Legend of The Young Master

Chapter 194: Arrival

The old archer shook his head. "Nope. That's just what nobles like you never see. I won't be sorry, but I do wish you luck."

He chuckled. "We had twenty thousand men when we went into battle at Chevin." He nodded again. "The king has what – four thousand?"

He laughed, and it was a nasty laugh. "Can I offer you a bite of meat?"

Talking to the peasants had caused Li Zhuang to fall behind, and when he rode up the far bank, chewing on meat, he found himself in the midst of the Borderers. He rode forward until he was among the liveried warriors, the professionals, who rode around the Count of the Borders.

A herald spotted him and he was quickly passed from the herald to the lead Qi warrior of the bodyguard, and then on to the knot of men around the count himself. He was riding armed, in good white Qi armor made in Lanxiang. An attendant followed behind him carrying his weapons, and he had a green silk cap on his head with an Eastern ostrich plume sprouting rakishly from a jade brooch.

"Tao Wen," said the great lord, cupping his hand even as he reined in his horse. "You're the Count near Ruth, Lanxiang?"

"I have that honor," Li Zhuang said, bowing and clasping.

He was thirty-five, with dark hair and heavy eyebrows and the absolute air of command that came with great lordship. This was a man who commanded men every day.

"Your cousin has the big convoy – all Lanxiang?" Lord Tao Wen grinned. "They look like bonny Qi fighters. Big boys every one of 'em, like my lot." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

"Your men look like fighters," Li Zhuang said.

"Pour us a cup of wine to cut the dust, eh, Luan?" Lord Tao Wen said over his shoulder. "My warriors have seen a spot of fighting."

Every man in the count's escort had a facial scar.

Li Zhuang felt more at home here than he had in days. "Where have you been fighting?" he asked.

Lord Tao Wen shrugged. "I hold the Westland borders, though there's some awkward bastards at court and elsewhere who don't give me my due," he said. A silver cup, beautifully made, with sloped sides and a carefully worked rim, was put in his hand, and another was passed to Li Zhuang, who was delighted to find that it was lined in gold and full of chilled wine.

Chilled wine.

"Company artisans alchemists," Lord Tao Wen said. "No reason he can't keep some wine chilled until we fight." He grinned. "And sometimes, we fight some nobles. Bandits, the occasional swamplings – we know what swamplings look like, don't we, boys?"

They laughed.

"And you, my lord?" Lord Tao Wen turned to Li Zhuang. "You've seen wars before, I take it."

"Local wars," Li Zhuang said dismissively.

"How big is a local war, in Lanxiang?" Lord Tao Wen asked.

Li Zhuang shrugged. "When my father marches on an enemy he takes a thousand Qi warriors," he said.

"Heavens!" Lord Tao Wen swore. "In the name of sages, my lord. Did you not mention that you are a count? And you have a thousand Qi warriors? Only the king has a thousand Qi warriors, and that only when he sends out Letters of Array." He raised an eyebrow. "I'd heard of such doing, but never from a witness."

"Ah," Li Zhuang said.

"And what do you fight?" Lord Tao Wen asked. "Swamplings? Duskreavers? YingZhu? Dusha?" He looked around. "How many creatures can the Enemy muster, that your father takes a thousand Qi warriors?"

Li Zhuang shrugged. "I have never seen a swampling," he said. "In the west, we fight men. Demonic, yes, but they are men."

Lord Tao Wen winced. "Men?" he said. "That's a nasty business. I admit, I've faced a few demonic nobles on a few fields – but mostly brigands. There's little joy in facing men when the Enemy is at hand." He leaned close. "Who fights the Enemy in the borders, then?"

Li Zhuang shrugged. "In the north border, the military orders. But no one has seen a creature of the demonic near our kingdom border for—" He searched for the words. "Please do not take this ill – but if you Tianqin were not so very sure of the demonic, we'd doubt you. None of us has ever seen a creature of the demonic Wild. We thought they were exaggerations."

To a man, the Qi warriors around Lord Tao Wen threw back their heads and laughed.

A tall, swarthy man in a harness of scaled Qi armor pushed his horse through the press to Li Zhuang's side. "Zhai Jiang, my lord."

