Ballad of the Mountain Fox

제 6 장: Verse of the Wandering Vagabond

One week after Jimin's curse was set upon the unsuspecting Young Min, a storm began to brew over the mountains.

“Shh!”  Kim Nara frowned, glaring at her stomach as it emitted another unhappy grumble.  She’d been traveling for only two days through these exact same mountains over which dark clouds were currently gathering, and already she had run out of food.  Now, she would have to either forage for sustenance, or use up her meager allowance for a small meal, but first she would see how far she could get before hunger ruled out.

Hoof beats suddenly sounded behind her like a stampede—which, well, it was—and she barely had time to throw herself off the mountain path and out of the way before a band of at least fifteen men on horseback came flying past.  The dust kicked they kicked up temporarily obscured Nara’s view, but she could hear what happened next clearly enough.

“Help!  Oh, someone please help!”

With her heart beating almost as loudly as the horses’ hooves, Nara stayed behind the bushes she had landed in and crept alongside the road until she found the source of the cries.

A merchant family had been caught in the mayhem up ahead, and as Nara peered through the leaves of the bushes, she recognized the large cart of market goods as the source of the wheel tracks she had been following in the road for the past few days.  Currently the band of riders had surrounded the family and was taking great pleasure in throwing things around and striking down the servants while the family cowered nearby.

Nara gripped her hiking stick, unsure of what to do.  It wasn’t like she was an exceptionally good fighter, but she couldn’t just hide there and watch!

To her horror, the band of raiders had now discovered the merchant’s wife and dragged her away by her feet, despite her screams and kicks.  The merchant and his son stepped forward to intervene, and Nara screwed her eyes shut as the sword of one of the bandits rose into the air to strike them down.

Instead of hearing a strangled cry from the merchant, however, Nara instead heard a quiet whistling sound followed by a solid thunk, and reopened her eyes to find the would-be murderer with an arrow straight through his chest.

Before the other robbers had time to react, the two holding the wife by her feet found themselves in similar situations, staring in horror as blood poured from the new wounds in their chests.  One final arrow found its mark in another vandal’s shoulder, and then a midnight-black horse tore into Nara’s limited view, ridden by a solitary yangban.

This noble-to-the-rescue had a bow in his hand, but as he drew nearer to the attackers, he traded bow for sword and clashed with the nearest opponent, whose skills were no match.  Within moments, the other man was on the ground—either dead or unconscious, Nara didn’t know.  Without hesitation, the young noble moved on to his next target, and the merchants who had been under attack took the opportunity to fight back, reaching for their weapons in the cart and joining in on the defense.

Wishing she could do more than just watch, Nara finally glanced down as her hands brushed over a stone on the ground before her.

Bingo.

When one of the attackers got to close to her hiding spot, she took the opportunity to lob him in the head with it.  To her satisfaction, the man went down like he’d been struck by lightning.

With the young noble’s unprecedented arrival, the fight was soon over and the attacked merchants cheered in victory.

But the newcomer was not so easily satisfied.  To Nara’s horror, he immediately turned and began striding towards her hiding spot, and she realized he must have seen her throw the rock at the man from earlier.