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thirty-eight
Seoreunyeodeol
Feet marched and the air was quiet...solemn. Eyes stared ahead and the clear tinkle of the bell seemed to pierce the soul. The monks were first, then the shamans clearing the path of any lingering bad energy. Up ahead there laid the prepared ground, ground that had been prayed over and one he was assured would provide those laid to rest safe passage to the otherworld. The King did not accompany him. Nor did his brother or any other member of the royal family. No, he walked this procession with just a few. Turning eyes to the side and down, he looked at the woman walking beside him, expression matching his.
They'd reunited only days ago. Brought to him by his father's guards, he hadn't let her go for the longest time, just inhaling her scent and feeling her warm little body against his. He thanked the Gods....he thanked Ra and even B'sst for her safe return. She stood still as he examined her face and didn't object to his eyes and hands searching her in the bath they shared later that night. Their reunion was sweet and laborious and the fatigue he felt upon rising the morning after proved worth it.
He'd gladly taken her to see Hae who had been healing of her wounds in the medical ward. Watching the two women cry and hug each other made his heart glad and he left them alone to talk. She had asked him of Anat and Young-ho's whereabouts. He had last returned the young man to his little brother but as for Anat... he hated that he didn't know.
She was instantly grieved and had been for the few days she'd been back at the palace. Her eyes showed her broken heart yet she managed to keep it together. For the sake of all the women who had survived. They needed her to be strong she said. But at night when they shared their bed she laid against his chest and cried...wanted so much to know what happened to her.
Reaching down, he took hold of her hand and firmly squeezed, bringing her attention upward. Looking straight, his throat grew tight as the monks blessed the land once more, the shamans joining. And so it would begin, the departure of the brave men and women who had fought to defend their beloved Goryeo.
***
"We're wasting time."
"You have nerve to rush me?"
"The King was supposed to be killed by now." The small group of men gathered around the table, lined with furs. Lifting the cup of wine and blood to his mouth, he grinned at the nervous Mongol leader.
"I never pegged you to be nervous." The beady eyes of the man narrowed and his teeth bared like the teeth of a fox.
