As the second whistle faded, the brush behind them rustled too.
The male herb gatherer whipped around, his basket striking a tree trunk and snapping a dead branch. The soldier carrying a saber reached out and pushed him down, then held his long saber across the path they had come by.
"Someone behind us too?"
"Shi Duo, watch the rear," Shi Lei said. "Ge Ping, keep your head down."
Chen Xiuyuan pressed himself against the elm. Only now did he firmly remember the two men's names, but he dared not take his eyes off the opposite bank. The broken bridge hung beneath the cliff, its planks swaying back and forth under the push of the water. No one was on the bridge, nor was anyone among the shadows of the trees.
Yet that whistle had clearly been aimed at them.
Shi Duo pushed aside the dead vines behind the tree, preparing to scout the way they had come. Chen Xiuyuan heard a third whistle and suddenly reached out to touch his arm.
"The sound behind us came a little later. Could it be bouncing off the cliff?"
Shi Duo did not immediately draw his saber back.
"Did you see anyone?"
"No. It sounded in front first, then behind us. I used to record sounds in the mountains. That happens near cliffs."
Ge Ping looked toward the slanted rock they had passed on their way here. Its face pointed toward the creek valley, bare at the top, with only its lower section screened by leaves. He opened his mouth to ask, but Shi Lei raised a hand, signaling everyone to stay quiet.
Another short whistle sounded.
This time, Chen Xiuyuan heard it clearly. The hollow sound behind them followed close on its heels, but its final note scattered, exactly matching the sound that had stopped on the opposite bank. After listening, Shi Duo nodded, but still worked his way back along the tree roots to check the stretch of path they had just traveled.
He soon returned and tossed a length of dead vine beside Ge Ping's feet.
"No one hiding nearby. The basket tugged this just now. I couldn't see all of the ground farther out. Stay together."
Ge Ping breathed a sigh of relief. "Then let's head back. The bridge is broken anyway."
Shi Lei glanced at the shadows beneath the slanted rock and motioned for him to retreat close against its base. Ge Ping turned and squeezed past, but his basket rim caught on a corner of the rock, along with the hoe sheath strapped to its outside. Instinctively, he raised his shoulders, trying to pull the basket free.
Shi Lei gave a sharp yank, dragging him back behind the tree.
An arrow buried itself where Ge Ping's chest had just been exposed. Its tail quivered twice, and chips of bark fell into the basket.
Ge Ping collapsed into a sitting position, his mouth open, unable even to cry out.
"Take off the baskets," Shi Lei said.
Chen Xiuyuan immediately began undoing the cord across his chest. The knot was soaked with sweat, and the more urgently he tugged, the less it would loosen. Auntie Sang reached over, first having him release the end of the cord, then picking the slipknot out from inside.
Once the herb basket hit the ground, he could finally tuck his whole body behind the tree roots.
Ge Ping took off his basket too, spilling several medicinal roots. He reached to pick them up, but the sight of the arrow beside them stopped his hand.
Auntie Sang used her herb hoe to draw the roots back into the shadows, then took out a piece of coarse cloth and selected several to wrap up.
"Leave all the big baskets here," Shi Lei said.
"I know." She did not look up. "Only taking what will fit."
Ge Ping pushed the medicinal roots in front of him over to her as well and said quietly, "That household at the west end of the gate asked me this morning to find some herbs for swelling."
"Only if you get back alive will you know whether his swelling's gone down."
Auntie Sang tucked one sorted bundle into his clothes and handed another to Chen Xiuyuan. Her hands moved quickly. Blood from her scraped knuckles had mixed with dirt and already dried black.
Chen Xiuyuan took out the dry cloth, wound medicine, and waterskin, securing them to his body again. Finally, he felt beneath the basket lid and found the herb identification booklet. The corners of its pages were a little damp, but the charcoal writing Elder Shi had added was still there. He wrapped it in the oilcloth used for his dry rations and tucked it inside his clothes.
The small basket was empty now, and pushing it among the tree roots kept it out of the way. He tied a coil of thin cord to its handle, keeping hold of the end, thinking he could drag it back if an opening arose. He tucked another coil into his belt, freeing both hands.
Ge Ping dug out a dry-ration bag tied with red thread and stuffed that into his clothes too.
"My wife insisted I bring it," he said.
Chen Xiuyuan said nothing, but pressed a hand against the front of his own clothes.
With their things packed, Auntie Sang and Ge Ping could finally crouch low and move behind the rock, and Shi Duo had room to turn around. Yet Shi Lei remained crouched where he was, the arrow on his bow pointed toward the creek valley. He did not tell them to leave.
Chen Xiuyuan looked toward the way they had come. He had not noticed while hiding behind his basket, but now he could clearly see that going around the slanted rock meant crossing a patch of open ground. Whether they ducked, turned sideways, or even crawled, they would have to pass through it.
That arrow was guarding those few steps.
"There's another rocky gully to the south," Auntie Sang said. "The bridge broke before, and we went around underneath. It joins the old charcoal trail."
Shi Lei turned his head. "Can we still get down?"
"Part of the edge has collapsed. We'll need to lower ourselves on a rope. It's more than two people's height before there's somewhere to put your feet."
Ge Ping looked at the thin cord at Chen Xiuyuan's waist. Auntie Sang shook her head. "That's for tying herbs. It won't hold a person."
"There's thick rope by the bridge," Shi Duo said.
A length of rope did indeed hang beneath the bridge post on the near bank, pinned under a crossbeam, with part of it trailing into the brush. From here, they could not see how long it was or whether it had rotted.
Chen Xiuyuan followed the base of the rock with his eyes and found a shelf jutting out below the bridge post. If someone lay low enough, they could work their way along that groove to the rope.
