Man of the House, Ch. 7
Previously:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to me for a change!
Author's Notes: Yay, another update :-p We only have one chapter and an epilogue to go after this, but worry not - that just means I get to focus (more or less, haha) on my Yong-ha fic :D Thank you to min7girl, naddyamal, Dorothy, and junmaolove for reviewing the previous chapter. I've missed you all!
Chapter Seven
Dae-ran folded his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.
All in all, he was satisfied with the way the outing with So-ra had gone. There were, of course, many other things that they could have done, but he was glad that he had restrained himself and focused solely on winning her trust. As spirited as she was, his lady had lived a sheltered life, and treated him with suspicion ever since the day he arrived - at least, until that afternoon.
He grinned as he remembered her almost (but not quite) leaning against him as they wiped down her mare together... the sound of her laughter... her shy yet encouraging smiles whenever he attempted to repeat the Koryeo words she was trying to teach him.
They had reached an important point that day. It was surprising because he thought that it would have taken a lot more courting in earnest to get So-ra to tolerate his presence. Granted, she hadn't been completely at ease in his company during their outing, but she hadn't objected to being alone with him either.
Perhaps I had been doing the right things all along, he thought smugly.
Suddenly, he heard shouting. The cries of alarm, both human and animal, had Dae-ran snatching up the sword he kept next to his bed, and rolling to his feet in moments. Without bothering to put on the rest of his clothing, or even his eyepatch, he was out the door, pausing only to kick Jin-sang awake.
Fortunately, it only took one kick. The servant jolted awake at the impact. "Wuzzappenin'?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep.
"Get up," Dae-ran ordered him tersely. "Arm yourself. Something's wrong."
Outside, it was easy to locate the source of the commotion, as it was marked not just by a small crowd of shouting men and rearing horses, but also by a brightly burning blaze. Silhouetted against the flames, dark figures struggled with each other and fought to lead panicking horses out of the burning stables and to safety.
Raiders.
Dae-ran's bare feet flew over the dew-wet grass. Bellowing a war cry that had not passed his lips ever since the day he lost his eye, he leapt into the fray. The Cha farmhands jubilantly took up the cry as their lord fought his way towards one of the horses, knocking a raider unconscious with the hilt of his sword, and jumping onto the animal's back.
Although the horse was not properly saddled and he was just barely dressed (let alone armed), mounting up felt like coming home. An exultant laugh burst out of Dae-ran as his mount reared, sending everyone around him scattering to avoid the flailing hooves. Guiding the horse with his knees, he began to lay about him with the devastating precision of a seasoned warrior.
The flickering firelight, coupled with the fact that he had only one eye, made it difficult for him to distinguish friend from foe at first; but he gradually managed to pick out his allies. It helped that they shouted encouragement to him (as translated by Jin-sang, whenever he was within earshot), allowing him to recognize their voices, and shoved the occasional intruder within reach of his blade.
The raiders were not unexperienced, but Dae-ran's arrival rekindled the defenders' spirits and they proved more than a match for the intruders. A ragged cheer went up as the last intruder fell, knocked out by the butt end of a rake. The nearest farmhands quickly converged on the fallen man, beating and kicking him to ensure that he would be too weak to be any more trouble before tying him up and dumping him by the far fence, along with the dead intruders and other prisoners.
"Everyone all right?" Dae-ran asked as he dismounted. There was a chorus of assents and a stableboy, bleeding from a small cut over his eye but otherwise unharmed, ran up to tend to the horse.
"Everyone is accounted for, master," Jin-sang reported. "Some have been wounded, but the dead are all theirs." His eyes were still bright with battle-light, and he hadn't yet let go of the shovel he had been using to fight off the raiders.
Dae-ran nodded approvingly. "You did well," he complimented his men, all of whom beamed with pride despite the blood, sweat, and soot that marred their faces and bodies. "Now we see to the...." He gestured towards the still-burning stables.
"Yes, my lord!" they all replied, voices loud and clear. Jin-sang elected to stand watch over the prisoners, along with the men who needed to bind wounds and broken bones, while the rest set to checking on the horses and putting out the fire.
One of the older farmhands sidled up to Dae-ran and gestured to the stables with a rag-wrapped hand. The man said something in Koryeo that Dae-ran couldn't completely understand, but he believed that he caught the gist of it. "...we will rebuild," the farmhand assured him, smiling.
"Yes," Dae-ran agreed, smiling back. He noted gratefully that, apart from the injured ones keeping watch over the prisoners, the men appeared well enough to work. "Yes, we rebuild."
