Embrace Of The Wind And The Flame

Chapter 8

Xu Wei looked away, taking one step back as the lifeless body of the assassin fell forward, his head stopping right where her foot had been.

The other assassins looked around wildly, but not even a shadow was seen. One of them jumped and seized her.

"Show yourself" he roared at the trees with swaying leaves. "I will kill her right now" he pressed his knife to her neck and a thin line of wetness rolling down her neck assured her it was  blood.

He looked frantically around for a while, then nodded at the other two. They closed in around him like some sort of shield. Xu Wei was afraid, but she would never let that show. Her eyes were fixed on the forest where she knew help came from but somehow an instinct told her it would be safer to go with these men.

She looked at Yu Kai who was struggling with the ropes, her throat making deep grunting sounds and her eyes overflowing.  She wanted to comfort her mistress but how?

The man pressing a knife to her neck walked slowly towards a horse, the other two covering him. He jumped on the horse and pulled her up. The wind slapped her face as they ran past the forest, into narrow roads. Her head was feeling heavy, her eyes were drooping slowly. Xu Wei had been cut with a poisoned knife

Snap! Yu Kai cut loose the ropes with a grunt. She glared at the bodies around her, staggering to stand. Her legs felt numb.

"How can you be so foolish to let them take her?" She shouted at nobody in particular.  Only the chirping of the birds and swaying of leaves answered her.

"Keep hiding yourself then. I will see what report you will take back to master and see if your head will remain straight"

She muttered a long string of curses unfit for a court lady and grabbed a sword from one of the fallen assassins, kicking his head harshly. Grabbing a horse, she turned towards the forest again.

"Don't you dare come after me you bastard. Go back to the palace and report what you have done."

Her sleeves danced with the wind as she rode, chasing in the direction Xu Wei was taken. Immediately she disappeared from sight, a person walked out of the forest and stared at the dust disturbed for a while, then eunning back into the cover of the trees again

##

"Nonsense!" Emperor Xu roared and flung the report at the unsuspecting ministers. The veins on his head were popping out, his eyes wide and red.

"How did this happen?" He yelled again and walked down the throne ground to the eunuch trembling on the floor. "Tell me" he seized the man by his robes and shook him violently.

"How dare you watch a bunch of babarians kidnap Fu Lang princess and still return alive?" Emperor Xu really felt that the eunuch should be dead and was intent on choking him.

"Your majesty" The ministers had never seen such a wild side of the emperor before and could only bow, begging him to calm down.

"Imperial father must remember that this euenuch is the only witness we have and he may be the only one who can give us clue" Crown Prince stepped forward at last, his expressions well hidden and his face calm. "If Imperial father wants to end his life, this son is asking for imperial father to be patient for a while until sister is found"

The words were filled with truth and sense that emperor Xu had no
reason to refuse them. He let go of the wheezing eunuch whose face had turned red from being choked.

"Lock him up" he recieved a towel from eunuch Fao ans wiped his hands. "Give him all the proper treatments necessary.  We do not want him forgetting even one little detail"

The eunuch could hardly move while the gaurds roughly pulled him away. He cursed his bladder so many times. If only he hadn't fallen behind to answer nature's call at that moment, he would have been on his way to the underworld now along with the others.

Crown prince Li stared at the door for a while, as if he could still hear the eunuch's whimpering cries.

"Dispatch a hundred soldiers to Hua. Let them search around the borders, if needed, let them search Hua itself. Do they think that we at Fu lang wanting peace is a weakness?"

Emperor xu barked out his orders, his heart was still raging.

"Imperial Father should calm down." Second Prince Ji spoke, walking up a bit. "These are critical times for us and emperor father knows that Ninth sister was thinking of the people's intrest when she accepted the marriage decree. It wouldn't be well to slam her concerns and well wishes back into her face by declaring war on Hua. Sending our soldiers there will mean just that"

This was exactly what the ministers thought. They were just sighing of relief that the war was brought to a stop with the political marriage but suddenly, things were taking a turn.

"What is second brother implying? " Crown Prince narrowed his eyes, the hostility was bared in his voice.  "Is second brother saying my ninth sister should be left at the mercy of those barbarians? "

He swept a challenging gaze over the old men, as though daring one of them to say otherwise.

"It is enough." With his beloved daughter gone, Emperor Xu really couldn't take his sons fighting in front of him. "Everyone can leave now, return tomorrow with a better idea." He let eunuch Fao help him out of the court room, the ministers exited immediately as well.

"Brother will be emperor someday and yet your emotions are before the people" Second Prince criticized once it was just him and the crown prince in the wide courtyard. "Tsk Tsk Tsk" with a degrading look, he swept his sleeves and walked away.

Crown Prince slowly unclenched his tight fists. He headed to his palace in a hurry and once he was behind the door, he spoke.

"Report"

A person walked out from the shadows, his clothes were same color. "Master." He bowed. "She has been taken to where you ordered."

Crown Prince nodded. "That is good,treat the poison well and treat her properly."

The person bowed and retreated back into the shadows.

"One more thing" crown prince stopped the person. "Pay a visit to the eunuch and take care of everything"

He poured himself water and sipped and although it felt butter to him, he would endure for now.  His heavy heart and his conscience would have to hold on for a while. He had his plans and he would never let anyone get in front of them.

No matter who.