152 Its agreed then ..

 "If they are going to argue, then kill them. I have no time for this stupidity. Remove their heads and chuck them in the river. Their bodies can be carrion for the crows, there's plenty of them." General Li had had enough of these renegades. He was tired of fighting for the sake of it and he wanted to push on further south to join forces with the rest of the Twin Hammers. It was time to free Chenxi and begin rebuilding. He looked around at this motley crew of idiots and shrugged his shoulders. Another approached him, sword aloft,  screaming defiantly. With a sideways swipe of his sword, the man was headless, his body sinking to the floor. Grabbing the head, General Li smiled and tossed it into the vague direction of the river. Scavengers ran forward and began ripping out the tongue, pecking out the eyes, pulling on the ears; the body was still warm but the animals continued to feast and grow fat.

The war zone, where heavy fighting had dominated for weeks, was drawing to a close. The few stragglers who insisted on trying their luck, kept running towards their inevitable death.

"Don't any of these idiots want to go home?" One of the Hammers yelled as he cut another head from its body. "This is lambs to slaughter. Ridiculous!" He swiped out at another and he fell where he stood. Heads were tossed towards the river, scavengers continued to run forward and grab the pickings as soon as they landed no longer wary of the soldiers standing their ground.

"Its a slaughter house!" Another Hammer yelled, as yet more mercenaries ran forward and were scythed down.

The Arrows were hard at work too, leisurely reloading their bows, "Its like a live target shoot!" One called as he let off another two arrows.

Two hours later, the Twin Hammers were surrounded by the dead. Blood ran freely and scavenging animals and birds roamed the carcasses taking only the best pickings. They had grown fat on this carnage.

"Send the unit of Blades out." General Li commanded, "get them to clear up the dregs. We will make camp over there." He pointed to a piece of higher ground close to the farming terraces. "See if there's anything to harvest. The lower toll bridge is just down from here, so we have fought our way to within forty miles of the border, at last. I"m anticipting staying overnight and then pushing south." He looked around, "what do you think Hammers?"

Swords and bows lifted into the air in agreement.

"Right, its agreed then. We start our final push and go home. Let's see what these dogs have left for us."

 

 

Xin grinned as yet another group of people fled from her. She wailed and spewed fake blood at them as they ran in abject fear. Bǎo followed behind, ready to deal with anything untoward, but the streets were quiet.

"Do you think our tactics are working?" he asked.

"Well, the people are so scared now, its only soldiers on the streets at night, which makes it so much easier for us to ambush." She smiled sweetly at him and he blanched; her face was white and mottled with bits of carcass she had smeared over her features. Her hair was matted with horse dung and her clothes stank of piss pots. 

He stood upwind. She stank. But then, so did the other 'ghosts', so did their camp. He thought he'd be sick but managed a nod.

"You alright?" she asked quizzically, stepping forward. He instinctively stepped back and heaved. "Oh, do I smell that bad?" He nodded and his body finally gave in. He leaned against a wall and threw up the contents of his stomach, dry heaving as the waft of the 'ghosts' came close. He waved his arm, furiously, urging them to stay away.

She laughed, "Its not that bad, after all, you should try it from where we're standing!" She crossed her arms and pouted, making the whole vision grotesquely comical.

Other 'ghosts' came and joined her, making the spectacle more comical by the minute; a knot of ghosts with a wide, empty space all around them. The ghosts laughed and joked between themselves, the others stood well back incase they came into contact with any of this............ detritus. 

Bǎo looked at them all. "We all back?" he still held his stomach and dry heaved once more. There was nothing left to bring up.

"You got too close didn't you?" one of the Blades laughed, then saw Xin coming towards him, "No! Don't! No! Arrgh." He backed of and tried to run out of throwing range.

Xin pulled some of the dung from her hair and laughing, with mischief in her eyes, threw it at him. It landed squarely on his shoulder and spilled down, over his chest.

"Eeek! Xin! Eeer, it stinks. Oh, god, its gone down my front," he paused, then looked up at her, "I can feel it trickling down my back!" He knew would be smelling that for days.

The ghosts were laughing, throwing their heads back in such hysterical laughter. It came as light relief after the tension they had been under. They ran around, pulling faces, dancing outrageously, making all sorts of crazy sounds even the night would have recoiledd back from them.

"Time to go back to camp!" Bǎo turned and led the way back out of the capital, "and you nasty lot," he looked at the ghosts and ghools, "if at all possible, behave!" They poked their tongues out at him, danced behind him, made faces, slapping each other on the back for the job well done.

"First one in the river doesn't collect the wood!" Xin yelled as she ran towards the water's edge, ready to plunge in. She was hotly chased by the others all fighting over themselves to be there first. The chaos was comical, the noise, earth-shattering.

Bǎo shook his head, muttering to himself 'if anyone saw this, they would run as far away as possible.' 

"When you lot have finished playing...." he shouted to the miscreants as they continued to play and let off steam. 

 After a much needed wash and refresh of clothing, the ghosts returned to the fire ready to eat a final meal before stage two of their plan.

"So, we all agree? This time we go in, not to play but to eradicate?" Bǎo leaned forward and began to give the plan details he had been mulling over for days. He'd seen the layout of the streets, the places where soldiers would most likely hang around. 

