Inspecting the land around the school buildings is a grim affair. The falling snow will soon cover the blood and bodies and some we will only find again when spring comes. I know there are two men missing, probably dead, all the wounded have been taken care of and are healing while being looked after by volunteers or family. They will pull through so the losses must be said to be minimal. One hunter, three Forresters and women from the town. It is nothing less than a miracle compared to what stories and common sense should tell us. There will be more bloodshed in the future, both soon and with time.
I find Xi and he has gathered the burgeoning security force around him. six grim-faced men armed with axes and bows look up at me when I enter the guardpost. The words of encouragement and moral boost I wished to give die before I let the words leave my throat. “Get them all, we do not want more trouble,” I tell them and they nod. It slams home for me the three different worlds we have grown up in. The gap is large between those growing up in the village after my tenth birthday and those before. This gap is nothing compared to the one between my original upbringing and these men. To them life is cheap and what I have wrought here in battle is great. I fancied myself a calloused and hard man before, I am nothing compared to these men. “Good,” I say, give Xi a pat on the back and turn away from them. They will go out and do what I cannot. Instead of leaving out into the cold I walk back to the infirmary, where I can be of help.
After the first rush to get everyone gathered and prepared for healing there is the bounding of wounds sowing shut cuts and bandaging scrapes. Several places I see people with a missing arm or leg. Men and women scarred for life by vengeful bastards. I feel less bad about sending Xi away to hunt down the rest after this.
“Where can I help?” I ask Ha when I catch up to her. She looks at me with a tired look and then takes a deep breath. “Please look them over and find what we have missed.” She says at last and goes back to what she was doing before I came. Following her orders, I dive into the work.
I feel like I am working a conveyor belt as I am walking from patient to patient checking them over before telling their loved ones or volunteer what is wrong. I feel bad about taking a break and even worse when I feel how the exercise is improving my speed and accuracy in finding faults. The feeling of being of use is at least good for my ego if it is bad that I feel good for finding others mistakes.
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“This is amazing,” Tion says to me in a moment where we both have a break. “What is?” I ask her and she just makes a swipe with her arm. “You beat them back with so few casualties and now you are helping the wounded.” She laughs a little bit like a crazy person. “Your weak little school is mightier than an established sect from the mountains.” The sparkle in her eyes is actually more unsettling for me than the laugh from before. “I will join you and see to what heights you soar.” She tells me and pats me on the back before going back to her own work of helping to feed everyone.
A week later all the hubbub has died down. I am busy working with everyone still injured, but the crisis is over. The dead have been buried with honour in the cemetery and their bodies thrown in pits together with the bodies of our enemies. It will become fertilizer for the fields in time. Now we are all worrying about the men going into the mountain to hunt down the sect and ridding us of this plague with one stroke. I hope no one will live to tell the tale of our might, looking weak while being strong is basic in the art of war.
“We found their trail and followed them back to their hideout up in the mountains,” Xi tells us while warming his hands over the fire. “It seemed nearly everyone had come to raid us here. So we waited for early morning and with the sun at our back and as much surprise we could manage we fell upon them.” He smiles at this, and he has reason to. No one of our men died up in the mountains. “We slaughtered them in their beds like they wished to do to us and then we robbed them and burnt the buildings down. There will be no sign of them in some years.” He tells us and smile. Ha is happy to have her husband back and the village is happy for the loot they carried back. Not so much silver, but luxuries, animals and a lot of fine clothes and pelts.
“I am proud of your success,” I tell Xi and give him a pat on the back. “Please tell your men there will be a reward from me. And tomorrow when you are done being welcomed back by Ha I hope we can write your whole adventure down.” I tell him and rise. Outside I meet the villagers going over the loot and carrying it inside. It brings a smile to my face and hope of us bouncing back from the ordeal.
Tion waits in my house when I come back together with my wife. “We have heard the glad tidings,” Xia says and smiles while handing me a steaming cup of tea. “Yes, it has been a great success and I hope all of the bastards are dead,” I tell them, Tion is just smiling over the news. “Greater and greater glory. Soon all the walls of the school will be filled with signs of your glory.” I like Tion, but the hunger and taste for glory she seems to have scared me more than I would like to admit.