The Last Dahlia

042

The journey back to Muya was tense, marred by a disquieting silence among the entire party as they listened intently for any signs of enemies rustling in the bushes. The narrow mud path they were on was flanked by dark, shadowy forest on both sides, and a dense canopy blocked out most of the sun's light from reaching the forest floor.

After Baixun had recovered sufficiently to travel, they had bade farewell to the king of Feng, who had looked decidedly uncomfortable and torn about the decision to return the crown prince to his kingdom instead of executing him instead. Eventually, it had once again been the chief astrologer who had swayed his decision, reminding Yuehwa of the strong hold that Sheng Yun had over the Feng court.

Was it much different from the influence of the dark arts over the then-Wudi empire and the king of Dahai? She wasn't so certain about that.

They had once again donned their travelling merchant disguises and were moving cautiously northwards. After a long discussion, they had concluded that the quickest way to reunite Baixun with his troops was back through the Jilin range, with Ru Fei providing an obscure path through the mountains that would help him evade any of the main border crossings that could be heavily watched by the king of Dahai's men.

This time though, Baixun had insisted on riding on horseback despite his recovering health, which would allow them to use smaller roads and move faster.

"Are you alright? Do you need us to take a break?" Yuehwa asked when she heard the prince cough several times in quick succession.

Baixun shook his head. "No," he said, "we should try to reach the next inn before sundown."

Already the light filtering through the leaves was waning, warning of impending nightfall. If they did not make it to their pit stop in time, it would mean a night out in the cold, subject to potential attacks from wild animals living in these woods.

"How long more before we reach the inn?" Maroo asked, shuddering as he looked around the vicinity. The prince's gangly adviser, who was not much good on horseback, was riding together with one of Shoya's Feng guards, and looked quite green in the face. "I keep feeling as if we're being watched. Like there are eyes glued to my back. It's giving me the creeps."

Maroo was hyper-sensitive and had a penchant for over exaggerating doom and gloom, but this time, Yuehwa didn't think he was wrong. She had noticed it herself, the sensation of eyes prickling the back of her neck, but when she studied their surroundings, there was nothing detectable but the light breeze rustling the leaves.

Invisible eyes, cloaked in the shadows. They had encountered dark magic so many times that she was no longer surprised if it were following behind them right now, waiting for its opportunity to strike.

"Not long," Shoya answered. He glanced down at the map in his hands, doing a quick estimation of their distance from the inn. "If we continue at this pace, we should reach within a stick of incense."

"A stick of incense... That's not too bad," Maroo remarked with a bit of relief.

"Stop," Yuehwa suddenly said, raising her sword up in the air. The entire contingent immediately came to a halt.

"Is something wrong?" Baixun asked. He brought his hand to his hilt warily.

Yuehwa raised a finger to her lips, carefully surveying the thick bush to her left, and then her right. There was something off about this stretch of wood. It was too quiet. Deadly quiet and devoid of all signs of animal life. No birds, no crickets, not even a beetle scurrying through the leaf litter. That could only mean one thing–that there was something else around, something that had frightened all these creatures away.