88 Four Shots Fired... (1/2)
Xiang Yu and his men rode out of the capital with Chang Chang's decapitated head and met the sect master's forces on the edge of one of the rivers that washes on the plains during the monsoon season.
They rode on trucks that cleaved the darkness with their powerful beaming headlights. The sight so staggered the enemy that they watched stunned as the headlights picked them out one by one as they sat alert on their horses. What made the whole situation even more terrifying was that all of them were exposed under the unerring ray of the beams while their opponents watched them from the darkness beyond.
Xiang Yu and five men of his men got off one of the trucks and walked forward, revealing themselves with the lights streaming behind them. They didn't speak merely waited in silence. After a while, five men, headed by a white bearded man wearing the long white robe of a Taoist master, slowly walked towards them.
Without a word, Xiang Yu took the burlap bag he held in one hand and threw it on the ground. The bag thudded then teetered on the grass and was still.
Under the powerful beam of the headlights, Xiang Yu watched impassively as the sect master stared riveted on the burlap bag. He wasn't the only one. Everyone's eyes had followed the movement of the bag with barely concealed dread. After a while, the sect master motioned to one of the young men by his side. The young man retrieved the bag, walked to his master's side then opened the flap.
The sect master's cry was heartbreaking in its utter surprise. Panicked by the sound of sorrow in that single sound, the young men surrounding the sect master gathered round the burlap bag and peered at its content. Their gasp and howls of cries were anguished, like wolves abandoned by their dead wives.
Without a thought and disregarding the sect master's command to halt, the young men charged forward, their swords aiming straight for Xiang Yu's throat. Before they could reach him, however, four shots rang out and the four young men who charged at Xiang Yu with bitter, resentful eyes lay very much dead and unmoving on the ground.
The silence that followed was deafening.
”We know what you planned to do. We already put a stop it to. All your men are dead. If you want to add more to their number, then we will be more than happy to oblige you,” Xiang Yu articulated the words clearly. He wanted to let them know that there were no more moves for them to make other than complete surrender. The empress dowager had been clear on that. When it came to the security of the capital, all bets were off. Death or surrender. There was no middle ground at all.
The sect master stared at the four dead bodies on the ground with unseeing eyes. Two of them were his own nephews. The other two were sons of dear friends who had been with him for nearly their entire lives. And even his daughter...His shocked eyes stared uncomprehendingly at the unfamiliar contraptions the men were riding on, hiding behind the darkness while they menaced them with those powerful beams of light.
Had the world changed the last time he visited the capital? He remembered in his youth when he had fallen in love with Yuqui and marveled at its beauty. The capital was the center of great power in this beautiful land of theirs, founded by a simple man armed with nothing more than his indomitable will and the strength of a vision that started an empire. It had never known famine nor defeat, the reason why it was coveted and desired.
The last decade, however, Yuqui had teetered on uncertainty. Emperor Gu Fang although popular with the masses was disliked by his own court. Intrigue and gossip ruled the day, which could be the reason why the monarch was so insistent on going outside and waging war against anybody foolish enough to meet him on his way.
Not long after that, he was back, bringing with him a little girl as his intended bride, a young girl old enough to be his child.
The rumors of unrest even within his own army intensified. Then the emperor died, followed by his equally famous mother, then his foreign-born wife. The only one left was his son, fifteen year old Gu Sheng who was not strong enough to ride even the dumbest horse in his stable. And then the surprising news of his stepmother waking from the dead followed by the shocking news of the rebellion from the maternal side of his own family.
What made the news intriguing to him was that in all of this, the army under General Chen Lou was never recalled to the capital. Even at the height of the scare of the impending invasion, the army never stirred, as if the capital had suddenly forgotten about it or separated itself from it. And the news that followed which indicated that only a handful of elite palace guards and the civilian population were called in to defend the palace walls...
The sect master had a sudden thought, an idea he had tentatively ran by his close confidants. The possibility made all of them drank with giddiness. The capital, the glorious pearl of the Yuqui empire, open for the plucking to anyone strong and ruthless enough to take it.
The whole idea seemed insane when he first thought about it but then he and all of them fell into endless covetousness, such passionate delirium that the idea seemed not only possible but fated. Then the announcement for the start of the next Battle of Talents. The fated had become reality. And reality turned out to be a nightmare.
The sect master blinked the salt from his eyes. Death or surrender.
Without another word, he hefted the burlap bag in his hand and held it tightly then motioned for his men to retrieve the bodies lying motionless on the ground. The sect master then jumped on his horse and whirled it around, riding back in ignominious defeat. The sound of galloping horses followed him after a while.