He'd watched their patrols and their rather unsavoury habits with women they came across. Once again, Xin would be bait, the courtisan who was there to make money however she could. 

She had the skills to attract, he had the skills to kill. 

He decided three Blades would be enough to protect her and to kill those who tried to take advantage. The remaining Blades could takeout other members of the detail. Their aim was to take out at least one patrol a night, preferably two or three if they could. The less the number of soldiers returning to the barracks, the better. 

"I think we should take out every other patrol, so there are soldiers returning saying they couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. The loss of men will then unsettle rather than be a call to arms. As yet there aren't enough of us to take on the garrison." One of the Blades had been thinking, and his logic made sense.

Bǎo looked around, "So it's agreed then? Every other patrol and make the loss of men random."

"Also," Xin chimed in, " we take out patrols from different parts of the city, so as to confuse their line of command. Let them think we are a bigger force than we actually are." 

Hands went in, "Agreed!"

 

Niao and Hao sat watching the women and the Infantry men settling into each other's company. There was a rhythm now, a relationship developing in co-operation and friendship.

Five came over and sat with them. "So Mother, what's the next move?"

Niao looked at the group and then back to Five. "Its time to get clearing the dogs from the land, so I think the best thing we can do is to have half the Infantry men take the women into the back wilderness and set up camp where they can be safe, whilst the remaider, the fit ones, join you and start cleansing the land."

Five nodded in agreement, and continued to listen.

"The warfs must be clearing by now. We have had attacks on them for a couple of weeks , so hopefully there is a better chance for us to use the river. I would like you to start clearing out soldiers from this river," she pointed to the one close by that was closest to the forge, "and push westwards towards the outer districts of Chenxi. I know Xin and her Blades and working in the north, we've got a large contingent under Zŭmò in the west, so we need to step up and become the active contingent to the east." Five nodded and Niao continued. "I will take the women and sick soldiers to a safe place, then Hao and I will skirt the hills and high ground." Five looked puzzled. "Two reasons, the first is, I don't want to leave any of our soldiers out to dry," she paused, "three reasons, the first our soldiers, they will recognise Colonel Chen, the second, the Mu fighters need to be dispatched if any are hanging about and we will be able to test their identity by using Hao, here," there was a nod from both of them, "and thirdly, I must look for Yiran and the children. I have to find them for Commander Chen." 

Five nodded in full agreement, "Yes, that's understood, so tonight we sleep and tomorrow we move, all of us." Five looked to Niao and then to Colonel Chen [Hao], "so its agreed then?"

They returned to the fire pit and Five took it upon himself to explain next steps. 

"So ladies and gentlemen, last sleep here tonight, then tomorrow, pack up everything and be prepared to move out when the sun reaches its zenith.

 

Second Master rose early and with his host, Poom, they had a final breakfast before mounting the carriage and heading towards the distant border. This time, he would be attempting a coup with an ally of Commander Zhang, the unknown leader of the Janji people.

"So, do you think we will get this to work?" Second Master looked across anxiously at Poom, "Do you honestly think I will be able to persuade the High Council of Janji?"

Poom nodded, smiling. "You have that quality which allows you to charm and command.  Your presence lends authority and your good nature allows the audience to warm to your personality all the faster. Yes, it will work and Commander Zhang will have to agree."

They fell into a contented silence as Second Master stared out the carriage blinds at lands he had grown all too familiar with but a year ago.

Second Master's mind drifted back....

The fires burned for several weeks, bodies piling up in carts, ready to go to the pyres which burned continuously. 
The men, wearing heavy, wet masks to protect themselves from the dead, sorted them in two piles and burned them separately. 
Those bodies of the men of Chen were given funeral rites and due diligence, their ashes collected and placed in large barrels.
Those of the enemy were left where their ashes fell, where they blew. Clouds of ash and sand circled out in small heat generated tornados, spreading human ash as far as the eye could see.
His mind reached out as he thought of Bǎo watching the hills. There were no arrows raining down, but the Mu men watched as their countrymen were unceremoniously burned and left. Rarely did they stay long, turning slowly only to return later, watching the spectacle with sadness and regret. 
Birds hung around, snatching at the rotting corpses and hopping off with a piece of arm, or leg, only to have others join them to squabble over the spoils.
To eyes not used to the gruesome side of war, the smells of rot, the sounds of bodies popping and hissing whilst they burnt and the ruthless onslaught of carrion birds, as they took their last feast, would make them weep.
These men were numb to it. They carried out their duties quickly and efficiently. Once done for the day, they could leave the fires to burn and go back to wash, eat and sleep.
Eventually they knew they would join the fighting force once more. Eventually they could clear their heads, but for now, they had a responsibility towards their fallen comrades who were someone's brother, father, son, uncle.
'We will make a beautiful flower meadow with these barrels of ashes when we are home. A place of remembering those who died, slaughtered.' Second Master thought to himself. He shook his head. 

'Things have got to change. This has got to work. We have to create lasting peace in this whole region and that includes my half brother, whether he likes it or not.'

He turned to Poom, "Thinking about the past?" Poom said, reading his face. 

Second Master nodded, "This war, this unrest, it has to stop."

Poom nodded and turned to look out the window, remembering the horrors he too, had seen on these lands.