by Brian Thomas
Shushan grimaced in agreement. “I have arranged lookouts at the ridges between the horses and New Town, they will light a beacon and a lookout in the town will raise the alarm.”
Bandu looked sceptical this would provide sufficient warning in time to organise themselves so they could turn a stampede, while Bulusi snorted. “By the time a beacon is lit so it can be seen and the lookout sounds the alarm the horses will be gone, or worse, running over you as you try and get in formation. I have a better idea, wait here.”
Bandu and Shushan watched curiously as Bulusi disappeared into his workshop briefly. He reappeared and walked away from them to make the laborious climb up the side of the valley to the top of the ridge. Bandu and Shushan shaded their eyes against the sun as they watched him string his bow, raising it towards the sky and firing. Immediately reaching for another arrow and firing again. The most otherworldly screaming sounds Shushan had ever heard began wailing across the valley, causing everyone to stop what they were doing and look fearfully up to the sky where the sound seemed to come from. For a brief period there seemed to be two separate wails, before both withered and died leaving everyone looking about nervously.
The two arrows fired by Bulusi had landed in the ground about fifty feet away from Shushan and Bandu, the strange sound dying when they did so. Bulusi had started back down the ridge and they met again where the arrows had fallen. When Bulusi arrived he plucked the arrows from the ground and showed the hollow tips to the fascinated pair, enjoying the theatre of his demonstration. “The hollow tips make the wailing noise you heard and we all heard them over the noises of the day. They should wake everybody up just fine in the middle of the night when a raid is most likely to come. If we only use them to warn of a raid on the horses everyone will immediately know what the alarm warns of. We could nominate who should be in the unit to deflect the stampede and they could make their way to the assembly point without further orders. If we keep the horses at the far end of the valley that should provide sufficient time to get the men in place before the horses arrive at this end, especially if we build the barriers in the neck of the valley to turn them as you were discussing.”
Bandu nodded enthusiastically. “You can build more barriers across the neck of the valley to make the entrance narrower as you said, then instead of using a wall of men to block the entrance you could arrange the wagons and carts. These could be drawn up to completely close off the exit. This would work well if the direction of any stampede had already been deflected back into the valley and it was merely masking the exit.”
Shushan squinted against the sun picturing the scene at night. The entrance to the valley partially blocked by a brush barrier to turn the stampede and the wagons drawn up end-on-end running diagonally from the end of the brush barrier to the far wall closing off the remaining gap in their defences. Their men blocking the angled exit but now taking what cover they could from the wagons. She decided the wagons would be a more effective barrier than a wall of men, even with spears and she for one did not relish trying to face down a wall of charging horses. “The carts would appear more solid if we made light panels woven from withes we could fix to their sides. In the dark they would appear more substantial and they could be placed inside of the wagons to be ready if needed. Then position men in the wagons with spears to fend off the horses and hold the panels in place if necessary.” she added, pleased at the idea.
All three of them were smiling in agreement and they began setting out between them how best to implement their new plans.
Chapter 33
Li Chin was sitting on the seat of the wagon with Zanwen beside him as they negotiated their way through the busy streets of Yangshu. The city thronged with activity and bustle as people intent on their own business tried to squeeze past the traders and hawkers in the crowded markets. They were approaching a tavern with a large enclosed yard where Zanwen was going to house the caravan while he conducted his burgeoning trade with the local factors.
Zanwen had been trying to persuade Li Chin to change his mind about leaving them and making his own way from Yangshu. He was growing increasingly nervous about the volume of goods he was carrying with only his original guard for its protection, he needed additional guards and a base of operations. His relatively new association with House Guang had resulted in credibility and a level of prestige which was totally unexpected, resulting in trading propositions from factors acting on behalf of House Guang and other minor Houses whenever he came across one. Ideally, he needed to expand his operation so he could run a number of caravans operating in parallel. This one was getting too large and cumbersome but he dare not divide the guard which was already under-strength.
