Time Reversal

23. Attack on Lianhua Wu, Part 3

He and Wei Ying were volunteered to lead a patrol. He felt awkward wearing the mottled green and brown robes. And really disliked having to tie his forehead ribbon so that it was completely covered by his hair. On the other hand, he was now experiencing the fun (it was anything but fun) of sitting in the upper branches of a tree waiting for the QingHe Nie flare that would signal the fighting had begun, while below him jogged the last of the Qishan Wen army. I suppose flying would use too much energy?

He had asked Wei Ying why their patrol was sitting in trees as they climbed to the highest branches that would support their weight. "The Wen are looking for a fight. So they're going to look where people are supposed to be."

"Not in trees," he had guessed dryly, which for some reason had made Wei Ying start laughing.

"Right. Not in trees. If we get there early enough and stay silent long enough the birds will alert us when the Wen are nearby."

"Uncomfortable." He was not a bird or any other tree happy creature. The bark felt rough, even through his robes, and the branch he was perched on was not wide enough. His buttocks felt insecure, seeing as how half of them were unsupported by anything but air.

Wei Ying, who was straddling his branch, feet resting on the branch below, was obviously smiling at his grumpiness; his white teeth gleamed in the star and moon light filtering through the leaves and branches above. "Let's play a game... for every half sichen you sit quietly, I'll give you a kiss," he promised. "And you have to do the same for me."

For at least twelve kisses (given and received) he could stay silent.

He was good at staying silent, even as his buttocks started going numb. He forced qi to circulate through his lower half; when the Wen arrived he didn't want to have numb limbs getting in the way.

It wasn't long before the kiss count dropped to eleven. He was not happy about that.

Thankfully, the count did not get below nine before the first of the Wen cultivators passed under their tree.

False dawn had come and the sky was changing from deep purples and blues to lighter shades and the clouds had shifted from dark gray to something approaching dirty white when the Nie beast head flare burst over Lianhua Wu. He ran one last burst of qi through his meridians before following Wei Ying and dropping silently to the forest floor.

The Wen didn't know what hit them. His patrol swooped in, grabbing enemy soldiers and not giving them the chance to fight back. Others further back were loosing arrows into the crowd; aim was almost unimportant. As long as the arrows flew straight, they were bound to hit someone. By the time the Wen had rallied enough to retaliate, the patrol had obeyed Wei Ying's hand signals and retreated back into the forest.

Over the course of the morning, they repeated this attack and retreat pattern up and down the army's length. Evidence of other Jiang patrols doing the same thing littered the forest.

And then another flare lit up the sky: this time a Lan cloud pattern. This was the signal for the allied cultivators being held in reserve to attack the Wen army's rear. Wei Ying signaled his patrol again, and again they faded into the forest. Regrouping once they were a safe distance from any pursuing Wen, he did a mental headcount; they had lost two men, and one more was limping. "How bad is your injury," Wei Ying demanded.

"Twisted it on a root," the man replied. "I'm fine for the next part."

Wei Ying nodded, having to accept the Nie cultivator's word about how injured he was. The next step was considerably more difficult. They were to infiltrate the town via the river. The twenty-four men and women left in the patrol were some of the allied sects' strongest archers. They were to hide on predetermined rooftops where large bundles of arrows were hidden and shoot at the Wen soldiers. Once again, accuracy was not as important as range and power.