Chapter 49 Fumu Forest I

　　—What is called fate is in reality the choice a person makes of his own path. What is called destiny is not that fate chooses you, but that you choose fate.

　　Early the next morning the Gongyou Clan’s embassy party broke camp and set out.

　　After the events of the previous night the Gongyou Clan strengthened the protection of Great Chieftain Gongdian. Gong Yi, Gong Wei, Yi Wu, Lü Jin and others rode camelhorses, placing Gongdian in the middle of the column as they hurried forward.

　　After leaving Blacksmith Town the road ahead became much flatter; no undulating hills could be seen, only the endless grassland.

　　Gongdian pointed with his whip at the surroundings: “Young Master Lian Shan, have we already entered the RoeDeer Grassland?”

　　“Correct, Great Chieftain—your memory is excellent. This is precisely the RoeDeer Grassland.” Lian Shan said. “In this region one can frequently see migrating herds of roe deer. Great Chieftain, today let us hunt a few roe deer and improve our fare.”

　　“Is that so? With the host’s words we hunters of the Gongyou Clan will not stand on ceremony today; upon the territory of your FireWorship Clan we shall hunt to our hearts’ content. Gong Yi, Gong Wei—organize a dozen or so skilled hands and follow me to the hunt.”

　　Upon the broad RoeDeer Grassland Gongdian and Lian Shan each led a dozen or so skilled hands of their own clans and began a hunting contest.

　　Hunting here felt completely different from hunting in the forest. In the forest one relied mainly upon ambush; upon the RoeDeer Grassland there was almost no place in which to hide—everything depended upon the footpower of the camelhorses beneath one to pursue the prey.

　　This feeling of galloping freely across the great grassland and hunting to one’s heart’s content was very novel to the hunters of the Gongyou Clan who were accustomed to hunting in the forest.

　　It was then early summer. Mounted upon camelhorses, galloping across the great grassland, the breeze brushed the face and felt especially cool.

　　The dewdrops upon the green grass, under the sunlight, formed a curtain of steam in the distance; upon that curtain a herd of roe deer could be seen lowering their heads to graze.

　　The two parties at once spurred their mounts and surrounded the herd of roe deer.

　　Roe deer were the most common animals upon the RoeDeer Grassland. An adult male could reach three meters in body length and two and a half meters in height, bearing a pair of heavy great horns upon the head.

　　The herd of roe deer had originally been grazing leisurely upon the grass; the lookout deer, noticing the hunters behind, at once uttered a warning cry, and the herd began to flee at full speed.

　　Some of the deer, burdened by the heavy horns upon their heads, were slowed in their flight and were overtaken before long.

　　The hunters of the Gongyou and FireWorship Clans launched a slaughter contest—some throwing spears, some shooting arrows. In a short while more than a dozen roe deer lay in pools of blood; blood dyed the earth beneath their feet red.

　　The pungent smell of blood awakened memories that Gongdian had sealed away for many years.

　　Upon this same grassland where roe deer ran in herds he had followed his father Gong Chang, formed an allied army with the FireWorship Clan, and fought the final decisive battle against the BullHead and Giant Clans.

　　He remembered clearly: that day a bloodred sun hung in the sky; every race had fought until their eyes were red; the air was filled with the pungent smell of blood; corpses covered the ground, blood flowed in rivers, and the earth was dyed red…

　　Butcher Ding Wen of the Gongyou Clan, with two apprentices, was dismembering the carcasses of the roe deer. The painful recollection caused Gongdian to hallucinate; the carcasses of the roe deer lying upon the ground seemed to become the corpses of his father Gong Chang and the brothers of the clan lying in pools of blood.

　　Gongdian felt a wave of nausea; sour water rose in his stomach. No longer willing to look upon the bloody scene, he wheeled his mount and raced in the direction of the main embassy party.

　　Gong Yi noticed his father’s abnormality, wheeled his mount and overtook him; the two rode side by side.

　　“Gong Yi, do you know that your grandfather died miserably upon this great grassland under the swords of the BullHeads?”

　　“Father, from childhood I have heard the story of the great decisive battle of the RoeDeer Grassland; today, coming here, I too feel much.”

