《Jade General》


 CHAPTER ONE: Hungry

    A/N: HI GUYZZI''m so happy that I''m finally publishing one of my stories... AND PEOPLE EVEN WANT to READ IT AAHHH!! I would love to hear your opinions etc. so please comment below, but plz don''t be too harsh, this is my first story after all.


    ---


    All the servants at the Wei-household and her own mother think of her as a wreck, but they don''t know that the young woman still has the eyes and ears of an eagle. When she hears the usually quite noisy servants outside her room whispering and urging each other to be quiet as they pass her room, she subtly tilts her head in curiosity. It was strange that these servants, that would always be chatting during worktime and acting as if she wasn''t there, were quiet. The woman tries to leave it alone, but she can''t seem to shrug off the feeling that something''s wrong and keeps on thinking about it.


    With an unsteady and bony hand the woman, Wei Yin, fist and last granddaughter of Wei Liang, the late General of the South, grabs hold of the near empty flaks of rice-wine. A loud sigh escapes from her lips, why are these servants being to secretive? Irritation and suspicion rise within her, they are clearly keeping secrets from her... but then she realized that they had every right to, she''s the one that had held herself cooped up inside her room for nearly a year! Yin was also keeping secrets...


    Another sigh breaks the silence and with a snort Yin thinks about her mother, she would surely have scolded for being this loud, it wasn''t ladylike, and she could just imagine her mother telling her that.


    All of a sudden her mother -whom resides at the far end of the house, as if she wants to be as far from her daughter as possible - cries out in joy! Her mother who always had been composed, so composed to never show any love to her daughter... Yin''s brother on the other hand, he had always been the apple of her eye. Yet, way too soon after his death, she stopped mourning. One might think she only pretended to love him because of all of his possibilities: he could become an army captain, or even better, a councilman for the Emperor!


    As the memories of her dead brother cross her mind, Yin places the opening of the flask to her lips and downs the rice-wine that the flask still contains in one go, to drown the memories.


    ''Ugh, empty, again!'' she exclaims, while throwing it far away from her, on top of a growing pile of empty bottles. The sound of breaking pottery somehow calms her down a bit.


    The eerie silence that seems to engulf the house has sparked her curiosity and she can''t seem to extinguish the flames these sparks have light up. Yin has always had a very adventurous nature, but ever since she came back from failing to save her brother, she locked herself in her gloomy, dark room. Nothing had ever really caught her attention again... except for the booze.


    Yin debates whether she should go out, finally she groans and thus, she begins the long, long journey to the outside world, all the way across her room -which could only contain up to six people when stuffing them together.


    Her curiosity wasn''t the only thing to drive her out of her room, the main reason for ever leaving her room, would be to get herself even more booze.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    The old, dented generals helmet that sat on her left, the one that had once belonged to her late grandfather, serves as her support. When the immense struggle is finally over, she stretched and immediately regretted ever getting out of her warm and comfy bed: all her blood ran from her head straight into her legs and she almost fell over from dizziness.


    ''Look at what you have become! You''re an absolute disgrace to your family!'' her inner self said to her in a menacing voice.


    Yin chuckled and replied to herself saying: ''You''re starting to sound like mother!''


    ''Shut up, you good for nothing! How far you have fallen, Jade General!''


    That thought had struck a chord and a single huff was her answer, but Yin shook off the uneasy feeling nonetheless.


    The first part of the journey was over, now she would have to begin the even longer journey to the sliding panel that separated her from booze, er, the commotion, though it was more of an eerie silence. When she finally arrives at the door, she has to squint her eyes shut because of the little bit of light seeping through the cracks. Yin reaches for the door with her hand, that seemed almost of a transparent color in the yellowish light. With surprise she wiggles with her bony fingers, as if to test if she was still alive and she wonders how she ever became like this. Carefully she slides open the panel, closing her eyes for the bright light that wanted to stab out her eyes.


    Xia, the servant girl her mother had appointed to take care of Yin, jumps up in surprise when Yin appears in the doorway. Normally Yin would just ask her to bring more booze instead of coming to the door herself. Xia eyes Yin nervously, had she done something wrong? She notices that the continuous lack of nutrients and sunlight had had its effect on her: Yin was pale like a ghost and as thin as a stick, her bones protruded from her skin, making her look like a walking skeleton.


    ''Miss Yin, can I do something for you?'' Xia asks with a trembling voice.


    Why is everyone afraid of me, Yin wonders. Her inner self answers: ''Must be because of your weird eye color, you freak!''


    ''Miss Yin?'' Xia asks again when she sees that Yins mind hand wandered off. Is she going to be okay?


    ''Oh yes, could you bring me some booze and explain what the silence is all about?'' the tipsy woman slurs, while having to hold herself upright by leaning on the door post.


    A wave of fear flashes in Xia''s eyes, but she manages to keep a straight face. Yin wasn''t to know about this until her mother tells her about it herself. Xia hated to have to lie to her best friend, but she had to, to protect herself.


    ''I''m sorry, miss Yin, but mistress has forbidden me to bring you more alcoholic beverages,'' Xia says, imitating Yin''s mother.


    Yin snickers and says: ''You know, you''re getting better at that every time, keep it up!''


    After a short pause she asks: ''Why were you afraid just now?''


    Instead of trying to deny Yin''s observation, Xia answers truthfully: ''You know your mother will hurt me if I let you to do whatever you please...''


    ''What has she done to you?'' Yin asks, but she doesn''t wait for an answer. Her hand shoots forward like a snake striking at its prey snake and snatches Xia''s arm. Xia never expected her to be this quick and couldn''t stop Yin. With the other hand Yin shoves down her sleeve, revealing bruises and cuts.


    ''I''m really gonna kill her some time, just wait and see!'' Yin says, seething with anger.


    ''Yin, please, you have been through enough already, don''t get yourself in even more trouble... not for me!'' Xia pleads with Yin.


    Yin sighs, ''you know, I have already hated her for so long. After I returned, I had hoped for her to be happy with my... accomplishments, my existence, but it seems she can only be displeased about me. She is so inhumane towards you... Is it because she doesn''t like the bond we share?'' Yin muttered the last part.


    Xia is about to answer Yin, to comfort her, but just at that moment, Yins stomach growls in hunger.


    After Yins stomach stops, Xia says: ''That was the longest sentence I''ve heard you speak until now-''


    Yins stomach starts again, and Xia and Yin start laughing, Yin even falling over and snorting in the process, which results to Xia laughing even louder.

 CHAPTER TWO: I lost my appetite

    A/n : have fun reading!! :)


    When both finally had calmed down, they went to look for some food in the kitchen. There turned out to be nothing... except for raw ingredients.


    ''Oh, whatever, I''ll eat later,'' Yin says with a pout on her face and turns around with slumped shoulders.


    ''Yin, I know you''ll forget to do so, I mean, look at you!'' Xia exclaims.


    Yin looks at herself, finally realising that she really was in a terrible state... and she shrugs.


    ''Fine, I''ll go cook something. Xia, bring me some rice-wine!''


    Xia is dumbfounded, did she already forget about the talk they just had? And since when does she cook?


    ''Since when do you cook? I''ve never seen you do it before!'' Xia exclaims in surprise.


    Yin gives her a look, ''I could already cook a bit, but out there, you learn all sorts of thing, even cooking... sometimes it helped me get my mind of things while still helping the troops. Didn''t you know that?''


    Xia shakes her head, the silence prolonged as Yin continued cooking them a meal.


    ''Sorry,'' Xia whispered, ''did I cross the line,'' she asks when the silence becomes too much for her to bear.


    ''No, it''s fine, it''s just...'' Yin sighs, ''I don''t... these events are the main reason for me to be like... this,'' she says and she points to her own body. ''They are the reason I don''t sleep at night, they are the reason I lock myself up in my room...'' Yin swallows the lump in her throat and hesitates.


    ''You know you don''t have to talk about it,'' Xia assures Yin, seeing the pain displayed all over her face.


    Yin sighs again and nods. ''Thank you Xia.''


    After a short period of time, Yin puts a meal on the table. ''Let''s eat!'' she says surprisingly excited. Yin and Xia dig in, but Yin was careful not to eat too much, she knew she would become sick afterwards.


    When Xia was done and Yin only half way through, a servant came in, ''Mistress is looking for you, Miss Yin.''


    With astonishment and with her mouth agape, Yin looks at the servant, did she really just hear that correctly, she wondered. The happy emotion on her face make room to a disgusted one as she puts her chopsticks down.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ''All right, take me to the old hag,'' she orders as she gets up from her seat.


    ''But, Miss Yin, what about your food, you really need to eat,'' Xia opposes.


    Yin turns to look at Xia and with a blank face, she says: ''I believe I quite lost my appetite,'' and she walks away.


    ---


    ''Mother, to what do I owe the pleasure,'' Yin clearly and calmly speaks, she sobered up immediately when she heard her mother had asked for her.


    ''Daughter...'' her mother''s scrutinizing gaze observes every bit of her daughter''s thin body with disgust. ''Please sit,'' she finally says sourly.


    ''I think I prefer standing, mother.''


    ''So you can easily turn on me and run away from your duties again?'' her mother questions with a sneer clear in her voice.


    ''Did you call for me just to humiliate me, or is there another reason for mother to call me? Otherwise I would like to go back to what I was doing...''


    ''Oh, please,'' her mother stretches the last word, ''it''s not like you have anything better to do than drinking all of our wine!''


    Yin balls her fists in anger, if only the old hag knew... If only I could show her all I have done for her!


    ''Now, now, no need for such a vulgar stance,'' her mother points out.


    ''Get to the point, hag,'' Yin says, the last part she repeated only in her mind.


    ''An imperial edict has come... you know what that means, don''t you?''


    Yins eyes widen and she pales to a ghostly white, she''s almost blends in with the white mourn clothes she was wearing. Her brain is working at full speed, she swallows the lump in her throat.


    ''You know it is not a possibility for me to go... I still am in mourning...'' she croaks, her mouth had gone dry.


    ''For those mystery friends of yours? No, you will go and you will serve this family to your utmost extent! Am I clear?!''


    ''WHY do you ALWAYS do this?! WHAT have I done WRONG?!'' tears burn in Yins eyes.


    ''Do NOT raise your voice to me, young lady! And you know the reason! You brought shame upon this family! A woman is supposed to be at home, having a family of her own, serving her husband! YOU on the other hand went off to play with the SOLDIERS!''


    A hateful growl erupts from deep within Yin. ''You have NO IDEA AT ALL what I have been through, what I HAVE DONE for YOU, for BROTHER, for this ENTIRE EMPIRE!''


    When she finishes her sentence, her mother slaps her across the face, hard, her head whips to the side. Yin is about to strike back when her mother says: ''Do not DARE to involve your BROTHER is this! It''s your fault he died! You-''


    ''WHAT?! I SAVED him! Why can''t you see that?! Why do I ALWAYS get the blame?!''


    ''You might have saved him, I will never know, but to what extent? YOU let him fall in the hands of the enemy! YOU KILLED HIM!''


    All of a sudden, Yin is quiet, that last sentence had struck a chord inside of her. The once angry aura around her turns into one of deadly calm and her mother notices. It strikes fear into her heart, the sudden change around her daughter, her quietness and she herself stills as well.


    With a sigh, Yin mutters: ''Fine, if this is what I have to do to get your approval, mother, I will do it, I will go... But don''t ever think I''ll come to your help when you need it.''


    Yin turns on her heel and leaves her scared mother alone in the room, who collapses on the ground with tears burning in her eyes. She was losing yet another one of her children, for what? She only wanted what was best for them...

 CHAPTER THREE: Im not wearing THAT!

    ''Yin, please, listen to me! Let me go in your place, you''re not ready to go there!'' Xia pleads with the stubborn woman. For over an hour since Yin woke up this morning Xia had tried to make her see she couldn''t leave for the palace... Yin wouldn''t listen to her plan, a plan where Xia goes in Yin''s place and Yin would stay at home.


    ''Xia, I am going and that is final! Maybe it''s for the best that I''m leaving for that hellhole,'' Yin says decisively, while grabbing the last of the stuff she would be taking with her. One basket contained her grandfather''s helmet and sword, together with the armor and drawings of her dear friends. Other weapons she took with her hidden between her clothes. None of the baskets contained jewelry, she didn''t bother, not that she possesses good looking jewelry.


    Why on earth would I try to seduce a man I don''t know... or rather, a man I don''t want anything to do with?!


    Hate for that man is rooted deep within her and she would do her best to either be as discreet or misbehaving as possible.Maybe he would send me home if I annoy the crap outta him...


    Together with the imperial edict came a dress, a dress all women that would become his concubines should wear. The sight of the soft pink hanfu strikes fear within her, even though she was just as courageous as the late General of the South. But, Yin wasn''t afraid of becoming his concubine or slipping up, she was afraid of all the women... They would be insufferable, she knows out of experience, and she wasn''t looking forward to all their quarrels and their bitchiness. A dreadful and panicky feeling settles in the pit of her stomach when she thinks of the little time remaining. When the image of her frightened mother flashes before her eyes, she clenches her fists in anger. Because of her...


    ''Yin, you''ll have to wear the hanfu, you know that right?'' Xia asks when she notices the dread Yin has towards the thing. ''I know pink is not your favorite colo-''


    ''You''re right, it''s a horrendous color and I refuse to wear that abhorrent thing!'' Yin cuts her off mid-sentence. Xia was supposed to help her dress, but Yin refuses her help every time she offers it. Yin was dead-set on wearing her mourn-clothes while going to the palace, not only for her friends, but also for the end of her somewhat peaceful life, for she was about to enter the lion''s den. Besides, this would be her first act of rebellion, a perfect way to make a statement.


