After a few days of rest Sukh wanted to resume the quest to rescue the Zhounese brothers from the Black Flowers hideout. Bi-er and Farang were ready to join him. Bo Jing was unsure. It was dangerous. And he didn’t trust Bunko, somehow he thought the strange man was somehow assisting their enemies. But from he knew, it seemed the Elders of Pasar trusted Bunko so what was there to do? And, regardless, he had been named the new seventh brother to replace Sum-Oov. So he had a responsibility to rescue his captured comrades.
Batzorig was still recuperating and without his assistance, finding the hideout proved difficult. They spent a night in the forest and pressed on, into the hills that Bat had described. In the morning light, Bo Jing noticed the haze of smoke. As they drew closer, they found small signs of human activity but no obvious structure, nor even a trail. At Sukh’s suggestion, they climbed on top of a large hill that matched Bat’s description and prepared to wait, planning to spend the night.
Within an hour, a patrol emerged from the hill, one Black Flower and six ragged and desperate-looking men. The Leader and three of his men stood in front of the hill, while the three others dispersed into the bushes.
After a quick, whispered conference, Bo Jing and Sukh began firing arrows at the men in front of the hill, concentrating their fire on the two with bows. One was shot dead by the first arrow. The other turned and shot blindly.
The leader picked up the dead man’s bow and hit Sukh with an arrow. He called for the other men from the woods, while ordering the others to charge up the hill. Bier and Farang charged down, while Bo Jing and Sukh shot more arrows.
Bo Jing and Siukh had every advantage. The Black Flower leader was trying to gather his men around him when Bat suddenly emerge from the forest. Bo Jing and Sukh charged down the hill and together killed their enemies while sustaining only minor injuries.
A voice called out from inside the hill. “What do you want?”
“Our friends!”
A ransom was negotiated. Bat put some money in a sack and threw on the ground, and the party members retreated into the forest. Bat hid behind a tree close to the clearing and Bo Jing button hooked to scramble back to his perch up the hill. A man emerged, wearing the thick armor and tall helmet of an imperial commander and bearing a large shield painted with a black flower. Peering over his shield, he pointed at Bat, “I see you there!”
Bo Jing took this as his moment to attack. With a shout, he leapt down the hill and delivered a mighty blow, just as the commander was turning. The Zhounese brothers charged in. Sukh circled around the clearing, and took advantage of the confusion to find a hiding place in the tall bushes on the hillside, scanning the re from which the leader had emerged, hoping to find the secret entrance.
The emergence of four more armed man, made the portal plain. Sukh ducked inside just in time to see a fifth soldier fleeing up the corridor to climb over a pile of loose stones. Sukh chased him over the debris and to an open wooden door. The man passed through the door and closed it, but before we could bar it, Sukh rammed it with her shoulder, preventing the man inside from locking it.
Outside, Bo Jing killed the commander and with the help of Bi-er and Farang was getting the best of the other four enemies. Bat, having seen Sukh disappeared inside the hill, followed after, arriving just in time to see Sukh bust the door open and send the guard sprawling to the floor.
Bat allowed the guard to run away. The party regrouped long enough to hack the door off its hinges and then retreated to the forest. They spent the night, well-concealed in a tangle of vines. But in the morning, they decided they were not well enough to make another assault on the hideout. Instead they returned to Pasar.
This was a wise a fortuitous decision. Sukh, was had received a bad wound inquired for a healer. Gunjar, a shaman from the north, hearing that his countryfolk were in need of assistance, came to find them at the Monastery. For reasons unknown, Sukh and Gunjar felt an immediate mutual antipathy for each other. So great that Sukh could not receive the shaman’s blessing. The others did receive the blessing and were healed. What’s more when Bo Jing and Batzorig told Gunjar of their quest to rescue their adopted brothers, he offered to join them.
Bojing and Bat met another interesting companion. A young wu-jen named Bangqiu had recently arrived in Pasar. He was there to say farewell to his parents who owned a mine somewhere in the vicinity. It would be a long farewell. He had been to Khanbaliq and Tiajing, cities that made Pasar look like a village. What's more, Tiajing looked out over the sea, something to which Lake Pasar did not even compare. On the clearest day, you could out over the sea like a bird in the sky, except there was nothing to see, only more water. Bangqiu had bought a boat, large enough for 100 men, and with four masts. He was preparing it to sail over the sea.
Most people in Pasar were suitably horrified, but Bojing;s family owned a merchant fleet and Bat was a nomad child, and had spent his youth blown back and forth over wind-swept plains that stretched as far as the sea. So they were keen to join Bangqiu on his voyage. If he would help them rescue their friends.
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