The Baibo Bandits (3)
A night thick with darkness.
Before the gates of a mountain stockade, a mean-faced man standing sentry yawned hugely.
"Damn it. How much longer am I supposed to stand this godforsaken watch?"
"Until the next shift comes to relieve us, that's how long."
"And how long has it been so far?"
"Looks like we've still got half a watch to go."
By my count it's about time for a changeover, and you're telling me we're not even halfway there?
"Tch. Our boss is part of the problem too. Who the hell is going to raid these mountains at this hour of the night?"
"Well, it's not him pulling the shift, is it."
"Honestly, I'd like to stab him. With a real sword."
Trading grumbles with the man beside him, the sentry felt his boredom dull a little at the edges.
"Nothing passes the time like chewing the fat, I swear. Hey. Got any good stories?"
"……"
"...Why aren't you answering?"
Bemused by his companion's sudden silence, the man turned his head.
"……"
Thud.
"Wh-what the fuck—?!"
The sight of his companion sprawled lifeless with an arrow buried in his forehead wrung a curse out of him.
"E-enemy att—gurk!"
Quick on the uptake though he was, the man made it only halfway through his warning cry before he crumpled, blood frothing from his mouth.
"Phew. That was almost a disaster."
The red-haired girl who had put an arrow through the man's throat let out a sigh of relief.
"What kind of bandits bother posting a watch before dawn, anyway?"
If you're going to be bandits, at least act like it.
Lü Bu turned to the aide standing at her side.
"About time, no?"
"Yes, ma'am."
Jeong Reung. Lü Bu. Zhang Liao. Seo Hwang.
The plan: those four would move separately and fall upon the Baibo Bandits' stockades simultaneously, at a set hour.
"Well, then…"
CRASH!
Nodding at her aide's answer, Lü Bu shattered the wooden gate barring the way with a single blow and gave the order.
"Burn the whole thing down."
With a vicious grin, Lü Bu issued her command to the soldiers.
Smoke began curling up from every corner of the mountain, and the slaughter began.
"En-enemies!!"
"Hold them! We have to hold—aaagh!"
Having set the Baibo stockade ablaze, I led my soldiers in, shouting orders.
"Spare not a single one! Burn it all and kill them all!"
At my words the soldiers threw themselves into the bandit suppression with fresh fervor, carving through the enemy.
"Move! Out of the way!"
"Don't block the road!"
Caught utterly off guard, the Baibo Bandits never even thought to resist—they were far too busy running for their lives.
The sight of them trampling their own comrades in their rush for the single exit I had deliberately left open was a pathetic one indeed.
"We made it…!"
"Now we can get aw…?"
And there to receive the bandits who had somehow reached the exit were shield-bearers, walling it off without a hair's breadth of a gap.
Every face among the bandits went blank with dismay.
"Hahaha! Did you really think you'd get away?"
"Where do you think you're running, you bandit bastards?!"
The soldiers hurled jeers at the bandits, who could not so much as conceive of breaking that formation.
Watching my soldiers fall upon the Baibo Bandits' rear, I turned away.
The night raid was a resounding success.
Those who stayed inside would burn to death; those who bolted would be ground to rust on our blades.
With Seo Yeo at my side, I set off toward the one building that had not been set alight.
The prisoner compound where captured civilians were held. The treasury where the stolen plunder was stockpiled.
Thankfully for us, the Baibo Bandits had crammed all of those functions into a single building, sparing us the extra legwork.
With every last bandit in sight busy fleeing, nothing stood between me and my destination.
And so, when I arrived at the prison where the civilians were confined, I was met with an unexpected sight.
"Waaahh—!"
"Hey! Settle down or the little brat dies!"
A man had seized a young child and taken it hostage.
My face twisted at the sight.
"So you intend to be vile right down to the very last, do you?"
"Shut your mouth—!!"
The frenzied man screamed, pressing his blade in tighter against the child.
"Waaaahh—!! Mommy!!"
One more step and the steel would touch the child's throat.
In a calm voice, I addressed the bandit holding the hostage.
"I'm sorry about all this, but do calm down. Shall we begin with a nice, level-headed chat?"
"A chat? What bleeding chat—! Open a way and let me out!!"
I had expected as much, but the man was in a towering panic.
"Fine, fine. First, just look me in the eye."
"What kind of nonsense…"
"I'll let you go, so look."
"……"
At my words the bandit checked his panic for a moment and met my gaze.
Barely a few seconds.
"Well? See anything?"
"I don't see a damn thing, so what in the—"
That was when the arm holding the child left the bandit's body entirely.
"AAAAAAAAAGH—!!"
Seo Yeo, who at some point had hewn through the man's arm, scooped the child up in one arm and returned to my side.
"Well done."
"Thank you."
The distance had never been all that great, so the few seconds I'd held his gaze had been more than enough time for Seo Yeo to take his arm.
Seo Yeo set the child down.
"Mommy—!"
Still wailing, the child pelted across the room and flung itself into the arms of a woman who was presumably its mother.
