It was easy to follow the fresh tracks of the Nergui refugees. It was also easy to note the fresher tracks of a huge number of beastmen. These tracks stayed with those of the refugees, an ominous confirmation of Bo-Jing’s theory that Naransetseg was still alive and still being pursued.
Seeing no other way to reach the Nergui refugees before the beastmen did, Bangqiu took the form of a falcon and soared into the sky.
Bangqiu quickly pulled away from Bo-Jing, Batzorig, Nar-Nuteng, Ryu, and the rest of the war band. Before long he had reached the horde of beastmen, which had half-encircled the Nergui encampment.
There was no fighting.
Instead, a group of wizened men wearing red caps and wielding long, barbed swords were parlaying with a number of Nergui warriors. Naransetseg was clearly the chief point of negotiation. She stood alone on a small mound, eyes darting and hands twitching, at once terrified and terrifying, like a small animal ready to fight for its life.
The Nergui spearmen surrounding her—at a distance—were guarding her in both senses of the word, protecting her while preventing her escape.
Bangqiu soared higher into the sky until he was directly above Naransetseg. Then he resumed human form, using his enchanted levitation boots to break the impact his free fall. He gave her a secret sign to persuade her that he meant no harm. Then he swept her up, cloaked them both in a thick cloud, and used his boots to carry them back into the gloomy sky.
Enraged, the beastmen attacked the Nergui spearmen and refugees.
That evening and deep into the night, Bangqiu summoned all his natural athleticism simply to hold onto Naransetseg while his boots kept them suspended high in the thin air. Naransetseg clung tightly to him with her arms and legs, her tears mixing with the stinging rain on both their faces.
Below them came the terrible sounds of battle and slaughter.
A steady wind from the east carried them toward the mountains guarding the Valley of the Five Fires. When Bangqiu was certain they were far from the battle and the marauding beastmen, he lowered them toward a grassy mountain slope.
Reaching solid ground, they collapsed into exhausted sleep.
By the time Bo-Jing and the war band reached the remains of the Nergui camp, the few survivors they encountered were too traumatized to explain much of what had happened. The “deaf witch” had disappeared, and the beastmen had taken vengeance by killing everyone they could before scattering to the four winds.
Batzorig searched among the survivors for any word of his sister, but none could tell him what had become of her.
Bo-Jing thanked the survivors and urged them to return with him to Banua. Many had little desire to return to the town they had so recently fled, but Bo-Jing promised them his personal protection and convinced a number of them to come with him.
As Bo-Jing would learn later, one of the four winds brought a group of beastmen, yeti, and fanged flying stags north to Banua.
They attacked in a series of poorly organized, desperate raids.
Ganbaatar invited all noncombatants to take refuge within the inner walls. Archers lined the outer walls and targeted the beastmen as they charged through the broken gate.
The beastmen destroyed property and killed animals, but found few human victims in the outer town. Nor could they reach the inner town.
Although the gates had been destroyed by the giant demon-badger during the siege, the pit it had created was nearly impassable. A line of brave warriors armed with spears waited on the far side, turning the ruined gateway into a death trap for the attacking beastmen and yeti.
Most dangerous to Banua were the flying stags. They simply passed over the ruined defenses and descended from the sky.
Fortunately for Banua, Ganbaatar had one defender he had not counted upon.
From whatever shadows had lately occupied him, the mercurial magician Hyamsam emerged to defend his adopted home.
Magic missiles streaked into the flying monsters.
A ball of fire exploded among them.
Then Hyamsam engulfed another group in a cloud of scalding steam.
Several of the flying beasts fell dead into Banua.
The rest fled.
By the time Bo-Jing had returned to the battered city, Banua had survived yet another assault.
And somewhere in the mountains overlooking the Valley of the Five Fires, Bangqiu and Naransetseg slept exhausted on the wet grass, separated from their companions and unaware of what their escape had set in motion.