Suddenly, they heard slow, derisive applause. "I must say," a voice drawled, "that was quite impressive." A lean figure emerged from the shadows, and there were angry cries and a scramble for weapons when the firelight illuminated Choi Myong-bok's mocking smile.
The lordling said something else that Dae-ran didn't understand, but the other man's tone of voice made it clear that it wasn't flattering-and that he was perfectly aware of what had just happened.
The Cha farmhands shouted again and made to attack him, but Dae-ran held up a hand to halt them. He could afford to relax somewhat since the unwanted guest was now vastly outnumbered, but knew well enough to keep a good grip on the sword still in his hand.
"Next time, send Koryeo army here," he coolly told the other man. "Better challenge for me."
Myong-bok laughed, an ugly sound. "Why don't you just give up?" he asked. The rest of his reply once again proved incomprehensible, but Dae-ran heard him mention So-ra's name and guessed that the other man was trying to stake his claim on her and the Cha estate. There were probably a few insults to Dae-ran's parentage mixed in, too; at least, Dae-ran would have added those if he had been doing the talking.
"No, you give up," he told the lordling. "She doesn't want you." He threw in a little sneer of his own. "She wants me." All right, perhaps he wasn't completely certain if So-ra wanted him in the way that he hoped, but at least he knew that she didn't want the other man at all.
It wasn't much of a retort, but it was enough to compel Myong-bok to draw his sword and charge.
The clang of steel and the resulting shouts from the men easily masked the little gasp that escaped So-ra when she came upon the scene. Prudently, she remained in the shadows, clutching the heavy paddle she had grabbed from the laundry on her way to investigate the commotion.
(Before leaving the house with all the able-bodied manservants in tow, Jin-sang had advised her to take the women and hide. Obediently, she had gathered Lady Woo and the remaining servants together and told them to barricade themselves in the kitchens while she went off to see what was going on. Jin-sang hadn't expressly told her to hide alongside the others; and if he did, who was he to be giving her orders?)
To her relief, she the waning firelight revealed the familiar faces of the Cha servants as the men saw to the horses, tried to contain the fire, and cheered on the swordsmen still flailing at each other just outside the corral.
So-ra recognized the taller fighter to be Dae-ran. The servants had told her that he still practiced with his weapons even though he could no longer serve in the Mongol army, but this was her first time to actually watch him do so. She thought that he looked very formidable indeed for a broken warrior who (she couldn't help noticing) wore nothing but trousers and a light tunic.
Unfortunately, there was no time to enjoy the sight of his bare arms, because at that moment, the fighters spun around and she saw the face of Dae-ran's opponent.
Choi Myong-bok!
One of the younger grooms tried to throw a rock at Myong-bok, and though the missile fell short, the movement drew her eye to the roughly-dressed men trussed and heaped alongside the far fence. Jin-sang and the others, standing close by, were dirty and bloodied, and some of them even appeared wounded. The spectators yelled as Myong-bok, his handsome face twisted in an ugly snarl, tried to drive his sword into his opponent's belly.
So-ra hissed her approval along with all the rest when Dae-ran parried the thrust and, cat-quick, opened a gash on Myong-bok's fine silk sleeve. She glared at Myong-bok as the combatants circled each other warily, as if she could bring about his defeat by force of will alone. What she saw before her was irrefutable proof that he was truly despicable. In contrast, while Dae-ran had appeared intimidating in the beginning, and still made her uncomfortable at times (while clearly enjoying it, the rascal), he had never once threatened her, the way Myong-bok had that day in the marketplace, or tried to frighten her the way the young lord did tonight.
He was wounded, but the cuts were superficial and his foe had only one eye, so Myong-bok had not lost any of his bravado. He dredged up a sneer and a taunting little swipe of his sword. "Tired, blind man? Do you yield?"
Dae-ran brushed the other man's blade aside and spat on the ground. "I'd rather die."
"Leave that to me, one-eye."
He gave the lordling a little smirk. "You must cut me first."
He was no longer whole or as young as he used to be, but Dae-ran had years of experience on his side. Craftily, he pretended to make minor mistakes, creating false openings for his hot-headed opponent, and just manage to block Myong-bok's offensive forays. This way, he hoped to tire out the lordling - or frustrate him into making a fatal mistake, whichever came first.
(Some clever insults would have been useful distractions as well, but that was not an option since Dae-ran's Koryeo was still not very good.)
The strategy appeared to be working until Dae-ran slipped on a wet patch on the ground, knocking him off-balance. Myong-bok grinned, sensing a prime opportunity, and raised his sword to strike.
