CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"you didn't tell us you were inviting some weirdos over". Kyong said scornfully that night when they sat around a bright shining flame. There was no one in the palace again, everyone had fled and left the palace for them. the Emperor had found his way out to one of their strongholds. But he swore to return. "Kyong they are not weirdos, they are Hak-Kun warriors and they mean no harm". Baek-Hyun said helplessly. "if you wish for a proper introduction then you should start". U-Jin jeered at Kyong. "Why don't you begin; you are the intruder here". Kyong jeered back. It was going to get out of hand and Baek-Hyun knew so she stepped in. she did the introduction and apologized to her brother and to U-Jin for not doing that earlier. Kyong still gave the Hak-Kun soldiers threatening stares but it wasn't threatening to them at all, it was just funny. Chi-Mae stood up and left them there to keep trying to kill themselves with their eyes. Baek-Hyun didn't know how to handle the situation, she had left her brother for a while and she didn't know how to make him understand that Chi-Mae was just trying to help. Man-Chun knew her problem and he decided to help. Baek-Hyun was surprised because few minutes later, they were all laughing together about something U-Jin said. "Thank you". She moved her lips to Man-Chun and he understood her. He nodded and gave her a mild smile. She stood up and excused herself, she was going to see how their people were faring. When she got there, they children started a song about her braveness. Hana sat in a corner and watched her friends rejoice. Baek-Hyun wasn't ready to go talk to her, she didn't want sadder tales at least for the time being. She turned and stared at the men as they drank themselves to stupor. The young women cooked and then it reminded her of Lady Ki, she hadn't seen her since. For a moment she wondered how it was possible that they cause such havoc in just a day and they already had the capital all to themselves. She called some soldiers and asked them to go in search of Lady Ki. She turned to leave when something caught her attention. It was a boy who sat all alone hugging his knees and he was staring at empty space. Baek-Hyun knew that he must be the last Prince. "Prince Young-Sun". she called and sat beside him. "Go away". He said and turned away. "I'm sorry, your father was cruel". Baek-Hyun said simply. "I know, but my mom didn't deserve to die, she isn't a bad person". He said again with a flare. "I'm sorry about your mom. I lost both my parents on the same day. That same day, our fortress was burnt to nothing and we were taken as slaves to your capital where we got the news that we were being married off to your father but unfortunately for me, I was picked as a concubine and concubines…" Baek-Hyun was going to say more but he interrupted. "I know the rest of the story". He said and stared at her. "You are brave". He said to her "But I'll never forgive you for killing my mother". He said and stood up. "and o, I'll never forget what Hana has done". He said and walked away. He sounded so battered and full of hatred that Baek-Hyun feared he might hurt his sister. "if you hurt her, I'll make you join your dead mother. You are still alive because of my sister". Baek-Hyun said and stood up as well.

She walked out of the room and went outside again. This time, she was searching for Chi-Mae and finding him wasn't easy but she finally found him walking the excavating factory. He was examining different swords and then he would put them back. She smiled as he watched him being himself. The sight was beautiful because he didn't know anyone was watching him but he shocked her when he said. "Are you just going to stand there?". He didn't turn to her and she pinched herself for thinking her didn't have an eye behind his head. She forced her legs to walk to him and she sat heavily on the grease stained bench. "let's go somewhere else". He said but she didn't make an attempt to move. She was too tired to and her bones were weak. So he walked back to her and dragged her along with him. "I hope they have a stable here". He said as he walked tirelessly with his hands behind him but Baek-Hyun stopped and sat on the ground. "I can't move a finger". She murmured pitifully and he stared at her. "I'll carry you then". He said and started moving to carry her but she jerked to her feet. "I think I have enough energy to walk till forever". he smiled and held her hand then abruptly, he began running and Baek-Hyun screamed all the way. "Tomorrow I'm sure they will be on their way here to fight for their kingdom". Baek-Hyun said sounding exhausted. "Are you tired of fighting?". He asked and she exhaled deeply and then nodded. "when we warred with Tang, we fought for seven days straight and you are fighting for just few hours, you can't possibly be tired". "Look around Chi-Mae". She said and Chi-Mae looked around. "What do you see?". She asked and he smiled. "Dead bodies". He replied and she nodded. "those are what thirty people did before you and your men arrived". Baek-Hyun said sounding victorious and Chi-Mae smiled and then they were quiet for a while. So many things ran through Baek-Hyun's mind as she sat close to Chi-Mae. "Why did you come for me?". She suddenly asked and he looked away. "Because I missed you. I was miserable just like I was when I never met you but Aya and Lady Bong Cha encouraged me to fight for who I love". Then he turned to her and held her chin. "And you are who I love". "Thank you". Baek-Hyun replied and he just stared at her. They remained that way for a while, quiet, still with Baek-Hyun resting her head on his shoulders and him resting his head on her head. "You will go back with me to Hak-Kun after the war right?". He asked but there was no reply, when he looked at her, she was asleep. He smiled mildly as he stared at her and he waited until she went really deep in the sleep before he carried her away from the chill of the moon.

