THE CONCUBINE || TAEKOOK ||

FOURTY FOUR

The Northern Border — A week later

The snow had melted.

For weeks, the Yalu River had been frozen, a white ribbon winding through the grey mountains, a barrier between the kingdom and the enemy that waited on the northern shore. The soldiers had huddled in their tents, watching the ice, waiting for it to break, knowing that when it did, the war would begin.

Now, the ice was gone. The river ran fast and cold, dark water churning between banks that had been trampled by armies. And on the northern shore, the Jurchen banners flew thousands of them, a forest of cloth and steel, marking the position of the army that had been gathering for months.

Jungkook stood on the southern bank, his armor heavy on his shoulders, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Beside him, General Seo studied the enemy lines through a brass spyglass, his face grim.

"They outnumber us," the general said. "Two to one, perhaps three. Bataar has brought every man who can hold a spear."

Jungkook said nothing. He had known the numbers for weeks. He had stared at the maps, read the scouts' reports, calculated the odds until they burned into his mind. They were outnumbered. They were outmatched. They were fighting a war that his father should have fought years ago, when the Jurchen were still divided, when a show of strength might have prevented all of this.

But his father had not fought. His father had waited, and the enemy had grown strong, and now it was Jungkook's war to fight.

"What is our position?" he asked.

General Seo lowered the spyglass. "The river is narrowest at the bend, three miles east. If we cross there, we can flank their main force. But we will be exposed. If they see us coming—"

"They will see us." Jungkook's voice was calm. "Bataar is not a fool. He will have scouts watching every crossing point."

"Then what do you propose, Your Majesty?"

Jungkook looked across the river, at the enemy banners fluttering in the cold wind, at the army that had come to destroy everything he had built.

"We give them a battle they will not expect," he said. "We do not cross at the narrowest point. We cross where they think we will not dare."

He pointed to a bend in the river, where the water ran fast and deep, where the opposite bank was steep and rocky.

"There. We cross at dawn."

General Seo's face paled. "Your Majesty, that is madness. The current is too strong. The bank is too high. Our men will be slaughtered before they reach the top."

Jungkook turned to face him. "And what do you think will happen if we cross at the narrow point? They will be waiting for us. They will cut us down before we reach the shore. They will pick us off one by one, and we will die with their arrows in our backs."

He pointed back at the river.

"But if we cross there, where they do not expect us, where they think no army would dare to try we will have surprise. We will have the high ground. And we will have a chance."

He looked at the general, at the soldiers who were watching them from the camp, at the young faces that would be asked to do the impossible.