Under the scorching sun in the middle of the day, Ying-tai and his men hid behind the crowded bushes and trees as they watched the renegades inside their camp in the clearing of the forest by a river.
“That’s where the Grand Princess is,” the boy whispered to Ying-tai as he pointed to the carriage surrounded by five large men. “They change shifts each time the sun moves a quarter across the sky.”
Xia peered at sun that was only little ways till it reached the middle of the sky, “So they’ll change shifts soon.”
“Usually they will take Grand Princess out for food and water when the sun is highest in the sky. We can take this chance to go in. I will go in first as I am one of them. Once everything is set as planned, I will signal you guys in. As we spoke before, we’ll try to not use any conflict!”
“‘Try’ being the key word,” Xia huffed in doubt as everyone started to shift into position.
As soon as the boy walked into the camp, one of the men recognized him and called him out. “Hey, little brother! Is it really you?”
Not acting awkward, the boy smiled coyly and waved at him, “Yeah!”
“For goodness sakes! I thought you died!”
The boy quickly made small talk and slid past him and the other younger boys that called out to him. When he reached the carriage, the guards had the same shocked expression on their faces seeing that he was still alive.
“I’m here to guard the hostage while she receives her meal,” the boy declared.
“Where’s the basket you usually bring?” The guards questioned him.
“Uh,” the boy thought quickly, “I thought I’d take her out for a walk today.”
The guard raised their eyes.
“The leader told me to.”
“The leader did? Are you lying to me?” One of the guards questioned.
“If you require me to bring the leader all the way out here to speak to you then I will! You can explain to him why you didn’t want to follow his orders!” The boy put his hands on his hip.
“Fine, fine!” The guards lowered their heads at him and proceeded to unlock the carriage.
As they opened it, the boy’s chest heaved and then his breathing stopped when he saw the Grand Princess once again. She was still blindfolded and her hands were tied together. She lifted her head at the soft breeze that met her face and then tilted her head toward the boy.
“Grand Princess,” the boy softly spoke to her.
“Little brother?!” She was on the verge of tears. “Is that really you?”
“Yes. Come with me. Time is sparse!” The boy tugged her hand.
As they quickly walked from the guards and the campsite by the riverside, the boy turned to see if anyone followed them. When he saw that it was clear, he took off the blind fold and untied the Grand Princess’s hands.
“Little brother! I thought you died!” The princess held the boy tightly as soon as her hands were free.
The boy blushed and pulled back, “Grand Princess, I took you here to tell you I brought the Qin army with me! They are here to save us!”
The princess shook her head in confusion. “The Qin army? What do you mean?”
“I met with the great Ying-tai! At first I thought I was going to die but he spared my life so I can come save you!”
“Are you sure this is the Ying-tai of Qin you’re speaking of? I’ve heard he was more ruthless than that!”
“That’s what I thought! That’s why my mind was blown when I met him! We must make haste! My friends of the Qin army await us! Here, just put these back on for a little longer in case anybody catches us,” the boy handed the blind fold back to the princess. “Just until we get out of here.”
When they returned to the carriage, the boy took off quickly to find clothes that blended in with the guards for Ying-tai and the other men so they could step in with a disguise.
“Psst! Boy! What’s taking you so long?” A voice behind whispered.
The boy’s spine stiffened. He turned around and bowed his head at the guard talking to him.
“Umm…uhh,” the boy began.
“Idiot, look up!”
The boy raised his brow and looked up to find Xia in the guard’s clothes. Behind him, he recognized a hand that poked out of the bushes that belonged to the guard that originally owned the garments on Xia.
“You didn’t wait?!” The boy exasperated.
“We couldn’t wait. You were taking too long,” Xia grinned.
“We?”
Xia pointed behind him where the other Qin soldiers stood with their disguises on that they stole from the other guards.
The boy shook his head all the while smiling, “You guys are ridiculous. Where’s Ying-tai and Huian?”
“Oh, they’re coming,” Xia confirmed as he adjusted his sash. “Now, show me to this princess,” he grinned widely.