Zanwen looked enviously at the numerous soldiers of House Guang about the streets. In the last town it had been the same but the soldiers in that town had been of House Tanyeu. The two Great Houses were not using sellswords as they had no need of them and were ensuring the province was kept clear of mercenaries, in case they ended up fighting them alongside their antagonists. As a result the sellswords had all been sucked into Wing-Ho province to help the beleaguered House Wah soldiers fend off the predations of the other two Houses. Zanwen had no choice and would have to go further afield to find additional guards.
He remained less sanguine about finding somewhere he could use as a safe base while he operated under his false licenses. He daren’t name a sponsoring House of any importance lest they discovered he used their name without their sanction, his people would be slaughtered and his goods seized. It was a difficult problem but he needed an answer to it and fairly quickly. In the meantime Zanwen had no real expectation of dissuading Li Chin of leaving but as they drew to a halt in the stalled traffic outside the tavern courtyard he tried again. “At least stay with us until I can secure more men. I cannot go directly but we will soon be heading towards the border lands again.”
Li Chin ignored the plea. He was distracted by the bustling activity in the city and watching the cause of their delay so close to the tavern entrance. The tavern had a high curtain wall isolating it from the surrounding buildings but the walls being so close to the neighbouring buildings narrowed the roads around the tavern. A group of men inside the tavern courtyard were blocking the entrance as they grappled with the end of a large bamboo pole leaning on the top of the tavern’s curtain wall. A man was suspended from its other end swinging to and fro as he tried to reach a hornet’s nest in the eaves of a building the other side of the alley between the building and the wall. Another man in the open gateway to the tavern gave instructions to the group grappling with the pole who couldn’t see beyond the wall into the street. Between them they shifted the pole into position, the suspended man swinging closer to the hornets’ nest.
Below the nest two men were feeding green grass and leaves on a small fire, generating an oily smoke to make the hornets less aggressive and drive them away. A frivolous breeze was blowing the smoke in all directions, the nest seeming to be the only area completely clear of the acrid smoke. The two men feeding the fire watched anxiously for the nest to fall. They had a tarpaulin sack ready to contain the nest before the incensed hornets would have time to swarm and attack anyone in reach. The nest seemed large and the hornets must be causing a nuisance to warrant this much attention.
The nest was a few feet into the narrow alley and the breeze was swirling the smoke between the alley walls, obscuring visibility in the already shadowed passageway. Even so the men had accumulated a considerable audience as they tried to get the nest down. The suspended man repeatedly stretched out with his stick, shouting out his frustration as he swung in and out of reach of the nest before he could knock it clear. The men on the other end of the pole listening to the man in the gateway giving instructions could also hear the insults and curses from the suspended man. They added to the general cacophony as they replied to their suspended colleague in kind.
Passers-by in the street had stopped to watch, laughing and shouting their advice. It all generated a
carnival atmosphere for the spectators but heightened the frustration of those struggling to complete the task.
The suspended man swung within reach of the nest again and he thrust out with his stick, connecting firmly but not quite dislodging it. As he was swung clear again the watching crowd cheered his success but then groaned in mock disappointment as it remained stubbornly attached to the eaves. Some of the hornets had flown out and buzzed angrily around the suspended man, whose anxious shouts goaded the group manipulating the pole to greater efforts.
Suddenly the pole lurched up, almost thrusting the man into the nest and causing him to bang his head on the underside of the eaves. The man’s invective became truly inspired as he admonished his colleagues, causing even more hilarity in the watching crowd. He was swung out and then back in again but this time the end of the pole caught under the eaves. Steady at last the man swung his stick at the nest giving it a good thwack and causing it to almost break free. It stubbornly held from the eaves by a precarious shred. By now the hornets were leaving the nest angrily seeking their attacker. The suspended man and his colleagues aware of the growing threat were anxious to complete the job and cover the nest before they all became targets for the hornets.
