The Princess Weiyoung: Out of The Darkness

Chapter 14

As the soldiers started to file past, Tuoba Yu seized Weiyoung's wrist, and beat hasty retreat to the safety of the thicker bushes further back. Jun Tao followed them, scowling at his inappropriate grasping of her lady's wrist. As soon as they were out of sight, Weiyoung wrenched her arm free of his grasp. He looked quizzically at her.

"What made you decide to come after me? I thought you wanted to stay at the rendezvous."

Her brow furrowed.

"Yes I did but after you left I realised that I felt uneasy letting you go off alone."

You did? 

"I spoke to Jun Tao, who agreed with me that it would be better to hurry back and try to catch up with you. We saw you creeping towards the Liu Song, and I-"

She broke off with a wave of her hand. He looked expectantly at her.

"And you..?"

Weiyoung looked annoyed as she avoided the prompt.

"Well. Now we know why the pair of them are being held up. And where they are. We need to free them."

Jun Tao nodded her assent.

And you what? I want to know but it won't help to keep pressing the point.

"It's been a bad mission, Princess Anping, and more things may go wrong when we try to rescue them. What if we free Bai Zhi, and Cheng An only to be captured ourselves? Worse still: what if we all get captured, tortured and killed."

"Why would they kill us?"

Because that Liu Song General is clearly a sadist who would kill us all as soon as look at us.

"Because they wouldn't believe we could be worth a ransom."

Jun Tao lifted her chin.

"Let me get them. Prince Nan'an, your wound has reopened so you will not be able to fight if we are caught. Princess Anping, your life is too valuable to risk; if Bai Zhi found out that you had put it at risk to even try to release her then she would never again be able to rest easy. It would be too much of a debt to repay in this lifetime."

Tuoba Yu's lips twitched with wry humour.

And my life is less valuable, I suppose. Thank you for a slightly more subtle slight than usual, Jun Tao. We may yet make a polite woman of you.

Still he felt frustrated.

"So I am supposed to sit and wait while you rescue you my man?"

Weiyoung looked at him sharply but spoke with a honeyed tone.

"Didn't Your Highness say that if your men gave their lives to protect you that it was better than you having to risk yours?"

He winced slightly at the implied criticism.

"Cheng An is... special. We are not brothers in the way that you and Bai Zhi are sisters, but he is my man. My righthand man without whom I would have no confidant. We understand one another. Losing him would be like losing-"

Now it was Tuoba Yu's turn to break off from what he was saying. He shook his head quickly, making his braids undulate.

"Anyway. Jun Tao, are you sure that I can't play a part in this rescue mission? If we need to fight, then two of us will be better than one."

Jun Tao hesitated, then nodded once. Weiyoung opened her mouth to protest, but Jun Tao spoke first.

"Princess Anping, I do not want to leave your side, and I do not wish to put Prince Nan'an's life in danger but every fighter in this party is going to be a help."

Tuoba Yu started to crack his neck, then thought of the Liu Song general doing the same thing, and stopped.

"Well Jun Tao, the sooner we leave, the sooner we will arrive at the camp."

She nodded.

"And as we are on foot and not forced to march slowly, there is a chance that we will arrive at the camp before the Liu Song troops."

Tuoba Yu grinned his feral grin at her.

"Precisely. Now let's set off and try to make a plan as we hurry there."

He started to walk off, but Jun Tao bowed low to Weiyoung.

"Princess Anping, please would you return to the rendezvous point and hide in the foliage? Close enough to the horses that you can cut them both free, and ride one straight to Huatai if there is any chance of you being discovered by an enemy. Forgive me for giving you such orders your highness, but as I cannot be by your side I want to explain how I would protect you were I with you."

Weiyoung nodded.

"I will do as you have said, Jun Tao. Please be careful."

Jun Tao rose from her bow, and turned to go. Tuoba Yu turned back towards the Liu Song camp and started to set off again. He had only taken a couple of steps when Weiyoung ran over to him. She smiled at the ground and peeked up through her lashes at him.

"Prince Nan'an. Please stay safe as well. I want all four of you to come back in one piece, and unharmed."

Tuoba Yu smiled at her. Not the feral grin he had smiled at Jun Tao when he was planning the rescue mission. This was a smile that was as bright as the sky on a sunny day. For one moment his cares and bitter fears fell away, and Weiyoung beamed back.

I'll try to bring everyone back safely. Just to make you smile like that again.

"Your Highness, when you smile like that you put me in mind of Prince Gaoyang. Both your face and his light up with the same force of the sun. One cannot see that sort of smile, and not want to answer it with a smile of one's own. I suppose you inherited that from your father, the Emperor. When he is happy, we all smile as well."

Tuoba Yu forced himself to continue to smile at Weiyoung in spite of the sting her words caused. Comparing him to Tuoba Jun made him feel more bitter than bitter-sweet. Nevertheless as her eyes were on him, he decided to try to focus on the positives. His voice dropped to a whisper.

"Well.. Weiyoung.. I shall try to follow your wishes, and return with the others. I shall also try to return smiling so that you feel like smiling when you see me next."

With that he turned away, and lengthened his stride to catch up with Jun Tao who was determinedly walking back towards the Liu Song camp. When he caught up with her, his smile had been replaced by a scowl.

"So, Jun Tao, how do you think we should go about this?"

Jun Tao gestured at something ahead of her with narrowed eyes. Tuoba Yu squinted into the distance, trying to make sense of what he could see.

Is that..?

He did not realise that he had spoken out loud until Jun Tao answered in an equally confused tone.

"I think it is."

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Author's Note:

A short and sweet chapter to balance out the bloated previous one! Do you have any preferences as to chapter length?