Outside the rain the being to be heavy. The children and the captives along with Min Min. Banou is the last to enter the cart with a canopy. She keep tearing and looking at Li Xing. Her son ensure her that all is not a dream. He had come for his mother.
They travel through the grassland with the sun setting. They camp near the border. Banou see many bodies on the way. At the border, the river's water is tinted with blood. A pile of dead bodies can be smell from a mile. The soldiers did not set up a bond fire as per instruction. Thus it is cold and hard for the children to endure this. Banou remove all the padding she can find and wrap them up.Min Min used the carpet on the front flooring and flip over the other side to cover them. Both Min Min and Banou stay up the night along with the soldiers. Her son occasionally comes up to check on his mother. Banou knows that it's not the time to talk thus she is willing to wait till the right time to talk.
In the morning, a solider hand them a bucket of milk. The children drink it hungry. Banou and Min Min drink the last few drops. Once they are done, the troop starts moving again. Crossing the rive is not easy. In the morning, the red water is gruling to look at. There are bodies in the water as well. Banou try to keep the children quiet so that they can pass the critical land as fast as they can. After they cross it, suddenly they started to pick up speed. Banou knows that they have been spotted by the XiongNu. They need to return to the main army of the Tang as fast as they can. At that moment the rain begins and thunder can be heard in the distance. Strangely the children are not screaming but they are hugging each other. Min Min move to sit and hold tightly with some of the children. While Banou is sitting at the open back. She watch the soldiers divided into smaller groups. As the cart move away, four soldiers follow tightly behind. While the rest with Li Xing is riding behind all of them. In a while, the sound of metal hitting is heard. In a distance, Banou can see that the riders are fighting back against the attackers. Arrows are shot and piercing into the air, the sound of whistle is loud and sharp.
The cart is racing through the vast land against the elements of nature. The rocky road doesn't help much with the urgency to rush forward. The wind howl loudly and the thunder is getting louder. Banou is getting worry for Li Xing as she lost sight of him. She close her eyes and silently prayer for safety of her love ones.
For a long time, she open her eyes to see on her left and right side two army of men and horses rushing to the front of her eyes. The cart is moving a great distance from the battle ground. She sees another Tang banner flag flying in the air, it is the same banner that Li Cheng carry with him. She cry and wail loudly it cause her new born son to panic and cry too. The sound of their cries are buried in the sound of the rain and thunder. For a long time, the soldiers and the cart move onwards and the battle ground gets further and further away. Finally they reach the entrance of the camp that is guarding the border area. the spikes are removed to allow the cart and the soldiers to move inside of the camp. Banou get off the cart clumsy and look ahead. The rest of the soldiers who are inside prepare themselves with their weapons and station at the position to protect the camp from the ongoing slaughter in a distance. The rescue woman and children are shown to a tent to rest and have some food and drinks. Everyone except Banou dig in to eat and drink. Banou feed her child quietly alone in the corner. She is now in the camp that Li Cheng is taking care off. She have to trust that Li Xing and Li Cheng will come back in one piece.
Before the sun sets, outside the battle ground, some the men who are able to walk starts to drag themselves back to the camp. Most of the horses are injured badly yet they are lumping and drag back slowly by able men. The men are tired and bloody. Some of them the hair is all let down fill with blood and mud. Li Xing who is towering most men is walking with his sword as a stick. He had injured his shin and calf however he is satisfy with a good fight and he is going back to greet his mother. He see Li Cheng in a distance helping the injured up and placing some on them on those horses that still able to run. He slowly drag him self to Li Cheng. They smile at each other. Next to Li Cheng is a pile of dead men which are the XiongNu. Li Cheng search through the dead men and satisfied to find only less than ten men from Tang is dead. The casualty is less than a percentage. The dead men he found have been send back via a cart urgently arrived after the fight ended. He sigh and relief that they managed to stay alive. The XiongNu are fierce people who use brutal force to fight. They hardly think and use their brains except for a few. Smaller in size is a disadvantage for the Chinese even the taller and younger men like Li Xing had a hard time defending themselves. Li Cheng and Li Xing greet each other half way and help each other to walk back slowly to camp. They can hear and see that the camp is roaring with happiness. Everyone of them raise their weapons and flags to shout they have win the fight. Banou inside the tent with the rest hear it too. They are safe now. The bad days are over.