The Princess Weiyoung: Out of The Darkness

Chapter 11: A Conversation With The Enemy

"Look there's a horse. Dingbang, could he have come back from the battlefield? I'll just lead him back to the stables and give him a quick rub-down." Xianping's voice was getting closer to the stables. In a moment he would be able to see that most of the horses had gone.

Curse that horse! There's always one that doesn't follow the herd.

Tuoba Yu side stepped away from the nervous horse, and quickly grabbed the last horse's saddle bag. His dagger punched through the leather of it, spilling most of the saltpetre inside it to the ground. Silently cursing his clumsiness, Tuoba Yu tried to get the horse around the nervous one, which was still shying away from him. The latter blocked the stable exit.

Time to change plans.

Tuoba Yu drew his sword and used it to slice the leather strap that held the gate closed. The horses pressed against it eagerly, pushing it open. With a prayer to the Heavens, Tuoba Yu raised his sword and slammed the flat of the blade down against the scared horse. As he'd expected, the horse gave a whinny of fear, and a terrified buck so that Tuoba Yu had to duck to avoid the powerful kick. Thinking of nothing else except its need to get away from the scary man, the horse pushed past the others and out of the stable. Speeding to a gallop it soon vanished into main body of the camp.

The horse's fear was contagious. The other horses were startled to find themselves threatened on safe territory. The two that had been tied up reared back, pulling themselves free. They started to gallop away as well. In spite of their battle training, the horses' instinct to stampede as a herd away from danger kicked in, and within a few seconds they were all running for their lives, jumping low tent ropes, and charging at anyone who got in their way.

Tuoba Yu heard the Liu Song soldiers around him cry out in fear. Then a loud voice started bellowing orders in a tone that demanded to be obeyed. Tuoba Yu was certain that he could hear Xianping yelling for help.

The last horse whose saddle bag had been cut was standing stock still, flanks heaving with fear, and staring at him with wide eyes. Tuoba Yu knew that some horses experienced this fear after witnessing more blood-shed than they could handle. In this state the animal would not be able to run away even though it wanted to. He sheathed his weapons, then slowly held his hands out to the terrified animal, palms facing towards it. Relaxing his body, he spoke gently.

"Hey there boy, I didn't mean to startle you. We're working to a tight schedule so we're going to have to change Weiyoung's plan a little. See, I was meant to get away on a different horse, one who wasn't trailing saltpetre. The others will think that's what I've done and are going to be firing some flaming arrows any second now.

"I could run away and leave you. Your bag is mostly empty, and if you don't walk away now you're going to get hurt. But I know what it's like to be left behind. I don't want to leave you to that fate."

As he spoke, Tuoba Yu had steadily approached the stunned horse. Now he reached out and laid one of his hands on its shoulder. The other was in front of the horse's nose. Curious about the man, the horse extended his neck and snuffled at his hand. Not finding any food there, the horse looked away in disappointment.

Tuoba Yu noticed that the beast was calming down, and decided to try his luck. He moved over to the horse's side, and firmly wound his hand into its mane. He leaned towards the horse and added in the same soft tone of voice.

"Listen, if we don't run as fast as we can now we're both going to get burned to a crisp."

He didn't have the strength in his legs to vault on to the horse's back. So he had to haul himself up, and wriggle around like a child learning how to mount. Tuoba Yu felt a painful tug as his shoulder wound reopened.