Legend of The Young Master

Chapter 187: Lower Town

Wuyi collected a group of warriors and headed down the slope towards lower town. There were two routes—the stone path, which wound in multiple cutbacks down the face of the ridge, and the gravel path, which went straight down the spine of the ridge and had two sets of stairs.

Several portions of the path were walled and covered to protect parties going to the Lower Town but, of course, you couldn't take a horse down the path.

Wuyi's group took the gravel path anyway, their feet wrapped in rags to be as noiseless as possible. Given the enemy's dominance of the plain below them, Wuyi put out scouts to either side of their route – Qingyu Xie and Wuxue Pan were moving carefully down the bare rock.

It took them an hour to make their way down the ridge. All the while, great rocks fell from the sky on the Lower Town, destroying houses and cracking the cobbles. Sparks flew as each mass of flint struck the town. The heavy thump-snap of the rock throwers sounded every few heartbeats, so clear in the smoky air that the throwers seemed near at hand.

Wuyi's warriors had a doubt now. When they were informed that the specter could summon large rocks in the sky, was this what they were talking about?

The air was acrid and heavy. Burning barns and roofs on a damp day had saturated the air with smoke. An archer coughed.

They crept on. No stars showed, and the darkness had become a palpable thing, an immortal enemy. The choking smoke was far worse down on the plain, and the rocks were raising dust and stone grit with every strike to add to the difficulties.

Far out on the plain, one of the stone throwers loosed its burden. As it rose in a graceful arc, it could be seen dully – it was burning. Its misty appearance showed just how dense the smoke was.

The burning mass seemed to come right at them. "Come on," Wuyi said, ignoring it. "Follow me." The fire crashed to earth out in the fields.

Another stone thrower loosed. Even the vague light of the burning missiles was enough to help the relief watch move down the path.

Wuyi launched into a stumbling run. His Qi armor rang on the stone steps as he came to the postern gate. The warriors following him caught up with him.

"Relief watch!" he called softly.

There was no answer.

"Crap," Wuyi said softly. "RELIEF WATCH!" he called.

"Dead," said Kanji, one of his warriors, softly. "We should go—"

"Shut up," Hong Wei said. "Young Master, you want me to climb the wall?"

Wuyi was reaching into the postern with his senses. It was unmanned.

"Help him up the wall. Kanji, make a stirrup. Then onto my shoulders. Stand on my helmet if you have to." Wuyi stood next to Kanji, who grumbled but complied, forming a stirrup with his hands.

Hong Wei stepped into Kanji's hands and then onto Wuyi's shoulders. Wuyi felt a shift of weight as Hong Wei jumped, using his qi to enhance his leap.

Above them, the archer grunted, swinging from his arms. On the third swing, he pulled powerfully and got one leg over the lowest part of the wall. Then he was in.

"Heh, that was too easy," Kanji said.

Hong Wei opened the postern. "No one here," he said.

A rock crashed into the wall, far too close, and all of them had to clamber back to their feet.

"In," Wuyi said. He rolled in through the low postern gate and drew his sword. Qingyu Xie, appeared at the wall with Wuxue Pan and Xianyu Ma. "Get in here. Qingyu Xie, you and Xianyu Ma take the postern in case we have to come back through."

The two warriors nodded.

Moving across the Lower Town was a new nightmare. Rocks hit the wall – once, an overcast hit a house less than a street away. The streets were already full of rubble, and all of them closed their visors against the rock chips and wood splinters. They fell frequently and cursed too loudly when they did.

The sky was lightening when the relief watch made it to the northern gate tower. It had taken several direct hits, but the massive fortification was fifteen feet thick at the base and had so far survived.

Wuyi hammered at the lower door with the pommel of his sword. It took time for a terrified pair of eyes to appear at the grille.

"Watch!" Wuyi hissed. "We've come to relieve you." They heard the bar lifted.

A big stone hit somewhere to their right, and they all cringed. Stone chips rang off Wuyi's mask.

Hong Wei began to pant.

Wuyi looked back at him, then reached to catch him as he slumped to the ground, a four-inch wood splinter in his neck. Before Wuyi could lower him to the ground, he was dead. A qi warrior dying of a splinter would never make sense to anyone. But Wuyi understood what was happening. The specter had cast some skill; the smoke from burning was nullifying the qi.

