by JC Kang
Ming turned to Shu. “You said ten li?”
“Yes, Eldest Brother.” Shu nodded.
“No word from the scouts?”
Shu shook his head.
The enemy should have arrived at this hour yesterday, and the ancient road they restored was the only way to move a large number of troops. The main river along the fort’s south would be impossible for men to swim across— if historical records of the region were accurate; and the spring melt swelled the tributary river just to the west, leaving the fort’s bridge as the only way to cross.
Ming looked back at the west side’s palisade, now riddled with musket balls from two days before. “Shu, send more scouts out over the west side and turn north along the tributary to see if there is any place to ford. I want—”
A lieutenant pointed toward the opening in the forest. “Flags of parley!”
Ming followed the gesture.
Three light-haired Bovyan men, each standing a head-and-a-half taller than the tallest of the Hua, strode into the clearing. Their chain tunics jingled beneath black surcoats emblazoned with the gold, nine-pointed sun of the Teleri Empire. One held a white flag aloft. Behind them, black cloth flashed between the tree trunks.
Along the Hua lines, hands gripped musket barrels and spear hafts.
Ming motioned for Shu and another officer to accompany him. He grinned. “They want to negotiate terms for surrender.”
Shu’s jaw dropped. “Eldest Brother, we cannot trust them. They betrayed the princess in their negotiations.”
Ming motioned for an imperial marksman who had distinguished himself two days before. “Xiao, I want you to target the big man in the center. If I give the signal or he shows any sign of treachery, shoot him.”
Xiao pressed his fist into his palm. “As the Dajiang commands.”
Ming edged his way down the embankment to meet the Teleri. They were even more intimidating up close. Two men with cropped brown hair flanked a man who radiated an air of importance and power.
His black mane, streaked with grey, hung loosely to the center of his broad shoulders and a scar on his right cheek marred his olive complexion. Steel-grey eyes met Ming’s as he spoke in perfect Arkothi, the common language of the North. “I am the First Emperor Geros of the Teleri Empire. You look familiar.”
Geros, the turtle egg who betrayed Princess Kaiya and tried to capture her. Ming clenched his fists. He’d never seen a Bovyan leader so close before, let alone met one. He responded in his own halting Arkothi. “I am Ming Zheng, heir to the East Gate Province of Cathay.”
Geros nodded, his eyes registering recognition. “You must be closely related to the man I killed. I did not take him to be of noble blood, though he fought admirably and killed three dozen of my men. We sent his body downriver as is our custom for the honored dead.”
The barbarism. Ming stifled a cringe and smirked instead. “Are you here to collect your dead from two days ago? Or to be added to the pile?”
Geros puffed his chest out. “I am here to make an offer. Surrender the fort as it is, then turn around and go back behind your Great Wall. On my honor, we will let you return unharmed.”
Ming jabbed a finger at the Emperor. “I don’t trust the honor of a man who reneges on his negotiations and tries to kidnap a defenseless woman.”
“Renege? No, your princess attacked me by surprise, and we took her into custody to pay for her crimes against the Empire.”
Ming clenched his fists. “You lie.”
“I assure you, everything I said is true.” Geros’ grin widened.
Struggling to reach into his armor, Ming withdrew the princess’ letter. He whipped it open and held it up for the emperor to see. “You never captured her. She made it past your blockade and is safe in my castle. She informed me, with her own words.”
Geros’ brow furrowed as his eyes flicked over the letter. “She forgot to mention she is now First Empress of the Teleri Empire, through marriage to me, and carries my heir in her womb. I only seek to reclaim what is mine.”
Heat rushed to Ming’s head, Geros’ last words barely making it through the pounding in his ears. “Lie!”
Geros laughed. “So she did not admit to it in her letter? I wouldn’t know, since I don’t read your language.”
The bastard was mocking him! Ming’s fists clenched so tight, he might have been able to squeeze a lump of coal into a diamond.
The Bovyan’s smug expression gave way to narrowed eyes. “You are taking the news quite personally. I restate my offer. Turn around and go in peace. When you arrive home, ask Empress Kaiya yourself.”