He was just about to speak when Shi Lei pressed a hand on his shoulder.
"Find the archer first."
Shi Lei told Chen Xiuyuan to watch a patch of gray rock on the opposite bank, then slowly extended the tip of his bow past the tree trunk.
A little curved wood showed first, then rose higher, as though someone behind the tree were about to stand. Chen Xiuyuan almost forgot to blink as he watched a pine branch above the gray rock suddenly spring up.
"Up there!"
The arrow had already arrived.
Shi Lei pulled his hand back. The arrowhead sank into the bark, its fletching grazing the back of his hand and leaving a red line. Behind the leaning pine on the opposite bank, half a brown sleeve flashed into view before branches and leaves quickly hid it again.
Shi Lei looked down at his hand, casually wiped the blood on his clothes, then looked at the first arrow lodged beside the tree roots.
"More than one."
Ge Ping raised his head. "You haven't even seen a second one."
"This one came in level. The one in the pine couldn't shoot at this angle."
Shi Lei pointed out the arrow shaft by his feet, then indicated the area below the gray rock with his scabbard. Chen Xiuyuan looked in that direction and saw only a clump of flattened grass. If someone really was crouching there, they would blend into the dark shadows behind them, impossible to distinguish.
"I'll go to the other side of the tree and draw them out," Shi Duo said.
Shi Lei shook his head, untied an old wrist guard from his wrist, slipped it over a dead branch, and handed it to him.
"Use this. Don't expose your hand."
Chen Xiuyuan looked at the wrist guard. What Ge Ping had nearly offered up just now was his whole body; this time, Shi Lei planned to offer only a fragment of shadow. Since the people opposite had been waiting for them to stand up, they could also mistake an object for a person.
He moved beneath the slanted rock, lowered himself, and fixed his eyes on the gray rock again.
"Still watching there?"
"Yes. Tell me if the grass moves."
Shi Lei nocked an arrow, but aimed its tip at the leaning pine above.
At first, Chen Xiuyuan did not understand. Only when Shi Duo extended the branch with the wrist guard past the tree trunk did he realize: if a second person really was hiding below, Shi Lei could no longer cover both places. He had to pin down the one who had already shown himself first.
The grass beneath the gray rock parted.
"Below!"
Shi Lei released the string. Chen Xiuyuan heard a sound from the opposite bank too. The dead branch jerked sideways, and the wrist guard tumbled toward the creek. At the same time, a figure behind the leaning pine hastily ducked down, and a few severed pine needles drifted onto the gray rock.
What Shi Duo pulled back was a broken branch.
Chen Xiuyuan kept watching the lower position and finally spotted a section of a bow limb. The man tried to hide after shooting, but his bow struck a corner of the rock, slowing him half a beat. The gray sleeve exposed beyond the grass also failed to withdraw in time.
They had seen both positions now.
Shi Lei did not fire again, merely nocking his next arrow. Across the creek valley, the archers held positions among rocks and trees. Hastily loosing more shots would only drain his own quiver.
"Did you see who they were?" Auntie Sang asked.
"Their faces are covered," Shi Lei said. "Knowing where they are is enough."
Chen Xiuyuan connected the positions of the gray rock, the leaning pine, and the bridge post, then looked at the groove in the rock again.
The lower archer hugged the gray rock and could cover the open ground beyond the slanted rock; the one above hid higher up, watching the backs they would expose while climbing back toward their original path. If someone went beneath the rocky shelf toward the bridge post, the rocks would block the lower archer's view, while the upper one would have to move south first.
He explained his thoughts, and Shi Lei lowered himself to the same height and studied the bridge post for a moment.
"It'll screen you from the lower one."
"What about the one above?"
"I'll watch him."
Shi Lei rose to take the saber from Shi Duo, intending to hand over his bow. But Chen Xiuyuan spoke first. "I'll get the rope."
Both soldiers looked at him.
Their gazes made him a little uncomfortable, but he still pointed at the leaning pine. "You've already pinned him down twice. If someone else draws the bow, he might test them. Shi Duo has to watch the rear. You can't both leave."
"I'll go," Ge Ping said. "Your leg's still injured."
"You use the hoe to take the rope from me. I can squeeze in there, and I have a short saber at my waist."
Only after speaking did Chen Xiuyuan realize that his hand was already pressed against the hilt. He knew perfectly well that he could do nothing if he went up against someone with a saber; crawling along the groove and cutting down a rope, however, was not entirely beyond him.
Ge Ping still wanted to argue, but Shi Lei looked down at the narrow groove and cut him off.
"That's settled. Chen Xiuyuan, you're only getting the rope. If you can't reach it, come back. Don't stand up. Ge Ping, wait until he calls before taking it. Don't both squeeze out at once."
Chen Xiuyuan agreed and tried drawing his knees beneath his stomach. The old injury pulled painfully, but he could still bear it. He shifted his waterskin toward the back of his hip, and Auntie Sang took the medicinal roots from inside his clothes, giving him room to lie flat.
"Don't take the rotten part underneath," she warned. "Don't bring back a rotten rope and send us all falling."
"I'll feel it out first."
Chen Xiuyuan drew his short saber, its flat flashing in the sunlight. Shi Lei covered the spine of the blade, and he immediately understood. He kneaded a lump of wet mud and smeared it over the flat, leaving the edge and grip clear, then wiped his hands dry on the hem of his clothes.
These preparations took only a moment.
The pine branches across the creek moved again, and Shi Lei's arrow rose with them. Chen Xiuyuan lay flat against the rock. When the hand patted his back, he crawled toward the groove beneath the bridge post.