The group in the tavern courtyard manipulated the pole to clear it from under the eaves and the pole suddenly came free but as it did so the edge of the eaves dragged the rope attaching the suspended man off the end of the pole. The man fell from the pole to shocked gasps from the onlookers, while suddenly freed of his weight the pole sprang clattering away from the tavern wall.
Feeling his support give way the falling man flung himself at the building, just managing to grab the wooden slats of the roof hanging over the eaves. The onlookers watched helplessly as he swung precariously, his legs desperately scrabbling for purchase against the smooth stone wall of the building. There was a sharp cracking sound as first one slat and then a second broke under his weight, coming off in the man’s hands. The man began to fall flailing hands and legs windmilling as he went, knocking the dangling hornets nest free from its tenuous hold. The man jerked to abrupt halt as his gown caught on an iron sconce leaving him to hang with his back to the building wall. The hornets’ nest followed him down to bounce off his shoulder before wedging itself between him and the wall. In his attempts to be free of it but unable to reach he crushed the nest between his back and the wall where it stayed trapped.
By now the hornets had swarmed in the narrow alley and they began pouring out to focus on the threat to their nest. As they began seeking other targets the crowd ran to escape, a few crying out in pain as they were stung. The two men tending the fire braved the assault to pile on additional grass to smoke the hornets away. The trapped man flailed his arms and legs as he was repeatedly stung, screaming out incoherently as he was partially obscured in the swirling smoke from the fire beneath him and the swarming hornets attacking him.
Li Chin had stood when he saw the rope fastening being forced off the pole by the eaves. When the man had dropped free and was caught by the sconce Li Chin leapt from the wagon running to the alley way. Using the momentum from his run in he jumped at one of the alley walls feet first, pushing off it to the wall on the other side of the alley, pushing off and up one more time until he had climbed high enough to grasp the sconce trapping the flailing man. Lifting the man free with his other hand Li Chin used the rope which had suspended the man from the pole to lower him to the ground, dropping down lightly beside him. The man had landed in the heavily smoking fire and Li Chin lifted him clear and carried him into the street patting out the flames in the man’s smouldering clothes as he went.
The two men tending the fire had been knocked off their feet as first their friend and then Li Chin landed amongst them but they quickly scrambled up to bag the nest which had fallen when Li Chin released their friend. The hornets evading the bagged nest buzzed angrily around the sconce in the alley but gradually dispersed to avoid the choking smoke.
Li Chin laid the limp man down on his back in the street. The stings on the man’s exposed flesh were already swelling into red lumps, his face swollen and puce from the stings’ venom. Li Chin swept the remaining and most persistent of the insects clear with his hand, their target grasping weakly at Li Chin’s arms while he struggled to get enough breath.
The threat from the swarm having subsided the crowd returned in morbid fascination and concern for the man gasping hoarsely before them. Li Chin frowned while the man struggled for breath and looked as though he were suffocating. Forcing the man’s mouth open Li Chin saw a number of hornets weakly moving about and swept the man’s mouth and throat clear. He had obviously been stung many times in his mouth. Both his tongue and throat were already swelling. The man’s eyes bulged, his air passage almost blocked by the swelling in his throat so he could barely breathe and the swelling had only just begun.
Looking up at the crowd Li Chin snapped, “Bring me a piece of bamboo about the size of your smallest finger, honey and some rice wine, quickly!” A number of people ran off at his command and he wiped the smoky soot free from his smarting eyes. The man was weakening. His eyes were beginning to roll to the back of his head and his face was acquiring a blue tinge where it was not masked by the red lumps from his stings.
The items Li Chin requested were being thrust at him. Taking his knife Li Chin scraped the outer edge of the bamboo clean of burrs and cut a ten inch piece from the end of the pole. Quickly checking the piece was unblocked he dipped one end in the pot of honey before trying to manipulate it down the man’s throat so he could breathe through the bamboo and past the blockage.
