Rescue in the Rapids
Amid the churning current, Hong-wi's figure appeared and vanished, again and again, swallowed by the water and surging back up.
Ho-in clenched his fists.
Damn those bastards!
He spat the curse as he glared at Kakduri and his crew, and the very next moment he too was crouching, ready to plunge into the stream. That was when a shout rang out.
"Ahh!"
Judongi's head had finally burst up through the water, and Maruchi couldn't help but cheer. But it lasted only a breath — the two figures disappeared once more beneath the surface. Maruchi screwed his eyes shut.
Then it happened.
"What are you doing!"
Maruchi opened his eyes and saw Hong-wi holding the limp Judongi with one arm while his other hand gripped the grass roots of a ridge. Kakduri and Tanduri rushed over at once, with Maruchi and Ho-in scrambling after them, and together they dragged the two men out to the bank.
Judongi's bulk alone made him a mountain, and having swallowed half the stream and lost consciousness, he was heavier still.
Good heavens — he carried this giant through that current?
Kakduri's crew clucked their tongues at Hong-wi's raw strength. Drained nearly to the last drop, Hong-wi glanced back at Kakduri.
"So? Will you treat me like a guest now?"
"Of course we will."
Kakduri dropped to his knees on the spot.
"Thank you for saving Judongi's life, my lord. Take this bow."
Tanduri and Maruchi bowed just as deeply. Hong-wi laughed.
"I only asked for a guest's welcome, and now I've gone and earned an elder brother's on top of it."
"You saved the life of Judongi, my closest friend," Maruchi replied. "A bow from us is hardly enough, let alone mere hospitality."
"So this friend's name is Judongi?"
Maruchi nodded. "He's my one and only true companion."
"I see...."
Hong-wi rose to his feet and looked down at the still-limp Judongi. "He's swallowed that much water, so he'll need reviving. Let's try a bit of massage technique."
Among the many things Cha Gyeong-yeon had taught him, there had been plenty of useful ones. He pinched Judongi's nose with one hand, pried open his mouth with the other, tilted back the jaw, and let the head fall. Fortunately, nothing was lodged in the throat. Hong-wi began pressing down hard on Judongi's chest.
"Will he come back to us?" Maruchi asked, eyes brimming with tears.
"He's built like a bear, this one — he'll be fine. Just stay back."
At that very moment, as if he'd been waiting for those words, Judongi gave a heave, half-raised himself, and vomited up a torrent of water. He retched again and again, spewing out everything he'd swallowed, then snapped his eyes wide open.
"What in... how in the blazes did this happen?"
Once his senses returned, Judongi glanced sharply around him and scrambled to his feet. His gaze came to rest on Hong-wi, who grinned and spoke.
"Well? Back with us?"
"Hnngh!"
Judongi blinked his saucer eyes, cocked his head from side to side, and muttered, "I lost... didn't I?" Then his eyes swung to Maruchi. "You. Come here a moment."
"What for...."
"Never mind — get over here!"
Maruchi hesitated, but when Tung Judong roared, he shuffled over — and a slap cracked across his cheek, sending him sprawling backward.
"What was that for!"
Maruchi grumbled, rubbing his stinging face, but Judongi paid him no mind. He stared down at his own hand and murmured, "It's true... I didn't lose because my strength failed me today."
He looked at Hong-wi again. Hong-wi rose, water still streaming off him, and called out, "If you want it, we can go another round."
No second invitation was needed. Judongi grunted and squared up to Ho-in, while the Kakduri brothers and Maruchi quickly backed away. The two men eyed each other for a moment, both swaying slightly — they'd each burned through no small measure of strength just before. Then Judongi charged first.
"Hyyah!"
His movement was quick as lightning, his momentum like a bull's. Ho-in's eyes went round.
That speed, out of a body like that?
Before he could so much as shout, Judongi seized Hong-wi around the waist, hoisted him clean overhead, and hurled him in a great throw.
"Ah!"
Had Hong-wi been the man of old, that attack would have driven him headfirst into the dirt. But once again, Cha Gyeong-yeon's training proved its worth.
"What the...?"
Kakduri's eyebrows shot up. Tanduri's jaw hung open. Even Maruchi, still rubbing the cheek Judongi had smacked, couldn't close his mouth. Tung Judong's eyes bulged too.
...What is this? Hong-wi should have planted headfirst into the ground like a spear — but instead his body twisted in midair, he spun through a full somersault, and came down light as a feather on both feet.
Hong-wi laughed heartily after completing the somersault. "I'll say this — you've got some real strength!"
"Grrr..."
