Chapter Four: The First Battle Against the Jin (Part Two)

"Scatter and run!"

No sooner had the three parted ways than the frozen earth at the mouth of the alley crunched under the weight of iron boots. Six Jurchen soldiers charged into view like shifting crags. A bearded warrior, his eyes as predatory as a wolf’s, locked onto Li Xiao’s armored back—ignoring the villagers scattering in every direction as if they were mere pebbles on the road.

Li Xiao kicked open a courtyard gate, his grip tightening on his saber, his gauntleted hand white with tension.

"Where do you think you're running!" The bearded soldier’s iron boots thundered into the courtyard. His massive frame, encased in forty pounds of steel, bore down like a charging bear, his scimitar carving a bloody gust through the air toward Li Xiao’s face.

With a crisp *clang*, the blades met, sending sparks flying onto Li Xiao’s face. The impact sent him stumbling backward, his armor slamming against a stone mill with a dull, heavy boom. A metallic, copper taste flooded his mouth as blood welled in his throat.

A one-eyed Jurchen vaulted over the wall from the side, his blade grazing Li Xiao’s breastplate with a screech of shearing metal. Li Xiao spun and swung, his saber whistling toward the attacker's flank, only to be deflected by thick plating. He used the momentum to retreat, crashing into a stack of straw that showered debris into the gaps of his armor.

"Die!" the bearded soldier roared like thunder, pressing the assault.

Li Xiao dodged and weaved between haystacks and farm implements. His saber flashed, searching for openings, but it could not pierce the heavy iron armor of the Jurchen. The scimitar followed him like a shadow, its edge repeatedly biting into his chest plate, denting the steel and leaving his chest burning with agony.

The one-eyed soldier snatched up an iron hoe from the corner and smashed it into Li Xiao’s back.

*Clang!* The armor shuddered violently. Li Xiao felt as if he had been struck by a sledgehammer; his vision blackened as he staggered into the wall, gasping for air.

A roar erupted from the courtyard. A man charged in, using a door panel as a makeshift shield. He slammed into the Jurchen, knocking him off balance and pinning the bearded soldier’s scimitar against the wood. The man’s veins bulged, his face flushed red, and the door panel groaned under the strain as wood splinters showered down like snow.

Li Xiao seized the moment. He thrust his saber toward the bearded soldier’s armpit—the weak point where the armor joined—but the man twisted, and the blade only shredded the leather beneath.

The one-eyed soldier’s scimitar was already upon him. Li Xiao blocked, the blades locking together. He pushed with all his might, muscles straining beneath his harness, yet he was slowly forced to his knees. In terms of raw strength, he was no match for these Jurchens from Liaodong; had they not been exhausted from their long hunt of the villagers, he would have fallen long ago.

A manure fork lunged from the side, stabbing precisely into the throat plate of the one-eyed soldier—Geng Gu had found his opening. The filth on the prongs smeared across the Jurchen’s face.

As the bearded soldier roared and swung at Geng Gu, the man with the door panel pivoted, catching the blow. The wood cracked under the impact. Li Xiao pulled his saber free and lunged, his entire armored weight slamming into his opponent, sending the Jurchen staggering back.

"Kill!" Li Xiao shrieked, his blade clashing with the one-eyed soldier’s again as sparks showered between them. Geng Gu continued to harass the bearded man with the fork, forcing him back, while the man with the door panel held the line, the deafening thuds of steel against wood echoing through the yard.

The one-eyed soldier began to falter. Li Xiao’s strikes grew frantic, and finally, he found a gap. His blade slid along the enemy’s scimitar, found the seam of the lamellar armor, and plunged deep into the soldier’s thigh.

The Jurchen let out a wretched howl and crashed into the straw. Li Xiao followed through, aiming for the heart, but the soldier clamped his arm over the blade—the raw strength of the muscles beneath that iron plating was terrifying.

"Smash him!"

Li Xiao understood. He brought the pommel of his saber down onto the soldier’s helmet with a dull *thud*. The grip loosened. Seizing the chance, Li Xiao shoved forward with everything he had. The blade buried itself in the man’s chest, blood gushing out and painting his own armor crimson.

The moment the one-eyed soldier fell, the bearded warrior saw his comrade perish. He roared, shoved the others aside, and swung his scimitar toward Li Xiao’s back with murderous fury.

Li Xiao spun and raised his saber, but the force of the blow shattered his grip, sending the weapon flying. Pain flared as his hand split and bled. The Jurchen paused for a heartbeat, and Li Xiao used the opening to kick the man’s knee with all his remaining strength, sending him stumbling.

The man with the door panel threw himself forward, pinning the Jurchen against the wall. Geng Gu’s fork descended again, striking the soldier’s iron helmet with a heavy, ringing sound.

Li Xiao scrambled to retrieve his saber, lunged forward, and drove the blade into the bearded soldier’s throat with his final ounce of strength.

With the brittle sound of steel piercing armor, the Jurchen’s body convulsed. His iron boots scraped deep furrows into the earth before he finally collapsed, the clatter of his armor fading into silence.

Li Xiao sat slumped on the ground, his armor too heavy to bear. The saber slipped from his hand, blood dripping from its tip onto the frozen soil. The man with the door panel leaned against the wall, gasping for air, the deep gashes in the wood a testament to the fight. Geng Gu clutched his bleeding arm, his face a mask of gore.

"Four left," Geng Gu croaked, staring out of the courtyard where the sounds of slaughter continued.

