They were late. One hour left.

Panicking like no other, Chen paced back and forth along the guarded, dimly lit streets. He had the shoreline covered with materials but the absence of soldiers to utilize these resources mocked him as a failure. The few remaining men were hardly qualified as militia and stood there, dumb and confused; the only weapon they had been trained to wield was their calligraphy brushes, shielded by their scrolls.

Impatient for action, you finally decided to descend from your thinking place for air down below and it was by pure luck that Chen, who was in obvious distress, found you at the right time. 

When asked how things were going, Chen managed to spit out, “Who was supposed to meet Tao’s troops?!”

Blinking a few times and admiring the line of border protection he had laid out, you answered, “Umm… some members from Crimson Lotus were supposed to,” ‘Led by Qi-yan’ – you thought the last part to yourself.

“Well, not accusing you of anything but your group obviously isn’t doing a good enough job. Tao’s late. We’re running out of time.”

Taken aback, you frowned. “What?”

“It’s impossible for Tao to get lost in his own city, so something else has got to be the problem.” Chen scowled with worry. “We’re running out of time!” He repeated. “If the men don’t reach here before the enemy does, then we’ll be in real trouble.”

Chen turned into himself. In moments of distress, he channeled the only thing that would bring him hope. His intelligence. How could invading ships be deterred? Our attack would need to be from a distance. Something impervious. Something rapid and aggressive. As his brows furrowed further, he just so happened to look up for inspiration in this time of desperation and saw your back. It was then that a flash of the brightest light shot through his mind. That’s it.

They came.

They came in torrents, tornados, a torpedo of fury. Enemy ships simmered on a wave of fortitude, thinking that victory would be certain. However as they neared the shore, the resolve they held in their pockets crumbled to sea sediment. Really, it was the tonnes upon tonnes of firecrackers called on at the very last minute that did the trick. Firecrackers turned into flaming arrows and arrows turned into cannons. Chen encouraged the men to do all they could. All ideas for defense were allowed. Although it was definitely the most creative battle strategy used yet, inventiveness only sustains you for so long. There were thousands upon thousands of enemies and some had managed to swim to the shore. When their white-knuckled fingers gripped the stone turrets, even curious ideas could not save you anymore. It returned to being dawn. You still remained, out of time.

“Are you hurt anywhere, brother?” Lay inspected the eldest with a cautious eye as Kris unbound him in a terse silence. Xiumin shook his head. “Just a little, shocked… I guess”, he faltered haltingly.

Kris stood back and threw the limb rope to the side as the freed Xiumin stretched himself. Confirming his arms and legs were somewhat intact the way a victim on death row would look at themselves after they’ve been signed for release. “Yeah, well we’re all shocked too.” Kris’ bitterness seeped through his tightly held words. While Xiumin refused to look around at the bodies of his kidnappers – still in a moment of renunciation while Kris and Lay examined their surroundings. One with relief and the other disgust.

“We’ll have to send people to clean this mess up,” Lay stepped over the body of a guard gingerly, his own frame subconsciously moving towards the door. “Why do you think Sun-ye did this? Why kidnap Xiumin, bring us here and then just remove himself like that?” Lays concern was genuine, not marred by emotions – more he was just confused.

Kris on the other hand grimaced deeply. He was confused but he refused to surrender himself to it. To be disorientated is to lose control and that was the one thing he hated in all of the universe. It was a while before he answered as if trying to recollect himself, “That’s just the question. We don’t know.” His fingers had been balled into fists during the whole ordeal, clenching his sword so tight that his hands trembled when the fingers unfurled; the skin had been pulled so tightly over his bones. He ran a constricted hand through his hair. The Concubines Quarters. What was the link? His mind rushed immediately to you and a shuddering sickness tore through his gut.  “This isn’t the end. We need to get back to the Capital. And fast.”

When Tao finally arrived, Chen and his scholars were on the brink of defeat. The majority of them had been forced into the water by Chen’s bright idea but that only slows down the attack, not stop it completely. They had managed to arrive on land and havoc ran amuck, dripping on the one hand and sparkling on the other. The Royal Militia entered battle like a tsunami; men were ripped off their feet. Despite the soldiers being exhausted from marching all night, this is what years of training had prepared them for. They exercised their movies with vigor, originating not from their mortal flesh but the will to conquer. It brought everyone a new sense of fellowship and you pushed yourself into combat with more enthusiasm. You just wanted it all to be over. You worried for the 3 princes and you wanted to report back to Crimson Lotus, see if new instructions were available. You prayed it would end soon – end in a way that peace and security were not compromised. Where you could just relinquish your new identity and return back to the shadows, where you belonged.

As the very last enemy on land was defeated, Chen pointed joyously to the retreating ships in the distance. “We did it.” He cried, incredulously. He surrounded his men, scholars with a new found respect for the physicality of war, not just the logistic, numerical and poetic nature of it and collapsed onto his knees. He dropped the sword his untrained hand was wielding and laughed, near manically. Looking at him, you couldn’t help but do the same.

