Lady Earthquake

Lady Earthquake Chapter 31

Sun-Sin had persuaded Yan to peel himself off the ground when he heard a shout of joy, very different from the cries of pain all around him. He turned and felt the pressure in his chest ease. Dirty, disheveled, bleeding freely from his cheek, Ban-Li ran toward him, focused as an arrow. He slid to a stop a foot away, his broad smile crumpling his bruised face. "You are all right?"

Closing his eyes, Sun-Sin stepped nearer and grabbed Ban-Li into an embrace. "I thought you were dead for certain," he said, his voice harsh, his arms shaking. "I saw you lying dead this time."

They stood together for an instant, Ban-Li's arms as tight around his senior's body as they would go, his head on Sun-Sin's shoulder. Those who observed understood, for were other friends not doing the same throughout the camp? Then Ban-Li pushed his captain away.

"I - I am not so easily killed," he said, and pressed his fist to Sun-Sin's shoulder. "You should know that by now."

Catching his adjutant's chin, the prince looked at the boy's rapidly swelling cheek, wiping the dripping blood away with his thumb. "You should go to the medical tent."

"It is nothing," Ban-Li said, tossing his head free. "A tree threw a rock at me; nothing more. There are a lot worse off, I bet. What is wrong with the colonel?"

"Broken arm." Sun-Sin looked at Master Cho, coming up more slowly. He also looked as though a cook had rolled him in dirt and leaves to serve as a monster's dinner dumpling. The prince flicked a dry leaf off Ban-Li's hair. "Take the colonel to the physicians, then run off and tell his wife he is all right. You know where she is?"

Ban-Li nodded. "Hope she is not too hysterical."

The colonel, bracing his arm, his face white, spoke up from his seat on the ground. "Not that person. Her maids, however, are likely shrieking like the damned. I would be grateful if you will go in my place, Adjutant Shu."

"Certainly, sir. At your service. But you should get your arm set first. I will help you to walk."

"Thank you. Carry on, Captain T'ien."

After an hour, the fires were no more than soaking ashes. The cook-tent had been scorched but still stood. The chief cook of the camp, though scalded by an overturned pot of boiling water, carried on, giving sharp orders to his assistants, and anyone who needed sustenance found a hot meal waiting. Only two sleeping-tents had burned. The unlucky occupants were being taken in by their comrades, until new tents could be set up in the morning. Sun-Sin announced that any personal equipment lost would be replaced at the Army's cost. Anything needed immediately was being donated by those who discovered that they had an extra shirt, a pair of boots, or a copy of The Art of War.

Though Sun-Sin would have given anything not to have his men undergo the pain and suffering a natural disaster caused, he felt heartened by their cooperation, dignity, and hard work. Clean-up felt more exhausting that the original set up of the camp. He missed Shu Ban-Li's bright acceptance of any task and the speed at which he took it all on. He had not come back from the colonel's wife's tent yet.

When the first emergency-response had passed, Sun-Sin returned to his own tent. The 'cook to a monster' had been at work there, as well, mixing everything up as though for a hellish porridge. All his books had tumbled down, the archival chest had fallen and spilled scrolls everywhere, and his desk had crashed to the floor, breaking his soapstone brush-holder. His favorite wall-screen had fallen in such a way that the corner of his desk had punched a hole right through Mount Taishan. Ban-Li's bed had a cracked leg, giving it a definite list toward the door. It would need a carpenter to repair it. Sun-Sin would have kicked the bed in frustration except he was afraid the rest of it would collapse.