Escaping like Cowards II

After crawling around for who knows how long with ChangLai tied up behind him, He Rang sees a tall hill with a temple or something on top -Well... Let's take our time so I don't injure my leg further- barely any sounds comes out of his dry lips as he looks at that hill as if it was their only salvation.

He grabs the ropes of the improvised mat and drag the woman with him toward that hill -Maybe if we reach that place and pray hard enough, someone will come rescue us... Right Lai'Er?-

He start climbing the stair on all fours, hissing himself up with just the arms and dragging the woman and the legs with him... He could try to stand up but he's afraid that doing so will lacerate his muscles seeing how bad the wound is currently.

-I just hope no enemy finds us before you've woken up... This time we really risked too much, Lai'Er- he smiles bitterly and a horn echoes in the distance -Guess; I'm not lucky afterall-

...

Xu Lei falls on one knee, covering his missing eye with a bloodied hand -Is everything alright commander?!- asks one of his men just nearby, counting the remaining soldiers -Yes, don't worry about me... I'm not severely injured. I'm simply at my limit due to the power in me-

-Don't push yourself too hard, we still need you for one last attack- Xu Lei stands back up and wipes the blood off -Do we have bandages available?- the man shakes his head -Only some water from the nearby river to wash the blood off-

-Being me some-.

After cleaning the wound he looks down on the surface of the bucket -It looks very ugly doesn't it?- he scoffs -Well, at least we have the upper hand for now and I'm not in life danger- he tears off the fabric of his arm and ties his around the head

-Let's not worry about this now. How's the situation?- he walks back to the group of hidden men waiting for orders.

-We lost around 7 men and 12 are injured... But that's an approximate count. The enemy's faction is falling behind and retreated inside a cave after the base collapsed... Al that's left now is to wipe out the remaining ones, there should be a couple of sand men still left standing-

Xu Lei nods -Let's go then, send the signal... We've rested enough, I need to give these powers back to their rightful owner or I'll be crushed to death. To be honest, they feel like they want to slip out of my body too-

...

The men reunites with the main army before notices their disappearance -Are we late?- asks Xu Lei to Qin Luo

-No-, we're feeding the horses and getting ready to head back as they pile up the dead soldiers for... You know, the heads. You on the other hand, what happened?-

-We managed, it was a tough fight... I thought we were done for untill I managed to finally use her powers to full potential- says the younger man seating down on a box -You still lost an eye- comments the general calling forth some men to look at his injuries

-A mere compromise. If I hadn't lost it then someone else would have died... I need to be thankful to her actually. I sense something wrong as we entered the base and next thing I knew there was an explosion, was it someone else to enter first they wouldn't have been able to survive... To think that crazy girl goes through all this everytime, one point for the bravery-

-She needs to thank her awesome reflexes and inhuman speed, or else she would have already lost a few pieces too- chuckles Qin Luo -Let's go back now, they must be waiting...-

Xu Lei looks at the horizon -No fire nor smoke... At least we know the camp isn't gone, that's already one good news-

-Hope more good news come soon- whispers the general -You're worried?- -How could I not? You know that there's always trouble where Lai'Er is, and knowing that she is currently weakened cannot help but make me worry even more-

-That's also true... Let's get going then, we need to be fast just in case-

...

The soldiers begins entering the camp and get into their positions... Those who need to report head to the War Meeting Tends, those in charge of the horses reach the stables, those in charge of the deads start their counting and the injureds head for the Infirmary

-You should go get that eye checked, can you walk till the infirmary?- asks the general -It's an eye injury, not a leg one, General Luo- he smiles to lighten the mood and the older man follows him, feeling more relaxed -Well, we assured that the camped wasn't attacked to let's prioritize your wound for now- he says and both men start walking toward the big tends side by side that form an Infirmary.

They see a crowd of people at the entrance and slow down -There seems to be more injured men than I thought, we did a brief count on the battlefield but...- a shout stops him from finishing the sentence -Stand back everyone, we're still investigating!-

The two men only need to exchange a quite gaze to understand the situation and push their way through the mass of peoples, upon reaching the front row they see a veiled corpse on the ground -Oh General Luo, Commander Lei, just on time... Please come help us-

Xu Lei is the first one to come forward -What happened?- them lower ranked man rises the veil of the corpses and shows him a fully drained body -We found one of the nurses from the Wu army dead, we don't know what caused him to be in this state... There are no sign of aggression nor is anything amiss in the camp. Also...-

The man hesitates -Also what?- asks Qin Luo pissed -Well, all the patients left back alone seems to have disappeared-

-What do you mean disappeared?! Some of them are missing a leg or a foot!- the general beigjs to lose his temper over the innocent man

-Some transportation carts and straw mats are missing, a few traces of blood marks the ground too and a couple of fatally injured men have been found dead on the ground... We still need to conduct a proper examination but so far, we believe something threaten the men to abandon the camp as fast as possible. That's why some men have been left back dead and other have been dragged around-

Qin Luo storms out of the area and rushes to his tend with Xu Lei following behind -Where are you going General?- he ignores him and enters the tend, checking for anything relevant -Her armor and weapons are missing... Something happened, we need to find her! If she ran away so fast to the point of killing some men... It means she's in danger, more than she's ever been. Scared even-

Xu Lei hits his head -Damn woman! If only she did give me all of her powers- at those words, Qin Luo grabs him with a murderous look in the eyes -What do you mean "all"?- Xu Lei bites his lip -She was afraid I wouldn't have finished the plan successfully alone so she... Gave everything to me. I tried to stop her but...!-

Qin Luo could be very much made of pure fire right now -I should have never allowed this... No she can't possibly... Die, because of me...-

-General! There's no time to lose- calls him back Xu Lei, the other man nods and grabs more weapons and a map -Let's go, we need to rescue her-