Chapter 16: Great Wall War

60 years before Yona was born.

Hiryuu Castle was a buzz with people yelling at each other. For the passed forty years the current ruler had been at war with neighboring Kai Province. This war was sparked when a young shepherd boy had been killed by Kai soldiers who then had stolen the child's family flock. The soldiers had then come back to the boy's village, ravaged the women, killed the men and enslaved the survivors. In retaliation, Emperor Sunjong erected a wall that took twenty-five years to build. The wall was the tallest in the world that went from one end of the northern boarder in the earth tribe to the other side on the fire tribe's boarder with Kai. It was close to ten thousand miles in length and was five stories tall. Nearly two hundred thousand men had built the wall. During the wall's construction the war between Kai and Kouka had raged on. Captured Kai soldiers were forced to build the wall and those who tried to undermine its construction were killed and then buried within the wall itself, becoming its mortar. The boarder wall became known as the Wall of Bones due to the thousands of Kai warriors that had been killed during it's construction and buried within it.

When the wall was finished Emperor Sunjong had his first son born to him; he was fifty years old. It was one of his concubines who gave him Joo-nam. This meant that the five daughters born to him by his wife and other concubines would not become rulers; instead, Joo-nam was trained from a young age in the art of war and how to take a man out before he could harm Joo-nam. This meant that by the time Joo-nam was eighteen he was already a fearsome warrior and knew who he could trust if a fight broke out. This of course didn't mean he went out looking for fights only that the young Prince knew how to defend himself should he need to.

It was during a skirmish in the wind tribe that Joo-nam would meet his greatest ally, Mundok. The dark haired male could take out a dozen men with one swipe of his staff weapon. The fight had been spectacular. Joo-nam had been in a bar in one of the wind tribe's many villages. It was loud and smelly but the food was good and the women were beautiful. A fire soldier was the one who started the fight by touching another man's woman. Joo-nam watched as a dark haired youth stood between the two men, trying to calm them down. When neither would he took out a tessen, the blue fan was used to wallop both men until they both gave in. Joo-nam burst out laughing as the two men acted like beaten dogs. Obviously the dark haired man hadn't liked being laughed as he then challenged Joo-nam to a fight, a fight the Prince didn't mind fighting.

Standing outside the bar, Joo-nam unsheathed his sword as the other man pulled some scrap material off of the blade of his staff weapon. It looked like a small war scythe, as the blade was short but sharp enough to do damage. The young Prince whistled at the weapon as he'd only seen those during the festival's that the wind tribe did yearly. "Nice weapon." he commented as he got into a defensive position.

The youth grinned at him. "Should be, it's one of the best." he replied as he too got ready for a strike.

Above them a young yellow haired youth watched fascinated by the events that had brought these two men together. He watched the young Prince rush forward and strike at the young wind tribesmen. The other man blocked the strike before pushing the prince away from himself. He then brought his staff weapon down upon the prince who barely escaped from being struck down. Using speed, the wind boy moved his feet forward striking in a horizontal strike before bringing the blade downward. Joo-nam dodged the first strike by bending backwards to avoid the sharp blade. As the blade came down a moment later, he brought his up to block the strike, this brought him to his knee. The strength behind the strike had been so very powerful. Who is this man? he wondered. In the many years since his training had begun, not a single soldier had ever brought him to his knees.

Pushing the blade away from him, Joo-nam pushed himself forward. Batting away the blade as it came at him. The wind boy spun around and kicked Joo-nam in the side causing him to loose his balance for a moment. The staff weapon came down upon him to strike him in half only for Joo-nam to block it with his sword and push it away from his person once more. Rushing forward, Joo-nam slammed the flat of the blade against the wind youth's hand that held the staff weapon.

"Shit!" the youth cursed as he back away from Joo-nam. His fingers stinging from that last strike. Joo-nam smirked at the curse as it left the other man's mouth. It was nice to find another with skills that rivaled his own, but it was even more fun to make others loose their cool in a fight.

The two men circled each other, looking for the weakest point of their enemy. Upon finding it, they both rushed in headlong into the fight. As the wind youth's spear struck the young Prince's leg, causing a scratch to appear; Joo-nam's blade cut the other's shoulder, the junction between neck and the shoulder blade. Both men fell to the ground with their injuries before they both began to laugh. They had been having fun!

"I have never fought someone who could keep up with my movements." the wind youth stated with a grin. "Who are you stranger?"

"Just call me Nam." Joo-nam replied as he stood up and sheathed his sword. "What about you? Who are you?"

The man stood up, the feather beads on his head moving with his movements. "Son Mundok." he answered with pride in his voice. "Son to Son Gyeong, the Wind tribe General."

Joo-nam blinked in surprise before a smile broke out on his face. "Really?" he asked the youth who gave a nod in reply.

"In fact, I invite you to my home to rest and recover from our fight." Mundok insisted as he turned to leave. "Fuuga isn't too far of a ride."

Joo-nam gave a nod. "Only if there's drinks to be had there." he joked causing he other to laugh heartily.

"Of course!" Mundok cried out with much joy at finding another who enjoyed fighting as much as he did.

