Chapter 2
Chapter 2
The Iron Emperor — Chapter 2
Clank! Clank! Clank!
The iron clatter of horse armor rang out in steady rhythm. At the head rode Go Jin-cheon, followed by Yeon Hwi-garam, both of them bound for the sea under Bojangje's sudden command. Beside them rode Eulji Buru and Uru, the red banner of the three-legged crow tied across their backs.
"General!"
A scout who had been riding point came galloping back in haste. Whatever lay ahead could only be the enemy. Yeon Hwi-garam spurred forward to meet him.
"Is it the enemy?"
Yeon Hwi-garam's voice was sharp with urgency, and the scout fired off his answer in a rush.
"General Yeon, some five hundred mounted troops are pursuing a carriage! The carriage appears to have come from Pyongyang Fortress."
"More people fleeing, then...."
The low voice behind Yeon Hwi-garam was Go Jin-cheon's, tinged with self-mockery. Ever since they had arrived in this region, all they had seen were the corpses of powerful noble families who had fled Pyongyang only to die on the road. The scout, however, hurried on as if to correct that impression.
"The carriage was flying the Yeolje's banner."
"What!"
A carriage bearing the banner of the Yeolje meant that Bojangje himself, or someone of comparable status, was inside. It might even be the Emperor.
"Yah!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
The instant they heard those words, Jin-cheon and the riders with him spurred their horses to greater speed. Their highest priority was the protection of the Yeolje—the sovereign of Gauri.
"Hyah-ha!"
Eight horses galloped on, gasping for breath, and the mounted escort guarding the carriage had been whittled down to fifty at some point, the rest dead or vanished. Even those who remained each bore at least an arrow or two in their bodies.
"General! I will buy you some time. Go on ahead!"
"You—!"
Seeing the pursuing enemy cavalry closing the distance, the deputy commander of the guard did not wait for his captain's permission. He wheeled his horse around and rode straight toward the enemy. The Captain of the Guard could utter nothing more. Swallowing tears of blood, he could only guard the carriage and ride on with desperate resolve.
WHIZZ!
"Ah!"
Just after the deputy commander had turned back to meet the foe, the sound of arrows tearing through the sky came without warning. Startled, Captain of the Guard Dae Mu-deok gripped his spear tight and stared ahead.
"Gyaaaak!"
"Kill every last one of them!"
"Gaaagh!"
Even as screams erupted behind him—where the deputy commander led his soldiers against the enemy—Dae Mu-deok, Captain of the Guard, did not look back. The archers who had loosed those arrows were now entering his sight. Before his eyes, rising through a cloud of dust, the vivid image of the three-legged crow on a field of red drew unmistakably closer.
Into the view of the cavalry led by Go Jin-cheon came the sight of the guard warriors locked in battle with the Tang cavalry behind the carriage. Realizing that the man directly commanding the escort was Captain of the Guard Dae Mu-deok, Jin-cheon pushed his horse even harder.
"Volley fire, then we charge through."
At Jin-cheon's command, Uru was the first to nock an arrow. The shaft he released shrieked sharply as it flew past Mu-deok's head and pierced the skull of an enemy soldier.
"Kill them all. Let none escape."
"Hya-ah!"
"Hi-yah!"
Neigh!
THUD-THUD-THUD!
The moment Jin-cheon's order fell, the cavalry swept past Mu-deok—who had recognized them—and plunged straight into the melee.
"Bastard! Die!"
THWACK!
"Gyaaagh!"
Eulji Buru shot past the carriage and crashed headlong into the pursuers. His great axe, its blade the size of a man's torso, cleaved through both horse and rider of the first Tang soldier he met. Without slowing, he drove forward, hacking shields and swords to splinters as he went.
"Daesaja Go Jin-cheon!"
"Captain of the Guard."
"The carriage....... It is an order from the Yeolje."
"Who is inside?"
Though it was a command of the Yeolje, Jin-cheon asked evenly. Mu-deok hesitated a moment, his expression troubled, then handed him a letter from the Yeolje.
"The Emperor...."
"......Yes."
Jin-cheon's face betrayed nothing as he read the letter. His eyes held only a quiet stillness.
More than half a day had passed since they began riding alongside the carriage, yet they rode on without pause. The white breastplates were now caked with dried blood, and only a couple of arrows remained in each quiver.
"General, Tang troops ahead—they've formed a defensive line."
"Shit! Those sons of bitches, I'm gonna crack every one of their skulls!"
"Wait! Leave some for me!"
Undeterred by the Tang forces ahead, Buru and Uru raced forward as if they were competing in a hunt.
"Hwi."
"Yes, General."
"Take charge of the carriage."
"Yes."
Go Jin-cheon left only those words with Yeon Hwi-garam before spurring his horse faster and following after them.
