To buy the village children time to flee, she stood alone against the Khitan tide. Armed with but this hairpin…
To buy the village children time to flee, she stood alone against the Khitan tide. Armed with but this hairpin, she blinded one foe and left another without the strength to ever draw steel again. Her world finally dissolved into a sea of red, just as it had been years ago, when the candlelight wavered and the one who gave her the hairpin stood with cheeks flushed crimson in the glow.