    ''Yin, please, what would they do-''


    ''I don''t care, the only thing these bitches can do is talk and even if they plan on doing something else... they won''t know what''s coming for them,'' Yin says with a grin plastered on her face.


    Xia snickers and says: ''You''re right, why am I even worrying for you, you''ll be fine. Besides, you have become more alert and your body has strengthened quite a lot already...''


    ''I know you''re worrying about something, I can hear it in your voice. What is it?'' Yin asks her last remaining friend with curiosity.


    ''The only thing you haven''t been doing is stopping with the drinking. I mean, what if you''re drunk and the Emperor calls for you?''


    Yin shrugs. ''Not my problem, that would be his problem, it would he his fault for calling me in the first place... if I''m drunk, he''ll have to deal with it.''


    Xia sighs and face palms. How could she be so intelligent while also being so dense? She''s just like her mother in this regard.


    The same servant that had come to get Yin when her mother had called for her, turned up on the doorstep of her room to announce the carriage had arrived.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ''Yes, I will be coming shortly, you may leave,'' Yin says like she is right on top of things, while on the inside, she was panicking and damning the Emperor for ever calling her to come to his palace. The last thing she does is placing a necklace with her grandfather''s seal around her neck, the hanfu was stuffed in one of the baskets. As one of the servants carry down her baggage Yin puts a wide, bamboo hat on top of her head to protect her from the bright light outside.


    ''Are you ready to go, Miss Wei?'' the courrier asks when she''s downstairs. He knew she couldn''t say ''no'', so he didn''t wait for an answer and turned around.


    Yin curtly nods to the courrier that was already turned around. With a painful heart she gazes over the house of her youth that she would leave behind for ever. She had just said her goodbyes to all of the servants, including Xia and she was ready to go. The courrier picked up her baskets beside her and she took it as her que to get inside the carriage. When she''s inside, she pushes aside the curtains hanging in front of the little window. Deep in her heart she knows she was hoping to see her mother waving goodbye, but in her mind she was just sad for leaving and somewhat disappointed. The carriage pulled away and she straightened, dropping the curtain. You are the granddaughter of Wei Liang, the late General of the South, you know the Jade General, conqueror of the Wastes of Pyquan, she keeps on repeating in her head to keep strong and it seems to work.


    Without Yin knowing, her mother, with a painful heart, had watched her only daughter leave, through the gap between the window and the windowsill.


    ---


    Not soon after Yin''s departure, the shaking of the carriage and high adrenaline levels had rocked Yin into a peaceful slumber. She woke up to hearing: ''Miss Wei, Miss Wei, please wake up, you''re late! Miss Wei!'' , right beside her. Her head shot up and her eyes were wide open within seconds.


    ''Late? What for? I''m not in a warzone am I?''


    ''Warzone? Miss Wei, what are you talking about? The Jade General has brought peace upon the land...'' the courrier says while scratching the back of his head. ''Anyway, you should quickly go inside, the other girls are waiting for your arrival.''


    ''Why didn''t you tell me sooner?''


    ''Uhm, I tried, but you were asleep, Miss Yin.''


    ''Right, sorry,'' she says while coloring beet-red in her face.


    Yin steps outside, letting her eyes adjust to the bright light of the late midday sun that reflected of the tiles and stretches with a loud yawn. The man beside her looks at her with surprise, a concubine-to-be being so unladylike?


    ''So, do I... go in there, or something?'' Yin asks him.


    He shrugs while making an uncertain sound, facing one of the many palace entrances together with her, both of them in awe of the grand building in front of them and the riches it holds.


    Without the man noticing, an elderly woman approaches them. ''You must be Miss Wei,'' she says while turned towards Yin, ''please follow me, you''re quite late, if I may say so.''


    Yin snorts and shakes her head, typical palace manners: always aggressiveness coated in politeness.


    ''And you are?'' she asks as impolite as possible, just to irritate the woman.


    ''Excuse me, young lady, do you have any idea who you are talking to,'' the elderly woman says flabbergasted.


    ''Well,'' Yin draws, ''that is the reason I asked you...''


    To her surprise, the woman burst out in laughter. Although her face was wrinkled, as an indication of fighting the many ordeals of life, her charcoal eyes and laughter were as clear as the crisp winter mornings that this empire knew.


    ''I like you, Miss Wei, your witty remarks and clever answers will certainly be to your favor.'' The woman eyes Yins reaction intently and sees what she expected to see: a form of distaste or even disgust. ''Yin, you will most certainly be one of His Majesties favorites, even though you might not want it.''


    Did I really make it so clear? Wait... how does she know my first name? She isn''t supposed to.


    ''How do you know my first name, old lady?''


    ''Old lady! What a way to address your elder-'' the woman points out with devastation.


    ''You just said it yourself!'' Yin points out with a wrinkle on her nose.


    The old lady cracks up again, ''You are very clever, Yin. Now, about your name... I knew your grandfather and father.''


    This bit of information has Yin dumbfounded and she stops dead in her tracks. The wheels in her head are turning and she goes over every possibility until the answer was found. She analyses the woman''s features, her ways of talking and the slight dialect seeping through her formal speech, the way she stands and acts... it all pointed out to one thing:


    ''Grandmother?!''


    ''You finally noticed, Yin? I thought you''d be flying me around my neck crushing me in a-''


    Just at that moment, Yin did what she had thought of her to do. Her arms around her grandmothers fragile frame, her head buried in the curve between her neck and shoulder.


    ''How I''ve missed you! Mother was becoming so insufferable...'' Yin swallows and changes the subject, ''what should I call you, I mean, it''s probably not a good idea to show them women we''re related.''


    ''Well, for them, I am Lady Wei-Xiang, but you may call me grandmother whenever we''re alone.''

 CHAPTER FOUR: One hell of a time

    Like Yin had already predicted, the girls that were already inside immediately begin whispering amongst each other when she enters. Probably things like: ''why is she wearing those clothes, she must be a peasant, look how ugly she is,'' stuff like that. Without any form of shame she rolls her eyes and continues her was to a table set up with refreshments. Her eyes quickly take in all the different types of drinks, but when she found no alcoholic beverages, like her mother loved to say, she scrunched her nose.


    ''This is going to be one hell of a time,'' she mutters to herself. The woman she knew was standing behind her gasped at her informal speech and her dialect that predominates her voice. For the second time within the mere stretch of a minute, Yin rolls her eyes.


    ''Is there a reason for you to stand so close behind me? Or am I in your way?'' Yin asks the woman, letting her dialect predominate as much as possible, just to irritate her. As Yin turns, she sees it was working, the womans face was red in anger.


    ''Ah, I-'' she tries to say something, but Yin turns towards the drinks again, searching for something nice to drink. The woman raises her hand and touches Yin''s shoulder. Yin''s reflexes kick in and she quickly turns around, startling the woman. The corner of her lips rise only the slightest bit at the woman''s frightened stance. All bark and no bite, so predictable!


    Quickly, another woman comes their way, with a few others in her wake, like vultures being pulled to their next victim. This woman seems to be high-born, jewelry adorns her head and neck and pretty much any surface that could be covered by jewelry. She seems to know what she''s doing and won''t let herself be put in place so easily. Her face seemed to be twisted in an eternal smile, a smile as fake as the goody-goody look on her face. If only she wasn''t so fake, she would be a very pretty woman...


    ''Jie-jie was wondering why you are wearing these clothes, just like all of us, actually,'' the woman says with a venom-laced tongue, yet her voice was sweet and tranquil.


    ''Ah, well, as anyone with a head on their shoulders will know, these white clothes indicate that I am in mourning,'' Yin says with a certain amount of sarcasm, ''but I''m sure you knew that.''


    ''You are indicating that I am dumb? I was simply wondering why you are wearing these rags instead of the hanfu the Emperor has so kindly had gifted us with. Mourning shouldn''t be an excuse for you to deny his Majesties request! Wearing this special hanfu indicates your subservience and loyalty towards his Majesty,'' she says with a haughty voice. Yin can see right through her facade, how hyporitical the woman really was. Yin knew the extent women would go through to get a high position in the palace. This woman might even be aiming for Empress, as the Emperor hasn''t selected his Empress yet. So sweet and clever on the outside, so wicked and corrupt on the inside! This time, Yin manages to restrain herself from rolling her eyes with great effort. Not even one day and they had already managed to drive her insane!


    ''I believe I have already served his Majesty quite enough, not that you would know of it.''


    ''So you are saying you are a whore?'' the woman sneers and laughs at her own clever retort.


    ''You know this means you''re calling yourself a whore as well, right? I mean, saying I slept with his Majesty in order to get a higher position practically makes each and every one of you a whore!'' Yin says with a smirk on her face that she is unable to remove for her own good. Quickly, she glances around, a part of the women were listening in on their friendlyconversation.


    ''Besides, why would I everwant to do that? I don''t have such low morals unlike some women...''The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ''How dare you!'' the woman shrieks and raises her hand to slap Yin across the face. Yin, as an experienced warrior and tactician, could see it coming from miles away. With a vice-like grip she snatched hold of the woman''s arm.


    ''Let me go, you peasant!'' The woman shrieks, Yin frowns at the sharpness of her voice. That woman sure is good at hiding the underlying poison. The noblewoman had kept Yin busy, she hadn''t heard someone approaching behind her. If the woman hadn''t kept her busy, she would have recognised the footsteps immediately. But now, Yin sees the woman looking at something behind her and her hateful features smooth out to the most deceiving and sweet face Yin had ever seen. Someone is behind me, someone of importance, probably,Yin realises. Instead of turning around, she stays like that, not interested in the one behind her. Finally amused, Yin was planning on continuing the quarrel with the lady. She was having fun for the first time in forever.


    ''Do I need to remind you that you were the first to raise your hand? Please do not bore me with your empty headedness again,'' she says at last and Yin releases her arm roughly.


    The person behind her clears his throat, asking for her attention and she slowly turns around... to stare straight into the face of the Emperor himself! Shit, how long had he been there? If he has been here longer than that woman bored me, I''m in trouble!


    ''Your Majesty,'' Yin says with a calm voice, not trying to cover up the slight trace of her accent in her voice, ''please forgive me-''


    At the words Your Majesty all of the women''s heads snapped towards the scene and everyone fell silent, everyone bowed. When he motioned them to rise, gasps of surprise are heard and he knew it was because of his youth and beauty (he is quite narcissistic), yet the woman in front of him did not seem surprised. Her unfazed face suprised him, he had never seen her around the palace ground. He studies her face for a while, until his eyes rest upon her jade green ones.


    Just like the Jade General! What a sight!


    ''You are not at fault...'' he hesitates, he doesn''t know her name.


    ''My name is Wei Yin, your Majesty,'' she says and she bows before him reluctantly.


    He swears he heard hate and sarcasm in her voice, but he shrugs it off and says: ''May I ask you why you are not wearing the designated clothing?''


    ''As you can see I am wearing mourn clothing, Your Majesty, I still am in mourning.'' Somehow, her way of speech, her somewhat arrogant but humourus reply reminds him of one of his best warriors.


    ''I was not aware any close relatives to Wei Liang had died? What happened?'' He asks with a confused frown that would have most women swooning over him, Yin on the other hand despised him for his ignorance.


    ''You knew my grandfather? Not very surprising really... As lady... I''m sorry, I never got to know her name, pointed out, we are supposed to wear the hanfu as a sign of subservience towards Your Majesty. My brother and many of my friends died in the war, serving Your Majesty.'' As soon as the sentence leaves her lips, she regrets saying it, she had slipped up! AND he could kill her for the snide remark!


    ''Your brother? I was not aware the grandson of the late General of the South died in the war...''


    Of course you bloody idiot, Itook his place to save him!I only dissappear for a year or so and people think you''re dead! Complete and utter idiot!


    ''I am sorry, I made a mistake, Your Majesty, I was talking of one of my closest friends, he was like a brother to me,'' Yin lies smoothly, not allowing him to see the anger that was boiling inside of her.


    A guard appears beside the Emperor and whispers something in his ear, he nods. ''It seems we will have to talk another time, Yin.'' And with that he takes his leave. The Emperor left Yin fuming, he dared saying her first name like they were well-acquainted or even lovers!


    ''So you are a whore! How else would his Majesty know you?'' the noble-woman says with a smirk on her face. Yin would love to slap it of her stupid face, but containes herself. How stupid can one get!


    ''You might want to check out your ears... His Majesty already mentioned me being from the Wei-household... I am the granddaughter of the late General of the West. They were friends, if you hadn''t guessed that yet, of course we are acquainted!'' Yin lied, because, to be honest, she never met the Emperor when he was visiting her grandfather. To avoid trouble in the future, she made up a lie... if they think the Emperor takes a liking to her, they would give her one hellof a time!

 CHAPTER FIVE: Your dress!

    It didn''t take long for Yin to kick out the maids that were assigned to her. They were buzzing around her like flies around a pile of shit -her own words- and she couldn''t take it... For over a year she had kept herself locked up in her room, only coming out for the booze and that''s that. Her life had completely changed since she arrived at the palace, from silent and void to bustling and full of people, irritation and annoyances. The cacophony of all those women working on her clothes and make-up, all the while talking excitedly, was just too much for Yin. One early morning she decided to kick them out, thanking them for their services and asking them only to come in when asked for. At first her maids had still tried to talk some ''sense'' into her and let them stay to help her dress and and do her hair, but she outright refused to let someone else dress her. Not only because she was perfectly able to do so herself and didn''t want to bother the poor women that were worked as slaves even more; but also because she didn''t want anyone to see the scars that originated from the war. As for the hair and make-up part, she absolutely didn''t care and didn''t try to make herself even more appealing for that man.


