The warriors from the Gansa clan joined Ohfan’s men around daybreak. Catching sight of Zakka, Ohfan silently pulled him aside.
Zakka listened, his face grim, while Ohfan explained what had happened the night before. Then he sighed and bowed his head. “I’m sorry.”
Ohfan stared at Zakka for a moment and ultimately shook his head. “There’s no reason for you to apologize. Still, considering what’s happened, I can no longer treat him as your kin.”
Zakka gazed back at Ohfan and nodded, then rubbed a hand over his face. “From the time he joined the Broken Antlers, he was no longer my kin.” He fixed his eyes vacantly on the snow-covered trees. “All to rescue a woman, huh?” he said. His gaze returned to Ohfan.
The white glow of morning gradually suffused the blue-shrouded forest.
“He lost his wife and child. I suppose he couldn’t bear to see a woman killed like that.”
Ohfan’s eyes were cold. “If so, then he’s merely a fool, but I’m not sure that’s all it was.”
Zakka looked puzzled. “What do you mean?”
With a dire expression, Ohfan explained. “When we took the weapons off the corpses of the Lafan warriors, we discovered something odd. One of the bodies wasn’t a Lafan.”
Zakka’s brows rose. “What?”
“He wore white ermine at his throat to appear like one, but he had no calluses.”
The Lafan used slings from childhood. Their archers sported thick calluses on their hands.
“If not a Lafan, then who?” Zakka muttered. Ohfan gazed at him silently, and Zakka understood. “Ah. I see.” He rubbed a hand over his chin stubble absently. “So the king has decided to protect himself.” Zakka stared ahead.
Ohfan clenched his jaw, seemingly aware of what the other man thought. “We will take back our homeland,” he declared, forcing the words out. “No matter what.”
Zakka knit his brow. “I know how you feel, but wouldn’t it be better to go into hiding and wait for the right time? The King of Aquafa is only worried about how the Zolians will respond. Why not continue using the Kinma dogs against the Mukonians and bide your time until the situation changes.”
Ohfan shook his head. “I have no intention of keeping idle.”
“I see. And there’s your father to think of. How is he, by the way?”
“Not good. He’s got a high fever. The arrow only grazed him, but the disappointment of Van’s betrayal was too great a blow on top of the exhaustion of leading the Kinma dogs. We already knew that he might not last the year. He’s been surviving on willpower alone.”
Ohfan glanced back at the camp. “But he hasn’t given up.” He gave Zakka a shallow grin. “And I won’t, either. I’m done with waiting to see what the king decides. Justice is on our side. The gods know that.”
He fell silent for a moment, his gaze intense, but then his expression relaxed. “Our alliance with your people ends here.” Zakka listened in silence. “My father and I will take our finest warriors and leave our clan.”
Zakka was astonished. “You mean…”
Ohfan nodded and bowed his head low. “We shall never forget the generosity your people showed by accepting us into your midst and fighting alongside us, even when we cross the river to the Land of the Dead.”
He lifted his head and smiled. “If I could ask of you one final thing, it would be that you hide our people deep in the Toga Mountains. It would never do for this conflict between us and the king to garner attention from the Zolians. Surely, those who betrayed us won’t go so far as to chase our defenseless families into the peaks.”
Zakka regarded Ohfan wordlessly. The current situation and the future of the people living on Aquafa’s border made his task clear. Still, the wave of sorrow that crashed through him drowned out those pressing concerns.
Zakka was overcome with pity for the man before him. Although obstinate and arrogant, Ohfan loved his people dearly. He was the chief of a small clan tossed about by the brutal winds of fate. Each time he’d struggled to resist, he was driven into greater isolation.
The game has ended.
If the King of Aquafa had decided to back out, then no matter what they did, fortune would never favor them. It was time to pull out. If they did so now, the Gansa clan could still escape unharmed.
But…
Quitting wasn’t an option for Ohfan. To give up now would be to accept the crushing injustice of fate, and how could the Ahfal Oma ever accept that?
Ohfan clung to the belief that his people were right and that, because they were right, the gods would aid them. He would undoubtedly press on, even if the route before him were a fragile thread suspended over the depths of hell.
Yet even now…
As he walked that deadly path, Ohfan took care not to involve the people of the Toga Mountains. Such was his nature.
Zakka silently touched his palms to his stomach, chest, and forehead. Then he nodded.
Half a month later, a band of warriors under orders from the King of Aquafa attacked Ohfan’s settlement in the Toga Mountains. A fierce wind blew all day, but it died out at night. They struck in that still darkness that was so cold that it froze the trees, taking care not to draw the attention of the Zolians.
Most of Ohfan’s clan had already been taken deep into the mountains by the Gansa, but Kenoi and about twenty men had stayed behind. Although the band of elite warriors led by Ohfan was nowhere to be found, the remaining men fought ferociously. The Aquafaese, who outnumbered them by far, lost over half their force, and of those who survived, some were bitten by Kinma dogs and died on their way home.
The battle was silent, short, and savage. Of the twenty Ahfal Oma, ten were shot with arrows. Kenoi, the Dog King, was one of a handful who escaped under cover of darkness through the freshly falling snow. The Aquafaese set out after them at daybreak, only to find their tracks buried by wind and snow. Similarly, there was no trace of Ohfan and his men.
However, the Aquafaese’s search did yield one result. They found a body lying behind a fallen log, half-buried in the snow: Ohfan’s father, Kenoi, the Dog King.