Buru's imposing frame—broad as he was tall—was enough to make any opponent shrink. At the sight of him, a Tang commander in the enemy formation spurred his own horse forward with bravado.
"I am Wi Chung-hyeon, General of the Great Tang Empire's Suppression Forces! Let a warrior of Gauri come and cross swords with me! Kahahaha!"
"You shit!"
Whether it was the Tang general's incessant shouting as he closed the distance or simply that the noise grated on him, Buru spat a coarse curse and tightened his grip on his raised great axe. As the Tang commander's horse charged in, the axe in Buru's hand split the air.
"Uahahaha! Taste my blade!"
"Shut your mouth!"
WHOOSH!
Crunch!
"Gurk!"
The great axe, having cleaved the air, carved right through the torso of the oncoming Tang commander as it passed. Buru glanced down at the general's body toppling alongside his horse, snorted, and muttered.
Crash-bang.
"In Tang, they fight with their mouths, eh?"
Leaving the Tang general sprawled on the ground behind him, Buru kicked up a cloud of dust and raced toward the Tang formation, his voice roaring.
"I'm Eulji Buru! I'll smash every last one of you!"
The Tang soldiers had watched their brash commander get bisected in a single exchange, and now Buru was bearing down on them shrieking like a demon. Flustered shouts to rally the troops erupted across their lines.
"S-Set the spear wall! Shields to the front!"
"Uwaaaagh!"
The soldiers raised their long anti-cavalry spears with battle cries, trying to drown their fear under their officers' urging, but terror was already spreading across their faces.
The cavalry they were trying to stop was no ordinary mounted unit. These were the iron-armored cavalry of Gauri—the conquerors of the continent. And among them, the ones called War Demons: the Black Armored Ghost Cavalry.
"Draw!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
A Maekgung bow rose in Eulji Uru's hand as he followed behind Eulji Buru. At that signal, the riders simultaneously freed their hands from the reins and raised their own bows. When Uru drew his bowstring taut, every bowstring was drawn taut. Uru fixed his eyes straight ahead and called out in a teasing tone.
"That flag-bearing bastard's mine! Got it?"
Twang!
TWANG-TWANG-TWANG-TWANG!
The bowstring snapped from his fingers before the words were even finished. Uru's arrow tore through the air, and as if it were the signal, a volley of arrows ripped across the sky right behind it.
WHIZZ-WHIZZ-WHIZZ-WHIZZ!
"Gurk!"
The flag-bearer's head snapped backward—and with that, the arrows that rained in turned the Tang formation into a chaos of skewered bodies. Then the calamity in black descended upon them directly.
"Hi-yah!"
THUD-THUD-THUD!
"S-Stop them!"
Crunch!
"Gyaaak!"
Every time Go Jin-cheon's spear swept out, two or three soldiers were impaled and flung aside. Buru's axe made no distinction between horse and man. Whatever it touched, it split. Uru's arrows never failed to pierce at least two men before flying on.
As the distance closed, Yeon Hwi-garam stowed his bow and drew the hand axe from his belt.
"Throw!"
At Hwi-garam's command, the cavalry following him pulled axes from their belts and hurled them in unison at the Tang soldiers milling in confusion.
Thud! Thwack!
"Gyaaagh!"
"My shoulder—aaagh!"
The Tang soldiers who had barely been holding on lost any remaining will to resist under the rain of axes. Ax blades embedded in their comrades' split skulls stripped away whatever courage might have still stood in their path. All that remained here were pitiful creatures scrambling in every direction, screaming for their lives.
Having cut a bloody road through, they reached the east coast of Pyongyang Fortress, where the ships had been readied.
"Escort His Majesty to the ship at once!"
"Shieldbearers and axemen, fall back to the ships while holding the defensive formation."
"Hurry!"
The unrelenting ride had left the horses utterly spent and the soldiers' bodies heavy as lead, but there was no time to dwell on that. They hastily loaded the newborn Emperor—spirited out of Pyongyang Fortress—onto the dozen-odd ships first, and set to work without pause, preparing to retreat south along the sea route.
"Captain of the Guard Dae Mu-deok, what did the Yeolje say he would do?"
Amid the soldiers readying for withdrawal, Go Jin-cheon—his face an expressionless mask—quietly posed the question to Dae Mu-deok, who stood silently beside him.
Dae Mu-deok was the warrior who had never left Bojangje's side for a single moment in times past, so even in the chaos of flight, Jin-cheon had not pressed for details. That was how much he trusted him. It was why, at the mere mention of Bojangje's command, he had ridden here escorting only the Emperor—a child born just days ago.
At Jin-cheon's question, a complicated shadow flickered through Mu-deok's eyes before he steadied himself and answered as if nothing were amiss.
