Ulong Dagger

Race With Time

Straits of Malacca, two days later at noon.

Some villagers arrived by boat, taking another man with them.

Rustam watched the people who came and helped them get on the boat.

"What's wrong?", asked Rustam. Back then there was only him, Ulong and Laksmi on deck.

The man who was brought by the villagers was in his forties short stout, dark-skinned in the sun. He greeted Rustam, Ulong, and Laksmi.

"There's something I need to tell you, but first let me introduce myself, my name is Saleh, I live in a fishing village east of Belawan. I have several families in the village where Rustam's uncle lives, one of them is Midun" he said.

Midun, a twenty-something villager who was with him, nodded confirming, "i picked up this Pakcik, he had stopped by Belawan because there was family business and he has a story that you seem to have to hear", midun.

"Ooh", said Rustam then smiled, deserved he felt familiar with the face of the man that Midun brought.

Awang and Anggu Razak came out of the command room and stood at the door, then Putra appeared behind him.

"Well forgive our disrespect, it's good that we sit inside to make it better for us to talk" Ulong said.

Ulong brought Saleh into the command room.

Meanwhile Rustam asked the villagers to go down to the deck to make coffee for their guests.

Shortly indoors, a cup of coffee has been served to their guest, Saleh.

Awang, Ulong, Laksmi and several other soldiers were already inside the command room waiting for Saleh to start his story.

"There are some things that patik wants to say", repeated pious after sipping coffee.

"The first is the bad news to hear about the commotion between fellow company soldiers on the streets of Belawan" he said.

He recounts that he heard from Belawan residents there was a shootout in the city streets at noon three days ago, between Heidrich and Suma forces, but because of the outnumbered Suma fled.

"Middle of the day? Then the incident was witnessed by many people?", asked Ulong.

"Yes so, but no resident or army company in Belawan knows where Suma went after the incident, the townspeople only saw him spur his horse towards Klambir Lima being chased by Lieutenant Heidrich and his troops, just as he had been told", Saleh replied.

"There are interesting things that people tell us there, that all Suma soldiers were shot dead, and Suma herself was shot many times but she was okay" he continued.

The listeners were shocked to hear Saleh's story.

"He's immune, is he?", asked Awang.

"He was not immune, according to the story of people who saw many bullets hit the body until his clothes and body seemed to be injured here and there, but he felt nothing and was still able to spur his horse away" Saleh replied.

Ulong nodded in thought, Awang glanced at him, but Ulong just shrugged his shoulders without saying anything.

"Nah now patik want to tell you something else that you saw yourself, and related to the previous story" continued Saleh.

And Saleh also said that one day after the clashes in Belawan he saw some company soldiers in a small bay near his residence outside the city of Belawan. At that time he was repairing the net with his friend Muin.

Out of curiosity, while fixing the net they noticed from afar what they were working on.

They saw the company's soldiers lift a wooden crate about the size of one and a half square meters and raise it to a small boat and go sailing with the crate.

"Our milk goes to sea together, we even follow them briefly from a distance, who knows they are carrying treasure" Saleh laughed.

"Where did they go?", asked Rustam, as a sailor and fisherman he knew almost all corners of the Malacca strait, and he knew it, even in his youth he had sailed many times to the Kingdom of Melaka (Malaysia), to Selebes (Sulawesi), to the island of Borneo (Kalimantan).

"They went in the direction between North and Northeast. Although we do not continue to follow but can expect the possibility of them going to the collection of islands in that direction" he continued.

Ulong glanced at Rustam.

Rustam nodded meaningfully, he could estimate where the company's soldiers were going.

"Then we spread nets to catch fish. Until late noon when we decided to return to the bay, the company's soldiers had not been seen again" Saleh said.

"What about the contents of the box they brought?", asked Mat Kecik.

Saleh looked at Mat Kecik and continued to tell stories,

"There's an explanation for that. So when we returned from the sea I was told that my uncle who lived in Belawan, the grandfather of Midun who drove me here, was very sick. Then I immediately headed to Belawan on foot, when it was almost Maghrib. Before long the company soldiers who brought the sea box turned out to have returned and also headed to Belawan, we met on the trip and they took me hitchhiking on their pedati", he continued.

After that Saleh continued to tell how finally the company forces who took him attacked Ni Gaok and his guards on the outskirts of Belawan.

Rustam, Awang and friends look surprised to hear this.

Ulong looked at them question markingly.

Rustam who understood the meaning of Ulong's gaze explained, "This Ni Gaok is a legend of black magic in the coastal region".

Awang and friends nodded in affirmation.

"I didn't even think the hereditary story was true" Awang said.

"I used to be a child if I was still playing outside the house at night often in fear of my mother about Ni Gaok" said Mat Kecik.

"Well, you were a child" seduced by Arman. Mat Kecik just stared at Arman.

"Please continue Uncle", Pinta Awang.

Saleh also explained in detail what he saw and heard, about the box that turned out to contain Suma's body pieces. And also about how Ni Gaok admitted that he and his guards massacred the company's troops.

And again all the people in the room were shocked to hear the story.