    All the women were fitted and measured and had to choose multiple fabrics, colors and patterns for their dresses. The Emperor himself had ordered for the best dress-maker in the Empire to make their dresses. The measure-session with Yin didn''t take long - a few minutes at most - she simply stated she wanted white and plain when she entered, no special requests. And thus, she wore white, plain dresses. Yin refused to shorten her time of mourning, fully realising -but not caring- that it was a very rude gesture towards the Emperor.


    Every once in a while Yin came out for food or drinks, but she remained inside her room most of the day. All the mandatory stuff, like learning etiquette, how to behave like an absolute lady, calligraphy, dancing, embroidery, flower arranging and history classes were the only things Yin attended. A lot of the classes bored her so much, she fell asleep during most of them. At first the teachers tried to reprimand her and demanded her attention... They soon gave up asking for her co-operation. Only history classes kept her somewhat entertained, because of her vast knowledge of the ancient and current wars. Warstrategies and tactics were the things she excelled in; as well as knowledge of landscape of not only her home country, but also the surrounding ones. Quite often she would interrupt and correct the teacher the Emperor had designated to teach them. The Emperor believed a good Empress knows the history of her own empire and the adjacent kingdoms and he most certainly wasn''t wrong about that... but it sometimes felt like the teacher didn''t have his facts straight. Yin questioned the Emperors own knowledge of what was going on in and around his own palace, because he had appointed such a lousy teacher. Whenever Yin raised her hand to either question or correct him, the concubines-to-be rolled their eyes and huffed in annoyance. As for the teacher, he feared her questions and often tried to avoid her gaze when her hand was raised. His hate for her grew by the minute and he was set on either humiliating or killing her. Yin of course knew of this and was watchful, never let her attention slip during alone-time.


    When she was in the protection of her room, Yin wouldn''t sit around, wasting her time. She knew of the rumors of a war approaching. A war with the western kingdoms would be inevitable, Yin knew that. The most frightening factor: the victory of their enemies when a strategie lacked or failed. The last war, the one where the Jade General conquered the Wastes of Pyquan, took a great toll on the military power of the Empire. There were rumors that the clans positioned in the wastes were building an army, an army that would be stronger and more motivaded than any before it. The Jade General had humiliated the clans gravely and they seeked revenge and hungered for blood, his blood. The western clans were known as barbarians and if they conquered the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire; there would be no escape from the following waves of death and destruction. If the Emperor needed the the Jade General again, he would be there by his side, not to gain his favor, not for his life, but for the lives of the people he cared for so deeply. Yin was certain of that.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    In order to prepare for the oncoming war, she was training herself, not only mentally, but also physically. More often she would open the doors to her room to order the maids that were waiting for an order to fetch her documents of military expenses; files about the Four Generals and their way of preparing their troops or about new war tactics that she hand''t heard of before. At first the maids were reluctant, as they had to report her every move to the Emperor. Yin''s odd behaviour had sparked his curiosity and he wanted to keep an eye on her. Now that the Emperor had given permission, curious about her motives, they fetched them without any trouble. The maids would never admit it, but they were happy they got to do something for the grief-struck woman. It turned out, Yin wasn''t such a bad Lady to serve under. Whenever she didn''t need them, she let them do things other maids couldn''t and even allowed them to use the make-up she never wore. Thought Yin was quiet and mysterious, a sisterly bond grew between them.


    The documents were not the only thing that occupied her time, she worked her muscles until she was sore and tired and in need of a bath. Day after day, she trained herself, slowly falling into the military routine. She would come out for food more often, eating fruits and vegatables, meat and rice, no pastries or sweets. It was working, she felt it in her entire being: she was getting stronger. It showed in her walk and in her behaviour. Her hollow figure was replaced by a lean and strong one, her curves even coming back. The only thing she could not and would not change was her drinking... It was the only way she knew how to cope. Every night since she had entered the palace, nightmares would plague her in her sleep, they would hide in the shadows of her room and in every corner and turn of the wide halls of the palace. Every night she would wake up bathing in her own sweat, most of the time thinking it was her friends or even her own blood she was soaking in. Not a single cry would leave her mouth; she wouldn''t scream herself awake when she saw her friend being mutilated and slaughtered in front of her time and again, only sob. Even though the pain and exhaustion were unbearable, she never showed anyone. The only thing that could possibly give away her torture would be the dark circles below her eyes that she conceiled with poweder.


    Yet this moring was different, she wasn''t as agile and lively as usual and completely forgot about the bags underneath her eyes. When she exits her room, her maids run up to her in worry.


    ''Yin, your dress is all wrinkled! You even put it on inside out! What happened?'' one of her maids asks her.


    ''What? Oh, my dress...'' Yin''s gaze lingers down her clothes and she sighs. ''Never mind, I''m late, it''s not like anything importan will happen when I''m in history class,'' she says while swatting away their hands.


    As Yin walks to her destination her head feels light, as if it were floating, the short nights rest had taken its toll on her. The history classes she usually looks forward to so dearly, she now dreads with her entire being. To be exact, she wasn''t looking forward to the human contact and the loss of braincells while sitting there. Adding up to that was that her entire body was stiff and ached with every movement she made.


    Usually she was punctual when it came to history classes, but when Yin turns up in the doorstep a few minutes late, arrogant gazes turn her way. When Yin found out why exactly the women were so pleased by her tardiness, she paled even more...


    The Emperor was joinging the lesson...

 CHAPTER SIX: Angelchalice

    Last time the Emperor decided to join the history classes!


    ---


    Yin swallows down her resentment and takes a seat, all the while keeping her eyes on the teacher. Not once did she glance at the Emperor. His eyes, on the other hand, are fixed on Yin''s pallid face; because the minute she entered, he saw something was wrong, very wrong. All kinds of questions raced through his mind and he was desperately trying to find an answer to all of them. Her pained and unhappy expression somehow made him feel useless. The past three weeks Yin had been doing better; the maids reported him of all her actions and every time he had visited the harem, he would watch over her every move without her being aware of it. He was confused, she had improved so much...What could have happened,he wondered. The Emperor is lost in thought, he doesn''t pay attention to the teacher, who is glaring daggers at Yin.


    Unlike Yin, she keeps her gaze fixed on the ground while one wave of pain after another crash through her spine and brain. With every new wave, awhite light flashes in the corners of her eyes, limiting her vision gravely. The lush and flamboyant embroidery of the cushion she was seated on, blurrs into a splotchy, rusty red. Every word the teacher utters turns into a continuous hammering on her eardrums. The whispers of the women, who were happy she seemed so embarassed for being late, were a mere beeping in her ears. Doing everything in her power to keep sane and stop from screaming out, she grits her teeth and balls her hands, grabbing hold of her hanfu tightly. When the teacher notices her state of distress, a small, sly smirk creeps up his face. He decided it was the right time to call her out. Mid-senctence he pauses his rant about one of the greatest and most devestating wars the history of this country had know. Then he strikes, he asks his question, fully aware of her current incapability to answer him correctly.


    "Miss Yin, how did the Third General of the North plan on winning from the Wind-clans?"


    Yin barely registers the question asked and quietly grunts. The splitting headache was creating a chaos inside her head that interrupted her train of thought. In the back of her head she registered the question and she knows she already has the answer ready, but... Her mind was racing, searching from one end to another to fint the answer.


    "Miss Yin, I will give you one more chance. How did the Third General of the Nort plan-"


    "SHUT UP! I got your fucking question, just shut the FUCK UP!" is what she wanted to yell in his face, but the current explosions in her head prevented her from doing so. Instead, she ignored the man and went over every possibility.No black spots on my skin... no freezing toes or fingers, so it''s not blackshadow... If only I could lessen the pain!What was his question again? Did I already eat today?How would mother be doing? I wonder what''s for dinner. What date is it today? Yin''s train of thought is incomprehensable for even herself.


    No burning feeling in my stomach or convulsions, so it''s not Dragonroot... Sweat dripped of her forehead and her face contorted in strain to keep herself together.Hellionweed, hellionweed... what were the symptoms for hellionweed? Did I already take a bath today? No! Yin!Thinks straight! Hellionweed... vomiting, nasea, convulsions...


    "Miss Yin, please remove yourself from my class, you are not paying attention!" the teachers firmly stated. In his head he was doing a dance of joy, finally he had humilliated the wench and even in front of the Emperor! His plan was working! Again, Yin barely registers the man''s request. Slowly she raises to her feet, stopping midway when something drips onto her folded hands. Her head snaps up, looking for a leak in the ceiling, but find none.Am I hallucinating? She looks down to her hands and a crimson red splotch on her white hanfu sticks out like a sore thumb. It smelled like blood, it felt like blood... The bloodstain grows bigger by the second, blood now also staining the dark oak floor with its dark color.As if she were part of a slow motion, she slowly raises her hand to her nose. Like she had thought, her nose was bleeding profusely. All around her, the women gasp in shock and disgust. Some even squeeked in fright, the possibilty of her carrying a contagious disease had some of them shaking in fear.


    "Excuse me while I go to the physicist..." Yin mutters and turns to the door. The minute the Emperor saw the blood on her hands and face, he stood up and went after her. As soon as he left, the rooms explodes in a cacophony of sounds. The concubines-to-be are astounded, the Emperor had left without a word, going after the peasant, the most unlady-like woman they had ever seen... after the woman that cursed like a sailor! And the Emperor was worried about her! Gossip fills the room, the strangest of theories are made up. All the while, the triumphant teachers tries to calm the women, to no avail.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.


    Outside, Yin calmly listens to the rumor inside the classroom while trying to make out the way to the physician. Then all of a sudden, the Emperor stands in front of her. She wills her eyes to focus on his, which seem worried. She registers movement, his lips, he is talking to her... For some reason his voice sounds distorted, as if she was being held under water. Warm liquid drips down the sides of her neck, staining her white cloathes with its crimson color even more. Blood was running out of her ears in small rivulets. Time was running out for her, just like she was running out of blood.Of course, angelchalice... nose, ears and mouth bleedings, pain in the nervesystem... how did I not notice this before!


    "Yin, are you-" Loud coughing interrupts his sentence. Yin was holding her hand in front of her mouth to prevent blood splattering all over him. Her breath was wheezing as she tries to contain herself.


    "I think I should go find the physician now." Yin grimaced at all the blood. "At least I know what kind of poison was used on me," she snorts at her own joke.


    "What?! Poison? Who did this to you? What kind of poison?" he continuously asks her questions, while trying to contain his growing anger.


    "It''s angelchalice, or, like it''s more commonly called, bloodchaos," she calmly states, not panicking because she knew someone had poisoned her. "If you''ll excuse me-"


    "You don''t seriously think I''m going to let you go on your own?! You could faint while getting there! You could bleed out and die right there!" he exclaims in exasperation. He clenches his fists to keep his anger from rising any further.How could this woman think so lowly of me! I''m trying to help her for goodness sake!


    "Well, then, let''s go," Yin says, too exhausted to argue with him, "before I lose the blood I still have left," she dryly states while turning to the left.


    "That''s not the way to the physician... It seems like it was a good idea to come with you after all," he says with a victorious grin plastered on his face. Yin rolls her eyes at his comment, even though the mere movement had her head splitting in pain, and turns the other way.


    "That''s also not the way to the physician. Here," he says while picking her up in his arm, "this will be quicker."


    "What do you think you''re doing! Unhand me right now!" Yin weakly yells at him.


    "Not a chance," is his short reply. Yin was eager to wipe the smirk of his face, but assaulting the Emperor, a man who was trained in warfare since birth, while poisoned wasn''t such a good idea.


    Yin tries another approach. "You''re getting your clothes all dirty! Those clothes must be worth a fortune!"


    He slightly shakes his head, recognising the clever way she tried manipulating his mind.


    "Let''s just get you to the physician and worry about my clothes later. And by the way, Iamyour husband and Emperor, you should chose your words more carefully-"


    Yin rolls her eyes again, "fist of all, you''re my husband-to-be, we''re not married yet, secondly, this simply is the way I am. If you don''t like it, send me back home!"


    That should shut him up for a while, she thinks.


    "Somehow, you really remind me of someone... the closest friend I ever had..." he says, choosing to ignore her short rant of sending her home. Doing that would make him feel empty all over again, Yin had somehow filled up the gaping hole his dear friend had left him with.


    The weight in his arm shifts and he feels her going limp. Panick squeezes its cold, clammy hands around his troath, but he pulls himself together and rushes to the physician.


    "Make way," he yells at every oficcial, every soldier that crosses his path. Some of them attempt to help him, but soon give up, because of the determined look on his face. When the Emperor was so determined, there would be no-one that could get in his way and live to see another day. He breaks through the paper slide-door that seperates him from the physician, not having patience to put Yin down and open the door.


    "Your majesty, wh-"


    "Help her! She''s being poisoned with angelchalice! Quickly!" he ushers the old man. Understanding the gravity of his words and seeing the blood smeared all over her clothes, he snatches up a few potions littered here and there. After mixing the correct amounts of every ingredient into a bowl, he hands it to the Emperor while taking a look at Yin.


    "She is far gone, your Majesty... I don''t know if the potion will work-"


    "I don''t care, better safe than sorry!"


    "Your Majesty, please hear me out!" the old man wheezes. "If the potion is administered too late, it will either have no effect or have terrible side effects. I can of course try to diminish them, but it''s not safe to say it will work... She is a fighter, I can see, she might survive on her own... but one can never be sure. It is your call, your Majesty. Don''t give it to her in the hope she will recuperate on her own, or give it to her with a high risk of side effects."


    The Emperor looks at Yin, really looks at her, sees her beauty and her flaws. The blood staining her face, hands and clothes contrasting heavily with the paleness of her skin and the brightness of her hanfu. He is being torn apart, don''t give it to her... give it to her... With conflict in his eyes, he holds her in his strong arms. He sighs loudly and grabs hold of the bowl. He closes his eyes, making sure it was the right decision, and puts it to her lips. They part slightly and her feels her weak breath fanning his face. Her face slightly contorts in pain as she slowly drinks the disgusting potion.


