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Badam! Badam! Badam!
Badam! Badam!
When the invaders heard the sound of the drum, their faces suddenly changed. Even the air felt like it wasn't the same anymore.
The soldiers, then one by one shouted "Retreat!" and the Rouran Tribe finally understood what that drum was meant to. It was a signal.
The invaders sneakily found themselves inside the Rouran Tribe, and they retreated with such fanfare.
Father Kahn just couldn't measure the anger boiling inside him, seeing this. He glared at the golden man, the leader of the invaders and vow to himself that he will kill him! He can't let this man run away. He has to kill him now.
With this thought, he strains himself to the limit and attacks with all his might. He hacked his way repeatedly, dealing with the soldiers trying to save their Emperor from his grasp at the same time.
Glaring his blood shot eye, Father Kahn finally saw Emperor Wei's smile disappear, replaced with a frown and a silent painful groan.
Gripping tightly his sword, he thrust it towards Emperor Wei with such precision targeting his heart. Emperor Wei dodged to the side, grabbing a soldier from behind him making him a shield from Father Kahn's ruthless sword.
Father Kahn's thrusting movement changed when he saw Emperor Wei's action, he slash his sword, slashing the soldier being treated as a shield. From his shoulder to his stomach, father Kahn's sword slash through his armor penetrating his skin and flesh, almost dividing his body into two. Blood spluttered in the air, droplets of blood splashed on Father Kahn's face and body.
With his body drenched with the blood of his enemy, his blood shot eyes glared furiously at the golden man who treated life like dealing with an insect.
Emperor Wei, on the other hand, looked at Father Kahn coldly, touched with indifference he never showed before. This is how he usually looked while he sat on his golden dragon throne, watching as his subjects kneel before him. He looked down at them, sitting there above like a proud god.
Now this proud god was anger like never before.
Emperor Wei was just enjoying his time, bathing himself in blood. Feeling the tingling pain as those sharp blades touched and sliced through his skin. Emperor Wei was happy playing with this ferocious wolf dog gnashing his teeth, growling at him as he defended his territory, when those useless Generals ordered retreat without informing him. Just hearing that earth shaking noise banging throughout, makes Emperor Wei want to go ahead and behead all those useless things!
Nevertheless, he doesn't have much of a choice now. It's just that Emperor Wei felt that it was such a pity. Anyway, he still has chances to come back.
Sweeping around the bloody land, the gloomy clouds all over Emperor Wei's head slowly dispitate a little. He glanced coldly at Father Kahn one last time, then snorted and finally turned around to retreat.
Emperor Wei's retreat was never a peaceful one. As he went back, countless bodies fell, but this time they weren't the bodies of their enemies, instead they were the corpses from his imperial army.
Those who tried to protect him by throwing themselves at the arrows and swords all died on the spot. The same goes to the others who were thrown by the Emperor innocently.
In the end, it was Father Kahn who felt pity for his subordinates and stopped his attack. He raised his hand to gesture "stop", and his brothers began to retreat as well.
Anyway, they all needed time to rest and prepare. Heaving a heavy sigh, Father Kahn looked around the whole Rouran Tribe and the rim of his eyes couldn't help but turn red.
This is...he really can't believe it.
In just a day, their tribe was ruined just like this, and the invaders may have retreated but based on that golden man's expression completely announcing, "I will be back." Father Kahn's heart felt grave and dark.
His eyes turned and rolled looking around his brothers who tried to stand up as they picked their weapons. As he grieved their tribe's misfortunes, he suddenly felt cold. Goosebumps appeared on the back of his neck. He turned around only to see the supposed retreating leader of the invading troops was standing at the edge of the forest wearing an evil and sinister smile on his face.
Emperor Wei, who should be holding onto his holding spear, was now holding a huge, heavy bow and long, sharp arrow.
Father Kahn saw his hand move in slow motion. His iris shrunk as he coldly glanced at the golden man with murderous intently, then began shouting to his surviving brothers to prepare for the incoming arrows.
