Chapter 4 - Night Attack

“What’s going on?” Lu Na asked.

“We’re under attack. Lu Na, take our guest to the safe house and lock yourselves in.” Lu Fengxian was already up and jogging toward the exit before she answered.

“This had never happened before,” Lu Na said. “Who would attack us in the heart of Jianye? Where is the magistrate?”

Sun Ren’s bodyguards in red all came in and surrounded Sun Ren at the stone table.

“Orders, Senior Sun?” the lead bodyguard asked.

“Ma Yunlu, protect Lu Na as if she were me. We will follow her to the safe house and reinforce—”

A loud explosion rocked the courtyard. The wall on the east side collapsed and a large metal rooster strode through the hole. It had a metal skin surrounding its head that dissolved the moment it came into the courtyard. It reared its head back and crowed. The sound was like metal scraping on metal.

Following the rooster, a stream of men in pale blue tunics rushed in. They held staves in their hands and some carried torches.

“Change of plans, fortify Lu Na’s bedroom and hold them out here,” Sun Ren said.

The twenty-one bodyguards in red moved as one. They all unsheathed their swords and approached the invaders to stop them from pouring into the courtyard. A few of them dragged Lu Na with them to her bedroom, with Sun Ren following behind.

“What’s going on? Your heart is racing. Did your brother take off his shirt again?” Lu Na’s spirit asked.

“No, shut up spirit. We’re under attack,” Lu Na said.

“Oh.”

When they got into her bedroom, the bodyguards grabbed whatever they could to block the windows. They stacked chairs and the small tables against them as well as they could.

The wall on the east side of the bedroom exploded. A large metal claw raked the walls again and again until there was another gaping hole.

“Out, everyone out,” Sun Ren commanded.

The bodyguards in red opened the door and filed out with Lu Na and Sun Ren standing between them.

“Senior Sun, we’re going to have to deal with the rooster summoner before we can take care of the minions,” Ma Yunlu said.

“Do we have anywhere else we can go Lu Na?” Sun Ren asked.

Lu Na swallowed and stared at Sun Ren. The scene from this morning flashed before her eyes. Her brother will come and save them. He had to. That large rooster will easily rip them all to shreds and only he can defend them.

“Lu Na, focus. Where is the safe room?” Sun Ren shook Lu Na.

“Senior Sun, she will not be useful. What are your orders?” Ma Yunlu said.

“I hate to do this, but everyone summon your spirits. They want to break the laws, then we will make sure they pay for it.”

“Are you sure? If we summon our spirits in the city, the magistrate will throw us into jail.”

“I’d rather be in jail than dead. That rooster will not leave us in one piece otherwise.”

Ma Yunlu pointed at a woman wearing her hair in criss-crossing braids.

"Junior Jiang, summon your snake."

The woman nodded and clenched her fist, raising it into the sky. A large red snake rose from her body into the sky. It coiled in on itself before launching at the metal rooster. At once, all the other bodyguards in red summoned their spirits. Spirit essence flooded the small courtyard and different animals sprang to life to deal with the invaders. The bodyguards in red fought alongside them with their swords.

“We’re outnumbered and in open space here. There is no winning,” Sun Ren said. “We need to know about the safe house, Lu Na.”

“Hey, she’s talking to you. Answer her. I don’t want to die here.” A slight shock hit Lu Na in the back of the head.

Lu Na shook her head.

“What was that for?”

“The safe house, tell Sun Ren.”

Lu Na looked at the grim fight and realized that they weren’t winning. The bodyguards in red could hold against the invaders, but they were badly outnumbered as more people poured through the hole in the wall.

“Okay, my brother told me that the safe house is at the center of the compound, where my father’s quarters are. That’s where most of the guards sleep and should be the fastest to react. It’s only a short distance from here.”

“That’s a plan. Lead the way.” Sun Ren lifted two fingers to her mouth and blew three whistles. She turned and ran through the archway of Lu Na’s courtyard. Lu Na followed as the bodyguards in red made a slow retreat from the invaders. They kept pace with them while protecting Sun Ren and Lu Na.

