"Keep in line!" Xi Chen roared his order, his boots stomping furiously into the mud. Thunder and lightning trailed behind him as he approached the squabbling soldiers that Prince Adlai was trying to break off. 

Prince Adlai gave a small sigh of relief at the sight of Xi Chen. Even Sze Chang's shoulders relaxed visibly.

Xi Chen roughly grabbed the two soldiers by the cuffs of their necks and pulled them apart. "Get your heads together! This is not the time for you to be fighting each other!"

Both men struggled and scowled at Xi Chen for interrupting before their eyes landed on the sword strapped to his waist, the White Tiger. One of them fumbled, "That's.."; while the other quickly straightened and tried to give Xi Chen a bow, "Lieutenant Yun."

The mayhem around them was rapidly turning into a frenzied maelstrom. Sensing this, Sze Chang started pulling his horse away from the scene. There were more important things to do than stand watch while Xi Chen berate the soldiers.  "I'll let you deal with them then. Let's go, Prince Adlai." Without waiting for a reply from the both of them, Sze Chang charged into the thick of the battle with Prince Adlai bolting behind him.

Xi Chen never once moved his pinned eyes on the soldiers and continued watching the pair like a hawk. Seeing as they were no longer struggling and going for each other's necks, he let go of their collars. 

The soldier who bowed at Xi Chen started explaining while pointing at the other soldier, "Lieutenant Yun, I have suspicions that he's a spy for General Shao. I was trying to fight him off when the foreign prince intervened."

Xi Chen turned his attention to the other soldier, his blazing gaze trying to scorch through any deception. "Are you?"

"N-no." The man stuttered anxiously. Xi Chen's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The accusing soldier started picking on him. "Ha! See! He's stuttering! Why would you stutter if you were speaking the truth?"

"I- I just admired Lieutenant Yun for so long that I got nervous! This is my first time meeting him this close!" The soldier spat back at his accuser before pleading with Xi Chen, "Lieutenant Yun, you have to believe me! I'm part of your army! Under Emperor Ye An!"

Xi Chen merely observed the soldier quietly. His sharp eyes noted the soldier's ears that had turned an honest pink, likely from embarrassment. But what was more discerning of the truth was the copper shining in between the scales of his armor. Xi Chen was aware that the troops had spent the entire day reinforcing their armor with copper just yesterday. Even though it was the least favorable metal to reinforce armor with, it was all they had. And it was better than nothing. The soldier was speaking the truth.

He then turned to the other soldier, the accuser. His armor was freshly lined with black iron. Black iron was the strongest and rarest form of iron that was only available through the best blacksmiths in the country. Blacksmiths who were commissioned to work within the imperial palace. Xi Chen's eyes thinned, now with conviction instead of suspicion. 

"You." He pointed at the soldier, eyeing the armor that was reinforced with black iron. "When did you reinforce your armor?"

The soldier faltered for the first time since Xi Chen met him. "Uh- Um. I beg your pardon. Reinforced my armor? The blacksmit-" He gasped and his eyes widened when he realized the lapse in his words. Before he could respond past his initial horror, Xi Chen had already embedded his sword through the man's throat, the blade cracking through the thin bones like they were twigs. When Xi Chen pulled his sword out, the soldier crumpled to the ground, his blood gurgling and bubbling from the open wound at his neck, his eyes wide with disbelief. Xi Chen swallowed the twinge of guilt that sprouted and shoved it to the far back of his mind. He will ask for forgiveness from the heavens later. For now, his only focus was to make way to reach General Shao and Leader Wakhia and hopefully, end the battle. Anyone who stood between his troops and those two would need to be removed. Flicking the blood off his sword, Xi Chen turned to the remaining soldier. "What are you standing there for?"

The soldier scrambled to return to the battle. "M- my apologies, Lieutenant Yun!"

Xi Chen rushed back into battle before the soldier did. He didn't wait to examine the look in the soldier's eyes, to see if the initial look of wonder and respect had turned into fear. If it did, he didn't want to know. Not now.

*******

"Hey! Hey!" Prince Adlai bellowed as he pulled the reins on his horse so that its snout pointed towards the specks of gray that could only be wolves. Wolves that were now circling each other. He had lost sight of Sze Chang a few moments after they left Xi Chen to deal with the arguing soldiers. So he was alone when he charged towards the wolves. The prince could only watch from his galloping horse as more wolves converged. He cursed. Even from this distance, Prince Adlai could hear the rumbling growls that had weaved themselves into the timber of the thunder. Even with the raindrops framing his lashes, his eyes caught the razor-sharpness of the beasts' gruesome yellowed teeth as they at each other.

Prince Adlai personally knew each warrior that was under him and those who were loyal to Leader Wakhia. And he could already tell who was who based on their silhouette. He leaned and pushed his horse towards the warrior that was nearer to him. The one who was fighting under him. Mid-ride, Prince Adlai noticed Ye An at the corner of his vision. She was dangerously close to the circling wolves. With the other wolves, the rest of the pack, moving into the circle and pressing in with their broad bodies, it would take mere seconds for her to be swallowed into the throng.

"Ye An!" Prince Adlai shouted. "Get out of the way!"

But Ye An didn't budge. Prince Adlai didn't know that Ye An was frozen in terror for the first time in her life. Her eyes were looking at the wolves, but not really. She was also peering through the gaps between the wolves and their limbs, at the soldiers fighting with their lives behind them. Blood was smeared on their faces and Ye An could see the flash of white bone on some of their wounds and the grit of their teeth as they heaved their weapons. This battle was worse, much worse than before. 

In any direction that she turned to, all Ye An could see was the evidence that their side was a troop in disharmony. They were losing. The men under General Shao and Leader Wakhia had months to train with each other and to work their differences out; whereas the men on Ye An's side only had months of travelling and camping with each other while only interacting with their own kin the entire time. Not only did both the soldiers and warriors from different countries never once worked with each other before today, but they also went through different trainings that had taught fundamentally different fighting styles. To add to that, soldiers were confused as to who were allies and who were foes, whether they were soldiers or warriors. The Northern warriors were also confused as to who among the soldiers were in their troops and who were not. And this was costing them the vital seconds where they had an advantage of surprise. They were hesitating too much, unsure whether to strike and defend or to turn the other way because they were allies.

It was time to stop this madness. As that thought appeared in Ye An's mind, another fight broke up between soldiers. Ye An finally budged. She tried to squeeze past the wolves but it was too late. She was now wedged within the group of wolves that were now rubbing against each other. Ye An watched as each strand of their fur stood on its end and trembled with their threatening growls. She felt her lungs compress as the weight of the wolves crushed her and the gamey smell of the wolves swimming thickly at the back of her throat. With the heat of the wolves radiating around her, she couldn't even feel the chill of the rain, which made the smell worse. Her breath came up short and rapid. The shouts and yells of the warriors, the bellows of the soldiers, the clashing of swords and weapons, the perpetual growling vibrating around her, all of the sounds slowly faded away.

As was her consciousness.

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Writer's note: (,,>ࡇ<,,)