142 A change of leader, maybe

Hao brushed his thumb across the hilt of his hunting knife. The air was turning decidedly chillier as the season progressed, and the dilapidated farm house kept little warmth inside its broken walls, even though it hid them well. He stood outside waiting for the final scouting party to return, staring out at the crimson sunset. He remembered and smiled.

'Stop this mopping around and get on with it!' 

'What are you going to do then? Make a decision and stick to it. If it needs changing then change it but stop this dithering.'

He heard her in his head, telling him off, telling him to take the decision to stand aside and allow the Blades to take over. He had one cell and they could take over the day to day deployment better than him. He was a paper pusher, an organiser, not a soldier who was destined to lead and he knew that now.

In the past, it was Niao who had made the decisions and he had followed. She had responded to new situations in a split second, pushing him in the best way possible. Now, he had to make those decisions and he knew it just wasn't in him to do so.

"When the Blades return, can you get them to me straight away." The orderly nodded and stepped inside the farm building they were using as head quarters. Four of the Blades were already back and they came outside with tea cups in their hands.

"You wanted to see us, Sir?" Always polite, they respected the ranks contained in the regular army, even if they followed very different hierarchy structures; theirs being more even, more pack like.

"I am out of my depth." He looked at the four men who crouched down to listen. They passed no judgement, they didn't nod or shake their heads, instead, their faces turned with compassion, and listened. "We have a vast area to clear, in as short a time as is possible. We have your pack of eight and fifty men of varying skills.  Could you create a small mercenary army from this?"

The four looked toward each other and nodded.

"Then, can I ask you to deploy the men in whatever way you think is most suitable. I would suggest we have weeks rather than months as the first wave of soldiers will be returning soon. Then we have to face Chenxi itself and that garrison. Can we do it?"

Once more, the four looked at each other and then turning to Hao, nodded with an uncanny smile. 

Hao smirked, "That look tells me you are Niao trained, am I right." They nodded and the silence which had started their encounter ended in a peel of laughter.

 

Hao settled into a new routine.  He elected to stay at the base and tend to the equipment, the food and the protection of the site. He kept four men with him who acted as guards and these four kept a close watch on Hao himself. The men had seen it; the cracks in Hao which few knew how to fill. 

Whilst he was busy, he was fine. It was the quiet moments when they'd see it, that vulnerability in him which sometimes overflowed. He was a man on the edge; he had seen too much, done too much and endured even more.

To Hao, the whole situation was becoming a nightmare he couldn't wake up from. 

He heard his father screaming at him, beating him with the rod or scrape, because he had killed his mother, killed his beloved wife. 

He heard the sound of the screams from men who had been mutilated, and replayed the arrogance of the Zhang soldiers as they paraded their superiority in numbers, whilst slaughtering his men. 

He had flash backs to the dozens of pyres which burned continuously, the smell of burning flesh seeping into every bone, every sinew of his being. 

He watched Niao and her beloved Blades coming in from a night raid, covered in blood, sinking into hot water to rest weary bodies, to clean off the blood. Silent, they would grab a bowl of congee and a bread roll and slump into a corner where they slept, only to wake at nightfall to repeat the activity.

This was not Life, this was Existance.

Time. Time to end all of this.

Standing up, he went into the head quarters and reviewed their performances. He mapped out the areas they had cleared and the number killed in each area. Patterns started to emerge which he fed to the Blades. This targetted the Mu strongholds. In a matter of weeks the whole area up to and including Border Town were clear.

It was time to turn south, making sure the area around Tea Garden was cleared and then down towards where Hao expected Zŭmò and his team were operating. By the time they approached Orchid market, they had met up with Zŭmò's group and were operating out of his family home. Hao took up his position as organiser of the house and between the two groups, under the very cable leadershiip of Zŭmò himself, the now ninety men plus two Blade cells rapidly moved down toward the capital.

The area around Lotus Lake was quite a battle but the tactics of the Blades coupled with the sharp shooting from the Arrows and hand to hand combat of the Swords, meant all Mu soldiers were dispatched and as with tradition, gutted and laid out for the wolves, bears and the like to come and feast.

Within a couple off weeks the whole pack of local wolves had started shadowing them. The alpha was approachable with suitable  caution and politeness, and a bond of trust developed. They slept within the outer walls of the Tea House and wandered towards the inner area as soon as soon as they smelled breakfast. 

A small bear wandered by testing the air. He was far more cautious but readily stood back and waited for any scraps which would come his way. He was preparing for hibernation; he needed all the fat he could lay down.

Large flocks of crows and ravens had gathered as well, picking at the carcasses once the larger preditors had left. 

If the Mu men didn't realise Death was stalking them, they weren't looking to the skies. 

Moving even further down, they skirted the lake and checked the river which separated the farming land from the more built up area of Chenxi. 

As they moved toward the river, the atmosphere grew tense and the wolf pack departed. They had sensed something in the air and any amount of food wasn't going to keep them there any longer. 

A Blade came over. "We're close to something. I think we should get nearer the lake, pitch there and then a few of us will go out and scout."

Hao nodded. He was on home territory now and knew all the little nooks and crannies by that lake. He led them up to a small promintary obscured on all sides by tall bamboo groves. He had hidden a canoe here a few years back and he hoped it would still be there. Inside were back pack provisions, such as oil skin, fire starter stick, knives, pots and a trivet. After a short search he found it. Proof no-one had been here; a perfect place to set up camp.

"Didn't Bǎo and his men land further up from here?" One of the Blades asked.

Hao nodded, "He did. He landed somewhere near Fish Mouth and should have cleared the marshes, so I would imagine him not to be too far away. Why? Is it worth giving a call out up the water?"

The Blade beamed, "I think it might," and without a thought, waded into the river. Lowering his body so his head was level with the water, he sent a long low pitched moan up stream. He then repeated it twice more and waited.

A slightly higher pitch moan came back. It sounded like two boomer birds calling to one another.

Then came a bark.  It was someone else. 

Then the sound, none of them ever imagined hearing. The sound of a mother cat calling her kittens. It was Niao.