Chương 141: The One Helping Us Is Golden Too

The first arrow flew from between the trees. It struck a sack on the lead cart. Dry grain poured through the tear. The kernels bounced off the cart bed and scattered across the road. A soldier walking in front stepped on them and slipped. While he grabbed the side of the cart, grain kept spilling from the sack.

"Left!" The soldiers' chatter stopped all at once. Some raised shields. Others ducked beneath the carts. On the narrow road, the cart behind struck the one ahead. The draft beasts tossed their heads and gave low cries. A second arrow bounced off a shield. Its head struck stone and rolled to Kichan's feet. Behind him, shouts to stop the carts overlapped with shouts to hold the animals. The road was too narrow to flee or to move forward together. The Yao came down between the trees.

The first figure Kichan saw was longer and leaner than a human. Short fur grew along both sides of the face, and a long tail swayed behind the waist. Directly behind, a larger figure came running with a round shield. The soldiers collided at the foot of the slope. Kichan looked back at Paul. Riphiel was already standing in front of him. The sword in her right hand pointed toward the slope, while her left arm left Paul room to retreat behind the cart.

"Father, stay beside that." Paul lowered himself by the cart wheel. Kichan took off his bag and pushed it beneath the cart. He pulled out the wake-up rod. The bag caught against the wheel. Kichan shoved it farther in with his heel. Right beside him, a soldier who had lost the reins was being dragged while gripping the animal's neck strap with both hands. One Yao thrust a spear into the road. The moment a demonkin soldier blocked it with his shield, another Yao came in at his side. Kichan swung the rod.

The spilled grain slid under his feet. His left foot slipped half a span, and his shoulder struck the side of the cart. Kichan turned with the recoil. The end of the rod struck the Yao's wrist. The spear fell to the ground. The Yao turned toward him. Golden light came on above Kichan's head. A round halo rose into the air. Light spread behind his back and formed the shape of wings. Before the golden feathers had fully separated, the Yao in front of him covered his eyes.

The light swept over the iron rims of the carts and the arrowheads on the road. Faces beneath the shade of the trees brightened all at once. Even the feet of two Yao coming down the slope slowed for a moment. Kichan used that opening to drive the rod into a chest. The body rolled down the slope.

"An angel?" Someone shouted. Kichan had no time to look back. A second Yao came in behind a shield. The rod struck its edge. Golden light flashed briefly between wood and leather. The hand holding the shield went slack. Riphiel cut behind the Yao's knee with the tip of her blade. When the body dropped, she drove the hilt up into the jaw. The Yao fell backward. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. The fallen body struck a cart wheel.

Paul pressed himself farther in, and Riphiel remained before him, turning her sword to knock away the next spear. Sparks from the colliding blades scattered briefly through the golden light. Argaon stepped on a spear lying in the road. The shaft broke. He ran up the slope. He took one charging Yao on his shoulder and slammed the body into a tree. Bark split and leaves poured down. Dry leaves brushed over Kichan's halo and fell across the cargo. Argaon's gaze moved toward the next gap between the trees.

The Yao coming down there stopped. The demonkin soldiers started forward, then stopped. They were staring at Kichan's golden wings. The soldier who had called Zadkiel a living weapon stood with his mouth open and his shield raised.

"What are you looking at!" Kichan shouted. The soldier turned. He blocked the sword of a Yao coming from behind. Paul's voice came from behind the cart. It was a prayer. Paul was on one knee with the rosary in his hands. Dirt and grain clung to the knee of his cassock. Golden light spread between his hands.

"Let Kichan use his strength rightly, and let him protect this road." The light spread across the road. Gold moved like water through the scattered grain. A soldier crouched beneath a cart, a hand gripping reins, and a bloodied shield emerged from the dimness one after another. The animals that had been crying out moments before laid their ears back and breathed hard. Kichan's wings grew clearer. Golden light also remained around Paul's rosary and cassock. A soldier looked back and forth between Kichan and Paul.

"There's another one."

"Another what?"

"There are two golden ones." The soldier beside him struck his helmet.

"Count them later!" The last two Yao withdrew up the slope. The demonkin soldiers first checked the wounded and the overturned carts below the narrow road. When the noise of battle ended, the sounds crushed beneath it rose again. The groans of injured soldiers, the creak of a wheel knocked off its line, and boots stepping on grain. Someone raised a spear toward the fleeing Yao, then lowered it beside a cart. Kichan's halo went out. The light behind his back scattered too.

When he lowered the wake-up rod, his arms felt heavy. Sweat filled his palms. Riphiel shook dirt from her sword. Argaon picked up the broken spear shaft and threw it away. Paul did not stop praying. He prayed for those lying before him without separating demonkin from Yao. Golden light passed over their bodies, but open wounds and broken limbs remained as they were. Once the prayer ended, Paul pressed a blood-soaked cloth over the wound of the nearest soldier with both hands.

A long while later, Paul opened his eyes. Sweat beaded on his forehead.

"Are you all right?" Kichan asked.

"I am all right." Still seated, Paul looked around. The demonkin soldiers they had helped did not come close. Their weapons were lowered, but their hands remained near the grips. They lifted the torn sack and put it back on the cart. Much of the grain had spilled onto the road. One soldier knelt and began gathering it by hand. Riphiel sat beside him and picked out the grain that had not yet been covered in dirt. Kichan gathered the torn mouth of the sack in both hands. Grain kept leaking between the parted cloth.

"Give me something to tie this with." A soldier beside him pulled a leather cord from his waist and tossed it over. Kichan folded the mouth of the sack twice and wound the cord around it. While he pulled the knot tight, Riphiel poured in two full handfuls of the grain she had gathered. The rear of one cart leaned to one side. The rim of its wheel had split and wedged beneath the axle. Three soldiers tried to lift the cart, but with cargo still aboard, the wheel would not come free of the dirt.

Argaon came over and put a hand beneath one corner.

"Unload it first." A soldier said quickly. Argaon did not answer. He straightened his arm. One side of the cart rose. Even the soldier holding the draft beast stared with his mouth open. The others moved late and pulled out the broken wheel. Argaon stood holding the cart until a new wheel had gone onto the axle. Kichan kicked away a stone that had rolled beneath the wheel. When the hand supporting the end of the axle slipped, he braced it from below with the handle of the wake-up rod.

"Done." The retaining pin went in. When Argaon released his hand, the cart came down onto the new wheel. The axle rang once and stopped. At the roadside, Paul was putting folded cloth beneath the head of an injured soldier. When Riphiel brought the remaining water bottle, Paul poured a little at a time onto the soldier's lips. One of the Yao who had attacked them lay beneath a tree as well. Two demonkin soldiers watched with their swords lowered. When Paul turned toward the wounded Yao, they did not block him.

They each stepped aside. Only when the sun had lowered near the mountains did the last of the cargo return to the carts. A soldier took the tied sack from Kichan. At first, the soldier's gaze had been fixed on the back where the golden wings had been. This time it lowered to Kichan's dirt-covered hands.

"I'll load this at the back."

"Put it on top so it doesn't burst again." The soldier nodded. The carts began moving one by one. The new wheel shook hard for its first few turns, then found the groove in the road. No one spoke to Kichan's group immediately. It was only after the carts had been moving again for quite some time.