    He looks at the physician, looking for comfort, but the old man knows he has to be realistic. "I do not know whether or not she will live, your Majesty. She is in a very critical state right now. Her death will be close to inevitable..."

 CHAPTER SEVEN: "That wasnt very smart!"

    A few months ago:


    The council of elders gathers for the seventh time that mooncycle. Two elders per clan attended, just like in the old days. Saran paces in front of the Yurt impatiently, listening in on their bickering, irritation almost getting the best of her. The temptation to barge in on them grows with every step she takes, but she knows she has to be patient. A loud crack of a jar breaking snaps her out of her thoughts. Shouting and swearing follows, but the sound of her grandfathers voice overpowering all the elders somewhat satisfies her need to smack them on the head.


    The clans of the Wastes of Pyquan, like the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire described them, used to live together in harmony. The council of elders were a court of justice, they solved the internal problems and those between clans; they were the wise counsellors of the headman. This all changed when the Crimson Dragon clan and the Gray Wolf clan went into war with eachother. Alliances were formed and the clans split in two, but even those alliances crumbled. Families were torn apart between the two clans, allegiances to different clans destroyed entire households. The council of elders tried all they could, but to no avail.The civil war raged on for centuries, all because of one runaway princess, until the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire attacked. Their four Generals were strong and ravaged through the wastes like a hurricane, still the clans held. Many lives were lost on both sides, the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire even retreating like the cowards they are. Then another general arose, not one of the four provinces, a greater and smarter one than those four combined: the Jade General. Rumors around his name and lineage spread like wildfire, but the only thing absolutely clear was his eyecolor: green like the jades that adorned the jewelry of the headman''s wife. The Jade General was nothing like the other four, he didn''t bother the conquered citizens, spared the defeated warriors, didn''t feast on the spoils of war and forbade his warriors to touch the women and children. Many thought of this as a clever trick to gain their trust and resented him for his tactics. Hate for the Jade General is rooted deep within every man and woman. They want blood, the blood of the Jade General.


    But before the clans could go into war with the Empire, internal problems had to be solved. This is where the elders come in, they are supposed to bring the clans back together, but as things are now, Saran heavily doubt their capability of doing so. The elders acted unlike their age, more like toddlers than ''elders''. As only child of the clan''s only healer, she was supposed to attend every gathering. Instead she had to wait outside, because she was a woman. When yet another jar breaks, she loses it and barges inside.


    "Saran, step outside right now," her grandfather immediately reprimands her.


    "No, I am a healer, I have the right to attend, even if I am a woman!" she states while crossing her arms like an angry child. "You are getting nowhere with your quarreling. Start acting like people your age and find a way to appease the clans!"


    The anger that radiates of the elders could burn her skin if it weren''t for the layer of clothes she was wearing. Maybe that wasn''t such a good idea?


    "Saran, outside NOW!" her grandfather bellowes with his face contorted in anger. He''s serious, Saran recognises the infuriated tone in his voice and quickly gets out of the Yurt.


    "That wasn''t a very smart thing to do, Saran," a voice tells her while the owner tugs her long, black braid.


    "Nayan, let go of my hair!" Saran turns around to face him. "What do you want, Nayan? Don''t tell me your little brother has hurt himself again?!"The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "No, no, be at ease! My brother is fine, I just wanted to check up on you, see how things were going," he says as he smiles, a blush tinges his cheeks a light shade of pink.


    "Well... thank you," Saran replies akwardly. In her mind she curses at herself. Thank you, was that all you could come up with?! Now he must really think you''re stupid!


    Saran looks up at the tall, lean man. Though ''man'' wasn''t exactly the right word, he was but a year older than her, calling him a boy wasn''t right either. He looks at her with an intense gaze, Saran quickly looks away. It was her turn to blush, she feels her face heat up while she fidgets with the hem of her ia.


    "I was wondering if you would like to go hunt with me?" Nayan asks, knowing fully well she couldn''t resist the offer of going hunting. Saran might be a woman, her female traits were exceeded by her adventurous nature and boyish manners.


    "I would love to," she practically yells, but cringes when she realises she had answered way too eagerly. She mentally slapps herself. Idiot! Now he''ll be freaked out! Thinking you''re some kind of weirdo!


    Going hunting togetherthough, there would have been no way she could have contained herself. When she is about to go with him, her grandfather calls her inside the Yurt.


    "Ah, why now?! I''m sorry, Nayan, I have to go," she apologises with a sad look on her face.


    "It''s fine, I understand... you should go now, your grandfather sounded quite angry."


    Saran nods and looks at him one last time before entering the Yurt. Immediately she feels their gazes upon her face and she swallows, slightly nervous. After looking every elder in the eye and this time also bowing to show her respect *ahem*, she turns to her grandfather.


    "Saran we have made our decision."


    ---


    The Emperor sits behind his desk that is littered with bills, decrees, requests and more. His hands are in his black, silky hair, massaging his tired head. In the back of his head he knows he shouldn''t be resting, he should be working, but his mind keeps on wondering to Yin. He had ordered the physician to bring him updates every hour, still he felt restless. Someone has poisoned one of his wives-to-be, someone on the inside, someone he trusts. He can''t shake the uneasy feeling. The best remedy against restlessness for him was swordfighting, so he stands up out of his chair and makes his way to the trainging field. Once he arrived, he shakes of the heavy robes that he is expected to wear as emperor, and looses his muscles. As he makes his way to the weapon rack, lieutenant Lu Zheng joins him. They don''t ask questions, just grab the weapon they preffered and started sparring. The Emperor wields his guan dao with utmost grace and power, while lieutenant Lu Zheng uses his kusarigama with a lethal perfection. They circle around each other like predators ready to strike at their prey, focussed to the point where they forget the world around them.With each clash of their weapons, with every calculated strike and every block, the Emperor feels his weariness leave him, like flower petals carried away by the wind. It is only until they are both hot and sweaty a soldier comes and breaks up their sparring session.


    "My Lord, there is news about Lady Wei, the physician urges your Majesty to find him," he says emotioinless. He then bows and leaves them.


    Lieutenant Lu Zhen raises his eyebrow at the Emperor in a questioning manner. He was suprised any of the ladies had managed to capture the attention of the stiff and pragmatic emperor. The Emperor notices his gesture and sighs deeply.


    "This will be a topic for another time, Zhen, I have to go now."


    Zhen nods his head in respect and grabs his guan dao and his own kusarigama. The Emperor leaves in a hurry, even forgetting to put on his robes on his way there. When Zhen notices, he shakes his head and smiles softly: he was head over heels and he didn''t even know it.


    In another part of the imperial palace, the Emperor is about to enter the room Yin resides in. His hand was already reaching for the panel when the old physician opened up.


    "Your Majesty, I already thought it was you..." he trails off, his eyes look saddened. The Emperor swallows the lump that had formed in his throat, waiting impatiently for the old man to continue speaking.


    "She hasn''t-"

 CHAPTER EIGHT: "I know who you are, Wei Yin"

    "She hasn''t fully woken up yet, but I think she will make it," the old man tells the Emperor. Immediately his shoulders fall, the tenseness finally leaving his body and he sighs in relief.


    She is going to be fine,no need to worry anymore, right? he thinks when he remembers the old man''s words, fully woken... At that very moment, a long string of cursewords sound through the thin, paper walls of the infirmary. The most astounding thing though, it had been a female that had uttered such vulgar oaths: Wei Yin.


    The muffled sound of people trying to calm her down reach their ears and the Emperor faces the physician with a questioning frown. The old man shrugs in reply and says: "I was not aware the antidote could have such special side effects. Maybe her true colors are showing, your Majesty, I advise against going in there."


    The Emperor chuckles as he thinks about his old friend that used to curse the exact same way, just like a sailor, but quickly puts a serious face on.


    "There is no need for that, old man. The moment she entered this palace, just like all the other women, she became my responsibility. It is fitting for me to visit her, she waspoisoned in my palace and I do not stand for this," he firmly states, straightening his back slightly.


    "Yes, as you wish, your Majesty. About the incident... you did well bringing her here so quickly and knowing which poison it was saved her life, I think," the old man praises him.


    Ever since his father had died, the Emperor often visited the man that had kept him alive for so long: the physician. A father-son relationship had grown between them over time. As for the old man, he was a better father than the late Emperor had been to him. He often advised him and encouraged him to do the right thing. His father on the other hand was only looking for profit and did not care for his people. Them being so comfortable and open with each other was no rarity.


    "Actually, I didn''t know which poison had been administered to her. She herself knew what kind of poison it was and quite frankly, she was calmer than I was at that moment," he says, not wanting to take the credit. As he thinks back to that moment, he frowns.


    "How could a a woman have know about such things as poison and its characteristics?" the old man mutters while stroking his chin (help how do you say this in Englishhhh) all the way down to the tip of his long beard.


    The Emperor hums and tells him that he was thinking the exact same thing. Their chat was interrupted by another string of cursewords and the sound of a pot crashing to the wall.


    "Which one of you nimwits took my seal! You better return it to me now or there''ll be hell to pay!" they hear Yin yell at one of the assistants. Then a growl is heard and more yelling: "Don''t you dare!"


    "What are they doing in there?" the Emperor asks astounded, while already making his way inside. Someone with a cloth in his hand is approaching Yin slowly and with care and two others are holding her down.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "Lady Yin, please calm yourself!" one of them reprimands her, but their pleas fall on deaf ears and she keeps struggling against them. "You are still recovering!"


    "No way, you lost my seal! I must have it back!" these were not her exact words, some were too vulgar to repeat. With that, she tears her arms loose (is this the correct way or should it be lose? don''t think so, but I just wanna be sure) from their vice-like grip and grabs the thing closest to her, her shoes. Carelessly she throws them as hard as she could, one ending up just below the belt of one of the assistants, another right in the face of the thunderstruck Emperor.


    Yin gets up, not aware of her poorly clothed state and tries to get away from the men. Without watching where she was headed, she bumps right into the Emperor. His hands steady her and prevent her from falling. Yin immediately takes a step back to get as much space in between the man and herself. Through her eyelashes she looks up and looks the Emperor in the eye, he seemed surprised somehow. When she studies his face, she notices a red mark in the shape of a shoe right in the middle of his face.


    The Emperor notices her trying to hold her laugh when she looks at his bewildered, but she fails utterly. First she chuckles but it soon turns to outright laughing and snorting.


    "I''m so- I''msorry!" she breathes, because she is unable to stop laughing, "I didn''t think... it would hit you!" while actually enjoying the fact she had hit him full in the face.


    Oh, she''s talking about the shoe... Did it leave a mark?


    Now he starts laughing as well and Yin clutches her sides when it starts to hurt. When she finally straightens her back and stops laughing, her abs hurt and she feels light headed, she starts wobbling. The old man notices, takes her arm and carefully leads her to her bed.


    "Young lady, it is not decent to laugh at his Majesty, a severe punishment is adequate... but I like you! That is why I think you should rest right now, you have been poisoned not so long ago and causing such a ruckuss is too much for your health right now."


    "Yeah, yeah, old man, I know," she says, not realising she uses the term ''old man'' as a friend, even though she is not supposed to know him. While her back was turned on the Emperor, his eyes fell on a fire bird tattoo on her shoulder, it reminded him of something, but he can''t seem to pin it down.


    "Why the sudden visit, Emperor, aren''t you supposed to be busy," Yin very informally asks him, still not aware of her inapproprietness. When her eyes go over his body, she notices his lack of clothes quickly covers her eyes.


    "Why aren''t you wearing your robes?!"


    "I could ask you the same thing, Yin."


    "WHAT?! Blasted!" after a short pause she asks him again: "Anyway, why the sudden visit?"


    "You are aware you were poisoned?"


    "And?" she asks, annoyed by his presence alone.


    "How dense can you be? I was worried about your health! Now that I see you are fine, I''ll take my leave," he says, suddenly feeling angry and he leaves the infirmary in a hurry.


    "What was that about?!" she mutters to herself and then turns to the old man and he shrugs.


    When he walks away, he suddenly turns around and shocks her by saying: "I know who you are, Wei Yin, granddaughter of Wei Liang... but I won''t tell him anything, unless you hurt him... Before you say anything, I know he hurt you too, but I asks of you, beg you, do not hurt him a second time," and then he left.


    "Wait! How did you- What do you mean, second time?" she calls after him, but he had already left the infirmary.

 CHAPTER NINE: depressurize

    A few hours ago Yin had been released from the infirmary as there was nothing wrong with her anymore ¨¢nd she was quite difficult to handle. All this time she locks herself up in her room, her mind venturing to crazy places to find out one thing...


    He knows... he knows... he knows... How? How could he possibly know? I haven''t been careful enough! He shouldn''t know! If it comes out... I''m dead...


    Yin is pacing up and down her room, thinking of every possible way he could have found out. Keeping calm was the most important thing right now, she''s aware of that, but stress was building up miles high. Getting no-where with her pacing, she decides to ''depressurize'' and to say she had quite interesting way of doing so is no understatement. Quietly, like a tiger sneaking to its prey, she exits her room without her maid knowing of it. That they report to the Emperor is no secret to her, but she doesn''t blame them. If they didn¡¯t comply to his wishes, they would be without a job, or even worse, they would be beheaded. Yin knows fear is what is used to keep them in check and she knows the lengths people would go to¡­


    Stealing a maids outfit was the first thing on her ''depressurize''-list, to do so, she has to get to the maids quarters. With the stealth of a ninja Yin evades the guards, that were trained to notice every single invader or spy, with ease. Before she even reaches the maids quarters, the opportunity to steal one already occurs: the washing basin. The cacophony of sound is something she has to get used to; the inner palace was silent and as dead as the leaves of a tree in autumn, just as rotten as well, this was the complete opposite. Laundry maids were singing, quarreling or just talking very loud and Yin loved it. The biggest part of her life she had lived surrounded by fighting and clashing of weapons; until her mother thought it was best for her to star learning to act like a lady, Yin she didn''t like it one bit. Her famed grandfather, Wei Liang, had cared for her most of her youth, that''s where she learned strategy and warfare, until her mother decided to care for her. When she thinks back to it, it was just around the time her father was murdered in the war. It almost seemed to be a family trait: dying in battle.Some even believed it was a curse that ran through the veins of the Wei household.


