The archers opened the gate and the Warriors of the Lotus Order rode in, their black hooded robes hiding the gleam of armor, their black horses like nightmare creatures in the full dark.
Master Li Zhang rode to Wuyi, who was sitting on a stool, scraping dirt out of his armor to make it work properly. His whole body felt like a badly maintained machine.
"With heaven's help, you have conquered," Master Li Zhang said.
"If you like," Wuyi said. "We have conquered, for the moment. But only by the skin of our teeth, as old wives say. And where are the flying serpents? Where are the Yingmos? The Talons?" He gazed out into the last light. Killing off the last of the Swamplings had taken another hour, and now the enemy stone throwers were throwing stones again.
