Black Mountain Bandits (2)
Having fled helter-skelter and hastily whipped his soldiers back into some semblance of order, Zhang Yan ground his teeth at the news that a pursuing force was already on its way.
"I see. So they mean to use this chance to crush us at the root."
Raising an army under cover of the Yellow Turban Rebellion had been one thing—but to be beaten in the very battle that mattered most and sent fleeing like a whipped dog... If anything, the counterattack had gone so badly that the name Black Mountain Bandits itself now looked likely to be scrubbed from the Central Plains.
"So this is it, then? We're finished?"
"Maybe they'd show mercy if we surrendered even now."
"Quiet!"
At the sight of his bandits already scampering in circles over mere news of pursuit, Zhang Yan bellowed.
"We are the Black Mountain Bandits, and this is a mountain range! Remember this—nowhere under heaven but these mountains could anyone hope to beat the Black Mountain Bandits!"
It was rugged country, terrain that made even a simple climb an ordeal.
But the Black Mountain elite—bandits who had plied their trade in the high country every bit as long as he had—could move through ranges like this one as if it were their own backyard, going wherever they pleased.
The northern tribes might tremble before the Peerless Under Heaven, but for all that, she was still nothing more than a green whelp who knew only to flail about on raw strength.
Even if they merely loosed arrows from the unseen and gave her little scratches, her temper would get the better of her and she would come charging out. Of that he had no doubt.
Fight her while holding the distance just so—close enough to taunt, too far to be caught—and Lü Bu would wear herself hollow.
Even the Peerless Under Heaven was human in the end; her stamina would not last forever.
And in that moment, this mountain range would become the tomb of the most famous warrior under heaven.
At Zhang Yan's words, the bandits' restless stirring died down, and the hulking man beside him let out a lewd snicker.
"Chief. That Lü Bu is exactly my type. Any way we can make it happen?"
"What idiotic nonsense is that?"
"Don't give me that look. Of course you'd get first pick, Chief. I'm just asking you to save me a turn later, that's all."
"Tsk tsk. You leave the head on your shoulders idle and think only with what hangs below the waist."
Scolded, the man blinked back at him, round-eyed.
"Why not? You're the one who said you liked her—a pretty face with a bite to it."
On this continent, it had long since become common sense that the more capable a woman, the lovelier her face.
And in an age like this one, it was equally inevitable that men would appear, bewitched by that beauty, who sought to take such women by force.
Zhang Yan himself had crossed paths with a few of those men...
"That's a woman who would blast her chains apart with brute strength and then pound my skull to paste—and you sit there spouting impossible drivel."
Every one of those men was dead.
A man ought to live according to his station.
And what if you were a man of equal ability—wouldn't that change things?
Short of being a madman, surely anyone with that kind of strength would simply think to win her over with it.
Zhang Yan shook his head and spoke with finality.
"There will be no capture. Lü Bu dies in these mountains today."
Having wrested victory from Zhang Yan, I gave myself a full day's rest, then followed on his heels into the Taihang Mountains.
The moment we entered the range, crushing walls of slope rose up to greet us.
Well, no wonder they'd made a stronghold of a place like this.
The Taihang Mountains—a chain of overlapping peaks stretching on and on—were indeed on a scale vast enough to swallow a hundred thousand men.
Never mind that fewer than ten thousand remained.
"We have to comb through every single one of these mountains?"
Even Lü Bu seemed daunted by the range's sheer size; she spat the complaint through a scowl.
"They'll likely come to us first. I doubt it'll take long."
"Hahh..."
Lü Bu heaved out a sigh and idly whirled her Sky Piercer Halberd through the empty air.
At first I wondered what she was doing—then I saw it. The flying insects snagged on the tip of the halberd were being cleaved clean in two, dropping to the ground one after another.
...
What an astonishing little trick.
Something out of a martial-arts legend, you might call it.
Just as I was marveling at the sight of her swinging a weapon bigger than herself as if it weighed nothing, it happened.
Thwishhh—!
An arrow came flying out between the trees, aimed straight at Lü Bu.
Clang!
It was a strike from her blind side—but Lü Bu batted the arrow away without a care, then snapped her glare toward the direction it had come from with ghostly speed.
Thwishhh—!
As if to spite her, another arrow came sailing in from the very direction she was glaring at.
Clang!
At the provocation—calculated, it seemed, purely to rake her temper—Lü Bu's brow twitched.
"They're baiting me, and not even bothering to hide it."
"And they'll wait for exactly that—for you to charge out on your own."
Thwishhh—!
Even as we spoke, another arrow came flying.
This time the angle bent ever so slightly—past Lü Bu, toward me standing beside her.
"Huh?"
Clang!
No shield, an ordinary man through and through—what chance did I have of stopping an arrow in flight?
What saved me, as I stood there gaping stupidly at the thing, was a single sword.
...
Seo Yeo, who had somehow drifted to my side, was staring into the forest with a wintry glare.
"I nearly died just now, didn't I?"
"Yes. That was close."
That wasn't Lü Bu's voice?
I turned toward the woman who had answered me.
Zhang Liao—her brown hair, a shade deeper than Seo Yeo's, tied back in a high ponytail—was looking right at me.
I met the brown eyes that matched her hair and spoke.
"Where did Lü Bu go?"
"She bolted into the forest the very moment that arrow flew at you, my lord."
So Lü Bu could have stopped that arrow even after it was aimed at me.
Most likely, trusting Seo Yeo to guard my life, she had gone off to hunt down whoever was doing the shooting.
Zhang Liao turned her head away from me, gazing after the direction Lü Bu had vanished.
