100 Refugees
Approximately a diǎn after the impromptu council of war among the ruins of the lower ring - Dàilán had heard the first of the night gongs being struck from the upper rings and the sounds of the drum tower of the City Lord's palace during the meeting - and finally having the chance to catch her breath, Dàilán was starting to regain some calm and beginning to suspect that she was just now emerging from the shock of having her entire world literally upended. The successive mental, emotional and physical blows of the past shi had definitely taken their toll.
Dàilán slowly became aware of the instinctive flexes of her muscles and Essence to balance without causing a shift of the unstable rubble she was standing on; the breeze carried the sounds of the water lapping at the river banks, women and children crying and the more distant groans and screams of the wounded - mingling with shouts of people calling to each other across the rubble - interspersed with the creaks and groans of setting wreckage.
She looked around slowly at the flickers of flames and thick pillars of smoke coming from wreckage further away than the Cultivators from the Guan, Gi or Ji had doused and the shells of buildings too dangerous to search. The occasional flash of light from a Cultivator technique or flame from torches held aloft by searchers and the stench of dust, smoke, ash, blood and river mud, began registering on her consciousness as she realised that she had been blocking everything out but the immediate and the critical from her senses.
Standing in the ruins of the warehouse with Chénli by her side and her other maids standing in front of her, the small group of young women around Dàilán watched as the Gi and Ji Cultivators took up a watchful guard around a little more than two thirds of the Guan refugees that her Cousins had split between them. They were made up of all of the Guan children and their mothers - or female family members who had taken responsibility for newly orphaned children - and started heading back towards the middle ring, Essence lights bobbing above the Cultivators in the group to light their way.
The small cluster of women, children and their new guardians slowly made their way up the ruined streets that led towards the upper rings; making way for the groups of City Guards, Healers and Cultivators from various Clans and organisations that were now moving methodically outward from the upper and middle ring gates; the Essence and Formation reinforced buildings of the upper rings had weathered the shock of the Guan Clan's self-destruction with minimal damage as far as she could see and now the Cultivators were starting organised search and rescue efforts in the lower ring.
As her Cousins and the Guan members who had elected to go with them disappeared into the darkness behind piles of rubble and the remaining intact structures, Dàilán momentarily turned her attention a few paces away to the river side, where her Father and the Bloodwitch appeared to be in deep conversation with the White Lotus Leader. She could not hear what was being said - evidently someone had employed a security Formation.
The ebb and flow of intense conversation and the occasional angry sobs pulled her eyes over a little further along the bank of the river, to the group she was to be travelling with; Knife Sect members who had survived the attack on the Guan Compound stood clustered together with the remaining female Guan Cultivators who had chosen to stay with their Clan Head - both groups of Cultivators lit by torches held aloft by White Lotus members.
The Guan members who remained were all female cultivators, the youngest in her late second decade, but their body language and harsh muttering coming from amongst them spoke of anger and determination to avenge lost family members or lovers.
Dàilán recognised most of them, if not by name, at least by sight and Cultivation; solid Earth Level Cultivators, either single or old enough that they no longer had children relying on them, but not old or powerful enough to add materially to the Clan's defence - added to the escapees as last-ditch defenders and possible future Clan mothers.
While the majority of the women had decades of experience, mostly in making up several of the teams of the Formation Masters that Dàilán's clan had been well known for, none of them were male - apart from her father - Elders or Battle Cultivators.
Along with the men of the clan, those few powerhouses that the Guan Clan had possessed had remained behind to fight off the traitors long enough to give the male and female children, mothers and younger women of the clan - its future - time to escape.
Unfortunately that meant her Father and the BloodWitch were the only Sky Level Cultivators among the group. Dàilán's own Cultivation may have recently reached Sky, but she could not truly consider herself a Sky Cultivator, mostly due to lack of experience or access to Sky level techniques. A high level Earth Cultivator with strong techniques and decades of experience - such as the other Knife Enforcers - would defeat her despite her single rank within Sky level.
Her father turned from speaking to the White Lotus leader as river boats started grounding themselves on the rivers' banks at a suddenly audible command from the head of the 'Benevolent Organisation' - evidently these were controlled by his men. Dàilán presumed they were to be the refugees' transport out of the city. As Dàilán's father started directing the other Guan to board the boats, the young heiress turned her attention sorrowfully on the three women standing in front of her.
