A Dance Of Blades and Hearts

masks and figures

I bring the horse to a clearing near the yanee river, body shaking with anger and eyes narrowed at the sight infront of me,

I had run off here in my angry haze and uncles voice chastises me at the back of my head.

I jump off the horse, taking in the absolute silence, the moon being the only source of sound

"show yourself coward " I yell getting irritated, body still shaking with anger.

I tend to be impulsive but why did I think this would be a good idea?  I couldn't risk uncles safety. 

There's rustling from a bush and my gaze immediately snaps to it, body on high alert.

It happens so fast I can barely register it, men rushing out from nowhere, swords in hand, my eyes widen and I grit my jaw.

Of course it's a setup, I should have known

uncles voice telling me to always stop and think echos loudly in my head and I curse underneath my breathe

I mentally kick myself for not even grabbing a sword before rushing here

I furrow my eyebrows, the men are masked and stand with their swords raised, but they don't attack, just stare back at me and my eyes narrow

What the?

A sick shrill laugh resounds through the clearing and I still, carefully watching the sillouette making it's way out of the bushes,

The figure stays in the shadows, laughter still booming and my skin crawls in irritation

That has to be the person behind all this

"how about you show your face instead of hiding like a coward " I say voice low and challenging, Head spinning

this isn't going to end well

I'm more than outnumbered and defenceless, if I do make it out of this uncle's gonna give me grief for decades,

a tiny part of my head registers that uncle isn't behind this and a weight in my chest loosens, even in this situation.

I focus on the figure that had gone quiet, trying to make out a face.

The figure chuckles darkly

"oh wouldn't you love to know? " he states and I crinkle my eyes at the vaguely familiar voice,

the figure steps into the light and my eyes widen, taking in his face, I freeze and take a step back

"hello your highness " he says, sly smirk on his face and I narrow my eyes, quickly recovering from my initial shock, taking in the swords raised at me from every direction before settling on the last face I expected to see,

but then again, I had never liked him

"feng lou "

He smiles and mock bows

"the one and only "

"you're behind all this?"

I say through gritted teeth

"you even tried to frame uncle?!? he's your best friend, why?? " I add in disbelief and he snickers

"you're leaving out the part where I also tried to kill him, where I kidnapped your delegates who you miraculously got back somehow, good job by the way, oh and how I tried to kill you too " he says like he's giving an account of the weather and my entire body shakes with barely concealed anger

"why? " I ask through gritted teeth and he moves closer till he's right infront of me

"you didn't think I'll let you end this war, did you? " he asks voice full of malice and my entire body goes rigid