The Escape

Hùm quickly found himself being dragged along in the night again, his shoulder ached with a dull throb until a slip of his feet and a cruel yank of the rope on his shackles by his captor would send a sharp burning pain across his body; as if hundreds of red hot needles were being stabbed into him. What to Hùm felt like the most excruciating hour of his life was in truth a mere fifteen or so minutes of stumbling in the dark up and down hills before he could see the bonfires of the Chu military camp. Before long he was painfully dragged through the camp with haste, as he passed, the fires of the camp showed Chu soldiers drinking what Hùm recognized as some of the Yellow Wine or Huangjiu as his mother called it; that he and his fellow raiders first pilfered from the village after their raid.

Yet he didn't have time to linger on the drink that could have been his to enjoy tonight as he was brought before a darkly tanned man of a broad shouldered build with thick curly black hair and the largest beard Hùm had ever seen. The man’s clothing was different as well, he wore a long shirt that went to his knees whose ornate red and gold pattern was so bright it was almost garish or even assaulting to the eyes. Underneath the man wore loose fitting pants heavily embellished with decorative flower motifs over light leather boots that curled slightly upwards at the toe and were held in place with a knotted red sash. This foreign man spoke Chu with an accent so heavy that Hùm almost couldn't understand him with his weak grasp of the language.

“Ah, another barbarian, I'll offer you five Ying Yuan for him.” The merchant offered a truly neutral demeanor. “Five?! You Xihu dog, the Bumi are offering fifteen a piece for quality sacrifices, and you could easily sell him as a field slave for twelve. You'll give me ten Ying Yuan or I'll drag him back to Shouchun myself if I have to!” Hùm’s captor bellowed with an angry throw of his left hand in the air. “Now now, if I give you ten then by the time I'm done feeding him and the others so they don't rot before we get to Yásà, I'll have disposed of all the Ying Yuan I'd have earned before I ever got to enjoy it. Still he is young and intimidating looking enough, I could possibly offer eight Ying Yuan.” The merchant bartered in return with his same neutral demeanor as before. “You'll give me nine or I'll march with this barbarian myself.” Hùm’s captor retorted with venom in his voice. “Eight Ying Yuan is my final offer, I'd like to see what plan you may have concocted to hide an unwilling barbarian slave from your commander as you march.” The merchant responded with a devilish smile, knowing that he had the upper hand in this negotiation. “Damn you and the Zern Kingdom too! Fine! Eight Ying Yuan it is, and may someday we be free of your foreign greed.” Hùm’s captor hissed through clenched teeth before spitting on the ground before the merchant.

The merchant just quietly chuckled to himself before retrieving a red leather satchel from under his shirt and carefully removing a sheet of solid gold around 3mm thick. There with precise and practiced hands the merchant broke off exactly eight square pieces from the gold sheet each with two symbols on them that Hùm had no understanding of, and handed them to Hùm’s captor. Hùm’s captor and his compatriots marched off and disappeared into the dimly lit chaotic mess that was the military camp and Hùm was moved along with a tug of his lead by a tall and brawny lightly tanned man with a lightly curved sabre on his hip.

Hùm would then be herded into a wood and iron cage on the back of a wooden wagon. Before his shackles behind him were bound to the thick wooden bars of the cage. There were other captives inside though none were Xi’ou like Hùm, in fact none of them looked similar to one another. One was a half starved pale skinned Chu in shabby rags, one was a man of tan complexion with tattoos different than Hùm’s own, that Hùm would recognize as a Bashu. Another was a scarred and battered old man with long white hair and a raggedy beard who resembled the guard that manhandled Hùm into the cage. And finally there was a Yue woman with a young girl, both of whom lacked any sense of light or fire in their eyes. The woman had facial tattoos that told Hùm she wasn't of his people either. That's when it struck Hùm, they were all being separated into groups that couldn't speak with each other so they couldn't plan an escape.