His signature slam-down having failed without warning, Judongi grunted and huffed, sorely aggrieved.
Then it happened.
"Judongi, that's enough! Look at him — he's no man you can beat."
"...Great Chieftain?"
Every head turned at once. There stood none other than Tung Jugang, and behind him a wall of stout men, Keshine at their head. Keshine stepped forward and fixed the Kakduri brothers with a stare — though a trace of amusement played in his eyes.
"What did I tell you? Didn't I say to treat our guest properly?"
"...We're sorry."
Kakduri and Tanduri hung their heads. Maruchi flushed red and scratched at his ears along with them. Rough-tempered and raised without much in the way of manners they may have been, but at heart they were simple, honest folk.
Hong-wi took a step forward. "Don't scold them too harshly. You can't know a man until you've crossed hands with him — isn't that so?"
"That's true enough."
Tung Jugang laughed. "We did the same, gauging each newcomer's skill like this whenever we brought someone new in. Sonata, you remember?"
"Of course. How could I forget?"
A tall man standing at Tung Jugang's left broke into a smile. He carried a lazy, easygoing air, but his voice was clear and ringing. He studied Hong-wi with curious eyes.
"This one's situation was much like mine when we first met."
"Rather, things were uglier when you first met Tasbuka and Tashari. You may not remember, Elder Brother."
"As if I'd forget. Hahaha!"
Tung Jugang roared with laughter. The tension had eased considerably, and Hong-wi felt his heart settle. He had no wish to quarrel with Tung Jugang's friends the moment they'd met.
"All of us grew close by fighting like this. That's just how men are, isn't it?"
"It is."
Hong-wi smiled and agreed. Kakduri and Tanduri exchanged looks and laughed too. Keshine seemed mildly disapproving, but he nodded as if conceding the point.
"Since Lord Temusi himself says so... we'll let this matter pass. But if we're to know our guest's true skill, it must be shown before all the brothers, properly. Ganging up on him like this was nothing but bullying."
"Understood!"
The Kakduri brothers cried out in unison. Tung Judong, meanwhile, still wore a sullen look, as if something about all this displeased him. Tung Jugang studied his younger brother for a long moment.
"Well, Judongi? Will you face Temusi again?"
"...I didn't lose in raw strength."
"Oh, for goodness' sake, Judongi!"
Tung Jugang burst into his hearty laugh. "Fighting isn't only about strength — technique matters too. True, if the gap in power is too wide, no technique can overcome it. But the way I see it, Temusi may not match you in brute force, yet in skill he can outstrip you as much as he pleases. You've crossed hands twice already — have you still not figured that out?"
At that, Tung Judong stuck out his lip and said nothing. A wild, ill-mannered boy he might be, but before his elder brother he melted like wax.
Tung Jugang went on. "And that's not all. Temusi leapt into a raging current to save your life. You owe courtesy to the man who pulled you back from death."
"Aye, that's so."
Judongi's expression finally softened. "Then what should I do?"
At his brother's words, Judongi turned to Hong-wi and bowed, hesitantly and clumsily. From the awkwardness of it, he had clearly never bowed to anyone in his life, and a smile rose unbidden to Hong-wi's lips.
"I didn't know who you were, my lord. Thank you for saving me."
"Will you go another round someday?"
"Anytime, if you'll allow it."
"Good. I learned only what I picked up over someone's shoulder, so it's nothing grand, but I can teach you technique as well."
"Truly?"
"Of course."
Tung Jugang, deciding the matter was settled, clapped his hands and called out, "Come, come! The bruised egos are all mended now, so let's head to the fortress. We should give Temusi a proper introduction — and come to think of it, we'll want a feast as well."
"Oh, right!"
Judongi shouted. "I just happen to have brought down a wild boar — let's make it the feast meat and have ourselves a drinking party!"
"Planning to drink too, are you?"
Tung Jugang asked with a smile.
"Naturally. Who'd turn down drink?"
Judongi's nostrils were already flaring. The sight set everyone laughing.
"Maruchi, you've got the fastest legs — go ahead and spread word to the others back at the fortress."
"Right away!"
Maruchi shot off at once. Tung Jugang turned to Hong-wi. "Come. You've already met Keshine, so let me introduce you to this one... though I hear Keshine already told you about the Eight Stalwarts?"
"He did. And that you're the eldest brother of them all."
"That duty really should fall to Keshine, but somehow it landed on me. In any case — this here is Sonata, third in the order of the Eight Stalwarts. Go on, Sonata, introduce yourself... Temusi."
"I've heard a great deal about Lord Temusi. Didn't you accomplish a tremendous feat at the last hunt? A song should rightly be composed in your honor."
