one battle wound too many // sima shi x reader

chapter seven

AN: Sorry for the lack of updating, I wasn't expecting this much homework. I hope you guys like this chapter!
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"Damn it, damn it, damn it," I swear angrily. That man is always showing up at the wrong time. I whip my head towards Zhong Hui.

"What do we do now?"
He huffs with annoyance. "You don't expect me to come up with a plan on such short notice do you?"

"I didn't!" I hiss back at him. "What do you think we should do, if you don't have an actual plan?"
"Women like you are always so dependent. Especially on me." Oh there he is; the original Zhong Hui, sarcastic attitude and all.
"Well I'm not, Master Zhong Hui. I think I'll be good on my own now." I begin to rise, still crouching to make sure Sima Shi doesn't see me. Then I jump over the ledge of the base and land on the ground with a soft thud.

"I don't need some pompous know-it-all being my escort. I can handle it by myself." I slide a couple of arrows I had grabbed before in my belt and put the bow on my shoulder. I hold my two daggers in each of my hands.

"Let's get going!" I take off at a sprint, planning to bring this battle to a swift end.
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It didn't take me long to realize that I should have studied my map a little more, or at least have taken it with me. I'm lost. Hopelessly lost. I turn in a semi-circle and get a good look at my surroundings.

Lush, green, spacious. Forest. What a wonderful place to get lost in. I spin a dagger around my fingers and resume walking, this time at a cautious space. Something rustles in the branches above. I slide the bow off my arm and begin to nock an arrow.

"Who's there?" I demand. No answer. The rustling continues once again. I pull back my arm and begin to aim.

"I'm warning you," I speak into the nothingness, raising my voice. The rustling happens once more and I fire my arrow into the leaves.

"Ugh..." A peasant soldier falls from the tree, and lands on his neck with a sickening snap. My arrow is embedded in his stomach. I look up at the trees once more.

"If there is anyone else in these branches, you either come down now or leave me alone!" No rustling, no voices, no worries. I pull my arrow out of the peon's stomach, and wipe off the crimson coating the tip on the tail of my cloak.

"I can't be wasting arrows," I mutter to myself. "I should have grabbed more before I ran off like that." I nudge the motionless man with the toe of my boot, and conclude that he is officially dead.

"Back to roaming the seemingly never-ending forest," I sigh, with genuine enthusiasm.

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"We should be sending the supplies now, Master Jiang Wei. The front lines are struggling."

"No, we will wait."

I crouch lower behind a barrel of rice and try to steady my breathing. Yup, storming into a supply depot being run by Zhuge Liang's protege by myself. Easy, so easy. So the plan here is to create some sort of distraction, leading the other soldiers away from my position, then I start a fire and burn down the entire base. I'll use my scarf to block out the majority of the smoke and hopefully the enemy will be weakened enough for me to vanquish them easily.

I pull an arrow from my diminishing supply and nock it silently. I angle my position so that barely any of me is seen from behind the rice barrel. I pull back the arrow and fire, narrowly missing a lieutenant's ear. The soldier rubs his ear, and he, along with many other soldiers, begin to investigate the arrow. I'm nervous. This can't be that simple. I begin my, crouch walk to a dry grass pile near an untidy row of soldier tents. I hold two flints I had discovered earlier and begin scraping them against each other quickly, hoping to make this fire with haste.

"Hey...what is that?"

"You can hear that too?"

"Let's go check it out! It's way too loud to be a rat or something like that!"

I frantically continue scraping the stones. Bad idea, bad idea; I hadn't planned on the flints creating this much noise. The footsteps get closer and I pray for a spark. Something golden and red sparks from in between my fingers and I hold it to the hay pile. The spark leaps into the dry grass and disappears.

"So much for that plan," I mutter to myself.

"Who is that?"

"Looks like a girl..."

"She's not from Shu! Get her!"

A small band of soldiers begin to form a semi circle around me. I swiftly pull out my daggers and hold my arms in a fighting position.

"Hey, hey, let us not get too hasty now, right?" A flaming ember catches the corner of my eye, and I watch as the dancing spark begins to light the pile ablaze. All I have to do is stall a little longer and I'm home free!

"Well, well, well. Isn't it the wife of Sima Shi herself?" Why...? Why Jiang Wei? Why now, of all the times in the world, why now would he show up?"

"Ah, Master Jiang Wei. What an honor it is to meet Zhuge Liang's famed protege." Maybe he's susceptible to flattery...

"Do not think I will fall for your silver tongue. Seize her." The soldiers begin to advance on me and I acknowledge that I'm hopelessly outnumbered. I'm done for. So much for getting this far.

"Ah, fire!"
"Put it out! Put it out!"

The soldiers all stumble back as the pile of hay becomes a gorgeous bonfire. I pick up a discarded stick and hold it close to the flames. The golden and red streams lick at the wood before I pull it away. The fire wraps itself around the stick and I throw it towards a soldier tent before the fire strands reach my fingers. I gaze in triumph as the first tent goes up in flame. Then another, and another. Soon, the entire supply depot is bathed in flame.

The soldiers are scrambled and I begin to pick them off one by one. As I slit the throat of a soldier with my blade, I catch a glimpse of Jiang Wei, double edged trident in hand.
"I will admit. I was impressed you made it this far. By yourself-" he pauses and smirks. "-and without your husband's permission." My breath hitches in my throat.

"There's no way you could possibly know about that!" I exclaim as a section of wall falls to the ground and transforms into ash.
"Let's just say, I have an inside force. Very inside." I lose my focus for just a second, and that second costs me. Jiang Wei charges.