“Hey hands off of her,” the boy frowned at Xia as he lead the way.
When they returned to the carriage to escort the princess away, Xia stopped cold in his steps and pulled the boy back as an arrow whizzed right by them and hit the trunk of the tree on their right. Xia examined the arrow and furrowed his brows.
“You traitor!” Xia’s men growled at the boy.
“No, you misunderstand!” The boy cried.
Xia raised his hand to silence everyone. He turned his eyes to the exact direction the arrow flew from and found the hidden archer, “Looks like there’s someone else here who wants to collect the princess.”
“What?” The boy’s eyes widened. “What are we to do?”
“What we do best,” Xia gripped his sword. “Fight.”
Soon the renegades went into panic and pulled out their weapons. Their leader soon stepped out into the clearing and roared, “Protect the carriage!”
“Princess!” The boy gasped.
Xia jerked him back, “Don’t. Everyone here sees that carriage more valuable than you. Your best bet is to stick with us.”
The boy looked at Xia with fearful eyes. Xia looked down at him and gave him a calm, assuring smile, “We’ll get out of this.” Xia then moved his hand and subtly signaled Ying-tai and Huian of the third party.
The leader noticed the boy by Xia and walked toward him, “Little brother? I thought you died?”
The boy stepped forward and greeted him, “No, leader. I survived. I managed to escape.”
“I heard they were the regime of Qin,” the leader interrogated. “How is it that a young measly boy like you managed to survive?” The leader walked closer to Xia and the boy.
“My will to return kept me alive,” the boy responded.
“Is that so?” The leader tilted his head. He then grasped the boy by his collar and pulled him up, “Or perhaps you led these people here!”
“Hey, man,” Xia started forward but his men held him back.
The leader lifted his eyes to Xia who poised himself and spoke, “You’re probably letting paranoia get into your head.”
The leader walked closer to Xia until their faces were only a few centimeters from each other, “Say, I believe I’ve never seen you around here before.” He unsheathed his sword and placed it by Xia’s neck.
“Stop!” A high pitched voice sounded. The princess stepped out of the carriage and shuffled over to the men in dispute. “They’re innocent.”
“Oh? Why are you suddenly so fervent towards the men around you?” The leader questioned her.
“It’s time you stopped with your wickedness,” the princess clenched her silk sleeves. “Whether it’s an enemy or not, you treat everyone the same. You have no sense of mercy.”
The leader charged toward the princess but his stride was cut short by men in dark uniforms that charged into the campsite, surrounding them with no way out.
Xia looked to his right and signaled ‘Stay put’.
The renegades started to fight the men that ambushed them on their site. After a wild struggle, the leader slithered his way to Xia and placed his blade on his neck once again.
“Halt! I have your man!”
Xia’s men behind him jerked forward but he signaled them to stand their ground.
The men in dark uniform turned to the leader and Xia. He tilted his head at them and his shoulders began to shake as he laughed. He raised his finger to Xia, “He does not belong to us.” He looked back at the leader and continued in a deep voice, “But you do have something that is not yours and we come to claim it,” he looked at the princess, “and you will return with us.”
The princess raised her hands to her chest as she heard this. Her lips trembled at them as she shook her head.
The man in dark uniform continued toward the princess, “Trust me, I’m not the one you should fear.”
“With that voice, how can she not be scared of you?” Xia commented bluntly.
The man turned to Xia and furrowed his brows at him. “I’m sorry, and you are?”
“The one who will take the poor princess away from all of you,” Xia smirked.
The men drew closer in towards Xia with their weapons drawn out.
The leader, infuriated, whipped Xia’s hind legs. “Imbecile! I will make you kneel before me, you cocky bastard.”
Xia, though, did not budge a muscle.
The leader did it again. Then once more. The man in the dark uniform began to be intrigued by Xia’s character and watched in amusement. When the leader tried to strike Xia’s hind legs another time, Xia unsheathed his sword and whipped his face with the flat surface of his blade. At this moment, all of the men in the clearing closed in on Xia, including the man in dark uniform as Xia turned his sword against him. Their swords swiveled in a blink second and both ends of each of the men’s swords were frozen in frame between their eyes.
