Chapter 52 - Escape

Although most of the people aboard were not members of the Namgung Clan, the boats belonged to the clan. The passengers were mostly guests who had come to celebrate the wedding. A few had stayed behind, but the overwhelming majority had boarded the boats. Some of those who remained had yet to grasp the gravity of the situation; others had decided they would be safer in the Namgung estate. Such people were very few, however, which left the clan with fewer guests to keep watch over.

The remaining passengers were the Namgung Clan's servants and hired servants, along with their families, whom Namgung Byeok had all but forced aboard. Fighting was bound to break out near the So River. They could hardly exhaust their “sacrificial lambs” at the oars before then.

Unaware of Namgung Byeok's intentions, the wedding guests felt both guilty and grateful that they alone were escaping. Naturally, they did not doubt for an instant that they would reach the Yangtze safely.

There were just four exceptions, aboard the boat at the very rear of the flotilla: Dong Bongsu, Tang Wu, Tang Hwa, and Namgung Hye. They, at least, knew full well that danger lurked at the So River.

Of them, Dong Bongsu was certain that the enemies actually waiting there would be far more dangerous than Namgung Byeok anticipated. If Namgung Byeok thought they were merely caught between advancing and retreating, Dong Bongsu felt they were besieged on all sides.

He turned to look behind him. Since his boat trailed all the others making their escape, nothing obstructed his view except the occasional fish waking from sleep and leaping above the surface. Beyond the chilly mist over the water, he could see a magnificent estate in the night: the Namgung Clan, the grandest estate in Anhui. His gaze did not linger there.

For now, that was the most dangerous place of all. Returning to the Namgung estate was not worth considering.

Ahead. His gaze returned to the front. What, then, of the way they were heading? If they continued unimpeded for several more traditional two-hour periods, they would reach the So River, just as Namgung Byeok and Tang Wu expected.

To Dong Bongsu, that direction was every bit as dangerous as the one behind them. Namgung Byeok and Tang Wu must have judged that breaking through the So River was their safest and easiest option, but...

'If I'm right, even if we reach the So River—no, even if we reach it and successfully break through—we'll never make it into the Yangtze.'

Dong Bongsu scoffed at Namgung Byeok's naivety. He felt the man still failed to understand how thoroughly the enemy had prepared before striking. Encirclement meant surrounding something thoroughly. Namgung Byeok needed to reconsider what that word meant. Provided, of course, that he survived... and had the leisure to do so afterward.

Both forward and backward were now out of consideration.

This time, Dong Bongsu looked right, then left. On either side, dozens of lights flickered along the distant lakeshore. They were probably rear units of the force surrounding the Namgung Clan. They were too far away for him to determine their numbers, but judging by the distribution of torches, there were by no means few of them.

The lights moved steadily south, keeping pace with the flotilla. Not all of them followed the boats, however. A light remained at regular intervals, ready for any contingency. They were probably guarding against the boats scattering and landing on both shores at once. In that arrangement, Dong Bongsu could read the enemy's determination not to let a single person escape alive.

For the first time, a possibility struck him. Perhaps the enemy had engineered all this not to destroy the Namgung Clan, but to kill everyone who had been in its estate, including all the wedding guests.

Those lights had already spread unease throughout the flotilla. Most of the guests had only heard about the siege; they had yet to see the enemy surrounding the Namgung Clan with their own eyes. Now that they could plainly see they were being pursued, they could hardly help feeling anxious.

Even so, the two shores seemed relatively less dangerous to Dong Bongsu than the routes ahead and behind. Yet bringing a boat ashore and attempting to land would still be exceedingly perilous. Even if they managed to beach the boat and reach dry land safely, a relentless pursuit would soon follow. Landing, then, was another option he could scarcely choose.

It was easy enough to establish that forward, backward, left, and right were all unthinkable choices—or rather, choices he did not want to contemplate. Where did that leave him? Which direction offered the best chance of survival?

Logically speaking, there were still more directions left.

This time, Dong Bongsu raised his head and looked up.

SCREEEEEECH!

The hawks' eerie cries, like a chick's peeping amplified hundreds of times, dominated the night over Soho Lake. He had no way to fly, but even if he could, escape through the air would be impossible while those gyrfalcons patrolled the sky.

