Hold back and evaluate the premise. Acquaint the weight of one's step and the lay of the ground, the weapons each adversary bears. Count the enemy's number, his strength. Know him like heartbeat, like blood warm in swollen veins, before adva —
...no. No, there Lee Chang ventures without such cautions, a long deep smear of shadow extending humble dark, and Lan Wangji nearly creaks the floor in his haste, covering a greedy span of ground in two lounges. Bichen betrays him as he passes, like the sweep of a downed star. He thinks first to sheathe her, then — seeing Lee Chang spring into the open gardens like a fleeing hare — decides the night will not be so kindly as to afford Lan Wangji a moment's peace. The night, or this devilry of a man. Better keep armed, then.
Outside, the air's crisped to cat claws of prickling that lances his lungs, a cleansing ache. He breathes, hard and crude, rushing to cover Lee Chang's back with the practise of every man who's made a sworn brother of a comrade at war. This is no time for snobbery over the fit of their range weapons or styles of combat, not with gleaming, wild eyes blinking wide at them from the roof, and swarming from the entrance grounds.
"They may follow us into the forest." If they lure them, if they play bait, if they lose their pursuers between the legions of trees — they might distract the dead from their target, lessen the siege burden on those trapped within, and preserve their own lives.
no subject
...no. No, there Lee Chang ventures without such cautions, a long deep smear of shadow extending humble dark, and Lan Wangji nearly creaks the floor in his haste, covering a greedy span of ground in two lounges. Bichen betrays him as he passes, like the sweep of a downed star. He thinks first to sheathe her, then — seeing Lee Chang spring into the open gardens like a fleeing hare — decides the night will not be so kindly as to afford Lan Wangji a moment's peace. The night, or this devilry of a man. Better keep armed, then.
Outside, the air's crisped to cat claws of prickling that lances his lungs, a cleansing ache. He breathes, hard and crude, rushing to cover Lee Chang's back with the practise of every man who's made a sworn brother of a comrade at war. This is no time for snobbery over the fit of their range weapons or styles of combat, not with gleaming, wild eyes blinking wide at them from the roof, and swarming from the entrance grounds.
"They may follow us into the forest." If they lure them, if they play bait, if they lose their pursuers between the legions of trees — they might distract the dead from their target, lessen the siege burden on those trapped within, and preserve their own lives.