Vol 2 Chapter 3 (1/2)
Chapter 19: Pigeon Souls
The army is leaving after resting for two days. Huo Qu Bing and Gong Xun Aou discuss how to attack the Xiong Nu from both sides in tandem, while General Li Guang’s army brings up the rear. In the blue black sky, there isn’t a single star, just a crescent moon s.h.i.+ning coldly on the earth. Under the sound of horse hoofs, with thousands of armor glittering, there is only unending dust before and behind me. I feel a sense of inexplicable uncertainty.
Huo Qu Bing looked at me and reached out to grab my hand “Don’t worry, I won’t let the Xiong Nu hurt you.” I bit my lip “I’m worried about Li Cheng. Was I wrong? I don’t know the cruel dangers of the battlefield. The moment he gets on that horse is life and death. It’s not like having good fighting skills means survival.”
Huo Qu Bing’s hand is around his horse whip, his eyes look straight ahead with a coldness like the s.h.i.+niest moon “If killing the Xiong Nu is his greatest wish in life, then even if he dies, it’s doing something he wanted. There will be no regret. Does he want to live an ordinary life? No one can guarantee whether they will survive in a battle.”
I smirked at him “That was contradictory. Didn’t you just promise nothing would happen to me?” He turned and smiled at me “That is because I am Huo Qu Bing, and you are the exception.”
I wrinkled my nose at him but still smiled, the worries of moments ago having dissipated. After traveling for a day and a night, the army finally sets up camp. I tried to prepare myself, but after such a long time on a horse, my hips and waist feel like it doesn’t belong to me. When I heard Huo Qu Bing call for rest, my body slid off the horse and I laid down on the ground. Huo Qu Bing sat down next to me “Now you now how hard I work to earn my money? In the future don’t spend it so easily.”
Chen Kang An suddenly walks up and with a somber expression announces that there has been no communications with the armies led by the other generals. Huo Qu Bing asks him to keep trying to reach them, and especially not to reveal word that we have not been able to reach General Gong Xun Aou.
I thought about it, and based on my extensive reading of military texts, I know the proper response is to retreat. If the army you are coordinating an attack with suddenly disappears, plus the rear flank is also unreachable, then this battle is a mess before it has even started. Huo Qu Bing paced a few times and told me to get some rest and not think too much. He actually laid down and went to sleep.
That confused me so. He wasn’t thinking of what to do under these circ.u.mstances. But then I thought about it some more and decided that if he wasn’t freaking out, I shouldn’t be either. If the sky fell he would be the first person hit. I curled up and went to sleep.
Before the sun even rises the army is ready to leave. There is still no word from Li Guang or Gong Xun Aou. Huo Qu Bing laughs that Li Guang has gotten lost in the past, but now it appears Gong Xun Aou has also gotten lost. I ask what to do, and he points to the distant Qi Lian Mountain “We’re going there.”
I immediately let out my pent up breath and stare at the Qi Lian Mountains. My emotions calmed down. He’s not new to fighting alone. The first time he took eight hundred troops and sneaked into the Xiong Nu army base. Next he took ten thousand troops and with the speed of the wind destroyed five Xiong Nu tribes in six days. Even though the plan had changed, he can handle fighting alone.
Qi Lian Mountain is rich and fertile, the place where the Xiong Nu herd their livestock. It is also one of their pride and joys. This battle will not be easy, but if we win, Papa will surely be very happy. Papa….
He saw me staring at the mountains, apologizing “I thought this battle would be easier, who knew we’d be rus.h.i.+ng yet again.” I gather myself, not wanting him to worry, acting casual “I won’t let you make us wolves seem useless.””
He smiled and nodded his head, then flew off towards the front of the army. The rising sun reflected off his back, with the armor giving off a thousand beams of light. It was like a flying sun, breathtaking to behold in its majesty.
Huo Qu Bing’s forces were already the most fierce, but after he threw some fuel in the fire, they were even more revved up to go. Ten thousand fearless men marched behind him, traversing this great North Western territory.
After we traveled for awhile, I asked Chen An Kang why we appeared to be heading back. He looked around, unable to confirm because this Gobi Desert looks all the same to him. I tell him to go ask the General if he knows he’s walking backwards. Otherwise he can laugh about General Gong Xun getting lost and then he ends up getting lost himself.
After a few moments Huo Qu Bing returns to my side and explains that the Xiong Nu have gotten word of where the army is expected to move, so he needs to change directions otherwise they will lay in wait for us. I look at the circling falcons above and remain silent. He continues “I’ve been around the desert many times with Uncle since I was a kid. I can walk around here without getting lost. And with you here, I can relax and let us wander aimlessly. If we get the Xiong Nu confused, then it will be better for the attack.”
