the Twelve-faced Moon: A Loona fanfiction

Chapter XXXVII

Jungeun V

She could hear a hooting owl,somewhere in these foreign woods. Jungeun never considered herself a superstitious woman,but deep down inside,she wished that the owl in question is the amalgamation of her ancestors wishing her good luck. Founder of her lineage is a general,known for his ability of night attack and ambush,thus history remembered him as The Owl,so she got good reason to think about that.

But i am damn sure he's not doing these ambushes in these...garments. she muttered sadly as she looked down on her clothing...or barely considered clothing at all in her mind. She never felt comfortable wearing any type of feminine looking clothing,let alone this....garrish bright red short dress and hugged her skin tightly,leaving nothing to imagination,oh how furious her pious older sister would be if she saw her in this state. It made Jungwoo suddenly turned meek too upon seeing her in that outfit,when landing on the island. the...temptations of it is quite overwhelming.

Atop the oxcart she ride,the ladies Chou and Yeh on her sides perhaps thinking the same thing,judging by their apparent discomfort Jungeun catch on their faces under the light of moon. More perhaps on lady Yeh,since it is her idea,all this masquerade.

Sir Yenlong meanwhile,cloaked himself up to cover his iron beneath,driving the cart.

Behind her,stacks of foods and produce concealed clothing better suited for combat,made of leather and other weaponries,Jungeun's own Eclipse,lady Yeh's spear and lady Chou's crossbow,she insist on carrying her longbow initially but Jungeun goad her to take crossbow instead,since a longbow will be an incumberance in close quarter combat,she imagined the fight here will be up close and personal. Thankfully,lady Chou heed her advice.

"the fort is up ahead." Sir Yenlong said. Jungeun knew a strong fort if she saw one and this one is,even though not as formidable as Owl's Roost but close. it'll be quite a challenge and time consuming to take it using the conventional way of siege,she concur. She also found out the fort,comparatively to its size is severely undermanned,judging by the floating torchlight carried by the sentries on the wall. Several other braziers are lit too,but Jungeun knew it was a deception,to made it look like the fort is guarded by more men.

Her observation of the fort stopped the same time the ox do. Guard clad in Sun Islander armor approaching and speak. Jungeun knew their tongue just barely,definitely not as fluent as Sir Yenlong,who fluidly speak with the guard. She catch the word 'Daimyo' and 'gifts' in his word. The guard took his demonic looking mask off,eyeing the females,smirk, and gave the cart passage. He yelled at the other guard to open the gate and in the cart go.

As Sir Yenlong drove the cart to the direction of the food silo pointed by the other guard,Jungeun continued to observe the inner part of the fort,particularly the sentries,on how best to dispose them and sent signals of falling torch from atop the entrant gatehouse where she must reach it according to the plan.

Thankfully,so far,its smooth sailing. The soldier guarding the granary left them to their own business after conversing briefly with Sir Yenlong

"get inside the granary,get changed and get into the shadows,i'll distract the rest of them on the meantime" Yenlong whispered as he unload a wooden compartments where the change clothes and weapons are hidden,before he followed the granary guard.

The three of them did just that. after changing into more comfortable leather and each armed with their weapon of choice,they start to skulk silently,looking for the stairs to ascend the wall.

Shuhua found it. A narrow stair flanked by two guards standing and sharing booze.

"Your crossbow..how fast can it shoot?" Jungeun whispered to Tzuyu,crouching below her with her muffled crossbow,loaded.

"rapid" Tzuyu answered. She took a long breathe in and slide out from her hiding spot,fired the crossbow and took out the two guards,as the arrow loosed now nesting on the guards throat and forehead.

The sound of lifeless bodies hitting the floor alerted other guards as Jungeun saw more of them coming into the direction of the corpses only to be met with Shuhua's firm thrust of her spear,piercing one of them right in the gut. Jungeun followed suit,delivering finishing blow to the head,and stab the other guard whilst muffling his mouth.

Now the three of them found themselves atop the rampart,below she saw Yenlong and couple dozens of Sun Islander huddling near a fire. Too much for just the four of them to battle. Soon after Tzuyu reloaded her crossbow,they proceed to skulk towards the gatehouse. Now the guards are more easily found since they carry torch with them and more easily disposed,one snapped neck or choke one at a time.

Once again,Jungeun heard hoot of an owl below the gatehouse. But this time sound less natural Jungwoo and his men are here she peered below,seeing Jungwoo and a hundred Goryoan soldiers leaning close to the wall,along with handfuls of Sun Islanders lying lifeless on the ground. She and Shuhua them descent the gatehouse,kill through a couple more guards and opened the gate.

Jungwoo and his men come pouring inside,catching the rest of the Sun Islanders huddling in the inner courtyard by surprise. Jungeun,Shuhua and Yenlong soon joined the fray,whilst Tzuyu,still atop the gatehouse watched over above and fired upon the Sun Islanders emerging from other parts of the fort upon hearing the ruckus outside their posts.

The skirmish was swift and in the Goryoans favor. Only a handful of them was dead,compared to the casualties suffered by the opposing side.

"Quick work eh," said Jungwoo,huffing. "that's all of them,i think." He continued,waving at Tzuyu atop the gatehouse.

"Don't be so sure yet." Jungeun then ordered the Goryoan soldiers to spread out and searched for the captives. They divided into three Jungeun,Jungwoo and Yenlong each led twenty men.

She alongside Shuhua and Tzuyu delve deeper into the interior of the fort,found least to almost none of resistance save for some wounded Sun Islanders who insist to keep on fighting,even though Jungeun offered them to surrender at first,none of them comply to it.

she knew Sun Islanders considered surrender as shameful,but there's always room for mercy,she thought. Unfortunately,none of these Sun Islanders inside the fort want it. they wanted death more.

For couple more hours the party searched for dungeons or someplaces where captives usually held. It made her restless,but she can't lose hope now. Jinsol is somewhere here,Jungeun sure.

Finally,they stumbled upon a stairway downward,the stinging stench was unbearable,of cells where corpses just hanged there lifelessly,chained to the wall,rotting from sword wounds. She found some men,still living,some barely,others still in good health. Jungeun and her men broke them all free using the keys she got from one of the slain Sun Islanders.

She asked one of the captive and he said he served aboard the Rainsinger. I'm getting close

Her parties descend once more,into the dungeons. Dark and damp,rats skittering about. This whole place seemingly sap any semblance of life aside from the thriving rodents.

Getting desperate,Jungeun screamed Jinsol's name atop of her lung. It echoed. But no one answered.

She opened each and every one of the locked doors,she find prisoners inside on every one of them but still no sight of Jinsol.

and on the sixth one. She found her.

Sitting,leaning on a wooden pole,her golden hair is nightmarish mess,her feet chained,still wearing the same outfit she wore back then during the war council at the palace. Light from the torch Jungeun carry seems to have blinded her,as she put her hand in front of her face.

"Unnie..." Jungeun beckoned at her weakly,as she walking closer "it's me..." Jungeun then on her knees just beside her. all of her life,She never saw Jinsol looking so weak like this. She noticed Jinsol's right hand was purplish,a wound close to fester. The whole sight of this severely weakened Jinsol made her eyes teary,as she hug her tight to hide it.

"...what took you so long?....slowpoke..."