However, instead of bringing it down, he suddenly lurched to one side and crumpled to the ground. As he fell, he revealed So-ra standing directly behind him, a heavy piece of wood in her hand.
Dae-ran's eyes met hers as the men around them erupted into elated cheers. She looked him over hastily, and he broke into a grin when she seemed to sigh with relief upon seeing that he appeared none the worse for wear.
Then she turned her attention to her victim, who lay unmoving at her feet. "Is he dead?" she asked, prodding at his shoulder with her weapon.
In another life, Myong-bok would have been promptly dispatched the moment he fell, but this time Dae-ran merely moved his enemy's sword out of reach and obligingly bent down to check. "No, not dead," he assured his lady. "Just... sleeping."
So-ra nodded, then kicked the unconscious man. Everyone around her roared with laughter at that, but she was still very angry with Myong-bok over everything that he had done and walloping him in the head with her laundry paddle hadn't been enough to vent her feelings. "Take him away and tie him up, hand and foot," she ordered a chuckling bystander. "Leave him and his men on the border. They can figure out how to get loose on their own."
"At once, my lady," the farmhand replied with a grin. The men hastened to do her bidding.
She turned away from them in time to see Dae-ran rising slowly to his feet. "Are you all right?" she asked with a perplexed frown, wondering whether the swordfight had exhausted him, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with his gait as he walked towards her.
He reached out to gently disengage the laundry paddle from her grip. So-ra watched him toss it away and looked up at him, her heart beginning to pound at the disconcerting light in his eye.
Suddenly, she was swept off her feet and flattened against a decidedly hard chest. "You wouldn't dare-" she managed to say, right before he covered her mouth with his own and showed her that yes, indeed, he would.
She froze in Dae-ran's arms, hanging in the balance the way she was practically hanging in mid-air - torn between pushing him away and embracing the life he had offered her the moment he laid eyes on her: as the woman who would rule his home, bear his children, and, apparently, step in to save his life on occasion.
So-ra laughed against his lips. She rather liked the idea of that.
Dae-ran must have felt her laughter and pulled back slightly to look into her face. This time, he wore the confused frown. "Something funny?" he asked, a defensive note in his voice.
She laughed again. "No," she assured him, and twined her arms around his neck to kiss him again, her decision finally made.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Disclaimer: Everything you see here belongs to me for a change!
Author's Notes: Yay, another update :-p We only have one chapter and an epilogue to go after this, but worry not - that just means I get to focus (more or less, haha) on my Yong-ha fic :D Thank you to min7girl, naddyamal, Dorothy, and junmaolove for reviewing the previous chapter. I've missed you all!
Chapter Seven
Dae-ran folded his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.
All in all, he was satisfied with the way the outing with So-ra had gone. There were, of course, many other things that they could have done, but he was glad that he had restrained himself and focused solely on winning her trust. As spirited as she was, his lady had lived a sheltered life, and treated him with suspicion ever since the day he arrived - at least, until that afternoon.
He grinned as he remembered her almost (but not quite) leaning against him as they wiped down her mare together... the sound of her laughter... her shy yet encouraging smiles whenever he attempted to repeat the Koryeo words she was trying to teach him.
They had reached an important point that day. It was surprising because he thought that it would have taken a lot more courting in earnest to get So-ra to tolerate his presence. Granted, she hadn't been completely at ease in his company during their outing, but she hadn't objected to being alone with him either.
Perhaps I had been doing the right things all along, he thought smugly.
Suddenly, he heard shouting. The cries of alarm, both human and animal, had Dae-ran snatching up the sword he kept next to his bed, and rolling to his feet in moments. Without bothering to put on the rest of his clothing, or even his eyepatch, he was out the door, pausing only to kick Jin-sang awake.
Fortunately, it only took one kick. The servant jolted awake at the impact. "Wuzzappenin'?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep.
"Get up," Dae-ran ordered him tersely. "Arm yourself. Something's wrong."
Outside, it was easy to locate the source of the commotion, as it was marked not just by a small crowd of shouting men and rearing horses, but also by a brightly burning blaze. Silhouetted against the flames, dark figures struggled with each other and fought to lead panicking horses out of the burning stables and to safety.
Raiders.
Dae-ran's bare feet flew over the dew-wet grass. Bellowing a war cry that had not passed his lips ever since the day he lost his eye, he leapt into the fray. The Cha farmhands jubilantly took up the cry as their lord fought his way towards one of the horses, knocking a raider unconscious with the hilt of his sword, and jumping onto the animal's back.