When the two young men arrived in Fuuga an hour later, their wounds were tended to, clothes changes and food given to them. It was as they were eating that the wind general himself showed up. General Gyeong recognized the young Prince for who he was. So when Mundok so casually called him by the name Nam, his father came unglued for a moment and beat Mundok for being disrespectful towards the next Emperor of Kouka.

After the excitement died down, Joo-nam apologized to Mundok for not revealing who he truly was. The two young men forgot the whole thing afterwards and enjoyed their drinks and stories that soon ensued. What neither knew was their peace would soon be interrupted.

Northern Kai and Southern Kai had combined their forces, giving them to seventy-five thousand soldiers in their army. Spies from Kouka had come back with this information. The two groups were marching towards the wall with strange weapons covered by thick animal skins. When the two armies came to the wall the weapons were revealed to be catapults. These catapults threw large boulders that were covered with oil and lit on fire before being thrown into the air by the machines. The boulders slammed into the wall, causing some damage, but not a lot. The wall caught fire in sections but the fires were contained.

Ladders were lifted in other sections, enemy soldiers climbed up the sides of the wall and slew the Koukain army stationed there. Both the Fire and Earth general's fought to overcome the enemy. The sky army led by Prince Joo-nam was dispatched to the ground to take out the ground troops. When the wall's gates opened, the sky tribe's best fighters emerged to take out the enemy.

It was a bloodbath. Soldiers were cut down, blown apart or torn apart by wild animals that the Kai tribes were using against them. Joo-nam rode in on his horse, but ended on the ground fighting against the enemy soldiers. Kai barbarians from the north did not care who they killed as long as the blood of their enemies ended up on their hands. What Joo-nam wasn't expecting was these barbaric people to be Using not just their weapons to kill but their teeth as well. He saw a man bite another's neck right off. As blood and mud mixed together beneath his feet, Joo-nam ordered his men to retreat back to the wall.

Just then a whistling sound was heard as thousands of arrows flew towards him and his men. Fortunately the arrows landed indiscriminately amongst enemy soldiers, unfortunately, many did kill Koukain men as well. A spear flew through the air and before it could hit him it was stopped by another. Bright yellow haired caused Joo-nam to paused. He watched in awe as the young man pulled the spear from his stomach, pick up a sword that ad been dropped, stagger a bit, before running headlong into the midst of a group of barbaric Kai soldiers. Having no choice, Joo-nam didn't want to youth's sacrifice to be in vain and turned to follow his men in retreat.

Even as they retreated Joo-nam could hear the screams of dying men, Kai men behind him and timidly wondered who was killing the soldiers behind them. As the gates closed behind him, Joo-man turned his head to witness a single person standing in the battlefield with hundreds of men dead on the ground. Above him the fire general ordered dragon's breath to be used to extinguish the enemy and send them on the run.

Green liquid was poured to the ground on the heads of the enemy who were still trying to climb the wall. The liquid was lit and green fire burned. As the men fell from the stories high wall, the fire exploded to the dead grass nearby, igniting a wildfire that would soon burn the injured and the dying alike. When the fires died out several days later, nothing but bones would be left in the flames wake. Thus the Field of Bones was created and a story of a single Koukain warrior taking out thousands of enemy soldiers began to spread amongst the men of the wall. Nobody knew if there was truth to this story or if it was just a rumor that was created to keep the spirits of the soldiers high during the war that ensued.

Present Day

Zeno looked at the old King. "Zeno couldn't just let the enemy come into Kouka." he said softly. "Many times has Zeno fought over the years. When the scales appear, Zeno cannot be hurt."

Joo-nam looked at the mural behind the sarcophagus. "The story of the Ouryuu says one of mighty body, it does not state as to how mighty this body is." He looked at the boy who looked no older than seventeen. "You look the same as you did that day."

"Zeno doesn't age very well." he said as he threw his arms over his head and looked up at the painted murals. "Ouryuu's mighty body has many meanings, but we don't have to talk about that." He then looked back at the old King. "She is safe. When it comes time, Zeno is certain she will do what is right for this country."

"She will become the first ruling Queen of this country." Joo-nam told him. "She will rule fairly, I am sure; however, my eldest may stand in her way."

"Yes," Zeno agreed. "Yu-hon does not like the Miss. Zeno think there is a reason for this hate but does not know exactly where it stems from."

"He will need to be stopped before he can harm her." Joo-nam told the youth, hating what needed to be done in order for his granddaughter to rule.

Zeno smiled softly. "Worry not, she has brother Ryokuryuu and Hakuyuu to protect her." His smile broadened. "Besides, Zeno believes brother Seiryuu will be here soon. Once all of us are here, the blessing with return and the Miss will have more supporters than she will have enemies."

"One rat can still cause damage." The King warned. "Just be watchful. I cannot protect her forever and soon I must make a decision on who rules after me." He turned away from the golden haired teen who was left to think about how he was going to protect Yona even as her enemies plotted against her.

M-Angel: Sorry for being on hiatus for awhile. I have been trying to update my other stories that I have neglected since June. Then Thanksgiving came around, so I've been busy. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I'll try to update soon.