The samurai ran pell-mell towards the river.
The way was clear, for the moment; no soldiers blocked their path. The spear-carriers pursuing were none too enthusiastic. One squad of bowmen held in reserve hundreds of yards behind the great tent were mustered and ordered to shoot, but the range was too far for much danger. The samurai ignored the scattered hail of arrows and continued running, their feet urged on by the sound of hoofbeats. If cavalry got between them and the river they would be in serious trouble.
They shed the stolen yellow armour quickly at the river's edge. Junzo cursed in amazement when he found an arrow stuck in his back armour -- at maximum range it hadn't managed to penetrate, and at a full run he hadn't even noticed. Grabbing whatever whatever large flotsam and debris lay on the riverside to help them float, the samurai jumped into the river.
The icy water was a shock. Mei Ling was the only good swimmer; with her help and the largest log-remnant Benesato managed to keep Nishi afloat. Mounted archers paced along the river's edge, peppering the floating samurai with more arrows, but the water and the hanging willows gave enough protection that nobody was hit.
The current gradually took them down towards the besieged Falling Leaf kwoon. The attack on it had gradually petered out as the attackers became aware of the confusion and disorder behind them. When smoke started rising from General's tent, and horn-calls and troops started rushing around frantically in the camp, rumour quickly spread of a surprise attack from the rear. The attackers broke off the assault and fell back. By the time the floating samurai reached the kwoon, the Chinese soldiers were retreating back to camp.
The samurai flopped to shore at a dock on the river side of the kwoon. Saburo had to assist Yabu, who had taken a deep breath of river-water and was coughing terribly. They were all cold to the bone, teeth chattering. Nishi's lips were blue. If she didn't get warmth soon she'd certainly die.
The samurai had been seen; a student opened the water gate and let them in. The interior of the kwoon was a of familiar pattern - a courtyard surrounded by buildings all facing inwards. There were a number of bodies in the couryard, mostly soldiers. In the center of the courtyard was a thick-bodied, grey-haired man they recognized. Master Han recognized them in turn, and quickly ordered his students to get them dry clothing and hot tea.
It was the work of an hour or more to explain everything fully to Master Han. When Han asked after Master Tai, Yabu assured him that Tai was alive and safely hidden in the woods; his wounds had not permitted him to participate in such a dangerous venture as freeing their captured comrade.
When apprised of their mission, Master Han introduced a scholar who was staying at the kwoon and was very knowledgeable in such things. The fellow looked a little odd -- neither Japanese nor Korean nor Chinese, although he spoke all three languages fluently. He was quite swarthy. He wore the clothing of a Chinese scholar, and went by the strange name "Prince of Swords". The prince was very well-informed about the Sword of the Rose, however, and assured them that it was indeed the perfect weapon for their dilemma, as it had a sovereign power against ghosts, spirits, and the like. He informed them that the Sword of the Rose was stuck in a block of ice, slowly melting it with its warmth. The block of ice was on top of one of the holiest mountains in Korea, a few hundred miles away.
Yabu's face fell slightly at the news. His eyes met Saburo's, and the Ronin expressed what they were both thinking. "Climb a Korean Mountain in the dead of winter?"
Yabu nodded in response. "Without the sword, we fail. Delay, and we fail. Desperate need forces desperate action." Still, he did not look happy with the news.
Saburo shrugged. "It is what we must do. There is nothing for it."
Conversation turned to the military situation here at the kwoon. Master Han admitted that it was tenuous in the extreme. He had only 14 students remaining. The enemy had many hundred soldiers, perhaps even a thousand. The kwoon would fall in days, perhaps sooner.
"Master Tai is better outside than in here," Saburo said, shaking his head. "But what do the soldiers want with this kwoon?"
Yabu nodded, eyes slitted. "Indeed, what do they want?"
Neither Han nor the Prince of Swords knew of any interaction they had had with the White Lotus; the Prince of Swords denied even knowing who they were before this assault. He did admit to having many enemies, but this seemed to be unconnected.
As the discussion continued, Mei Ling quietly left. As she crossed the courtyard, she pondered her next course of action, slowing, and eventually pausing while looking at each of the buildings in turn. Eventually she walked into one of the guest rooms. She stood in silence a few minutes more and then started to wander about the room touching objects - a small table, some cushions, the bed, pondering such things might be arranged in a tent. As she did so, her motions became surer and soon she had dragged the bed to one side, replacing it with a chair, and piling cushions first to one side, then to another. The air rippled around her and images wavered into being, then disappeared. Soon they became more steady, though still thin and insubstantial, and snatches of conversation became audible. Satisfied that the conjunction was suitable, Mei Ling settled down on her heels and watched. Before her, a spectral image of Qung-Fa Xun seemed to sit slightly off centre in the chair, while translucent images of members of his circle sat on spectral cushions visible through the ones Mei Ling had piled. Mei Ling nudged the chair to fit the shadowy form visible below Qung-Fa Xun, whereupon both he and it became more substantial and his voice suddenly filled the room.
