The goal was to raid the enemy and clear out a path. Wuyi had planned this raid as a general would.
Chao used to say, "War is simpler than assassination. That's why men prefer it to real life more."
And his lesson for Wuyi, if he ever happened to be in a war: Never make a plan more complicated than your ability to communicate it.
Wuyi reviewed his plans one more time. "Let's go," he said.
They rode out of the fog at a canter. About half a li to the north, Meiying led the northern group out of the shower of arrows sent by the now fully alerted Talons, Swamplings, and the Duskreavers, who were gathering like clouds before a storm around her small force.
Wuyi led his men west into the setting sun, out of the fog, and right along the riverbank.
There was an unmanned barricade on the road, and he rode around it, up the bank above the road, and around the first bend, and there they were.
Boats.
