A very angry river toad.
“Now there's something you don't see every day,” the fat man said to Hok. “A young crane dangling from a tree like a frightened monkey. Did you learn that technique from your little brother Malao?”
The fat man chuckled and stood. He had been on his knees in the river, hiding under the water. Hok realized that he was the same man she had seen at the front of Tonglong's dragon boat yesterday. He must be HaMo, or Toad. Muddy water flowed around his bulging midsection as he began to wade toward her.
Hok wished she had learned a few treetop monkey-style kung fu techniques from Malao. Malao would be very good at defending himself with his feet while hanging from his hands. Crane stylists, however, had no such techniques. Hok would have to improvise.
HaMo was two steps away from her when something exploded out of the water directly beneath her feet. Hok instinctively pulled her knees up to her chest and looked down. It was Cheen. Quick as an eel, he slammed his palms into HaMo's chest, but HaMo didn't budge.
Hok glanced behind HaMo and saw Sum surface in the shallow water. She began to pound on the back of HaMo's knees. However, HaMo's thick legs didn't buckle. It seemed he was not going to let himself be toppled backward, or in any other direction.
Fu roared and Hok leaned her head outside the willow's canopy. Fu was splashing toward them through the river and heavy rain. Hok saw their skiff upside down, hung up on several large rocks. It was empty. She had no idea where Seh had gone.
HaMo let out a tremendous CROAK!, and Hok ducked her head back under the canopy to see him squat into the water with Sum still behind him. HaMo's hands dropped straight down in front of him all the way to the river bottom, and he shifted his weight forward onto his arms.
“Sum!” Hok cried out. “Back away—”
But it was too late. HaMo unleashed both his legs straight back behind himself, striking Sum square in the hips. She was lifted out of the water and sent hurling through the air onto the riverbank. She slammed into the willow's twin trunks and her head snapped back, striking the tree with a hollow thud. Sum slumped to the ground.
Cheen let out a high-pitched shriek, and HaMo stood up. Cheen threw his entire body forward, slamming both his fists into HaMo's enormous belly. Hok knew that Cheen's double hammer-hand blow would have dropped any of her brothers or former teachers to their knees. However, HaMo's stomach absorbed the impact like pond water absorbs a thrown pebble. Ripples of fat radiated out from HaMo's midsection as he grabbed hold of Cheen's neck with his two thick hands and thrust Cheen's head deep into the muddy river.
Hok was about to drop into the water to help Cheen when Fu pushed his way through the wall of willow leaves. Fu glanced around, looking confused.
“Help him!” Hok said.
“Seh?” Fu asked.
“No! Cheen! Help Cheen!”
“Where's Seh?”
“Just help Cheen! I'll look for Seh.”
Fu locked eyes with HaMo and seemed to understand. Fu sprang into action. He leaped out of chest-high water and splashed down next to HaMo, cocking a tiger-claw fist back to his ear.
Hok saw a mixture of concern and amusement wash across HaMo's face. HaMo released Cheen and took a step back, out of Fu's reach.
Cheen half stood, half slouched. Dirty liquid poured from his mouth in spurts like a broken fountain. He began to wobble toward his sister at the base of the tree.
Fu and HaMo stood waist-deep in the river, sizing each other up. Hok twisted around and scanned the river outside the willow's canopy again, looking for Seh. She squinted through the heavy rain and was shocked to see him far downriver, struggling to stay afloat. He had never been a strong swimmer, and he seemed preoccupied with keeping one arm out of the water. It was his snake.
Hok turned back to Fu. Fu and HaMo were slowly circling one another.
“Fu!” Hok said. “I have to go help Seh!”
“No problem,” Fu replied. “I'll be right behind you. This won't take long.”
HaMo chuckled and Hok released the branch. As she drifted down, she heard HaMo say, “I like your spirit, boy. Forget your sister, I'm taking you to LaoShu instead—”
Hok hit the cold, shallow water feetfirst and began to swim. What did HaMo mean by that? she wondered.
Hok pushed HaMo out of her mind and headed for Seh with long, powerful strokes. The chilly water gave her extra incentive to keep her body in motion.
When she was halfway to Seh, Hok caught movement out of the corner of her eye. On the shore she saw two figures running. One was heading toward Fu and HaMo, the other toward Seh.
Judging by the first person's extraordinarily long ponytail braid, the one heading for Fu and HaMo was Tonglong. The other person was tiny by comparison and dressed from head to toe in black. A hood as dark as night kept the second person's face out of the heavy rain and out of Hok's sight, but Hok knew exactly who it was. It was Seh's mother, AnGangseh, or Cobra—the woman who had captured Malao the day before.