Kira returned to Taejo and Jindo. Seung was applying pressure on Jindo's wound. Blood stained the snow, looking black by the light of the campfire.
"Will he survive?" Taejo asked.
Seung didn't answer, tying a strip of cloth tightly around the middle of the dog's body.
"We need to get him someplace warm or he will die," he finally said.
He lifted his eyes to meet Kira's. "The same goes for the major."
Alarmed, Kira ran over to Major Pak. Kwan and Jaewon were tightening the bandages around his wounds.
"I'm sorry, young mistress," Major Pak said. "I've failed you and the prince."
"Don't be ridiculous!" Kwan snapped.
The major was terribly pale. He'd lost a lot of blood. He'd have to return to the village or he'd die.
She approached the shaman as he finished reinforcing their protective barrier.
"We need to get Major Pak and Jindo to the village," she said. "But it's too dangerous. We would run right into the half-breeds on our trail."
"What we need is our own army," Shaman Won said.
"That would be a nice trick," Kira said.
"Me too," he replied. "And I think I'm ready."
"Ready for what?"
"To use the deepest shaman magic that I know."
Shaman Won crouched down on the ground, collecting rocks and branches and other hard objects. "I've never tried this spell before, but it may be our only choice."
Kira looked at him with deep suspicion. She could never shake her innate distrust of shaman magic. It seemed too close to demon magic. "What is it?"
"I want to create our own army to protect us," he said, "one that is virtually indestructible. Help me collect a pile of objects. It can be anything! A bowl, a stick, a rock, anything that is hard. But don't leave the perimeter."
"Will it work?" she asked.
"I don't know. And it will render me helpless, but we still need to try."
Too tired to question him, Kira, Jaewon, and the remaining two villagers collected a large stack of rocks, twigs, pieces of bark, chopsticks, and even bowls piled high before the shaman.
"More!" Shaman Won demanded. "Bring me everything you can."
By the time they were done, the area within their campsite was a barren wasteland picked clean of everything but dirt and snow.
"We will need the blood of a maiden to bring them to life," the shaman said. He turned to gaze at Kira. "Preferably the blood of a warrior maiden to give them strength and intelligence."
"Take what you need," she said.
The shaman began to chant and shake his belled staff around the huge pile of objects. He poured all that remained of earth's milk over them. After several moments, he beckoned Kira to approach the pile. Grabbing her hand, he sliced open her palm with his dagger. Kira grimaced from the sudden pain. The shaman held her palm over the pile and let the blood drip onto a wooden bowl. He continued to chant steadily under his breath.
The blood hissed and steam filled the air. A shimmery glimmer encompassed the object. With a sudden popping sound, the bowl jumped off the pile and began to transform, unfolding itself into a misshapen body with long arms and short legs, a stout chest, and huge head. Kira could not believe her eyes. She turned to see the reaction of the others. All of them wore identical expressions of shock and wonderment. Shaman Won had turned the bowl into a dokkaebi, a goblin. Kira gaped in awe at it and was stunned when the dokkaebi's enormous mouth gaped back at her. With a grunt, it capered off to ogle at a frightened-looking Seung.
Shaman Won covered more items with Kira's blood. A series of popping sounds, like fireworks, caused Kira to flinch. Before her stood a small army of dokkaebis, each slightly different from the other. The ugly, ill-formed creatures were short and stout with hideous goblin faces. One ran up and yanked Jaewon's hair, while others turned cartwheels, crashing into one another and starting fights.
More dokkaebis were made until Kira didn't think she had any blood left in her to give. The last object left was a small rock, but no more blood would squeeze from her cut. Kira leaned over and picked it up, feeling dizzy in the process. She smeared the blood on her hand all over the rock. It immediately began to transform. Startled, Kira dropped the rock as it morphed into a dokkaebi, the size of a small child, and scurried away.
There were at least two hundred dokkaebis packed tightly together before them. Shaman Won stuck his fingers into his gourd to coat them with the remnants of his earth's milk. Then he picked up a stick and began a low chant as his hands twisted and pulled at the wood. There was a green glow around the stick as it grew larger and thicker, until it transformed into a long heavy cudgel. The shaman thumped it on the ground seven times. All the dokkaebis froze and gazed with hungry longing at the weapon.