"Ài…" she whispered and her head lady-in-waiting stepped forward and embraced her.
"We three will be of more use to you here, mistress," she responded firmly before stepping back to stand in front of the other two maids, "we have lived most of our lives as servants within the city or as lower ring dwellers; where you go now - we would be liabilities. Here we can keep watch, deal with your enemies where they do not expect it - and lay the foundations for the Clan's rebirth."
"I should have given you my purchases, before," Dàilán responded ruefully, squeezing her eyes shut in an effort to stave off the effects of adrenaline exhaustion and her emotions, "I… was not thinking straight…"
On Ài's right, Chàng looked up with unshed tears shining in the torchlight, "I will miss you Mistress, but I know you will find those people and make them pay - then come back stronger than before - and we will be ready for you!" The irrepressible maid clenched a small fist in a gesture of encouragement, then gave a watery chuckle, "but the next time you take us shopping - I think I will wear something sturdier - like padded armour."
The group of girls laughed quietly as they looked around at each other, involuntarily wincing as they found themselves rubbing suddenly recalled bruises and aches.
They looked a far cry from the elegant group of women who had strolled into the Market that morning - instead the five of them could pass for bandits wielding weapons with unconscious ease as they each kept an eye out warily on different portions of the ruins around them.
Their dirty, dusty, torn and ripped clothing, with hair pulled back into simple ponytails or buns, and faces smeared with the vestiges of makeup hastily scrubbed off with Essence purified river water only added to the impression.
"Yes, next time," promised the young heiress firmly as the quiet laughter died away, "Which reminds me - I still have the Essence Stones left over from what I did not spend today…"
Dàilán pulled the pouch off her belt and handed it to Ài but the lady-in-waiting shook her head, folding her mistress' hand back over it, "We will not be safe if we carry that much - and you will need some resources of your own if you are to be without the Clan to fall back on in the future."
Biyu nodded properly beside Ài, "Yes, we could not have kept those other treasures either."
"Perhaps half the stones?" suggested Chénli from her bodyguard position beside Dàilán, "split them between the three of you. That way, you do not have to rely on either Heir or the White Lotus while you establish yourselves and it would be less likely to attract unwelcome attention."
Ài's brows drew together, but after a moment she nodded, "Yes, that is wise and should be manageable," Dàilán pressed the pouch into Ài's hand and the lady-in-waiting quickly counted out half of the remaining stones, distributing them between the other two maids and herself.
The three of them made the stones vanish into their clothing, then Ài handed the pouch back to the young Heiress, "your cousins will have to appear to place the interests of their new Clans first," Ài analysed calmly, "but with us here, their new Clans cannot conveniently 'forget' to provide support for their new familial connections - without losing face. We will keep you abreast of developments."
Chénli stepped forward from where she was standing beside Dàilán and handed Ài a communication jade that Dàilán recognised as the one Míng had given her bodyguard, "You should be able to keep in touch with all three Guan Heirs with this - it should help you coordinate your activities."
Ài bowed in thanks, followed by the other two maids, "we must go if we are to stay with Ji tonight, mistress."
"All three of you must take care," Dàilán replied sternly, "and keep up your training - you will need it more than ever.
"If you go to relive a Sect under siege, we should be warning you," pointed out Biyu calmly and after a moment of surprise at the uncharacteristic comment from the normally proper maid, the group laughed.
The faintest crunch of rubble underfoot announced the arrival of the BloodWitch, who bowed, "Heir, we must leave - everyone is almost loaded."
The three maids bowed and turned to follow the route the other group had taken, vanishing into the darkness almost instantly and the BloodWitch nodded in approval, "Good heads on those three - it is best if they do not know any details about our plans for now." She turned and sprang into one of the remaining river boats in a single bound, landing without even causing it to rock. It immediately pushed off the riverbank, leaving only a single boat visible by the light of the torch held by the White Lotus Leader.
Dàilán sighed, "I think I will just walk the three zhàng to the boat," she spoke mildly, prompting a chuckle from Chénli as the pair of them walked quickly over to the river bank and onto the remaining boat.