"Get the door open," Wuyi roared.

The door opened outward a handspan and stopped. It was jammed by rubble.

Two more rocks struck nearby, and then a ball of fire struck fifty paces away, illuminating the smoky air.

Xianyu Ma got enough of the rubble off the doorsill to get it open, and they piled into the tower, dragging Hong Wei.

The archer, just inside the doorway, flinched at the look in Wuyi's eye.

Wuyi pushed the archer out of the way and stalked along the low corridor. Outside, another rock struck, and the tower gave a low vibration – torches moved in their brackets, and plaster came off the walls.

Qingyu Ni was sitting on a cushion in the Central Tower . He had a cup of wine in his hand. He looked blearily at Wuyi.

"Are you drunk? Why wasn't the postern manned?" Wuyi turned to Xianyu Ma. "Round up the off-going watch. Qingyu Ni will be staying."

Kanji lingered in the doorway of the Central Tower , clearly interested in listening, and Xianyu Ma grabbed him by the shoulder. "Move your body," he said.

Kanji could be heard grumbling all the way up the stairs.

Qingyu Ni waited until the archers were gone. "This can't be held," he said. The effect of his statement was largely ruined by a belch. "It's not tenable," he said, as if his careful pronouncement would settle everything.

"So you thought you'd leave the oncoming watch hanging out to dry?" Wuyi said.

"Curse you and your rules," Qingyu Ni said. "I've had a bellyful. It's time someone told you what a posturing Young Man you are. I pulled my men into the tower to keep them alive. You got here anyway. I was sure someone would.

I haven't lost a single man, and if I'm drunk, that's no one's business but mine." He snorted. "You were outside. It's hell out there."

It was accepted Qingyu Ni was not his direct subordinate. Wuyi had not made him loyal forcefully. Wuyi leaned over. "If we abandon the Lower Town, he'll take the Bridge Castle in a day."

Qingyu Ni shook his head. "You just don't get it, do you? You're playing at being a hero of the fort – is that because you're doing a pavilion novice?" he guffawed.

Wuyi could smell the liquor on the man's breath. The sweet cloying smell of wine and hate. Just for a moment, he thought of his Boluo.

"We're hands for hire, not heroes. It's time to find whoever is behind this siege and cut him a deal. Take your girl with us, if that's what it takes. We're done here. And there's no money in the world that would make it worth dying here." Qingyu Ni hawked. "Now get out of my way, Young Master.

I've done my twelve hours in hell, and I'm going back up to the fortress."

Wuyi stood up straight. "No. You're going to stay right here, with me."

"Like hell I am," Qingyu Ni said.

"If you try to leave this room, I'll kill you," Wuyi said.

Qingyu Ni made a plunge for the door. He wasn't in his full Qi armor, and he had a good deal of wine in his belly. In a moment, he was kneeling at Wuyi's feet, with his arm and shoulder in a lock that threatened to dislocate his shoulder. large red Daoist was standing behind him.

"I don't want to kill you," Wuyi said. "But to be honest, Qingyu Ni, I'd really like to kill someone, and you are the likeliest candidate right now."

Qingyu Ni grunted.

Red Daoist let go of his hold, a little at a time.

Qingyu Ni backed away. "You're mad as it gets."

Wuyi shrugged. "I am going to hold this fortress to the bitter end," he said. "I'm going to hold it if I have to do it by myself. When we march away from Yushan Fortress – and by my power, Qingyu Ni, we will march away – we won't be a nameless outerfaction of brotherhood, a group of broken warriors on the edge of banditry.

We will be the most formidable Qi warrior group in the east, and nobles will bid to have us."

Qingyu Ni rubbed his shoulder. "We're going to die here, and that's not what we do, boy. We live. Let the other bastard do the dying." He looked at Wuyi. "You have a very persuasive way with your protectors. But not all have protectors like you do, young master.

But as you wish, young master."

Two rocks struck close together. Slam – slam, and plaster rained down on their heads.

An hour later, as the light began to grow outside, the off-going watch started up the path with two heavy beams – the rooftrees from collapsed cots – carried high on their shoulders. The enemy's stone thrower launched a flurry of stones, but the off-going watch was already out of range. They scurried up the ridge, and men came out of the fortress's main gate to help.

And then there was silence. Hours passed.