This short story was written for the Hong Kong Young Writer’s Awards Competition. This year’s theme is about the Silk Road.

Fangs snapping, throat hissing, a cobra was slithering forwards when an iron knife flew through the sand filled air, towards the cobra.

A deep growl emitted from the cobra’s mouth, a last dying cry, with a knife ending its life.

“Fresh food, anybody?” Nico was daydreaming when he heard a salesman calling out to passersby.

"A town must be near.” Nico thought excitedly, he whipped his horse Inferno, going towards the call.

The desert was vast, surrounded by sand dunes, it was like a scorching summer, extremely hot and dry, a place where a living thing can barely live. Inferno was struggling to keep itself galloping when finally, they spotted an oasis.

When they got closer, Nico realized it was an illusion.

He saw rows and rows of snakes, behind a gang of thieves. Inferno ran away out of fright, flipping Nico off his horse, slamming into the ground.

A man was wearing loose and layered clothing with pieces of bright copper armor covering his shoulders and chests. “Capture him!" The gang leader hissed. Rows and rows of snakes moved simultaneously, slithering towards their prey.

Galloping suddenly came from the east, it was Inferno, he had come to save Nico once again. Inferno charged at the rows of snakes. Snakes were dropping left and right.

Suddenly, a snake sank its teeth into Inferno’s leg. A cry emitted from Nico’s beloved horse. Even in pain, the brave horse kept fighting until all the snakes had fallen.

Nico ran towards Inferno, who had collapsed from the snake poison.

“No.” Nico cried; he knew his horse was dying from the snake poison. "Don't die, Inferno.” And after that Inferno closed his eyes forever.

“What am I going to do?” Nico thought, “I have to deliver the Emerald Vase in two months. A month has already passed. If I can't deliver it, Emperor Hadrian said my family's going to die, Emperor Shun needs it for his son’s wedding.”

After lots of thinking, Nico came up with the idea of pretending to be a thief, join one of the thieves' groups and steal their horses. Nico knew it was risky, but he didn't have another choice.

Nico journeyed all day through the desert, and after night had fallen, he finally found a group of thieves.

But first, Nico had to hide the vase. For if the thieves found it, they would discover he was delivering it for the emperor and steal it. Nico decided the best place to hide it was in a bag, with sand over it.

Feeling very nervous, Nico went up to the group of thieves named The Furiosos and introduced himself as a fellow thief.

The thieves were suspicious of Nico at first but after Nico told his made-up story of how he had gotten there, the group of thieves accepted him.

After a day of staying with the thieves, Nico asked them, “Can I borrow one of your horses to travel to Chang’an?”

“Of course!” They replied,” But we’ll have to ride with you.”

Nico was climbing onto one of the horses when a thief by the name of Gilgamesh, picked up Nico’s bag and asked if he could look inside. Nico panicked and instantly said no to Gilgamesh.

Gilgamesh asked Nico, “Why aren’t you letting me look in your bag? What's so important there that you don’t want us to know about?”

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Nico replied, “It’s just something I stole.”

“Oh really? It seems to me you're hiding something from us. I’ll be keeping an eye on you. You have my word on that.”

“Well, that went well,” Nico thought, “What am I supposed to do with him keeping an eye on me?” He decided to stay with the group for now, and make a plan to escape without them knowing.

With Nico and the group of thieves going towards Chang’an for a few hours, they decided to rest for the night.

Suddenly, Nico was approached by The Furiosos.

“Gilgamesh here says that you have something in your bag that you don’t want to show us,” says their leader Enki, “I’m afraid you’re going to have to show us this item if you want to stay with us.”

Nico had two choices he could think of: run away, or let the thieves have the Emerald Vase.

Nico ran as fast as he could. The thieves instantly started chasing after Nico.

“Don’t let him get away,” yelled Enki, “he has something important in his bag.”

Nico looked behind him for a moment and saw that the thieves were closing in on him fast. He looked around for anything. There, the horses.

The thieves were close behind him, but Nico managed to climb onto a horse and had already gone by the time the group of thieves arrived.

Nico felt relieved that he had managed to escape successfully. Now he could continue on his journey. Counting the days, he realized that he only had two weeks of time left.

Nico traveled tirelessly through the desert, sometimes not even sleeping or eating. However, he had managed to reach Chang’an in time with a week to spare, though that day had to be used to make his way back to the Roman empire.

Making his way towards the palace he saw many people selling and buying goods. When he had made his way into the palace, he presented Emperor Shun with the vase.

“Emperor Shun, here is the Emerald Vase from Emperor Hadrian,” said Nico.

After that, Emperor Shun called for Nico to give Emperor Hadrian a letter of gratitude. Nico felt proud of himself for finishing the quest given by Emperor Hadrian, now he only needed to make it back to the Roman empire in time.

When Nico was prepared, he climbed onto his horse, and rode off towards the Roman empire and his home as fast as he could.

Fangs (HKYWA 2025)