Character Index
Governor Bao: Governor of Daizhou. Introduced this chapter.
Zhao Chao: Kayla's bodyguard and retainer.
Captain Jiang: A captain of the Imperial Guards, in charge of the delegation's security along with Tabuyir.
Tabuyir: A Senior Investigator of the Imperial Investigation Bureau, in charge of the delegation's security along with Captain Jiang. A member of a steppe tribe (a Khitan tribe) and a supporter of Kayla.
Tao Qian: Kayla's bodyguard and retainer.
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Kayla smiled, nodding as the man across her prattled on. Governor Bao, the administrator of Daizhou, was a good man but a very talkative one. She was pretty sure this was the third time she’d heard him say the same thing within the same hour. Most of it was just thinly-veiled attempts to flatter Kayla and ask her to speak well of him before the Emperor, and the rest were complaints over taxation rates on local merchants.
The information is useful enough, but doesn’t this guy ever shut up?!
After departing Taiyuan the day before, it hadn’t taken long for them to enter the border between Daizhou and Hengzhou–the road crossed through both before going across Yizhou to the next major travel hub of Youzhou. The delegation had stayed the night in a post station, but had been hailed to a stop soon after they’d set out the next morning by Governor Bao’s request for a meeting.
Kayla hadn’t refused, not wanting to offend him for no reason. The delegation had eaten lunch with him before Governor Bao had asked for a private audience with Kayla. Again, she hadn’t refused, and left the delegation at a nearby post station while she went to one of the Governor’s branch offices nearby. Most of the guards had come with her, though the greater part of them followed in secret rather than making their presence known.
There weren’t many of the Governor’s men around. Most likely, he hadn’t wanted too many witnesses to his attempts at currying favor in case Kayla ever lost favor in the future.
He's a wily one, isn't he?
“Thank you for taking the time to speak with me on this matter,” Kayla cut in the second Governor Bao paused for breath. She couldn’t handle another hour of this–especially when they still needed to hit the road.
To her relief, he got the hint.
“Of course, I’m the one grateful to Your Excellency for taking the time to listen!” Governor Bao said.
“Not at all, it’s thanks to the expertise of local administrators like you that the dynasty prospers,” Kayla replied. “Well, I’m afraid that I have to get going now, I’ll stop imposing on you.”
She rose to her feet, Governor Bao quickly following suit.
“I’ll walk you out, Your Excellency!”
“Thank you,” Kayla replied.
He waved aside his servants and personally escorted Kayla out the door. Taking cues from the Governor’s men, Kayla’s guards also trailed behind at a distance, letting the two officials walk on ahead. Unbeknownst to either of the officials, most of Kayla’s guards had secretly scattered to root out the unusual activity nearby.
“Well, it was great speaking with you,” Kayla said, smiling at Governor Bao as they reached the carriage.
“Of course, of course!” Governor Bao gave her a jovial grin.
“On behalf of the delegation, I thank you for your hospitality today,” Kayla said, stopping and turning towards him. She extended her hand, and Governor Bao clasped it gratefully.
“Not at all, the honor is mine! I hope to welcome you again on your return trip!”
“If fate permits, I will gladly do so,” Kayla replied. She shook his hand warmly and stepped back.
“My lord!” Zhao Chao’s voice rang out in alarm. Kayla swiveled her head towards him in confusion.
“Get down!” Zhao Chao rushed forward so quickly he was almost a blur, his hand shooting out and grabbing onto the front of Kayla’s robes. He yanked her out of the way as an arrow lodged itself into the side of the carriage right where Kayla had just been standing, pinning the edge of her wide robe sleeve into the wood. Kayla hit the ground with a thud, her view half-blocked by Zhao Chao looming over her.
Governor Bao let out a screech and scrambled away as another arrow flew straight at Kayla. His servants grabbed onto him and hurried him back towards the office. Zhao Chao unsheathed his sword and blocked it, back-slashing to cut free Kayla’s sleeve.
“Backup! I need backup!” Zhao Chao shouted. Captain Jiang was already sprinting towards them, flanked by two of his men, ignoring Governor Bao entirely. The administrator disappeared into the building with his servants, screeching at the top of his lungs.
Kayla let out a squeak as Zhao Chao hauled her to her feet and half-dragged half-shoved her behind the carriage and deposited her there. Tao Qian rushed forward to join them, his blade already unsheathed.
What the fuck? What the fuck?!!
“Your Excellency!” Captain Jiang reached the carriage with his men, dust clouding up at their heels. The five of them spread out around Kayla in a defense formation, warily scanning the horizon. There were no more arrows.
