The Test of the Grey Stallion
The dry yet cool air felt wonderful.
Stepping out toward the edge of the Anchuunbugu village, Hong-wi drew in a deep breath and let it out again.
Strange, how this desolate-looking land never failed to hold his heart.
It was nothing more than a foreign place, after all.
And yet, when I think about it, I can hardly claim to know my own homeland properly either.
Hong-wi broke into a rueful smile.
From birth until now, he had spent most of his life in Hanyang and its immediate surroundings—almost entirely within the walls of the palace, at that.
Only in the last half year or so had he finally ventured beyond that narrow world.
Hong-wi looked around him anew.
Perhaps this place will become my new homeland now…….
Should he come to regard this land as the home of his lifetime? The moment the thought crossed his mind, faces he had momentarily forgotten—people he could never forget, people he must never forget—rose before his eyes.
His wife, Lady Song, came to him first, followed by the eunuchs and court ladies who had attended him at Cheongnyeongpo.
The palace matrons and eunuchs…… his father, his grandmother, the loyal ministers who had laid down their lives for him, his uncle Grand Prince Geumseong…….
Hong-wi felt his chest grow heavy.
Just then, light footsteps sounded behind him.
Before, he would never have noticed them at all, but over the past few months his senses had sharpened back to life.
Hong-wi spun around, one hand moving toward his waist.
"Ah. You're up already."
Tung Jugang greeted him in the Joseon tongue.
"Didn't I promise?"
Hong-wi gave him a slight smile. Like a herald of dawn, Tung Jugang seemed to have materialized out of the pale morning air itself.
Hong-wi nodded.
"So, how shall we go?"
"On foot."
"On foot?"
Tung Jugang glanced at the eastern sky as he answered.
"Aye…… we'll walk a ways north, over there."
Hong-wi shrugged.
"Then let's go and see."
The two men walked in silence. The sun rising in the east was brightening their surroundings little by little.
Hong-wi spoke.
"You said you wanted to know me."
"That's right."
Tung Jugang answered in a level tone, as though he had seen straight through him.
"Men of the steppe are always careful when meeting a stranger. You can't know whether he'll be your enemy or your friend. And even if he's a friend, this is rough country—so you need to know whether he's someone you can trust with your life."
"So you don't yet know whether I'm enemy or friend, nor how capable I am?"
"That's right."
Tung Jugang went on with a smile.
"But you know…… aye, there's something about you that stirs my curiosity in a strange way. That's why I wanted to learn more."
"Am I to take that as a good sign?"
"Perhaps."
Hong-wi was silent for a moment.
"If you thought I had come to this village with some ulterior motive……"
"No, I don't think that."
"Why not?"
"Your eyes tell me."
"My eyes?"
At Hong-wi's challenge, Tung Jugang grinned. That guileless smile drew one out of Hong-wi in spite of himself.
"Let's be moving. The sun will be fully up before long."
They kept walking. The world around them grew steadily brighter.
Soon Cha Gyeong-yeon and Ho-in would be stirring, and they would discover that Hong-wi had vanished.
Hong-wi's heart was heavy. He had left without telling them where he was going; they were bound to worry. Ho-in especially would be beside himself, searching high and low for him.
Then Tung Jugang spoke up.
"Watch your step. The ground gets rough from here on."
Hong-wi looked around. How long had they walked? The broad grassland had given way to wetland now, and around the marsh, grass tall as a man swayed in the wind. Thickets of tangled brush stood scattered throughout, snagging them at every turn.
Hong-wi asked.
"What kind of place is this?"
"You can see for yourself—beasts and men alike find it hard to approach, so animals with young come here in droves. For them it's a refuge. And a sanctuary, too."
"A sanctuary. Of what kind?"
"Shh."
Tung Jugang pressed a finger to his lips, then lowered himself. Hong-wi crouched as well, and the two of them began creeping slowly forward.
How far had they crawled? Suddenly the way opened up before them—they had reached the edge of the grass. Tung Jugang raised his index finger and pointed to a single spot.
When Hong-wi saw what lay there, he drew in his breath without meaning to.
Hah……
A wild horse was drinking at the water. Its coat was a grey touched with silver, and it was larger than any horse Hong-wi had ever seen—and prouder besides. There was a dignity about the beast that overwhelmed everything around it.
If a king were to exist among horses, this would be he.
Hong-wi was captivated in an instant.
Tung Jugang whispered.
"A truly magnificent animal, isn't he? Look at him—how commanding! A born majesty, no?"
Reverence filled Tung Jugang's voice.
"Indeed…… magnificent."
Hong-wi nodded.
"Is that why you brought me here—to show me him?"
"That's right. But of course, that's not the only reason we've come."
"Then what?"
"Challenge him. Once."
"Challenge?"
Hong-wi's eyebrows rose. Tung Jugang laughed.
"Only a man with courage can face that one man to man, beast to beast. Otherwise, you'll end up trampled under his hooves."
Tung Jugang looked Hong-wi square in the eye.
"Well? Will you try?"
Over the past few months, Hong-wi had learned the craft of handling horses. Cha Gyeong-yeon had demonstrated before him the art of lassoing a wild horse and mounting it mid-stride. It was a skill the frontier folk did as naturally as eating, having practiced it since childhood, but Hong-wi had picked it up reasonably quickly all the same.
Even so…….
Hong-wi shifted his gaze to the grey horse. Could his skills subdue that rough, unyielding wild stallion?
It was a dangerous gamble. Just as Tung Jugang said, a lack of skill, strength, or nerve could easily end in bloodshed.