Xia could feel the man in uniform smirking from beneath his mask.
“Interesting technique,” the man in dark uniform complimented. “You could keep up with me.”
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Xia grinned widely, “Not as interesting as the blade behind your back.”
The man widened his eyes and spun his head around to see another man pressing his sword against him.
“Lieutenant Xia and Unit Commander Ying-tai of Qin,” Xia presented. “Eager to meet you.”
Before the man in dark uniform could even turn his head back to Xia, Xia dashed away while Ying-tai shifted his sword. Immediately, the man retaliated and flicked Ying-tai’s blade away with his own sword and created a distance between them.
“Unit Commander Ying-tai of Qin,” the man in dark uniform acknowledged, “The great Beast of the Battlefields. Ah, what a day it is for us all here!”
“Mercenaries from the Southern Sect,” Ying-tai acknowledged him in return.
“Eh?” The man tilted his head to the side. He lowered his eyes to where Ying-tai was examining and saw that his front coat had been torn open and his emblem was exposed. He chuckled and nodded his head, “Impressive, beast.”
Another man stepped forward next to the man Ying-tai fought and drew his weapon. “You have no place here,” he spoke. “Please, leave.”
Ying-tai looked at the boy and then back at the mercenaries, “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
The leader of the renegades spat at them, “I won’t let either of you get away from here alive!” He looked at the boy, “And you! I swear you’ll regret the day you even crossed paths with me, you traitor! You led everyone here!” As he charged toward the boy, the princess’s eyes filled with terror and she, too, ran toward him with her heart beating hard against her chest. As the leader’s sword darted forward, the princess leapt before the boy, her yellow silk brushing against the cold blade that was about to meet her chest. But before the point of the sword could touch her skin, Ying-tai darted between them and clashed the sword away.
“Get out of here,” Ying-tai demanded the boy who scurried away at once.
The leader, relentless, lunged forward once more and this time Ying-tai wrapped his arm around the princess and leapt away from the raging weapon. Calm, Ying-tai lifted his sword and swiveled it around the oncoming blade and swiftly unlatched the sword from the leader’s grip with one move. While the princess held onto Ying-tai tightly, a mercenary leapt toward her and grabbed her arm. Her scream snatched Ying-tai’s attention and he immediately swung his sword at the mercenary who grabbed onto the princess.
“Let go!” She cried and attempted to smack him away. The princess lifted her leg and kicked the mercenary away and as he flew back, he tore off her silk sleeve, leaving her right shoulder bare. She quickly wrapped her arms around herself and glared at the mercenary, “Presumptuous!”
Ying-tai noticed what happened and spun his head away to avoid seeing her bare skin while he continued to brawl with the men charging after the both of them.
“Halt!” A voice bellowed.
Ying-tai turned to the bellowing voice and his pupils dilated when he saw the boy in the leader’s hands.
“Give me the princess,” the leader snarled, “or the boy gets it.” Ying-tai eyeballed the point of the blade that was pressed against the boy’s back. “I MEAN IT!!!” The leader began to throw a tantrum.
“Lowly man, you always cry whenever you don’t get the things you want?” The mercenary who fought Ying-tai and Xia mocked the leader of the renegade as he crossed his arms. “It’s no wonder why you are now a wandering renegade.”
“Silence,” Ying-tai ordered the mercenary in a deep voice.
The mercenary shot Ying-tai a glare but remained quiet.
“No, don’t do it! It’s okay. Finish the mission! Save the princess and go bring forth a world of free men!” The boy smiled widely. He then looked at the princess, “I will catch up with you guys sooner or later.”
“Little brother,” the princess began to weep and shook her head, “We promised to go together.”
The boy smiled, “Go.” The boy looked at Ying-tai, his eyes pleading, “Please, go.”
Ying-tai’s eyes were filled with heavy remorse, “Boy, do not think that I do not see your trembling hands.”
The boy widened his eyes.
Ying-tai curved a consoling smile, “Hear me, it’s okay to be afraid.”