Lu Na ran ahead of the group, with Sun Ren beside her. She stopped just outside of her father’s courtyard.

Lu Fengxian and his cow spirit were fighting four spirits. His spear was puncturing the spirits over and over, but they healed and kept coming at him. Lu Na had never seen him so focused before and yet, he was being injured.

There were other invaders fighting the Lu family guards, but Lu Na knew that only a few of them were practicing summoners. This battle was not going well for them.

Sun Ren unsheathed her sword and joined the melee.

“Use your wards, Lu Na,” her spirit said.

Lu Na took out a few of her wards and activated them around her. The temporary walls allowed the bodyguards in red to hide behind and take temporary shelter against the swarm of summoners coming from her courtyard. It also blocked the entry to her father’s courtyard.

Lu Na kept creating more and more earthen walls around Sun Ren and her bodyguards. Slowly, they were pushing against the invaders, fighting her brother. Soon, they could link up with them to fight the invaders coming from Lu Na’s quarters.

The fighting in the courtyard intensified as the invaders realized they were being cut off from the rest of their force. But despite that, they soon fell, most of them uninjured but unconscious, as their spirits were defeated.

The fighting stalled as the invaders didn’t push against Lu Na’s earthen walls.

“Water!” Lu Fengxian shouted.

A servant from their father’s study came out with water and passed it around to the fighters.

Lu Fengxian made his way over to Lu Na. His clothes were torn from the waist up and black and blue welts were forming all over his body.

“What happened in your courtyard?”

“They burst through the wall and almost got us,” Sun Ren said. She sheathed her sword.

“Blunt swords?” Lu Fengxian asked.

“My father might be the Marquis. It doesn’t make us above the law.”

“What do we do now?” Lu Na asked. “Where do we go?”

Lu Fengxian drank the rest of his water before tossing the bowl back to the servant.

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“Let’s hope they will negotiate now that their surprise attack failed.”

“And what if they demand to give me up?” Sun Ren asked.

“No, you can’t give her up, no matter what,” Lu Na said.

“The thought has crossed my mind. The only reason they’re attacking us now is because they know you’re here. Your father has made quite a few enemies who would use your family as hostages.” Lu Fengxian stretched using his spear. “But I don’t think my father would like that.”

“Speaking of him, where is he?” Sun Ren asked.

“When the alarm bells rang, he should have already left through the secret tunnel underneath the compound with his two sons. He closed the exit before I even got here so we can’t go that way.”

“Why would he do that?” Lu Na asked. But she knew the answer already. Her father never cared much for her or her older brother.

A knocking came from one of the earthen walls.

“Hey, can we discuss this?” a woman’s voice called from the other side.

“A temporary truce?” Lu Fengxian called out.

“Yes.”

Lu Fengxian walked up to the earthen wall and lowered it with his hand. That was something new for Lu Na. Her ward made the wall, not by her brother. How did he lower it as if it was his?

“Am I talking with Lu Fengxian?” the woman asked. She was wearing a deep blue uniform that looked almost black in the night. Only the shimmering torches revealed the blue. She didn’t hold a staff like the other invaders.

“Yes,” Lu Fengxian said.

“Just my luck. I thought you would have escaped with your father when we attacked. My name is Wong Yoong. I came here for only one person. If you give me that person, then we will leave the rest of your family alone.”

“You can’t have Sun Ren,” Lu Na said, standing in front of Sun Ren.

Wong Yoong looked over at Lu Na.

“Are you willing to sacrifice yourself and everyone here to protect the person I want?”

Lu Na looked around at the tired faces of the Lu family guards and all the bodyguards in red. Sun Ren was stoic, her hand resting on her sword. The bodyguards in red closing in around her. She wasn’t sure she would make that choice if it meant giving up Sun Ren.