……I'll never know until I try.
Hong-wi turned back to Tung Jugang. There was no expression at all on the man's swarthy face. It was perfectly obvious that this was a kind of test.
Hong-wi felt his heart pounding hard.
"I'll do it."
A faint smile flickered across Tung Jugang's lips. His desire for that wild horse was strong—but his desire for the man before him was strong as well. Hong-wi knew instinctively that this man, Tung Jugang, was worth having at his side in the days to come.
To win the horse among horses, and the man among men—was that not worth risking danger once?
Tung Jugang handed him the lasso, then taught him the technique in a low voice.
"Get the loop around that fellow's neck. The moment you swing it, he'll charge straight at you. Don't miss that chance. Because a second chance…… probably won't come."
Tung Jugang's last words were nearly a whisper.
"Understood."
Taking the lasso, Hong-wi rose slowly. The drinking horse had apparently sensed his presence as well—it was a vigilant creature.
The alerted stallion kicked the ground with its hind legs and let out a long whinny. Startled birds burst upward in a flurry of wingbeats, scattering into the sky.
Lasso in hand, Hong-wi advanced slowly toward the wild horse. The distance between them was perhaps fifty paces now…….
Up close, the beast was terrifyingly large. Apparently displeased that Hong-wi dared approach so near, it pawed the ground with a forehoof.
Keeping his composure, Hong-wi raised the lasso. Even if he got the loop around its neck, staying mounted after that—refusing to be thrown—would take tremendous strength, technique, and above all, nerve.
Hong-wi gripped the rope and began to swing it slowly. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…….
The sound clearly irritated the horse. The stallion, nostrils flaring, suddenly kicked off the ground and bolted forward.
Hong-wi sidestepped swiftly, two paces to the side, and hurled the lasso. But the creature's speed was far beyond anything he had imagined. Beneath the dazzling sunlight, the rope sliced through empty air, struck the horse's back, and whipped up again.
The horse, having dodged Hong-wi by a hair's breadth, slowed and wheeled around with supple grace. Even that movement carried an almost elegant nobility.
For one instant, the eyes of horse and man met.
There was no time to rewind the lasso. Before he could manage it, the beast would be trampling him into the mud.
Even so, Hong-wi did not retreat.
Is this how it ends? Forced to yield the throne to my uncle Suyang, surviving one brush with death after another, driven all the way to this place—was all of it for an end like this?
Hong-wi clenched his fists. He could feel his heart thundering fiercely.
Very well. Even if this is how it ends, I will retreat no further. I will stand tall and fight this one battle out.
He stood perfectly straight and glared at the horse.
In that instant, Hong-wi blinked.
What!
For a fleeting moment, he thought he saw the beast falter—lower its gaze first, and take a single step back.
But he could not trust his own eyes. Was it an illusion? That creature could have crushed him like an insect with a single charge. Surely it could have…….
"Hyah!"
Then, with a battle cry, Tung Jugang dashed out and flung a rope—not so much to catch the beast as to startle it. The horse snorted and slipped past the lasso with a fluid twist of its body. It shot a sidelong glance at the two men, rolled one foreleg in a great arc, then turned its head and vanished into the brush.
"Whew."
Hong-wi breathed in deep and out again, then slowly sank down onto the ground. He stared blankly after the wild horse that had already disappeared from view.
Tung Jugang extended a hand to him.
"Well done."
"Well done—how, exactly?"
Hong-wi took the offered hand. Tung Jugang's grip was iron-firm.
"I don't think I passed your test."
"I never expected you to."
Tung Jugang shook his head and laughed heartily. Hong-wi was bewildered.
"You…… didn't?"
"No. You saw him yourself—that one cannot be broken easily. Even those of us who make our living from horses can't approach him lightly. He can turn savage when he must, and when the odds turn against him he has the wisdom to simply withdraw. Some among us even believe that stallion is a sacred creature."
"A sacred creature."
Hong-wi rose, still gripping Tung Jugang's hand.
"All the same, I couldn't beat him."
"You're wrong there. You stood your ground against him, didn't you? And he acknowledged you for it."
"Acknowledged me?"
Tung Jugang nodded slowly.
"I saw it clearly with these two eyes. For one moment—if only one—the beast bowed his head before you."
"And that counts as acknowledgment?"
Hong-wi gave a small laugh.
"……Someday, I'd like to make that creature mine."
Tung Jugang roared with laughter, then shook his head.
"You are brave. But reckless—foolhardy, even."
"Am I?"
"And how. You left your men behind in the village and followed me here alone. Just as I am a stranger to you, are you not a stranger to me as well?"
Hong-wi smiled.
"You said you learned what kind of man I am just by looking at my eyes? Well—I looked at yours, too."
"Oh? And can your eyes be trusted?"
"To some degree."
Hong-wi dropped his gaze before going on.
"Not at first, no. But I've looked upon many people since. Some of them betrayed me. Others gladly gave their lives for my sake. Somewhere along the way, I learned to read a measure of what lies in a man's heart through his eyes."
Tung Jugang studied him with pensive eyes.
"So that's how it was. No wonder there was something of sorrow in your gaze. Well then—do you trust me?"
He stepped in close, right in front of Hong-wi. Hong-wi stood the taller, but Tung Jugang's shoulders were broader, his frame more compact and formidable.
"That's for you to judge……. Aye—I came here with you, the two of us alone. Now it's your turn to answer me. Tell me, is my eye mistaken?"
At that, Tung Jugang grimaced as though he'd just taken a blow to the gut.