On the makeshift table between us, the map of the region seemed pitifully small and featureless, the immediate area around SongJiaTun was remarkably flat.

  Wei Jin stood with his hand resting on the hilt of his dāo. Lu Chengfeng's expression was cold and analytical. Layla walked in by herself while Xiao Kai remained by the tent flap. Lady Feng stood stroking her chin, a habit she picked up from her father, but she was missing the beard.

  “This doesn't feel like Song's work,” I said, breaking the silence. My finger traced the road leading north from our position. “A frontier army, operating this deep in the south? That would be one hell of a political declaration. An Lushan may be the most powerful Jiedushi in the empire, but even he cannot move a combat unit across three circuits without some political support and would certainly have been detected. For Song to be involved would be to openly ally himself with a potential rebel. He's a greedy but he's not suicidal.”

  “Then it is a gift from the heavens,” Lu Chengfeng stated, his voice flat, “Their target is SongJiaTun. Let them have it. The village is the source of Song's pride and holds a significant portion of his wealth. If this mysterious army razes it to the ground, they do our work for us. We lose nothing, and our enemy suffers a crippling blow.”

  A sharp intake of breath came from my left. Lady Feng's eyes flashed with a fire that was purely her father's. “We would lose the village,” she argued, her voice clear and cutting, holding no trace of her thirteen years. “A pile of ashes and corpses is not leverage, Commander. It is a tragedy. A village that we save, a village that owes its life to us instead of its corrupt patron… that is a weapon. We could turn Song's own power base against him.”

  Before Lu could retort, I raised a hand.

  “We don't have enough information to make a decision,” I said. “We are operating on the word of one terrified man.” I turned to Lu Chengfeng. “Commander, have a squad of Wolves mount up. I want a full reconnaissance of the enemy's disposition. They will take the SanYanChong. Avoid direct engagement, we only want information.”

  They would likely be in the process of cleaning up the mess they made of the Iron Snake Gang. An unauthorized military action this far south required secrecy.

  Lu gave a nod and left the tent to dispatch our scouts.

  “Da Xia,” It was what everyone called Xiao Kai here, not knowing her identity. She straightened and approached. I went to the small field desk where Xiao Qi had left my supplies and quickly inked a letter. I did not sign it as the Black Wind Sword, but with my official name and title, stamping it with my Left Guard Armoury seal.

  “You will ride with the scouts,” I instructed, handing her the sealed scroll. “You are to break off from the main party and infiltrate their camp. Find their commander and make sure they read this.” I met her gaze through the holes in the mask. “The presence of an Imperial Guard officer, however junior, operating this far south on a ‘discreet assignment' will give any general pause. It introduces an unknown variable. It will make him hesitate to move aggressively. It works better if you are not detected, that would mean they would also have to worry about a skilled assassin, it should keep them busy.”

  She took the letter and tucked it into her sash. “Understood,” was all she said.

  “In the meantime,” I announced to the tent at large, “we assume the worst. We cannot hold this position against a determined professional force. We do a rapid teardown of the camp. All essential equipment and supplies are to be loaded. Our civilians will displace east, toward the coast. It is the safest option, regardless of the outcome. Layla and Xiao Qi, they will be in your care.”

  A flurry of activity erupted as the orders were relayed. The disciplined camp, which had just begun to feel like a home, began to dissolve. Smiths cursed as they cooled their forges.

  Discussion continued in the command tent. It was in the midst of this controlled chaos that Wang Er came sprinting into the command tent, his face pale with panic, nearly colliding with Lu Chengfeng.

  “Commander!” he gasped, pointing frantically back towards the camp gates “It's Lady Feng! She took a horse! She's riding for SongJiaTun!”

  For a moment, no one moved. Then Lu Chengfeng let out a string of curses so foul and inventive it would have made a river pirate blush. He slammed a gauntleted fist onto the map table, rattling the inkstone.

  “By the ten hells and the ghosts of my ancestors, that girl!” he roared, his professional composure broke for the first time in my memory. “Does the blasted child think this is a game? A story from her history scrolls?” He looked at me in exasperation, “This is what happens when you are saddled with a naive, reckless ward who has never seen a real battle! We are bound by honor to protect her, and she has just turned that honor into a noose for all our necks!”

  He was right, of course, but honestly I kind of admired her for it. She had taken decisive action to bind Lu ChengFeng to the fate of the village and we were all now bound together in common purpose. You had to give it to her.

  Grimly I said “We have no choice now. We move. Now.”

  Our arrival in SongJiaTun was quick. The villagers, who had been emerging from their homes with tentative hope, saw the hard set of our faces and the disciplined urgency of our movements, and scurried back behind their bolted doors.

  Wei Jin led the combat force and began to dig in just outside the north west corner of the village. This was the most likely direction they would attack from.

  Lu Chengfeng took a team of his Wolves and began a systematic search of the village. He was gone for the better part of an hour. When he returned, his face was pale beneath his tan. He didn't speak, but simply handed me a piece of fine silk paper he'd found pinned to the door of the ancestral temple.

  The handwriting was hers, elegant and sure. The message was simple.

  “I am safe and hidden within the village. I will reveal myself only when the enemy is engaged or has been repelled. Their fight is now your fight.”

  She had turned herself into the ultimate hostage, her safety predicated entirely on our victory.

  Riders thundered into the village. They were the scouts I had sent out, their faces streaked with dust, their horses lathered and heaving.

  “A thousand,” the lead Wolf gasped, stumbling from his saddle. “At least. We saw their encampment on the old bandit grounds. They're not river men, sir. Heavy cavalry and Heavy Infantry. Veterans. Their armor bears the mark of the Youzhou garrison.”