"His Majesty ordered that I relay further instructions only after we had set sail."
"Is that so."
"Yes. It is the solemn command of the Yeolje."
Mu-deok bowed his head low, but Jin-cheon stood utterly unflinching. It spoke to the gap between them—Jin-cheon's position far outstripped that of the Yeolje's Captain of the Guard.
With no further answer coming from Mu-deok, Jin-cheon shifted his gaze away and simply watched his subordinates board the ships.
"Embark!"
"Embark now!"
"Set sail!"
"Raise the anchors!"
Dark clouds were gathering overhead, but there was no time to delay. Tang soldiers launched sporadic attacks, but they were unexpectedly light. That fact pressed oddly on Jin-cheon's mind. Whether the fleet commander sensed his mood or not, he ran over, bowed his head, and delivered his report.
"Daesaja, preparations to set sail are complete."
"Give the order."
Hwi-garam's voice, cutting into Jin-cheon's tangled thoughts, made him set aside any further rumination.
"Set sail."
"Set sail!"
"Aye!"
When Hwi-garam relayed Jin-cheon's order, the fleet commander barked a short, weighty reply and ran off. At last, the ten-odd great ships carrying Gauri's elite began their voyage out into the sea, into the teeth of the rising rough wind.
"General, go rest in the cabin now."
"......I'll go see His Majesty."
He had not been able to properly look upon the Emperor during the desperate ride. For a mere general to say he would personally see the Emperor might sound, at first blush, like insolence toward the imperial family—but Dae Mu-deok, the Captain of the Guard, simply nodded quietly and followed.
"This way, sir."
"......."
Mu-deok bowed courteously and led the way, and Jin-cheon followed silently behind him.
Inside the cabin they entered with hushed steps, a few maidservants and the Emperor's wet nurse had settled in. Dae Mu-deok explained that the child's mother had not come, saying she would be nothing but a burden in her condition so soon after childbirth.
"May I hold the child?"
"Yes."
Those were Jin-cheon's first words upon seeing the baby wrapped in the dragon robe. They were improper words. Yet no one objected.
Jin-cheon lifted the child into his arms and gazed down slowly, as if studying every detail. Exhausted, the baby in his embrace was already breathing softly in sleep.
"The name?"
Without lifting his eyes from the child, Jin-cheon asked. Mu-deok held out a letter bearing the seal of the Yeolje.
"The Yeolje ordered me to give this to you."
Jin-cheon quietly accepted the letter and unfolded it with care.
[This will likely be my final command.
Even amid this war, Hanin has bestowed his blessing, and a new life has been born. I have named this child Eulji. I now give you my last command: take this child and those who remain, go far away... to a very distant place, and live a life of peace. This is the final command of your older brother—who now leaves the seat of the Yeolje—to the younger brother who has guarded Gauri.
I entrust Eulji to you.]
Go Jin-cheon's face twisted hard as he read the letter. He was being told to flee. The man he had never been able to call "Brother" in his life now claimed the title of older brother. It struck him like a blade.
In the years when he might have called him brother, Jin-cheon had grown up on the battlefield. By the time they met as grown men, the other was already seated upon the throne of the Yeolje. Go Jin-cheon carried the blood of the Yeolje, but he was born of a concubine. And Yeon Hwi-garam was a concubine's son of Yeon Gaesomun; Eulji Buru and Uru were likewise descendants from the concubine line of General Eulji Mundeok.
All of them were sons of concubines.
Jin-cheon slowly folded the letter, raised his head, and fixed his eyes on the now-fading shoreline. He spoke.
"Dae Mu-deok. What of Pyongyang Fortress?"
"......Please, kill me."
The middle-aged man's weathered face, as he managed to answer, was saturated with grief.
Thick tears streamed down his cheeks.
In the year 668, the nine-hundred-year history of Gauri—carried on from Northern Buyeo—burned away alongside the flames rising over Pyongyang Fortress. And the last fleet of ten-odd ships slowly pressed onward into the oncoming storm.
"Bwueeegh!"
"You punk-ass bastard, quit sprayin' it everywhere!"
"Uweeeeeegh!"
"Ganna brat, it won't come out!"
Whether it was the storm's doing or not, Uru was alternating between the railing, the sea, and the deck in a spectacular display of retching. Beside him, Buru held on, afraid Uru might topple into the water, while never once stopping his stream of chatter. But even Buru had his limits. Finally fed up, he grabbed a passing sailor to ask.
"Hey! Ain't there some kinda fix for this?"
Instead of the answer he wanted, he got even worse news.
"General, more importantly, you must get inside the cabin right away. A storm is approaching."
"Uweeeeegh!"
"This brat... He sure can puke."
Irritation was plain on Buru's scowling face.