The princess looked up at the great Ying-tai and was stunned by his gentle demeanor. This is what they call a Beast? She was in awe. She looked at his eyes and pitied the kindness that had to bear the weight of remorse.
“THE PRINCESS!” The leader continued and twisted the boy’s arm more while he clenched his teeth in pain and his eyes leaked tears.
Ying-tai looked down at her and pulled her from her gaze. “Forgive me,” Ying-tai began, “Perhaps fate has it that I am not your rescuer. It’s not that I don’t find your life valuable. I just know that there are people out there looking for you and I promise that you will soon return home. But the boy,” Ying-tai looked at him, “he has no one.”
The princess’s chest heaved at the man before her, “Apologize not, honorable man,” she spoke to Ying-tai admiringly. “If only all men were like thee.” Poising herself, she turned around and began to walk toward the leader.
“Yes, yes, yes,” the leader sneered and licked his lips.
“The boy. Free him,” Ying-tai demanded, looking down on the leader.
The leader continued to flick his eyes from the princess to Ying-tai, eagerly waiting. When the princess was only three steps away, Ying-tai turned impatient and repeated himself, “I said, free the b—”
Before Ying-tai could finish, the leader pulled his arm back and plunged the iron blade into the boys back. All Ying-tai saw was the blade protruding through the boy’s chest and the leader’s blank eyes. Ying-tai’s expression fell, his lips went numb, and his chest stopped heaving for a moment. His eyes expressed brokenness at the sight of the still and limp child. Even the wail of the princess’s woe as she dropped to her knees sounded muffled to him.
As wretchedness draped over Ying-tai, he deeply furrowed his brows and his eyes changed into the eyes of a preying creature. He gripped his sword tighter and clenched his jaws. As soon as the boy dropped to the ground, Ying-tai burst before the leader’s eyes. Paralyzed in his spot, he watched Ying-tai stare at him with his tiger-like eyes. The leader looked to his left and saw a falling leaf that seemed to be at standstill.
“What is this?” He exhaled.
“Be calm. You’re just experiencing death,” Ying-tai said in almost a whisper.
The last thing the leader remembered seeing was the color of red that flashed before his eyes. Ying-tai was slashing his way through his body at such a rapid rate and precision he couldn’t even feel himself dying. Each vessel in his body was being severed and each nerve was being cut off. At the completion of his art, Ying-tai stood before the leader who soon collapsed onto the ground, not knowing what just happened to him. Drenched with blood, Ying-tai bent down and watched his foe desperately cling on to life.
“You will watch yourself die in the reflection of your own blood,” Ying-tai’s brows were lightly furrowed as he spoke, “Be patient, for your time of end eagerly awaits you. When you see the door to the other side, open it and walk through.”
The leaf that was at standstill earlier fell onto the pool of blood next to the leader, emitting soft ripples. He chuckled, unable to believe the state he was in. He turned his eyes to Ying-tai, “There’s a so-called deity people claim to have seen. People pronounce him as the Red Death God. He is the epidemic of battlefields.” He coughed up blood. “In reality, however, you’re just a man who’s mastered the forbidden arts of the pugilist world such as this--the Ten Thousand Engravings of No Time. I envy such talent.” He started to laugh, “But I pity thee for cruel it is for the gods to also give you the understanding of remorse!”
As the leader gasped his last breath, Ying-tai wiped his bloodied blade and sheathed it. He returned to the boy who lied still on the dirt.
“Ying-tai,” Huian called out softly.
“I haven’t seen you like this in a long time. Not since you perfected it,” Xia looked at him wide-eyed.
“Xia,” Huian stopped him and shook his head, “We are never to speak of it.”
“I can’t touch him like this,” Ying-tai said quietly with woeful eyes.
Looking at his bloodied hands, Huian understood Ying-tai. The princess came forward and knelt by the boy. She picked him up and brushed the hair strands away from his face. She looked up at Ying-tai, unafraid of him. She held her grieving tears back, kept herself from trembling, and forced a smile for the sake of consoling, “We should give him a proper burial.”