Though they made one mistake in that they likely didn't know Hùm could speak the Chu language as well as his own Xi’ou tongue. Deciding to bide his time as to not get found out and separated, Hùm would wait until the camp would fall asleep before he'd speak a word. In the waiting he would see many of his fellow tribesmen being dragged off to different carts across the camp; as well as hearing a conversation between two camp military guards.

“You know it's somewhat amusing what all happened today if you think about it.” The first guard belched out in midnight boredom. “How do you figure that?” The second guard responded with half lidded eyes. “Well take the reason we're here to begin with. It's because this village decided to rebel and not pay their taxes last harvest, so the King sent us to ensure proper payment. We came here essentially to punish this village for their betrayal, yet we end up saving them instead by coincidence. Their punishment for their rebellion is us saving their village from a barbarian raid. It's basically a reward for bad behavior when you think about it.” The first guard elaborated in detail. “We minimized damage maybe but the village still burned before we got there. If that's not divine punishment then I don't know what is.” The second guard responded in thought. “I suppose you're right about that. Still it's just interesting to think that if this village never tried to rebel against their taxes then we'd never be here to keep all their food from being stolen by barbarians. Houses can be rebuilt easily enough, famine isn't so easy to deal with.” The first guard pondered aloud. “Ya I guess it is funny when you think about it like that.” The second guard affirmed as the pair walked into the darkness out of earshot as they patrol.

The revelation hit Hùm like a blow from an axe, the Chu army being here was pure chance; his very enslavement was nothing but a stroke of bad luck. His tribe made no fatal error, the Chu army had no grand diviners, neither side had any advanced knowledge of the other. Was this the cruel hand of fate, an act of divine intervention, or just pure uncaring coincidence? Húm already had to escape just out of raw survival instinct, that fervor was now doubled as Hùm burned with the determination to not let his life end via the whimsy of the divine or pure chance. It was there Hùm decided his life and death couldn't be just some drop of water in the cosmic ocean, he will escape this fate even if he must slay a god to do so.

With the fading away of the guards and the camp encompassed in the quiet of night, Hùm would finally turn and whisper to the Chu in rags. “You, Chu man, can you understand me?” Hùm whispered as quietly as the falling of snow upon a mountain top. The Ragged Chu would jolt awake from his sleep, having to catch himself so as to not speak too loud in shock or rattle his shackles. “To my surprise I can, make it quick before the guards circle around again.” The Ragged Chu responded in a hushed whisper. “We're the only captives who can speak with each other, we should make a plan to escape. If we can get out of this cage we can free my tribesmen and escape.” Hùm plotted with a similar hushed whisper. “No point in escaping while we're still surrounded by an army, break out now and they'll just capture us again or kill us. With the influx of captives the merchants will probably break off from the army and head for the Bumi Kingdom. We'll have to make our escape then.” The ragged Chu answered as he scanned the horizon for torch light. Hùm nodded in agreement before seeing the light of torches come back around towards the slave cages.

The short summer night passed quickly as Hùm and the Ragged Chu exchanged whispers of ideas on how to escape between the wanderings of the guards. Yet no whispers bore fruit as the two exchanged everything but their names. Hùm's rapidly swelling shoulder meant he couldn't even hope to slip his shackles and the Ragged Chu was so beaten and starved he didn't have the strength to slip his either. As well as the cage itself was too small for any bodily maneuvers so couldn't leverage anything on that front. Their only hope now was that the situation may somehow change once the caravan actually hit the road, or else they will have to escape whatever hold they'll be placed in. The Ragged Chu would eventually drift back to sleep, while Hùm between his sore shoulder, the excitement of the day, and the terrifying revelations of that night found himself well too awake to sleep for even a moment.

