(Two Hours Later)
Minho spat out blood as he looked widely around. The dark cover of the forest cast a shadow everywhere, he could hardly see where his men were.
His mask had long since been ripped from his face and his robes hung in strands. What had gone so wrong? Why was it that the forests barely fazed them?
"Your Highness!" Minho whirled around to find Changbin stumbling his way, limping on his leg. "We're spread out too wide! They're breaking our ranks!"
"Pull back!" Minho called so that all around could hear. "Pull back, everyone. Head to the clearing and re-form!"
"Yes, Your Highness!" called the men who had heard them as they too began to spread the word. Minho grit his teeth and turned Cho around, pulling out an arrow from his quiver and knocking it into his bow. He turned it skyward and shot it into the sky.
From the mountain base, men spotted it and reported it to the Master Sang-hyuk.
"The red arrow was spotted!" they called down to the study, where Master Sang-hyuk sighed and held his head. "Where are they? Why are they not coming when we need them?"
King Han also stood from where he sat and stared out at the smoke that was coming from the forest. "What does that mean?"
"They are falling back. They have been spread thin and those southern scum are breaking through their lines and heading to the capital.
"Do we have men defending the capital?"
"Of course, but if they were able to break through our front lines, they will be able to break through the ones that are stationed around the capital," King Lee rushed out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Jisung called after him. "You'll get killed on the way!"
"I'm not going to the capital!" the king called back. "I'm going to find our Lee troops!"
"Wait!"
He was already running down the stairs to the stables where he would jump on Yongbok's horse, Hwan, and take off towards the mountain entrance to the Lee Kingdom.
"I have to go down to him," Jisung was about to follow the Lee King when his father stopped him and caught his arm.
"He will be fine for now," Master Sang-hyuk hissed, holding his arm tight. "You will be of no use there, you must stay here with your kids, Ji-" he stopped himself. "Your Majesty."
Jisung looked down at Master Sang-hyuk's hand grasping his arm. "Let me go. You're in no place to stop me."
"I'm..." Master Sang-hyuk shook his head. "I'm in charge here, and you will respect my orders here."
"I am the King. I do not listen to anybody's orders, especially not from a cowardly former king who abandoned his own son!" Jisung pulled his arm from his father's grasp and ran out of the room.
He met Yongbok on the way down.
"Your Majesty," Yongbok bowed his head before he looked up, his eyes gleaming. "The Geulimja soldiers are on their way. Minho is falling back and regrouping with the others now."
Jisung paused.
That meant that Minho was still alive.
He let out a breath that he had been holding in and dropped. "That's good..."
Yongbok nodded. "You are not on your way down to the stables, are you? You should refrain until you are really needed. That was just the first wave."
"Just the first wave? How many more are there? If we're already struggling, then how are we supposed to beat them back?"
Yongbok sighed and shook his head. "Let's just pray that the other troops come soon."
~oOo~
(Six Hours Later)
The sun was beginning to set behind the mountain and yet the screams and battle cries of the allied countries along with the southern countries filled the air.
Prince Minho's men had been holding their position by the river side. The coming of the Geulimja troops had helped them greatly as they charged into battle, led by Captain Choi San and Choi Jongho.
But still, they were struggling. Their odds were better but no good. Minho had been cut up already since he was in the front lines, and his armor was long gone.
Changbin was in bad shape. Still limping badly and now with an open bleeding gash on his arm.
"Go rest!" Minho ordered as he stood in the tall branches of a tree, Changbin standing below and unable to climb up because of his leg. "I'll keep watch from here."
At the moment, the wave had stopped and they had driven back the remaining Southern soldiers or taken them prisoner. Minho had ordered they not be slaughtered like animals. They were simply serving their king.
"You need more rest then I do," Changbin muttered, leaning against the trunk. "You've been at the front all day. Just go back and rest."
"I'm resting right now," Minho muttered as he leaned back against the trunk as well from his branch.
"Some actual sleep."
"There's no need. I practiced not sleeping for months. I am perfectly fine."
Changbin sighed and shook his head. "Whatever you say. But at least get your wound tended to."
Minho looked down at the bleeding wound to his stomach that was wrapped in white cloth. He had been stabbed. But the blade had hardly cut him. He was alright.
"You need more care yourself," Minho called back down. "Yongbok is going to kill me after he kills you if you die."
"Thank goodness I'll already be dead then."