Kyong sat by the warmness of the fire speaking to Man-Chun. The other soldiers had retired for the night, leaving just the two behind. They were laughing about something when Chi-Mae suddenly passed with Baek-Hyun in his arms. Man-Chun studied Kyong's face deep to see what he thought of that. "I can't believe she fell for the person she was supposed to kill". Kyong said with sour face as he stared at Chi-Mae. "Baek-Hyun has always been sensible. I can't believe she could be this determined". Man-Chun said without looking away from Kyong's face. "That man, he made her that way, he is responsible for the risk she took today. I'm sure she couldn't get herself to kill him so she made a choice to save the three of us; her family, Ji-Seok and that man". Man-Chun stared at Chi-Mae's back as he walked straight ahead. He didn't even say a word to any of them. "Have you heard him speak?". He asked Kyong still staring at Chi-Mae and Kyong shook his head. "He means to intimidate us". Kyong said and Man-Chun shook his head. "He doesn't speak much, he is a General and they only observe". Man-Chun said and Kyong stared at him. "he scares me. It feels like his eyes can drain our lives away". Man-Chun just stared at him and nodded. "I pray he makes no demand for coming to our aid, we would have lost to Emperor Woong if he didn't come". Man-Chun said. "It's obvious what he may demand for". Kyong said.

Chi-Mae dropped Baek-Hyun on the bed in one of the chambers he found. He was sure the chamber belonged to one of the queens because of its furnishing. He covered her up with the blanket and he left. He walked out of the room and made his way to the roof of the building through martial arts but that wasn't his aim. He wanted to be at the peak of the highest building so he could see what came ahead. He manoeuvred himself to another one and another one until his vision of the surrounding land was good enough then he stayed.

