136 Moving on

Two, Three and Five remained quiet, slowly approaching the source of the call. As they approached, Two gave a recognition call, "friend?". Quiet, and unrecognisable, unless you were a Blade. A reply came back, "friend". The exchange was repeated, it appeared genuine. As Two approached, he recognised the stance, the holding of the blade, the footwear. It was a fellow Blade.

"Sir. Blade stands before." Two called confidently.

"Blade accepted"

Within moments, Two, Three and Five were reunited with Bǎo and his group.

"So how many are you?" Two asked. 

"We've a mixture, but there's twenty three in total. What about you? Are you that pride of eight?"

Two nodded, "we came down to find and support the two ladies. They found us!" Two laughed. 'When has anyone found them without them wanting to be found?'

Bǎo's heart skipped a beat. " So they're with you? Safe?"

Two nodded, "we rescued a group of women from some traffickers so now we are thirty in total, two of which are children. Niao suggested we explore up this way as she had a feeling there was some buildings up here. And, well,  here we are."

Bǎo grinned. He couldn't believe his luck. Most importantly they were safe. Sadly, he couldn't let his brother know, but.....his mind wandered, 'stay safe brother.'

 

 "Sir, ready to deploy to the marshes." A young officer stood to attention in front of his commanding officer. He was second in command to the leading Blade. His appointment had been rapid and his pride swelled in his chest. He was back on home ground, he knew these marshes well and was willing to take out the vermin known to be entrenched in these wet lands. 

The Liú commanding officer, acknowledged with a cursory nod and the group moved out into the marsh lands, as the convoy carried the sick and injured toward the border and possible problems around Tangun. 

One last look behind and then they were off at a trot. Their aim? To scare the vermin out of hiding and the Blades had taught them all a few very clever tricks. His senior beckoned him over, "You take three men and start the pincer movement from here. I will deploy the next three further along and so on. This should create a net which we can use to push the vermin into the river preferably opposite Dangin where the shores are at their muddiest. The rest of you, understand?"

"Sir," all nodded and at a trot each group of three peeled off, disappearing into the march grasses like silent water snakes. The games would begin once night had fallen and fires would be visible.

'Let the games begin...' the young officer said to himself, taking off into the grasses with a smile on his face and desire in his heart.

I must have fallen asleep, because the first thing I knew were the gentle fingers of Xin on my wrist. I opened my eyes to find she was checking my pulses.

"We'll need to keep an eye on you for the next few days. Make sure you only picked up leeches. There's too much marsh gas for my liking and its possible its caused something unpleasant to form in the water."

I nodded and accepted her advise. She had been training with the military physicians for some time now and had become a competent general practitioner. I felt her calling was in this field and hoped when peace arrived she would give herself the time and space to train. She had so much ability and would make the perfect field physician.

"What are you grinning at?" she said, grinning back at me.

"I'm so glad we met. I'm so glad we became sisters. Life would be dull without you." I gave her a hug. It was only the second time I had felt that kind of peace being around people; she and Hao had gifted that to me. I loved them for that.

"Are the men back yet?"

Xin shook her head. "I wouldn't expect them back for a while. Wolfie went with them. I think he heard something."

"I saw something," I retorted, "I saw Wolfie too. He was following on behind three men? Ours I presume?" Xin nodded. "I saw some other men approaching from the opposite direction. I did call but was too far away. They all vanished from sight then, so I started swimming back. Probably picked these critters up out there, it was certainly their kind of waters."

Xin was scooping up the over ripe leeches and placing them in a pouch. "I'll keep these for now, they could come in handy if we need some blood letting, or wound cleaning."

"Feeding?" I inquired.

"Oh, they can have a piece of me and we'll get to know one another." With that she got up, "come, get by the fire and finish drying off. You're damp and the last thing we need is you falling ill unnecessarily. Anyway, food is ready, come eat." Returning to the fire, she poured out a bowl of fish stew and held it out for me.

"Wait here" Bǎo said, "and I'll collect up the rest of the group. Whilst you're here, have a look around and see which would be the best building for the ladies. You know them so you three decide where best to house them." 

Two nodded, and taking Three and Five, they wandered around the buildings, determining which had the best roofs, cooking facilities, bedding chambers as so on.

Once satisfied, they moved to the central square and waited. Clearing, sweeping, tidying, could begin once the women had been moved, but until then, it could wait.

They squatted on the ground and waited silently, listening out into the surrounding marshes for any untoward sounds. "When we move here, we need to check the perimeter and surrounds. Set up early warning traps and clear a boundary." The other two nodded.

Wolfie padded back and flopped down by the fire. He sniffed the pot and looked hopefully towards Xin. She grinned and scooped out the fish she had been saving for him. There was plenty of soup too, and she added some rice with a few vegetables to balance his gut. Without getting up, he rapidly slurped it all down and once finished, lay back on his side falling into deep sleep.