The woman clutching her child bowed to me over and over.
"Th-thank you! Thank you so much!"
"No need for that. See to your child first."
"Yes…! Thank you, truly…!"
Turning away, I looked down at the bandit, who was still moaning.
"Ghhhuuugh…!"
"Back with us now?"
Resourceful fellow—he had bound the stump with his own clothing to staunch the bleeding in the meantime. His voice was thick with spite.
"How dare you play such a trick on me…!"
"And that's a thing for a hostage-taker to say?"
Typical. Not one thought to spare for what he himself had done.
"You're the one in charge here, aren't you?"
"How did you…!"
At my question the bandit's eyes flew wide open.
An easy reaction to read. How convenient.
"You might at least have changed your clothes."
What common, bottom-rung bandit went about with animal pelts that expensive draped over his shoulders?
I addressed the leader.
"Come along quietly and I'll show you all the leniency I can."
"…You mean that?"
Did I? Who could say.
The leader, who had no way of knowing my heart, came forward slowly at my nod—though he surely understood that if I had wished it a moment ago, it would have been his neck lying severed, not his arm.
"Th-then I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Just let me live."
"Of course."
And so, with the leader trailing behind me, I stepped outside and spoke to Seo Yeo as we walked.
"We're far enough now that no one can overhear, don't you think?"
"Yes."
"What is this nonsense you're going on ab—"
I cut the leader off and jerked my chin at him.
"Take his other arm."
"Yes."
Seo Yeo drew the Chu Heaven Sword and advanced on the leader, slow and unhurried.
The leader's face drained dead white at the sight.
"Y-you…! Weren't you after our information!"
"Our, is it? For a bandit, you've got a remarkable sense of belonging."
Stung by my jab, the leader tried again.
"…Weren't you after information on the Baibo Bandits!!"
"Casting your comrades aside that quickly? You truly are beyond saving."
"…Then what the hell am I supposed to do!!"
Who knew riling him up would be this much fun?
Watching the leader rage, I opened my mouth.
"I don't need it."
"…What?"
"I told you—I already know everything, so I don't need your information."
I had no use for whatever this man might tell me. Everything there was to know about the Baibo Bandits was already in my hands.
"How do you suppose I managed to burn every building except the one holding the prisoners?"
"……"
At my question, the leader fell silent.
Seo Hwang had long since told me everything I needed to bring down the Baibo Bandits.
"Then why did you spare me…"
"Killing you in there would have been terrible for the children's emotional well-being, wouldn't it?"
You can hardly show small children a scene that gruesome, so I had intended to kill him out in the open.
Honestly, by my own standards the severed arm was already crossing a line—but that was a rescue operation, so it could slide.
"There is exactly one thing I want from you."
"……"
"Tomorrow, when battle comes, I mean to knock the fight out of the Baibo Bandits by showing them the heads of filth like you."
"N-now, hold on…"
The leader stumbled backward, terror written across his face.
"So do me a courtesy, won't you? Die wearing the most miserable expression you can manage."
No sooner had the words left my mouth than Seo Yeo's sword came sweeping down.
"Ch-chief! We have a disaster on our hands! Our stockades, right now—!"
"…I can see."
Guo Tai stared at the flames devouring the stockades, his face hollowed by shock.
"How…? How could they strike every place we settled, all at once?"
He had peeled off his less useful men—good for little more than buying time—and scattered them at points all across the mountain range.
But never had he imagined they would be assaulted simultaneously like this and destroyed one by one.
In time, Guo Tai arrived at a single conclusion and ground his teeth.
"There are traitors among us, leaking information…!"
At those words, an unreadable expression crossed Han Xian's face.
"But the only ones who know the locations of every stockade are you and I, chief…. Ch-chief?"
"That's it! You…! It was you who ruined everything…!"
Before anyone knew it, Guo Tai—his reason burned away—had drawn his sword and was advancing on Han Xian.
It never once occurred to Guo Tai that a superb general, free to roam the mountains at will, might have gathered the intelligence in secret.
"You traitor—!! Sold me out so you could survive on your own, did you?!"
"Chief! Compose yourself! I did no such thing! I—!!"
Han Xian flailed his arms, protesting his innocence, but his pleas never reached Guo Tai, whose fury had already boiled over to the crown of his head.
"Did you think you could go on living after daring such a betrayal—!!"
"GAAAAAAGH!!"
Cleaved down by Guo Tai's blade, Han Xian let out a final shriek and crumpled to the ground.
Having cut Han Xian down, Guo Tai glared at the burning mountain, the fury in his eyes still nowhere near spent.
"Thirty thousand of us—and they dare come at us with a mere three thousand…?"
The audacity, he had to admit, was almost admirable. Who in his right mind would dream of butchering thirty thousand soldiers with three thousand?
Granted, the raid had cost him roughly half his men, but even now his numbers stood five times theirs.
"Tomorrow. Come tomorrow, I shall lead the army out and cut them down with my own two hands…"
So saying, Guo Tai let spread across his face a smile that crawled like frost over skin.