“Damn it, this was a trap!” Captain Jiang hissed. “I sensed suspicious activity nearby and sent my men ahead to take care of it! Senior Investigator Tabuyir and his men were also lured away!”
“They won’t be far, the Bureau moves fast and stays close to their primary targets. Leave the attacking to them, we need to stay on defense,” Zhao Chao said through gritted teeth. “They’re really prepared, there’s a communication-blocking ward. My device won’t work!”
“Mine neither,” Captain Jiang grumbled.
Zhao Chao glanced at Kayla, who was sitting very still behind the wagon’s wheel. “My lord, are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Kayla replied breathlessly, barely able to hear him over the sound of blood rushing through her ears. “D-does anyone else feel that?”
“Feel wha–oh, fuck,” Zhao Chao hissed. There were tremors in the ground, and they were growing stronger.
“I don’t see anyone,” Tao Qian said in a tight voice.
“Me neither,” Captain Jiang replied. They glanced towards the ground again, where the pebbles on the road were visibly shaking now.
“Horsemen, a lot of them,” Tao Qian concluded. “They’re coming at us fast, but they’re still a good distance away. We can’t take them on foot.”
Isn’t this way too brazen?! I never should’ve accepted Governor Bao’s invitation!
“Curse this stupid road! We can’t even see where they are, and if we move, the archers could pick us off on horseback!” Captain Jiang’s subordinate snarled.
“Doesn’t matter, we’re going,” Zhao Chao said in a steely voice. “Come on now, let’s go, let’s go!”
Kayla hastily got up and let Zhao Chao all but shove her into the carriage. Tao Qian jumped onto the front of the carriage and grabbed the reins. The horses neighed, rearing their heads back as Tao Qian lashed them before breaking into a gallop. Zhao Chao joined Tao Qian up front, keeping a vigilant eye on the road for traps. Captain Jiang’s men followed them on horseback, having switched from their swords to their lances.
A few arrows thudded into the outside of Kayla’s carriage. The windows were closed, but Kayla had enough experience to know that didn’t mean much. She kept herself pressed against the wall of the lurching carriage, trying and failing to calm her panicked breaths as they raced forward.
Zhao Chao stood up from the driver’s seat, slashing down arrows as they aimed for Tao Qian. Two of the Imperial Guards sped up to flank the horses, blocking off arrows aimed at them with their lances.
“Fucking hell,” Kayla gasped as an arrow pierced through the window, lodging there halfway.
Who the fuck ordered this?! She had too many enemies whose names she didn’t even know–But other than the Grand Duke, was there anyone this brazen?
“I see them!” Captain Jiang’s voice rang out. “Ten coming up from behind, they’re gaining on us!”
“There’s five more up front!” Zhao Chao shouted.
“We can’t stop! Charge through!” Captain Jiang roared.
“Shit,” Tao Qian hissed. The men coming at them were good at horseback fighting and knew it–their unshakeable confidence radiated off them in waves.
“We won’t make it like this,” Tao Qian snarled. “I’m cutting off the horses!”
“What? From the carriage-Gah!” Kayla called out in alarm. Tao Qian severed the horses from the carriage altogether with a single swing of his sword. The carriage careened forward, throwing Kayla against the front wall.
“Ow! Fuck!” Kayla groaned, letting out a squawk as the door flew open before the carriage had even come to a halt.
“Please hold on, Your Excellency!” Captain Jiang shouted, single-handedly yanking Kayla out from the carriage and onto the saddle behind him. She hastily clung on to his waist, her legs scrabbling for something to brace onto as the horse galloped forward. Unable to find anything, she tightened her grip on his armor instead.
In front of them, Zhao Chao and Tao Qian had gotten on the steeds they’d freed from the carriage and charged forward ahead of the Imperial Guards to take on the approaching horsemen. Kayla glanced over her shoulder, instantly regretting it as the movement dizzied her. The horsemen pursuing them were just barely in sight, but they were definitely going faster.
Those are horses from the Western Regions, Kayla realized. The guys up front as well–they’re fucking huge! Shit, are they Turks?!
“Duke, we’re going to have to make contact with them! Please keep as close to me as possible, if I move forward, lean forward. If I move back, lean back. Do you understand?!” Captain Jiang shouted.
“Yes!” Kayla squeaked.
