LEGEND OF THE GOLDEN TIGRESS

After hearing the details, Zedong took a deep breath, "She"s a big girl, she"ll come back! What"s the worry?", he shrugged off when Haru panicked, "That stupid gets lost in her own home. How will she find her way in the wilderness?"

"What?", Zedong was surprised, "why didn"t no one informed him of such an important thing till now? He wouldn"t have brought her here then! And also.. she is directionally challenged like my mother?", he couldn"t wrap around the coincidences around her as he knew his mother lost her way inside their home right till the end and so does Rijun! She is too much of a Huang!

" If she went in that direction, she"ll most probably reach the Sima Tribal village. They won"t hurt her if she is using my horse. Let"s hope she went there! ", Zedong just started to get restless. The sun has already beginning to set and there are various bandits around here too. She"d be much safer if she reached the Sima Village.

Haru"s panic went above the roof and he told Shurei to be safe and tried to leave when Zedong stopped him as he was running around like a headless chicken , "Stop panicking and tell me why?"

"The one who set out their horse"s in the last war was her. They know her. She was kept there for a day. Her hair...", Haru rambled and Zedong saw the beads of sweat in Haru"s forehead.

Zedong realised the seriousness of the issue only then. That last battle eliminated the men of Sima Tribe making most kids fatherless and most women widows primarily because they entered the war without their horses. No one would be polite to the person responsible for the almost elimination of the entire male population of their people and definitely not the Sima Tribe.

MINGXIA IS IN DEEP TROUBLE!

Zedong asked Haru to stay there and stand guard in case he needed support and he prepared to leave. He had some connections with those people and he was willing to do anything to negotiate. All he had was money and wealth and he decided to spend it all to bring her back. Who in their right mind would refuse money?

Seeing Haru still not convinced, Zedong placed his hands on his shoulders, "I will bring my niece back without a scratch. You stay here and be safe. If you don"t receive any information till sunrise tomorrow, send this letter to Lord Zhong", he gave a letter to Haru.

Haru saw the sealed letter and the fact that Zedong is willing to even involve the Zhong army to resolve this issue made him somewhat relieved. Stupid Xing! Making everyone worried! Stupid! Stupid!

"My brother is going to kill me thousand times over", Zedong mumbled and left in horse with two of his people. He learned that Shengli"s people split up to search her and they may find her if she is not with the Sima Tribe.

The problem of bandits can be dealt by her but the real issue will be her, lost with no food and water. That would be the thing killing her. And if she fainted, her extraordinary beauty won"t be helpful in her protection if the bandits get to her first. Who knows what might happen?

Zedong"s mind wandered with various thoughts and he still travelled to check first with the Sima Tribe. She always had the better luck as far as he had known about Lord Táng. So she must be fine right?

Xing who realised the horse was not taking her back to the village saw a big wooden fenced village in the front and wondered where she was. But the horse was excited to be here and when they neared the entrance, Xing immediately recognised the writing of the name board as the writing of the village she went seven years back and was tied up, the Sima Village.

Xing decided to turn back when she saw her way back was blocked by a bunch of weapons wielding ... Kids..? What is going on?

Xing got down from the horse and when she looked around, she was already surrounded by the entire village with no way of escaping without a fight. But all the ones surrounding her were kids and women and she didn"t know if it would be proper to fight them.

They looked at the horse and was murmuring something in their language and just then a gust of wind made her hood drop and her golden hair shone bright in the last rays of the setting sun.

The entire women population stood frozen for a moment and then Xing could feel their looks turning hostile as they gripped their weapons tight and starred to shout at her what seemed like profanities and Xing could not care because she didn"t know the language...

Ha! I don"t understand your curses! She smirked. Okay! I think now would be the time to fight back and escape! Xing thought.

Xing already made the mental calculations on how to escape the angry mob but after that she only had the wilderness and the dark night ahead of her and she was seriously confused as to what she should do.

With her in such deep thoughts, she saw a G.o.d in the corner of her eye and just when she met his eye for a second, he disappeared. She didn"t recognise which G.o.d he is but it seemed like he recognised her.

The angry mob got restless and were closing on Xing when an old lady came in running. She had beads hanging off her hair and wearing bright multi-coloured clothes and her hair was grey and she screamed something at those women and children pointing at Xing"s forehead.

Immediately, the people surrounding her calmed down but still were not friendly and just glared at her. Xing unconsciously rubbed her forehead and realised that old lady must be a priestess and she could see that protection spell the Wind G.o.d put on her and that"s why she stopped those people since they believed killing someone protected by a G.o.d will bring on curses.

Xing knew they won"t kill her but there are plenty of ways to hurt her without killing her. She is not willing to lose a finger or toe or limb just yet. So she decided to use their hesitation to escape and tried to get on the horse.

But a smooth voice with an accent stopped her, "Would you mind coming with us?", in her language.

"I do mind! Can I leave?", Xing wanted to say but it won"t be wise to be overly smart with people who despise you especially when you are alone!

Xing turned to look at a tall, burly and tanned man with many rings pierced in his earlobe. Even though he looked like most of the men of the tribes, he had a smooth and gentle disposition and didn"t look much hostile but his eyes hid many expressions and looks can deceive, right?

Xing knew in their tribes the number of silver rings signified the status of a man. Judging by the number of rings on him, he should be the... CHEIF!!! But why is he this young like he is barely twenty?

Ha! Xing snorted mentally, That"s because most of the older men died in the war! His father probably died in the war! Tough luck - Xing! So much for what you did as just a prank when you were a child!

Xing looked at him and gave her best smile, "I lost my way and got here, would you mind showing the right way, please?", she was polite.

He walked close to her, "Lord Táng", he whispered in her ear and Xing felt a chill pa.s.s through her spine, "He knows who I am and I have no idea who he is!"

"I"m Batukhan and the Cheif of the Sima Tribe. I"d welcome you to stay in our village for a while"

Xing had various thoughts running through her head. Is he one of s.h.i.+hong"s men? Does he know I was the one who set out the horses before? Should I just escape this place?

The more confused she got, the more calmer she got after taking a deep breath. Surely there will be people searching for her and these people won"t just ignorantly do something to a Wind Kingdom"s citizen. Also the Chief speaks the language that means he is used to our laws. Judging by the people, the extreme thing they might do is holding her hostage and demand for money. Of course Huang family will pay. And even if s.h.i.+hong is informed, Shengli will know of it and definitely will come for her.

Xing could use her swords Shengli hid in her cape to escape but it had some difficulties like she does not know the way back and she was extremely tired after riding for long. And also Xing felt a little guilty towards these people whose future she might have unintentionally destroyed.

"As you wish, Chief Batukhan", Xing smiled and followed the man who was hiding amny emotions.

Before she left she patted the back of the horse she came here with, " Bring back Huang Zedong here", she commanded in the guyu language, this time clearly so that the horse may not misinterpret and the horse moved but the crowd stopped the horse.

Xing"s smile in her face disappeared as she saw that those people even tried to kill the horse. Xing wondered why would these people who treats horses like children, resort to such means.

Are they projecting their anger towards me on the horse? If so, I cannot keep calm!

Chief Batukhan just waved his hands and the crowd splitted letting way for the horse and the horse just galloped away and only then Xing turned towards the Chief and followed him and he brought her to his tent.