Ying-tai looked at her big, glimmering eyes and nodded, “Of course.”
“Unit Commander Ying-tai,” the mercenary walked toward them, “What a complicated man you are. You are more than what you appear to be. That intrigues me and I don’t get intrigued. As a matter of fact I hate that word.” He studied Ying-tai for a second before turning to the princess, “Grand Princess Yanmei, your father has sent us to come find you. You must return with us to the palace. We cannot and will not return empty handed.”
“You,” she finally came to notice who the mercenary was. Princess Yanmei looked at Ying-tai, then back at the mercenaries. “This honorable man has promised to take me home. I will return with him.”
“Grand Princess!” The mercenary exasperated at her behavior. “You cannot do this! What will I say to your father?”
Princess Yanmei stood up and walked toward the mercenary. She pulled out a yellow handkerchief and handed it to the mercenary, “Arrest the remaining renegades as proof you’ve encountered us. Take my handkerchief and give it to my father. Tell him I will return shortly and to reward you the promised prize on my behalf. This is an order.”
The mercenary sighed and asked her quietly, “How do you know you can trust this man?”
Princess Yanmei smiled, “I knew it when he decided to save a boy who had nothing to give him in return.”
The mercenary’s eyes grew bigger and lowered his shoulders, “If you don’t return within three days, I will come cut off his head before your father cuts off mine.”
Princess Yanmei nodded and dismissed him along with his fellow mercenaries. When she returned to the men of Qin, Huian asked her, “Why did you not return with them?”
“I believe you guys had an unfinished promise. The one made to this boy. Surely you gave him an offer too good to pass up on,” Princess Yanmei smiled as she raised her shoulders.
Huian and Xia looked at each other.
“Whatever it was that you wanted, I will help with it,” Princess Yanmei said as she tenderly wiped the dirt off the boys face.
“I’m entirely grateful,” Ying-tai gently spoke to her. With his kind eyes on her, Princess Yanmei lowered her gaze with blushed cheeks.
While Ying-tai went to the riverside to wash himself, Xia spent his time glancing at Princess Yanmei.
“She’s kind. She’s pretty. She’s noble. Wow! I think I like her,” Xia whispered to Huian.
Huian shook his head at Xia and elbowed him in the stomach, “Stop gawking and help me carry the boy. Besides, I think she deeply admires someone else already,” Huian mentioned while nodding his chin toward Ying-tai.
“Are you serious? Ying-tai already has a woman! And I had the longest crush on her until she whooped my butt so bad during a spar and called me a brother! A BROTHER!”
“You had a crush on Empress Xiu Juan?”
Xia crossed his arms as he pouted at Ying-tai, “Mmmhmm. But don’t tell anyone!” He stopped pouting but his eyebrows remained furrowed.
“What are you thinking of?” Huian asked him.
“Do you think he remembers the time he perfected the Ten Thousand Engravings of No Time?”
Huian looked at Ying-tai who stared blankly at the river. “Of course he does. That’s why we are never to mention it.”
“We were twelve at the time. Back then, Ying-tai would practice the forbidden arts behind your back.”
“And he was able to learn them so fast. I feared for him. And on that day my fear became a reality,” Huian sighed as he reminisced.
“But the Grand Princess was always there. She never agreed to him practicing the dark arts but she was always there just in case something went wrong,” Xia continued. “We just lost a comrade our age. Ying-tai was very upset, I remember, but he wasn’t one to express his feelings to anyone. He kept practicing in the rain that night till his hands bled. I believe he blamed himself because he felt he wasn’t strong enough. He broke down eventually and that’s when he perfected the art…because that art could only be performed when man is at their darkest state of mind.”
“You were there calling for him,” Huian remembered. “Telling him to snap out of it.”
“I almost died!” Xia laughed now thinking back. “But I couldn’t lose another friend. Another brother.” He closed his eyes, “Grand Princess heard me yell and leapt in to help and dropped her pot of a plum blossom sapling. We were both calling out to him. I remember being scared out of my wits! But…Grand Princess was so brave. I was actually hiding behind her.” Xia smiled wistfully, “I jumped into the mud to grab Ying-tai’s feet while Grand Princess dashed behind him and held his arms back. We kept screaming his name.”
