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“Wake up! Get ready to move back to the middle wall!”

“Gzngsnrt?” I asked.

“You heard me, get up, get moving! We do NOT want to be trapped here without supplies! Move, move, move!”

Ugh. The words “trapped without supplies” circled in my brain for a bit, before linking up with meaning and definition.

“You are not Leng Li or Captain Feng.” I said. “Who are you?”

“I am the woman giving you a chance to survive! The Dusk Gate is fallen, betrayed from within! Already, the armies of the enemy burn and pillage! We must get back to the middle wall before it is too late.”

I took a gander out the window to the inner courtyard. People, being people, were panicking. Grabbing their gear, crashing carts into each other, a little bit of trampling... You know, the usual.

“What is going on out there?” Leng Li demanded.

.....

“Something about Dawn Gate.” Kang Shi said. Like myself, she was not a morning person. Unlike myself, she was built like a bear, had almost no neck, and could easily pass for a man when decked out for battle.

“What news? Away from the window, Monitor, let me past.”

I did so.

“So, it’s bad news then.”

“When is it good news?” Kang Shi asked. “Those fancy letters arrive...”

“The letter!” Leng Li demanded. “Give me the formal letter, now!”

“We have none.” One of the wounded said.

“Where is the messenger?”

“She appears to be gone, lieutenant.” I said.

He sighed, looked at the chaos below. “We do nothing without orders. To abandon our post is treason.”

“So, is there a gong or something we sound?” I asked.

“No, we will need to send a runner along the wall. General Hyun will be at the main gate. Someone will need to return with formal orders.”

“Okay, where does that runner sleep?” I asked.

“What about that bed?” Leng Li asked, pointing at mine. “You are healed enough to run, yes.”

“Yes, but...”

“The only butt I desire to see at this time is yours, and it had best be receding.” Captain Feng said, still strapping on his armor. “Go, and go now, and like the wind. And bring us those orders. If we end up surrounded because you delayed, I’ll hurl you off the battlements myself.”

I didn’t think he meant it, but I hurried anyway, assuring units as I passed to wait for orders. Well, those who asked. I didn’t have time or breath to be a public announcer as well.

And I ran into a young girl running the other way. “Are those orders for the Rice Gate?” I asked.

“Yes. The traitorous Captain Feng, having surrendered the Rice Gate, is to be beheaded at once.”

“The Rice Gate holds.” I said. “What of the Dusk Gate?”

“The Dusk Gate took heavy casualties, but it holds. General Hyun is furious, and mustering what forces he can to retake the Rice Gate.”

“Let us return to the Main Gate and..”

“I cannot delay! Let me pass!”

“Fine, let me pass on my way to the main gate.”

“I bear a formal message, I have right of way!”

So, I crushed myself up against the inner crenelations, and let her past. We both went on our ways, both running as though lives depended on it. Because, as it often is in times of war, lives did.

“I must... I must... General Hyun.” I gasped. It took three tries before I found a language pretentious enough to be shown to the general’s presence.

“News from the Rice Gate, General Hyun!” said one of my escort. “Shall we execute the inhuman?”

“Oh, let the poor child speak, if he can.”

“The Rice Gate has received word that the Dusk Gate has fallen. Captain Feng is unwilling to abandon his post without direct orders. Also, as I passed a messenger bearing orders that he be beheaded, I would ask for orders that he be spared, or at least buried with dignity and honor if it is already too late.”

“Ay-ya! How much chaos these rumors are stirring up, and even I have fallen for it.”

“You could not have known, sir!” one of his assistants said.

He slammed a gauntleted fist into his table. “If I get you such orders, do you believe you can stop Captain Feng’s execution?”

I was still panting and sweating. I imagine I looked like a feral thing. “Before I learned how to fight,” I said, “I learned to run. Pen your message swiftly, and at least let me try.”

“Impudence!” One of my guards cuffed me on the back of my head. “You speak to a general! Rephrase your statement!”

