In the plains west of Keiyou there was an abandoned fortress atop a small hill. That was where I, Chou Hakurei—daughter of the National Shield, Chou Tairan—shot an arrow from the cover of a stone wall. The arrow pierced through the arm of an enemy cavalryman who had carelessly attempted to approach. He stumbled backward with a cry of pain.
“Men! What are you doing, making Lady Hakurei do all the work?!” One of the veterans gave a sharp rebuke. “Get it together!”
“Sir!”
Upon hearing that voice, deep with anger, my soldiers began to shoot their arrows—though another row of cavalrymen only rushed forward and blocked every shot with their leather shields. None of the enemies fell, but that wasn’t all. The cavalryman I shot with an arrow earlier hadn’t even fallen off his horse. He retreated on his own without needing the aid of any of his fellow soldiers. Our enemies had been trained unbelievably well.
“These aren’t regular bandits. Oh no...” A terrible fear gripped my heart. “Don’t tell me they’re a scouting party from Gen?” It took me all I had to stop my teeth from chattering. The hand holding my bow started to shake and I gripped it hard with my other to stop it from doing so. I mustn’t let my soldiers, doing their best to hold the line, see me like this. It would affect morale.
Though we had managed to get the higher ground and we were protected by the stone walls, the advantage was slight and I knew that it would only be a matter of time before we were overpowered. I bit my lip hard enough I could taste blood.
Hakurei, you’re pathetic! This is no time for fear! You’re the daughter of Chou Tairan and... I fought back tears as I thought of Sekiei, carefree and aloof. Is this all I’m capable of on my own?
Even as I reeled in shock, the people around me were doing their best to keep the cavalrymen at bay with their arrows. All of them were injured. They turned to me with desperation in their eyes and all began yelling at once.
“Lady Hakurei!”
“We’ll cut a path for you.”
“Please, you must evacuate!”
“We wouldn’t be able to look General Chou or the young master in the eye if we were to let you die here!”
“Please make your escape!”
Despite the armor over my chest, I felt a stab of pain in my heart. The abandoned fortress where we were was situated in an open field, making it easy to see across the whole area. However, the openness was deceptive. There were small knolls throughout the land and the mysterious enemy had been able to hide in the shadows of such protrusions, even though they had more men than us.
As the commander, it was my fault that I hadn’t been able to see through the ambush that allowed them to surround us. As a result of that mistake, they’d rained down countless arrows upon us and killed over half of our horses. I had no other choice but to use the ones who survived to request reinforcements.
Who knows how many made it all the way back to Keiyou?
And now it seemed as if my foolish mistake was about to cost the lives of over a hundred of Chou’s soldiers. I gritted my teeth and unleashed another arrow at the enemies, noting that they were much closer to us than before.
“Thank you,” I said to the soldiers as I shot another arrow. The cavalryman who had dodged my first attack couldn’t avoid the second one, and it pierced his thigh. This time, I managed to knock him off his horse. “However, I doubt I would be able to escape on foot. They clearly have no intention of letting any of us leave alive. This is my mistake and I’m truly sorry.”
The soldiers around me tried to swallow their nerves and didn’t say anything. The spears and bows in their hands trembled—we only had a meager number of arrows left.
“However!” I continued, raising my voice over the sound of the enemy arrows bouncing off the stone walls we were hiding behind. “I am the daughter of Chou Tairan. I shall choose death over humiliation. If such a time comes to pass, I would like to request that you all buy me enough time for me to complete my task.”
A man with red hair and a red beard held aloft a spear decorated by a ribbon of the same color. He was right in the middle of the enemy formation and upon seeing his signal, the cavalrymen pulled out their scimitars. They were ready to charge.
“Also,” I pushed on, “there is only one man—barring my family—in this entire country that I permit to touch my skin. I hope you will all keep my secret.”
The soldiers’ eyes widened. For a moment, no one said anything. Then they started to laugh.
“That’s...”
“Well, we certainly can’t let you die after hearing that!”
“I totally agree!”
“He’ll hate us if we don’t protect you.”
“The young master sure stole your heart!”
It looked like this turn of conversation had helped with morale a little, but I was still in command and so I allowed myself only a soft chuckle before giving my orders. “They’re coming. Those who no longer have any arrows left, draw your weapons and prepare to engage in close-quarters combat!”
“Understood!”
Spears were held aloft and swords were drawn. Even the injured soldiers took out their daggers. Just as they did, though, the enemy commander’s voice boomed across the battlefield:
“Massacre them!”