Ambush on the Mountain Road
The children, meanwhile, were dead asleep and had to be shaken awake.
Judongi was by far the hardest to rouse — he was like a bear in winter. Sonata ended up all but hurling him off his bedding, and even then the boy could only crack one bleary eye and grumble,
"What in the world's going on?"
"Up, up! Big trouble's come."
Once Tung Jugang had told them the whole story, Tung Judong, Maruchi, and Arachi all reacted with equal parts shock and fury. The Grand Chieftain Onyan Isiha and the people of Anchuunbugu were no less dear to them than to anyone else.
"Then let's hurry back."
"Aye, but we eat first. A man fights better on a full stomach."
Ho-in and Monk Heo Jo cooked the morning meal. From what little remained of the roasted pork, they simmered a hearty hangover soup with dried mountain herbs and soybean paste. Even amid the rush, Heo Jo took a taste and let out a low whistle of admiration.
"Well, I'll be — this is fine fare! Temushi-i, my friend, I confess I envy you. If I could eat like this every day, life up in these mountains would hardly feel lonely at all."
"If time permitted, I'd have Ho-in here teach you the recipe."
They ate their fill and hurried to pack up camp — though there was precious little to pack, since the goods they had hauled in on the way here had long since made its way into their bellies.
Sonata suddenly smacked his forehead.
"Hold on — what do we do about the monk?"
"What do you mean, what do we do?"
"There's no horse for him to ride, is there?"
The road back to Anchuunbugu was long, and everyone but Heo Jo would be mounted. Even if the monk truly possessed the art of shrinking the ground beneath his feet, keeping pace with galloping horses was another matter entirely.
Heo Jo merely replied with imperturbable calm.
"Worry not, my friends. This humble body knows the art of traveling a thousand li in a single stride — I'll keep up well enough."
"Oh aye, and who would ever doubt it," Sonata said with a shrug. "Still, lugging that iron staff of yours while chasing down men on horseback — you'd best have a horse. Hmm, let's see... Maruchi? Arachi?"
"What is it?"
Maruchi had just come back from washing his face and asked over his shoulder.
"You two — couldn't you share a single horse between you?"
"What? The two of us?"
Both siblings recoiled in horror. Arachi cried out in sheer incredulity,
"Ride with him? I'd sooner walk!"
"Who asked you to say that out loud!"
"All right, all right, enough, you two. That was a fool's question on my part," Sonata cut in, laughing. "Arachi, you ride with me instead. There's no luggage anymore, so it works out better anyway."
"That suits me fine."
Arachi shot her brother a withering glance and nodded. When Tung Jugang confirmed that everyone was mounted, he gave the call.
"Right — move out!"
They tore northward like the wind. Heo Jo, whom one would expect to have ridden a horse least of anyone, turned out to be a surprisingly capable horseman.
"Master monk, you ride remarkably well. Wherever did you learn?"
"Learn? There was nothing to learn."
When Ho-in pointed this out, Heo Jo flashed a grin.
"Form is emptiness, emptiness is form — the monk and the horse differ only in outward shape, no? We are one and the same. Open your heart, and all things flow together."
"...I see."
Ho-in found himself at a loss for words. Smiling faintly, Heo Jo urged his horse forward to take the lead.
Thanks to their headlong pace, they reached the mountain path leading into Anchuunbugu by late afternoon. The trail had grown steadily rougher, to the point where riding was becoming difficult. Then Sonata, riding at the fore, abruptly reined in.
"What is it?" Tung Jugang asked.
"Hey — what's that up ahead?"
At Sonata's answer, Tung Jugang frowned slightly and looked where he was pointing.
"A tree's come down across the road."
A great timber tree lay sprawled across the path, blocking it entirely.
"That doesn't look like lightning strike or a landslide, does it?"
"No, it doesn't."
Tung Jugang denied it at once. On the stump of the felled tree, the fresh marks of an axe were plainly visible.
"What could this mean?"
"I don't know who they are, but... it seems they have no intention of letting things end with Baduri's death."
They scanned their surroundings. The mountain breeze that had felt so refreshing moments before now carried an unmistakable chill.
"Hasutai..."
Tung Jugang worried for Hasutai, who had ridden on ahead of them. Sonata shook his head.