Shoot! Emperor Wei let go of the string and his personal arrow fired and flew up with great strength.
And just like that, after the first shot, countless arrows were fired coming from the forest. Clearly, this mad Emperor readily prepared these archers here for those who wanted to escape his subjugation. Unfortunately, they were not used in the end, who would have known that, these barbarians still have another path to escape to.
But now, Emperor Wei used these archers hiding in the forest for the finale of the day. Shaking his head in regret, Emperor Wei still thinks that the fireworks were still better when it comes to the final part. Well, this was good too. He just wonders how much blood will this spectacular performance take to paint this land truly red.
Arching his lips in good mood, Emperor Wei finally ordered a retreat and followed his generals back to the base camp.
The ground was washed with too much blood today and he was already satisfied.
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Blink. Blink.
Little Bori Kahn blinked his eyes trying to wake up. His body was furiously rebelling and was in pain all over. He can't move his limbs, his stomach aches so much, he feels like vomiting. But then, he heard his mother cry and rolled his eyes around the room.
The five soldiers who intruded into their home were now lying with their own blood on the ground.
His nose twitched and could help but sneeze. His mother immediately went to carry him in her embrace and tried soothing him.
"Poor baby. Mom is bad, I didn't get home in time and let you get hurt. It's my fault. Tell Mom where it's hurt and mom will make the pain go away."
Little Bori Kahn didn't speak, but instead he groaned in pain. Hearing his mother's gentle and soothing words, Little Bori Kahn finally couldn't hold himself back anymore and cried loudly.
He burst into tears, hugging his mother while he called out. "...mom...mom...hic..." Mother Kahn felt her heart broken to many pieces. Her son was so hurt that he cried. He never cried like this before, even when she beat him. Starting with his son, Mother Kahn can't help it and started crying as well.
At the side, old Ji ignored the mother and son pair. On the other hand, Little Ken just shrugged his shoulders and continued peeling the orange he found with his hands. Though, Little Ken also can't stop his eyes from getting red...he can't help it. He doesn't know where his parents are either. His younger brother and his two sisters don't know whether they reached the hidden cave in the forest safely or not.
Heaving a deep sigh, no one can't stop the gloomy atmosphere from spreading. And so, they spent the time here silently crying like this.
Half an hour later, Mother Kahn finally managed to stop Little Bori Kahn from crying.
She coaxed her son, patting his back softly and laughing at his ugly crying face. Little Bori Kahn snorted at her laugh, and pouted his lips while his cheeks bulged red like a pufferfish. Mother Kahn couldn't stop herself from teasing her son. She poked his puffed cheeks, while trying to swiped away the blood and dirt on her son's face.
While she did so, pain and sadness reflected her dark eyes. Nevertheless, the smile on her lips was never gone.
Her arms raised, her hands held her child's cheeks. She looked down at her son, who was trying to get away from her hands without much effort. She wiped her son's sweat gathering in his forehead, then her fingers went down towards her son's little mouth. She lightly touched the corner of Little Bori Kahn's mouth, and as expected, Little Bori Kahn reacted with a "hiss" because of his broken lips.
"...it seems that the inside of the mouth is also injured..." She murmured. She moved her eyes down to Little Bori Kahn's body and opened his robes to check his injuries.
Small and large purple and blue bruises decorated Little Bori Khan's body, especially his stomach. It looked terrifying at glance, but Mother Kahn heaved a sigh of relief, thanking the gods that her son didn't have any severe injuries or broken bones. It was all superficial.
Meanwhile, Old Ji, though he looked casual as he sat there like a fate keeper. All the muscles in his body were all taunt, his eyes were alert and his hands kept a tight grip on his sword. His ears keep twitching from the voice inside. He heard the mother and son pair crying. He too, wanted to cry, but he was a man. More so, the oldest in this group. He needs to be the strong one. He needs to escort them to safety.
The leader's house might be safe for now, but the battlefield is always changing. It's unpredictable, no one will know what will happen next.
