When, Bo-Jing and his war band returned to Banua, the two sides had reached a stalemate. Dead beastmen and other monsters littered the ground. But the defending archers had nearly run out of arrows and the surviving monsters were seeking ways to clamber up the walls to the archers’ catwalk.
Bo-Jing and his war band, though tired from their long ride,
were ready to relieve the exhausted archers. They charged into the compound on
their horses in tight formation, methodically killing or driving out the
remaining monsters.
Bangqiu, with Naransetseng, arrived in Banua late the day.
He and the Khatun had found there way down from the mountains and camped
outside another night, next to a stupa.
Naransetseng was greeted warmly by her brother and by Bo-Jing who
presented to her once more her lost necklace, which she once more joyfully received.
The joy of
Naransetseng’s safe return did not spread far or last long. The next morning, Ganbaatar summoned Bo-Jing
to inform him of the bad news that everyone already new. Naransetseng was not a member of the Bolad
horde and the people of Banua had limited duty to protect her. She should leave within three days and be
prepared to leave sooner should the beastmen return.
Over the course of those three days, there was also some
good news in the form of the arrival of Tetsukichi, a renowned warrior from the
well-respected Sansar horde, whose herds roamed over lands to the west. The Sansar were strong allies of the Eagle
clan and Tetsukichi had answered his allies’ calls for help, riding with 60
able warriors. And of course, Tetsukichi
counted both Bangqiu and Bo-Jing as longtime friends, having joined them in
many incredible adventures, most recently in thwarting the advance of the
Master’s armies. They agreed that the
best way to protect The Bolad horde, the Eagle Clan, and the Valley of the Five
Fires itself was to make the threat posed by the Master visible to the
Emperor. And the safest place for
Naransetseng would be in Khanbaliq. If
the beastmen horde tracked her there, then the Emperor would be forced to fight
them. They had confidence that the
Emperor armies would triumph, and if the Emperor were weakened in the process,
that was also a gain, at least in the eyes of Bojing who abhorred the Emperor’s
practices of slavery and concubinage.
Bo Jing and Tetsukishi, together with their friends and
companions and a total of 200 warriors on horseback set out from Banua, with
the aim of escorting Naransetseng to Khanbaliq.
As they reached the lands of the Eagle Clan, they founds signs of
devastation greater than what had been visited upon the lands of the Bolad
horde. There were dead animals and
people. Scores of bodies were hung in trees and splayed on rocks. For leagues,
all trees had been cut and the scrub vegetation had been burned. At the end of the second day of travel,
strong cold winds from forced them to make camp in a shallow valley, sheltered
from the winds on three sides.
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