“There are five thousand reasons for me to refuse your generous offer.” Ming waved to the Hua lines atop the embankment. “Sources tell me I have a twenty-five-to-one advantage in numbers, and an insurmountable superiority in weapons and position.”
Geros tugged gloves off his hands and began counting his fingers. “I am just a simple soldier, and mathematics has never been my strong suit, but…” He raised a hand.
With a resounding thud, thousands of black uniforms stepped out from the tree line surrounding the north and east sides of the moat, heavy crossbows in hand. Behind them, ruddy-skinned natives whooped with bows raised in the air.
“… I think my odds are better than you think,” Geros finished.
Ming smirked. He’d gotten Geros to reveal his numbers. Despite the poor scouting, he still had superior range. Once the Teleri emerged from the trees, they would already be within musket range. If only he could wipe the patronizing smirk off Geros’ face right here, right now. He drew his bow and nonchalantly tested the pull. “Consider yourself fortunate you are protected by the flag of parley. Once you cross back to your lines, my arrows will look for you.”
“I give you until nightfall to reconsider my offer,” Geros said. “A wise leader would not refuse it out of hand.”
Ming did not care to hear lessons on leadership from a dictator who sacrificed his soldiers on a whim. Plans formulated in his mind. “If any of your men so much as step into the clearing, we will fire upon them.”
Geros grinned. “I would respect you less if you did not.” He spun on his heel and strode back toward the trees.
Ming turned and climbed the embankment. At the top, he summoned his command team. “How many days of food rations do we have?”
“Eight, twelve if you include what we captured here, Young Lord,” the quartermaster answered.
Shu’s voice trembled. “Are we going to fight?”
“No.” Ming pointed back toward the west. “We did not establish supply lines. All they have to do is wait us out. However, we cannot leave the bridge or extra supplies for them. It will take us five days to return to Hua at forced march. Dump excess food rations and the weapons we captured into the river. Set three kegs of firepowder on the bridge. Devise a plan to disguise our withdrawal.”
And when they returned home, the princess would confirm Emperor Geros’ words were all lies.
Geros studied the line of Cathayi soldiers glaring from the top of the embankment, muskets trained on the clearing’s edge. If not for Princess Kaiya beguiling him, he would have visited the fort two weeks before and ensured the palisade surrounded the entire fort. How ironic that his own dereliction of duty made the fort easier to take back.
“Why did you give him until nightfall, Your Eminence?” Captain Mirin, who oversaw construction of the fort, kept his head bowed.
Geros locked his gaze on the man. “Because the savages tell me it will rain at dusk.”
“Rain, Your Eminence?” Captain Mirin had a good mind for designing forts; less so for military tactics.
“Why do you think I slowed our march?”
Lines formed on Mirin’s brow. “So that our vanguard could rest while more of our troops caught up?”
“And?”
Mirin’s face blanked.
“Every move has multiple purposes. We sent the vanguard ahead to make their scouts believe they outnumbered u
s. They roused their troops early, and they have not slept for a full day. Also, by slowing our march, we will not sit idle waiting an extra day for rain. Rain will render their muskets useless and give our crossbows the advantage. Hand-to-hand, even with their superior position, a Bovyan is worth three of them. Despite what Zheng believes, the odds are very much in our favor once their guns are removed from the equation.”
Mirin nodded enthusiastically. “Brilliant, Your Eminence.”
“The brilliance,” Geros said, “is in the strategies of the founder of Cathay’s Wang Dynasty.”
“Though what if Zheng accepts your offer?”
“Then we get your fort back intact. But he won’t. He is a prideful man and I goaded him. Also, he is our key to breaching the Great Wall.”
“What if he escapes?” The captain’s eyebrows clashed together.
“He won’t. Three thousand of our men are crossing the fords to the north as we speak, and will be behind them by dusk.”
Chapter 3:
Loyal Men
Though spring sang its evening song outside her window, Kaiya didn’t look up from her book until she heard Jie’s quiet breathing by the door.