"My men will take you and the others upriver, out of the city, Princess," the White Lotus Leader assured her as they walked into the small circle of light cast by the torch, "I will keep a watch out for your men - they will come to no harm in the lower ring."
"My - women - and I appreciate the courtesy. With the will of heaven this will be over quickly," she responded firmly.
"Bring those turtle-eggs to justice, Princess," he answered just as firmly, offering her an arm, "The Benevolent Society will watch over your interests in Hujian. As sad as this situation is," his eyes indicated the ruins around them, "it contains many opportunities."
Dàilán inclined her head as she reached out and clasped the man's arm in a warrior's grip, Chénli stirring slightly in warning beside her friend in response, causing the man to throw back his head in laughter as he returned the young Heiress' grip, "I am in your debt, Mountain."
"Stay alive so I can collect, Orchid," he jested, pushing her gently towards the boat where Dàilán could see her father waiting.
---
"You have friends in interesting places, daughter," remarked Dàilán's father as he stepped into the small pool of light cast by the bow lamp.
Dàilán turned from where she was standing quietly at the bow of the boat, watching the black water ripple under the hull in the lamplight as the Essence powered riverboat pushed swiftly against the current.
Chénli discreetly withdrew several paces to one side, leaning on the railing and looking out at the dimly seen shapes of the passing riverbank in a pretense of allowing privacy.
"Surprised me too," the young Heiress admitted, "it was only one brief meeting in a small scuffle a year or so ago."
"I would be asking you what you have been doing out in the lower ring, if it did not seem somewhat hypocritical, remembering my own adventures at your age," he sighed and leaned weirdly on the bow rail beside her, "and there is the little matter of it being a fortunate element our enemies did not anticipate."
The young teen snorted, "it just goes to show how arrogant those Grass Cult Cultivators are; a small amount of asking around the lower ring with a reasonable amount of subterfuge would have let them discover that. Instead they more or less tried to take over the lowers like it was due to them." Dàilán cupped her chin in one palm and looked out unseeing at the dark water, "I doubt I can take all the credit for it though - it appears Grandmother had been involved with the benevolent society for a long time before I got into a brawl."
"Yes, well," there was a hitch in his voice, "Mother never did things by halves and that too allowed us to escape…"
Silence for a time, filled only by the sound of quiet murmuring from the other women on the ship, the smugglers crew calling out steering directions and soundings to allow the boat to maneuver safely in the dark and the rushing of water against the hull."
"I am sorry, Father. We clashed at times, but ironically, I can see myself growing up a lot like Grandmother was, if I live that long. I think we were just starting to come to an understanding…" Dàilán trailed off, blinking rapidly to hide tears.
"I cannot say I ever wished to be Clan Head, let at such a price," her father bit out gruffly, after a few moments, "I cannot imagine whatever possessed my brother…"
"Aside from always having his eye on the Clan Head position and being overly fond of money…" Dàilán replied slowly, "perhaps he would have never acted on his idle inclinations, without a lot of encouragement from Grass - maybe possession is the right term for it."
Dàilán's father grunted, "I appreciate the kind face you are trying to put on his actions, but there is no proof he would not have tried something even without their backing. It is the sort of thing you hear about in the bigger Clans - though I had always thought him better than that. He was not always the greedy and self-indulgent man you knew him as. It did not help that Eldest Brother was not a strong leader - though he stood up, at the end."
After a moment, the older Cultivator stood straight, "My old friend mentioned that you are planning to try and relieve your... the Knife Sect from the siege Grass has them under." He frowned and looked at his daughter, "She seems particularly exercised that if you have not passed on the message, none of the Knife with us would have known about it."
"First Cousin and cousin-in-law seemed to think someone was doing something to block communication jades when we were being attacked in the city," responded the young teen, "we could only contact each other when we were within sight of each other - and we definitely did not hear anything from the Clan, despite, I assume, the attack warning being broadcast to all Clan members," her father nodded in confirmation, "I assume they are doing something similar to block the Knife soul-tablets - which is quite honestly, terrifying - that sort of link should be in theory, unblockable, from what little I know about Soul Essence."
"What I remember from the discussions I had with your mother agrees," responded her father thoughtfully, "it is interesting you have received a message, unlike the others."
