by Saffron Walden » Sat Jan 07, 2017 4:28 am
“My name is Kim Sung-wan. I come from the Ministry of the Frontier of the Morning Kingdom, domain of his majesty Yejong, master of the five provinces and lord over the Ember isles.”
“And what business brings you to our camp?” I say.
“In Border Town,” says my father-in-law, “One of my grandsons found him and brought him. This grandson of mine, Tsakhiagh, will be with us… shortly.”
“And why did Tsakhiagh bring this man?”
“He has found something he needs help with, in the forested lands.”
“Here he is now,” says Perle.
Tsakhiagh enters the tent. He is a young man, much younger than me. His moustache is thin and shiny-black. He is very handsome, and is engaged to one of the northerners.
“Tell us what you found, Tsakiagh,” says my father-in-law.
The young man speaks, a bit nervously.
“Three days ago, I was hunting in the forests with my friends and one of their fathers. We had gone a ways past the big river – “
“You aren’t supposed to hunt over there,” says father-in-law. “That’s devil territory. They have a little cave that leads down under the earth where they live. One of my brothers, when I was growing up, he got taken by them. We were four. Never saw him after that.”
“I am sorry I went there, Grandfather,” says Tsakiagh. “When we went over there, one of my friends walked over past a rock, and there was a tiger there. Birvaa put an arrow through its eye, and we finished it off with a few more. Not far away, we found a body.”
“A human body?” asks father-in-law.
“A body of a little grey devil,” he says.
There is a silence.