That morning Hùm and the other captives were fed a gruel of as little rice and as much water as possible though the wood bars of the cages. Though to Hùm’s horror as the camp follower caravan left the military camp the bulk of his fellow Xi’ou tribesmen who were captured were being held back in the camp. Hùm’s best answer as to why, would be that there were too many captives to properly separate so they wanted to starve them into compliance while they were still surrounded by soldiers. Hùm himself was likely only being escorted away because his captor snuck off to capture and sell him early. Hùm’s heart sank with the realization that he wouldn't be able to free his fellow tribesmen himself and that once he escaped he would have to navigate through hostile territory by himself.

Yet those thoughts all became tertiary to the reality of life in the slave caravan. For weeks Hùm and the other captives lived continuously in their shackles, subsisting only on watered down rice gruel, only being let out of their carts at sword point while the caravaneers hastily cleaned the carts of their waste. Hùm’s stomach shrank and his ribs became exposed all while his shoulder stayed swollen and out its socket. The little girl with the Yue woman had also passed midway through the journey, some sickness Hùm had no knowledge of took her and the caravaneers just callously dumped her corpse along the side of the road. Hùm himself wondered if sickness would take the rest of them before they could escape either. For the rest of the transport the Yue woman had to be force fed just to keep her from withering away, against her best wishes.

Still the caravan went on, having gone from the river valley of the village Hùm and the other Xi’ou raided, to the highlands that make up the bulk of the Chu Kingdom, and finally back down into the central valley where lies the home of the Huaxia people and their Bumi overlords. With no chance for escape ever having revealed itself to Hùm or the Raggedy Chu, they along with the other captives were traded off at what Hùm could only guess was some sort of small hill fort. Freed from their shackles only to be escorted along at the end of countless spears. Hùm and the other captives were forced inside the fortress and all reshackled inside a new large communal holding cell. Had Hùm been at full strength he may have attempted an escape the second he was unshackled, yet now after weeks of malnutrition and a still dislocated shoulder he knew all he'd be rewarded for that effort would be a steel spear tip in his stomach.

After the guards, now Huaxia men with long tied hair, pale skin, and a total absence of tattoos, had all left the Ragged Chu once again turned to Hùm. “If we can't escape today then we're all dead tomorrow. You saw those mountains on the horizon, the ones next to the river?” The Ragged Chu asked Hùm, no longer bothering to hide the fact they can communicate. “Slightly, out of the corner of my eye. I was more focused on the guards and their spears.” Hùm responded in turn. “I’m willing to bet that's where the Bumi capital of Yásà lay, I heard the whole city is carved from the mountainside. That's where those Bumi bastards will cut our heads off tomorrow if we don't escape tonight. Do you have any new ideas?” The Ragged Chu asked in desperation as the dawning of their deaths inched ever closer.

Hùm had to think for a moment, both about the reality of his impending doom and how he may escape it at the last moment. That's when Hùm realized something, on account of his right arm being so swollen his shackles were incredibly loose on his left arm. With the realization Hùm turned and whispered to the Ragged Chu. “My left shackle is loose, the fool of a guard thought both my arms were swollen.” Hùm communicated as quietly as he could muster, both he and the Ragged Chu working to control their faces at the revelation so as to not give anything away. “Alright, I think I have a plan. We'll wait until nightfall and then you'll slip your shackles. We'll get the attention of a guard and then we'll kill him and take his key. After that we can all escape. I'll have to think of the details as we wait for nightfall but it's our only chance.” The Ragged Chu whisperer as quietly as he ever had in his life. With a nod Hùm silently agreed and the plan was laid into motion.

Looking around at the other captives, besides the ones who shared in his own caravan ride the bulk of them seemed to be Huaxia like the guards. Albeit significantly more rugged looking, their faces and bodies being riddled with various scars and curious unartistic tattoos of very specific symbols Hùm had no understanding of across their faces. Beyond them some shared a more reddish and tan complexion, others looked Huaxia but had fuller facial hair, while some even looked to be the same race as the caravan guards. Some looked to and fro with a look in their eyes more wild than even Hùm’s, while others had the light of their eyes fade long ago, having already died in all but body. None of these were groups Hùm had ever encountered in his homeland, and communication with them was unlikely.

