The black iron arrowhead stayed fixed on Xia Ya without the slightest tremor — clearly this archer-knight had an extremely steady hand. Those eyes of his, fixed on Xia Ya, carried a deep, unshakable calm, and even at that distance, being stared at by him made Xia Ya's scalp prickle.
Only, his temper could not stand being pushed.
What sort of man was Xia Ya? Raised in the mountains, blooded in Wildfire Town, and stubborn to the bone — soft words could move him, hard words only hardened him. Say something to him nicely and it was fine; press him, and it only stirred up the mulishness in his heart.
Put simply, he was the kind of hotheaded brat who, once his blood was up, would gamble his life and splash you with his own blood even knowing full well he couldn't beat you!
Faced with that grim arrowhead, Xia Ya's face shifted only for a moment; then his eyes darkened.
The hoofbeats from the west bank across the river were urgent and seemed to be coming closer. Xia Ya flicked a glance from the corner of his eye: dust was rising in the distance, and no fewer than a dozen riders were coming. Right now there were only three opponents in front of him, and he had barely managed to finish two of them — nearly losing his life doing it. If seven or eight more showed up...
Rapidly reckoning the distance of that approaching column, Xia Ya steeled himself and made his decision.
He stared at the archer-knight, his hand not yet moving. The knight saw the change in Xia Ya's eyes; his heart sank, as though he sensed something, and his fingers released the bowstring without a shred of hesitation...
With a hum, the last arrow flew at Xia Ya's throat! Every muscle in Xia Ya's body pulled taut; he sucked in a breath and hurled himself sideways, and in midair he flung the fire fork at the distant knight!
Pfft!!
Blood burst from the knight's chest. The fire fork went clean through it, and the force of it knocked his body right off the horse; he hit the ground, pinned fast to the earth by the fork!!
Yet Xia Ya felt a chill at his neck. He had dodged with all his strength, but he had never expected the knight's archery to be so superb: he had given it everything, and clearly his opponent had already factored his dodge into the shot. The arrow was like a venomous snake, biting him right in the middle of the throat...
In that instant even Xia Ya himself believed he was dead. He felt the impact at his neck, and the last thought in his head was actually this:
Fuck, so this is it? And I'm still a virgin...
Thud!
Xia Ya pitched onto the ground and rolled over every which way. But when he wiped his neck, there was not a drop of blood on his hand — instead he saw an arrow lying on the ground, its head already blunted. He blinked, dazed for a moment, then his hand found something at his neck: a gray, dingy-looking stone.
That stone was the only inheritance the old man had left him; Xia Ya had no idea what it was and had simply worn it carelessly around his neck all this time. He'd never thought it would save his life. The arrowhead had plainly struck the stone and glanced off...
It wasn't that the knight's aim was poor — it was that he shot far too accurately! If his hand had trembled even once, if his aim had been off by half a hair, then Xia Ya would probably be down below now, reunited with the old man.
The knight who would die with his eyes still open lay pinned to the ground; his body twisted a few times and then he stopped breathing. Even in death he probably couldn't work it out — that he had lost because his archery was too precise?
Xia Ya wiped his neck, and his soul snapped straight back into his body. Up he leapt, spat in contempt, then bounded over in a few strides: first a kick that sent the utterly broken knight-leader sprawling, then he rushed past and wrenched his fire fork out of the corpse.
Dense as he was, even he had realized by now that there was something not quite right about this fire fork of his!
By then the hoofbeats in the distance were coming faster and faster, like a drumbeat hurrying him to his death. Xia Ya didn't dare delay another instant; he went back behind the rock and hauled up the poor wretch, who was now completely dumbstruck.
The wretch gaped at Xia Ya: "You — you beat Shim..."
"Shim your mother!" Xia Ya had no time for this and slapped it across the face. "Can you ride or not?"
The wretch snapped awake and nodded instinctively. Xia Ya immediately threw it onto a horse. "Ride north, and don't stop!" Paying no mind to its shrieks, he jabbed the fire fork straight into the horse's rump. Before it was even properly seated, it screamed and nearly got thrown, so it could only hug the horse's neck for dear life as it bolted away.
Down on the ground, the knight-leader and the knight with the broken leg both caught sight of the wretch, and their faces drained in shock; they stared fixedly at Xia Ya, their whole bodies shaking.
Xia Ya swung himself up onto a horse, but first yanked off and threw away all the odds and ends of weapons hung on the saddle. Sitting there, he spotted the goblins poking their heads out from behind the rock and pointed. "Oakes! Come here!"
