15 Justice Wolf

Seigi no ókamino

When I reached the camp the royal tent was already surrounded. The emporer and the family was right in the middle of hundreds of people with just few guard soldiers to take time. The people surrounding didnt seem to be well versed in fighting though there was a huge number. Dressed in coarse clothes, looked like.....the merchants at the red eagle nest base??!!!!! Apart from them there were some skilled guards from that place.

A spy should be among our people!!but who? Why act suddenly??why this much flusttered to hurriedly attack the royal family???As if to silence everyone to keep their secrets???unless the most trusted, no one knew about us sneaking into the red eagle nest base and the other information gathered.

So.....BOJAN!!!!!

I looked around for Bojan, the only person except for the royal family and me who knew the secret report....And yes, he was no where to be seen.

Flames of being betrayed by my best friend roared within me.Why??? I used my anger on the foreign people. Hacking them making a path and arrived infront of the royal family.

"Commander Ming Zheng!" Little crown prince's voice sounded next to me."Where's Aunt????"

I cleared back my head.My aim should be to guard the royal family with my life.

"Commander!!!Where is Huwanuwei????" The emporer's anxious voice questioned.

"Her highness went to ask for help and she is safe!! Your highness we have to drag the fight till then."

"Soldiers protect the royal family!"

I guarded closely while my people faught with the apponents.

However with time our people started falling down fast. But never gave up the fight as the opponents side also got some noticable damage.The swords clashed and clammered but suddenly,

"Stop!" One of the people incharge among them motioned the people to back away.

NOT GOOD... in the same way I thought, from a distance i could see a row of archers on treestaking aim at us.

"Soldiers encircle the royal family and defend against the arrows!" I ordered.

We were next waiting for a rain of arrows.But....

"Awoooh!!!!" A wolf sounded nearby in the silent valley.

"Swish....Swish.....Swish...." one by one archers dropped to the ground without any warning.

"Seigno ókamino!!!!... Soreha seigno ókamino!!!!!(its the justice wolf!!!!!)" Some of the attackers shouted in terror to the direction where the arrows came from.

As if translating it to us another set of them also panicked and shouted."Aiyaa!!! Isn't it that well know JUSTICE WOLF???? We are done! We are done!"

We also looked towards the direction.

Standing on top of a small hill stood a figure in black with a silver mask glistening under the moonlight. Elegant and overbearing he held a ebony bow. For some reason I felt so comfortable looking at the figure.

As the People surrounding started to panic a man in black among them tried to comfort them.

"How can he be him?? Anyone can look like him with a mask. After all we are in Yuan not Japan... so its impossible...And also it is said that he travels with his wolves. I cant see any wo....!!!!!!!!"

He couldn't finish his words as three huge gray wolves walked majestically from behind the man above the hill and in an utmost loyal manner sat in front of the silver masked man.

"It's him!!!!its definitely him!!!!we are done!!!!!!!!"

"Shut up don't get fooled. Who cares who he is???" The leader like person in the attacking group scorned.

As if really dissatisfied with his words the wolves growled ferociously. As all these happened the masked man didn't even spare a glance at us as if he never cared about worldly matters.

"We can't stay here!!!It is said that no one can escape his swords might if its fell upon you and no one can hide from his arrows....Also....if caught by his wolves the ending would be too tragic!!! And if anyone cries for in justice in front of him, he never speaks but directly brings justice by action.....It is said that about an year back he went missing...but during the time he was there in Japan, he misteriously revealed many corrupt officials and caught many criminals...Some who did terrible things were slaughtered bitten and torn to peices!!!! " Even while shivering their voices started to answer out our Yuan people's questions.

"Stop your nonsense!! What can a single man and three wolves do to us hundred people???" The leader snickered as few of other men in black started laughing.

The masked man's first action was to slightly bend down and pat the largest wolf guarding next to him.

"Awoooo!!!!Awooo!!!Awooh!!!!!!!!!" The wolf howled as if to obey its master giving us goosebumps.

"Wroof!!wroof!!!grrrrr...grrrr....Awooh!!"

A huge pack of gray wolves around twenty could be seen running down the hill right towards us. People started to shout and scream in despair and started to scatter and run for their lives. Some of the brave men in black remained. As we were circled before with the royal tent it wasn't easy to escape as we were also so close to the small hill.

To protect the royal family I urged them to enter the tent and could only stand on defence as my other soldiers started fighting head on with the unyielding men in black.

However out of the blue the masked man,so called seigno ókamino appeared right in front of us facing the pack of wolves. Though i should stand guard against him again I felt the trust towards him. The elegant figure though a bit short and thin stood spiritedly under the silver moonlight.

Her raised his hand with a silver whistle on the finger tips towards his mouth and blew. The sound was barely heard but the pack of wolves mysteriously avoided us and ran towards the enemies direction. We Yuans watched in awe at the running people chased by the wolves as they disappeared far in the valley. Even the royal family joined us to watch the show.

However I were totally focused on the masked man as he turned towards me. actually I was dazed by his presence...for some reason I felt too comfortable and ATTRACTED?????

His slender white wrist raised and...

'Peng!!' My brain vibrated from his sudden slap on my head.

"Why are you dazed you idiot Ming Zheng???" The familiar soft yet commanding voice echoed in the entire royal base. For a moment everyone went into blank. As i was the first to respond as a sudden feeling if caring rose within me.

