The Great Hunt
They returned to their places and watched as Onyan Isiha presided over the sacrificial rite.
It was a ceremony of thanks to heaven and earth and all the spirits for the bounty of the harvest, and a prayer for equally abundant results from the day's hunt.
The village men waited in silence, their hearts pounding with anticipation of the hunt about to begin.
At last the rite concluded, and Onyan Isiha gave the Niru Ejen their instructions for the disposition of each Niru.
When the orders were finished, the Niru Ejen returned to their respective squads.
The beaters took their positions in the direction the wind was blowing. The beasts' keen noses would easily catch their scent — but that had been the whole point from the start.
The blast of a horn horn tore sharply through the still air.
At the signal, the beaters scattered forward in Niru units, raising a great shout as they advanced.
They moved in a single line, keeping pace so that no one raced ahead and no one fell behind.
"Woo-se! Woo-se! Get out! Get out!"
The beaters shouted at the top of their lungs.
From the grass came the whir of startled wings and the thunderous clamor of creatures bolting in a panicked rush. The beasts, already tensed and crouched low from catching the scent of men, were thrown into utter confusion and fled headlong.
They ran blindly downwind, away from the beaters, never knowing that they were charging straight into the traps of their own accord.
In the direction the beasts were fleeing, mounted hunters stood arrayed in five companies spread out in the shape of a great fan.
The Yeojin horsemen were superb riders, handling their mounts as though they were extensions of their own limbs. And their horses, obedient to their masters' will, knew how to move in perfect silence.
They began quietly encircling the herds of beasts rushing toward them.
Another signal rang out from the Peore, the central command.
At that, the mounted Niru began to move — first at a trot, then gathering speed by degrees.
Startled by the sudden thunder of hooves, the beasts changed direction, but it was too late.
The riders drove them with practiced skill, and the panicked animals began to bunch together.
"Mahala! Mahala! Mahala!"
The excited riders tore off their hats and shouted. The word meant "hat," but it was also the signal to tighten the encirclement.
The riders pressed in until their horses' heads nearly touched, then each drew his bow.
Hong-wi picked up his own bow as well, but did not shoot. With keen eyes he simply watched the Yeojin archers at their craft.
There was no command, no signal, yet they loosed their arrows in astonishingly perfect unison.
Countless arrows rained down into the grass. Some found their marks.
"Not terribly accurate, though."
Ho-in whispered.
Cha Gyeong-yeon nodded. "True. But that's because the bows they use are such crude things."
The bows the Yeojin carried were composite horn bows, smaller even than those used in Joseon and shabbily made besides. They had the single virtue of being handy to use on horseback, but that was all. In accuracy, in range, in every respect they were inferior to the bows of Joseon.
"That they lack proper bows is a blessing for Joseon — and for the Ming."
"So it would seem."
While Hong-wi's party was exchanging these words, Tung Jugang came riding up.
"Hey there, Temusi-i!" he called out cheerfully.
Once the hunt had begun, Tung Jugang seemed to have clean forgotten whatever had troubled him earlier.
"How long do you mean to hide that skill of yours? Not planning to go for the top prize in today's hunt?"
Hong-wi smiled faintly. "I don't know that I have any skill worth hiding."
"Too much modesty is poison, my friend. A man who carries a fine bow like that — how could he lack the skill to use it?"
"Oh?" Hong-wi shrugged. "Why don't you show me yours first?"
"Gladly."
Tung Jugang answered without hesitation. Just then a roe deer, wild with fright, came bolting past. Tung Jugang twisted his upper body sideways in a flash, drew, and shot. Pierced through the neck with a single arrow, the deer pitched forward and fell.
"Ha!"
Hong-wi exclaimed in admiration.
Tung Jugang grinned. "Shall we see you try it, then?"
"Why not."
Hong-wi raised his bow but had not yet taken aim when Wol-yeong approached with the maidservant they had seen earlier.
"Oh — Wol-yeong! And Oun-yeong too!" Tung Jugang called.
"Yes, orabeoni." Wol-yeong bowed her head in greeting, and the maidservant called Oun-yeong followed suit.