Oakes hesitated, then grasped that Xia Ya meant to take him along, and gave a delighted yell. He was no fool — he had seen the knights on the far bank too, and if he stayed here he'd likely just be butchered. Xia Ya hauled Oakes up and set him down in front of him, then looked over the remaining goblins, chose the shortest of the lot, lifted it, and dropped it behind him...
Three riders on one horse, but the warhorse was superbly built and the goblins were small and light, so it could just barely bear the load.
Oakes was instantly displeased. He felt his status was special, that he alone was qualified to flee on horseback with Xia Ya — so why had this human master picked out another goblin as well?
But there was no time for talking. Xia Ya could already see the riders opposite reaching the riverbank; the two in the lead had already ridden down into the water and were fording toward him. Xia Ya drove his heel hard into the horse's belly; the warhorse gave a long neigh and reared, nearly pitching Xia Ya and both goblins right off. Luckily Xia Ya clamped his legs hard around the horse's barrel and held a goblin fast in each hand, so the great fall-from-horse spectacle never happened.
Xia Ya was frantic with rage. In truth, a penniless mountain hunter like him had never ridden a horse in his life. But once seated, he pulled the same trick as before: he jabbed the fork into the horse's rump, and the poor beast cried out in pain and tore off at a gallop, shooting away in a puff of dust.
By then half of the other rider troop had crossed the river; two were sent to look for the three earlier casualties, while the rest came after him without a moment's hesitation.
Xia Ya galloped on. He had never ridden before, and now the wind whistled past both ears, and the bouncing nearly made him throw up his breakfast. Behind him came whistle-signals without end and the drumming of hooves.
He looked back and saw several riders clinging close behind in pursuit.
After all, Xia Ya couldn't ride; his horsemanship was basically zero. And though the warhorse under him was strong, it was now carrying three riders — the two goblins were each a bit light, but together they added up to one grown man. After running a while, its speed began to flag.
Seeing the pursuers gaining, Xia Ya could only kick desperately at the horse's belly and jab at its rear with the fire fork. The poor beast had it rough; it flung all four hooves into a sprint, probably running far faster than it had ever run in its life, until white foam flecked its mouth.
Sitting on the horse, Xia Ya heard bowstrings thrum behind him; his scalp went numb and he ducked low.
Among the riders behind, several, seeing the distance close, drew their bows and shot. Xia Ya heard the whistle of shafts past his ears. He couldn't ride, and of course knew nothing of fancy stunts like hanging off the far side of the horse, but he merely laughed out loud, made no move to dodge, and reached back to grab the goblin seated behind him and hold it up to meet the incoming arrows...
The poor goblin gave a few "urk-urk" shrieks; its butt was already bristling like a hedgehog with seventeen or eighteen arrows.
Xia Ya held this meat shield up, blocking left and right. At first the goblin kept shrieking "urk-urk" without pause, but its cries gradually faded, till there wasn't a handhold left on its body that hadn't been shot through.
By now the riders behind had caught on to Xia Ya's shameless meat-shield tactics and were no longer willing to waste arrows; they simply whipped their horses harder and gave chase.
Xia Ya laughed like a madman and, with great shamelessness, threw the poor meat shield away.
Up in front, Mr. Consort was scared out of his wits! His not-very-clever brain had worked it out now: when this human master mounted up and took the two of them along, he had probably...
He had probably never meant anything kind at all!!
Sure enough, having thrown away one meat shield, Xia Ya grabbed the reserve meat shield, number two — Mr. Consort — and hauled him from in front to behind. Oakes shrieked at the top of his lungs: "My butt — Xia Ya, no!!!"
But Xia Ya had his own life to save; who had time to care about Mr. Consort's chrysanthemum...
After about an hour's running, for all Xia Ya's jabbing at the horse's rump, the beast finally could run no more; the foam at its mouth came thicker and its speed dropped. And still he hadn't shaken the pursuers behind. Worst of all, the wretch up ahead didn't seem to have gotten far: charging along as he was, Xia Ya gradually caught up with it.
Just then the wretch up ahead suddenly hauled on the reins, forcing its horse to a stop, then turned and waved frantically at Xia Ya, gesturing for him to stop.
Xia Ya looked ahead and immediately saw that the great river beside them bent in a curve up there, and the ground abruptly grew steep. The riverbed, dried out by the winter, had become a deep gorge barring the way — probably dozens of meters deep! Fortunately, judging by eye, its width had shrunk a great deal, most likely because they were upstream.
Xia Ya fought his horse to a halt. Seeing the pursuers close behind, he simply hauled the wretch off her saddle onto his own horse, then fixed his eyes on that gorge and jabbed the horse's rump once more...
Hooves flying, the horse had no choice but to charge at the gorge and leap from the brink!
The horse's body traced a beautiful arc through the air, and then... down it went.