　　“Gong Yi, I intend to go to the battlefield of that year and offer sacrifice to the heroic spirits of our clan who died.”

　　“Father, I also wish to see with my own eyes what the battlefield of that year looked like and to offer sacrifice together with you.”

　　At noon the column rested briefly. Butcher Ding Wen and his apprentices transported the large pieces of roedeer meat to the cooks’ squad; Ji Mazi hurriedly set up pots with the members of the cooks’ squad and built bonfires to roast the deer meat.

　　Old Wu said happily: “These many days we have either eaten dry rations or stinking salted meat and maize soup; today at last we can improve our fare and eat fresh deer meat.”

　　“Old Wu, less idle talk—hurry and work. More than a hundred and fifty mouths are waiting; only after you have filled their bellies will you yourself have meat to eat.” Ji Mazi urged.

　　“Did you hear? Steward Ji has spoken. You two be quick about it—hurry and work!” Old Wu said to Ge Wu and Gong Jie.

　　Ji Mazi gave Old Wu no pleasant face; Old Wu vented his anger upon the two young people Ge Wu and Gong Jie.

　　“Very well—we shall go gather firewood.” Seeing that they could not afford to offend him, Ge Wu pulled Gong Jie away.

　　The cooks’ squad first placed the meat in clear water in the pots for a brief boiling, then set it upon the grills to roast. The roasted meat was sliced, sprinkled with a little salt, and ready to eat.

　　After the midday meal of roast meat Gongdian conferred with Lian Shan and prepared to go and look at the battlefield of the great decisive battle of the RoeDeer Grassland of that year.

　　“Great Chieftain, the site of the RoeDeer battle and Junma City lie in two different directions. The site of the RoeDeer battle is to the northwest, while Junma City lies to our northeast. If we go to the site of the RoeDeer battle we shall not only take a detour, but the road will be sparsely populated and at night we can only make camp in the open.”

　　“Young Master Lian Shan, it does not matter—we may arrive a little later at Junma City.”

　　The embassy party diverged from its original objective and changed course toward the northwest.

　　The journey passed without incident. After continuous travel the embassy party discovered that the vegetation along the road grew ever sparser. One day the company saw a hill ahead; when they rode their camelhorses to the top of the hill the scene before them suddenly appeared.

　　Directly ahead lay a grove of strange trees; on the right an endless stretch of marshland was visible; on the left in the distance rose lofty, undulating peaks whose summits were covered with snow.

　　Lian Shan pointed with his whip at the grove of strange trees: “Great Chieftain Gongdian, the place ahead is called Fumu Forest. It is a forbidden ground of our clan. Legend says that extremely fierce animals inhabit Fumu Forest; ordinarily no one of our clan dares enter.”

　　“Great Chieftain, please look this way. The marshland on the far right is full of traps; once one falls in, death is certain. The mountain range on the left is called the SnowWolf Mountains and stretches far into the north; I have heard that tall, fierce snowwolves haunt that range.”

　　“At present there are two roads by which one may reach the site of the RoeDeer battle. One is to circumvent the endless marshland on the right; yet it would take at least three days to reach the battlefield of that year.”

　　“I know that road. After our defeat in the RoeDeer battle that year we returned by circumventing this marshland. And the other road?”

　　“The other road is to take the unknown path before our eyes. I have heard that after passing through Fumu Forest one reaches grassland; this is the shortest distance to the RoeDeer battlefield and saves much time.”

　　“Then let us choose that road and pass through Fumu Forest.”

　　“Great Chieftain, this Fumu Forest—no one of our clan has ever dared enter. Even if someone has entered, he has never been seen to come out. Do you truly intend to try it?”

　　“The other road takes too long. If this forest contains any fierce animals, with so many of us what have we to fear? We are hunters of the forest and have seen many wild beasts. Should any beast dare come out and harm people we shall destroy it for your FireWorship Clan.”

　　“What spirit! Since the Great Chieftain of the Gongyou Clan does not fear, we of the FireWorship Clan have nothing to fear either. Today we shall risk our lives to accompany the gentleman; we shall go with the Great Chieftain.”

　　The company rode their camelhorses down the hill and entered Fumu Forest.