"Princess, are you alright??? Are you wounded???" I asked in worry as the princess removed her silver masked showing her pure lovely face to us.

"I'm alright." I saw a tiny blush on her cheeks comforting and satisfying my heart." That's not the problem..Do you know that Bojan betrayed us? I couldn't get help from the camp because of it. But I managed to inform my people to arrest him."

I nodded." Hm. I also felt that it was him that betrayed us or else there was no way that they will attack us right now."

She then looked around and continued.

"We better not dilly dally. We'll meet the escort squad on the way so lets start moving." Though my men had killed every remaining attackers, it was best to get far as possible from here so I hurriedly agreed.

"Aunt!!!You were so amazing. Are all those wolves loyal to you????wow!!!" The cheerful voice of the little prince lightened up the whole situation as he dashed towards the princess and hung on her shoulder.

The princess lightly chuckled and turned away to ignore. But the surrounding was a bit awkward cause all the people in the camp, not only the royal family but also my men making me so embarrassed stared at the princess anxiously for a reply.

"Ahmm" the princess cleared her throat and sighed.

"Its not that. Its just that the leader of that wolf pack was saved and raised by me when it was young and it stayed along with me for a long time and is extremely so loyal.

That's why! Its like your palace raising a pet dog. The difference is, mine happened to be the leader of the pack.

And he is also familiar with my whistle sound and will obviously understand me."

"Oh I see !" Understandingly the little prince nodded his head. Even the shadow guards gave an expression of understandment as they had a joyful expression of awe towards the princess.

Sigh..... I should train these people more to be unwavering not to loose my face. For me it wasn't such a big surprise because after reading her autobiography I can link the points. After all she hasn't directly pinpointed her own heroism in it.

However the little prince suddenly turned towards the emporer speaking sweet words.

"Father emporer, I also want to raise a wolf so I will fear non like my aunt!!"

Though his words brought smiles to everyone's face, the emporer's expression brought chills down the spine.

"Guards!! Detain her!!" Everyone were flabbergasted by the emporer's words. Fuming in anger he again commanded." You dare to disobey me. I the emporer orders you to detain the princess!"

What is going on? The guards turned towards me for help. As I turned towards the princess I saw no signs of panic.

The emporer:

Even after commanding them they hesitated making me furious. It was even more hard to swallow the picture of her prideful face which showed no panic or despair as if nothing can bother her.

Plop!

I wasn't really going to do anything to huwanuwei as for no matter what I have that belief that she will never betray me and felt kind of helpless in front of her power. But when I saw the commander going down on his knees to plead for her and as also my own child joined him, my anger skyrocketed.

"Arrest both the princess and the commander and escort the crown prince back to his tent!"

Though this time the guards went towards them they reluctance still poured oil to my anger.

"Wait!"

The sudden interruption of Huwanuei's voice grabbed my attention back to her. But I blanked out for a moment seeing her eyes red as if about to cry even though her other facial expressions and her posture kept calm.

A tinge of guilt sprouted within me.

"I am full responsible for your anger and others shouldn't get punished because of this!" She successfully triggered my anger again.

Why can't she even at this moment put away her selfless heroic self in front of me????

But her next words stumped me.

"Why? Royal brother, why do you punish me?"

Because.....

"Why? How? How can you have such a power? How so you have much knowledge? Why do you need all these? Power, riches, people? If not for rebelling then what? You are the princess of this country? Why do you want more?"

When bloating out, I myself felt that im just covering my simple jealousies speaking nonsense and also my feelings of loss over not being able to support her but only get supported by her.

Seeing a tear drop tumble down her cheek made me panicked.

"You want to know?.....Let me tell you YOUR HIGHNESS.

I was barely seven years old when my own mother died on my own lap after being chased and hunted by assasines. As she bled non stop I was at a loss as  what to do cause I knew nothing about medicine. I felt myself useless as I saw my mother die on me soaked in blood,... so as to have no regrets again I studied medicine. When I was still seven I was sold as a slave and was helpless against the people humiliating and beating other slave children to death as they cried and plead for mercy. I saw injustice in every street corner. Innocent people being destroyed by the powerful nobles and aristocrats.So I saw the need of power so I can stand against the people hurting the people around me , so I worked for it.

Cause I couldn,t directly approach them, I learned archery , poison, politics and so many other things to trap them and bring justice taking on fake identities to keep my self hidden and alive.

After escaping from the slave traders's hands, non gave me shelter cause I had no money. I saw more than enough innocent people dying from hunger, but I couldn't do anything for them not even for myself . I felt pity on myself so I wanted to be rich, so I could do something if not everything.

You sure must have heard of my brother in Japan, the previous crown Prince, to save my life and protect me he sacrificed his life making me witness  another loved one of mine breathed his last on my arms. In that fight I still dragged him as I was still not strong or skilled enough to secure the people around me. So day and night I practised martial arts, Art of war, and more and more just to comfort my heart. After such a tiresome period of time I wanted to come back to blood family expecting so many things and finally came to this state where Ive being sued by my own BROTHER!"

I felt empty and was followed by a heart wrenching pain. I felt regret, as I hated myself, for being a coward, for not being there for her when she needed me, and felt myself stupid to talk to her like that before and for hurting her more.

I rushed forward towards her and could only hug her tight wishing to give all the warmth within me into her shivering heart repeating,"Im sorry, so sorry, sorry, please don't cry...I don't deserve to be your brother...."