Editing The Crow and Cloud Formation (section)

==The Crow Plucks the Corpse's Eye==
While [[Choshu Ishi]] was fighting for his life before Madai's main gate, Chan Fei and Han Ying were having problems of their own.  Though their arms were bolstered by the Essence of Ishi's Strength of Stone Technique, there are some problems that cannot be solved by force alone.  "I don't see why," Han Ying grumbled, glaring balefully at the stout gate set into the town's northwest stone wall.

"Because if we break the gate that separates us from demons and bandits and Mayhiros revenge, this happily walled range town will stop being of any use to the people who live inside."  Chan Fei set her lips straight.

"Ah.  Right.  And none of your men can open it?"

"We're Tiger Warriors, not the damned [[The Baihu Society|Baihu Society]]!  We know spears and bows, we know how to ride.  Forgive our not knowing the finer points of lock mechanics!"

An equine head bumped Han Ying's shoulder.  "Shh," he said.  "You're riling the horses."  He turned to stroke the horse's face and whispered softly in its ear.  Crowding around that horse, and the ten soldiers pressed against the small gate, were another sixty [[The Marukan Alliance|Marukani]] swifts and battlers - half the mounts of the Black Thunder Lancers.

Han Ying scratched his bristly chin.  "Hhn.  Maybe we could stampede the horses into shattering the lock?"

"We're not breaking the gate!"

Han Ying help up his hands.  "Okay!  Okay!  No breaking.  But we've got to get out of here, somehow."

Chan Fei sat down on a two-wheeled hay cart, which tipped down under her weight.  "It's not like you're offering to pick the lock yourself, or have one of your own Tiger Warriors do it."

Han Ying glared at his fellow gunchei.  Then he rolled his eyes and sighed and caught sight of the top of the walls.  "Hey...  How high do you think this wall is?"  He glanced down at Chan Fei's tilted cart, then over at some large clay jars against the wall of a nearby building.

The woman followed his eyes down, then looked up at the wall.  "No.  They'd break their legs in the fall."

"These are Marukani horses."

"We'd never get them to take the leap."

"These are ''Marukani'' horses."

"We're going to need running room to get them up to speed."

Han Ying and his Fang were already moving the jars, creating a platform for the horses to bound up onto the wall's top.  "Will you shut up and help us get this done?"