"A noble from Huoyan kingdom," Lord Tao Wen said. "But a friend."

"Perhaps your convoy needs to be taught about the creatures, yes?" he volunteered.

Li Zhuang shook his head. "No, no. We'll do well enough. We train very hard."

All the Qi warriors around him looked at him as if he'd just sprouted wings, and Li Zhuang had a moment's concern.

Zhai Jiang shook his head. "When the swamplings get in among the horses, they will give their lives to gut your horse," he said. "A single Dusha loose in a column can kill ten Qi warriors as fast as I can tell you this. Yes? And flying serpents – in the air – are incredibly dangerous on open ground. Only men with heavy crossbows threaten them, and the very bravest of Qi warriors.

On foot, horses will not abide a flying serpent. And no amount of training will prepare you for their wave of fear."

Li Zhuang shrugged, but now he was annoyed. "My Qi warriors will not succumb to fear," he said. Zhai Jiang looked at him as if he was a fool, which made him angry. "I resent your tone," he said.

Zhai Jiang shrugged. "It is of no moment to me, westerner. Resent me all you like. Do you want your Qi warriors to die like cattle, paralyzed by fear, or would you like to strike a blow against the enemy?"

The Count of the Borders pushed his horse between the two men. His displeasure was evident. "I think that the good Lord from Lanxiang is saying that we have nothing to teach him about war," he said. "But I do not tolerate private quarrels between my Qi warriors, Lord Li Zhuang, so please do not taunt Lord Zhai Jiang. He is cousin to the Duke of Huoyan kingdom."

Li Zhuang was flabbergasted. He looked at the man. "What is it to your Qi warrior whether you tolerate his quarrel?" he asked. "Surely if a Qi warrior's honor is at stake, the least his lord can do is to stand behind him."

Lord Tao Wen's face became carefully neutral. "Are you challenging Zhai Jiang on his honor because he tried to tell you that your convoy needs training?"

His tone and the point he made caused Li Zhuang to squirm in the saddle. "He suggested that my men would be afraid."

Zhai Jiang nodded as though this were a foregone conclusion. All the other Qi warriors around them were silent, and for a long moment, the only sound was the jingle of horse harness and the rattle of armor and weapons as the Qi warriors walked their horses down the road.

"You do know that every creature of the demonic Wild projects a wave of fear, and the greater the beast, the stronger it is." Lord Tao Wen raised both eyebrows. It made the jade on his cap twinkle.

Li Zhuang shrugged. "I have heard this," he admitted. "I thought it might be... an excuse..." He stammered to silence in the face of the massed disapproval of a dozen scarred Qi warriors.

Zhai Jiang shook his head. "You need us," he said quietly.

Li Zhuang was trying to imagine how he might convince his cousin while he rode up the column.

✶ ✶ ✶

When they arrived at Xiang Stronghold, it turned out there was no battle at all.

The royal army had formed up for battle just south of the town, on the west bank of the great river, with the smaller Cohocton guarding their northern flank. Royal Huntsmen had been killing swamplings for two days, and the attendants and archers of the army were learning to take their guard duty seriously after something took almost a hundred war horses in the dark of the night.

Six attendants and a Qi warrior died in the dark, facing something fast and well-armored – bigger than a small horse, faster than a cat. They drove it off eventually.

The army had risen four hours before dawn, formed their battle lines in the dark, and moved carefully forward towards the smoking town. But after all that work, the mouse still escaped the cat. Or perhaps the lion escaped the mouse. Li Zhuang couldn't be sure which they were.

The king had almost three thousand Qi warriors and royal guards, and half again as many foot soldiers, even without the levies who had been left to guard the camp.

On the one hand, the force was the largest and best-armed that Li Zhuang had ever seen – the Tianqin had armor for every peasant, and while their mounted Qi warriors might seem a trifle antiquated, with too much boiled leather in garish colors over double-layered lamellar armor, and not enough plate – the King's force was now larger than any local lord's and well-mounted and well-served.

His cousin had ceased commenting on them. This close to the enemy, the Royal Host had become slimmer, fitter, and altogether more competent, with well-conducted sentries and pickets. Young men no longer ventured out without armor.