Masters of the Sea

030

Sunghyun was alone in the training yard, beads of sweat trickling down the sides of his face as he swung his sword, striking the wooden training dummy again and again. He had more or less recovered from all his injuries and the royal physicians had given him the clearance to resume physical training, but there was still some way to go before he would be back to where he was before he had left for Goguryeo.

The metal struck the wood once more and Sunghyun let out a cry as a sharp pain shot through his arm, forcing him to let go of the hilt of his sword. But there was no loud clang of the sword hitting the ground, as it was promptly caught by someone who had just dashed over to Sunghyun's side.

"You need to stop pushing yourself so hard."

It was Hoya, who had also recovered from harrowing near-death experience they had been through and had regained semblance of the knight that he was. Dressed in the clean white uniform of the knights of Baekje, his previously grimy and straggly hair had been trimmed and fastened securely with a dark blue band across his forehead. The only remnant of the misadventure he had in Goguryeo was the ugly brand of the dire wolf on the back of his right hand—a reminder of the unspeakable torture he had been through when he had been taken prisoner.

"I'm fine," Sunghyun replied, taking the sword back from Hoya. He walked over to the weapons rack and slid the sword back in. "What brings you here?" he asked. "Has there been news?"

Hoya shook his head. He knew what news Sunghyun was concerned about—news of the Oracle—but unfortunately there had still been no sign of her.

Since he awoke, Sunghyun had ordered a low-key search of the Baekje coastline, determined to locate the whereabouts of the girl. He would probably have jumped on board a ship and gone in search of her himself, had the other knights not spent an inordinate amount of effort reminding him of his duty and convincing him otherwise. He was the leader of the White Knights and they needed him at the helm right now. The expedition to Goguryeo had been a complete and utter failure. They had given away their princess, but they had not brought back the Oracle in return. To add salt to the injury, they had allowed two spies to infiltrate their ranks, while two of their own had almost died on Goguryeo soil.

"Some of us were discussing about the prisoner, and we wanted to seek your guidance on this matter," Hoya explained. "He's still refusing to speak."

The prisoner that Hoya was talking about was Miru—one of the Black Knights of Goguryeo who had been sent to Baekje as a spy. According to what they had learnt after their return, Miru had stolen Hoya's identity, only to be discovered after he had been implicated in a transgression with Princess Luna. Subsequently, the knights had learnt that Miru was not the only spy that had been hiding in their midst—there had been someone masquerading as Sunghyun as well, but that person had since vanished completely. The knights had been trying to get Miru to confess the identity and whereabouts of his compatriot, but the man refused to budge.

"Where is he being held?"

"At the dungeons."

The capital's dungeons was a dark and ominous place, carved into the side of the mountain that sat on the city's southern border. Its cells were reserved for those guilty of heinous crimes like murder and treason, for them to serve their time before they were sent to the gallows.

Not long after Hoya had met up with Sunghyun, the duo arrived in front of a massive wooden gate that had been built into the mountainside, the foreboding barrier that stood between the citizens of Baekje and the vile individuals who resided within. When the guards spotted their white steeds approaching, they immediately signalled to their compatriots inside and the heavy gates swung open, allowing the men to enter.