Chapter 170
Chapter 170
“Ji Yan’an! You can ride now? Do you feel sick?”
Delighted at their reunion, Jiang Yunsui chattered until wind filled her mouth and made her cough.
“Stop talking.”
Ji Yan’an rode beside them. He looked stable, though pale with bluish lips – his usual state.
Jiang Yunsui closed her mouth and watched him with shining eyes.
“They’re clinging like leeches again.”
The pursuers had not arrived, but three hawks followed overhead, crying directions to the Barbarians.
“Can anyone shoot them?”
A Yue tribesman took the bow. Holding his horse with his knees, he aimed at the brightening sky.
The bow snapped under the strain as the arrow flew. One hawk screamed and fell.
“Excellent! Two left.”
“The bow broke,” the Yue tribesman said.
“Does anyone else have a bow?”
They had crossbows, but those lacked the range. No one answered. That had been their only bow.
“Then we’d better keep running.”
After the long night, Jiang Yunsui dozed against Ji Si until shouts rose behind them.
The Barbarians had caught up.
Centurion Lin’s gaze hardened. “Young Master, take Little Yunsui. I’ll hold them off.”
Shuanzi volunteered too. “I killed five last night. Even if I die, it was worth it.”
Xiao Wu and the others joined them. These ragged, scarred men had survived slavery through sheer will. Some were barefoot, hands and feet covered in chilblains, yet every spine stood straight.
Ji Yan’an pressed his lips together, tightening his trembling fingers on the reins. “Keep running.”
“But, Young Master…”
His dark gaze remained fixed ahead. “It isn’t time to fight yet.”
No one dared slow down. Even when Ji Yan’an’s hand began trembling around the reins, he did not call for a halt.
King Huxie’s camp held seventy or eighty thousand troops, though fires and escaped horses left fewer than ten thousand in pursuit. Still, they vastly outnumbered the fugitives.
King Huxie’s son led them, shouting that the rebels would die today.
Centurion Lin turned his horse with other former Ji Family Army slaves. Their frail bodies formed a wall.
Jiang Yunsui’s eyes reddened. She did not want them to die.
“Woof! Woof!”
She jerked around. Were those Zuozuo and Youyou?
Hooves thundered. Zuozuo, Youyou, and Heiwa raced beside White Horse at the front, almost blurring with speed.
Ji Yan’an’s face lit with joy.
“Reinforcements are here!”
The huge orange sun broke through night as the Ji Family Army’s banners appeared.
Jiang Yunsui beamed. “Zuozuo, Youyou, help them kill the enemies!”
Zuozuo and Youyou barked and charged like small lions. They raced past the fugitives and dodged the arrows shot at them; one of the dogs lunged and dragged a Barbarian from the saddle.
White Horse reached them, and Ji Si leaped with Jiang Yunsui onto its back.
“Kill?” he asked.
She waved a fist. “Fight back!”
Now it was their turn to counterattack.
Little Mushroom was so excited that she nearly howled.
Old General Tang arrived with dogs and troops.
“Young Master, this general is late!”
Ji Yan’an smiled. “No. General Tang, go.”
Tang Qingsong raised his sword. “Soldiers, kill!”
“Kill!”
Every voice merged into a roar that shook the sky.
Hot blood splashed Jiang Yunsui’s face, fallen Barbarians reflected in her dark eyes. She was not frightened, only focused on keeping her balance and not falling.
Perhaps she should withdraw. She was getting in the way.
Ji Si jumped onto a fallen enemy’s horse. “Go back.”
She answered obediently and wrapped her small body around the saddle. “Go, go, go! Let’s hurry back!”
Her short legs flailed against White Horse’s sides. It lifted its neck high and pranced away, more like dancing than fleeing.
A Barbarian charged from the side. Ji Yan’an raised his sleeve crossbow, but White Horse spun and kicked both rider and mount down. The man’s own saber fell into his chest.
Jiang Yunsui stared. Huh? What had just happened?
White Horse snorted disdainfully. Ji Yan’an silently lowered his crossbow. Even her horse was extraordinary.
“Ji Yan’an, we’re going to win!”
“Mm. You…”
The world spun. Ji Yan’an blacked out.
“Ji Yan’an!”
Before losing consciousness, he heard her nearly sobbing.
Shen Qingzhu, guarding him closely, caught him.
Jiang Yunsui jumped down and wept beside him.
“He’s not dead,” Shen Qingzhu said.
She stopped, sniffed, and checked under Ji Yan’an’s nose.
“Did you truly think he died?”
“His face is so white.”
Shen Qingzhu inserted needles. “Exhaustion, cold, and released tension. He’ll be ill for a while.”
Holding one finger, she asked tearfully, “Should he eat a mushroom?”
She produced a Verdant Jade Mushroom.
Shen Qingzhu’s interest sharpened. “What does this one do?”
“It cures sickness. I had to chew lots of awful medicine to grow it.”