The Fox Princess And Her White Dog

27: The Prince from the North

*Warning: Some coarse language ahead*

Erden never imagined that one and a half years after leaving the Jade Kingdom, he'd be back at its walled border, albeit at a part of the Long Wall he'd never expected to see in his lifetime.

Unlike the well-maintained portion of the Long Wall that he and Snow passed through, this section of the Wall in the mountains was in a state of disrepair. The crumbling bricks were overgrown with creeping vegetation, and the guard tower roof was missing a number of tiles. Only the wooden gate with its fresh red paint, the bricks surrounding the gate frame, and the crossbows aimed at him, looked new.

He heard one of the soldiers spitting loudly. "Fucking barbarians, what the fuck do they want," another cursed as he peered down at Erden from beneath his helmet.

"Mangy curs. Uncivilized yak herders. Oi, you, scram!" a bearded soldier said in the southern tongue while waving his crossbow in a threatening manner.

Erden glared at the soldiers, feeling his anger curdling. Sechen just had to give him a job that nobody wants, that he especially didn't want. Usually, his father would send one of his most senior advisors to deal with southerners, but Sechen said she needed the older man's help in negotiating with the desert tribes.

He glanced at the steep granite cliffs around him, and hoped to the gods that the soldiers weren't trigger happy. In the narrow, treacherous pass wide enough for only five horsemen to ride abreast, one tower of twenty soldiers could easily pick off a thousand horsemen with bow and arrow. Hence, despite its remote location, no northerner would be so foolhardy as to assail the guard tower in broad daylight. Or, for that matter, enter the no-man's land by the Wall – until today.

"Didn't you hear? Fuck off!" the second soldier said, taking aim at Erden.

"Erden, they're going to shoot," Turgen said in warning beside him.

"I didn't sign up for a suicide mission," one of his men grumbled. He heard the rest uttering derogatory insults behind him as their horses stamped the ground impatiently. "Wait till I shoot an arrow through that one's eye, that'll shut them up," another said.

"Don't do anything rash. The Khan sent us here for a job to do, not to start a fight," Erden said, trying to keep his voice even. He had to stay calm; he could not afford to let his emotions get the better of him. If he failed this mission, he could never live down the disappointment in his father's eyes, or the smug look on Sechen's face.

He nudged his horse closer to the wall and looked up at the soldiers in their lofty tower, his head held high. "Who's in charge here?" he demanded in the southern tongue.

"Ei, this arrogant dog speaks the language."

"Careful now, look at the way he trots his horse, he thinks he's so important," another guffawed.

"Just shoot this whippersnapper already!"

"Go home and bone a sheep!"

There were more insults hurled at him, but at that point, he could not hear them. For ten years, he's had to suffer in silence when the princes ridiculed him in this manner. It was bad enough in the beginning when they pushed him around and he didn't understand the words they had uttered, but it was worse when he knew exactly what was being said.

Hearing all these filthy words and names thrown at him and his men, made him furious.

With one hand, Erden yanked at the button near his collar, as he glowered up at the soldiers.

"Are you going to strip for us, boy? I like women, but I'll make an exception for you!" The men jeered.

Their hoots and raucous laughter died in their throats when Erden pulled out a large, forest green jade pendant from beneath his deel. Even from a distance, he could see their eyes pop out of their skulls when they saw the pendant carved in the shape of a coiled dragon, and the thick gold chain it was attached to.