Standing as tall as a mountain, his hands resting peacefully behind his back, Hye stood in the absolute center of the doorway. Though his posture was the picture of perfect calm, his heart raged like a thunderstorm within his chest.
Before him stood the two Northern Captains and their entire units, completely halted in their tracks. Hye was a monolith of defiance, a solitary barrier refusing to let a single soldier step a single inch closer to the wooden shed.
The flickering, violent glare from the torches illuminated one side of his face, carving his aristocratic features in sharp, fiery gold. The other side was swallowed entirely by darkness, the heavy shadows of the ruined homes completely blocking out the pale moonlight. To the soldiers staring at him through the haze, Hye looked like an unmoving boulder—half-exposed to the light, half-hidden in the night. He stood there like a demigod, absolute and unyielding, refusing to give way to mere mortals.
"Sir Hye," Jochi said calmly, a visible wave of relief washing over his features upon seeing that the strategist was completely unharmed. He turned sharply to one of the nearby infantrymen. "Send a messenger to halt the search parties for Sir Hye. Tell the others that we have found him safe and sound."
Hye watched in silence as the soldier quickly disappeared into the dark alleyway. Shifting his indifferent gaze back to Jochi and the surrounding troops, his voice dripped with icy detachment.
"Since you have found me," Hye said smoothly, "go and claim your petty merit."
"Hye!" Bolor roared, stepping forward as his patience finally shattered. "How can you show such an ill attitude toward Captain Jochi? The very moment we discovered you were missing; we dropped everything to hunt for you! At the very least, show some damn respect!"
Hye stood his ground, completely unmoved by Bolor's fury or Jochi's apparent kindness. "I never asked for anyone to look for me," Hye replied, his eyes narrowing. "Especially not from him."
"Today, I am going to teach you a lesson," Bolor snarled, taking another aggressive step forward, determined to defend his long-term comrade's face and honor.
Jochi knew that the deep-seated animosity Hye held toward him was not something that could be forgiven or smoothed over easily. He reached out, firmly grabbing Bolor's armored arm to hold him back. "Captain, we are on the same side," Jochi said quietly. "There is no need to drag up this old beef."
As he spoke, Jochi's sharp eyes drifted past Hye's shoulder, scanning the wooden structure behind him. He noted immediately that the woodshed Hye was so fiercely shielding possessed no white cloth hanging from its frame. Therefore, according to the laws of this siege, Hye had absolutely no military authority to block his path.
Jochi's expression hardened. "Soldiers. Search that shed."
"Jochi! You dare!" Hye shouted, his commanding voice echoing violently through the narrow, ruined alley.
Jochi stepped forward, matching Hye's height, and looked directly into the strategist's eyes. "The shed bears no white cloth, Sir Hye. Therefore, by searching it, I break absolutely none of the Eastern General's rules." He turned his head, his voice booming as he addressed his troops. "Per Her Highness's decrees—no mercy for those without a white cloth!"
"Yes, Captain!" the soldiers roared in unison, drawing their weapons and advancing toward the wooden structure.
Hye quickly stepped backward, slamming his spine against the door as he spread his arms wide, transforming his own body into a human shield to block the entrance. He understood completely that this was no longer a routine clearing of the battlefield. This was a direct standoff—a ultimate testament to the measure of a man, and the survival of humanity itself.
Hye looked straight into Jochi's eyes, his jaw locked tight. "Only over my dead body," he said through gnashing teeth, "will anyone enter this shed."
Jochi's eyes narrowed, meeting the strategist's gaze with equal fervor. He replied sharply, his voice cutting like a razor through the cold air. "Don't think that just because you are Her Highness's friend, you are somehow above the law. Remember this, scholar: everyone stepping onto Hmagol land must follow Hmagol law—and that includes Her Highness herself."
Hye smirked, a dangerous, mocking glint entering his eyes.
"I follow no king's rules," Hye said, his voice dropping to a low, venomous growl as he spoke through gritted teeth. "If I could break through your combined defense at Ntsua-Ntu and tear the capital right out of Dzhambul's hands... I, too, can destroy it. If you dare to challenge me tonight, Ntsua-Ntu will become just another Kark City."
His eyes shone with a terrifying, predatory brilliance in the dim moonlight, leaving no room for doubt. He meant every single word.
Behind Jochi, the torches hissed and popped in the damp night air. A heavy, suffocating silence fell over the entire Northern unit. Not a single soldier dared to breathe. They were caught in the crossfire of a silent war between the law of their kingdom and the mastermind who had created their victory. They stood paralyzed, entirely unsure whether to advance forward and risk offending the person who held the highest authority in the nation besides their king, or to break their strict military protocol.
Jochi turned back to glare at his hesitating men, his voice snapping like a whip. "What are you all still waiting for? Come and drag Sir Hye away from that door!"
