Interwoven Destiny by M.P. Busch (book club suggestions TXT) 📖

want you to admit that you're seeing another lady in the forest! And it's not your wife!" He seemed quite serious.

Which made Wen Chou burst out laughing. He had nothing to fear after all. "You are a very good comedian, Eunuch."

Xiang Ye Chu looked stunned, but then shrugged, "I was merely entertaining myself I suppose. Do you know what an Eunuch does for fun? I certainly don't."

Wen Chou started to walk off, waving backwards at the Eunuch and the guards, "I shall be back in the evening, trust me you'll see blood on these arrows, not a woman in my lap." He started to laugh again. Wen Chou had took a vow to stay with only one woman in his life, and that woman had stayed in his forest estate. Breaking that vow was not even a possibility for Wen Chou. Such an act would defy everything he stood for.

Which is why it was laughable that someone would accuse him otherwise.

It was at that moment that a raven swooped down, perched himself on Xiang Ye Chu's shoulder and a small note dropped from its mouth straight into the Eunuch's hands.

Mid-day. Wen Chou had brought his best yew bow and arrows to Bei Shu Rong's house the hour they agreed to meet. There was the stall holder, looking quite happy as he strung his own yew bow over his shoulder. His smile somewhat abated as he saw the quality of Wen Chou's bow.

"Wow Xhou Fan! Where did you get that?!" Bei Shu Rong exclaimed, on a farmer's salary - such a thing was seldom bought. For farmers the essentials were mostly food, clothing, and shelter. Such a bow would bankrupt the normal man.

A mistake, Wen Chou admitted. But not a big one, it would not compromise his disguise. "Ah, it was my grandfather's, it quite an old bow-"

The bow seemed new, its wood even reflecting sun light.

"And yourself? That bow is of high quality as well." Wen Chou gestured towards the similar bow strung over Bei Shu Rong's shoulder. Bei Shu Rong seemed embarrassed, they were walking towards the main gate at a well pace.

"Truth is, I spent all of my savings on this bow after our talk yesterday."

A beat...

"Oh... your old one broke?" Wen Chou asked, a strong feeling of guilt flowing over him. He could've simply grabbed an extra bow from the armory. This man did not have to spend his entire savings.

Bei Shu Rong paused, "Uh... this is the first bow I've owned." He shrugged.

Wen Chou froze, looking back at Bei, the two stopped walking. "I thought you said you hunted?"

"I'm looking forward to learning?" Bei Shu Rong could not tell if Wen Chou was angry with him for lying, but the stall holder's body language screamed out for approval. Wen Chou laughed, "Alright friend, it is all well.... so where do you get all of that meat from anyway?"

They continued talking whilst they walked the rest of the main road. It was simple talk, between an average man trying to make a living, and a famous general pretending to be an average man doing another a kindness.

Suffice to say, it was not a typical occasion by any means. Wen Chou put on a good show, telling Bei Shu Rong about his made-up family, small farm land, and friends. Perhaps it was a blatant lie, but it was also very personal to Wen Chou. Perhaps- it was the life that Wen Chou would possess if he were not a general, or even a fighter.

Perhaps it was the life he wanted. Quiet peaceful tranquility. Bliss.

Then two reached the main gate, and Wen Chou resisted the impulse to approach the stables. He stopped short, commoners did not own horses. Bei Shu Rong shot him a questioning glance. Wen Chou recoiled. "Uh, sorry I thought I saw something..."

Bei Shu Rong did not question further, and the pair started to walk into the deep lush forests surrounding Ye.

Chapter Three

Ah... the forest...

They must have been walking for miles. Signs of civilization gave way to a gateway of green and moist surroundings. Wen Chou had only seen the forest this deep a few times before, and always it had mystified him. There exists a degree of mystery about the forest. Not knowing what animals are making those noises, or just what you'd find over the next corner. The forest was a get-a-way for Wen Chou. From all the fighting, orders, or even odors. A shiver wen down Wen Chou's spine as he remembered then, the odor of the palace.

"Is something wrong Xhou Fan?" Bei Shu Rong, a few steps ahead of him, asked looking backwards.

"I remembered something that gave me a laugh." Wen Chou chuckled.

"Care to share?" Bei Shu Rong asked inquisitively.

Wen Chou then went on to tell the false tale of how he walked into his mother's house, and the foulest odor lingered. It was a paraphrasing of when Wen Chou actually entered the palace, and Yuan Ti shoved a bowl of feces into his hands, and Yuan Shao lit opium poppeys. It was now a comical tale for Wen Chou, even though the drug addiction had a turn for the worst in Yuan Shao's case.

The two trot lightly as they made their way deeper and deeper into the forest. They had seen potential game, but Wen Chou had not told Bei Shu Rong to even attempt to fire. Deer were plenty, but Wen Chou wanted to go even deeper into the forest and if they shot something, they would have to stop, abandon their adventure, and take back the meat to the city.

