Author's Note: What is this? A surprise upload! I know I said I was going to post on Saturdays, but I finished this chapter and desided to post it. I still plan on posting Saturday too though, so stay tuned!
Chapter Twenty Nine: Awaiting Word
Waiting for word to come from General Li is pure torture. As the days pass, anxiety grows. Captain Li Shang still leads us in practice every day as he always has, yet I can still see unease in his eyes despite the cold mask he always seems to wear. One night, I even see him sitting on a small hill in camp, contemplating by the moon. A day passes. Then two. Then three. One could cut the tension with a sword.
As the week draws to a close, we are all still holding out hope that word will still come of a victory. Nothing. We get nothing. No word, no message, no victory. Finally, it is time to take action.
"Ping, prepare your men. We leave tomorrow at dawn," Captain Li orders me. I bow and set off on my task.
And so the tents are disassembled and packed away. The cannons are loaded into a cart. We spend the night sleeping under the night stars, and I can hear how the others toss and turn, not from discomfort but pure nerves. My own stomach is in knots. It doesn't help that because I don't have the privacy of my tent, I am unable to release my chest from the tight bindings I use to keep it flat, making sleep nearly impossible. As I lay there, restless, I try to hold on to a tiny glimmer of hope that hides in the deep recesses of my heart. That tiny, tiny shred of hope that maybe a messenger is on his way right now, with news of the war's end. Yet, as the night grows darker and deeper, I feel that hope slip between the cracks of my fingers, seemingly lost forever.