Thus the day faded at a painfully slow place into night, they weren't fed, after all they were expected to all be sacrificed tomorrow anyways. Well after the meager light that came through the narrow iron barred window faded did the Ragged Chu nod to Hùm signaling the plan into motion. First was the painful part, leveraging his long dislocated shoulder to bring his shackles from behind his body, to his front. Hùm clenched his black teeth before standing up as tall as he could before bracing his hands and their iron shackles against the cold brick of the cell wall. Channeling his savage will and burning determination to live, Hùm threw his weight backwards and to the right as he dropped back down to the floor. Between the brace and the downwards drop Hùm’s shackled hands stayed in place as his head dropped below them. With a sickening pop, much like when it was first dislocated, Hùm had to fight to keep himself from yelling in pain as he leveraged his dislocated shoulder and brought his shackled hands back down into front of him. Once again his shoulder burned like it was set ablaze, yet he could barely feel the pain in the rest of his arm it was so numb. With a series of repeating leveraging and back and forth swaying motions Hùm managed to free his left hand of it's shackle.

Seeing he had freed a hand the tattooed Huaxia all exchanged looks with each other and with Hùm and the Ragged Chu, without a word they told they would help the escape however they could. The Rugged Chu nodded towards the guard standing half asleep outside the cell and mouthed silently. They nodded in agreement and started loudly speaking and laughing in a language Hùm had no understanding of. The guard jolting to awareness quickly unlocked the door of iron bars and stomped in shouting at the Tattooed Huaxia men before bringing the bottom of the haft of his spear into the tattooed forehead of one of them. “Only cowards beat men in chains, unlock these chains and face me like a man!” Hùm shouted in his own language the guard no doubt couldn't understand as he gnashed his black teeth like a wild dog caught in a trap. The guard already angry from the first act of disrespect turned and began to stomp over, only for the muscular leg of a tattooed Huaxia to shoot up between his legs and plant itself firmly into his groin with all the force the captive could muster, as if he we're trying to bisect the man with his shin. Before the kick was even finished two more scarred legs from the other tattooed Huaxia came for either side to the backs and sides of his knees with their heels. In immense pain and his legs taken out from underneath him the guard feel forwards to where the Ragged Chu lunged forward to the end of his chain and shot his legs forward, pushing off one leg against the stone floor the Rugged Chu kicked the bottom of the guards spear haft forwards towards Hùm. Hùm brought his hands forwards again and caught the spear haft with his free hand and jerked it towards him, sending the steel tip of the spear into the falling guard's neck.

The spear only sank an inch or two into guard's neck before Hùm braced the haft with his leg and brought his hand crashing into the back of the guard’s helmeted head. The violent crash of Hùm’s hand sent the guard’s neck further down on the spear’s blade, to where the tip erupted from the back of his neck before being stopped by the iron lamellar sheet hanging off the back of his steel helmet. Hot blood poured poured out of the guard’s neck like a raging waterfall onto the stone floor as he weakly attempted to try and grab the haft of his spear before the spear severed his spine paralyzing him, before he would then quickly loose consciousness and die on the spot. The body fell with a heavy wet thud into a pool of its own blood, thus was the first time Hùm had killed a man with his own hands, and while the feeling yet indescribable feeling burned through his body Hùm had no time to dwell upon it.

Hùm quickly set about grabbing the man’s keys and mimicking the same motion the guard used to unlock the door, Hùm would unlock his shackles and free his other arm before doing the same with the Ragged Chu before handing him the key. Hùm attempted to rub the feeling back into his wrists as the Ragged Chu unlocked the shackles of the tattooed Huaxia before unlocking every other shackle in the cell. The captives now all free gathered around Hùm, the Ragged Chu, and the Tattooed Huaxia Men, being they were the ones to organize the breakout they were now the leaders of the escape.