"May the gods save your soul from him," Minho sat down on the branch still keeping a watchful eye out. But he let his mind wander slightly as the forest turned dark. Jisung was still waiting for him. Not to mention his children. They were all waiting for Minho to finish this and return back to him.
So that was what he was planning on doing.
~oOo~
(The Next Morning)
It was an uneventful night. The southern troops had pulled away to rest which meant that the allied troops could rest as well.
Changbin went back to get his wound healed to the best of the doctor's ability while Minho kept watch and rested in his tree all night.
When morning came, Captain Kim came to find him.
"Our losses were minimal, but we did not gain any ground. None of the Generals have returned, and none of their brothers have fallen."
"Good," Minho nodded to him. "We must gather here within the hour to speak of our next move. Please locate everyone and bring them here."
"Yes, of course, Your Highness," Captain Kim bowed his head and turned to find the other captains.
Back in the mountain base, Jisung had just woken from a restless night's sleep in an empty bed. He missed Minho at his side... so much so that he had not been able to rest well.
Yongbok arrived at his side by the time the sun was shining. "My eldest cousin has yet to return and our men are struggling," he murmured, bowing his head. "Prince Minho as well as Changbin have both been injured."
"Severely?"
"Not from what I've heard," Yongbok bowed his head. "Your Majesty, are you planning on going out to see them?"
"Yes."
"Please stay here and do not go anywhere. There may be southern black masks waiting to invade at any moment. Please stay here with Princess Lee Hei-ran and Crown Prince Han Yeong until my youngest cousin comes back."
"That is, if he comes back you mean," Jisung muttered under his breath a heavy sigh as he walked off towards his kid's rooms where they were still sleeping, unaware of the chaos that was raging outside of their safe home.
Jisung didn't really want to wake them up yet. The yelling and screams of soldiers in pain could be heard faintly, even through the stone walls and hallways. He didn't want Hei-ran to hear them. Yeong was young enough that he wouldn't remember them, but Hei-ran...
So instead he just stood in the hallways leading to their rooms. He felt a pang in his chest. If Minho were to die, he'd have to raise these two alone. He would force himself to. He would abandon them even if his husband died.
Especially if his husband died.
He knew what it was like to not have either parents growing up. And now he knew what it felt like to be abandoned by a parent who could have come back for you but didn't.
He would never be like that, no matter what.
After a few minutes, Jisung left the hallway and went to stand up in the study which was empty at the moment, staring up at the grassy hills. Just past the hills though, were the forests that were now full of injured soldiers.
And his husband was among them.
~oOo~
Minho heaved an injured soldier off his shoulders and looked around. There was nobody else around except for a few battling young men fighting against several southern men at the same time. Minho hissed as he lay the soldier on the ground and checked his pulse.
He would survive if he got help immediately.
"Go, Prince!" cried one of the young men, seeing him hesitate. "Help him!"
Minho looked them over before he nodded and once again picked the injured man up and hung him around his shoulders, running to where he could get medical help. "Keep fighting!"
He flinched as he heard his men's cries behind him.
Life and death choices. Not his own, but of those around him. A single word from him and they would stab their own chests. They would slaughter the southern men. All it took was one word. Minho hated having so much control. He was tired of it, especially on the battlefield.
Minho returned later to collect their bodies and bring them back to the camp. They were once again spread too thin. While they had taken out perhaps half of the Southern invaders, they were now down to the last fourth of their troops.
"By the time the generals come, it'll be too late for us," Changbin was walking better now, but still carried a small limp with him.
"At least they'll be able to get my body," Minho muttered as he wiped his enemy's blood from his cheek with a strip of his robe.
"Prince, our line is weakening... do we continue to hold it?" Minho looked up, surprised to hear the sound of defeat in Changbin's voice. "It may... it may save more lives if the Odueun King and the other four southern rulers show us mercy."
"We are not going to give in," Minho gritted his teeth. "Our entire kingdoms will be at their disposal. They could slaughter all our people."
Changbin winced and nodded before he turned to the forests that were still full of the sounds of fighting.
"We'll have to pull back to the outside of the capital," Minho finally said out loud. Which meant losing their position in the forest. Outside of the forest, they'd have a disadvantage once more.
"I know... should I give the order?" Changbin looked grieved. That would also mean instead of going through the forests and searching for injured men who could not get to the medical stations themselves that were still alive would be left behind.
"Yes, give the ord-"
"ALL HAIL THE LEE KING!" a loud call echoed around the valley.
All soldiers of both sides stopped fighting for a moment to look up.
Minho's face broke out into a wide smile.
His brother had come.