    Even though her grandfather lived in the same house as Yin, she never got to see him again because of her mother, she forbade her. Obeying her mother like a helpless fawn was one of her biggest regrets in life. Before she knew it, her grandfather, General of the West got called away into battle, his greatest, but his last. He died a death worthy of a general, impaled by the sword of his equal, the man he had grown up with and trained beside, his best friend.


    When his body was returned to his family, he was buried in a mausoleum in the graveyard ofthe Imperial Palace. Yin bitterly wept for her grandfather, that was buried beside her recently passed father. This was the first time she got to lay eyes on the new, young Emperor. His pity-filled eyes found hers when she found out he was the Emperor. When he looked at her like that, the seed of hate was planted and rooted inside of her. HE was the man that had taken not only her father, but also her grandfather! Her tear-stained face scrunched up in anger and hot tears welled up, but they never flowed.


    It was as if her mother had seen in her mind, because when Yin got up with her hands balled into fists, her hand was on her shoulder to stop her.Yin did not spare her mother, who was pregnant of her brother at that time, of her hate for her, for taking her away from her grandfather. Sheroughly shook her hand of her shoulder and threateningly made her way to the Emperor, who stared at her with wide eyes, surprised of her actions.


    "You are quite like your grandfather, do you know that, Wei Yin?" he had asked her in a voice just a bit louder than a whisper when she was right in front of her. The late General of the West had been a dear friend and trustworthy advisor of him and it was not hard to see his granddaughter resembled him greatly. His words were the greatest compliment ever received in her entire life, but at the time it cut deeper in her heart than any dagger possibly could and hurt more than any wound could. The impact of his words was so big, she collapsed on the ground, shaking as the sobs racked her body. Yin looked up, staring him in the eye with her green orbs.


    "If it weren''t for your godforsaken war... He''d still be here, still be alive! He was my only..." sobs cutting her of mid-sentence.


    He crouched down to her level and stretched his hand, patting her head.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    "A man is not dead while his name is still spoken, little Yin... He was my friend as well and you should know that and I honor him in his death. You should know he always spoke dearly of you and full of pride. You were his little warrior..." He indeed had spoken of her quite a lot, of her wisdom while still so young, her tactics, her strength. He also spoke about what to do when he would die in battle. Her grandfather had already predicted her to do something like this and he was right. These word the Emperor spoke weren¡¯t all his, Wei Liang had instructed him to give her hope, to comfort her with the word of the wise Giang Daou, who had written many wise sayings. In their time together they often spoke of the death of a warrior¡­ all that time he had been preparing her for his death while speaking of Giang Daou, the wisest warrior ever alive.


    At the end of his sentence, Yin roughly grabbed the front of his robes, pressed her head against his chest and wailed. The unusual action struck cord inside of him and he wrapped his strong arms around her, hugging her close to him. The guards could only watch in astonishment as the stiff and pragmatic Emperor comforted a heartbroken young girl.After their first encounter, they had met often when she was visiting her grandfather¡¯s grave. Usually a guard would notify him of her presence and he would come see her. They would talk sometimes and sometimes they would stare at his grave in silence. Every now and then she would bring her younger brother and they would play near her father¡¯s and grandfather¡¯s grave, the Emperor would watch them with a caring eye whenever he had the time to do so. Gradually he saw her change, saw that she carried a great burden with her and she was nearly crouching under its weight. Yin came les and les, now often just sitting with her back supported by their graves and staring into nothingness. When another war broke out, she never came again.


    When the Emperor first laid eyes on her after many years, she had changed in an unrecognizable way. Not only had she become a fully grown woman, but her personality was strong and steady. Wisdom and power radiated of her in waves, but also sadness. Her beautiful green eyes were empty and cold because of who knows what kind of trials she had to go through. For some reason he wanted to be there for her, he wanted to remember her of the happy times they had when she grew up, remember of all the memories that filled his mind. But he didn¡¯t know whether he wanted to do that to fulfill Liang¡¯s wish, or because he really liked¡­ loved her.


    As these memories of her youth replay inside Yin''s head, an outfit was already in her hands. After changing in one of the many bays the palace possesses, she was now finally on her way to the last step of her ''depressurizing'' plan: finding the training-grounds.The male¡¯s clothing were much more comfortable, she knew to get these instead of the maid¡¯s outfit.


    With ease she finds them, she waits outside a bit, checking whether somebody was watching. No-one cared for the ¡®maid¡¯ in male clothing standing at the entrance, she probably waited for her lover to end his training. How wrong those passersby were.


    Just before entering, she ties her hair in a ponytail men were common to wear and sneaks inside. Quite easily the finds the weapon racks. When checking out the great diversity in weapons, a curious soldier comes up to her.


    "Excuse, sir, what do you think you''re doing?"


    Calmly she turns around and answers him with an incoherent mumbling. Then her eyes lock on a set of katana''s just behind him and her attentions wavers. She steps behind him and carefully she unsheathes one of them partly, feeling the sharpness of edge with her thumb. A wonderful peace of craftsmanship, she gasps in awe, then completely unsheathes it.


    The soldier stares awkwardly when he notices it was not a ¡®sir¡¯ he was talking to and his cheeks heat up.


    "Miss?! Drop the sword right now! You could hurt yourself!" the soldier warns her with a low voice.


    "Oh, sorry, I was just admiring this beautiful set of katana''s... would you mind if I... you know, spar with them?" she asks him when she looks him in the eyes, which were a beautiful dark color.


    The poor soldier was catching flies, his mouth was wide open at her request.


    "Um... I don''t really mind, miss... but... um, I don''t think anyone would want to... spar with woman¡­ in male clothing¡­"


    "Well, if ya don''t mind, why won''t we spar together?" she asks him innocently and completely ignores the unspoken question in the last part of his sentence.


    He thinks over her proposal for a bit. "Sure, miss... sorry what is your name?"


    "Oh, call me... Yawen, just Yawen," and she smiles, happy with her small victory.


    "But! What do I get in return?"


    "Oh, hmm, let me think... What about a drinking partner?" she says smugly.


    "I don''t think you''ll be a worthy partner, sorry Yawen."


    "We''ll see about that! First, let''s fight, I''ve been aching for a good fight! What''s your name by the way?"


    "Chen, just Chen," he says, mimicking her answer.


    "Well, just Chen, be prepared to get your ass kicked! Don''t worry, when we''re finished, I''ll happily go drinking with you!" she cheerfully exclaims.


    "You think you can win from a trained soldier? And might I ask, are you mad?"


    Yin shrugs and grabs the two katana''s while he grabs a pair of hookswords. On the training-grounds, they start circling around each other while soldiers and maids gather around them with curiosity.


    Just before they start, Yin flips the blade in her left hand to face the other way and crouches slightly. Surprised oohs and aahs sound all around them when the unknown man takes position.


    Then they launch at each other...

 CHAPTER TEN: "YOU DONT KNOW ME!"

    ¡°I swear, he fought just like the Jade General! I saw it with my own eyes!¡± Lieutenant Lu Zhen exclaimed with a hopeful gleam in his eyes.


    ¡°Lu Zhen just stop, please! He disappeared after we fought, he¡¯s never coming back after what happened! I know you want him to come back, me too, but I think your mind is playing tricks on you,¡± the Emperor answered truthfully and then downed a sakazuki cup in one go. They are sitting in one of the smaller rooms the palace contained, no candle was lit, only the light of the moon and stars illuminate the room. The open doors and window let in a soft breeze that gently moves the long, red curtains.


    Lu Zhen grabbed the gourd filled with sake and poured himself another cup, while thinking out loud: ¡°Then why on earth would someone fight like him! Nobody fights like him, he¡¯s like a lunatic when it comes to fighting!¡±


    The Emperor sits up from his cushions to face him, the movement was irritated and aggressive. ¡°Lu Zhen, have you considered the odds?! Why on earth would he come back to the palace after everything that happened? WHY on earth would he dress up as a servant, start fighting with a soldier and then disappear again?! It¡¯s simply not possible! It¡¯s not like him!¡±


    The Emperor combs through his long, jet-black hair with an irritated movement of his hand and sighs loudly after sitting back in his cushions again.


    ¡°Lu Zhen, I-¡°


    ¡°I know, your Majesty, I understand. It¡¯s just¡­ frustrating,¡± and he took another sip.


    ¡°Emperor, Lieutenant Lu Zhen...¡± a soldier in front of them bowed and waited to be dismissed.


    ¡°Jiang Xuefeng, rise, what news do you bring?¡± Lu Zhen asks him as he sat up, curious for results.


    ¡°Lieutenant, we followed the unknown servant-¡°


    The Emperor looks at Lu Zhen with a raised eyebrow in a questioning manner.


    ¡°He and the soldier he fought with parted ways after drinking together. I followed the unknown servant as instructed¡­¡± the soldier stops all of a sudden, apparently ashamed of his discovery as his cheeks turn bright red.


    ¡°Go on, soldier,¡± the Emperor orders him, his curiosity was getting the better of him.


    ¡°Uhm, your Majesty, I followed hi- well¡­ I followed the servant¡­ and she changed her clothes and then disappeared,¡± he says and he swallows.


    ¡°Soldier, you must be tired and have misspoken, it can¡¯t be that a trained soldier was defeated by-¡°


    The soldier looks him straight in the eye with a certain amount of steadfastness burning in his eyes that he stopped mid-sentence.


    ¡°Your Majesty, it was indeed a female that had defeated the soldier¡­ I saw it with my own eyes!¡±


    The Emperor frowns and thinks everything over. Lu Zhen in the meantime sends the soldier away after thanking him.


    ¡°I guess this proves it wasn¡¯t the Jade General, what a disappointment! It seems I have lost yet another bet against your Majesty!¡± and he laughs.


    ¡°Yes, indeed. I do wonder why you are in such a high-ranking position when you always have such bad luck. Anyway, let¡¯s finish this bottle, then it¡¯s your turn to-¡°


    ¡°I know, I know! Don¡¯t remind me! Give me that bottle,¡± Lu Zhen says while already reaching for the bottle. When the Emperor gives it to him, he puts it to his lips and downs remaining content of the bottle.


    ¡°Now, let¡¯s go find a maid to bother,¡± he says as he gets up, slightly wobbling on his legs. The Emperor laughs loudly and gets up as well.


    Like two teenagers, they start messing around a bit while walking to their destination. The two of them hide themselves in the shadow of the high roof that hung over the hallway, just inside the garden. They wait for a maid to pass by at the right time for Lu Zhen to carry out his end of the bet.


    ¡°There is one¡­ time to see your horse-catching abilities, Zhen!¡± the Emperor whisper yells, exited for the entertainment awaiting him.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°You know, I still can¡¯t believe you¡¯re making me do this! Aren¡¯t you supposed to be the wise and mature emperor?¡±


    The Emperor chuckles and pushes him slightly. Zhen steps away of the shadow and sneaks up to the unsuspecting maid. With a hand to her mouth, he prevents her from alerting the guards as he drags her to the pond.


    That was his part of the bet, if he lost, he had to pick up a maid, drag her to the pond and jump in together with her.


    The maid was struggling and it was hard for Zhen to keep her in check. From the sidelines, the Emperor sees him jerk his hand away from her mouth, it looked like she had bitten him quite hard, because he was groaning. Strangely enough, she didn¡¯t scream for help, instead she plants her knee in his crown jewels and kicks him in his face with a well-placed side kick. All the while, the Emperor watches in astonishment as a female beats up one of his best lieutenants using martial arts, something strictly allowed for males. Then, with a punch to the gut, she makes him tumble into the pond. The maid doesn¡¯t run away, but instead watches Lu Zhen come out of the water, too thunderstruck to do anything against her, and laughs.


    ¡°What- what?!¡± the poor Lu Zhen exclaimed.


    Now the Emperor appears, clapping his hands and laughing.


    ¡°She sure got you good, Lu Zhen.¡±


    At the sight of the Emperor and the sound of his voice, the maid turns around and runs away before he could order her to stop. After shrugging, he extends his arm for Zhen to grab and he pulls him up.


    ¡°Bloody¡­ that really hurt,¡± he grunts as he stands next to the Emperor, watching the maid disappear, still standing somewhat bent over.


    ¡°Did you see that, she lost something over there,¡± the Emperor points out.


    ---


    With bags under her eyes, Yin sits in her room, playing a guzheng she found somewhere in the inner palace, trying to relax a bit and ease her headache.


    Yin always preferred to play the piece accompanied with percussion, but the was no-one in the inner palace who could have even heard of this song. The wild, cheerful song was well-known in the lower classes that lived near the big river, just like Yin. She was so focused, she didn¡¯t hear two men outside asking to come in.


    After they thought it took too long, they just came in. Only until the song ended did Yin notice the two of them standing in her room. Still bent over her instrument, she asks: ¡°Your Majesty, lieutenant Lu Zhen, why the sudden visit?¡±


    ¡°How did you-¡° Lu Zhen starts, but the Emperor stops him with a wave of his hand, he wasn¡¯t surprised at all.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like we are strangers, Zhen, we used to be friends, or did you forget? Anyway, I recognized your footsteps, that¡¯s how,¡± Yin calmly states while getting up.


