The Bandits of Sawtooth Mountain

9. Lost and found

Hongjoong spent a good portion of his day in the sole companionship of his horse, trotting dutifully beneath him.

At the beginning he had still tried to hunt Wooyoung and his kidnapper down but it got clear pretty quickly that the other man and his powerful horse knew the rough terrain much better than Hongjoong did, thus gaining a huge lead on him. By now Hongjoong was just following their trail, his eyes trained on any clues they might have left.

Honestly, he was even astonished that the man did not just kill Wooyoung already, obviously either having shut him up with some cloth or actually being able to ignore the other's chattering. Hongjoong was pretty sure that if he had been a kidnapper he would not have hesitated to ditch or kill Wooyoung long before they reached their goal. If that was what kept Wooyoung alive though, maybe it was good that he was such a chatterbox for once.

As it seemed their goal was indeed the mountains too, San had been right. Hongjoong wanted to try to catch up with them before he had to fight the whole group of bandits, keeping it at a single person only.

So his plan had been letting loyal Wave rest during the day and sneak up on them at night but he had completely underestimated the stamina of that damn black horse. So he did choose to rest at night still, even when not wanted, just to be able to fight more rested in the morning then. He needed the energy either way.

After having a grumpy meal Hongjoong laid down in the darkness, hoping that he would wake quick enough if somebody were to approach.

He did, in fact, not.

When Hongjoong awoke in the middle of the night it was to the flames of a fire happily dancing away in front of his face, warming him up considerably.

He had, however, not lit a fire.

So he awoke with a start, sitting upright immediately. His gun was drawn too when opposite of him and veiled by orange sparks was not a worried San, as he might have hoped, but a man with a black hat.

"You!" Hongjoong would deny how his voice cracked at his shout.

From under that black mask sounded a dry snort.

"Aye, me. You trying to freeze out here? Already fed up with the happenings in the village?" His voice was not charming at all, a mocking lilt following his thick accent.

Hongjoong sorted his legs around his frame, slowly lowering the gun as he still had the security of the fire between them but letting the heavy weapon rest on his lap to grab it immediately again when needed.

"No. I lost something out here. What are you doing here?"

"Would you not rather have me here than in your precious town killing your people?"

Hongjoong tried to see more of him in the thick darkness behind him. His body seemed to blend into the black of the night, his silver accessoires blinking like stars in the night sky. He held his body differently than the man who had taken Wooyoung so Hongjoong assumed them to be different people, but he was sure that this was his usual bully.

However, he could not see any long hair on him. What did that mean? He was about a hundred percent sure that this was the man he had seen going south to kill Mary. The man Seonghwa said to have long hair.

Hongjoong tried his luck with his theory about Yunho instead.

"I do not care about what you do, Youjin. I will capture and see to your hanging either way.", he coolly retorted, watching the man hide his eyes beneath his hat again with a chuckle.

"My name is not Youjin, dear. Where did you get that name from?"

"I guessed. You look like a Youjin."