Two soldiers quickly broke from the ranks and rushed forward. Each grabbed hold of one of Hye's arms, their iron-clad fingers digging in as they began to forcefully pull the strategist away from the threshold.
Thwip! Thwip!
Two arrows flew straight through the dark, thudding violently into the wooden planks of the shed right beside the soldiers' heads. The sudden, lethal crack of fracturing timber made everyone freeze and spin around toward the source of the projectiles.
Standing at the mouth of the alleyway was Azad, flanked by a vanguard of the Salran Bandits. Their bows were drawn to full extension, and Azad's own arrow was aimed directly between Jochi's eyes.
"Anyone who dares to disrespect Sir Hye will answer to the arrows of the Salran Hills," Azad said, his voice terrifyingly cold.
Before the Northern units could even pivot their spears, Timicin and the rest of Haitao's unit leaders rushed from the shadows with their weapons drawn. They violently slammed into the two Northern soldiers, tearing them away from Hye, and formed a fierce, protective ring around the strategist.
"I have had absolutely enough of this," Terbish snarled, his blade leveled at Bolor's throat. "Don't think for a second that you can continue to look down on us and take advantage of our squad!"
The standoff fractured into total chaos. Every man challenged the other, weapons raised, entirely unwilling to back down. The heavy night wind carried the sharp, iron taste of fresh blood and the suffocating stench of the dead directly into their nostrils, but even the chilling breeze was unable to cool their burning egos or resolve the collective bitter differences they had carried over the years.
Soldiers who had been serving under the exact same banner, fiercely protecting one another's lives just hours earlier on the battlefield, were now pressed against the absolute limit of their patience, ready to slaughter their own comrades.
Waah... Waah...
The sudden, loud, piercing cry of a newborn baby echoed out from inside the wooden structure.
The sound cut through the alleyway like a blade. In an instant, the battle-hardened men—killers who could slaughter a hundred foes without blinking an eye—lowered their weapons in stunned silence. The suffocating tension vanished, replaced by an overwhelming shock as every single soldier turned their full, undivided attention toward the small, fragile woodshed.
Hye and Jochi's eyes met through the flickering torchlight, both realizing with a jolt of clarity that the bitter grievances they had carried in their chests for years had almost ignited a catastrophic civil war within their own ranks. They were both brilliant men, and they understood all too well that if they failed to resolve this tension here and now, the bodies left rotting on the cobblestones would belong to their own brothers.
As their gazes locked, Hye knew that for the sake of Chinua's peace, and for the preservation of the formidable, unified army she had fought so hard to build over the years, he could not allow everything to be destroyed by his own hand just because he refused to let go of the past. If Or'en and Ozumeg could be bribed with mere silver coins, then Hye would have to bribe his own pride for the sake of the grand vision he and Chinua shared.
A seamless, tactical change washed over the strategist's features.
"Like I said," Hye spoke up, a polite, disarming smile breaking across his face as he broke the silence. "You are not allowed to enter. What business do battle-hardened soldiers have watching a civilian woman give birth?"
Hye stepped away from the door and offered a gentle, respectful bow toward Jochi.
"My apologies, Captain. I did not make it clear to you exactly why you could not enter the woodshed," Hye continued smoothly, weaving a flawless web of white lies to give everyone a way out. "I can only hope this small misunderstanding will not reach Chinua's ears."
He shifted his gaze across the sea of tense faces surrounding him, his tone turning playfully warning. "I mean, if Chinua finds out we were seconds away from slaughtering each other over a delivery room, we are all going to be whipped."
Jochi knew with absolute certainty that Hye's words were nothing more than a convenient fiction designed to save face, but he also understood the olive branch being extended to him. Perhaps, by letting this go and playing along, the deep-seated animosity Hye had always harbored toward him would finally begin to heal.
"Next time, Sir Hye, communicate a bit more clearly," Jochi replied, his voice firm but entirely devoid of its previous malice.
Hye let out a quiet, internal sigh of immense relief, recognizing that the proud Northern captain still needed to preserve his military dignity in front of his men. He maintained his pleasant, joking smile and bowed once more.
"Yes, Captain," Hye murmured gracefully.
"Fall out! Let's move," Jochi commanded, reaching over to firmly pull the still-seething Bolor along with him. Their units quickly fell into line, their heavy footsteps echoing away as they marched back onto the main avenue.
Hye stood in the quiet alleyway, watching the retreating back of the man he had despised for so long. The smile faded from his lips. He slowly shook his head, looking up at the dark canopy of the night sky.
"They say men kneel before the beauty of a woman," Hye whispered softly to the empty air. "Yet here I am, brought to my knees not by love or desire... but by the paralyzing fear of shattering my soulmate's trust."