The dark night was clear with the first moon, Hanyue glowing over us while its sister moon darkened.
The Hu men were just lying around on the grass staring up at the twinkling stars or chatting happily around the crackling fire.
My stomach was now filled with the roasted lizard, which tasted like ordinary roast chicken as I snuck into my tent, tiptoeing past a sleeping Xuanjing tucked under a fur cover. Xuanyi was perhaps lurking around like a security guard.
Sweeping off the dust on my trunk, I unlatched it and ruffled through the packed books and clothes for my star compass. Pulling it out and closing the trunk, I tiptoed again past a turning Xuanjing out of my tent.
A group of patrolling soldiers bowed to me as they marched past. I had nodded and walked over the Hu's tents.
Aguzen waved to me in tamed excitement and patted the ground next to him. Instead of going there, I signalled with my hand holding the star compass. He tilted his head and got up, glancing at the shaman, who was mediating. Stepping around his men carefully, he came.
"That?" He pointed at the star compass.
"Stars," I pointed upwards and chanted what Lianfeng had taught me. The star compass came into life.
A 3D holographic view of the star map appeared, illuminating the widened eyes of Aguzen. His amber coloured eyes were now golden, reflecting the light.
Out of the blue, he pulled the star compass from me, causing the holographic image to disappear. "No. Danger."
He shook his head and returned it to a very stunned me. "Land spirits don't like ling qi. No one use here. No good reason."
Was he referring to the Mo beasts? Were they the Hu's land spirits? He looked spooked, given how he was now nervously looking around the area.
"Come," he beckoned towards his camp. "We talk near fire. Stars up in sky, don't need that. We look."
I followed him back to the crackling fire, weaving between some of the sleeping men. A few sudden snores almost made me jump. The old shaman gave me a slight nod of recognition as Aguzen took a seat cross legged beside him.
"You. Your ling beast crow," Aguzen said, and then pointed to the old shaman with a big grin. "He old crow."
The shaman's hand came flying out, smacking him at the back of his head. Aguzen winced as I struggled to keep my face straight.
"I from crow tribe, not old crow," the shaman chided him and turned to me while I took a seat. "Three-legged crow. Powerful."
Did the Hu have any legends about a three-legged crow? Was it similar to Earth's?
"I don't know what it is. None of us in Lingyu know anything about it," I said.
"Three-legged crow. Meaning dominion. Founding of big land," the shaman said. "No one knows because no one remembers. Long time ago, all here no few kingdoms. Only one land. Before the first Great War."
That would be centuries ago. Almost at least a millennial or more. Before Lingyu was even a Kingdom, according to their records.
"You conqueror, remember me as brother," Aguzen chuckled in teasing mischief.
The shaman promptly whacked him on the head again and added, "Every hundred years, one with crow appear but they die young. Danger," the shaman's hand slide across his throat, "You die, no use. You live past 18, big conqueror."
Five years is a long time to survive the machinations of the Lingyu courtiers. Let alone my brothers and my father's harem. No matter how good my experiences were in my previous life, it prepared me only to deal with petty plots. This life is on a royal screwed up scale.
Aguzen shook me by the shoulder. "You age?"
"Thir… teen," I was close to blurting out my former life's age.
"Five years," he glanced at the shaman and they both started talking in their Hu language while leaving me to listen to something I did not understand.
Two of them paused and look at me. Then off they went rattling off in their language before the shaman gave a curt nod.
"I like you," Aguzen edged closer, placing his arm around me. "Quite a lot. You give me a good feeling."
My stomach almost regurgitated the half digested lizard remains at his words. Lianfeng's words about them being free with their own gender echoed in my mind as a sharp burning sensation in my oesophagus left me queasy at the prospect of Aguzen's advances.
"You be my younger brother," he slapped my back so hard that I lurched forward, struggling not to hurl my dinner out of my throat.
***
He looked at the gagging Ji Feng who was covering his mouth.
Weak, Aguzen thought.
A slap could make him throw up. The earlier expression was hilarious, especially that wild, wide eyed look of the young prince who shrunk red faced from just a few words.
It reminded Aguzen of the girls whom he had flirted with. Can that be? A chill ran up his spine, causing him to shudder, as he slid his arm off and shifted away from the prince to place some distance between them.
He had heard of how the Lingyu King's brother taken on a male lover. Maybe the same habit runs in Ji Feng's bloodline. It isn't funny anymore.
How is the boy prince going to accomplish anything? Let alone conquer any land. Okutai is old and perhaps his age was affecting his gift of foresight.
"Not good, I think he misunderstood your intentions," Okutai chuckled and shook his head in disapproval.
"Shut up. It isn't funny. I am not in that kind of relationship," Aguzen retorted.
"Neither is he, the way he reacted, but you are playing with fire when you act like that."
Ji Feng looked at both of them, puzzled. He did not understand their language.
"No harm done," Aguzen shrugged.
Still, Ji Feng's naïve youth is an opportunity for his desperate cause.
They drove over one million of his people in and out between Shuanglong and Lingyu Kingdoms. Shuanglong Kingdom was hellbent on their extermination - a kill on sight order had been filed for them.
Okutai faced Ji Feng and spoke hesitantly in Lingyu language, "Aguzen can be sworn brother. We ally. Need land to roam. We want Shuanglong area, not yours. What you say."
"You want my Kingdom to help you conquer some of the Shuanglong area so that you have land of your own. How many people do you have?"
"One hundred thou… no…," Okutai turned to Aguzen, "how do you say in their language?"
Aguzen said to Ji Feng, "One million tribesmen or more. We. Ten tribes. Mine Wolf tribe biggest and leader. Okutai's crow, they all shamans to us. The Bear, Hawk, Deer, Mongoose, Snake, Leopard, Crocodile and Monkey tribes. If you my brother, they your tribes."
***
Ten tribes of Hu, with Aguzen's tribe as the leader and one million people, I mused over the proposed large undertaking.
Depending on the situation at Beihou, there might be an excuse to do a land grab. Right now, it was too early to say. One of my principles was never to make promises which cannot be kept. To break a promise was to destroy trust.
The Hu people were desperate to be somewhere. Who wanted to be hunted down like an animal?
"I cannot promise Shuanglong land. We have to see how the situation is when we reach Beihou. Our troops here may not be big enough and my father is the one who decides if we have a full war," I replied.
"It ok. You still like little brother," Aguzen patted my back. "Go sleep. Morning see you."