Chapter 11

We had set out in the middle of the ninth month. By the time we crossed the Yalu River, it was late in the tenth. The north wind howled beneath an iron-gray sky.

The roads were narrow and the carriage jolted badly, so I rode a horse instead, wrapped in thick furs and dressed as a man.

Bandits infested the mountains of Goguryeo. The guards stayed beside me, some in sight, others concealed. We encountered several groups of outlaws and disposed of them all. Afterward, I carefully sketched each of their hiding places and added notes, intending to include them in the book.

At Anju, near Pyongyang, the land opened out. I was about to have everyone stop for a brief rest when several riders came galloping toward us. Before I could make out their clothes, they had broken through the guards’ formation. The next moment, I was snatched onto a horse, hanging head-down, seeing only a boot planted in the saddle.

My captor whistled in triumph and leaned so far sideways that he nearly left the saddle. Just when I thought he would fall headfirst, he took a cockscomb-shaped flask from the horse’s side and sat upright again. He tipped his head back and drank deeply, shoved in the stopper, shouted a couple of words to his companions in a language I did not understand, and tossed the flask to them.

Through all this, the splendid horse never slowed. It galloped on at astonishing speed while its shoulder bounced me about until I wanted to vomit. Then I turned and saw the rider’s face. I was so stunned that I forgot to be sick.

He wore furs, with his hair in countless long braids down his back, dressed entirely as a Turk. Yet that pale face, those blue eyes, those exquisite features—who could he be but Pei Yao?

Seeing the others still fighting the internal guards, he turned and shouted in broken Chinese, “I’ve got her. Why aren’t you leaving? You lost the bet. Accept it!”

“You Turkic dog!” they shouted. “Always stealing the glory!”

Only then did I notice that their clothes resembled Chinese dress, except for the two feathers stuck into the sides of their caps. From the information I had gathered, they must be Goguryeo nobles.

Pei Yao laughed, called them blockheads, and spurred his horse, racing ahead.

The internal guards pursued us, but their horses were no match for his magnificent Turkic mount. He left them farther and farther behind.

We rode into a camp with a heavy guard outside. These men plainly held considerable rank.

Once inside, the man who appeared to be Pei Yao slowed down, stopped before a tent, and dismounted. He lifted me off, gripped my arm, and boasted to the companions arriving behind him. “This captive is mine. Go home!”

The leading Goguryeo man snorted resentfully. “Are you sure that’s a woman in men’s clothes? What if it’s a young man…”

Another looked full of malice. “What difference does it make? Heyan, want help with the questioning?”

Pei Yao spat, knocked off my cap, swept a hand through my thick black hair to reveal my face, and lifted my chin. He gave them a half-smile. “Can’t you recognize a girl when you see one? You two can carry on squabbling. I’m not joining you.”

Then he abruptly scooped me up, lifted the tent flap, and carried me inside.

Before I could react, he threw me onto a sheepskin-covered bed and bent down to hold my shoulders.

My heart raced in alarm. Could this be a stranger who merely looked like Pei Yao, some Turkic man rather than my husband? But his voice was the same too. Could such a coincidence exist?

As he bent closer, I screamed and turned my head away. At my ear, he whispered, “Sanniang, is it you?”

My mind exploded. I stared wide-eyed for a long moment before turning back to him and nodding.

The Goguryeo men shouted outside. “Heyan, you dog! Do you know how to question a prisoner? If not, send her out. Someone else will take over!”

“Get lost!” Pei Yao shouted. Then he hurriedly whispered in my ear, “Scream.”

I stared at him. Surely that required some idea of what I was doing…

Frowning, he muttered an apology, caught the soft flesh at the back of my waist, and pinched.

“Aaaaaaah!”

The men outside grew excited, jeering endlessly. Their shadows on the tent showed them gesticulating wildly. All sorts of Goguryeo words flew around outside. I could not understand them, but their malice was unmistakable.

Pei Yao began striking the central tent pole, alternating hard blows with softer ones and making a show of furious impatience.

Following my earlier example, I shouted for him to let me go. He whispered that I should sound more miserable, so my voice gradually rose into sharper screams.

Before long, the men outside grew bored with listening. They conferred, probably deciding to find some other amusement, and disappeared one after another. I whispered that they had gone, but Pei Yao shook his head. “There are still watchers.”

I had no choice but to help him shove and strike the pole while shouting that I would confess nothing. Left, right. Sometimes we glanced at each other, felt embarrassed, and hurriedly looked away.

After an unknown length of time, he finally stopped making the commotion. We sat side by side inside the tent, fidgeting with our fingers and tugging at our hair. The air was full of tension and embarrassment.

Eventually, he asked softly, “Why are you here, Sanniang?”

“I came to find you,” I murmured.

His eyes widened. “Nonsense! You know nothing of martial arts. What are you doing on a battlefield?”

I looked up in surprise.

I had expected him to object, but never for that reason. Wasn’t he supposed to say something about “a woman”?

“His Majesty sent me under secret orders to illustrate military maps.”

I took several drawings from my sleeve. “Like these.”

He glanced at them, hastily folded them, and pushed them back into my sleeve. “How could he send you on such a dangerous mission?” he asked angrily under his breath.

I tugged his sleeve. “When I heard something had happened to you, I asked to come and find you myself.”

He paused and suddenly looked uncomfortable. After a while, he asked, “His Majesty… has an interest in you?”

I recoiled. “What nonsense! Is that something you can even say?”

He sighed. “So I was right. You look very like the empress did when she was young. It is hardly surprising he feels that way. No wonder you wanted to get away.”

I was silent for a moment. He changed the subject. “I intercepted and killed the Turkic prince Ashina Heyan, who was coming to conspire with these men. I’m impersonating him now, keeping them occupied while I wait for an opportunity. They had been watching your party for a long time and intended to abduct you. I had no choice but to act this way. If you stay with me, we must keep pretending, and it will still be extremely dangerous.”

I smiled bitterly. “I have found my husband. What more could I want? As long as you really weren’t lost at sea. His Majesty told me to cooperate with you and act as circumstances require. Isn’t this our opportunity?”

He answered patiently. “Very well. I will cooperate. What identity are you using? A traveling merchant?”

“A seller of brushes and ink.”

He sighed. “In wartime, a brush-and-ink merchant comes to this remote backwater? Never mind. No one believes you anyway. Stick to your story and say nothing else. Are there more drawings?”

“More than a dozen, hidden in a compartment beneath the carriage.”

“Would they be exposed if it overturned?”

I thought, then nodded.

He nodded too. “All right. The carriage is probably in their hands already. I will have someone steal them back. Apart from the covert guards I gave you, who were the men escorting you?”

“Internal guards.”

“Do they know the purpose of your journey?”

I shook my head. “No.”

He relaxed a little. “Then you will play the defiant captive, and I will play the bully. Find a balance between refusing to yield and seeming willing to give way. We should look as if we are fighting without quite breaking apart.”

Picking at the sheepskin beneath me, I muttered, “When the bully looks like you, how defiant do you expect the captive to be…”

He blinked. A faint blush rose in his face. He coughed twice to hide his embarrassment, then looked troubled again. “Should I… be rougher?”

I swallowed quietly. “How rough?”

He caught my collar and pulled with both hands. With a ripping sound, the round neck of my robe was wrenched askew.