“I’ve talked to him,” Li Yao said sternly, shaking her head. “I expected it from the monk. And I’ve worked out what to do with him. So has the vice-general. But you? You’re no monk.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t have a conscience.”
“You didn’t go because of your conscience. You went because your friend went. And you thought you could get away with it.”
Wu Ying’s eyes narrowed. “That’s not fair.”
“You said it yourself. You went because Tou Hei went. You didn’t have the courage, you didn’t have the conscience to do it because it was right.”
Wu Ying felt a flash of anger, his back straightening on the horse, tightening around his body. The signal sent the horse cantering forward, forcing Wu Ying to yank on the reins. The conflicting orders made the horse slow down and toss its head, hot-stepping a little, forcing the somewhat inexperienced rider to battle it before the creature settled. None of that helped to settle Wu Ying’s temper. By the time the horse was settled, Li Yao had caught up to him again.
“That—”
“Was not fair. It was not true,” Wu Ying snapped before he shook his head. “Don’t worry. I will listen to your orders next time.”
Li Yao opened her mouth to try apologizing and snapped it shut. She wasn’t wrong. Blunt maybe, but not wrong.
“Is that all?” Wu Ying asked.
When Li Yao nodded, he kicked his heels again, sending the horse cantering and leaving the young lady behind. How dare she say that to him. That he lacked courage! Lacked morality! Everyone did compared to those monks. At least he’d acted. Tried. Rather than just follow orders.
He found himself snarling and, in a fit of pique, kicked the horse into a gallop.
***
For all his anger, Wu Ying made sure to verify that Li Yao had made her way back safely later that evening. Once he spotted her horse and her, he made sure to avoid her. He still smarted from her words and chose to spend the night manning a secondary watch for additional contribution points. Even with some of the cultivators on watch, the military never had enough of them for their peace of mind. Rather than create additional problems by enforcing extra watches, they chose instead to incentivise cultivators to take additional watches.
It was only mildly successful. Few cultivators wanted to do something as boring as standing watch, so the army had to compromise between having as many as they wished and keeping their most powerful members happy.
As Wu Ying stalked the periphery of the camp, searching for trouble, he chewed over Li Yao’s words again and again. In time, his temper cooled. He had to admit, she had a point. He had decided to not go because she’d asked him to. He did see the point of military orders. He understood them and even valued them to some extent. The military, like a farming village, was not comprised of a single person. Taking care of the drainage, fixing up the riverbanks, dealing with water flow and planting, those were tasks no single person could do. No single person should do. Refusing to work with the village, doing things themselves, or choosing to do things out of order only disrupted the work of others. Sometimes it forced the villages to redo the same work again and again, wasting time and effort. Releasing water to flood one’s fields when the rest of the fields were planted not only angered the rest of the farmers but also wasted time.
He could understand that. He could see how his actions had affected her standing with his friends. With the army around.
But when others died, when he could help, he wanted to help. And even if he had stopped, Tou Hei had gone. So maybe Wu Ying had taken the opportunity to go to. He wasn’t going to allow his friend to rush out alone and without protection. Maybe that was the reason why Wu Ying had gone. Not because his conscience had said he should protect others, but because it had said he should protect Tou Hei.
His friend.
Or maybe he was a coward. He valued one life over others, valued the life of one he knew over those he didn’t. He did not have the expanse of mercy, the heart to sympathize with strangers.
And if that was not cowardice of the heart, what was it? To choose to not hurt, to choose to safeguard one’s heart, one’s body, from the pain and death of others.
Wu Ying kicked a stone, sending it spiraling off into the darkness, soon lost to sight beyond the light of the camps. He continued his patrol, turning as he heard the shuffle of feet behind them. To his surprise, Tou Hei was there, walking up to him with his staff over his shoulder.
“Did you choose to take the night assignment too?” asked Wu Ying.
“No.”
Tou Hei continued the patrol without waiting for Wu Ying to follow. Wu Ying cocked his head before hurrying to catch up with his friend. Unfortunately for his curiosity, Tou Hei chose not to say anything further.
Eventually, Wu Ying threw his hands in the air and said, “What are you doing here?”
“Joining you.”
Rather than continue this charade of question-and-answer, Wu Ying punched his friend in the shoulder. Tou Hei danced aside, though he took a glancing blow from the sudden attack.
“Okay, okay. I want to say thank you.”
“For what?” Of course, Wu Ying knew for what. But he kind of wanted Tou Hei to say it.
“Having my back.”
Wu Ying smiled at his friend. It was what it was. But it was nice to be thanked anyway.
They continued walking together for a time before Tou Hei added, “I’m sorry about you and Li Yao.”
“It’s fine. Couples are supposed to have fights,” Wu Ying said. Right? He really didn’t know.
He still resented the things Li Yao had said to him. He resented that she felt she could see into him, see what he had done. That she thought to judge his intentions as much as his actions. And he wasn’t sure he would choose differently if things changed. This fight between them, it was one of clashing positions. They both thought they were right. It was not like their first one, where he had insulted her with what he had said.
Did it mean they were done? How did you move on when neither party thought they were wrong? At least, not entirely.
Under that glum thought, the pair continued their patrol through the night, along the outer portion of the army that faced the walls, down to the river, and back. Walking, enjoying the humid and cool night air as thoughts churned and the world turned.
Chapter 18
Days passed with nary a change of circumstances. The walls around the city continued to be destroyed, the siege weapons continuing their assault through day and night. After all, it was not as if the walls were going anywhere. The biggest issue facing the trebuchets was keeping sufficient projectiles in stock. A constant stream of wagons and haulers traveled between the army and the nearby hills, picking up and dropping off rocks. The rocks came in a variety of shapes and sizes. A few cultivators gifted in earth and metal shaping worked the rocks, hardening and combining them to useable shapes. After all, quarrying the right shape and size was a difficult process. Much simpler to have cultivators rework them.
Even so, not all cultivators with an Earth aspect could do the work. It required both an understanding of their own chi as well as the external, environmental chi and an appropriate cultivation exercise. Thankfully, these types of exercises were common and easily purchased from the army—for obvious reasons. In fact, some cultivators even volunteered to work these shifts as it improved their control.
None of that mattered to Wu Ying. The constant, daily attacks on the walls of the city, the occasional raids against supply lines, and the battle against the soldiers from the city. Even the army supply teams that went and acquired additional supplies. None of those had anything to do with Wu Ying and his team. Instead, they continued to watch the water, the least likely location for an attack. In time, Yin Xue and Bao Cong managed to trade favors and end up working more comfortable jobs within the army encampment itself. In turn, other cultivators joined Wu Ying’s group, people like Lady Pan, Yan Qing, and Bai Hu.