Third night on the way back to the capital trail, Sunggyu and the team were not happy campers.  Heavy rain had been pouring for hours and it was very dark with  the moon covered by clouds. And no shelter to be found on the muddy path they were on. The only light they had was one of Sungyeol's gadgets that threw out a small beam of light onto the path. Members of the team were downcast and grumbling and cursing were heard.

Sungjong was spared as he was flying and did not need much light. And being a Tenshi, the rain never touched him. Sungjong looked down at them with some pity. Though he was only to help them when they were in great danger, he had grown fond of the mere mortals who had accepted a near impossible task. He flew down and landed on the path in front of them.

"I'll scout ahead and look for a place for you to rest." The men looked grateful as he stretched out his wings again.

The men never grew tired of watching the Tenshi take off in flight. He was a being of great beauty and when he flew, he was a thing of pure joy and wonder.

Sunggyu shook his head to break the spell.

"Come on, men. No point standing around here. Let's move on."

Four minutes later, Sungjong was back. He landed in front of Sunggyu.

"You humans are in luck. There is an abandoned cottage about five miles off the path. Since it is deep within the forest and with this storm, I doubt anyone would be able to see smoke if you light a fire."

"Five miles? It'll take us ages to get there!" Sungyeol spoke everyone's thought.

"Not to worry. If the General asks nicely, I will carry all of you there. But remember I can only take you one by one. Do you want to know how it feels like to fly?" The Tenshi almost smirked.

Sunggyu gritted his teeth as he saw the hopeful looks aimed at him.

"Most gracious Tenshi, Sungjong, I would be in eternal gratitude if you would carry all of us to the cottage."

"Very well. Who wants to go first?"

Sunggyu quickly decided the order. As he was their leader, he decided he would be last while first would be Myungsoo then Sungyeol, Hoya, Woohyun and Dongwoo.

Myungsoo stepped forward with the look of a happy excited child on his face. Sungjong smiled inwardly. Myungsoo was an innocent creature regardless of the brutal injuries he had caused when raiding enemy camps around his village.

"Hold on to my waist. It is your fault if you should drop."  When Myungsoo was ready, Sungjong took off with great speed into the sky. Every few minutes, he returned and soon he left with Hoya to the cottage.

Now only Dongwoo, Woohyun and Sunggyu remained. They continued to walk in silence slowly on the path. Then Woohyun turned to Sunggyu.

"Once we get onto the capital path, we will only be seventy miles away from the capital. I think it's about high time you tell us all the details of your plan."

"I'll decide the time when to explain. Right now the team has to concentrate on practising their skills and Sungyeol's weapons. Only Dongwoo and I have experienced full on battle. If I tell all the details now, they may be thinking too much of the plan instead of focusing on their practice." answered Sunggyu.

"By battle, you mean the Dorawa war, that lasted only six months. What you are really trying to say is that you don't have all the details thought out yet, right General? So much for putting down my plan before!" said Woohyun, the tension now apparent in his voice.

Sunggyu's face had turned hot and red. He glared at Woohyun.

Uh oh, thought Dongwoo. What I had been dreading. They're going to go head to head at last. By Tenshi, I hope we get out of this with bones intact.

"Woohyun, I suggest you read up on your history more. The war lasted four years. People only remember the final great battles but thousands of soldiers had been fighting in scattered battles for FOUR years. Many sacrificed their lives for Woollim. And before that, the government and the royal family had been doing all they could to prevent the war with Dorawa."

He stepped closer to Woohyun.

"So don't start getting cocky with me. I said I will explain my plan at the right time and I meant it."

Woohyun did not want to back down and glared back at Sunggyu. He had just about enough following orders from the General while sceptical of the General's leadership. He had one more missile to throw.

"What happened to the West Army, General? Your army. YOUR LEGENDARY West Army. Why aren't they helping? Why aren't they with you? When you escaped Kabis, it would've been logical for you to make contact with them! How careless of a General to LOSE his own army!"

The veins on Sunggyu's temple were throbbing. He looked beyond angry now.

"Well, General, cat got your tongue? Now I'm worried what's going to happen to the six of us. Maybe it's time we put it to a vote! Maybe we should have a leader who actually HAS a plan!"

Suddenly, both of them were on the ground with Sunggyu pummelling Woohyun's face. Woohyun flipped back and started returning Sunggyu's punches. All of this happening in moments. Soon, they were both grunting but still continued to hit each other.

Long enough, thought Dongwoo as he whipped out his two guns and fired two shots at the ground inches from them. They both turned around startled, with bruised faces.

"Gentlemen, I think playtime's over. Look, we're all in this together, it would do no good for the team to have both of you at loggerheads and it certainly won't help our cause if both of you break each other's bones. You know what we are attempting to do is beyond any of us."

Dongwoo looked squarely at both of them and continued.