Li Xiao looked at the two corpses. Their hands remained frozen in the posture of holding their blades; the muscles beneath their armor seemed to still be tensed. He rose slowly, gripping his saber once more. The sound of his armor scraping was unnaturally loud in the silent courtyard.

The wind carried the scent of blood. His understanding of the Jurchens' ferocity had deepened.

"Cough... *cough*..." He spat out a mouthful of blood, which melted the snow into dark red holes.

His vision narrowed, as if an invisible hand were tightening around his throat. The surrounding sounds—the man’s heavy breathing, the rustle of Geng Gu’s bandages—seemed to be muffled by a thick layer of ice.

A ringing grew in his ears, followed by a dizzying spin as the world tilted. As he fell, the last thing he felt was the chill of the snow, colder even than his armor, before his consciousness plunged into an endless void.

***

In the darkness, Li Xiao heard weeping.

It was like a thin thread drifting from a great distance, winding around his consciousness and pulling him back from the void. First came the sobbing of a woman, broken and calling a name; then the hacking cough of an old man, as if he were trying to expel his lungs; and finally, the sharp, desperate cries of a child.

As he opened his eyes, a snowflake landed on his eyelash.

The gray sky hung low, and fine snow fell in silence. The pain in his body seemed frozen, leaving only a cold ache in his bones. *I’m not dead yet...* The thought was a faint spark in the ashes of his mind. He tried to raise a hand to touch his chest, where the wound still throbbed, but he lacked the strength even to curl his fingers.

He blinked, and melted snow trickled down his cheek like tears. He realized he was lying on a wheelbarrow lined with coarse burlap. Every bump of the road sent spikes of pain through his back.

"Master Li is awake!"

Geng Gu’s blood-smeared face appeared in his vision. His left arm was crudely bandaged, the blood dried to a dark brown. His usually glib mouth was cracked and pale, his voice sounding as if it had been filed by sandpaper.

"Did we make it out?" Li Xiao tried to sit up, but his limbs refused to obey.

"We escaped, but behind us..." Geng Gu glanced back at the mountain path, now covered by snow, leaving no trace of their passage. "Just as we reached the pass, we heard the thunder of hooves below. Must have been two or three hundred Jurchen riders. The earth shook under their iron hooves. Old Stone said if we had been a moment later, we’d all be minced meat."

The wheelbarrow hit a rut, and Li Xiao gasped in agony. The man pushing the barrow cursed under his breath, working with another to lift the cart over a crevice. Li Xiao realized they were walking along a narrow ridge, with a sheer cliff on one side and a bottomless valley on the other.

The column was long. Twenty-some survivors moved like a battered, long snake, crawling slowly through the snow. At the front were men with wood axes; in the middle, the elders, women, and children; at the rear, the youths carrying their remaining grain. Every face was drained of color, their eyes hollow, as if their souls had been stolen by the night’s massacre.

"Where are the Stone brothers?" Li Xiao asked with difficulty.

"Scouting ahead," Geng Gu pointed, then added with a trace of grief, "He... he put on your armor and went back to fight. By the time we found him, he was already..." He didn't finish, merely shaking his head.

Li Xiao closed his eyes. He remembered the final image—the man leaning against the wall, a horrific wound in his chest, blood tracing the scars on the door panel. He hadn't even had the chance to ask his name.

The wind picked up, driving snow against his face like countless tiny blades. Li Xiao looked up. The distant ridgeline was jagged, the exposed rock iron-gray against the white.

Higher up, a golden eagle circled in the leaden sky. Its wings barely moved, riding the rising currents. It was a fathom wide, appearing and disappearing in the gray clouds. Its feathers shimmered with a dark brown luster, and its circling was terrifically graceful. Its sharp eyes must have long since locked onto the living things moving through the valley.

The eagle dove like a black arrow, grazing the opposite cliff. Moments later, Li Xiao saw it rise again, clutching a struggling hare. The rabbit’s blood dripped onto the snowy slope, drawing a long red line.

The eagle circled high above, its keen gaze sweeping the snow. Li Xiao shivered. Were they not just like the prey that had been marked? The Jurchens were the hunters circling above, ready to swoop down and deliver the killing blow.

*I am the prey.*

"Where... are we going?" an old woman in the column asked. Her voice trembled as she clutched a bundle wrapped in rags—perhaps her last belongings, or the keepsakes of a lost loved one.

No one answered. The question sat like a stone in everyone’s heart. Their homes were gone, their families dead. Where were the Song armies? Could they stop the Jurchens? No one knew.

The barrow jolted again. Li Xiao saw a dead hazel shrub by the road, its branches twisted like an old man’s fingers, several shriveled red berries swaying in the wind. Further away, a stand of white birch stood in the snow, their pale trunks scarred with black, like countless eyes coldly watching the band of refugees.

"There’s a wind-sheltered cave ahead," the old man at the front stopped, his voice trembling in the wind. "Let’s rest a bit. The children are freezing."

A stir ran through the crowd, but it quickly died down. No one cheered, no one quickened their pace; they simply moved forward, mechanically, toward the potential sanctuary. They were too exhausted to feel joy, too broken to harbor hope.

Li Xiao watched the cave grow closer. The dark, gaping entrance looked like a hungry mouth. They didn't know if it was safe, if the Jurchens would track them down tonight, or if they would see the sun rise tomorrow.

The golden eagle appeared again, circling higher, almost vanishing into the clouds. But Li Xiao knew it was still there, just like the threat of the Jurchens—ever-present, never fading.

Snowflakes landed on his face, melted into water, and ran into the corners of his mouth. It tasted bitter and salty.