Dàilán shifted uneasily, "I… do not know. I am… unsure that it is a normal message - it feels a lot like… you remember what Chénli and I told you about our experiences with the Heart of the Sect? It feels more like that than…" she shook her head, "it feels furious and… afraid."
"If it is the Heart contacting you directly, that might explain it," mused her father, "I doubt Grass has a way to stop such a powerful artifact from using its direct connection to you - especially one that did not exist a little more than a week ago."
"It seems a lifetime ago," responded Dàilán with a sort of exhausted disbelief, "this last month and a half - the world has gone mad."
"And now you lead a good portion of what remains of the Clan to battle," stated her father quietly, "I do not disagree - or I would have countermanded it - even knowing you would have likely gone with the other Knifes, but…"
"...I do not have much experience to make a good decision," agreed the teen, "I am not exactly wanting to run into the middle of a sect-war - but if Knife goes down… It seems the best of a range of poor choices at this point. Even setting aside my duty as Sect Heir…"
The young woman rubbed her eyes, her voice muffled behind her stained and scuffed sleeve, "Grass suborned Uncle and attacked the Clan to get to the Heir to the Knife - me. It is only because of Grandmother, Eldest Uncle's and everyone else's sacrifice - and, I am guessing, partly due the fact that they are concentrating on the siege of the Knife Sect, not to mention the god of good fortune - that they did not succeed."
"Well, I owe them blood for the Clan," rumbled her father darkly, "not to mention what they did to your mother. It is for your sake I have been holding back from going after them. And yes," he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, "you are young - even though you have always had an old soul - but I do not see much choice either and I am near on seven times your age. If Grass defeats Knife, they will very shortly turn all their attention to what remains of the Guan, especially you - and we will have very little recourse to fall back on and no time to build up support to fight them off. Your Cousins..."
"Are not even married yet," finished Dàilán, "I half expect Ji to take Guan's place in Hujian, which means they will make sure Yue is safe as she provides all the legitimacy to move upward they could ask for, but we cannot rely on ties by marriage which are barely present or Chian and Chāng's goodwill to support us. The Knife Sect has to defeat Grass - and maybe… if we hit them hard or unexpectedly enough…"
"It could tip the balance, yes," agreed her father, "but we could also end up throwing our lives away for very little return."
"I am vividly aware of that, father" returned the teen dryly, "but…"
She broke off as Chénli blurred and appeared at her side, "movement on the banks," the bodyguard shouted, her voice echoing out of Dàilán's soul-tablet and across the water, causing shouts of alarm to issue from all the boats, "'ware…"
The vicious hiss and impact of an arrow burying itself to the fletching in the rail had all three of them throwing themselves down across the deck even as a good dozen shafts smashed through the space they had previously occupied.
Dàilán barely had time to recognise the shapes of attackers flowing across the railings of the riverboat in the dark; her body reacted on instinct and she had brought her dagger-blades up in a cross block before she consciously thought about it, once again thankful that she had gotten into the habit of keeping the weapons concealed in her sleeves.
Ugly sparks of Essence spat from the clash of weapons and her opponent swore as she lashed out with a kick, peripherally aware of grunts and shouts coming from around her as the others on the boats engaged in their own battles.
The person who attacked her flew back as her kick connected and basically folded in half as his spine hit the railing, pivoting over the rail to splash into the water… move now, watch later, she chided herself as she rolled under a saber that nearly took her head off and fetching up against the bow; her boots slammed firmly into the wood and she pushed off in a bull rush against the new opponent before he had time to redirect his momentum. There was a crackle like a smashed wicker basket and blood spurted out of the man's mouth, his chest caving in as her shoulder hit it, dead even before he hit the deck. This…
"Distraction!" someone yelled, "away from the sides of the boats!" Barely a niàn later the railings of the boat lit up with the familiar shapes of Formation Runes as a crackling flash of Essence arched out to encompass the boat like an upturned bowl.
There was an earsplitting crash as some sort of technique slammed against the hastily raised formation like lightning, with similar effects. Dàilán hastily wove the Veil Technique out around her eyes and ears to protect from the effects of further flashes as she shook her head dazedly, furiously blinking away spots as she cast around hurriedly for Chénli and her father.