Was that everything?

No. There was still one place left.

Directly beneath his feet: Soho Lake, below the boat. But that was not worth considering at all. Entering the water meant death. How long could he possibly endure in the lake at night? He would probably die of hypothermia before long.

What if he could endure it? Even then, he would not survive for long. Setting aside the drop in body temperature, what would he do when daylight came? If he remained here, he would still be surrounded on all sides. To survive, he would eventually have to swim in one of those four directions.

He had now considered every possible direction of escape.

Forward, backward, left, right, up, and down. He had examined every place he could go and every place he could not, without missing a single one, yet the chances of breaking through in any direction seemed slim.

'Then what should I do?'

Dong Bongsu kept thinking.

He could see no way to survive. Now he had to choose whichever course offered even a slightly better chance. For the moment, his best option was to trust Tang Wu, who still stood beside him with his hands clasped behind his back, staring into the distance ahead.

But however he considered it, this was only the best choice under such dire circumstances. It was nothing more than the second-worst option. A final choice he had no alternative but to take, since he could not choose the worst one and kill himself by jumping into the water.

No, perhaps even this...

'Could be the worst option.'

Dong Bongsu's eyes shifted to one corner of the boat. Two women sat huddled there, beauties whose equals could scarcely be found anywhere in the world: Namgung Hye and Tang Hwa. But Namgung Hye was utterly dazed by Do Heo-ok's betrayal, while Tang Hwa wore a slight grimace, perhaps from the throbbing of her earlier wound.

Even in perfect health, the two would have been burdens to Tang Wu. Peerless master though he was, he was still only a man with one body and two hands. If a life-or-death crisis struck, he would naturally save those two. Perhaps he might save everyone, Dong Bongsu included.

But if he had to abandon one of the three—Tang Hwa, Namgung Hye, or “Tang Sam”—

'It would definitely be me.'

His granddaughter and his sworn elder brother's granddaughter. It would be difficult for Dong Bongsu to matter more to Tang Wu than those two.

Everything he had considered so far was hypothetical, but these were the realities confronting him, and they were likely to come to pass. Very likely indeed.

Most people might have given up on surviving by this point, but Dong Bongsu never gave up. He thought endlessly, turning things over and over. He did not really know why he needed to live, but he strove to survive. And he would simply keep surviving, just as he always had.

Of course.

He was certain that would remain true afterward, too.

SHHHHH, SHHHH.

As Dong Bongsu's mind worked faster, the boats, too, kept gathering speed. Had another two or so traditional two-hour periods passed?

Still, all the escaping wedding guests could hear was the loud rush of the boats cutting through the water, punctuated by the cries of hawks.

Vast Soho Lake would not readily show them its end, nor give them any sign of it. They had glided far enough to pass several towns, yet there was still no trace of the So River, and torches continued to follow them along both shores. Only the growing brightness of those lights told them that the lake was narrowing, however gradually.

Several more traditional two-hour periods passed.

At last, the land on either side drew close enough to make out with the naked eye, and the current was growing considerably swifter. Those were signs that they were approaching a river. Surely the So River truly could not be far now.

At that realization, relief slowly spread through the previously silent flotilla. People were beginning to feel they might escape at least some of the danger.

By contrast, Tang Wu's and Tang Hwa's expressions grew increasingly grim. Probably the tension before a fierce battle, or something of the sort. Dong Bongsu glanced over each of their faces, his own expression still blank. But his mind continued to race. He knew very well that he had little time left to think.

"The So River! I can see the So River!"

Someone aboard a boat at the front shouted. Dong Bongsu could not see it yet, but with the lake rapidly narrowing to less than a kilometer across, they had clearly reached the approach to the So River.

Everyone broke into cheers. Around the same time, the lights pursuing the boats along the lakeshore began gradually slowing down.

Dong Bongsu knew exactly why, but Tang Hwa apparently found it strange. She turned to Tang Wu with a question.

"Huh? Grandfather, those lights aren't following us anymore."

"So they aren't..."

Tang Wu, too, furrowed his brow at the enemy's strange behavior. The fact that the lights were no longer following filled him with unease.