Most of the servants had retired for the night.

She found the man in his bed, deep asleep. He was rather thin, gaunt even. The wrinkles that covered his face told of his old age, told everyone that he had survived a great many years.

He looked harmless. Hisa wouldn't have guessed that he organized the human trafficking center that Yoon and Yona walked into.

She was able to secure him with ropes and carry him outside.

.

The second house was a little more tricky. It was bigger, so it took longer for Hisa to find his room. And it was harder to slip out with the unconscious man because several servants were still awake. Apparently, his wife was craving steamed pork buns.

It was good that her husband was getting locked away. He'd married five times in the last decade, and each of his wives eventually went missing.

He was also heavily involved in trafficking a dangerous drug from the Kai Empire to the Water Tribe, but that was likely less important to the wife than the other thing.

.

A few servants were still awake in the third home, but there were no guards. She found the man's room soon enough, and was immediately greeted with a loud crashing sound. Something had broken inside the room.

When Hisa looked in, there were several broken pieces of ceramic scattered around.

She observed for a few minutes. He was drinking alone in his room, looking almost heartbroken. The man would alternate between muttering about his sorrows, chugging a cup and angrily tearing the room apart.

No wonder the servants were keeping their distance from this area.

Hisa didn't want to do this, but she pulled off her cloth mask and approached the man, giving her best friendly smile. She got close enough to jab him with a sedative dart, and he didn't even seem to notice.

But he wasn't instantly knocked out. In that short time, one of his hands grabbed her waist and the other squeezed Hisa's wrist. Her mind went blank. She froze, completely unprepared for this and her heart raced.

The man was muttering about marriage, tears in his eyes. He was drunk enough to mistake Hisa for the woman who, evidently, rejected him.

She waited for the effect of the sedative to kick in. When it did, he toppled to the ground but refused to let go of Hisa's wrist.

It was becoming painful.

While she was considering whether to just knock him out with a hit, the grip finally loosened and the man went limp.

Hisa rubbed her wrist, pretty sure it was going to bruise.

She took a page out of Thunder's book and looked through the man's stuff in search of something valuable. Finding what looked to be a treasured handkerchief with delicately embroidered flowers, she tore it apart and let the remains fall to the floor.

Petty? Maybe, but between torturing people in the name of punishment and the harassment just now, she was not sorry.

Hisa shivered a little as she carried him, not even wanting to touch the man.

.

She entered the fourth and final home right after dealing with the drunk, making sure the rope around his wrists were a little more tight than necessary.

The moon loomed at its highest point, beginning to dip down. She was exhausted from running around all night without sleep.

Hisa needed to hurry if she didn't want her last target to catch word of the rebellion at the docks, if he hadn't already. She left this man for last because he was considered the least dangerous of the four, and his main crimes were assisting Kum-ji with embezzling an enormous amount of rin.

His home was smaller than the other three, with no whispers of servants, no guards posted outside. Only Hisa's instinct told her something was wrong. It was too quiet.

She snuck around carefully, cautious and light on her feet.

Even so, she was not careful enough.