They were a pace or two away closer to the center of the boat, a body or two similar to her own deceased opponent at their feet. Less than a thought had her standing back-to-back to them alert for further threats, but all she saw were the other Guan members channeling Essence through Formation circles into the boat's deck.
"North!" That voice came again and this time Dàilán recognised the voice of Monitor Leng, "Loose!"
Another group of Guan Formation Masters standing on the deck swirled into an odd series of stances that suddenly resulted in a complex ball of characters appearing in a sphere above their heads.
The Formation sphere flared brightly and sent a lance of bright light outward in the indicated direction. From each of the river boats, similar lances speared into the dark, curving slightly to smash into a specific hill, a little ahead of her boat and situated further back from the northern river bank, causing a massive eruption of flame, shattered stone and dirt that lit the night up momentarily as if the Golden Crow had decided to nest on the hill.
The ear-splitting roar that accompanied the explosion made Dàilán glad for her hasty use of the Veil Technique. Feeling slightly stupid, she sent out a pulse of her Essence Sensing technique, just in time to catch the fading signatures of several Cultivators on what remained of the now substantially shorter hill, guttering out and vanishing with an eerie finality even as the pulse returned. A second pulse returned nothing but the dull Essence of wild animals scattering in all directions away from the river and the site of the explosion.
"Safe to release formations, well done all Cultivators," came Monitor Leng's voice again, in an almost conversational tone.
Dàilán blinked and sheathed her daggers even as the shining bowl of Essence retracted into the Formations in the rails, leaving the boat once more lit by the simple lamps. She stepped towards the body of the man she had killed, eyes staring sightlessly towards the stars. In the dim light of the lamps, she pulled out her regular steel 'holdout' dagger that she had been carrying in her boots since the visit to the Sect, squatted on her haunches and cut open the dark cloth wrap the man was wearing over his chest.
"Tch," she remarked to the air in resignation when her action revealed the expected tattoo of a grass tuft on one of his pectorals. No stalks, which meant he had been low level, explaining how easily she had disposed him, but…
"It does not appear Grass is going to give us a choice whether we should go to fight them or not," remarked Chénli dryly as he walked up beside her mistress and glared down at the body.
Dàilán straightened up, "This likely means they likely know we are coming, which is less than ideal," she pointed out as her father stacked past, fury in every line of body, scooping up the body and tossing it over the railing with a splash.
"I am no Formations Master, but from the look of the others," Chénli gestured to the other Guan Cultivators that had crumpled to the deck or had dragged themselves to lean up against various bits of boat in exhaustion while other moved around evidently trying to assist the ones who were more drained then they, "we cannot fend off many more attacks of that type."
"Fortunately for us, all of this smells of a hastily put together plan," ground out the Clan Head, returning to the other two, gesturing at a bloodstain, "these were barely mortal level cultivators - and they used regular arrows, so there were probably non-cultivator fighters involved." Dàilán's father held a snapped off arrow shaft in his hand, presumably from the railing he had tossed the body over.
After a moment he threw away the arrow shaft and continued "dregs and leftovers from Hujian - with a few higher Grass Cultivators leading. They probably raced the boats here to set up the ambush once they realised we were escaping by the river."
Chénli hummed, "If they were counting on the attack of the higher level Cultivators to hit us unopposed and wipe us out while the disposable fighters occupied our hands - they were not expecting the Formation Defenses or our counter-attack. That should give us a little time - but…"
"They all died," confirmed Dàilán, "I sensed it as the hill exploded."
"It all depends on how many higher level Grass Cultivators survived the attack on the Clan Compound," interjected Dàilán father, "if we have killed enough of them with that counter attack, we might have a chance… the desperation this attack smacks of, suggests… they were in a hurry to get to us before we got too far."
Dàilán's father sighed and lowered his voice to a level only a Cultivator could hear, even standing as close together as they were, "The bigger problem are the boat crews. They will want us off their boats as soon as possible after this."
"That…" Dàilán frowned, as a polite cough drew their attention to a short, stumpy man, waiting just outside the circle of lamplight. Although not a Cultivator, he wore an unmistakable aura of authority, firmly meeting their eyes despite the unease clear in his body language.
"As I was saying," Dàilán's father murmured wryly, before turning to face the other man and walking a pace towards him, bowing politely, "Captain, my apologies…"