"Oh to be a spoilt wolf," one of the women commented and she stroked the dog's fur.

Hao looked at his men, fifty keen and well disciplined men all eager to engage. He hoped he could return all fifty to their loved ones, but as engaging had gone so far, that was unlikely. In conflicts with Mu fighters, the losses had been one in every ten for each skirmish. That's five men each time they engage; he had to be crafty, he had to be, well, Blade.

'But I'm not.' Self doubt had crept in once again. His mind flashed back to those days at the frontier when thirty would go out and ten would return, some of whom were badly injured. He shuddered at the ferocity of those attacks and the exhaustion he felt then, returned. 

He collapsed.

His closest aide ran over, "Sir, flash backs?" 

Hao nodded. How could he run this group when as soon as things got tough, he'd fall t0 pieces?

"Sir, what can I do? We need to move. We need to make our first encounter and that must be up at Border Town. Its not far from here, only a day's trot. Shall I give the order to begin moving out?" 

Hao nodded, he wanted to cry and hide in a corner but he fought the desire to crumple and stood up.

"I'll get the physician we have with us, he can give you something?"

Again Hao nodded. He didn't dare speak lest he crumbled more than he had already. He dreaded these attacks. When they came he wanted to run and hide. He wasn't capable of running this campaign and he knew it. His aide knew it too, but they had become good friends over the time they had served together and the trust was deep. They'd seen so much together..... He stopped thinking and waited for the field physician to come and steady his nerves. 

 

Zumo and his men were already well on their way to the ancestral home. They had covered most of the distance in less than a day and were ready to keep pushing on. It was probably only a matter of a few hours and they'd be there.

 

Xin froze. She sensed something and spinning round, saw the most wonderfrul sight.

Standing stock still a great bear of a man was looking in her direction with his arms wide. In an instant, she stood and ran over to him, throwing herself into his embrase.

The women stared. To them, he was a dirty, smelly fighter who held nothing gentle, and yet, there was Xin, leaping into his arms with a gay abandonment. They were even more amazed when she planted her lips on his.

I smiled, "You two love birds, take yourselves away, I'll deal with the moving."

She turned to look at me then, eyes bright, smile wide, "Are you sure you don't.." I waved my hand towards them and Bǎo turned, disappearing from sight. The only sounds were giggles from an ecstatic Xin. 

Wolfie managed to raise his head and look in the direction his alpha had gone. He sensed no threat to her, so flopped back down and returned to sleeping once more.

"Okay ladies, its time to get everything together and move to what may be a semi perminant base for us. Gentlemen, gather up what the ladies cannot carry and one of you, create to child carries. They're both exhausted and need their sleep. I want two volunteers to act as mules."

Two of the men stepped forward, expertly folding a carry for the child and, scooping them up, placed them carefully on their backs. Neither child stirred. That, together with their own bundles would be all they could take, but there were plenty of hands and little to move.

"What about?" One of the ladies gestured towards where Bǎo and Xin had gone.

"They'll catch up" I grinned, ' after a few hours...' I grinned more deeply. Let them have fun. They are a couple after all. They need their intimate time and we should give them that.

"We're off to the hamlet. Catch up when you're done." I called out to the shrubbery.

"Mmmmm." It was all I expected. I laughed and picking up our bundles, left with the others, destination; Fish Mouth.

 

Second Master came out of his tent and looked at the prisoners. They appeared quiet enough, but his sixth sense told him there was trouble brewing. 

Turning to one of the smiths, he pointed toward the prisoners, "are the fires hot?" The smith nodded, "You want me to start warming the irons, Sir?"

Second Master nodded. Turning on his heels he headed towards the Hammers. 

"Sir?" they stood as he entered. They could see from his expression, he was far from happy. Heaven help those who caught him wrongly in this mood, his arms belied a hidden strength even they feared. It came from years of working the forge but also more years of combat training. Few had seen him on the battle field but the stories made your hair curl. This man was a beast.

"I smell trouble. I want you all as prisoner escort today. Watch out for any descent and haul the line out instantly."

"Sir."

"I want the irons hot for instant use. I want the one which says, Traitor." The men shuddered. Second Master was angry beyond belief. He had stated the terms of movement. If the prisoners disregarded them, then.....not a nice outcome. 

"Sir, your whip." One of the aides handed the coiled metal laced whip to him. It was an instrument of torture some had experienced in the past for insubordination and they bore the scars to prove it. There was definitely an element of sadism in that man. That smile! That smile scared them the most. The tiger smile. The one you see before you die.

"Move out!" Second Master's voice rang out over the camp. "Prisoners, assemble in your lines. De-camp!"

A loud, "Sir." rang out from the surrounding troops. The prisoners groaned, it was to be another grueling day.