"If they're caught... I'd say they won't be dying gently."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Look at her guard, and you'll understand."
At Zhang Liao's words, delivered with a puppy-bright smile, I looked over at Seo Yeo.
...
Seo Yeo said not a word, her fearsome gaze still fixed on the direction the arrow had come from.
It was true. Every time someone tried to do me harm, she always wore exactly that look.
I let out a long breath.
"What's she thinking, charging into a trap without so much as a word?"
"Well... they aimed at you, my lord."
Zhang Liao smiled and went on.
"Sometimes I think you truly don't understand how much you mean to us, my lord."
"I understand it perfectly well, I thought..."
"Do you know how many of the people of Bing Province you have saved?"
Of course I didn't. How on earth would I know a thing like that?
"It feels a touch rude to say in front of you, my lord, but the Inspector of Bingzhou was never a good person."
"...She did love her wealth."
One reason we could cover the military costs even after slashing taxes was the considerable fortune my mother had amassed over the years.
And where would all that wealth have come from? From the people, naturally.
She doesn't seem to be that woman anymore, but in the original history, as the feud between He Jin and the Ten Attendants ground ever nastier, there were records of Ding Yuan disguising her soldiers as Black Mountain bandits and carrying out military operations.
And what would soldiers dressed as Black Mountain bandits do on a military operation? What but torch villages and plunder them?
Had I not been born and become the most precious thing in her life, she would have gone badly astray.
Seen another way, it also meant she loved me enough to cast aside even a fortune built over a lifetime without a second thought.
It struck me all over again—a mother's love truly was a mighty thing.
"It was you who persuaded the Inspector to throw open the granaries that had sat sealed for so long, my lord, and you who eased the people's burden by cutting the taxes."
"It hardly took any persuading."
I merely asked—so many are starving, why not open the granaries a little?—and she agreed without a moment's hesitation.
"If anyone other than you had made that proposal, do you truly believe the Inspector would have said yes?"
"Hmm..."
Put that way, it did sound plausible enough.
Only the top spot had changed hands; her second-loved thing in all the world was still money.
"So please, treasure yourself a little more."
Watching Zhang Liao say it so evenly, I could feel it.
She wasn't showing it, but Zhang Liao was angry right now.
"Still, I can't help worrying—her charging into that trap alone..."
"She'll be fine."
Zhang Liao said it with a voice full of conviction.
"If anyone can survive on their own, better than anyone alive—it's her."
"Come out here, you bastard!"
KRA-BOOM!
At the sight of a full-grown tree bursting apart and toppling, Zhang Yan broke into a cold sweat and quickened his pace.
"Damn it. I believe I've poked the wrong beast."
If she caught him now, he was dead. Without question.
Luring Lü Bu out had worked—but he seemed to have enraged her far beyond what he had planned.
Which also meant she was angry enough to be spending her strength in all the wrong places—so perhaps he ought to call that a blessing.
All he had to do was wait for that mad beast to bleed off as much of her strength as she could.
Then, as Zhang Yan sprinted flat-out, a skin-crawling sensation made him snap his upper body down into a duck.
BOOM!
"Gah!"
At the sight of an arrow burying itself in a boulder with a savage crack, Zhang Yan swallowed hard.
Had his dodge come a single heartbeat later, that arrow would have run him straight through the chest.
He glanced back—far behind him, mounted on horseback, Lü Bu had her bow trained on him.
"Well, well. You dodged that? You really are quick on your feet, just like the rumors say."
Lü Bu gave a grin that raised the hair on his neck and nocked another arrow to her string.
"I meant to hold back, but there are people worth shooting and people who aren't."
When Lü Bu loosed again, Zhang Yan threw his body into a roll and dodged for his life.
BOOM—!
How, in the name of anything, did an arrow make a sound like that when it struck?
With his signature nimble footwork, Zhang Yan went up and over the trees, tearing out every measure of distance he could between himself and Lü Bu.
"Hngh!"
"How long do you plan to scurry off like a coward?"
BOOM—! BOOM—! BOOM—!
Lü Bu chased him down without the least hint of effort, loosing as she came.
And the longer it went on, the more she seemed to read his line of retreat before he took it, planting arrows across every route—and Zhang Yan felt the wall closing in.
"Let's see just how far you can dodge."
This was the end.
The moment he tried to draw her out any further, he would be the first to die.
Realizing what a fool's errand it had been—luring Lü Bu on to wear her down—Zhang Yan opened his mouth in haste.
"All of you—out, now!"
BOOM—!
The instant the words left his mouth, he rolled his body aside and slipped past the arrow.
"Tch. And another miss."
Just as Lü Bu clicked her tongue and reached to nock another arrow, a veritable storm of arrows came hurtling down upon her.
"Huh? What's this."
Under that baptism of arrows, Lü Bu stowed her bow and hauled out the Sky Piercer Halberd in the space of a blink.
Having swept the barrage aside like so many gnats, Lü Bu flashed a wide grin.
"I did wonder what you wanted with all this luring me about. And this was the whole of it?"
Having caught his breath at last, Zhang Yan bared his teeth at her towering confidence.
"Call yourself the Peerless Under Heaven all you please, you bitch—do you truly believe you can cut down more than a thousand men all on your own?"
"If it's the likes of you? I'd say I can manage."
That bottomless contempt, held to the very last, turned Zhang Yan's face crimson with fury.
"These mountains will be your grave today! CHARGE!"
"Tsk, tsk."
Re-gripping the Sky Piercer Halberd, Lü Bu clicked her tongue.
"I told you, didn't I? It won't work."
And in those mountains, where the trees spread out broad and endless, the wind of blood began to howl.