“We have killed no one yet, but if we don’t get what we want, we will start,” Wong Yoong continued. “As you sit here considering the worth of these people, I have more of my people coming in from all the entrances. And you can save them all if you just hand over one person.”

“No, we can’t. I might not be worth anything, but my friend is priceless,” Lu Na said.

“Does she speak for all of you?” Wong Yoong asked.

“No, she does not.” Lu Fengxian walked forward with his spear. Surprisingly, the four summoners that he fought were still alive even though he held a lethal weapon. “If it’s Sun Ren you want, we can’t hand her over. She is a guest under our protection.”

“Who?” Wong Yoong looked from Lu Fengxiang to Lu Na. “I’m not after whoever this Sun Ren is. I am here for Lu Tien’s daughter, Lu Na.”

Hearing her own name froze the world for Lu Na. All of this was for her?

“What do you want with my sister?” Lu Fengxian asked.

“Well, we tried to invite her to our sect this morning, but one of my juniors told me you beat them away. I thought that was rather ill mannered for someone inviting someone else, so I thought I’d come and invite her myself as one of the senior disciples from the Wintersweet Sect.”

“You mean kidnap her,” Lu Fengxian said.

“I wouldn’t put it like that, but—”

“Then I challenge you to a duel. If you beat me, then I will willingly hand over my sister.”

Wong Yoong laughed.

“I don’t think anyone in Jianye can beat you in a duel. That would be a foolish thing to agree to, especially when I have superior—”

Lu Fengxian kicked his spear out in front of him and thrusted it at Wong Yoong. It stopped inches away from her face. A large metal claw held it in its grasp.

“Sun Ren, take my sister out of here. Protect her and I, Lu Fengxian, will one day repay you whatever you want.”

“Fine,” Sun Ren said. She grabbed Lu Na by her wrist and dragged her away. The bodyguards in red all reacted at once, unsheathing their swords and summoning their spirits again.

The chaotic fighting started again. Although outnumbered, Sun Ren’s bodyguards in red could hold them off. They were more organized than the invaders that were pouring into the courtyard.

“Where is the closest exit?” Sun Ren asked as she fought.

Lu Na looked around. Her home didn’t look like her home anymore. All the decorations the servants and maids put up had been destroyed and made the courtyard look like a massacre in red.

“Lu Na, focus. Where is the closest exit? We need to get out of here now,” Sun Ren said.

Lu Na remembered one of her maids taking her out from the side entrance that was closest to her father’s courtyard.

“Follow me.” Lu Na moved as quickly as she could. Her dress was making it hard to run in so she pulled it up. She felt herself blush, but being a little improper was worth being alive and free.

Sun Ren and Ma Yunlu were the only ones that followed her.

As soon as they left her father’s courtyard, it was empty. Everything looked frozen in time as some decorations were on the floor, still about to be hung up. Luckily, all the lanterns were already lit, making it easier to navigate.

Lu Na found the small alley that the maid took her one time. The flashes of memory of begging the maid to take her out secretly made it bittersweet. She hoped the maid was alright among all this madness.

Once they were out of the alley, Lu Na stopped. There were three invaders blocking off the exit. They wore the same pale blue as the others.

“Senior Sun, let me distract them as you two run,” Ma Yunlu said.

“There aren’t that many of them,” Sun Ren said. “They most likely put some minor guards here that aren’t that strong. We should be able to take them and make a retreat before their reinforcements arrive.”

“No, my duty is to protect you, even at the cost of my life. If they’re stronger than they look or have more reinforcements waiting, then you and Young Miss Lu will have less chance of escape.”

Sun Ren stared at the invaders for a short time.

Lu Na realized that her heart was pounding. The moment of rest made her realize her legs were burning from running.

“Fine. If you somehow survive without being captured, remember where to meet us,” Sun Ren said.

“Blossom Scent Parlor.”

Sun Ren nodded. She handed Ma Yunlu her sword.

“Go show these foolish summoners the true power and training of the Sun family.”