Although the horse was not properly saddled and he was just barely dressed (let alone armed), mounting up felt like coming home. An exultant laugh burst out of Dae-ran as his mount reared, sending everyone around him scattering to avoid the flailing hooves. Guiding the horse with his knees, he began to lay about him with the devastating precision of a seasoned warrior.
The flickering firelight, coupled with the fact that he had only one eye, made it difficult for him to distinguish friend from foe at first; but he gradually managed to pick out his allies. It helped that they shouted encouragement to him (as translated by Jin-sang, whenever he was within earshot), allowing him to recognize their voices, and shoved the occasional intruder within reach of his blade.
The raiders were not unexperienced, but Dae-ran's arrival rekindled the defenders' spirits and they proved more than a match for the intruders. A ragged cheer went up as the last intruder fell, knocked out by the butt end of a rake. The nearest farmhands quickly converged on the fallen man, beating and kicking him to ensure that he would be too weak to be any more trouble before tying him up and dumping him by the far fence, along with the dead intruders and other prisoners.
"Everyone all right?" Dae-ran asked as he dismounted. There was a chorus of assents and a stableboy, bleeding from a small cut over his eye but otherwise unharmed, ran up to tend to the horse.
"Everyone is accounted for, master," Jin-sang reported. "Some have been wounded, but the dead are all theirs." His eyes were still bright with battle-light, and he hadn't yet let go of the shovel he had been using to fight off the raiders.
Dae-ran nodded approvingly. "You did well," he complimented his men, all of whom beamed with pride despite the blood, sweat, and soot that marred their faces and bodies. "Now we see to the...." He gestured towards the still-burning stables.
"Yes, my lord!" they all replied, voices loud and clear. Jin-sang elected to stand watch over the prisoners, along with the men who needed to bind wounds and broken bones, while the rest set to checking on the horses and putting out the fire.
One of the older farmhands sidled up to Dae-ran and gestured to the stables with a rag-wrapped hand. The man said something in Koryeo that Dae-ran couldn't completely understand, but he believed that he caught the gist of it. "...we will rebuild," the farmhand assured him, smiling.
"Yes," Dae-ran agreed, smiling back. He noted gratefully that, apart from the injured ones keeping watch over the prisoners, the men appeared well enough to work. "Yes, we rebuild."
Suddenly, they heard slow, derisive applause. "I must say," a voice drawled, "that was quite impressive." A lean figure emerged from the shadows, and there were angry cries and a scramble for weapons when the firelight illuminated Choi Myong-bok's mocking smile.
The lordling said something else that Dae-ran didn't understand, but the other man's tone of voice made it clear that it wasn't flattering-and that he was perfectly aware of what had just happened.
The Cha farmhands shouted again and made to attack him, but Dae-ran held up a hand to halt them. He could afford to relax somewhat since the unwanted guest was now vastly outnumbered, but knew well enough to keep a good grip on the sword still in his hand.
"Next time, send Koryeo army here," he coolly told the other man. "Better challenge for me."
Myong-bok laughed, an ugly sound. "Why don't you just give up?" he asked. The rest of his reply once again proved incomprehensible, but Dae-ran heard him mention So-ra's name and guessed that the other man was trying to stake his claim on her and the Cha estate. There were probably a few insults to Dae-ran's parentage mixed in, too; at least, Dae-ran would have added those if he had been doing the talking.
"No, you give up," he told the lordling. "She doesn't want you." He threw in a little sneer of his own. "She wants me." All right, perhaps he wasn't completely certain if So-ra wanted him in the way that he hoped, but at least he knew that she didn't want the other man at all.
It wasn't much of a retort, but it was enough to compel Myong-bok to draw his sword and charge.
The clang of steel and the resulting shouts from the men easily masked the little gasp that escaped So-ra when she came upon the scene. Prudently, she remained in the shadows, clutching the heavy paddle she had grabbed from the laundry on her way to investigate the commotion.
(Before leaving the house with all the able-bodied manservants in tow, Jin-sang had advised her to take the women and hide. Obediently, she had gathered Lady Woo and the remaining servants together and told them to barricade themselves in the kitchens while she went off to see what was going on. Jin-sang hadn't expressly told her to hide alongside the others; and if he did, who was he to be giving her orders?)
To her relief, she the waning firelight revealed the familiar faces of the Cha servants as the men saw to the horses, tried to contain the fire, and cheered on the swordsmen still flailing at each other just outside the corral.
