High Above

  Chapter 23 Fire

  Harrison Harbor was supposed to be quiet in the middle of the night, but a raging fire suddenly ignited. The silence and darkness that shrouded the port suddenly lit up, and then a surging flame engulfed the building.

  The light of the fire illuminates half of the eastern part of the port, and it is reflected on the surrounding sea surface, so that the fish at high tide are fully illuminated, and the shadows are panicking on the bottom of the sea.

Many people were awakened by the sudden light and burning smell. The father woke up the child, the wife pushed the husband to wake up, and everyone hurried out of the house with the most precious belongings in the house in confusion and natural fear of the fire, without realizing it. He was not wearing pants, or his clothes were turned upside down.

   "Is it the lame Ossena's house?" On one side, sharp-eyed people quickly discovered that the scope of the fire was not large. To be precise, only one house was damaged.

  The fire looked mighty, but because it only rained yesterday afternoon, only the wooden structure inside the house was actually ignited. The main beams and roof had not yet collapsed, not to mention that the wind direction did not support the spread of the fire.

   This made the surrounding neighbors breathe a sigh of relief. After all, Harrison Port is a city surrounded by rivers and seas. Putting out a flame of this level is nothing at all. Someone immediately prepared to fetch water to put out the fire.

"Oops."

After confirming that his own side was safe, the people who usually knew Ossina remembered the key point. The burly fisherman slapped his thigh in frustration: "It's fine if the lame one is gone, Ian and Elan two children It's there too!"

   Ossina’s relationship with his neighbors is not very good. He seldom communicates with others, and his behavior is not smooth. Even if he is of the same clan, few people care about his safety.

   But brothers Ian and Elan are different.

  The two brothers have the same mother and half father, not counting the foreign Canaanite Moorish mercenary, their parents are good local people.

  Ian’s father was a member of the port guards and was responsible for investigating monster lairs in various places near the sea. Because he often killed monsters to get hunting, he would distribute some meat into the water to neighbors and relatives.

  The mother of the two is even a rare literate person. She can read letters and read bulletins for the neighbors, and she is also good at salting fish.

  But because of the severe storm that had never been seen in the South China Sea eight years ago, the convoy that happened to be going out to sea was completely wiped out—Ian's father was among them.

   Almost everyone remembers it.

  That day, dense thunderstorms stretched across the sky with roars, like branches of trees, and the purple thunder light pierced the dark sky and shone on the churning sea.

  Ian was born in this storm, and lost his father at the same time, and more people also lost their husbands and sons.

  Many houses were blown down, fishing boats capsized and sank, and the city walls on both sides of the east and west collapsed with many gaps...Because of that abnormal storm, the entire city of Harrison Port was completely deserted. Until now, the port has not fully recovered.

  Ossina is not likable, but smart little Ian is different.

  Thinking of this, an enthusiastic neighbor and fellow Bai Zhimin poured a bucket of water on himself and covered his head with a wet cloth.

  He wanted to get closer to the fire and see what was going on inside the house.

This person is the fisherman who spoke before, named Sai Nan. His skin is dark because he has been working at sea all year round. Except for his white hair, he has no connection with the White People, but his dark skin is thick and tough, like a layer of fish scales under the skin. .

  Sai Nan was once rescued by Ian's father from a group of reef-eating sea otters. When Ian's father passed away and his mother was still alive, this enthusiastic fisherman often found some excuses and sent a fish or two to help.

  He is indeed not afraid of fire, nor is he a stunned young man, he has his own selfishness.

  Sai Nan thought about it, and went to the fire to see if he could save it, but if he couldn't, he had to show an attitude. With such loyalty, everyone could not choose him as the fisherman leader?

   But just as the brave fisherman approached the burning house, he was shocked to see a familiar young figure swaying in front of the fire.

  Ian held the white-haired toddler in one hand, and dragged the blood-stained white-haired man with the other hand. The boy stepped on the shadow of the firelight and staggered away from the house that was groaning and about to collapse.

   "Ian?!"

  For a while, the fisherman froze in place, he couldn't imagine why such a scene happened.