Wen Chou suddenly stopped. It was right in front of him, yet somehow he managed to not see him. At the same exact moment Bei Shu Rong saw the prey as well and ducked under a log. Being untrained, Bei made a sound, and the deer prodded up his head.

There was always movement in the forest, never giving the human brain a chance to rest. Wen Chou placed his back against the bark of a tree, staying out of sight from the alert deer. At any point their prey may have run away. In a slow motion, Wen Chou moved his head around the bark, over his shoulder, and spied the deer.

Suddenly a flash of motion appeared in his peripheral vision. He saw it in a second, instincts came with the job. A man with an arrow pointed straight for Bei Shu Rong. Wen Chou turned his head towards Bei Shu Rong, the man hadn't seen it. He saw the future if he didn't act, a man he had met yesterday would be shot and killed on a hunting trip.

No.

Wen Chou vaulted himself towards Rong, tackling him to the ground. A clang ran out as their bows slammed against wood.

Umph!

"What the hell Xhou Fan!" Bei Shu Rong struggled underneath the heavy general, then he saw the arrow fly past their heads. Rong froze, it was all very disorienting. Wen Chou pulled himself up and hid behind a tree. Another arrow flew by. "Stay low." Wen Chou cautioned Bei Shu Rong as he reached fro his yew bow.

Outlaws, concluded Wen Chou. They lived in the forests after being out-casted from regular society. Most of them lived with dis-figurations because of their past crimes - and their subsequent punishments. Wen Chou groped for his bow, a few arrows dropped from his quiver, but the general's fingers still managed to find one. He twirled away from the tree, and faced the direction from which the arrow was shot from, expecting to return fire on the attacker.

But Wen Chou never expected what he saw next.

There was another outlaw, and he was missing his jaw. He was a very fat man with his lower jaw completely removed, his tongue seemingly abnormally large, hanging out freely. His saliva glands did not cease to function, as the neck area of his tunic was covered in it.

But more importantly - the fat outlaw charged directly at Wen Chou, uttering a war cry from his mutilated jaw. Wen Chou was partly stunned by the fact that one of his attackers was missing a jaw, and for a second his hesitated, Wen Chou back stepped too late, and the fat outlaw slammed into him with great force due to his momentum. The air left the lungs of Wen Chou as they hit the ground hard. The entirety of the ourlaw's weight landing on Wen Chou. With a great 'Umph!' Wen Chou lay dizzy and disoriented. His bow was flung from his hands, and all of the arrows left his quiver.

He was defenseless.

Then suddenly the fat man's hands grasped Wen Chou's throat. The general was left breathless from the impact, and as he tried to gasp for more air it was useless. Instead all he could do was make a sickening crackle sound from his choking trachea.

Wen Chou had been strangled before, but it was not like this, he had a weapon, something. In a panic he tried to pry the man's hands from his throat, but it was all futile. He reached for something, anything blunt that he could hit this guy in the head with. Momentarily he found nothing, the dread settled in, his eyes started to tear up. His lungs were burning.

He didn't know how, or why, just that the pressure lifted like a godsend, air rushed back into his lungs, Wen Chou started to cough, he prodded himself up on his elbows, crawling away to regain his composure. What he was hearing was finally making sense.

Bei Shu Rong was kicking wildly at the fat man. A valiant effort, but soon it was apparent that the outlaw was back on his feet, and counter-attacking viciously.

Wen Chou began to stand up and leaned against a tree, he had no weapons, and therefore his up most priority was to get something and then aid Bei Shu Rong. My bow!, it had been flung from him when the outlaw charged him, however it lay just at his feet, Wen Chou swooped it up into his hand and turned to face the outlaw. Granted, he was not wielding a sword, but any blunt object would do.

As it stood, the outlaw missing a jaw was wildly swinging a cleaver that he must've obtained from his belt, or elsewhere, and Bei Shu Rong was desperately back stepping, parrying some blows with his bow. In a swift movement Wen Chou closed the distance between himself and the outlaw - whose back was turned to Wen Chou - the general, with all his force, swung the bow right into the man's head. The bow recoiled and even made an audible Twang! as it bounced back from the man's head. The outlaw stopped swinging, and he stood there for a moment, swaying dizzily.

Wen Chou raised an eyebrow, was he.... knocked out or...? The general realized that he would have to eventually kill the outlaw, he had nothing in his hands that would be able to do the job though. He looked towards Bei Shu Rong, who was still starring at the dazed outlaw. "Bei, an arrow!" Bei Shu Rong understood immediately and threw and arrow his way. Wen Chou grabbed in the air, the outlaw was a mere six inches away from, so with all his strength, he attempted to impale the man in the chest.

The general never hit his mark.