“What’s our next move, Kou Keikou?” asked Akim, casting his partner a teasing look.
Keikou was as easygoing as ever. “Powerless man that I am, I may have to turn to my animals for help.” With a flourish of his fingers, he played a bird whistle inaudible to the human ear, and a white dove promptly swooped down onto his arm. “This fella here is a perfectly ordinary dove. No magic to his name, just a little brains and brawn.”
With a murmur of “I’m counting on you,” Keikou released the dove into the night sky, and the perceptive bird flew a slow circle around the lake. When it passed by the cave, it darted inside in a motion that looked completely natural.
A beat later, a man’s angry shout rose from within. “Where did this bird come from?! Blast!”
Light spilled out from the cave mouth. Someone must have lit a fire—and the only person who could summon a flame on such short notice was a sorcerer.
“Jackpot,” said Keikou. “Who would’ve guessed he’d be hiding just a stone’s throw away from the settlement?”
He blew the whistle again. His beloved pet returned, having successfully evaded the man’s attacks. The dove gave a proud flap of its wings, which Keikou returned with a loving pat.
“Great job. Did you poop on his robes or something?” he asked. The dove only cooed in response, but this was apparently enough to constitute a proper conversation between them.
Unable to help himself, Akim cut in, “Hey, you sure you don’t want to join the secret service?”
“Ha ha ha! Not a chance.” Even as Keikou affably refused the offer a second time, his eyes remained fixed on the cave. “Glad we were able to track down the sorcerer. Now all that’s left is to carry out tomorrow’s plan. We’ll be counting on you to bring him to the right place, Sir ‘Anki.’”
“Not that I mind, but do we really have to wait until tomorrow’s eclipse? Can’t we just take him into custody now?” the spy asked wearily, cracking his neck.
“We’ll be in trouble if he swaps bodies as soon as he’s caught and gets away,” Keikou chided him. Being the impatient sort himself, he understood the urge, but his sister was right. If they wanted to fully capture the sorcerer, they had to carry out their plan during the solar eclipse on the Day of Ultimate Yin—and do it right after the sorcerer had used his body-swapping spell.
“Ugh… That means I’ve got to keep an eye on him until noon tomorrow, doesn’t it? It’s so cold… And I’m so sleepy… This is too much to ask of an old geezer like me.”
“Why not take turns with your men?”
“I don’t wanna hear that from the guy who rendered a handful of my precious personnel useless.”
“Anyway, I have a letter to write to His Majesty, so if you’ll excuse me,” said Keikou, letting the snide remark roll off his back.
Akim clearly didn’t value his men as much as he claimed, as he dropped the matter with a shrug. “Kids these days, man.”
His commentary did nothing to stop Keikou from leaving. After watching him go, Akim found a suitable tree to climb. Once he had a clear view of the cave from the gaps in the leaves, he started a small fire with tools he had on hand. He drew a ring in the air with the flame, then immediately extinguished it. Akim had his own methods of communicating with his men from time to time.
“The moment has come,” he said to himself.
The sorcerer in the cave had no idea that the besieging forces were steadily closing in.
“Time to make an explosion.”
Akim looked out over the frozen surface of the lake, praying that Genyou’s stagnant revenge and halted time would be smashed to bits and set into motion.