Wol-yeong offered her greeting to Jugang first, then turned to Hong-wi with a bright smile. "So Master Temusi-i is here as well."
When Hong-wi returned her greeting, Wol-yeong went on. "What a splendid repayment you gave my uncle Ichigeo a little while ago."
"I committed a discourtesy toward your mother's brother — I hardly know where to hide my face."
"Not at all!" Wol-yeong laughed. "Nothing of the sort. I call him uncle, but we are hardly on good terms. Truly, he only ever says things that make my skin crawl…"
She gave an exaggerated shudder. "Today of all days, I wish he had stayed away."
"To anyone else I'd call that going too far… but he's earned it."
Tung Jugang agreed. "But what brings you here? You're meant to be with the Peore."
"Uncle Ichigeo's nagging drove me out. He keeps trying to strike up conversation — really! I came out to get some fresh air with Oun-yeong. Ran away, more like."
"What a tomboy you are."
Tung Jugang clicked his tongue, though his face was smiling. "What to do… still, I ought to send someone back to the Peore…"
"Don't you dare, orabeoni! Please… can't I just hunt here with you?"
Wol-yeong pleaded, her eyes brimming with earnestness. Hong-wi thought they looked just like a fawn's eyes.
Tung Jugang gave a helpless chuckle and turned to Hong-wi. "Well, can't be helped. Come to think of it, you haven't seen Wol-yeong's archery yet, have you? When she shoots, it's nine times out of nine — every arrow dead center."
"Oh, orabeoni!"
Wol-yeong shrieked, her face flushing deep red.
Tung Jugang roared with laughter.
"You're just trying to embarrass me later!"
"What did I say that was wrong?"
He turned back to Hong-wi. "Just wait and see. You'll be in for a surprise."
"Now I'm looking forward to it." Hong-wi laughed too.
Just then came a grunting, snorting sound, followed by the thunder of something huge charging through the undergrowth.
Someone shouted. "A herd of wild boars!"
"Watch out!"
Hong-wi's party turned to see a troop of boars bursting from the tall grass, tusks jutting out past their snouts, swinging wildly as they stampeded.
Hong-wi marveled at their sheer ferocity — and so did Tung Jugang.
"What a magnificent brute! Look at that one there!"
The one Tung Jugang pointed to was the great boar leading the herd. A lordly beast, its bristles gleaming, it looked to weigh a good hundred gwan — nearly eight hundred pounds. An ordinary boar barely reached seventy or eighty gwan, so this was an enormous creature indeed.
Hong-wi found himself staring at it, spellbound.
"That's a fine quarry, wouldn't you say?"
"It is."
Hong-wi agreed with Tung Jugang's words, and felt his blood quietly rising. It was a man's instinct.
"Have you ever hunted boar before?"
"Yes. But never one like that."
"You know the precautions, then?"
Hong-wi nodded. The wild boar was a fearsome beast, no less dangerous than a tiger or a bear. It charged at terrifying speed and had a deeply ingrained habit of killing its prey by goring it with its tusks. The very word for a reckless headlong charge — "boar-rush" — had not entered the language for nothing. Its hide besides was unimaginably tough, so much so that armor was made from it. Greenhorn hunters who tried their hand at boar more often than not ended up dead on the tusks themselves.
The beasts' weakness was this: to charge, they needed room to build up speed, and they could not twist their forequarters sharply. A charging boar had to keep its body in a straight line from front to back; turn the front too quickly and the hindquarters could not follow.
"Shall we go after them, then?" Tung Jugang shouted.
"Of course!" Hong-wi shouted back.
Wol-yeong was not to be outdone. "I'm coming too!"
"Fine, if you insist."
Hong-wi was startled, but Tung Jugang only grinned, as if this were nothing new. "But what about your Niru?"
"I'll ask Brother Keshine. Brother Keshine!"
Tung Jugang rode over to Keshine, who was overseeing the drive. "Would you take charge of my Niru for me?"
"Of course." Keshine agreed readily. "Off to hunt boar, are you? Don't overdo it — Wol-yeong's with you…"
"Of course not, hyung-nim."
