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“It is time,
Larra.”
Larra awoke in some
confusion. She had been in a
deep sleep. It took her a few
seconds to orient herself. Jia
Li was bending over her, shaking her
gently.
“Larra, it is time to go.”
It was the first time that Jia Li had ever spoken her
name. Larra almost
laughed. Like many Chinese Jia
Li had trouble with the letter “L” and so her name came out
“Rarra.”
Larra got up quickly as did Tabin.
“I think we can go now,” said Jia
Li. “All my men are mounted
and ready and most of the Russians are roaring
drunk. Their officers are trying
to control them, but some of the officers are drunk as
well.”
Jia Li thrust a pistol into Larra’s hands and gave one to Tabin as
well. “I am
trusting you not to use this unless
threatened. I also want your
word that you will come with me without being
forced.”
Larra felt that she could trust this
girl. “You have my word,
but I cannot speak for Tabin. She
turned her violet eyes on her lover.
Without a word he nodded his
assent. What was good enough
for Larra was good enough for him.
Jia Li led the way out of the building into the
yard. Everywhere Larra looked
there were drunken Russian soldiers.
Some staggered about, others sat in groups drinking and
singing. No one made a move to
stop them.
They mounted up and rode in a group from the Russian
camp. Some friendly Russian souls
waved at them in a most amiable fashion as they rode
off. Larra couldn’t help
thinking how easy it would have been to kill them all, but she knew that
Jia Li could not do that to her ally.
She had already taken a big enough risk getting Larra and Tabin out
of the camp.
“We had best move as quickly as possible,” said Jia
Li. “It is likely that we
will be followed when they discover that you have
escaped.”
Larra agreed. The more distance
they put between themselves and the Russians the
better. But it would not be
easy. There were numerous Russian
garrisons scattered around southern
Larra was also worried about the risk the young girl had taken in rescuing
her. The Russian and Chinese
communists were supposed to be allies.
Jia Li’s superior might not take kindly to the fact that she
had helped two “enemies of the people”
escape. There was no telling
what type of punishment they might
inflict.
Larra discussed her fears with Jia Li as they
rode. The Chinese girl refused
to comment on the danger to her.
“That is my concern,” she said. “I will deal with it
when the time comes. In any case,
I have no intention of releasing you.
I am taking you to the headquarters of the Eighth Route
Army. Your fate will be determined
there.”
“So that was it,” Larra
thought. She should not have
been surprised. Jia Li seemed
like a very dedicated woman, full of youthful enthusiasm for the communist
cause. It was logical that she
should take Larra to her communist superiors, and Larra had given her word
to go where Jia Li took her. There
was no escape. She could not
dishonor her pledge.
They rode most of the day, but could not always travel in a straight
line. On numerous occasions they
had to avoid Russian patrols. And
in one instance they had to go to ground for over an hour while a Russian
plane circled over their position.
Jia Li was sure that they had not been seen, but there was no absolute
certainty that they had not been observed.
They camped that night without a fire.
It was judged too risky, and so they ate cold rations and curled up
in their sleeping gear for warmth.
Larra and Tabin slept together.
They did not engage in any lovemaking; it would have been quite improper
in such close proximity to their
rescuers. Larra used the opportunity
to absolve Tabin of his pledge, but he would have nothing of
it. “I am committed to you
body and soul,” he said, kissing her gently on the
forehead. There was no way that
Larra could change his mind. He
would take his chances with her.
The next day the same plane that had circled over them yesterday
returned. This time it kept
them pinned for another
hour. It seemed possible that
it may have spotted them the previous day after
all. “If the plane has spotted
us, we may as well move off,” said Jia
Li. “It can keep us pinned
down most of the day if we let it, and that will give any pursuers a chance
to find us.” Just in case,
they remained in hiding until the plane flew
off. But an hour’s march
later the plane returned. It
was too much of a coincidence. This
time they made no effort to hide from it, but tried to make as good time
as possible.
The plane dogged them for the next hour and then flew off
again. It was apparent that its
fuel supply was only sufficient to keep it in the air for a short
time. As soon as it flew out
of sight Jia Li ordered a change of
direction. This would further
slow their progress away from any pursuers, but it might throw the plane
off their trail. As long as they
could be observed from the air it was unlikely that they would be able to
escape. They headed off into
a ravine. If the plane returned
in an hour or so it might miss them in the deep
defile.
The ploy seemed to work. They
saw no more of the plane that day.
The next night was spent in the same way as the
first. They again ate uncooked
rations for supper and settled down for another cold
night.
The next morning they were awake and on the move before
daybreak. Jia Li felt that they
had to make up some time. Avoiding
the plane may have allowed the Russians to close in on
them. They resumed heading for
the Chinese border and rode as fast as they could without exhausting the
horses. Soon, however, there
came a sign of trouble. One of
the outriders detected a cloud of dust on the
horizon. It appeared to be many
horsemen coming their way. They
turned away from the supposed enemy, but it was not long before another cloud
of dust was spotted directly ahead of
them. It appeared that the Russians
had them boxed in.
Jia Li called her men together.
“We seemed to be surrounded.
Our only chance will be to make a break for
it. Ride right at the
enemy. If we can break their
line we may escape.”
There was no other plan. They
simply spurred their horses toward the horsemen that were blocking their
path. They would either shoot
their way through or die trying.
They attacked in a concentrated mass, but remained under control, trotting
their horses until they were within rifle shot of the
enemy. Then all hell seemed to
break loose. Bullets came from
every direction. Larra fired
back, using her pistol. It
necessitated riding right at the Russians in order to close the range, but
it proved effective. Once within
pistol range Larra’s aim proved
deadly. She hit several of the
Russian horsemen while riding low to avoid those who were shooting at
her. Her daring tactic of riding
straight at the enemy drew considerable fire, but that enabled the Chinese
horsemen to shoot at the Russians without fear of being fired
upon. The party of Russians was
about equal in number to the Chinese and so both groups were about equally
matched in firepower. It came
down to individual marksmanship from the back of a moving
horse. Here Tabin came
into his
own. He had been
given a rifle at the last minute.
His aim was deadly and he scored with almost every
shot. Within a few minutes of
the encounter, a dozen Russian saddles were empty and the rest of the Russians
were riding for their lives. It
had been an amazingly easy victory.
Larra herself had scored about four times and so their triumph had
been due to the two reluctant members of the Chinese
contingent. However, the
clash had slowed their progress and exhausted their
mounts. The other group of Russians
was closing in, and it numbered at least a hundred
men. Their only chance was to
make a run for it, firing as they retreated.
Riding their winded horses as fast as they dared, they dashed off in several
directions. Larra and Tabin found
themselves riding together along with the main body of the
Chinese. Jia Li was in a smaller
group that was slightly behind them.
In this encounter too, Tabin’s accuracy proved
deadly. He was able to ride with
his hands free, guiding the horse with only his
knees. This left his arms free
to fire shot after shot at their pursuers, and each shot brought down a Russian
horse. The Russians seemed
discouraged by this display of accuracy and began to hang
back. With their fresher horses
they should have been able to easily close the distance, but each time a
Russian horseman got up the courage to close the gap, Tabin shot him from
the saddle or put a bullet through his
mount. Gradually the gap between
pursuers and pursued widened until the Russians finally gave up the chase
altogether. Larra and her Chinese
escort had escaped.
They rode on for another quarter hour, pushing their horses to the limit,
before they finally halted in a rocky area that looked easy to
defend. It was then that they
noticed that Jia Li was not with them.
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