"Hard to tell from this distance, but those axe cuts don't look all that old. Come to think of it — a moment ago, when the wind blew, I thought I heard a faint thunk from that direction."
"You mean they did this with us in mind?"
Hong-wi joined in, and both men nodded.
"Where do you think they're hiding?"
"If I were them... up along that high ground — though heaven knows there's no shortage of places to ambush."
Tung Jugang wore a stiff, humorless smile.
"The road into Anchuunbugu is narrow and treacherous — easy ground for an ambush. That's what has always made it simple to defend with few men, and it has served us well all these years. Now the advantage has turned against us."
Silently, they gazed up at the path stretching before them. The familiar mountain trail to Anchuunbugu had transformed, in the space of a heartbeat, into a trap.
"What will we do?" Hong-wi asked. "Shall we take another route around?"
"Around? No, Temushi-i."
Tung Jugang shook his head.
"Whoever that man is, he's saved us the trouble of hunting him down — I ought to bow and thank him."
As he spoke, he caressed the hilt of the blade strapped to his saddle. Hong-wi nodded in agreement.
Just then, Ho-in spoke up uneasily.
"Purging the enemy is all well and good, but we are only five."
Ho-in counted them off — Hong-wi, Tung Jugang, Sonata, and Heo Jo made four, with himself the fifth. How many enemies lurked ahead, no one could say.
Then Tung Judong shoved his way forward.
"What do you mean, five?"
He said it gruffly, running a thumb along his axe blade, then leapt clean off his horse and bellowed,
"To hell with counting! We just bull our way through, that's all!"
"Judong, no!"
Before anyone could stop him, Tung Judong charged straight at the fallen tree. Maruchi muttered something under his breath, then dismounted as well and ran after him. Arachi shrieked after them,
"Brother! No — why would you just... they're charging into an obvious trap!"
"Well, that settles it. We'd best join them!"
With that cry, Heo Jo nimbly vaulted off his horse, snatched up his iron staff, and bounded forward. Seeing this, Tung Jugang could hardly stand idle either; he swung down from the saddle shouting,
"Riding is no advantage on this ground. Everyone down — let's go!"
Sonata followed, and then Arachi. As they started up the slope, Ho-in turned back to Hong-wi and cried,
"Your Majesty!"
But before he could finish his warning, Hong-wi had already set foot on the earth. Snatching his bow and quiver from the saddle, he ran after the companions ahead of him.
"B-but... Your Majesty... it's dangerous...!"
With even the king charging off, Ho-in was left utterly flustered. He hesitated a moment, then grabbed up his weapon and followed, gritting his teeth as he ran. If it came to it, he was prepared to throw himself in front of Hong-wi as his shield, gladly.
Meanwhile, Heo Jo was striding up the mountain path with remarkable ease. He quickly overtook the children and, before anyone noticed, had reached the fallen tree first. He vaulted clean over it, brought his iron staff crashing down, and roared,
"Cowering demons of wickedness — show yourselves at once!"
No answer came. But a malevolent killing intent was bleeding visibly out of the forest all around them.
"Cowards!" Tung Judong thundered like a storm.
The next instant, that intent came hurtling in all at once.
"Down!"
At Tung Jugang's sharp cry, everyone dropped low. With a vicious whistle of parting air, arrows came slicing through the empty sky one after another. Heo Jo had leapt down in the nick of time — a single arrow passed so close to his bald crown that it nearly grazed it.
Ho-in, pressed flat behind cover, gasped out,
"Are you unhurt, Your Majesty?"
"I'm fine!"
Hong-wi called back. Even now, his eyes were measuring precisely where the arrows had come from, and without anyone noticing, he had already nocked an arrow to his string. The next moment, his bowstring sang, and a sharp hiss cut through the wind.
"Ugh!"
A short scream, followed by a string of curses, told them Hong-wi's arrow had found its mark true.
Heo Jo roared with laughter.
"Bless my soul! Magnificent shooting! To land a strike in the blink of an eye like that!"
"The horses! What about our horses? They'll—"
"Give that worry no thought."
At Hong-wi's cry, Tung Jugang smiled thinly and let loose a piercing whistle. When Hong-wi glanced over, the horses, as if they had understood, were already clattering away down the trail on their own.
