Journey West 5000

Chapter 37 - Metaphorical Mountain

At the gates of Gao Village, several defenders stood ready to face the invading army.

Behind them were the closed gates of Gao Village. Before them was an empty corridor, bracketed on each side by a thick field of sharpened bamboo poles and stakes pointing outwards. The empty corridor widened as it stretched away from the village gates.

On either side of the defenders, there were tall barricades made of wooden debris. Parts of the wooden frame that previously secured Bajie could be seen, as could broken parts of the collapsed watchtower.

"Br...Brother Wukong, I'm not a fighter. Could I go behind the gate, with the other villagers?" said Bajie.

"All you have to do, is the one thing Mistress told you to. After that, just leave everything to me!". Wukong thumped his chest, filled with confidence.

"...alright..." said Bajie softly, his floppy ears drooping.

***

When the disorganised band of hybrids came within sight of Gao Village, they slowed to a stop. What they saw was quite unbelievable, so they slowly took it in. Some of them rubbed their eyes and squinted while doing so.

At the gates of Gao Village stood seven unlikely-looking defenders.

And one very scared-looking pig demon.

Elder Mu stood with his eyes closed, breathing slowly and deeply, a heavy saber in each hand. He looked like he had fallen asleep on his feet.

Gao Cai stood behind him, fidgeting with the two large maces in each hand. Occasionally, he would look at his father, then square his shoulders and try to emulate his father's calm state.

Elder Jing rocked back and forth on his toes, a metal tower shield in each hand, a manic grin frozen on his face. It was hard to tell if he was excited or scared out of his wits.

Gao Shu and Gao Luan were behind Elder Jing, talking softly to each other. They each had a long boar spear. Thus called because behind each spear head was a thick metal bar, there to prevent pain-maddened boars -- or other creatures -- from driving themselves further up the haft to injure the spear wielder.

Wu Kong was off to one side, practicing with his quarterstaff while muttering to himself.

Trip sat in the middle of the corridor, reloading the entire stock of single-shot pistols that she had obtained from Brother Mender. After reloading a pistol, she would set it down into one of the neat piles on either side of her. An open cloth bag was placed beside each of the two piles of loaded pistols.

Behind everyone else, Bajie crouched on the ground. His eyes were wide open, showing more white than anything else, staring at the mass of approaching demons. All he saw was sharp teeth, even sharper claws, and quite possibly the sharpest, largest weapons he had ever had the bad luck to come across in his admittedly sheltered life. Especially intimidating was the gigantic nine-ringed broadsword casually propped up against the shoulder of an equally gigantic lion-tiger demon. It was broad, it was sharp, and it radiated sheer chopping capability.

More and more hybrids gathered, those lagging behind catching up. They stopped where the field of bamboo stakes ended. They observed the bamboo stakes, the narrow clear corridor in the middle, the closed gate, the two barricades on each side, and the seven defenders.

Finally, Shi Hu couldn't take it anymore.

He began to snicker, softly at first. Then he broke out into large belly-shaking guffaws.

That triggered the rest of his men, who began laughing uncontrollably. Some even started to tear up while pounding each other on the back and shoulders. At times, one would begin to calm down, only to take another look at the defenders. Doing so would be enough to set them off again, making them laugh themselves sore without stopping.