"we will begin our journey early tomorrow before the cock crows". Emperor Woong said to the Commander of the fortress where he had taken shield. "But it's too sudden your majesty, this has taken the entire fortress unawares and the people has already organised a protest. Mrs. Dae isn't in support of this and Bayan is dead, we are not prepared for this your highness". The Emperor stared at the Commander as if he willed his eyes to kill him. "How dare you defile my orders? Guards seize him". He ordered the soldiers around seized the man and was about to take him away when but the man began pleading. "Go now and do as I command or you won't live to see dawn". Emperor Woong yelled and the man helplessly left. The Emperor was in great distress, he had a growing cold that made him very uncomfortable and he summoned Lady Ki. When he was escaping, his cold had begun and had asked the soldiers to search for her and bring her along. But only Lady Ki arrived the ship which he stayed. The rest of the soldiers had been killed and she escaped narrowly. His heart was getting merry with her and he wished to have her as his wife. Once, when her parents were alive and she was young, he had forcefully taken her with she was just sixteen and when her parents threatened to spread word about it, he killed them both and her he made her younger brother to join the army. He took Ki's innocence when she was not up to adulthood but when he wanted to marry her at twenty-three, on their paebaek, she used a knife and sliced her body deep so that a scar was left behind and as a punishment for what she did, when they went to war with Taizong Kingdom, he made her brother to fight in front of the battle and he was killed in the battle. And then he offered her a choice again. He was willing to go against the custom and marry her despite the scar on her belly. He asked her to either be his bride or a 'common maid' as he had put it, but she refused the better position and accepted to be a maid. But she was too good to be true so when 'the' court lady retired, she was promoted to the position of 'the' court lady. Ever since, she became closer to the king than anyone else and his lust for her grew by each day that passed. Lady Ki stood by the door with two maids behind her and they each had a tray of medication in their hands. But the King sent the maids away and asked that Lady Ki should be alone with him. "It seems to me you also want me dead". He said to her as he caressed her cheeks. "Baek-Hyun has killed all my wives and my sons, what do you think will happen to her? I lost all my queens and even the crowned prince is no more and she abducted the last prince, what do you want me to do to her?". Lady Ki stared at his hands as they disgustingly moved around her face and then her jaw and her hands. Then she removed his hand from her body and she stood up and walked to the tray of medication. "I had a dream. The heavens showed me how great you have been all your reign but they also showed me how you are about to fall. Your reign has come to an end, great Emperor. Baek-Hyun has taken over your royal throne and you will bow to her, you will be her humble subject and submit to her leadership or you will rot in hell with your wives and sons". Then she walked closer to him and swiftly, she took out the hairpin in her head and she moved forward to stab him but unfortunately, he got hold of her hand and pushed her away then he stood up and hit her head on the wall. Lady Ki's screeches ended and she blacked out. Then the Emperor called in the guards at the door and they carried her away. "Do not kill her". He said to the guards.

From the roof where he sat, Chi-Mae could see children helplessly crying and women rushing up to close their taverns for the night. It was very late; the area was almost deserted. Chi-Mae knew the people could feel the vibe of the war coming, they all looked sad and scared about something. He looked around the palace and there was no single soul in there but the houses around it was glowing beautifully with light from lambs. He remembered the time they had war with Tang kingdom, there was no peace anywhere and there were mourning in every household. To him, they were lucky. They weren't affected but he was sure they would lose everything the next day, that was what he awaited, their tears.

By midnight, Chi-Mae woke his men up except U-Jin who never slept, they started preparing, they knew there was no way they were going to win over thousands of Gi soldiers so they prepared their minds for the worse. He employed the Ji-Seok people and other freed captives to prepare oil pouches. A hundred drums of oil pouches were made and some of them were poured into half a thousand calabashes and they were taken out of the city to the path where the enemies were expected to come from. Over three hundred little mounds were made with murky mud and two - three calabashes of the hot oil pouches were well cemented in each mound which was scattered all over. When the cock crowed, they were done just in time when they heard loud sounds of galloping horses and heavy foot sounds of soldiers. Man-Chun was pleased with Chi-Mae's knowledge and Kyong was dumbstruck. When Baek-Hyun woke, everything was prepared and the atmosphere wasn't pleasant to her at all. All the villagers were led to the temple where they were hidden and the women said prayers all the time. Hana was distraught all the time, it was dawn on her that she would either live without a family or her family would live without her. She really didn't have the time to attend to the last Prince's grumpiness and he was her last problem at the moment though she felt sorry for his brothers and his mother. The Prince himself was distraught, he wanted to forgive her but she didn't go even once to plead so he waited for her to beg.