"They're clever beasts. They'll see to their own hides."
"But now, if things go ill, we'll have no means of retreat either," Ho-in said anxiously.
Tung Jugang shook his head.
"If those men aren't fools, they'll have our escape route sealed already. Better to hold here."
At that, Sonata broke into a wry grin.
"Truth be told, the bastards never saw this coming. The very tree they felled to trap us has become a convenient wall shielding us."
And it was exactly as he said. Most of the arrows the enemy loosed were blocked by the fallen trunk, its branches, and its leaves, sailing wide of their marks.
Hong-wi, gauging the volleys, asked,
"How many do you think there are?"
"Hard to say — twenty or thirty at the least? Could be more."
Tung Jugang shrugged. The enemy kept up their rain of arrows. He went on,
"Their skill is wretched, but they're a nuisance. First we thin out their archers. Everyone ready?"
"Ready."
Four among them carried bows — Hong-wi, Ho-in, Tung Jugang, and Sonata. Each nocked an arrow to the string, while the rest of the company checked over their own arms. Tung Jugang stroked his axe blade; Maruchi and Arachi took up the weapons they knew best — the Ppyeom-chang throwing spears and her sling stones.
"Save those for when they close in," Tung Jugang told the siblings. "You'll get better use then."
"But we can't pinpoint where they are — no chance to aim," Sonata said.
Heo Jo stepped forward.
"Then let me be your bait."
He set down his pack, loosened his robes for ease of movement, and took up only the iron staff.
"Be careful," Tung Jugang cautioned.
Heo Jo just grinned.
"Against that sloppy shooting? Not a care in the world. You lot just mind your targets."
Before anyone could stop him, he sprang up from cover and sprinted straight out into the open. Just as he hoped, the enemy archers' attention snapped to him at once.
Arrows came flying in a hail — and what Heo Jo did next bordered on artistry. Swinging his iron staff in great arcs, he swatted the incoming arrows right out of the air, deflecting them one after another. After knocking down five or six, the enemy volleys faltered for a heartbeat, and Heo Jo bellowed,
"Friends — now!"
Seizing that exact gap, the four archers loosed arrow after arrow like madmen. Screams began to erupt one after another from the thicket of scrub trees. A few, spared fatal wounds, could be heard moaning long and low. Someone spat out a curse.
"Damn you all to hell!"
"Hah hah ha! That's what cursing gets you when your spirit breaks?"
Heo Jo taunted them in a lazy drawl.
Tung Jugang, meanwhile, was frowning, deep in some private calculation. Hong-wi was about to turn and look at him when the man suddenly raised his voice and shouted,
"That you over there, Kunuma?"
A silence hung for a moment — then laughter burst out from the trees. A dry, cold laugh.
"Ohh, Tung Jugang. So you guessed who I am?"
"Of course. How could I not?"
Tung Jugang's reply was curt. The next moment, he raised his voice and began to mock.
"Felling a tree to block the road — that shallow trick alone roused my suspicions. But watching your men's wretched archery settled it beyond doubt."
He pointed at the arrows bristling from the fallen trunk and shouted on.
"Failing to hit a mark at this distance — pathetic, Kunuma. Whyever did you never teach your men a thing? Or is it simply that your own skill is no better?"
A surge of fury rippled through the trees across the way. Kunuma shouted back.
"Still quick with your tongue, Tung Jugang."
"If you don't want your men dying for nothing, why not come out and face us, Kunuma? If your men are better with blades than with bows, that would suit us all far better."
Kunuma did not answer. Heo Jo roared with laughter.
"Hah hah ha! Chief Tung's got a silver tongue on him, doesn't he!"
Tung Jugang flashed a grin back at him — and then Kunuma's voice came again, low and deliberate, thick with a hatred fathoms deep.
"All mouth, Tung Jugang. But today is the last day your tongue will serve you. And there — is that the one they call Temushi-i?"
"The very same. Right here."
This time it was Hong-wi who shouted. Kunuma's answer came back across the slope.
"So it's you. You're the one who killed my brother."
His brother...
Hong-wi and Tung Jugang's eyes met.
So he had come to avenge Bushuku after all.