  A thousand veteran soldiers. We were about to be attacked by an elite force ten times our size.

  Xiao Kai returned an hour later. “The letter was delivered,” she reported “I was not detected. General Yan was surprised by the seal of the Imperial Guard.” She took a breath. “I overheard his orders after he read it. He will ride out at dawn with a personal contingent to scout our position and verify. He wants to know what business an officer of the Left Guard has in this jurisdiction before he commits his main force. They're now on high alert for an infiltrator”

  This way, they were unlikely to try anything unconventional. At least until they figured out what they were up against.

  The night was a long, cold vigil. Our men took shifts sleeping and shifts preparing defense.

  At the first hint of dawn, Xiao Kai and I together, mounted my horse and rode out half a li from our lines. The land around SongJiaTun was deceptively peaceful, a wide, flat plain of fallow rice paddies and grassy fields, with the unwalled village sitting vulnerably on its low hill behind us. We stopped in the center of the plain, two solitary, highly visible figures in the middle of the road. In front of us the plains and fields went up a lazy hill before we lost line of sight, blind to what was on the other side.

  It did not take long. A column of riders emerged from the morning mist, a solid block of dark, moving steel. There were thirty of them, all heavy cavalry, their horses massive northern steeds bred for war. The men were covered in cataphract-like laminar, massive sheets of steel that covered everything from neck down. Each held a long spear with banners fluttering off of them and a secondary weapon of their choosing hung at their sides. I noticed no bows, common for this type of Cataphract as their heavy armor made it difficult to draw. This was a reassuring sight.

  They were led by two officers in MingGuang armor, circular chestplates gleaming even in the pale light, catching the first rays of the rising sun.

  One was an old grizzled veteran with cruel ice cold eyes. He was heavyset and carried with him a long steel glaive.

  The younger man was only slightly younger than me, and I imagine would be considered quite athletic in comparison. He had a round face, well defined eyebrows, and large eyes which were sharp and observant.

  They saw us and slowed to a disciplined trot. The main body of thirty halted a hundred paces away, while the two generals and a small squad of four men carried banners of the Youzhou garrison.

  They outranked me by quite a few ranks. As they approached, I gave them a formal salute from horseback and even bowed to show respect.

  “Collating Officer Zhang of the Left Imperial Guard Armoury,” I announced, “I ask the identity of the commanders before me.”

  The older general returned my salute, though he didn't technically have to, “I am Zhonglangjiang Yan Pei of the Youzhou garrison. This is my second, Langjiang Cui BoFeng.” He gestured to the younger, leaner officer beside him. His eyes swept over my armor, then to the masked figure of Xiao Kai. A long spear hung from the rings of his horse.

  His next words were “We are not here for you, Officer Zhang. We are here for the man who stole our grain. We are here for Song.”

  “With respect, General, you are a long way from the northern frontier” I said carefully, “By whose authority do you operate so deep within the Central Plains?”

  A grim, humorless smile touched Yan Pei's lips. “The Son of Heaven has chosen to turn a blind eye to our quest for justice.”

  I took that as a definitive no. Their actions were unsanctioned, a piece of high-stakes political maneuvering. Though the Emperor must be desperate if he's allowing this kind of incursion. I recall the Anlushan rebellion was to take place at the end of the year, eight months or so away. This was probably an attempt to placate the northern soldiers.

  “General, your quarrel is with Song, and Song alone,” I pressed, my voice reasonable. “This village is filled with his kin, but also with hundreds of innocents. I only ask that you allow them to survive. Confiscate Song's ill-gotten goods, by all means, but spare the people.”

  Beside Yan Pei, the younger General Cui BoFeng gave a slight, almost approving nod. “General, Officer Zhang has a point,” he said. “Our honor is in punishing the guilty, not in slaughtering peasants.”

  General Yan turned a cold gaze on his subordinate. “My men were promised vengeance, Cui. Their brothers on the frontier will have leaner rations this winter because of the gold in this village and it will not have been the first. We cannot allow those transgressions to go on any further. They will have their ounce of flesh.” His decision was absolute.

  The hope I had harbored died in the cold morning air. I straightened in my saddle, “In that case, General, your road to the village goes through me and my men.”

  For the first time, General Yan laughed. It was not a sound of mirth, but of incredulous audacity. “Through your men?” he repeated. He looked at my small, fortified position in the distance, then back at me. He raised a gauntleted hand and gave a sharp, clear signal.

  A horn blast, deep and mournful, echoed from the north west.

  Cresting the low hills behind the generals, a river of steel poured onto the plain. It was an army. A forest of spears and banners blotted out the rising sun. I saw the solid, disciplined blocks of heavy infantry, five distinct units, their shields locked and their armor gleaming. And at their head, another full unit of heavy cavalry, in identical equipment to the one before us. A thousand men began to form a six-unit offensive hexagon, the textbook formation of the Tang army.

  The ground itself seemed to tremble under the weight of their advance.

  Despite their massive advantage, and seeing me seemingly unmoved, the generals' conduct remained impeccably professional. They offered a courtesy.

  General Yan and General Cui both gave me a final, formal salute.

  “Return to your men, Officer Zhang,” Yan Pei said, his voice carrying not mockery but professional respect. “You have chosen to stand for this village. We will give you and your men an honorable death befitting soldiers of the Tang.”

  I returned the salute. Without another word, I wheeled my horse around. Behind us, the Northern Army settled into their formations as they prepared to sweep us from the face of the earth.