“We don’t have time for that nonsense.” General Hyun said. “There are many orders to be sent, with the second swiftest set of runners we have. I trust you DID send the fastest set this morning?”

“Of course, my general!”

“Good man! Gather the second swiftest, we have orders that need to go out this morning. Now will just have to do.”

“You two, with me. Urgency requires I request your help.” The adjutant said

“Our strength is yours, sir!”

“The general’s need is our order, sir!”

General Hyun shook his head, and pulled some scrolls from his drawer. They were tiny finger scrolls, and he checked four before finding one he liked. He scribbled a quick five lines, rolled it up, poured wax over the outside, and crushed the thing with a thumb-stamp seal.

“There you go, now fly like the...”

I ran to the window, and jumped. It was some distance to the wall, but we had a story up. For a time I thought I had overshot, and would fall to my death, but merciless gravity slammed my chest against one of the outer crenalations, its lip just shy of my armpits.

[You have taken a RED critical... an ORANGE critical for four times normal damage from a base of four Concussive damage, for a total of sixteen damage. After armor, fifteen points have been taken. 5/80 Health remain.]

Cripes. That would limit my fatigue meter severely.

[You have 3/6 uses of this power remaining.]

It was something I would have hesitated to do if I needed to expend development points. I coughed up blood, and ran like Captain Feng’s life depended on it. Even as fast as I could go, as many uses as I purchased for Fleet of Foot, I arrived after lunch.

Trust the professional runners. Come to a stop at a position of attention, and THEN go to your knees to deliver your message. I mean, I didn’t lose any health or anything, but I’m pretty sure some of my dignity is still there atop the wall.

I coughed, gasped, and assumed a slightly more dignified position. “I bear new orders from General Hyun for General Feng.”

“General Feng? Who is that? Perhaps you mean CAPTAIN Feng?”

One of the soldiers looked up at the sun. “Hah! Told you lizards could run when they need to. I WIN THE BET!” he raised his arms and caused such a ruckus they may have heard him in the inmate camp.

I accepted a hand up, let them guide my wobbling way down into the cool interior of the gatehouse.

“Ah.” Said Captain Feng. He was dressed in court silks, but without the fancy frilly bits. It actually looked quite comfortable. “Are those the words from General Hyun?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to talk. How HAD my vocal cords healed that fast, anyway? That was...

No.

Don’t care.

I focused on getting the mostly flat piece of paper, its seal smudged from rubbing against the inside of my armor, into Captain Feng’s hands.

“Huh. Hold at all costs, no reinforcements available. And a poem hoping I’m alive or at least died well. Oh, Leng Li?”

“Sir?”

“You’re a captain if I’m already headless when we get this.”

Leng Li shrugged. “It is an ugly head, but I think you still need it, sir.”

Feng pointed at Leng Li as though to strike him down with lightning. “I am your captain, and you will show me the proper respect when mocking my ugly head!”

“Ah-ah.” Sister Yoshi said, grabbing him by the elbow. “You are still wounded. Back to bed for you.”

“Lieutenant Feng! The messengers! Dispatch the messengers and the criers of news. Tell everyone south of the middle wall that the outer wall holds strong!”

“You lot heard him. Monitor, I’ll need you to... You look like someone hit you with a battering ram.”

“I still have five health left, sir.” I said.

“Five? You are MORE injured than yesterday?”

“Yes, sir.” I huffed.

“Get to bed. The only reason I don’t strike you for your foolish waste of health is fear of killing you outright. We needed your speed now.”

“Oh, give the kid a break, sir.” Kang Shi said. “He can’t possibly know how dull our executioner’s axe has gotten.” She stroked it along a whetstone, to emphasize her point.

“It’s... also very rusty.” I said.

.....

“Extremely rusty.” Kang Shi agreed. “You don’t know how happy I am that I’m not killing my superior with this shameful excuse for an axe. Tsk. Cleaning this properly will take me ALL DAY.”

“Take the time you need.” Leng Li said. “If we catch that woman who spread such lies, I want... a PROPER execution.”