The half-elf dropped to one knee, fist to the ground. “Dian-xia, Lord Zheng suspects you are hiding a pregnancy. He sent his men to find Doctor Fang.”
“I assume you warned Weiyong?”
Jie shook her head. “The legends of the Moquan being able to be in two places at once are mildly exaggerated. I was forging letters. Lord Zheng wanted to ask the Tianzi to order you home. I swapped the letter out for one of my own.”
“What did you say?”
Jie shrugged. “I expressed your heartfelt desire to marry Zheng Ming. Lord Zheng approves and asks for the Tianzi’s blessing.”
Heartfelt indeed. As if she could feel anything. Even grief over Tian’s loss couldn’t blunt Jie’s sense of irony. Or perhaps her distaste for Ming stoked it. Kaiya snorted.
Regardless of the wording, the fake letter solidified her position. Second Brother Kai-Wu had always looked out for her. Tianzi or not, he would approve the marriage. Hopefully. Because if push came to shove, she wouldn’t undermine his authority. His position in the eyes of the hereditary lords was already tenuous enough without a rebellious sister. “Then we can stay with the plan,” Kaiya said.
Jie’s expression, the sucking on her lower lip, said otherwise.
“What’s the matter?”
“You are relying on Lord Zheng’s loyalty to the Dragon Throne.” Jie traced a circle in the air. “Realistically speaking, here in his castle, surrounded by his men, we are at his mercy. The local imperial soldiers will obey you, but they are garrisoned in other parts of the city.”
Kaiya frowned. “So realistically speaking, it is just you and me.”
“Do you wonder why the Tianzi did not send a complement of imperial guards? I think—”
Chirping footsteps sounded in the hall, seeming almost an affront to the pleasant birdsong outside. Kaiya quieted Jie with a wave of her hand.
One of the castle pages stopped outside the door and dropped to his knee. “Dian-xia, Lord Zheng wishes to see you.”
Had he made a decision on the marriage proposal? Or had they found Fang Weiyong? The doctor would never betray her secret...would he?
The Founder extolled the virtue of preparedness. Only a fool would walk into a meeting uninformed. Kaiya raised an eyebrow toward Jie, who tilted her head at the tacit order.
In the meantime, Kaiya would stall for time. She nodded toward the page. “I will call on him once I have made myself presentable.”
The page bowed. “Dian-xia, the lord will pay his respects here. He would never presume—”
“It is all right. I have been sequestered in the guest wing for so long. Go, apologize to Lord Zheng on my behalf for the delay.”
“As the princess commands.” The man rose, shuffled back several steps, and then headed back down the halls.
She turned back to Jie, who was already gone. No need for an order, just like the first time. Thank the Heavens for reliable retainers and friends.
Left alone, Kaiya rose to her feet and glided over the plush red carpet to the bloodwood make-up table.
Upon Kaiya’s arrival at the castle, Lady Zheng had offered lip rouge, eyeliner, and other cosmetics, which now sat on the mother-of-pearl inlaid table, untouched. It wasn’t for fear of contact poison in the cosmetics—though Lady Zheng had little love for her—but rather because there was no need for impractical vanities.
Until now.
In the mirror, a gaunt young woman with sunken cheeks and red-rimmed eyes frowned back at her. Where was the once-in-three-generations beauty, who’d bedazzled kings and generals? Or even the naïve and pimply girl who’d been duped by a dragon in disguise?
Kaiya blinked away a tear.
A tear. Had she just experienced an emotion? Longing? She tried to grasp at it, to hold on to it, but the feeling slipped through her fingers. She gazed back at the mirror. The perfect lines of her image were frayed by sleepless nights of plotting and calculating. That woman, while beautiful, couldn’t coax a man to her bidding without the magic of her voice.
It was time to conjure a different type of magic. She reached for the eyeliner.
After half an hour, her transformation was complete. Kaiya experimented with a few facial expressions, which looked as artificial as the layers of cosmetics hiding the ravages of worry and fatigue.