The powerful beams guided their departure in silence until their silhouettes disappeared from sight and vanished into the darkness beyond. The silence that followed was tinged with relief yet strange sadness.
Yi Hai and his men disappeared into their truck.After a while, the beams turned around and drove back to the capital. The river and the plains reclaimed the night, the silence broken only by the light croaking of frogs by the banks.
An Ning went back to the banquet just after everyone had eaten their dinner and were now walking off its effects by strolling comfortably in and around the pavilion grounds. The empress' sudden arrival surprised everyone, especially the emperor.
She had changed her dress into a long black sheathe that pooled around her ankles like dark water. A gray light shawl covered her back and shoulders, the fringes reaching just below her waist. Her hair was unadorned, falling behind her back in a straight, silky line. She wasn't wearing any makeup, just a light dusting of powder on her cheeks and red tint on her lips. She looked beautiful but somewhat unapproachable, her expression detached and cold.
”What happened?” Gu Sheng asked, as he approached and stopped before her. Yi Hai followed behind him, his expression grim yet worried.
”The Laniang prisoners just foiled an attack,” An Ning said without preamble.
”What?” Gu Sheng was stunned, looking at his stepmother like she suddenly turned into a horned-monster spouting nonsense.
”I sent out some men. I'm waiting for them to come back.”
”Are you alright, your grace?” Yi Hai asked. ”Your arm...”
Gu Sheng looked at where he was pointing. The wound inflicted by Chang Chang's sword had been covered with some kind of gauze plastered on her skin. An Ning had remembered the medical kit in Enxuo's supply and pulled out alcohol, cotton, cream medication and bindings. She had cleaned the wound after washing to get rid of the smell of blood. She had done her best but couldn't hide the proof of this night's activities.
”You were hurt?” Gu Sheng was shocked. ”Why didn't you tell me?”
”Because I was alright and it's more important that nothing else goes wrong during the banquet. Besides, I had it under tight control. All I'm doing now is waiting for those men to arrive.”
”But...”
”Shhhh. We'll talk later after the party ends.”
The party ended close to midnight. It was about the longest banquet celebration everyone could remember having attended. The emperor and empress stayed the whole night as well, smiling and talking to guests, strolling around the pavilion grounds like normal people would. The empress also invited a group of street musicians, who played their instruments and filled the night with music. There was dancing and singing and lots of friendly bragging and boasting between intoxicated game participants. The food kept coming. The wine kept flowing. It was a magical night. But in the end, the party had to stop, the music to end, and the night to turn into morning.
When the guests left, the servants handed them little bags which when opened contained a sampling of the little mouth-watering pastries made by Sweet Nothings. It was a touching coda to end a great party and everyone left content and happily smiling.
Xiang Yu who had been watching the party on shore this whole time finally made his way to the pavilion where the emperor and empress and the guard commander sat waiting around a small table.
Xiang Yu stood at attention but was dumbfounded when the empress motioned him to a chair. Xiang Yu gingerly sat down, his face flaming with combined agitation and embarrassment. An Ning motioned to a hovering servant.
”Bring food and wine and those pastries. Four plates as well. Can you ask the kitchen to also boil some tea for us? That would be all. Thank you.”
They waited until the servants arrayed the food on the table and the tea to arrive. Surprisingly, the empress poured the tea for them, saying as she did so, ”Come on, dig in. I didn't have a bite to eat the whole night and I'm hungry.”
The four of them started eating in companionable silence. It was like a feast to Xiang Yu. He never realized how hungry he was until now, when the young empress served him the tea and the scent of it started warming him up inside.
The empress was a good hostess. She carried on a light conversation about the dishes and the pastries which she said took Sweet Nothings a whole day to make. The emperor it seemed also had a sweet tooth because he had quite an array of them arranged on his plate. Then they all leaned back, satisfied. Another pot of tea was served. This time, it was the servant who poured the warm tea on their cups. Then the servants were dismissed. The pavilion was finally quiet and Xiang Yu began his report.
”Do you think he'll be back to avenge his daughter's death?” the emperor asked.
He, of course, was the sect master.
”He was terrified of those trucks we rode in, your majesty. And the shots which killed those four young people. He didn't know and perhaps didn't understand how the capital could have such ability to kill so easily. He perhaps thought he could just come in, cower people with their mighty martial arts skills and that would be it. Fight over and he wins. But it was not as he expected it to be. So, no, I don't think he'll be able to do anything except stay as far away as he can from Yuqui.”