“What made him snap out of it?” Huian tilted his head.
Xia opened his eyes. He could only remember up to when Xiu Juan finally got a grasp of Ying-tai and then, soon enough, everything went quiet. “Huh, I actually don’t remember.”
“Hmmm, damn,” Huian lowered his shoulders. “I don’t remember too. I only remember running toward your yells and finding you guys outside in the garden drenched in the rain. Little Xiu Juan was holding Ying-tai and caressing his head while you lied next to them gasping for air. And those plum blossoms little Xiu Juan dropped…” Huian smiled as he started to remember.
“What?” Xia looked at him.
“Nothing,” Huian shook his head. He raised his head to the sky and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath of the summer air and listening to the cicadas chirp. He recollected his memories: The morning after, you carried little Xiu Juan’s plum blossoms in your hands through The Late Emperor’s veranda and asked him how to maintain the beauty of flowers forever. That’s when you were taught how to press flowers onto rice paper to preserve them. When The Late Emperor asked you what it was for, at the time I didn’t understand it when you said it was for your humanity. Huian looked down to the grown Ying-tai and a tear leaked from the corner of his right eye. Living a life you did not ask for, a life where loss is the norm, all the world could offer you in return were pieces of blossoms to quietly represent that one pure soul that had always kept your humanity intact.
When everyone returned to the Qin army that stayed behind, Ying-tai took his red cloak from Shen’s saddle and draped it over Princess Yanmei’s shoulders. She grasped onto it tightly.
“Thank you,” she smiled warmly.
“No need to thank me. I knew you were uncomfortable,” Ying-tai replied. He turned around to Xia who was carrying the boy in his arms. “We will ride up to the mountains and lay him to rest there,” Ying-tai directed.
After they buried him, Ying-tai placed a stone over the grave and carved a name onto it. Princess Yanmei raised her brows and tilted her head.
“Guangli?” Princess Yanmei pronounced.
“I promised him a name the day he becomes a free man,” Ying-tai explained, his melancholy eyes on the headstone. “He told me how he was the light for you during your dark journey away from home. He would’ve grown to be a very bright man.”
As the sun began to set and the sky was turning red, Princess Yanmei watched Ying-tai arrange some twigs and sheets of sheer fabric into a lantern.
“What’s that for?” Princess Yanmei wondered while Ying-tai wrote on a piece of cloth with a small brush. After he rolled up the letter he wrote and placed it inside the lantern, Ying-tai lit a flame onto the small cloth that he twisted into a thin rope inside.
“It’s a ritual of Qin’s. When someone has passed, you light them a lantern with a final message they take with them to heaven,” Ying-tai answered Princess Yanmei as he lifted the lantern up.
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Princess Yanmei’s eyes gleamed as the warm, glowing lantern began to lift into the air by itself and higher into the sky.
“May we meet again in the next life as brothers,” Ying-tai softly toned.
Princess Yanmei placed her eyes on Ying-tai who kept his watch on the lantern that continued to ascend far from them.
“When you reach the kingdom of heaven,” Ying-tai continued, his voice low, “You will meet a man who will welcome you with wide open arms as he did to me. You won’t feel so lonely then. Go to him…” Ying-tai paused, “…and send him my greetings” he clenched his jaws as his chest heaved.
Princess Yanmei continued to pay her respects in silence with Ying-tai till the soft glows of the fireflies emerged from the darkness around them and danced from one blade of grass to another. While Princess Yanmei goggled at the twinkling lights that encircled her, a small firefly landed on her hand, catching her off guard. She lifted her finger and tried to touch it, only to have the firefly flutter away from her hand to Ying-tai’s shoulder. He turned to the small light and invited the insect to climb onto his finger, allowing it to rest there. Staring at his broad back, Princess Yanmei smiled at Ying-tai with compassion and clutched onto his cloak tightly.