    ¡°Of course I didn¡¯t forget, I was just surprised, that¡¯s all,¡± he fires back at her.


    ¡°Now, what is the reason for you and his Majesty to come visit me in my room, might I ask?¡± The Emperor cringes on the inside at the clear difference in addressing him and Zhen, it seems she still saw Zhen as a friend, him on the other hand¡­


    ¡°We¡¯re here to return your hair ribbon, it had your initials on it,¡± the Emperor tentatively says as he hands her the ribbon.


    ¡°And you couldn¡¯t have someone else do it? You¡¯re the Emperor, don¡¯t you have more pressing matters to attend to?¡± Yin coldly says as she snatches the ribbon from his grasp.


    ¡°Actually, we would like to talk about where you lost it,¡± he replies coldly, suddenly fed up with her behavior, she was too harsh, even after all that had happened. She had hurt him too!


    ¡°There was a maid, she ran from us and dropped the ribbon, I don¡¯t suppose you know anything about that, do you?¡± Zhen asks her.


    ¡°Actually, I do¡­¡± shit, how am I going to explain this? ¡°You see, Yawen is a friend of mine and she needed a hair ribbon, so I lent her one¡­¡± Why did you use that name, you idiot?! Now they¡¯ll connect the ¡®mysterious servant¡¯ at the training grounds with ¡®Yawen¡¯, I¡¯ll have to be careful using that name again!


    ¡°I assume this Yawen is a maid¡­ why would you lend such an expensive ribbon to her?¡± the Emperor asks, not believing her completely. There was something in her voice that gave her away, he was well-known with that sound¡­


    ¡°Unlike your Majesty, I still value the lives of my so-called servants and don¡¯t think of them as replaceable!¡±


    Yin strikes a chord at that comment, the Emperor goes red in the face as he¡¯s reminded of how their break-up started and yells at her.


    ¡°Get out, right now!¡±


    ¡°What?! You¡¯re going to order me around as well now?! How DARE you?! And need I remind you, this is MY room! Get out yourself!¡± Yin yells back at him, completely infuriated.


    ¡°How dare you speak to me like that?! Do you even realize who you are talking to?!¡±


    Don¡¯t say it, don¡¯t do it!


    ¡°If it weren¡¯t for me, you would still be rotting away in your room, crying about your grandfather and father, pitying yourself! You haven¡¯t suffered like the rest of us!¡± he then yells and Yin finally snaps. With angry steps she walks up to him and slaps him across the face, hard, his head whips to the side. Tears burn behind her eyes and her face angry.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you DARE say I DIDN¡¯T SUFFER! YOU DON¡¯T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!¡± and with these words she ripped the sleeves of her pretty, white robes. The skin on her arms was mangled, scars and burns were all over her upper arms, thinning out on her lower arms and hands.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you remember when the clans attacked and invaded the western regions¡­ Don¡¯t you remember I lived there? They got their hands on me¡­ They sullied me¡­ mangled me¡­¡± she chokes on her words as she sobs.


    ¡°Why do you think I never returned? It was not only because of that other woman...¡±


    All this while the Emperor and Zhen had said and done nothing, too overwhelmed. The Emperor reaches his hand to touch her arm, but she evades him.


    ¡°Yin, I¡¯m sorry, I didn¡¯t meant to-¡°


    ¡°Don¡¯t say you¡¯re sorry¡­ I¡¯ve heard that too many times now¡­¡± she referred to the many burials she had attended, when he had tried to comfort her.


    ¡°Please, just leave me alone! Please?¡±


    Without saying another word, they leave silently. That night, Yin drowned her sorrows in alcohol again.

 CHAPTER ELEVEN: punishment

    After slapping the Emperor across the face, Yin was imposed a punishment for her misbehavings. Her punishment had started long before sunrise and right now, the day was only a quarter sun long. From dawn to a quarter sun means Yin had been kneeling on the gravel for more than half a day.This kind of punishment wasn''t only a physical punishment, it was also a mental one. The physical part consisted of continuous pain in the legs, hunger and thirst, because no servant is allowed to bring food of drinks. As Yin thinks about the mental consequences she snickers, none of the concubines would be able to show their face agains after this punishment ouf of shame. The slaves and soldiers would be making up stories about the punished one and rumors spread through the palace like a wilfire through a barren forrest. The bit of reputation he or she still had left would be destroyed completely, no-one would dare show their face again. Yin on the other hand, doesn''t care one bit and starts thinking about her return to the Inner Palace to distract herself from the pain.


    Their reactions will be priceless, I can''t wait to show them my face! After this, they won''t dare approach me again!


    Yins day had started very early, imperial soldiers had come to take her away before dawn. She was awakened by their noise and roughly dragged out of her comfortable and warm bed. Yin protested loudly, but didn''t bother fighting them, if she escaped them, which she easily could, another, more painful punishment would be awaiting her. Still, she bit them in the hand if they tried to cover her mouth and if they grabbed her by the hair, she would screech in a terrible pitch. This way, they didn''t dare touch her in any way she didn''t want them to. The air rushed passed her as they dragged her over the floor -she didn''t bother walking- and she shivered. Her nightgown was made of a very thin an airy fabric and it was a very early spring morning, which meant it was still freezing cold.


    As the imperial soldier continued dragging her, she started to recognise her surroundings, they were bringin her to the Emperors courtyard, to humiliate her there in front of him. Yet, when they forced her on her knees, there was no Emperor to be found.


    Probably too early and too unimportant for him to watch... Yin scoffed.


    The small, but harmfull gravel stones that covered the path tore into her flesh like a needle through a piece of cloth and not soon after, her legs had started bleeding. The imperial soldiers stood in front of her, motionless, making sure she wouldn''t run away from her punishment. Yin looked up at them and studied their armor. They were soldiers under the command of the General of the West, she nocticed form the specific shape of their helmets and swords.


    Currently, there was no General of the West. Her late father and her grandfather before him had been the General, but they both had died on the battlefield. One of her brothers was supposed to be the next General, but the two of them died as well. People talked about it as if it were a curse, the curse of the Wei household, the curse of the jade eyed. Yin merely saw this as superstition, people that concidered it a curse belittle and disrespect their deaths. Her grandfather, father and brothers had died on the battlefield, great honor bestowed upon them, in her eyes they died as heroes. Now that she was the only living heir of the General of the West, his military seal was also passed down on her. No-one was aware of her position as General of the West and she meant to keep it this way, but her current situation wasn''t very pleasant.


    "Oi, byojin! Get me some food will ya?" Yin ordered one of the soldiers. He snickered and shook his head.


    "Girly, what makes ya think we''d allow ourselves to be ordered around by a mere concubine-to-be? Especially one that has been degraded like this," he says and he points at her current state.


    "Byojin, I''ll order you one more time, get me some food, otherwise there will be consequences," Yin sternly says as she stares to something in front of her, not looking them in the eye.


    "Now listent here, girly, we''re not gunna g-"


    Calmly she pulled the miliatry seal from beneath her clothes and revealed it to them by practically shoving it in their faces. At first they laughed, she must have made a replica of some sorts. Yin keeps her hand streched out and tells them to have a good look at it. The emotions on their face change from amusement into astonishment.


    "I don''t think you realised who you were talking to, so I will let you off this time, byojin. I am Wei Yin, daughter of Wei Yun, granddaughter of Wei Liang, the great General of the West. I am your general and you will obey my orders, unless you want to be beheaded."


    The soldiers gulped in fright and quickly kneeled in front of her and asked her remission, she waved her hand to make them rise again.


    "General, the Emperor forbade the servants to bring General food, forgi-"


    "That''s it," Yin interruped him, "he forbade the servants to bring me food. You are imperial soldiers and do not qualify as lowly palace servants, you are soldiers of the west, carry that name with pride, don''t belittle our name!"


    The soldier quickly nodded as Yin continued: "Now, will you please bring me some food, I''m starving. Also, do not tell anyone of my position. A female general is unheard of and will cause many dangers for me... if any one of you tells anyone, you will suffer the consequences, do you understand?"


    They saluted and one went of to grab her some food.


    Later that day:


    Not soon after Yin had had her food, other soldiers, soldiers of the north, came to take the place of her two soldiers. Those two didn''t know of her position and pestered and hurt her continuously. She sat there,shivering from the cold, legs hurting,enduring everything with a murderous glance in her eyes. Her slender hands held the fabric of her torn, white gown cumpled up in balls. Veins popped on her hands and they shake. Her mind is consumed with one person, one infuriatingperson. When they tire, they stop and talk to eachother, completely ignoring Yin.During the day, servants and soldier would walk by, gossiping about her. Yin could only gues the gist of the stories they made up, still she doesn''t care. All she could think of was the Emperor, the way he had humiliated her and the satisfactory way she hit him across the face... When the sun reaches it highest point, the aroma of food being prepared drifts through the air. Yin scowls when she thinks about all the other concubines that are about to eat until they were full. Ofcourse she wouldn''t get any food, nor water, she just has to sit there, repenting for her sins. All this time, she hadn''d seen the Emperor come out of his palace, unless, of course, he had used another exit.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    It''s just like him to hide from me!


    The sun fades away at the horizon, splotches of red and orange fill the sky as if it were set aflame by the rays of the sun. Since the start of her punishment, one day had passed, one day without food or drink, one day of kneeling on the gravel. Her legs had long gone numb from the cold and the position she had been sitting in since dawn. As even the last rays of the sun withdraw and the warmth pulls away from her face, Yin is left shivering in the dark. The two soldiers were replaced by other soldiers, the same that had brought her food. Unfortunately, they couldn''t get her food, since it was weird for soldiers to go by the kitchen, asking for food, it would raise suspicion. Because they had no other use for her, she ordered them to leave, they protested, but gave in to her command.


    The night grows dark, as black as ink in its container and the winds frosty arms wrap around her lone body in an almost comforting manner, like a reminder of the time she had spent with her friends. They often were cold, but they clung together and sat around a campfire, Yin smiles at these memories. It had been a while since she had last smiled that way, but the smile quickly fades when her memory decides to continue digging up awful memories. Hunger, cold and her alert mind prevented her from sleeping. Time crawled by like a snail at its slowest pace and lonelyness got its grip on her. More and more memories of her friends and of her lover flash before her eyes, so many happy times that have faded away from her. Now that she was alone and in the dark, she reminded her grandfathers words: "When you are far away from home, whenever you are alone or frightened, remember this song, my little warrior and come back home."


    Not so long ago, she had sung the exact same song at her friends last resting place, not even knowing whether they had been buried there or maybe in another part of the battlefield. The melody was one she never remembered correctly, no matter how many times she had sung the song. Desperately she searched for the right melody as if she were a dying soldier, clinging on to her last hope of life. The words, on the other hand, were like an imprint in her memory. In a soft voice, she began singing the words of a song long forgotten by the people.


    Leaves from the vine


    falling so slow


    Her brothers smiling face flashes before her eyes when he was still little. Yin was playing soldier with him and she had tickled him after she''d caught him. Frowning she closes her eyes, but keeps on singing.


    like fragile tiny shells


    drifting in the foam.


    Litlle solier boy


    come marching home.


    He will never come home and it''s all my fault... All my fault.


    Brave sol-


    Sobs racke her body and for the frist time since forever, she cries, but she continues.


    -dier boy,


    comes march- marching home.


    And it helps, after singing, she feels more relaxed and composed. Still shivering, she sits there, looking up at the dark night sky, illuminated by a thousand stars. Yins eyes widen when she sees the beautiful stars and grins. These were her friends and her brothers, encouraging her and smiling down on her with radiant smiles. Another tear rolls down her cheek, but she quickly wipes it away. Without her knowledge, the Emperor had been standing hidden in she shadow, observing her. When he sees her cry, his heart breaks into a million little pieces, but there was no other way. This punishment is still very light, any other person would have been sentenced to death, he''d spared her life. He didn''t want to punish her, but more people than Zhen had been present, so he had to.


    There he stands until she falls asleep, pondering over the song. The words to the song were familliar to him, but he can''t seem to put his finger on it. When he sees her head lolling forward, he makes his move. After making sure she is fast asleep, he comes up to her and places a blanket over her slender shoulders. He makes sure he is quick and gentle when adjusting the blanket over her body and then leaves.


    The next morning, Yin jolts awake and immediately regrets her rash movements, she was stiff from sitting like that all night. Then she notices something was wrong, first of all, a blanket is wrapped around her body, secondly, she still is very hungry. No longer lingering on the blanket, she starts salivating when she smells the food being prepared in the kitchen of the palace. Her stomach growls loudly, which she tries to stop by putting a fist against her stomach.


    It''s not like you''re gonna die from hunger... that''d be so embarrassing! I wonder... Can I die from not eating one day?


    Yin shifts a bit to get in a more comfortable positions, which results in stones being driven in her legs.


    "Bloody-!"


    "Watch your mouth, miss!" someone behind her spoke. Yin rolled her eyes, really?


    "Why are you here, Xian Shun? I thought you would be pleased to see me like this? Why did you bring me this blanket?"


    The Emperor stands in front of her, stunned, wondering how she could have known it was him, he even disguised himself! When he hears his name rolling of her lips, his heartbeat speeds up a tad bit, it had been so long... He crouches down and places something in her hands, it was a steamed bun.


    "You had every right to slap me, Yin, and I sincerely appologise for what I have said... It should be me that suffers this punishment, but-"


    Yin shrugs, as if it were no big deal since she had food in her hands. "Listen, I know you couldn''t let me off when there were others around, I don''t blame you... Actually, I''m rather grateful, I saw the stars tonight," she speaks with her mouth full of steamed bun. The Emperor was not aware of the hidden meaning in her words and frowns, but shrugs it off.