"..in the midst of our army and desecrated my tent! I should have you all boiled in oil! Or put to torture! If Kung Yeuh were still with us, I would." he paused and then continued in a melodramatic tone. "Kung Yeuh! How will I ever replace him? I had his parents executed in front of him. I wrung every vestige of human decency out of him! I will never be able to find his equal with the knife or hot irons or punish his killers enough...". Then his voice hardened. "But I will certainly try! Those pigs inside will suffer for weeks when I get my hands on them."
His courtiers muttered earnest agreement and shook their heads dolefully. One began to speak when Qung-Fa Xun cut him off with a gesture.
"How shall we winkle those Korean dogs and their friends out of their kennel?" He smiled nastily at his advisers.
The same courtier cried out "Burn them! Fire the kwoon with arrows and slay them as they leave its shelter."
Qung-Fa Xun stared at him a second. His face, which had been pink and puffed with emotion, darkened as he leaned forward. He pointed at the courtier with his crop and hissed "I said I want to take them alive. And what of the Sacred Scroll? It is of no use to us burnt to ashes! Fool! Idiot! Half-wit!" His voice had risen to a shriek and given a chance at last to vent his anger he lurched out of his chair and began to lash the unfortunate advisor with his crop, while the others cowered away.
Lei Ming watched for a few moments, her face pursed in contempt and then she began to restore the room to its former layout, the images fading as the conjunction was destroyed.
The discussion was still going around without result when she returned a short time later.
"As you may know," she commanded their attention, "Falling Leaf Kwoon is built on a very strong Feng Shui site."
Master Han nodded. "Do you think that is why the White Lotus attacks?"
Mei Ling shook her head. "No. But my father was the diviner of the southern court, and I have some skill with geomantic magic from his teachings. And on a strong Feng Shui site like this, my father's teachings have particular power.
"One power in particular seemed useful in this case -- the ability to see, and hear, all that transpires within the vicinity when I am rooted in a place as strong in Feng Shui as this one.
"I have just come from watching the White Lotus dog. He was sitting in a tent, one of the smaller ones that remains undamaged. Much of what he said was irrelevant to our dilemma -- suffice it to say that he is furious at having such a close call, even surrounded by his army, and madder still about the death of his torturer and the insult to him. All of which is to be expected," she continued.
"But one thing I heard that was very interesting and perhaps relevant. One of the White Lotus eunuch's advisors suggested shooting the compound full of fire arrows, then killing the defenders when they come out. This infuriated the General, who said that such a technique would burn up the Sacred Scroll. Then he called his advisor an idiot.
"So," she turned to Master Han, "it seems we should know -- does this kwoon shelter any scrolls, sacred scrolls?"
Han shook his head, frowning. "No, no scrolls of any importance. There are some scrolls in the temple, some other records, but nothing that I would describe as sacred." Then, suddenly, his eyebrows rose. "Did he say _the_ Sacred Scroll?" he asked Mei Ling.
Mei Ling nodded.
Han pursed his lips and nodded back, more slowly. "Ah, the Sacred Scroll -- I have heard of it. That is the name of a particular text, wherein is locked the description of an invincible sword-fighting technique!" He shook his head sadly. "But it isn't here. I've never seen it."
The Prince of Swords had perked up at the mention of the Sacred Scroll. "Ah, yes," he smiled, "I have also heard of it. In fact, I knew the person who wrote the scroll, although that was before he did so, I think. And that was a long time ago. But I, too, have never seen it."
Yabu frowned. "It is impossible to give the White Lotus something that we do not possess," he mused. "And we will never be able to convince them that we do not have it."
Then suddenly he smiled, a flash of teeth that his cheek scar made look quite evil. "... however, it is very easy to keep the White Lotus from capturing it, if we don't have it! Does not Sun Tzu say that the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself? All we need do to drive them off is this: convince them that we DO have it, and that we have taken it elsewhere! They already think we have it -- we can use that illusion to pull them by the nose.
"Sun Tzu says: `If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way.' And so it is now. We must lead the White Lotus off on a wild goose chase, pursuing scrolls we do not have."
