Chapter 44 Red Winter Part 10

As the soldiers started killing anyone they saw, Qadan grabbed Zuni and Ewa's hands and pulled the two young women behind him as the soldiers rushed in.

Three palace guards were wrestling with the wounded Qadan, who blocked the sword with his body to prevent Zuni and Ewa from harm. Qadan knew that if he continued to defend himself, using his body as a shield to protect Zuni and Ewa without killing the guards, their lives and his would end there. The Bayarmaa had once broken their promise with Chief Keme and he didn't want to break his promise with Chief Keme again so he took his sword and started killing the palace guards who were trying to attack him.

Just as Qadan killed another palace guard, two arrows shot directly at Zuni and Ewa standing beside Qadan. He quickly hugged the two women in his arms, and the two arrows hit his back.

Zuni cried, "Brother Qadan…"

Ewa screamed in pain, the arrow on the right had penetrated Qadan's flesh and completely destroyed Ewa's right ear.

Two soldiers came towards Qadan. They raised their swords to stab Zuni and Ewa, but Qadan quickly knocked their swords away. He roared, "What are you two doing? We swear to Heaven, the reason we became soldiers is to protect our country and innocent people. Why are you killing women and children?"

A soldier said with tears, "General Qadan, we don't want to do it, but His Majesty has orders."

Qadan helped Ewa up and looked at the two soldiers. "Listen to the cries of the innocent begging the soldiers. What if it's your parents, sisters, brothers, wives, daughters... um... how does it feel..."

The soldiers started looking around and found that many of the wounded and dead were women, children and old people...

Qadan coughed… "That's not what we soldiers represent. We're supposed to be the iron wall that protects them from those who want to harm them, but look at us now, we are slaughtering innocent people like animals...How will we face our fallen brothers? Because the ones we are going to kill now are the ones our fallen brothers sacrificed their lives to protect... Now, at this moment, we have a choice." He dropped the two swords in his hands to the ground. "We can choose not to kill innocents, and not be written in history as barbaric. We can choose to lay down our arms and save innocent lives."

The soldiers looked around and saw mothers with dead children in their arms, fathers who died with their families, and husbands who protected wives and children to their last breath. They began to drop their weapons and kneel, knowing that the blood that stained their hands today was the blood of innocents.

"Your Majesty, please spare these innocent lives."

The soldiers began to put down their swords one by one while repeating these words repeatedly.

"Your Majesty, please spare these innocent lives."

Qadan turned to Ewa and looked at her ear. He smiled at her and said, "You are still beautiful without an ear..." He coughed, and every time he coughed, he felt the wound on his body hurt more. "Help me to His Majesty..."

Qadan went to Haneul and knelt before Haneul. "Your Majesty, I don't know what you heard, Cousin Sukh is not here…"

Haneul said, "I personally captured a Kukungga assassin, who admitted that Keme and his mages capture Sukh."

Qadan said, "Has it ever occurred to Your Majesty that someone might deceive Your Majesty into believing that Chief Keme killed Cousin Sukh. Every single minister in the court knows that Your Majesty has two of the most powerful people around you right now. One is Chief Keme and his mages and the other is the Bayarmaa family. If one of these two powerful supporters is eliminated, Your Majesty will be like a man with only one arm. Your Majesty must look at the bigger picture."

Haneul said furiously, "We only need one person by our side, and that is Sukh and the Bayarmaa family."

Duri was thrown at Haneul's feet. Duri grabbed Haneul's foot and snorted. "Your Majesty…please save me."

Chief Keme looked at Qadan and his two daughters. He looked around and saw many dead Kukungga, and he saw exactly what his grandfather had told him before he died. He looked at Haneul and said, "I shouldn't have promised Sukh to help you…I should have let you die on Mount Tai."

Haneul said, "You shouldn't have crossed the line in the first place. You have two choices. One is to die with your people, or..." He looked at the mages behind Chief Keme. "You sacrificed your mage." He looked down at Duri. "Guard Choi, kill one Kukungga on every ten counts until Chief Keme makes up his mind."

Chief Keme looked at Haneul and said, "Heaven has eyes, killing innocent people indiscriminately today will bring great grief to the people of Tangzang." He looked back at the four hundred mages, and then looked at Haneul. "Evil King of Tangzang, today the mages will sacrifice themselves for the lives of the innocent Kukungga, but remember my words, in the future, their spirit will hunt you down for the rest of your life."

The four hundred mages walked to the small river they created to protect Tangzang and continued to walk into the river until all the four hundred mages disappeared at the bottom of the river.

Haneul ordered his soldiers to throw all the dead Kukungga into the river. Chief Keme stood on the bank of the river, looking at the bodies of the elders, men, women, and children floating next to each other in the water, and his heart aches with guilt. Then his heart was completely shattered when he saw the corpses of the four hundred mages appearing beside the many dead Kukungga.

Chief Keme looked at Qadan and asked, "General Qadan, do you have a lover?"

Qadan said, "No."

Chief Keme looked at his two daughters, then at Qadan and said, "Would you marry my daughters, love them, and never betray them?" He looked at Zuni and Ewa with tears.

Qadan said, "I promised to take care of them, and I will keep my promise."

Chief Keme picked up a dead child and started walking towards the riverbank. "Well, even if one Bayarmaa breaks his promise to me, the other Bayarmaa will keep his promise to me." He smiled and continued walking into the river.

Zuni and Ewa shouted, "Father, please come back."

Qadan hugged the two women and said, "He has already made up his mind." "A true warrior would rather die alongside his soldiers than live meaninglessly."

Chief Keme dropped the dead child into the river and drew his knife. He put the knife against his left chest, slowly pushed the knife into his chest, and then fell back into the river.

Zuni and Ewa buried their faces in Qadan's chest. "I promise Chief Keme that I will take care of you both. If you don't want to be my wife, we can be brothers and sisters," Qadan said.

Zuni said, "We will obey our father's last wishes. We will marry you."

Qadan looked at the river full of dead people, "Chief Keme, don't worry about Zuni and Ewa. If I'm still breathing, I won't abandon them." His vision became blurred, and he slowly fell back to Zuni and Ewa's arms.

Zuni and Ewa, "Brother Qadan…"

Several soldiers hurried forward and said, "General Qadan may have lost blood and passed out. Let's go back to camp."

The soldiers helped carry Qadan to the camp, with Zuni and Ewa following behind them.

Just as the sun started to set over the horizon, Sukh's horse approached the area where Chief Keme had told him that the Kukungga tribe would build their new home. There was a dead silence, without any sound, and as the horse approached, he began to see dried blood on the ground, and the closer he got to the river, he could see more dried blood. Approaching the riverbank, the soil has been stained red. His heart was pounding as if his heart wanted to escape from his chest. Sukh continued to walk toward the river following the trail of blood, and the moment he saw the corpse floating in the small river, his heart couldn't feel it anymore. Sukh fell to his knees.

Sukh didn't know how long he had knelt by the river, and the lower part of his clothes had been stained red by the blood of the Kukungga people. He looked up to see Chief Keme's body floating in front of him. He got up quickly and walked towards Chief Keme.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry," Sukh cried. "If I hadn't begged you to help me, you and your clan would not have ended up in such a tragic end." He continued sobbing as he saw the dead bodies floating around him. "We started with a simple hello, but ended with a complicated goodbye, but as good friends let us not say goodbye, but simply say 'see you soon'." He pulled out the sword from Chief Keme's chest and stared at the knife with tears.