    "Still-"


    "Shun, you came to bring me a blanket and most importantly, you came to bring me food! What you have done and said is unforgivable... but you are going the right way."


    The Emperor takes her by the shoulders and hugs her, but she pushes him away roughly. "Did I allow you to touch me?! I only said you were doing better!"


    The Emperor smirks and shakes his head, typically Yin. He stands up and dusts of his robes.


    "I''ll be going now. Give me your blanket, before people wonder about it."


    A few months ago:


    "We have made our decision," Saran''s grandfather tells her. Somehow she knows it has something to do with her, it''s something about the tension that hangs in the air. The elders all stare at her, burning holes in her skin with the judgmental looks they give her.


    "You were right, something has to be done to appease the clans... As someone with very high standard in our tribe, you know well of our disputes with the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire and especially the Jade General."


    Saran frowns in confusion, what does the Jade General have to do with the war within her clan, she wonders. Her grandfather steps around the semicircle of elders and stands next to her.


    "His head will appease the clans and avenge the blood of our brothers. The Jade General is at the court of the Emperor and spring is coming, which means there will be another edict. Women from all over the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire will be summoned, we need someone to slip in between the cracks."


    I really hope this isn''t going where I think it''s going! Please no!


    "You are familiar with all kinds of poison, you would be the perfect person to send over-"


    Well shit!

 CHAPTER TWELVE: they meet again

    Around threequarter sun, Yins head starts bobbing when she almost falls asleep. All the sense in her legs is completely gone by now, even the tingling is no longer vexing her. Her entire body is consumed by a weird kind of numbness when her eyes finally close. Her rest however, is short-lived. A scream, followed by the sound of something heavy falling in the water, reaches her ears and her head jolts up, startled. As her eyes search the source of the sound, she notices her two guards standing there, eyeing the situation, unsure of what to do. Yin''s sharp eyes see a girl four stone''s throws away, splashing in the water of a pond with fear written all over her face.


    "Do something, she can''t swim!" Yin yells at one of the soldiers, stating the obvious.


    They look at each other, wondering whether it was wise for one of them to leave. Their punishment for leaving her would be worse than the current situation she was in. Yin irrably hits one of them on the armorplate of his leg to get their attention. They turn to her and scowl at the girls rudeness and the soldier kicks her in the gut. Yin falls backwards, but doesn''t stop yelling.


    "IDIOTS, SHE''S DROWNING! ARE YOU COMPLETELY OUT OF YOUR MINDS! SAVE HER!" she yells at them, but to no avail, they angrily glare at her. Yin glances to the girl while facing them.


    "I''m going to regret this," she mumbles and she sighs.


    With a grunt she pushes herself up to stand and starts running towards the girl. The numbnes in her legs almost make her collaps to the ground and black dots dance in her vision when the blood rushes from her head. Behind her, the soldiers watch her completely thunderstruck, before they yell for her to stop. Yin bites through the pain in her legs and continues running for the girl, who watches her with fear in her eyes before she goes under again.


    Somewhere hidden away from the four people inside the courtyard, an archer draws her bow silently. The head of the arrow is laced with strong poison, able to kill anyone withing hours when only a small quantity is applied. She takes aim, quietly realeases her breath and lets go of the arrow. It whizzes through the air almost soundless, going straight for its target.


    While she is running, Yin hears the arrow whizzing through the air, it''s coming straight at her. Already knowing it was going straight for her heart because of her well-trained hearing and common sense, she turned last minute. The arrow struck her heart by a hair, piercing through her shoulder instead. Yin curses when pain blooms from her shoulder all the way to the tips of her fingers. Grunting with every step she takes, she keeps running to save the girl. Blood gushes out of the wound, staining her white nightgown a dark shade of red. Yin is aware the arrow would get in the way when grabbing the woman, so she breaks its shaft close to her skin and throws it away.


    All the while, the archer had been watching with her hand curled stifly around the handle of her beloved bow, she had always gone hunting with it. It had been a gift of her grandfather and was ingraved with the typical patterns originating from the Wastes of Pyquan. <em class="">The damned woman has survived yet another attack! The archer decides to leave before anyone finds her.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    A graceful dive and a few strokes later and Yin grabs the woman and yanks her upwards, towards the surface. The clear water of the pond turns crimson red around her shoulder, leaving a trail of color, shaped the way ink looks when dropped in water. Yin gulps for air when breaking through the surface and cries out in pain. She had strained her shoulder too much when yanking the woman, who was wearing heavy robes, up. With a few powerfull strokes of her legs, she reaches the shore. Quickly Yin gets up and pulls the woman up against the base of the blossoming tree that stood beside the pond, all the way grunting from the effort. Not very softly, Yin slaps the woman on the cheeks to get a reaction from her. She briefly opens her eyes less than a quarter thumb wide when they flutter closed. Then Yin notices that her chest is no longer rising and she stars compressing her chest before doing mouth on mouth. After repeating this process a few times, the woman chough up water and her eyes flahs open.


    "I thou- though I would die... thank you" she breathes.


    Yin really looks at her face for the first time since she saw her and recognises her.


    "Ain''t ya a concubine for the Emperor too? Think I seen ya before..."


    At first she looks at her saviour, dumbfounded for her lack of elegance while talking, then a warm smile spreads on her face.


    "Concubine-to-be actually... but I ain''t ever seen the guy before! No way in hell I''m marrin'' him!" she exclaims, using the same dialect as Yin.


    "Ya from Bushin-province too? Hm, I like ya. The name''s Wei Yin, just call me Yin though, I don''t like the formal speech one bit," Yin rattles on, this might have been the longest sentence she has ever uttered to a woman since entering the palace. It was nice having someone around who thought about things the same way she did and talked the same way, Yin feels a strong connection with the woman.


    "My name''s Yamamoto Nui, call me Nui! Thanks a bunch for saving my life back there! I thought I was a goner, really, saw my life flashin'' before my eyes!" Then she did something unexpected of a girl, a commoner, from Bushin-province, one of the poorest and lowest provincens of the T¨¦kaguo Empire, she kowtowed before her. Especially in the Bushin-province, no-one really paid attention to etiquette and rituals, that''s why Yin is startled.


    "Nui, please get up! Nobody''s ever done that before!" Yin exclaims while grabbing her hands in her one hand, her other arm hung beside her body motionlessly.


    The soldiers that had long arrived just watch the scene unfold. Two concubines-to-be, supposed ladies, were talking to eachother like farmers! And one was shot in the shoulder, but acted like nothing happened! The soldier on her left noticed her motionless arm and the blood still gushing from her wound.


    "Thanks so much, Yin, I owe you! What?! You''re hurt! When did this happen?!"


    "While I was running to save you... maybe I should go get it treated now," Yin said with her face as emotionless as a spotless satin sheet. On the inside, she was panicking slightly. The bleeding still hadn''t stopt, which was unusual. This could only mean the arrow was laced in poison.


    Yin gets up from her squatting position slowly, to prevent the blood rushing from her head too quickly. After the first steps she takes, she collapses on the ground. No food, no rest, weakened muscles, blood loss and the poison, all of it combined was too much on her.


    "Miss Yin!" both of the soldiers cry out. They might have been very rude towards her, if something happened to her on their watch, they were dead. The soldiers rush her to the physician, leaving a startled Nui behind. On their way, they cross lieutenant Lu Zhen, who immediately follows them when he sees the blood and her pale face. Without knockin, the three of them barge in the room, finding the physician snoring on the ground.


    "Old man, wake up!" Zhen yells at him and shakes him.


    "Wae- What?!" he grogilly asks and rubs his eyes. The moment he sees Yin, he awakened fully.


    "What-"


    "Arrow to the shoulder, probably with poison, she managed to tell us before she lost consciousness," Zhen cuts him off.


    The physician nods and gets to work to save Yin once again.

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN: "Dont play tricks on me!"

    Yin has a terrible fever the day after she had saved Nui and the poison running through every fiber of her body. Nightmares plague her in her fever dream and make her restless, she continuously rolls around in her bed with sweat beading on her forehead. Whenever Yin woke up, she would be delirious and drinking a lot, and not just water. Nui turns up every other hour at the infirmary, checking whether or not Yin was doing any better. With irregular intervals, Yin wakes up and falls back asleep again, groaning in pain as the poison feeds on her body. Nui sits beside her, putting strips of cold, wet cotton on her forehead to ease her headache. A worried frown is always present on her small, olive coloured forehead while watching over Yin.


    In the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire, during the Xian-Dynasty, females with fair skin were favored, as well as women with small posture and small hands and feet. As such, Nui and Yin both were plain women, Nui has the small posture, but the colour of her skin likens that of a farmer. Yin, who had stayed inside for over a year, has the fair skin of a lady of high birth, but her length makes her stick out like a sore thumb... and yet, here they were, inside the Imperial palace, about to marry to the Emperor.


    The physician tries the best he can, but rare poison means rare antidote, especially when the ingredients ofr the antidote are located in the far west of the Wastes. Time is short and he has to hurry, because if he doesn''t find an antidote soon, Yin will succumb to it. However, her body seems to handle the effects quite well, just like the last time she was poisoned. It almost seems as if she were resistant to poison, even though a female of low birth should not have to worry about being poisoned by their enemies. Nui comes by often, checking whether or not Yin was doing any better. Usually nothing had changed, but this time, Yin is fully awake and no longer pestered by nightmares. Nui sits by her side, trying to calm her down, but to no avail.


    "No! I ain''t takin'' that rubbish the old man''s offered me! Scary stuf happens inside the palace, don''t you know?" Yin stubbornly answeres Nui''s pleas to take the antidote. Nui, who is just as stubborn as Yin is, continues arguing with her. When she''s finally had enough, Nui picks up the vial herself and uncorks the small glass container. They continue arguing for a while and currently, Nui is practically trying to force the content of the vial and the thing itself down Yin''s throat. Yin, however, is not making it easy for her by running around in circles, waving a bamboo cane around as if it were her sword, leaving a trail of all kinds of ingredients for potions in her wake. Her funny sounding laughter fills the room, but Nui is not amused as she still chases Yin around.


    "Yin, get back here!" Nui yells at her, while Yin is still running around, roaring with laughter, like a toddler trying to escape its mother when having to take a bath. Bandages are caugth around her legs, her hair is disshelved and Yin is still in her undergarment


    "You will never catch the mighty Wei Yin, now taste my wrath," Yin yelled back while throwin a shoe at her head. Looking back to see Nui''s reaction, she can''t see where she''s going an her foot collides with a bronze pot. Nui cringes at the impact and how much it must hurt, Yin dramatically falls over and crumples up, soothin her small toe.


    "Well, appartently, pottery candefeat the mighty Wei Yin," Nui says whit a smirk growning on her angelic face. Nui bends over to grab Yin''s shoe of the ground and her long, black braid snakes over her shoulder.


    "And I must say," Nui continues, "your aim is off, I thought you could do better," and throws the shoe right back at Yin, who is still holding her painful foot. Without looking at the shoe, Yin sticks out her hand, grabs it out of the air and throws it back at Nui, this time hitting her right on her heart.


    "You were saying..?" Yins answers with a devious smirk plastered on her face and turns to look at Nui. Flabbergasted, Nui sinks to the ground, throwing her long braid over her shoulder in a boyish manner. Yin just plucked the shoe out of the air as if it were a feather floating down on the wind, without straining one unneccesary muscle, without looking at it!


    "You know," Yins says after a short pause and groans, "my foot still hurts like hell."


    Even though Nui was still kind of mad at Yin for not taking the antidote and running around like a lunatic, she couldn''t stay angry with Yin atfter this. Nui roared with laughter, tears rolling down her cheeks and Yin followed suit, ending up snorting.


    Then, all of a sudden, the Emperor stands in the middle of the room, looking at the two women, supposed ladies, laughing themselves senseless. When Nui notices him first, she nudges Yin with her elbow and not even very softly.


    "Girl, what do you think-" Yin starts, but then sees the end of a robe in front of her. Slowly, her eyes sneak up the robe to meet the Emperor''s curious gaze, she quickly looks down again.


    "Ugh, I think I need somethin'' to eat... maybe somethin'' to drink with it?" Yin mumbled while slowly getting up from the ground. Nui starts snickering again and it soon turns into laughing out loud. Any normal person would be shaking in fear for the man in front of them and for the power he held; any normal person would pay their respect to him, bow to him; any normal person wouldn''t dare act as if he weren''t in the room... But then again, Yin isn''t exactly normal. Actually, Nui isn''t even sure whether she''s human.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    Yin shakes on her feet, her face grows pale as the blood pulls away from her head. Before she could fall over, Nui is at her side, steadying her.


    "See, that''s what you get for not taking the medicine," Nui scolds Yin as if she were a little child. Yin just scoffs and shakes her head, still ignoring the tall Emperor standing in front of them.


    "Did I hear that correctly? Why haven''t you taken the prescripted medicine?!" The Emperor says with anger growing in his voice. How could she take such bad care of herself?


    "Where is the medicine," the Emperor asks Nui, who is still holding Yin upright. Nui nudges her chin in the general direction of the vial, too nervous to talk. The Emperor picks up the vial, uncorks it again and approaches Yin carefully. Nui notices the sense of familiarity between them and wonders if they used to be friends, even though it shouldn''t be possible.


    "You hold her down, I''ll put it inside her mouth," he orders Nui as he stealthily continues his way to Yin, who''s being held still by Nui. This was probably the worst idea anyone could have made up, Yin is much stronger than petite Nui and can free herself within seconds. This is exactly what happens and once again, Yin is running in circles, now not only evading Nui, but also the Emperor, who seems to be enjoying himself.