"Use your magic!" the shaman roared at them.
He hurled the cudgel into the air, and several dokkaebis made wild grabs for it, screaming "Another! Another!" The first dokkaebi to grab the club slammed it into the ground with a mighty thump. Instantly a new one sprouted from the ground. That dokkaebi cast aside the original cudgel and snatched up the replica, howling in glee. The shaman's magic stick was passed from dokkaebi to dokkaebi, a rhythmic thudding filling the air as new cudgels were formed. Once every dokkaebi had an exact replica, the original was returned to the shaman.
Even the littlest dokkaebi carried a huge club.
"Dokkaebi army!" Shaman Won shouted, catching all their attention. "This is your creator." The shaman pointed at Kira. All the dokkaebis bowed in unison.
"When she calls you, you must always show yourselves. You will protect her and whoever she wishes with your lives," the shaman continued.
The dokkaebis grunted and pounded at their chests.
The shaman turned to Kira with a tired smile. "They have a demon nature, but they're not demons and will protect you or die trying. You will not see them. They will hide from sight, but know that they will always warn you of danger and fight for you. Why don't you address them now?"
With that, he fell to the ground in exhaustion. Kira knelt by his side, but he waved her away, pointing to the dokkaebis.
Kira faced the waiting crowd.
One dokkaebi came over and bowed reverently in front of Kira. It was the smallest one that had formed last. Not knowing what to do, Kira bowed back. This caused the dokkaebi to smile in delight, its long fangs glistened as it stroked her arm in an affectionate display that surprised her. She patted his head, which caused the other dokkaebis to laugh and clap their hands.
"Dokkaebi army, I thank you for your support. I need you to help protect Prince Taejo," she said. Walking over to where Taejo still knelt by Jindo's side, she helped him rise to his feet. "This is the prince and he must be protected at all costs. Will you help me?"
The dokkaebi army howled in agreement.
Kira smiled. "I also need some of you to help guard these men and this dog as they return to their village. May I have a few volunteers?"
Six dokkaebis stepped forward, thumping their cudgels. She turned to the shaman. "Will that be enough to keep them safe?" she asked.
The shaman nodded. "They are not the target anyway-you and the prince are. But one dokkaebi has the strength of ten strong men. They will be fine."
"Then let's get them to safety."
She faced the dokkaebis again. "Keep them safe and then return to us."
With Jaewon and Kwan's help, Kira and the two villagers made makeshift litters from heavy branches and their blankets. The stronger villager would pull Major Pak, while the other carted Jindo. Seung would go with them to help carry and take care of their wounds. It made sense to send the villagers home. They'd been very shaken up by the demon attack, and Kira didn't want their deaths on her hands. When told they would be returning home, their relief was palpable.
Kira spent the rest of the night retrieving arrows, cleaning and sharpening those that were not damaged. She knew she would need every single one of them.
The group taking the injured left at the first rays of sunlight.
Seung stopped before the prince and tried to reassure him. "Don't worry, Your Highness. I promise I will do all in my power to save Jindo."
Taejo wiped at his tears and nodded his thanks. He hugged Jindo one last time before walking over to Kira and burying his face in her shoulder.
"I feel like I'll never see him again," Taejo whispered.
There was nothing she could say to make him feel better. The road ahead of them was far more dangerous than the one behind.
26
The closer they got to Mount Baekdu, the colder and icier it was. Although it was not snowing, travel was slow and treacherous, and a wrong step could send a person tumbling into a deep ditch filled with snow. They were constantly battling the wind and their own fatigue. They had to set up camp earlier each day in order to rest their legs and warm themselves. Pitching their tents was difficult with winds that hurtled through the valleys and drove the snow into their faces.
The only dokkaebi they ever saw was the little one who had bonded with Kira.
He would appear at camp, bringing a fresh kill for their supper: rabbits, several black grouse, and even a small deer. He didn't talk but would smile in his gruesome manner, his long fangs glinting. He would dig up potatoes and other roots-even finding a gold mine of ginseng, the medicinal herb that Seung was so fond of. She woke up one morning to find a large piece of honeycomb in a bowl next to her bedroll. When she tried to thank him, the little dokkaebi would pat her arm and purr like a large cat before running off.