"Woohyun, I'd gotten to know the General well when he was my senior in the cadet camps. I know no other person with the integrity and courage the General has. After that, even though I was in a different military corp, I have heard directly from the people who served under him about the sacrifices that he himself had to endure while protecting them. I have full faith he will lead us through this. General, I trust you but at the very least, please give us an idea when you will tell us the details. I think the men deserve that as well."

Sunggyu looked at Dongwoo, all anger gone but with sorrow etched on his face. Dongwoo looked at him with concern. Was there anything the General was hiding?

Sunggyu now spoke quietly looking at both Dongwoo and Woohyun. There was grief in his voice.

"About the West Army, I did not lose them. They were betrayed while I was away...and the Empire murdered them..every single one with no mercy."

Dongwoo and Woohyun gasped. One thousand men and women murdered? How and when? There was no news about this. Woollim's citizens knew only that the West Army had gone missing. There were nasty rumors that they had abandoned Woollim and escaped after the news of General Sunggyu's death in Kabis. Many people had even cursed the West Army saying they had no guts without the General.

"Once we reach fifty miles within the capital, we will hide away for a few days, then I will explain the details. Woohyun, I have never forgotten that you had set aside your own plans to follow me. I ask that you believe in me for a while more." He stretched out his hand to Woohyun. Woohyun was surprised, after all the hurtful things he said to Sunggyu, the physical attack from Sunggyu was expected but now a hand stretched out and a request to follow him?

Woohyun swallowed his pride and shook Sunggyu's hand and nodded.

"What happened, General? Who betrayed them?" asked Dongwoo but a gentle breeze and flutter of wings meant that Sungjong had come back.

Sungjong looked at both Woohyun and Sunggyu noting their bruised faces.

"Had a party while I was gone?"

"Nothing that exciting,Tenshi. The General walked into a tree. And me, I banged my face on a rock when I tripped over his hamster." answered Woohyun who winked and grinned at Sunggyu.

Sunggyu grinned back and suddenly scrambled to open his upper pocket. "Dear night, I had forgotten about Jungyeop! Buddy, Jungyeop, are you alright?!" In reply, a small head peeped out of the pocket and sniffed the night air before diving back again into the pocket. "Whew, if anything happened to him, my sister would kill me!".

Dongwoo and Woohyun laughed. Sungjong looked at them impatiently then grabbed Woohyun's waist and set off like a shot into the sky.

"Sunggyu, speaking as a friend, why didn't you tell me about this? Don't keep all the burden to yourself." said Dongwoo.

"The West Army was my pride and joy, Dongwoo. I trained a great number of them personally. And to lose them like that.." Sunggyu trailed off.

"So do you know who betrayed them?"

Sunggyu sighed and spoke. 

"Dongwoo, it would demoralize the people even more if they knew. The one who betrayed them was the King. Our King. My sister's husband. He led them all to their death. He is the reason why Woollim fell so fast to the Sunset Empire. He is now the Viceroy though only the Empire leaders know that. To everyone else, he is the Sunset Empire's hostage."

Dongwoo was stunned. A nation betrayed by their own King! It was hard to wrap his head around it. The King's face was displayed in every single town and village. He was popular and known to be kind and generous. Whenever his birthday came around, there were parades and celebrations everywhere.

Sunggyu continued. "I should have suspected when he sent me to Kabis alone for the talks. He wanted to keep me away from the West Army and deal with me separately. I had no contact with them from the moment I crossed the border to Kabis. Then he took the opportunity to send a false command using my seal to the Army leaders. They were to carry out military exercises in secret for the whole army in the Subis desert. The only source of water in the desert were five wells. Our dear King, with the aid of the Sunset Empire, had every single well poisoned. No one suspected the water had been poisoned because it acted slowly. The poison killed them the second day they were there. One of the higher ranking Kabis liaison with the Sunset Empire heard about this from a loose lipped Empire advisor and took pity on me. He was the one that helped me escape Kabis and faked my death."

Dongwoo took a deep breath. This was getting worse and worse. Cold blooded murder. By Tenshi, how could King have done this? Their own King! Then something else Sunggyu said came back to him. It was a different surprise.

"But wait, Sunggyu, another thing you said was that he is your sister's husband. That means your sister's the Queen!  Are you the always traveling never seen Duke?"

"I wanted to succeed on my own merit, Dongwoo. If everyone knew I was a Duke, they'd think my achievements were due to special considerations." smiled Sunggyu.

"Now I am a man with a mission. I am going to use the Viceroy and take this fight right into the Sunset Empire. We're going to beat them, Dongwoo. And the people will know the truth about their King. He will be executed, Dongwoo. I'll do it myself!" Sunggyu spoke with steel in his eyes and voice.

Dongwoo knew he spoke the truth. He put his hand on Sunggyu's shoulder.

"I'll follow you till the end, Sunggyu. Woollim will be free again."

The rain had lightened by now. Sunggyu and Dongwoo sat down quietly under a large tree, lost in their thoughts. In a short while, the familiar sound of wings reached their ears. Sunggyu smiled at Dongwoo again.

"Time for you to leave Dongwoo. I'll see you in a few minutes. And thank you, my friend."