Chi-Mae had distributed his soldiers to different angles. They must not let any Gi soldier cross the gate of the capital, that was the order. Chi-Mae stood on the walls of the city. He had tiny daggers at every angle of his armour and his hand was on the hilt of his sword. He turned to stare at Baek-Hyun who was standing on a far distance away from him on the wall. She didn't flinch for a second though her heart was racing. She turned and stared back at him and he nodded to her and she nodded back. She remembered what he asked her the previous night. She had pretended to sleep until she actually fell asleep because she didn't have the answer to the question. She turned back to stare ahead of her. The mist was slowly clearing up and the sounds of trooping got louder by every moment that passed. She remembered what Chi-Mae said to her that morning. He made her swear that she would stay alive. He said "Even if it means running away to stay alive, promise you would run. Swear to me now Baek-Hyun that you won't die". She had stared at him for a long time. She had seen the desperateness in his eyes and she swore. She remembered how tight he hugged her as if her promise didn't mean anything. She turned around to look at the number of soldiers they had. There were barely a thousand of them and she wondered if she was crazy to think they would win over thousands of people. But she also knew that wasn't the plan, it wasn't her plan to fight all those people, she had told them, the main target was Emperor Woong if he were to be present and if he wasn't, then anyone commanding the soldiers would do. Once their leader was dead, they would fall back immediately. Man-Chun was prepared for the worse and so was Kyong, they were thankful that Gi had crazy weapons. They each took their position by the trebuchets while few soldiers stood in position to keep refilling the trebuchets with heavy rocks.

When Gi finally arrived, Baek-Hyun was shocked to Lady Ki in the same carriage as Emperor Woong. She could see from afar that the woman's hanbok was all bloody and her face as well. She felt weak in her knees for fear of what might have happened to her. She could see the woman's hands were bound as she knelt beside the king who was caressing her hair. "I cannot seem to understand why she uses my own capital to fight against me". The Emperor said Wang-So, the Commander. "It seems the reason is because you fled from it your highness". Bayan replied cautiously and Emperor Woong stared at him. "I will have your mouth cut off once I regain my place in my capital". He jeered but the man simply refused to beg or apologize. He hated the Emperor and the fact that he just went into their territory and began controlling them. "I do not wish to waste time with an untrained coward concubine. You see I came with just hundred thousand men for I see she's got not more than seven hundred men with her. But there are another five thousand soldiers around the corner as an ambush in case they have other plans, this should be quick and I wish to kill her by myself, tell your men". Bayan stared at the Emperor with hidden resentment. He almost didn't wish to take part in this except because it would be a shame for a foreign slave to suddenly be their queen. He wondered how this all began, how it is so sudden that nobody was aware of the attack and now a war was going on. He nodded to the king and turned to make the announcement to the soldiers. "Bring Baek-Hyun to the King".

Emperor Woong pointed at someone standing by one of the weapons. "There, that is her brother, begin with him". He said and Wang-So passed the message to a soldier that was standing close. Baek-Hyun was still waiting for any sign of attack from Gi but there was none, she was confused what they were waiting for and she turned to stare at Chi-Mae but then suddenly, Kyong fell off the wall, she turned to him and saw an arrow on his forehead. "Nooo!". She screamed and she almost unconsciously jumped off the wall. "Kyong". She whispered as she looked down at him, he had smashed his head on a rock. "Baek-Hyun… Baek-Hyun, it's a distraction". Chi-Mae quickly yelled to her and she stared at him. "You can't be weak now, he is the price you have paid". Man-Chun said though he was also affected. "Look at me, you can't be weak now, turn the pains to your strength and fight". Chi-Mae said and she nodded. When she turned, thousands of arrows were coming towards them. "Take cover". She screamed to her soldiers and they all hid away. When the arrows stopped coming, she stood and gave an order. "Defend". She screamed with tears in her eyes and then they also wielded their bows and hundreds of arrows went flying to Gi soldiers. But Gi used their shields and stopped the arrows from hitting them and so a few of them were dead. "Go forward". Emperor Woong ordered and his foot soldiers started running forward. "Now". Baek-Hyun yelled and then her soldiers began sending out more arrows into the air. That was when their arrows had an impact on the Gi foot soldiers. A reasonable number of them fell dead. They fought for a while and Baek-Hyun's men were dying. Chi-Mae's men had already gone down and they were killing anyone that went five foot close to them. Man-Chun was amazed by their skills. He took a moment to stare at Baek-Hyun, she was as fast as the Hak-Kun soldiers if not faster, she was killing everyone around her. As for Chi-Mae, he couldn't even see him attack, they were all using martial art except U-Jin who was also fighting very well.