I turn and ask the person holding the cage to be careful and not let Xiao Tao and Xiao Qian out, but I can see they are frustrated with being cooped up.
From morning until evening we rushed around, and Huo Qu Bing’s expression grew more and more concerned. After turning in the Gobi Desert a few times, the Xiong Nu ought not to be able to track us, yet they are still able to know where the army is. There is still a tracker following a distance behind the army.
During dinner, he doesn’t eat and I ask what he is thinking about. “With our speed, and this random moving around, the Xiong Nu shouldn’t know our every move. This has never happened before. Usually we attack the Xiong Nu, but this time they are chasing us.” He furrowed his brows and looked perplexed.
I point to the sky and he looks upward. In the sky are two tiny black specks. He startled and then asked “Are you saying those two furry beasts are the Xiong Nu’s tracking agents?”
I laugh and nod “Those guys are the most annoying. In the past when we would capture a prey, they would circle overhead and try to steal our prey. Sometimes they would even fight with the wolves for it. Because they can fly, the wolves can’t do much except chase them away. But they would fly away and then dive back down to fight. Since I’ve tangled with these guys in the past, I can tell that those two above are behaving unusually. Instead of looking for prey, they continue to follow us and stay above our heads.”
Huo Qu Bing smiled bitterly “I had heard the rumor that pigeons can pa.s.s word for their owners, but now this other legend has come true. Just my luck to run into it. I wonder how many the Xiong Nu have trained?”
I respond “Their nests are always in hard to reach places so it’s hard to capture a young one. They are arrogant and love freedom, so unless they were raised from infancy, they won’t listen to human commands. For the Xiong Nu to have two is rare enough, otherwise this wouldn’t just be a legend. Also, you wouldn’t have been able to sneak into the Xiong Nu base with your eight hundred men.”
He laughed and slapped his legs “Just two? That’s easy! Tomorrow I’ll serve it each an arrow and we’ll dine on roasted bird tomorrow night.”
Shooting down birds is not a hard task, but those two have been well trained, so all morning they circled just above the reach of any flying arrow. There remains no opportunity to shoot them down, and I’m beginning to get impatient and go check on them. Huo Qu Bing doesn’t have his usual impetuousness, and instead looks calm and determined. Right now he’s like an experienced wolf, laying in wait for his prey. No matter how many days, no rush and no worries, just scouting the prey and waiting for the right moment to give it a deadly blow.
Suddenly there was a roar and I looked up to see a black spot hurtling towards the ground. At that time, there was a cry and the other falcon follows it down. But an arrow just barely misses it, and it immediately pulls back up and circles once again outside the reach of the arrows. The other archer kneels and begs forgiveness for his failure, while Huo Qu Bing just looks solemnly at the remaining falcon in the sky. I worriedly look towards Huo Qu Bing, knowing this is not good.
These two falcons have been trained and have better instincts than wild ones. With this fright, it will not give us another chance to shoot at it. The Xiong Nu will clearly be enraged by the death of their valuable agents, meaning we might soon be engaged in a battle, one in which the enemy knows us but we do not know the enemy.
Huo Qu Bing suddenly looked at me and his face broke into a wide smile, full of confidence. He was just like the noon sun over the Gobi Desert, s.h.i.+ning his light over everything and leaving no shadow. I’m affected by his att.i.tude and I can’t help but smile a little. Even I’m influenced by his confidence, much less his troops who trained under him and fought with him. In two battles, he has had an overwhelming victory, so his Yu Lin Army brothers trust him implicitly. It’s like as long as they are following Huo Qu Bing, no matter the enemy ahead, they will prevail. That is the confidence he instills in every soldier.
Because the army needs a lot of water, Huo Qu Bing asks me where the nearest water source is. We decide to head to the Ju Yen Sea, the name comes from the Xiong Nu language to mean weak water in flowing sands. It is situated within Xiong Nu territory.
The lone falcon continues to follow us and Huo Qu Bing would occasionally look up at it, though he never looked concerned. As we neared the Ju Yen Sea, Chen An Kang and another young man named Zhao Puo Nu came over and gave me a strange look. Zhao Puo Nu spoke up “The Xiong Nu must know now that we are headed to the Ju Yen Sea, so this upcoming battle is unavoidable. But having the Xiong Nu aware of our moves puts us always at a disadvantage. Your servant I have an idea for killing that falcon.”
I knew what he was getting at and huffed coldly before turning away. Huo Qu Bing told them to never mention this again. Zhao Puo Nu kneeled down “General, using the pigeons as bait, as long as we shoot the falcon first, the pigeons won’t be harmed. And even if the pigeons are sacrificed, it is for the greater good of the army. When we return to Chang An I will personally buy the Brother here two pigeons.”