Taban sat around the small bonfire and handed the river map to Haitao. Haitao opened the map and handed it to Chinua. Taban looked at Chinua and Haitao and said, "This river is neither too big nor too deep. The current is very steady unless there is a storm, which is rarely the case in the south. Sometimes the currents only get stronger when there are major storms or floods in the north. "
Chinua looked at the map and said, "The weather is stable this year. We should not encounter strong currents which are in our favor, because we don't need so many soldiers to help control the raft."
Taban looked at Chinua, then at Haitao. He asked, "How many people are you taking?"
Haitao said, "I need fifty men and twenty horses."
Taban nodded his head once, "Done."
Chinua stood up and walked over to where Taban was sitting. She points to the bottom mark on the map. She asked, "Captain Taban, why is there a marker here?"
"Oh, this place is an open flat area, and the villagers come to fetch water during the summer dry season," Taban said.
Chinua asked, "How far do they have to travel?"
Taban said, "One day of walking."
Chinua pointed to another mark and asked, "What about this marking?"
Taban said, "That place is marked, because there are many rocks there, and there is a drop downstream. It is about a hundred arm's length away from that place, before one will reach the open flat area." He pointed his pointing finger at the map and circled around the first mark Chinua showed him.
Haitao looked at the map and pointed to the first mark. "If we're going to do anything, it should be here," he said.
Taban looked at where Haitao pointed. He said, "Captain Haitao, I agree with you. The problem is the current is faster here because it's downstream."
Haitao said, "Let me worry about that." He looked at Taban's men. "I need forty-two good swimmers."
"All my soldiers are good swimmers," Taban laughed.
A soldier walked up to Taban and said, "Captain, everything is ready."
Haitao looked at Chinua and said, "Let's go and have a look."
In the early morning, before the ghost hours, Haitao and seven of his men, forty-two southern soldiers, including Hye and Khawn, went down the river with hundreds of rafts at their heels.
Looking at the slow water flow, Chagatai murmured, "I wonder if Timicin, Od and Och will arrive at the place where we evacuate on horseback on time."
Erden looked at Chaghatai and said, "If they don't come, then we'll have to walk to the village."
Muunokhoi frowned, "My arms are so tired, I don't want to walk."
"The place where we got off is not far from the village," said a soldier.
Chagatai hurriedly moved in front of the soldiers. He asked, "Brother, how far is it from the village?"
The soldier said, "It's just a day's journey." He lowered the bamboo pole and pushed the raft back into the middle of the river before it hit the bank.
Sitting on a box on a raft in the rear, his hands were tied to one of the boxes; Hye looked up to see Chinua with a smile on his face while Chinua was looking at the other soldiers chattering in front of them.
"Do you like this kind of life?" Hye asked looking up at Chinua.
Chinua looked down at Hye and said, "I do."
Hye said with a sigh, "I have traveled to many places and cities, and I have learned that Hmagol women have more freedom than other women in this land."
Chinua looked at Hye, and asked curiously, "How could this be?"
Hye said, "Well, first of all, they can shoot arrows on horseback." He stared at Chinua. "Now I look at you, a Hmagol woman can also fight side by side with men."
Chinua said, "Not all Hmagol women can fight alongside men."
Hye asked, "So, tell me Chinua, what makes you different from other Hmagol women?"
Chinua said, "Maybe, I don't think like most of the women in Hmagol."
Hye asked, "I can see it in the look in your eyes. You are an ambitious person. How can you be so ambitious?"
Chinua said, "People with goals are often ambitious, don't you think?"
Hye looked at Chinua with a smile. He said, "You are a very interesting person."
Chinua looked at Hye and said, "Not as interesting as you. A very mysterious person with many hidden talents."
Hye asked, "Do you want to trade secrets?"
Chinua said, "I'm not interested in your secrets."
Hye looked at his surroundings and then at Chinua and said, "It's a brilliant idea to confuse the enemy He looked at Chinua. "But how do you get off the raft safely?"
Chinua looked at Hye, scoffed and said, "You will see?"