    "Okay, Yin, can you now take the medicine," the Emperor says after a while of chasing after her. Yin innocently looks at him, pouts and bats her eyelashes. He just sights and pinches the bridge of his nose while Nui is still dumbfounded by his behaviour.He''s an emperor, he runs an entire continent! And yet he was running after Yin as if she were his little sister and he was a simple farmer! I guess that''s theeffectYin has on people...


    "You''re not going to take it, are you?" he grumbles. Yin silently shakes her head and grins. Oh, he better not do what I think-


    "Guards! Capture that woman!" the Emperor orders the soldiers standing outside of the infirmary. And the bastard just did it!


    Guards storm inside, weapons unsheated, ready to attack any form of danger, to die for their Emperor. The Emperor repeats his command and points at Yin, laughing on the inside because of the hilarious situation. There''s no way he''s going to show the soldiers the friendly side of him, they would start to despise him, think he''s weak, and he could not have that happening... and his ego didn''t allow it to. Little did he know that his ego would be shattered by Yin when she beat up some of his best soldiers and had her sword at his neck. Wait! He''s not gonna order them not to hurt me?! The little shit!


    The Emperor can pretty much see that realisation starting to dawn on her and smirks. Seeing her surrender to the soldiers in fear would be so fun to watch.


    The first guard to approach her isn''t very worried about capturing her, since she''s just a woman. Yin simply stomped her foot on top of his and let his own momentum topple him over before grabbing both of the shuang gou out of his hands. The two that run at her next are more careful, but still they are taken by surprise as she leaps at them and uses their chests as a springboard, she hooks the shuang gou behind their armourplates, letting them plummet to the ground. The momentum she built up using the two men she uses to kick the soldier behind them right in the face with a perfect spin kick. The man she grabbed the shuang gou form returns with the qiang from his fellow soldier. He thrust the weapon at her, from the outside he looks precise, as if he knows what he''s doing, but Yin can pretty much feal the fear rolling off him in waves, feel the wavering in is attacks, the uncertainty. That is the most dangerous thing on the battlefield: hesitation, the lack of confidence and bravery. All of a sudden, the spear thrust forward again and it would have gone straight through her abdomen, weren''t it for her flexibility. Yin bends like a palmtree in a storm, her upper body pointing to the ground, but the shuang gou hook around the shaft of the spear near the spearpoint. Sweat trickles down Yin''s spine and face, the wound on her shoulder hasn''t healed properly and new skin was tearing because of the effort to keep the soldier from perforating her. The soldier struggles to free the spear from her hook swords, but before he can even properly try, Yin has the shuang gou out of his hands, on the ground. With another spin kick, she has him splayed on the ground, unconcious as well.


    What the heck?! Yin what are you do- WHAT EVEN ARE YOU?! He''s going to kill he- oh, never mind...these kind of thoughts ran through Nui''s head when watching her fight the soldiers, admiring her fighting. The Emperor on the other hand, paled at the damage a poisoned, weakened Wei Yin could do... she used martial arts, which is strictly forbidden... she beat the four imperial soldiers without batting an eye about it... Well, he thought, searching for an explanation, she isone of the Wei-household... I guess Liang could have taught her something, but she''s a genius!


    During that fight, something had switched inside Yin, a deadly calm slipped over her and embraced her. Her jade green eyes were cold like the stone itself when she looked at the Emperor again. With the feline grace of a cat and the stealth of a seasoned warrior she makes her way to him, anger radiating of her. One of the hook swords she holds at his throat, the other hangs beside her body, her arm limp.


    "Do notplay such a trick on me everagain!" Yin throws the hook swords on the ground and spits on the floor, just like the fishers at her vililage do when they express their distaste of someone. Something in her eyes remind him of his close friend, of one of his best soldiers and generals.


    As Yin walks away, to her room, she wonders why she all of a sudden just lost it, why she just snapped. Even while wondering about all this, she still feels the anger boiling inside her. Any of the concubines-to-be that greet her on her way she would snarl at, scaring everyone on her path. She was simply pissed off, accidents are bound to happen.

 CHAPTER FOURTEEN: stubborn

    Spring finally arrives with all its splendor and takes the much needed monsoonrains with it.


    The unending wastes were spread around them, in the distance faint mountain peaks loomed, and together with the endless blue sky that unfolded above their heads, the landscape looked more like the floor of a clear mountain lake than a barren land pressured by a longlived drought.


    When the rains come, Saran''s clan is always the first to travel downwards from the now bald mountain planes to find a new place for them to set up their camp. This time, they were to set up camp farther to the east... closer to the border with the T¨¦kagu¨® Empire.


    That day, Saran''s clan traveled a distance of half a day by horse, since their yurts would not allow them to travel any faster over the rocky terrain and the families with small children always traveled a lot slower. Saran was an unmarried woman, though she always dreams of marrying Nayan one day. She belongs to live with her parents, or, if they were no longer alive, with other family relatives until she was married. In the weeks prior to the wedding, her husband-to-be had to build them a Yurt, a place they could proudly call their home, but Saran wasn''t married and lived alone. All that was left of her family, was her grandfather, but she did not live with him either, since had protested profusely.


    ''I am a healer, I have the right of my own Yurt,'' she had claimed. At first, the elders were unyielding in their judgement, but after they grew tired of her, they told her she could have her own Yurt, if she built it by herself... and she did. The same evening, Saran began gathering the materials and working on a plan. Now, she owned a Yurt, one she had built all by herself. Not even Nayan had helped her because he wasn''t allowed to, rather, she had not allowed him to help.


    Dusk slowly falls as they continue their eastbound travel and the air finally begins to cool down to a more pleasant temperature. Saran stretches her upper body and looks up at the darkening sky, to see a few early stars shine like polished silver held against the midday sun. After a while of dosing of on her horse, she jumps of to stretch her sore legs, she yawns and stretches her body again. Saran patted Hope, her horse, (wink wink to the ARMY''s out there) and rubbed his neck, all the while cooing him.


    Hope was part of another exception made for Saran, though the elders of her clan saw it more as blackmailing. No woman in the clan was allowed to own a horse and when her grandfather told little Saran she could not own one, she threw a tantrum, after which she was forbidden to go near the wild horses that abide on the plains. Being the hardheaded person she is, little Saran snuck out before the first light illuminated the moutain peaks ahead of camp. With tremendous determination for such a little girl, she had stumbled her way through the uneven terrain and reached the horses when the sun barely shone over the mountain range.Having seen the men of her clan catch horses a thousand times, Saran knew exactly what to do. She snuck up to the horses in a manner her scent would be carried away from the horses by the wind. A few hours later, Saran returned with a foal and a bloodied shin. Hope had bucked and hit her in the shin, to the present day, a scar showed on the exact spot he had hit her. After she returned to the camp, she got a beating she would never forget, but she got to keep her horse.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Camp is always set up on a hill or somewhere the men guarding the camp could oversee the area and had an advantage to any attacking enemies. Saran already knew where they were going, it isn''t far off, so she decides to walk the remaining part to the new settlement.


    Though she seems calm on the outside, on the inside a typhoon is wreaking havoc in her mind. Absentmindedly she fiddles with her long braid and chews on the inside of her cheek.


    Nayan, who isn''t too far from Saran, notices her worried expression and races to her side. With an impressive jump of his horse he stands next to her, his arm slinged around her shoulder in a comforting, friendly way. Saran can feel her cheeks heating up at their proximity.


    "What''s wrong," Nayan asks after a long, maybe unconfortable time of walking next to eachother, "I can see something''s wrong," he adds.


    The reply he gets is wordless, Saran simply raises her eyebrows with the quedtion written all over her face, how could he have known? What if he knows about my mission?! That''d be so bad! Maybe he''ll think of me as a whore... or... or he wouldn''t want me back... maybe he thinks something would have happened between tbe emperor and me?!


    Nayan shakes Saran slighty when he doesn''t get a reply and notices the far away-gleam in her eyes and the deep frown on her face.


    "Sorry, right... you asked me a question... what was it again?" Saran asks him with her face flustered.


    Nayan laughs at her reddening cheeks and asks her the same question.


    "Well... how did you know something was wrong?" She asks to divert his attention on that topic.


    Allready knowing what she was trying to do, he shakes his head and grins quietly. Saran lowers her head, her eyes focussed on her boots made from animal hides, face reddening again. Next to her, she feels Nayan shrug casually.


    "You were just doing those typical things you do when you''re nervous..."


    "Those things being..." she trails, aware of the danger her stressed behaviour could cause when she had entered the Palace. Knowing her weak points is a must, overcoming them even more important.


    "You know.... when you frown, chew on the inside of your cheek, that kind of things." Things that make you even prettier, he adds in his thoughts.


    "And," he drawls, "you fiddle with you braid, like, a lot, when you''re nervous."


    All of this was usefull information, inside the Palace she would have to watch her every move and be careful not to expose her cover. Saran looks up at Nayan, who stood at least a head taller than her. For a while, they were just staring at eachother, eyes lingering on the lips.       "Nayan! You better get your ass back here!" interrupts Nayan''s mother, who didn''t like seeing them together. Saran is a troublesome girl, she thinks, she can never be my daughter in law.

 CHAPTER FIFTEEN: memories

    As Yin walks away, unsure of her direction, she wonders why she all of a sudden just lost it and justsnapped. Usually she isn''t one to just let go and let her emotions take control of her actions, but when those soldiers were sent after her...


    Xian maybe didn''t know of my ''physical abilities'', but sending them after me like they were some replacable good! He might be the richest man alive -- regarding his own soldiers like some cheap furniture he could easily replace!


    They had hadconversationsabout this peticular topic before, but during none of them had she ever gotten this angered before, though there were a few that come close. Earlier this same week, Xian Shun had managed to get her fuming, after which she slapped him across the face... today she beat up some of his soldiers and spat at his feet... Now she wonders what it will be tomorrow.Things are going well, Yin, keep it up,Yin encourages herself sarcastically,maybe you''ll be beating up his army advisors and you''ll be sent to jail... That''ll ruffle mother''s feathers.... maybe she''ll come visit you and kills you on the spot, she thinks sarcastically and she scoffs. Her sarcasm fails to push aside that sense of wonder: why did he manage to make her lose control? While pondering about all this, she still feels the rapid thrumming of her blood in her veins.


    A late spring storm drapes its cold cluthes over the Palace and the imperial city below as Yin walks around aimlessly through the huge and dark hallways, still trying to calm her raging heart and take away the unease she feels in the pit of her stomach. Any other time, she might have gone to spar with some of the soldiers, but since she just beat up a couple of those, she thinks it smarter not to do so. For all she knows, there might be eyes watching her closely, on the lookout for a mistake on her side. Even the slightest slip-up could cost her her life.


    Huge, dark clouds swirl low in the sky, blocking out the rays of the sun. Being in such a grand place, unable to see properly in the darkness the storm brought with, put her of. It was an old instinct she had developed during her training with her grandfather and it kept her alert at all times. It is what saved her life when the assassin tried to kill her with an arrow through her heart and countless other times. Something that doesn''t help the restlessness, was her clothing. The white dress she wears had many loose and billowing parts that could hinder her from defending herself, were she to be attacked. Yin is tense and on guard when she continues through another dark hall. While letting her mind wander freely, she rethinks the last few hours. Fire simmers in her blood at the thought of the previous''incident'', while only one thing flashes before her eyes: a battleground littered with mangeld bodies, enveloped in a complete and eerie silence... a slingle torn banner being whipped around in the wind and herself, bloodied and beaten, holding onto it like a disabled man to a crutch. Even though she was trained in the ways of Giang Daou-monks, descendants of Giang Daou, the wisest warrior ever alive, the enemy had overrun the warcamp she worked at with numbers far greater than theirs, she had barely made it out alive. The massacre that followed after they had overrun the war camp still hunted her in the unattended moments during the day and at night in her sleep. Whatever it had been that had triggered these memories, and not only memories of war, to come flooding back, it had occured during that fight.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Her memories go in a different direction, she rethinks the time they had spent together.The bastard is exactly the same way as before, Yin thinks when memories of them two together flash through her mind. How she could put up with him before the war, beforeeverythinghad happened -- it was a mistery.


    As she walks through random corridors, she tries to find reason in the way she felt about him at that time. Being back in the Palace, it certainly brings back memories of a time when things were better... when she still was innocent and somewhat ignorant to the world around her. Whatever it had been between them, Yin was now aware, couldn''t be called love.


    Back then, he had been the only one to console and care for her, maybe this was why, because he had made her feel like she was someone important, like she had some value in the rotten excuse called her life after the persons she loved most were taken away from her so brutally. The way Xian Shun had shielded her, the way it had made her feel valued after her mother had neglected her, that is what made her think she was in love and had made her so arrogant to think to know what love is like. For him, Yin had probably been a means of blowing off steam. A life as Emperor of an entire continent was harsh and tiring, he could relax when he was around Yin, let down his guard and talk with her. No, it wasn''t love, it was a completely different bond, one where they both used eachother for their own good.


    Yes, Yin concluded with a somewhat relieved heart,it was only because he was the first to care for me- even though it was not for me.I know he made a vow with my grandfather and father to protect and guide me after their death...And even though she thinkst herself foolish for feeling this pain, her heart hurts as she remembers his care had not been out of love, but out ofpity...Like she had been some wounded little fawn who needed warmth and affection. Since then, she never wants anyone to pity her again, because those who do, care for her not because of their sincere feelings, but out of pity.


    The sizzling sound of heavy rain and the rolling and rumbling of thunder soothe her mind as she walks along the garden passage, guarded from the rain by the high above canopy. Yin stops midstep, turns and looks at the spectacular display of raw power mother nature released in one evening.What a fine evening to have a drink, Yin thinks and she steers towards her room.