"Our plan might have been foiled," Gengyo admitted grimly. There were still a few hours of daylight left. They needed to keep the Uesugi army occupied until night fell.
Hors.e.m.e.n ran along the tree line, carrying caskets of oil, drenching the ground in it. They covered the entire perimeter.
"That won’t be enough, will it?" Jikouji said with a frown. "Something so primitive shouldn’t be enough to push us back."
"As unwilling as I am to admit it, I think it just might. If we stay here much longer, then we will be burned alive in support of our plan. But, we can stall a little while at least. Prepare to move forward, men," Gengyo said, sliding out from the undergrowth, using the trees to cover him. "As soon as anyone gets close with a torch, he’s taking a bullet."
"There’s risk in that," Yamagata warned. "We might find ourselves diving through a wall of flame."
"We will split up, get ourselves into that long grass. We can keep them on their toes for a while," Gengyo replied. "That is what we will aim for. Cut free the horses – we won’t be needing them."
"...We’re cutting off our escape route?" Yamagata asked, his voice doubtful.
"Something like that," Gengyo grinned. "Some guerrilla warfare so that we might better enjoy this pleasant afternoon. We will position ourselves along the road and reign fire on some of the more important men. They will have to burn down the entire countryside if they hope to find us."
"That means you’re going for my plan? Ha! I told you I was a genius – it’s about time you started listening," Morohira said.
"I’m suddenly starting to have doubts," Jikouji said dryly, before motioning to a few of the soldiers, indicating that they should go and free the horses as Gengyo had said. "Torch bearer," he said then, pointing at a man riding forward with a flaming stick in hand, ready to set the entire forest on fire.
Gengyo raised his rifle about to shoot, but there was a booming crackle to his left, and the man fell to the earth long before he reached the oil. Gengyo turned around to see Akiko with her rifle raised and a satisfied smile on her lips. "Don’t forget about us," she reminded him.
"I will take Rin and Akiko with me and you men, from there to there. Jikouji, you lead another squad. Rokkaku, father, you take another. Yamagata, Yamamoto, you take the final one. As soon as the sun goes down, make your way back through the fields. We will meet back at the encampment," Gengyo said as he pointed at a selection of men for his squadron, dividing his forces up quickly and efficiently. "We will be impossible to find in smaller groups. Those fields are vast and that grass is long. If you move carefully, we will not find a problem."
The men nodded as he gave them their orders, suddenly growing serious. They began to make their way to the side of the forest where the grass had crept up to the line of trees and where they could make their exit without being seen.
As they busied themselves making their escape, the Uesugi men brought forward their archers and brandished arrows coated in cloth and oil before setting them alight and drawing back their strings.
By then Gengyo and his men had already made their way into the field, still as a large group. They pointed fingers and indicated with their heads before each squadron set off in different directions.
They heard the clamour of hooves and the snorting of horses as their mounts fled through the forest and raced out in front of the Uesugi army, almost taunting them as they disappeared down the road in a cloud of dust.
It was not a moment too soon as a volley of flaming arrows flew into the air, setting the oil aflame. Within the space of a second, the whole perimeter of the forest was engulfed in fire. Its fingers crept high and tickled the lower branches of the trees, already charring the greenwood and looking forward to spreading its hot terror.
Seeing it grow so powerful so quickly, Gengyo was immediately glad that he had not tried to prolong their stay inside the forest. Even the grass that surrounded the forest was growing black, but it would not catch a flame, it only smouldered.
He heard the Uesugi men cheer as they watched the red snake banners catch fire and burn. That had been the first real confrontation of their campaign, and their leader had dealt with it with swift contempt. Their morale was high.
If they had known what manner of predator was lurking in the grass, they might not have felt quite so safe. With two rifles each and a bamboo pack filled with ammunition, Gengyo and his men crept through the grass in a low crouch, completely hidden, heading in the direction they knew the road to be.
Elsewhere the other squadrons attempted to do much the same. Birds that watched high up in the sky saw through their creeping and could tell that the four groups had fallen into a rough circle, surrounding the road on both sides, as Morohira took advantage of a bend to cross the wide-open track, hidden from view.
Kenshin did not move straight away. He stared suspiciously at the forest, wondering why he did not hear screams or see men running through the flames. It was not until he watched the flame spread right to the heart of the forest that he found himself satisfied. Whatever had chosen to stay in there would be long dead, he knew.
He nodded to one of his generals and the order was passed down. By the front, they began their march once more, leaving the excitement of the forest behind them, having watched both the birth and death of the red serpent faction, never knowing who it was that they had killed.
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