They continued their march in the heat as the Uesugi men raced further and further away. It would have been demoralizing had their anger not replaced the energy lost to tiredness. They would fight with a viciousness now, one that combined with their confidence to forge a clenched steel fist.
When night came and that beating sun went down, they did not slow. Jikouji had trained them in the most aggressive manner he could conceive. After a full day of rest, they were more than capable of enduring a prolonged march, fuelled by the hope of battle at the end of it.
The absence of sun did not cool the air as quickly as one would hope, but from the tops of the mountains there now rolled a soothing breeze that slipped through the cracks in their armour and reinvigorated them.
Miles away, the Uesugi army had found their way to the open plains where the gra.s.s made its way only up to the knees and not the neck. They made their camp there, tired as they were, demanding rest for battle.
The Miura men ate as they marched. The cooks set up a camp of their own and hors.e.m.e.n went racing along the column of marching men to deliver them their food. They did not slow for even a second and as the bright moon made its appearance in the sky, they were finally able to go forward once again, having made their way to the mountain and around the fire that still raged.
"The men are angry," Yamagata said. "I"ve never seen anything quite like it. An angry general one might see often enough, but it is rare to see the whole army so insulted."
"We"ve trained them to be confident as well as strong," Gengyo replied. "They are insulted because they know themselves to be above these Uesugi soldiers. The fact that they have been forced to chase irritates them."
"Confidence? A dangerous thing to dabble in," Yamagata stated.
"For a soldier, it is everything. It might encourage a higher degree of recklessness, but that is preferable to the debilitating side effects of fear," Gengyo said.
"If you can a.s.sume that your men will go forward instead of backwards, then in strategy that will be a weight off your shoulders. I look forward to seeing the results of your unusual training on the field of battle," Yamagata said, stroking his chin in thought.
"The men will not slow until we have shattered Kens.h.i.+n," Jikouji chipped in. He knew the limits of their endurance better than anyone after constantly pus.h.i.+ng them.
Gengyo looked up at the moon in the centre of the sky. They were into the night and only now had they begun on their road forwards. "It seems that the sun will be out once more by the time we reach them. Feed the men again – we will keep them alert with food in their stomachs and pray that the day of rest they had is enough to get them through. We cannot allow Kens.h.i.+n to slip any further ahead."
"The villages grow denser from here. More people to hostage," Yamamoto said grimly, breaking his hours of silence, the worry on his face obvious.
"A problem that I would much rather not face," Gengyo agreed. He looked to his right and saw Akiko swaying in her saddle, thoroughly exhausted. He smiled lightly on her behalf. She hadn"t had nearly as much sleep as their men after spending the day tormenting Kens.h.i.+n from inside the long gra.s.s. He gently nudged her and she blinked up at him sleepily.
"Mm… Tadakata?" She said. "I wasn"t sleeping… I was just resting my eyes."
"Come, share the saddle with me. You will be able to catch a few hours of sleep from there," he told her.
She was too tired to protest and merely nodded at his urging and jumped agilely from her horse to his, wrapping her hands around his waist and burying her head in his back. Gengyo grabbed the reigns of her horse just before it could wander off and he tied it together with his.
"Nii-san…." A voice called out from behind him, unusually feeble for Rin.
"Hm?" He asked as he turned to her.
"Can I too?�� She asked with a sweet smile, blinking her eyes like a baby owl.
"There isn"t enough room for that…" he began, but after seeing the look on her face, he caved in and sighed. "Fine," he said at last.
She did not need any further prodding and jumped quickly from her horse onto Gengyo"s. She did not seat herself behind Akiko as he had expected, but instead skipped to the front, in front of Gengyo, seating herself backwards so that she was facing him. Before he could protest, she had buried her head within his chest and curled up to sleep.
"Guh…." He groaned lightly.
"Going to be a longer night for you than us, boss," Rokkaku said in a whisper, wearing a sly grin.
"It seems that way," Gengyo replied, suddenly feeling rather tired himself as he s.n.a.t.c.hed up the reigns of Rin"s horse and tied it to his own.
The column of men had grown quiet, the only sound was their feet slamming onto the earthen ground and trampling down the vegetation. They had spent all their conversation throughout the day and now with the dark sky above them, it felt wrong to speak too loudly.
They marched throughout the entire night without even beginning to slow. They ascended towering hills and crossed through shallow rivers, all whilst fighting off the symptoms of sleep. When the sun finally peaked out over the horizon and the fingers of its bright rays reached out across the land, they met it with a quiet cheer, birthing a second wind.
"Mm… Is it morning?" Rin asked, rubbing her eyes and looking sheepishly up at Gengyo.
"Aye, morning it is, with a breakfast of Uesugi banners," Gengyo replied, seeing the flapping purple banners a few miles in the distance. "We made it on time."