Strategies For Mountains and Valleys
"Hhn. We're in trouble," Smiling Tao said, his red cheeks a cheerless counterpoint to the gravity of his words.
"You think?" Choshu Ishi looked around. He stood at the head of a talon of his men, in a thin valley between two hills. A scale of enemy archers in skirmish order topped the hill to his left, with arrows knocked and ready to fire; the other hill carried a scale of close-packed heavy cavalry, riding Marukani Battlers and armed with lances that seemed pointier than was strictly necessary - the vengeful remains of Mayhiros Xenon's Black Thunder Lancers. Both units looked well-rested, like they'd been waiting on those hills forever.
Ishi's own troops, a double line of mixed infantry and cavalry, were ordered for march, not battle. Weary from the road, they still sensed the danger of being penned in and shifted their feet, trying to face every direction at once. Soi Fang and Ashitare Wei, relays of The Qinglong Alliance rode up and down the line, holding their banners up in the Rout-Stemming Gesture. "Steady," the called. "Steady!"
The Ivory Dragon drawn his sword, Hidden Riches, and the ground shifted beneath him, steadying his stance. "If we form in close, shields high against the arrows and spears set against the horses. Our own cavalry could circle around the hill..." He caught Tama Gui's eye and gave the Gunchei of The Zhuque Brotherhood a subtle nod.
Tao shook his head. "Not on the hills. Them. Over there." The fat man nodded ahead along the ravine floor, where two riders sat ready. The first was Mayhiros Xenon, seemingly healed from their earlier encounter, but Ishi didn't recognize the second. She wore a suit of gunzosha armor beneath an undecorated war-robe and held a signaling fan in her hand. But her most distinguishing feature was the mask she wore - a leering demon's face, complete with horns and bulging eyes, cast in glazed white porcelain.
"Mayhiros Xenon and... uhm... another Dragon-Blood? So what? We still have numbers, discipline and training on our side."
"Not another Dragon-Blood. Or not just another regular one, anyway," Tao said. "That mask was made with Face-Craft Mastery; I can tell, even from here. That mask is one of Shalrina's."
"Whose?"
Tao smiled the question away. "It's not easy to get one of her masks. You have to be skilled."
"And the mask is... magic?" Ishi gaped at Tao, a little out of his depths.
"Face-Craft Masks channel the faces they show. A demon's face can give extra power in war. Or sorcery."
"And this is a Face-Craft Mask." Ishi sighed. "You're sure?"
"Very."
"That's probably bad news for us."