But soon, he realized that the man gritted his teeth, walked quickly to Ian, and picked up Ian and Elan in his arms with one hand, while the other hand grabbed the apparently unconscious 'O Senna', then strode back toward safety.

Sai Nan naturally has such strength, and the catch he usually moves is heavier than the three of them combined, but when he was retreating, he asked puzzledly: "What happened, how did the fire start, Osenna ...how did your uncle become like this?"

  Although it was only a short glance, Sai Nan could see that there were deep and visible bony wounds on the face of 'Osenna', and there were extremely serious knife wounds on his arms and body.

   Fortunately, Oxenna is tall and burly. Although these injuries are serious, they don't seem to be fatal for the time being.

  But why was he injured by the knife?

   The first thing Sai Nan thought about was that when the scum of Oxenna was beating Ian, Ian resisted and stabbed him a few times—and he felt that Oxenna was not so strong before, a little heavy!

   But this thought just flashed through his mind. After all, this is too ridiculous. How can an eight-year-old child have the strength to fight with an adult, and still tear out so many deep and visible scars on the opponent?

   As for Oceana's weight... Hey, maybe the other party is the type who looks thinner in clothes?

   But then, Ian's answer with a slightly crying tone made him feel absurd, but also felt great anxiety and consternation.

   "Yes, it's a Sequoia native!"

Ian, who was held in Sai Nan's arms, was sobbing softly. He stammered and said, "A native sneaked over and wanted to take my brother and me away... He had cigarettes, but I had a headache and couldn't sleep, so I found out It's..."

   "Uncle got into a fight with the natives and accidentally knocked over the brazier..."

   Soon, Sai Nan, who brought the two brothers and the seriously injured 'Osenna' to a safe place, roughly knew what had happened.

  Ian's words were a bit confusing, and the child's sobs were included, which made the people around him feel distressed, but he unexpectedly explained the key information quite clearly.

  After Ian repeated the narration again, everyone probably understood the overview.

  —The aborigines from the redwood forest sneaked into the port, trying to secretly kidnap the two brothers Ian and Elan with sleeping smoke.

  Elan was naturally stunned, but Ian couldn't sleep because of the head injury he suffered a few days ago, so he discovered the strangeness of the sleeping smoke.

  After Ian yelled to wake Ossina up and alarmed the natives, the crippled guy unexpectedly broke out with blood, and fought with the natives who wanted to forcibly take the two brothers away.

  Although he had limited mobility, his room was small. He was born with a burly physique, so he endured the knife wounds and strangled the aborigines to death with a pitchfork and his bare hands.

   While tussling and tussling with the last native, Ossina overturned the brazier used to dehumidify the house. This brazier is usually placed in the kitchen to store fire, but because the clothes in the house are moldy recently, it is placed outside to dehumidify.

  Mars ignited the clothes, ignited the algae oil lamp that was turned over and leaked oil, and then lit the floor of the table and chairs next to it, and the fire spread quickly.

  The next thing was the scene that everyone saw—Ian couldn't put out the fire, so he tried his best to bring his younger brother and unconscious uncle out.

   "Good boy, have strength and courage!"

  Everything happened smoothly, naturally, and reasonable. Sai Nan had no doubts about him. He rubbed Ian's face vigorously, and praised the boy for his decisiveness.

   As long as Ian hesitated for a while, the three of them would never get out of the fire.

  However, the sharp-eyed fisherman also noticed that Ian was holding a small bag tightly in his hand when he was speaking.

  The style of the cyst is rough and primitive, obviously an aboriginal style.

"…That is?"

  Among the crowd of onlookers, an equally sharp-eyed herbal picker also noticed this.

  He usually walks in the mountains and forests, and eyesight is the most important thing. At first, he didn't pay much attention to Ian, so he didn't notice it.

But just now, he smelled a vague fragrance of flowers, and connected with the 'sleeping smoke' that Ian said before, this herbal picker who was worried about the fire and was wearing reverse clothes was moved in his heart: "Ian, Show me that package."

   "Huh?" Hearing this, Ian flinched in fear, stepped back half a step, and stammered, "But, this is what my uncle told me to keep it away..."

   This answer obviously made the herbal picker impatient, so he stretched out his hand.

"let me see!"

  (end of this chapter)