I WILL FIND YOU.

Chapter 94: Deception

The next morning Minda woke up earlier than usual expecting the camp to be a frenzied mess. To his surprise it felt like any other morning.

"Honey, aren't things a bit too normal?" Minda asked Kai as they ate breakfast.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... shouldn't they be rushing around and tense? We're about to go into battle." Minda whispered for some reason.

"Everything was prepared last night under the cover of darkness. Now, we must do our best to pretend everything is normal and we don't know about the ambush."

"Why?"

"The enemy would have sent men to spy on us." Kai revealed. Minda's eyes went wide and he looked around in a panic from his words.

"They won't attack. They are simply watching us to make sure we head towards the ambush." Kai comforted the now tense Minda.

"But they will attack later." Minda retorted.

"And we'll be ready when they do. Until then, everyone is going to act ignorant and vulnerable to catch them off guard."

"What if they were watching last night? We weren't exactly acting secretive."

"They were watching, but you are wrong about us not being secretive, MinMin. All the preparations we did are normal for anyone traveling to the Deadlands. As for what wasn't, we were careful to keep that hidden from prying eyes." Kai said. Minda was satisfied with Kai's explanation and began to relax as he finished their breakfast.

...

Kai carefully dressed Minda in thick armour. His beautiful silvery grey hair was pulled up and hidden underneath a helmet that was too large for his head.

"MinMin, is it uncomfortable?" Kai asked as he adjusted the helmet.

"It's a bit heavy. How are any of you able to move around with this stuff on." Minda said. He raised his arm that trembled from the weight of the army to prove his point.

"I know it's heavy, but what's important now is that it keeps you safe."

"What if someone gets inside the cart? I won't be able to move, let alone run."

"No one will get near the cart. If they do..."

Kai grabbed Minda's crossbow from the back of the carriage. If he could, he never wanted Minda to use the crossbow as a weapon against people. But if there was even a 1% chance an enemy might reach him, Kai needed to make sure Minda would be okay.

"... use this to shoot them." Kai said with a serious face. Minda didn't take the crossbow right away. He only looked at it for a few seconds before looking back up at Kai.

"I don't know if I can do that."

"It's okay if you can't pull the trigger because I'll be there within seconds to save you if anyone gets in. Just having the crossbow in your arms will cause the enemy to hesitate." Kai explained. Minda still didn't grab the crossbow. Kai didn't mind. He was actually happy Minda didn't want to hurt anyone.

He put the crossbow in the crate along with everything else Minda might need for the journey. Minda still didn't want to think about using it but didn't tell Kai to take it out either.

...

Not long after Minda was dressed, Yanlin and General Lei showed up with Minda's wheelchair and some of his clothes.

"Is Yanlin going to be my decoy?" Minda asked when he saw Yanlin take out a long grey wig from a bag.

"Yanlin is the smallest one out of all of us. Like we discussed during the meeting yesterday he's going to wear your clothes and a wig to trick the enemy into believing he is you." General Lei confirmed. Yanlin put the wig on his head with a big smile on his face.