Ma Yunlu bowed her head.

“Lu Na, do you have any more of those items you used to make those walls?” Sun Ren asked.

Lu Na’s hand went to her waist. She still had a few of her wards tied there. She took one and gave it to Sun Ren.

“All you have to do is pull the string and drop it.”

“No, that will be your job.” Sun Ren untied her belt. Her tunic loosened before she shrugged it onto the ground. Underneath, she wore a tight fitting black shirt that had her family name Sun embroidered in red on her back and sleeves. She then pulled out a sword from her belt. It was a long, flexible metal that straightened once it came out of her belt. “If needed, I will fight them as you drop those walls behind us to stop them from following us. And if these second-rate summoners want to follow us, they better be prepared to die.”

Lu Na stood and gaped at Sun Ren. The invaders and their powerful spirits had scared her, but Sun Ren stunned her. How did the Young Miss of the Marquis suddenly turn into an assassin?

“Hey, Lu Na, snap out of it,” her spirit said.

“Spirit?” Lu Na whispered.

“I need you to focus harder than you’ve ever focused on getting out of here alive, or else your mother is going to be furious at me when I see her again. I’m going to do everything I can to help. So follow my instructions.”

“Okay.”

“Are you ready?” Sun Ren asked.

Ma Yunlu nodded as she wielded the two blunt swords. She took a couple of practice swings with them, making arcs around her body with them. With her height and reach, she would be deadly with actual swords.

“Senior Sun, I will see you on the other side.”

Ma Yunlu summoned her spirit. A horse as black as the night appeared in front of her. The light from the lanterns and torches disappeared into its body, not reflecting or showing. Only the pale moonlight from above showed its body for a moment as the spirit moved. The spirit moved fluidly like water that was trying to escape its bowl.

Somehow, Ma Lunlu could jump into her horse spirit while holding two swords. She held her swords out from her body while gripping onto the horse with only her thigh.

“Go!” Ma Yunlu rode forward, surging like water pushed out from a pipe.

“Follow closely Lu Na and drop those walls,” Sun Ren said.

Lu Na had three in her hands, ready to drop at any time. This was the craziest thing she’d ever experienced and she could hear her heart pounding against her chest.

Sun Ren moved fast right behind Ma Yunlu.

When Ma Yunlu reached the invaders, she hit one hard with her sword and the person crumpled. The other two raised their staves and stopped the next hit. Just as she predicted, more invaders came from a short distance away to attack her. While the invaders made wild swings at Ma Yunlu, she parried them and struck back with incredible precision, knocking another invader down.

“Now that is a warrior. She’s superb. Why couldn’t I have bonded with her?” Lu Na’s spirit said.

“Not the time,” Lu Na said.

Following behind Sun Ren, the invaders didn’t notice them. They made it out into an open area of the city. This was where the street vendors would usually set up. Sun Ren stopped before they stepped out.

“Why are we waiting?” Lu Na asked.

Sun Ren looked around.

“It’s too muted.”

Now that they were away from the fighting back there, Lu Na could pause and listen. But they couldn’t see anything as the pale moonlight couldn’t pierce the dark night.

“Is there any other way we can get out of here?” Sun Ren asked.

“I don’t know. I rarely go this way.”

Sun Ren raised her sword up and stepped forward slowly, with Lu Na beside her.

A large bolt of fire flew at them. It lit up the street for only a moment.

Lu Na froze when she saw it.

Sun Ren shoved Lu Na hard to the side but she didn’t have enough time to avoid the bolt herself. It struck her in the chest, knocking her to the ground.

“Sun Ren!” Lu Na went to the fallen woman’s side.

“I’m alright,” Sun Ren said. “It just burns a lit—”

Right before Lu Na’s eyes, Sun Ren turned into a small fox pup. She saw two people dressed like the invaders walking toward her. What was she to do? She’s not like Sun Ren. She didn’t know how to take action.

“Pick up the girl and run,” her spirit told her.

Lu Na did just that.