"What does Ni Gaok look like?", asked Tama curiously, as he, Samsul and three others watched as Ni Gaok massacred the company's troops on the riverbank on the Silver Cross. Tama and the other four Awang friends were standing at the door at the moment, because inside the cabin was already full of people.

"She looks young and pretty, dressed all in black. There were five male bodyguards with him, also dressed in all black, and on the hands of the guards at the wrist there was a glove like it was from iron" Saleh explained.

"Yes, it looks like he was the one who massacred the company's troops in the silver expanse" Saleh nodded confirming.

"It's not like it, but it's him" said Tama straightened out.

"What is Ni Gaok's relationship with Suma?", asked Anggu Razak.

"Ni Gaok said that Suma was his student" Saleh replied.

And the audience was shocked for the umpteenth time.

"Sial", said Awang.

Saleh continued his story about two company soldiers who had sat on the pedati and fled, but soon one of them managed to return. He also told me that while the soldiers were busy swarming his friend who managed to escape, he slowly slipped into the darkness and left.

Ulong thought for a while then said,

"It looks like we have to stop Ni Gaok from finding Suma's discarded body, but we have to think about how to deal with it, because this witch seems to be a lot different to Ki Bayu".

"I also doubt, somehow, how to defeat the witch" said Awang. He turned to Mat Kecik and Arman, the two friends just shrugged, confused. He turned to Tama and the other four people who were outside the room, they were so stared at that they immediately moved to the side of the door so as not to be seen from inside the room.

"I'm a little hesitant, doesn't mean I don't want to. Because this is indeed very important to do, Suma is a disciple of Ni Gaok while Suma herself is our enemy, the Warriors" Awang said with a heavy sigh.

⚜️⚜️⚜️

At about the same time, in Heidrich's room in Klambir Lima.

Heidrich's office was restored as soon as the military found out he was alive, and they also did not blame him for the incident that happened with Suma and her people. Neither did Heidrich know the real reason they did not dispute the incident was because he had pocketed a letter from the plantation airline.

Now he sat facing off against the only soldier who survived Ni Gaok's attack.

They sat face to face at Heidrich's desk. Jhon, as usual, stood next to him.

The soldier recounts the full extent of events from the moment they were at the small pier in the bay, buried the box and returned to Belawan and ended their journey in the suburbs.

"That means they're going to save Suma huh? Indeed, that person only brings problems" Heidrich said furious.

"Yes commander", replied the soldier.

"And it turned out to be that female demon who attacked us at the camp the other day" Heidrich continued.

"Such is what the commander said", the soldier confirmed.

"It is also possible that your friend has been kidnapped by Ni Gaok, and it is certainly not difficult for the witch to make her open her mouth" Heidrich said.

"Commander, if I may add, Ni Gaok is a legend that has been circulating in this area for a long time" said the soldier.

"Yes legend? why should he wait for you, instead of chasing you into the sea? it proves that he is still human. Maybe he is very powerful, but still human" Heidrich said with a cynical smile.

The soldier gaped, he realized the truth of his commander's words. Jhon nodded in confirming.

Heidrich has long served in this country, although only a few months have arrived on the island of Sumatra. And this place was not much different from other places he had been to. He was well versed with various such stories that rolled word of mouth and turned into fairy tales. The story of the magic of Ulong and his friends who in fact in the field he met them is a very clever hero not magic, but, (Heidrich did not even know that the soldiers who had been charming and released him were Ulong and his friends), and, or about Ki Bayu who he witnessed his own magic and even just died at the hands of his soldiers.

"So whatever they are, as long as they are still human they must have weaknesses and when those weaknesses are found they can be defeated" Heidrich added.

"Even so we cannot ignore that the woman and her guards were able to slaughter a hundred of our troops. And if he is the teacher of Suma, then his ability is likely the same as Suma who did not die after being cut into pieces, but still can be cut" Heidrich asserted.

"And it looks like we have to move quickly to stop the woman from finding the coffin you buried" he said.

Heidrich paused for a moment, thinking. It seems Ni Gaok will also need a boat to reach where the coffin is hidden, because the woman is a hermit not a sailor. He must not have had a boat to set out to find Suma's body.

There was another thing that worried him at the moment, which was that about a hundred Suma soldiers had left the force since yesterday and were not known to exist. It seems they decided to leave the army because they heard the news of the clash of fellow company soldiers in the city of Belawan.

Heidrich looked at John,

"Gather the soldiers, tonight we move to the sea, we must first arrive at the box containing Suma's body and prepare before Ni Gaok arrives" Heidrich said.

⚜️⚜️⚜️

At the same time also in the area of silver.

In a vast field.

A group of native army soldiers sat on their horses in silence and silence. They were Suma's subordinates who were still loyal to her superiors. Together they were seen also Ni Gaok and his guards on their horses.

Then there is also a Dutch company soldier sitting tied up on a horse with torn clothes here and a body of many cuts and bruises.

The wind swirled around them, blowing dry leaves and weeds, tossing and dropping them back.

Ni Gaok was sitting down on his horse with both hands extended to the right and left. He was taking off his crow checking the surrounding area looking for a boat or ship for them to use sailing.