That's when a thunderous noise started.
Badam! Badam! Badam!
Badam! Badam!
Beating of a drum echoes throughout. Old Ji immediately stood up. Little Ken quickly stuffed the orange inside his mouth, while Mother Kahn hugged her son tightly in her embrace, bringing both themselves on the wall to hide.
Old Ji alertly and cautiously went to check the situation on the window in the living room.
"Retreat! They're retreating!" He shouted. Little Ken went to peak as well, and couldn't help but get excited.
"Hah! Bunch of garbage! They went and went quickly like a storm. Don't ever go back again!" He spit out his saliva in disgust, and cursed these invaders' ancestors to heaven.
Little Ken though, it was over. He kept shouting curses, driving away the invaders with his words. It's a pity they can't hear his colorful words or they would be angered to death.
From the window of the living room, both Old Li and Little Ken could see the riot going on inside. Familiar faces went up running with their swords high up, chasing the invaders as they retreated to their camp.
They didn't know what was going on, but they saw their brothers stopped. They all heave a sigh, but still maintain their vigilance. It was then that something happened. As if something alarmed them, the people outside ran to look for shelters. Some even went under the corpses, others stole some shields and ducked on the ground.
Both Old Ji and Little Ken felt bewildered, but soon they knew what was going on.
"ARROWS!!!"
They're eyes went wide. From the distant sky, they saw numerous black dots accompanied by sharp whistles.
Little Ken cursed out loud. Old Ji immediately pushed Little Ken away from the windows and kicked him under the table. Then he immediately went to run inside the bedroom while shouting urgently.
The Leader's house stood not in the center nor edge of the Tribe. In fact, the place where they went to build their house was actually a good place. They could reach anywhere, neither near nor far. However, in this case, those arrows were fired at the edge.of the forest then...they were on the range of the attack.
The houses in the Rouran Tribe were only made out from wood that came from the forest. Since the Rouran Tribe doesn't need to deal with the extreme cold brought by winter, Rouran Tribe houses were only made especially to withstand wind and extreme heat. And it didn't include being attacked by arrows...this means, a single arrow can penetrate the house rather easily even if they hide.
"Take cover!!!" Old Ji shouted.
It only took him no longer than half a minute to reach the bedroom where the mother and son were located. But, he was still too late.
By the time Mother Kahn reacted...no, there was no time to react at all.
Clash!
Splash!
Old Ji was so shocked, he stopped. The arrow fell so suddenly that they all didn't manage to react.
The arrow was different from the rest. And it looked heavy, strong and sharp. Moreover, this arrow seemed to be the first shot, as the rain of arrows came after.
The arrow shot was so strong that it bursted open mother Kahn's head, like a watermelon. Blood splattered everywhere, bringing bits of pieces of her brain matter.
She was still smiling, gently consoling little Bori Kahn, when the arrow came penetrating her head.
Little Bori Kahn sat dazedly at the place. His young brain still couldn't recognize what just happened just then. But his eyes, although staring blankly ahead, never moved out from his mother's figure. So clearly, he saw with his own eyes. The way it happened, it was reflected and captured within those dark orbs.
The arrow came by in slow motion. Slowly flying straight at his mother. It penetrated her head, and the force forcibly opened up her skull, instantly killing mother Kahn.
It's like time stopped right there and then. Bori Kahn witnessed his mother's miserable death. Her eyes were forced out with her blood splashing everywhere. Bori Kahn's face was drenched. Bit of her mother's flesh even clung to his cheeks, sliding down then falling.
Mother Kahn's smiling face still etched into her broken face even until death. With an arrow stuck in between her brows, while her eyes slightly prodden, almost sticking out. Her lips still contain a smile.
Her body slumped, and she called down towards her son. The small child collapsed together with the corpse of his mother.
Little Bori Kahn blinks and finally regains a little awareness. He blinked his eyes again, and found himself buried under his mother. He moved his eyes and looked at his mother. He raised his hand and patted her shoulders, as if waking her up.
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