Mei Ling smiled. "That will really infuriate Qung-Fa Xun!" She stood up. "It is clear that I am the perfect person for this wild goose chase," she spoke to the assembled group. "As you saw earlier today, I can draw upon my father's geomantic magic teaching and the strength of this Feng Shui site, and move with astonishing quickness. I passed through the whole army this morning to reach you fighting in the tent, and it took me but a single breath. And I can do it again. No horse can run me down when I travel in such wise; I can be through the besiegers in a moment and gone.
"Further," she continued, "I am well known to the White Lotus pig-dog. I have frustrated his plans before; he hates me with a passion. There is nothing he would believe so quickly as that I have done so again, and that I escape with his precious scrolls."
The wisdom of this course was apparent to everyone. Master Han left to find some appropriate scrolls.
"Then we have only one problem remaining," Yabu said. "We will still be surrounded by an army, and their general will be greatly angered. But still, our path is much simpler -- we do not need to hold out for days, or weeks. The eunuch will want to be elsewhere, chasing Mei Ling, rather than staying here to punish us. He may attack out of pique, but all we need do is hold out long enough, and he will become frustrated and pack up to chase his precious scrolls, and his enemy Mei Ling. We shall use his own impatience against him."
Master Han came back in a few minutes with some scrolls in an arcane script. "I do not even know what these are; nobody in the school does, and nobody can read them. They will make very convincing decoys."
The Prince of Swords took the scrolls from him and opened them. After a glance at the text he smiled. "These are certainly not the Sacred Scroll."
Meanwhile, Mei Ling instructed the others to move their positions in the room and began to rearrange the furniture in the room. "Sit here and meditate" she said. "There are certain changes I should make elsewhere, so that the Ch'i flows in full harmony through this room."
She was gone for several minutes, when an imperceptible change began to take hold of those gathered in Master Han's chamber and soon thereafter a feeling of confidence built in the defenders of the kwoon. Exhaustion lifted, and it no longer seemed so unlikely that less than a score could hold off almost a thousand soldiers.
Saburo and Junzo joked; even grim-faced Yabu smiled briefly as the two samurai laid bets upon how many they would lay low in the oncoming attack.
"... Of course, Junzo-san," said Saburo with a smile, "though I will slay more than you, you know it will be becaues they are running away from your ferocious attacks. No one can kill as many as I when the enemy is running."
"Aye my friend. Though I intend to slay as many of these foreign dogs as my sword can reach." jested Junzo with a smile of his own.
Mei Ling prepared herself and waited for an opportune moment at the wall. Soon the moment came when an officer was overseeing the changing of the guard on the simple barricades that partially surrounded the kwoon, only fifty paces from the walls.
Mei Ling stood up and shouted. "Hey! Officer! Tell that emasculated White Lotus slug, Qung-Fa Xun, that his precious scroll is in my hands, now!" She laughed and held the scroll up. "It will _never_ be his!"
Then, summoning her powerful spell of running upon Feng Shui lines, she moved like lightning. In the blink of an eye she jumped off the wall, ran right past the officer and his men, and raced off into the distance. Before anyone could react she had totally escaped the circle of the besiegers and was miles away.
Saburo and Yabu crouched watching, hidden, as the enemy officer went running towards the General's tent.
Saburo whistled. "Yabu-san, I think I know why she hates the White Lotus. The General heard she was a fast woman and she was offended by his advances."
Yabu glanced at Saburo, eyebrows quirked. "I doubt it," he said skeptically.
Saburo nodded his head. "Of course, you are right. Your grasp of details is yet another reason you are such a great leader, Yabu," he smiled.
The older man turned back to look at the running enemy officer. "You surprise me, Saburo. I thought it was my poetry that you appreciated most."
The enemy camp soon was in an uproar. Within an hour most of the horsemen in the army went galloping off after Mei Ling. The rest of the troops mustered for an assault.
The assault was a total failure. The heart seemed to have gone out of the Chinese foot soldiers, and the morale of the defenders was high. Luck was with them, and they threw the enemy back time after time. Master Han proved himself still a formidable martial artist, rarely needing more than a single punch or kick to down an enemy. The Prince of Swords seemed to live up to his name, regardless of his odd appearance. His fighting was a thing of precision and beauty, although probably not fully appreciated by the spear-carriers he struck down.
With their defenses stiffened by the four samurai, and the Feng Shui spell Mei Ling had cast before leaving, the kwoon held. After an hour of dreadful combat the end the soldiers retreated, leaving a hundred or more fallen. Saburo struck down seven as they ran, including several wounded who could not get away fast enough.
During the assault the tents of the General and his cronies had been taken down. Now the military camp started mustering and packing up. Piles of equipment were loaded on mules or burnt.
Six hours later the last column disappeared in the distance. All that remained was the smouldering fires, the bodies, and the devastation.