“My men!” Tao hollered, the sound directing your attention to it. He was positioned closer to the shoreline. Even though he was off his stallion, his presence was still domineering. You watched as he raised his sword, brighter and louder than his own voice. It glimmered in the rising sun. “You have served your Empire well today! This victory calls for a celebration but I bid you, return to your families and rest.” Between each statement was a solemn pause; in this light he seemed older beyond his years. “Reassure them, that the safety of the people had been safe-guarded once again. To our victory!” He hailed and a chorus of cries followed suit in a sound so prideful and glowing, it invigorated all those who had previously been tired and gave them strength. As Tao’s men celebrated and began to disperse, chatting away in an exhausted enthusiasm, you noticed that Tao himself began to walk towards Chen. “Brother!” He cried, a sulky high pitched sort of call. And with that, his cool leader image vanished in a blink.

Tao headed straight to help Chen off the floor as the elder kept laughing. “Should I have prepared a speech like that for my men?” He laughed, pride filling in his chest for having witnessed the youngest in a new light.

Tao didn’t find the statement funny, “Your men are hardly men!” He exclaimed. He dusted the dirt off Chen’s knees and looked around, back and front for any sign of injury. There was slightly bleeding here and there but not bad enough be mortally damaging. “I was worried to death when I saw you trying to fight them. You and I both know that you’re useless with a knife, let alone a sword.”

Chen laughed again, still caught up in the high of triumph. “Well it was a good thing you came in time then. You had me worried!”

“We would’ve arrived earlier, but a little kafuffle happened on the way back.” Tao muttered this under his breath and your ears pricked up. Stepping forward, closer to the two boys, you raised your voice. “Wait, what happened?”

Having noticed you for the first time, Tao studied you closely. Recognising you as the girl from the royal harem, Tao asked quietly “Brother, what is she doing here?” He leant in close to Chen and whispered. It wasn’t so much an accusation than a question out of embarrassment. He didn’t realize you had been there, watching this the whole time.

Ignoring the question, Chen stepped out of Tao’s presence to you. “Anise! There you are. We won, we fought them off. Can you believe it?!” His face was lit.

“What do you mean ‘kafuffle’? What happened?” urgency rose in your voice and you spoke directly to the youngest this time, stepping close to him as if bringing yourself to his proximity would make him speak faster.

Surprised by the sudden confrontation, Tao could only blurt out the truth in its most direct form. “Uh, we… were ambushed.” He said, the words tumbling off his tongue as he tried to produce them quickly and concisely for you.

“What?” Chen chimed in, eyebrows raising skyward in disbelief.

Turning to Chen in gratitude as a diversion from your penetrating gaze, he muffled hurriedly, “Don’t worry, my men are always prepared. Fifty or so men tried to take us down but yeah… someone really must’ve wanted us out of the picture…” He trailed off the last part.

This was new information. Your brain fired impulsively. All the more reason to report back new information. Crimson Lotus needed to know this. What would the next move be? You needed new instructions to figure this all out. Qi-yan always knows what to do. Maybe you could figure out who the ambush group was and find leads there. You placed a soft hand on Chen’s arm, “I’ve got to go back to Crimson Lotus. To tell them that we’ve won here and also that an attack had been planned for Tao. You, go back to the palace, send someone to see if Kris and Lay are alright if they haven’t returned. Please have the palace under control. We have bigger things to worry about.”

Understanding the weight of this situation, Chen regained his serious demeanor. “Understood. But, you’ll be okay by yourself?”

Shooting the boys a sheepish grin, “I’ve always been okay by myself.”

“Alright Tao, lets go.” Chen turned to his brother and straightened his back. “What, brother – she’s with Crimson Lotus? What’s going on? Ambushes happen all the time. It could just be the foreign troups. Aren’t we done with this now?” Tao looked to you and then back to the elder, his face squished in befuddlement.

As you began to walk away, you heard Chen say, “I’ll explain to you later. It’s complicated.”

This was becoming very complicated indeed.

~

Hey guys!! It's been ages!! I really can't believe how much time has passed! It's over a year now and I'm so thankful that you guys continue to support this fic. I forgot all about it until just recently and I'm determined to finish it for you this time. It will happen, so god help me.

A little update about how things are going - and this is because you readers have all been so lovely to me, wondering if things are ok and encouraging me to update: 

So I've just finished my second year of university now. I have 1 more exam to go! (It's quietly killing me). Because of all this study, I just didn't have time to update anymore. But now that summer break is coming around the corner, I can finally get back to it. Sorry for leaving all you wonderful readers hanging! And also for having waited so long. The ending is so close!! 

Hope you enjoy it~

And as always, thanks for reading :)

-yuh168