The Foreign Empress

The Ironfist and the Vermillion Thief Pt. 4

Seeing even Quan Linwen being pushed back, Ma Guanxin and Ma Chao leap from their saddles and enter the fray. The three, despite probably never having fought with each other before, make for a flawless ensemble. Ma Chao acts as the anchor for the group, his heavy spear leaping forward in concentrated, earth-shattering thrusts. Quan Linwen rotates around Ma Chao's spear-work, her swordplay entwining around his thrusts making their combined attacks akin to the undefendable strikes of a hydra. All the while, Ma Guanxin, forearms clad in impenetrable steel, bats aside the woman's counterattacks as if they were nothing.

In the face of this unstoppable trio, the woman in red is finally forced to relent. She quickly leaps back, opening the distance between her and the three for a split second. In this merest fraction of a moment, she throws some kind of capsule at the floor. It explodes with a deafening crack and a blinding curtain of smoke. And like that the woman is gone without a trace. Eyes watering and still coughing, the Ma cousins, and only the Ma cousins, fall to a knee before me, hands slamming together in a military salute. "Our failure to protect Your Imperial Highness is worthy of death by ten thousand cuts! These dogs humbly beg Your Imperial Highness to punish us leniently!"

Xiaoyue, also coughing slightly, whispers into my ear: "Your Highness would be most astute in putting these gentlemen in your debt. The resources and reach of the Ma clan are not small and Ma Teng would certainly appreciate it if you spared his son." My eyebrow twitches upward in confusion. Spare him from what exactly? Xiaoyue, seemingly reading my thoughts replies, "Failure to safeguard a member of the Imperial clan from any harm, a princess of the Dragon Sire no less, is punishable by beheading." I look at Xiaoyue in shock, is execution the punishment for everything in this damn place? I'm not even hurt! Xiaoyue simply shrugs. "This is the natural way of things," her eyes say.

Turning my attention back to the kneeling warriors, I can't help but be impressed by the utterly indifferent, completely resigned, expressions plastered across their faces. Even the city guards, now fully dismounted and prostrated, bear the same resignation on their faces. No pleas for mercy, no desperate arguments. Silence. And just like that, they calmly let their lives dangle on a string before my eyes, completely prepared for a simple word, a snip of the scissors, that will send them plummeting into the abyss from which none return. Their fatalism threatens to make me sick.

"Very well." My own regality surprises me. "Thisprincess punishes you all to accompany this princess for the remainder of theday." The shoulders of the guardsmen sag visibly in relief. Two voices, deepand strong, honed by years of constant battle, growl in unison, "These unworthyones sincerely thank Your Highness for your benevolence. Long live YourHighness!"