Tung Jugang flashed a grin and turned back to Hong-wi and Wol-yeong. "Well then, shall we…"
"I'll ride ahead — you two can follow!" Wol-yeong cried out confidently, and shook her reins. Her horse reared once with a whinny and shot off.
The maid Oun-yeong shrieked in alarm. "My lady, wait… my lady!"
"Good grief, what a tomboy."
Tung Jugang roared with laughter, and Hong-wi laughed along.
Oun-yeong clicked her tongue and looked back at the two men. "I will go attend my lady."
"We'll be along shortly."
Oun-yeong hurriedly urged her horse after Wol-yeong.
Tung Jugang shook his head. "Truly, a tomboy through and through! Come on, let's join them."
Hong-wi nodded — and then Ho-in cried out. "I'll follow you as well… ow!"
He broke off with a grimace. Cha Gyeong-yeon had, at some point, leaned over and pinched the back of his neck hard. Ho-in, nearly dropping his reins, glared at him and grumbled. "Really, Cha-hyung, what on earth…"
Cha Gyeong-yeon ignored him and called out to Hong-wi. "We'd like to do some hunting on our own for a change, if it please you. May we have your leave?"
"Do as you like." Hong-wi answered readily.
"If anything happens, sound the horn. We will come at once."
"Very well… Now, Jugang, let's be off!"
Tung Jugang was already spurring his horse, galloping off in the direction Wol-yeong's party had vanished. Hong-wi spurred his own mount and followed. The two of them vanished from sight like arrows loosed from a bow.
Ho-in shouted after them. "Cha-hyung, what in the world was that for? Leaving His Highness alone like that!"
"Not alone, is he? Aigoo, friend, how can anyone be so oblivious?"
Cha Gyeong-yeon feigned exasperation, but the corners of his mouth were curling upward.
Ho-in was left standing there, utterly baffled. "Oblivious, is it…? Honestly, I feel sorry for Yeon-bi already, I do."
"What does Yeon-bi have to do with anything? We're not like that, I told you… no, wait — before that, will you please tell me what on earth this is all about?"
"Ho, really. You truly don't see it?"
"See what, exactly?"
Cha Gyeong-yeon kept chuckling to himself. "That Lady Onyan Wol-yeong — why do you suppose she's so set on riding off with His Highness, of all people? You really can't guess?"
"Wha—?"
Ho-in's eyes went round.
Cha Gyeong-yeon pressed on. "It means she's interested, doesn't it? Interested! That highborn young lady, mind you."
"Highborn?"
"That Onyan clan — she's the only daughter of its head, no less."
"No, no, hold on…" Ho-in knitted his brow. "Then what — are you saying, Cha-hyung, that you want our Prince to become the son-in-law of that Yeojin chieftain Onyan Isiha, or something of the kind?"
"Why, what else would it be?"
"But she's a barbarian chieftain's daughter, no matter how you look at it!"
Ho-in grumbled. Much of his prejudice against the Yeojin had melted away since coming here, but there were still lines. It sat poorly with him that Hong-wi — the rightful King of Joseon — should be growing fond of a chieftain's barbarian daughter.
"She's no mere chieftain's daughter. She is the legitimate daughter of the old Jin imperial house. And as for Grand Chieftain Onyan Isiha — all the Yeojin tribes hold him in reverence. How can you call such a man an ordinary tribal chief?"
"I'll grant you Isiha is a remarkable man… but still."
"Just wait and see. If this goes well, it becomes something enormous indeed. In a single stroke, our Prince rises from an unfamiliar foreigner to stand at the very heart of the Yeojin world. You know the tale of Heungbo, don't you?"
"Of course…"
"Heungbo opened the gourd his swallow brought him, and what happened?"
"He won gold and treasures, got himself a great tiled mansion like a whale's back — he became rich, didn't he?"
"Precisely. This is Heungbo's gourd — and no ordinary gourd. A grand prize, and no ordinary grand prize, but the grandest of them all."
"Hmm."
Ho-in still looked less than convinced.
Cha Gyeong-yeon just kept chuckling. "Wait and see. Whether I'm right or wrong."