MEET ME ON THE BATTLEFIELD

CHAPTER 9 - COWARDICE

  YuLin dropped the kid off at the city gates and carried on in the direction of the forest.

  Just as he was about to enter, however, the cavalry could be spotted in the near distance. And a voice that caused a vein to pop in YuLin's head appeared.

  "Hey... HEY! YuLin you brat, where are you going!?" It was XingGe, the one who dragged him into all this.

  YuLin threw a smile over his shoulder. "Ah, XingGe, I'm going on an eternal holiday. Don't expect me to be back soon...well... it was nice meeting you!" YuLin shouted as his figure disappeared into the foliage.

  Just as XingGe was about to chase after him, his fellow soldier stopped him with a trembling hand. "Shi Xiong, don't..." the soldier muttered with fear in his voice.

  XingGe frowned and tried prying the soldier's hand off, "Don't what? That brat's trying to run... If I catch him before any of the higher-up's notice then he won't be punished..."

  The soldier shook his head. "Didn't you see what he was riding? It wasn't a steed... it was a black beast." The soldier looked into the forest with fearful eyes, "Beasts like those... they can only be tamed by one type of person. A beast tamer, famous to be part demon and... extinct."

  XingGe's eyes widened in disbelief. That kid!? The smiling idiot? No way ba!

  "But... they were supposedly all eradicated ten years ago...right?"

  The soldier remained silent as the obvious answer now hung in the air.

  In the midst of the city, Li Zhao had reached the part that was still undamaged. As soon as he emerged from the smoke, many civilian eyes turned to him.

  Upon seeing the strong stallion and the armour, the civilians felt instant relief as they cheered, "The army has come! The army has come to rescue us!" Cheers and tears of relief were shed.

  LiZhao jumped off his horse and stalked to a man dressed in noble attire. "Where's the lord of the city?" 

  Upon hearing that icy voice, the noble on the receiving end trembled before replying, "Good sir, this noble only knows that the city lord is not among us. We're all here to beg entrance into the safety of the city halls...but the gates remain shut."

  LiZhao sneered at the city halls ahead. It was quite obvious what was going on. The city lord was hording the safe zone for himself. LiZhao mounted his horse once more and directed the horse towards the gates. The crowd, hundreds upon hundreds of people parted giving him a straight line directly to the hall. 

  He reigned his horse in a metre from the gate.

  "Who's manning the gate!" He demanded in a voice so stern the guard at the other side of the gate almost pissed himself.

  Receiving no answer, LiZhao's eyes grew icier than the winter winds. "One of your jobs as a city lord is to provide shelter in times of emergencies, what is the meaning of this closed gate!"

  The small guard quickly sent someone to inform their city lord that there was a man shouting about the rights and wrongs of his job.

  In the main room of the hall, a shrewd-looking man in his fifties sat on a high raising chair. He rubbed his templed and stroked his beard at the commotions outside.

  "father father, XiaoSha is scared... the people are so noisy..." A girl at the tender age of fifteen whimpered to the man on the chair.

  "Ah, XiaoSha, don't fret, father will send people to silence them at once." Just as he was about to give the order, a guard rushed in a bowed.