Try as he might Li Chin was unable to ease the pipe down the man’s swollen throat and feared causing further damage. He withdrew it again, regarding the man who had now ceased moving and was almost dead from suffocation. Li Chin glanced up at the watching crowd, their conviction the man was as good as dead clear to see on their faces. Clenching his jaw Li Chin refused to give up just yet and wracked his memory of the Temple’s scrolls for something that may help. “Bring me gum and clean cloths. Go!”
Cutting the piece of bamboo down to four inches in length, Li Chin dropped it in the jug of rice wine he had been given. He then placed a thick wedge of the cloths between the middle of the man’s shoulder blades to lift his shoulders off the ground and tip his head back. He then signalled ready helpers to hold the man’s head steady, his throat stretched tight and exposed. Taking up the jug Li Chin poured some wine over the man’s exposed neck and breast to clear it of dirt and soot.
Picking up his knife Li Chin used the fingers of his free hand to find the right spot and then used the point of the blade to puncture a small hole just above the breast bone, through his skin and neck to open up a breathe hole below the blockage. Li Chin flinched as the man arched his back sucking in air through the hole before releasing it again, spraying Li Chin’s face in a fine mist of blood as he did so. “Hold him down, he must not move!” he snapped.
A dozen more hands reached down to hold the man’s limbs and torso, pinning them immobile to the ground. Li Chin recovered the bamboo from the bottom of the wine jug, dipped one end in honey again to ease its passage and forced open the small hole in the man’s throat. He eased the honeyed end of the bamboo through the breathe hole he had made. The piece of bamboo gently slipped into place, its passage made easier by the honey and held tight by the sides of the wound which was forced bigger as the bamboo was gradually inserted. When only two inches of the bamboo pipe remained outside the wound it began a rapid whistle, the tone rising and falling as the man sucked in life. Someone forced their way through the hushed crowd to hand him the requested gum. Taking a piece of the gum Li Chin moulded a collar around the bamboo where it met the man’s throat and then poured honey over the gum collar to fix and seal it in place as best he could.
Wiping his hands on his thighs Li Chin signalled those restraining the man to let him go, sitting back on his heels as he watched his patient slowly recover. The
whistling noise from the bamboo pipe in his patient’s neck became less frenetic and quieter as his breathing became calmer. After a few moments the man’s eyes began blinking and he opened them to look painfully at the crowd of amazed faces peering down at him. He reached up to his face but Li Chin stopped him. “If you wish to live lay still and leave your face and neck alone. At least until the swelling in your throat has gone down.”
The man let his hand drop, trying to see what was hurting his throat and causing the strange whistle each time he breathed in or out. Standing, Li Chin commanded. “Fetch a board to carry this man to the tavern. Lift him carefully and see that he remains on his back and does not move unnecessarily. Do not let him touch or remove the bamboo pipe.”
Reaching up Li Chin used one of the spare cloths to wipe his face free of the sprayed blood and grime from the smoke, trying to recall what he could from the old scroll at the Temple describing the procedure he had just completed. As he did so there were gasps from all around him in the crowd. One or two members in the crowd began giving a deep bow, quickly followed by the rest until they were all bent double, with the exception of Zanwen. Zanwen was to one side, his face white as he stared at Li Chin. Li Chin raised an eyebrow in query. “Have I missed something?”
Zanwen swallowed nervously, replying quietly. “The Temple’s mark has just appeared on your forehead.”
Li Chin went to touch his forehead where the tattoo would be if it were not masked by Old Leckey’s magic but seeing the state of his hands and the cloth he had used, blackened by the soot from the smoke used to drive the hornets off, he hesitated. Use charcoal and think of the Temple, Old Leckey had instructed, to remove the magic. Li Chin clenched his jaw as he realised soot from the fire had worked equally well to remove the magic masking the Temple tattoo on his forehead, made infamous by the posters displayed prominently in every town.