So-ra recognized the taller fighter to be Dae-ran. The servants had told her that he still practiced with his weapons even though he could no longer serve in the Mongol army, but this was her first time to actually watch him do so. She thought that he looked very formidable indeed for a broken warrior who (she couldn't help noticing) wore nothing but trousers and a light tunic.
Unfortunately, there was no time to enjoy the sight of his bare arms, because at that moment, the fighters spun around and she saw the face of Dae-ran's opponent.
Choi Myong-bok!
One of the younger grooms tried to throw a rock at Myong-bok, and though the missile fell short, the movement drew her eye to the roughly-dressed men trussed and heaped alongside the far fence. Jin-sang and the others, standing close by, were dirty and bloodied, and some of them even appeared wounded. The spectators yelled as Myong-bok, his handsome face twisted in an ugly snarl, tried to drive his sword into his opponent's belly.
So-ra hissed her approval along with all the rest when Dae-ran parried the thrust and, cat-quick, opened a gash on Myong-bok's fine silk sleeve. She glared at Myong-bok as the combatants circled each other warily, as if she could bring about his defeat by force of will alone. What she saw before her was irrefutable proof that he was truly despicable. In contrast, while Dae-ran had appeared intimidating in the beginning, and still made her uncomfortable at times (while clearly enjoying it, the rascal), he had never once threatened her, the way Myong-bok had that day in the marketplace, or tried to frighten her the way the young lord did tonight.
He was wounded, but the cuts were superficial and his foe had only one eye, so Myong-bok had not lost any of his bravado. He dredged up a sneer and a taunting little swipe of his sword. "Tired, blind man? Do you yield?"
Dae-ran brushed the other man's blade aside and spat on the ground. "I'd rather die."
"Leave that to me, one-eye."
He gave the lordling a little smirk. "You must cut me first."
He was no longer whole or as young as he used to be, but Dae-ran had years of experience on his side. Craftily, he pretended to make minor mistakes, creating false openings for his hot-headed opponent, and just manage to block Myong-bok's offensive forays. This way, he hoped to tire out the lordling - or frustrate him into making a fatal mistake, whichever came first.
(Some clever insults would have been useful distractions as well, but that was not an option since Dae-ran's Koryeo was still not very good.)
The strategy appeared to be working until Dae-ran slipped on a wet patch on the ground, knocking him off-balance. Myong-bok grinned, sensing a prime opportunity, and raised his sword to strike.
However, instead of bringing it down, he suddenly lurched to one side and crumpled to the ground. As he fell, he revealed So-ra standing directly behind him, a heavy piece of wood in her hand.
Dae-ran's eyes met hers as the men around them erupted into elated cheers. She looked him over hastily, and he broke into a grin when she seemed to sigh with relief upon seeing that he appeared none the worse for wear.
Then she turned her attention to her victim, who lay unmoving at her feet. "Is he dead?" she asked, prodding at his shoulder with her weapon.
In another life, Myong-bok would have been promptly dispatched the moment he fell, but this time Dae-ran merely moved his enemy's sword out of reach and obligingly bent down to check. "No, not dead," he assured his lady. "Just... sleeping."
So-ra nodded, then kicked the unconscious man. Everyone around her roared with laughter at that, but she was still very angry with Myong-bok over everything that he had done and walloping him in the head with her laundry paddle hadn't been enough to vent her feelings. "Take him away and tie him up, hand and foot," she ordered a chuckling bystander. "Leave him and his men on the border. They can figure out how to get loose on their own."
"At once, my lady," the farmhand replied with a grin. The men hastened to do her bidding.
She turned away from them in time to see Dae-ran rising slowly to his feet. "Are you all right?" she asked with a perplexed frown, wondering whether the swordfight had exhausted him, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong with his gait as he walked towards her.
He reached out to gently disengage the laundry paddle from her grip. So-ra watched him toss it away and looked up at him, her heart beginning to pound at the disconcerting light in his eye.
Suddenly, she was swept off her feet and flattened against a decidedly hard chest. "You wouldn't dare-" she managed to say, right before he covered her mouth with his own and showed her that yes, indeed, he would.
She froze in Dae-ran's arms, hanging in the balance the way she was practically hanging in mid-air - torn between pushing him away and embracing the life he had offered her the moment he laid eyes on her: as the woman who would rule his home, bear his children, and, apparently, step in to save his life on occasion.
So-ra laughed against his lips. She rather liked the idea of that.
Dae-ran must have felt her laughter and pulled back slightly to look into her face. This time, he wore the confused frown. "Something funny?" he asked, a defensive note in his voice.
She laughed again. "No," she assured him, and twined her arms around his neck to kiss him again, her decision finally made.