Jie’s reflection appeared behind her, eyebrows scrunched together. The Insolent Retainer’s childlike beauty spoke of an innocence which had probably never existed in the half-elf. “Dian-xia, Lord Zheng is in his audience chamber with his wife. It pains me to say Lady Zheng does not hold you in high opinion.”
Unsurprised, Kaiya nodded. “Go on.”
“They questioned Fang Weiyong, who claimed you wished your health to be evaluated after your long journey in the wilderness.”
Fang knew her story well, yet chose to protect her. His lie made her deception easier. Kaiya rose to her feet. “Come, let us see what Lord Zheng wants.”
With Jie in tow, Kaiya walked through the halls. Unlike the lumbering men, she deliberately stepped to make the dark floorboards chirp in harmony with the symphony of spring. It was almost like the perfect melody of songbirds in the Kanin Wilds, on the frigid day when she’d fallen into a freezing tidal pool and tricked Tian into jumping in after her. She stifled a scoff at the coy girl and gullible spy.
She turned into the main audience room. A dozen provincial guards and a handful of silk-robed advisors sank into salutes on the forest-green carpeted floor. Several three-panel screens, lacquered and inlaid with shells and stones, lined the plastered walls. Behind one of the screens, someone breathed rapidly.
From where he sat on an embroidered silk cushion at the front of the room, Lord Zheng pressed his forehead to the ground. His dark green formal robes rustled, and his jade bead necklace clattered. At his side, his wife pursed her lips before bowing as well. Her blue gown, with its pink cherry blossom motif, was more suited for a younger woman.
“You may rise,” Kaiya said.
Both looked up, and while remaining bowed, Zhang Han stood and surrendered his place to her. He then took several steps back and sat cross-legged facing the mat. “Thank you for seeing me, Dian-xia.”
She glided up and knelt on the mat, placing her hands in her lap while Jie came and stood behind her. As protocol demanded, Kaiya tilted her head a fraction to show appreciation for his etiquette. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?”
From his seated position, Lord Zheng bowed low. “Forgive my insolence, but I have heard rumors.”
Rumors. Unless Fang Weiyong revealed it, nobody within Zheng Han’s earshot would know of her secret; and Jie had said Weiyong lied for her. Lord Zheng was baiting her.
“As I once told your son, Zheng Ming, rumors proliferate like weeds after spring rains.”
Lord Zheng nodded.
“Yes. But for every dozen weeds, there is an occasional flower.”
Zheng Ming had once responded with almost the same line, what seemed to be a lifetime ago. Their conversation had been lighthearted in nature, a dance between man and woman. Kaiya had little interest in games right now. “What kind of flowers do we speak of?”
Zheng Han stared at the floor. “Hopefully, those that have not yet been despoiled.”
If not for the Tiger’s Eye, Kaiya would’ve bristled at the audacity, despite the truth behind it. She feigned outrage nonetheless, scowling and lowering her voice. “Lord Zheng, given your many years of faithful service to my father and now my brother—”
He raised a hand. “One is dead. The other not only invites rebellion with weakness, but is also far away from here.”
There it was, the first hint of mutiny. A stalwart supporter during Father’s rule, even through the last unstable years, Zheng Han had never showed any signs of treason before.
And now, she was his virtual prisoner.
Jie fidgeted, eyes darting around the room and a hand inching into a sleeve. Yet even with her formidable martial skills, she wouldn’t stand a chance against the entire castle garrison, let alone all of the provincial soldiers in the surrounding city.
It was time to persevere. Kaiya said, “So, what do you suggest?”
Lord Zheng pressed his forehead to the ground in a symbolic gesture that rang hollow, given his words. “My personal physician would like to confirm that the…uh…flower…is still…blooming.”
Her younger self might have fainted from the suggestion. Instead, Kaiya pressed her hand to her mouth and widened her eyes for show, even as she weighed the alternatives. If she refused outright, Zheng Han would not dare force her; at the same time, he might hold her hostage.
On the other hand, the truth could give her leverage…if she could trust a hereditary lord who now questioned the authority of the Tianzi.