Downstream, where the river would join to the southwest, Drystan and his party were readying arrows to attack the approaching rafts.
Drystan said loudly, "Prepare yourself. The order is, take no hostage."
"Yes, boss," the bandits said in unison.
Drystan murmured to himself, "See how you get out of here alive, Chinua..."
Haitao stared at the afternoon sun. He began to see rocks on the bank of the river Turning around and looking at the soldiers, he said, "Ready to dismount by the count of twenty. One…two...." He began to count.
The soldiers quickly pulled up the scarecrow in soldier armor and moved towards the middle of the raft on their left. They grabbed the ropes from the raft and tied them around their waists. They picked up the arrows and shot them at the trees on the riverbank with the ropes tied around their waists. The soldiers began to jump off the raft one by one.
Chinua quickly tied a rope around Hye's waist and said, "If you can't swim, you have to pull yourself out of the river." She took an arrow and shot at a tree a few feet away from them.
Chinua tied another rope around her waist and shot an arrow at the same tree a few feet away. When it was time to jump off the raft, Chinua grabbed Hye by the belt and herded them onto the raft and into the river.
As the water covered her head, Chinua held her breath and pulled herself toward the bank. When she looked up to see where Hye was, she didn't see Hye at that moment, she knew that Hye must not be able to swim, unable to keep his head out of the water.
Chinua knew that the person next to Hye should be Khunbish. "Khunbish," Chinua called. "Help me pull him up." She let go of the rope to search for Hye, but she couldn't find Hye. "Khunbish…help him." She grabbed the rope and quickly pulled herself out of the water. She knew that the sooner she got out of the water, the quicker she could pull Hye out of the water.
Khunbish dived into the river, grabbed Hye with one hand, and pulled him out of the water. Now Hye has lost consciousness. Khunbish grabbed Hye's bound hands, raised them over his head, and began pulling them towards the bank.
Khenbish and Khawn came to the riverbank together. Khenbish quickly stood up, grabbed Chinua's rope, and started pulling Chinua towards the bank.
Khawn grabs Khunbish's rope and starts pulling Khunbish and Hye towards the riverbank while Chaghatai and Muunokhoi rush towards Khawn to help Khunbish and Hye.
When Chinua came out of the river, Khunbish and Hye had been pulled out of the river with the help of Chaghatai and Muunokhoi. Hye was still lying unconscious on the ground.
"Press his stomach hard to help him spit out the water in his throat," suggested a soldier.
Terbish started to press hard on Hye's stomach with both hands, after a few tries, Hye suddenly coughed and spit out the water in his mouth. The soldiers cheered and Terbish and Khunbish helped Hye to his feet.
Hye looked at Chinua frantically, and said, "Cut this rope off my hand." He continued coughing.
Chaghatai chuckled, pulled out his dagger, and cut off the rope binding Hye's hands. He said, "Chinua, you don't mind right?"
Chinua shook her head.
Haitao said, "Let's go."
The soldiers started to move away from the river when they heard the horses approaching them. When the soldiers looked up, it was Timicin, Od, and the fifty horses running towards the riverbank.
Haitao said, "Get on the horse quickly."
All the soldiers rushed to the horse and got on the horse. When all got on their horses, Chinua jumped on the same horse as Khunbish. She sat behind Khunbish and the soldiers rode away from the river bank.
Downstream, as soon as the first raft approached, Drystan ordered his men to shoot. Multiple arrows shot at the rafts floating down the river. After a few rows of arrows were fired, there seemed to be no voices on any of the rafts. Drystan held up his hand to tell his fellow bandits to stop firing.
"Pull one of the rafts ashore," ordered Drystan.
a bandit threw a hook at one of the rafts, pulling it toward the bank. What they found was a scarecrow with a bamboo pole in the soldier's armor.
Drystan said madly, "Open that box."
A bandit opened the edge of the box to find nothing inside. He turned to look at Drystan and said, "Boss, it's empty."
"You did well, Magoli," he said with a giggle. He looked at one of his subordinates. "Sent a message saying that we were tricked by the female soldiers."