"That was all thanks to this Tung Jugang. I merely struck the final blow."
Sonata's voice was soft yet full of strength — a pleasure to the ear — and Hong-wi smiled back at him. Sonata removed his hat and bowed. His head was oddly shaved, bald at the crown with hair left only at the sides.
"Allow me a proper greeting! My name is Nata, and I bear the surname So. My clan was once a family of noble lords under the Liao dynasty that ruled the Central Plains long ago — we produced countless generals and renowned chancellors. Today our ancestors' glory lies sunk in darkness, and their descendants are scattered far and few, but we still sing of it, you know. Someday I'll compose a song for your feat as well, Lord Temusi, and sing it for you."
There was a melody in Sonata's words, like a song in itself. Tung Jugang added, "This one loves nothing more than song and dance. Once the drink starts flowing, he'll treat us to something fine."
Hong-wi smiled. "I look forward to it. So you're a descendant of the Khitan, then?"
"That I am — though the old customs slip further away with each passing year."
Sonata answered brightly. "And I too am eager to see Lord Temusi's skill."
"Skill, you say?"
"Ahem!"
Tung Jugang cut in there. "When we take someone new into the fortress, we test their ability in front of the brothers. Don't take it ill! It's not that we doubt you."
"I understand perfectly. And what's so strange about that? How could anyone accept a stranger with nothing to go on?"
Hong-wi laughed. "So — what sort of skill?"
"Well... whichever brother fancies testing you steps up and matches himself against you. Perhaps an archery contest, or a bout of combat like you just had. Not that I mean to boast, but..."
Tung Jugang lowered his voice a little.
"...my younger brother's raw strength is rather famous. He's only fourteen, still a child, but no one can beat him in pure power. Mind you, he's still a boy — a fellow like Tasbuka could pin him down as much as he likes — but he only grows stronger as he ages. That's why he's turned so insolent, and that's what worries me."
"I can imagine. And so?"
"That Maruchi rascal is probably blabbing about it to everyone by now... I'm sorry he was so rude to you. There's a story behind that boy, you see."
"I gathered as much. Because of what happened to his parents...."
"Mm. Aye, something like that."
Tung Jugang dodged the rest vaguely. Hong-wi had nearly forgotten — Joseon and the Jurchens had heaped up a long history of bitter grievance. There was no use anymore in arguing over who had wronged whom first. It was true that bandits had raided and tormented Joseon's subjects; it was equally true that Joseon had used that as pretext to send armies to burn the border villages, launching preemptive strikes in the name of "defensive wars" every time the season ripened.
Both Hong-wi and Tung Jugang knew this all too well, and so each steered clear of the sensitive ground on his own.
"None of it was your doing... Anyway, Maruchi's rough and rude as anything — no better than my own brother that way — but he's a good boy. Honest, and once you've won his heart, he'll follow you to the ends of the earth. His one flaw is that insolent mouth. No doubt the moment we're back at the fortress he'll be shouting to the whole camp that you bested my brother — twice, no less."
"Hardly something to boast of."
Hong-wi laughed, a little embarrassed. "Won't people rather say I put your brother through the wringer?"
"Not a chance!"
Tung Jugang chuckled. Sonata, who had been listening beside them, jumped in. "Never happen. The only man alive who brought that thunderclap brat to his knees and wrung an apology-bow out of him is Tung Jugang here. Well — maybe Chieftain Keshine could manage it."
"I've never gotten a bow out of him."
Keshine shook his head, though a smile played at the corners of his mouth. "In any case, no one at the fortress can handle that boy. Tasbuka might come closest — he's built differently, and even Judongi shows him a bit of respect... Still, the way you cooked Judongi deserves a song too, however brief. Hmm — shall we call it 'The Duel on the Log Bridge'?"
"Oh dear, oh dear! It seems today we'll be feasting more on Sonata's songs than on meat and drink."
Tung Jugang laughed heartily. "Once we reach the fortress, there'll be more than a few brothers eager to test themselves against you. Hasutai, for one — I could tell he was itching inside to match his archery against yours."
"Ah, that fellow."
Hong-wi recalled the left-handed Hasutai he'd seen at the hunting grounds. He'd heard the man was a master archer in his own right.
"It's true — since we live by the bow, even beyond Hasutai, plenty will want a look at your archery."
"I'm not sure my skill is up to the occasion."
"We'll know soon enough. We're nearly there."
Ahead of them, a wooden fence now came into view through the trees. Hong-wi looked around. He thought he could faintly make out signs of human presence....