“Good!” Captain Jiang brandished his lance and dug his heels into his horse. They charged forward, narrowly avoiding the trajectory of an assailant’s blade. Captain Jiang dodged the blow and spun his lance upwards, catching the man in the shoulder. The man nearly fell off the horse, but braced himself by the stirrups and straightened up again, turning his horse about to come at them from behind.
Another horseman charged towards them from the front, but was rammed from the side by Zhao Chao.
“Captain Jiang, behind us!” Kayla cried out in fear, her muscles bunching up as the blade came towards her. Captain Jiang didn’t turn the horse around but rather leaned forward, spinning his lance backwards to slam into the base of the sword. The horseman’s blade went over the back of Kayla’s head, passing over her scalp with only centimeters to spare, knocked off-course but not out of his grip. Captain Jiang reared back, slashing his lance in nearly a full circle into the horseman's torso. The horseman blocked, but was knocked off his horse by the momentum. He landed with a stumble and scrambled back to his feet.
Captain Jiang let out a roar, veering his horse to the right. He didn’t draw back his lance for another blow but rather shifted his grip so that he only held its very end instead of a full-handed grasp on its shaft. Caught off-guard by the sudden increase in range, the horseman didn’t manage to block the blow and went down with a grunt. Captain Jiang slashed downwards, making use of the closing distance between them to land a killing blow without needing to draw the lance back.
Face pressed into Captain Jiang’s back, Kayla barely had a chance to see what was happening before the altercation was over. She briefly caught sight of the dead man’s face as his mask fell off. He was a Turkish man who looked to be in his late thirties.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
A few paces away, Zhao Chao was still fighting a particularly difficult opponent, while Tao Qian and the other guards were in the process of finishing off theirs.
“Fuck!” Zhao Chao leaped off his horse as the animal went down. He rolled out of the way as Tao Qian charged, hurling a blade into the horseman’s face. The horseman went up to block it and was pierced through the heart by Tao Qian’s sword in his ribs.
“Get his horse!” Zhao Chao shouted. Several of the other horses had fled after losing their riders, one dragging its dead rider by the stirrup. Tao Qian had grabbed one, and one of Captain Jiang’s men grabbed onto another.
“Where the hell are the Investigators?!” Captain Jiang’s subordinate shouted, his voice strained as he knocked away an arrow.
“This was a well-planned ambush, they’re probably facing off assailants of their own right now,” Captain Jiang said through gritted teeth. “Your Excellency, the horsemen are gaining on us! You might need to ride by yourself, I’ll cut them off.”
“I-I don’t know if that’s a good idea!” Kayla said in a trembling voice.
Fuck! Come on guys, I can barely stay on a horse!
“It’s alright, go with your guards! My men and I will buy you time!” Captain Jiang replied. He didn’t wait for Kayla’s response, already lifting her off the horse by the back of her robes. Kayla kept herself from flailing until she was lowered to the ground–she barely remained there for half a second before Zhao Chao was hoisting her onto one of the newly obtained horses, the animal still splattered with the blood of its last rider.
“Oh my god,” Kayla said quietly, not even daring to look behind her.
“We’ll be alright, my lord,” Zhao Chao replied before turning to Captain Jiang. “Send one of your men with him. I’ll stay behind, we need a mid-range fighter with the Duke.”
“Zhao Chao!” Kayla glanced down at him with wide-eyed concern.
“It’s fine, my lord,” he assured her. “Backup will get here soon, it’s only a matter of minutes. Come on now!” He lashed the horse. It took off, Kayla squeaking as she grabbed onto the reins with dear life.
“Captain! Be careful!” Kayla cried over her shoulder. One of Captain Jiang’s men came up to flank her, Tao Qian leading up front. Kayla clenched her jaw, fear coursing through her veins as they rode forward. Wenyuan had never been a good rider, and Kayla barely managed to stay on horseback with the speed they were going at. Tao Qian perked up, catching sight of a fork in the road.
“We’ll be back on the main road right up ahead! The rest of the guards will definitely join us the–”
Tao Qian was cut off by a bright flash of light, accompanied by a deafening roar.
“Fuck!” His voice was drowned out by the sound. He barely managed to keep his balance, squeezing his eyes shut against the blinding light.
“Shit, shit!" A painful ringing filled his head.
"My lord!” Tao Qian shouted as the sound finally faded. He blinked, his eyes tearing from their brief exposure to the bright flash. There was a rushing sound in his ears.
Shit, he must have fallen off the horse! He didn’t hit his head, right?! Fuck! Panic spiked in his chest.
“My lord?!” Tao Qian called. He tried to untangle himself from the stirrups, still half-blind.
“Your Excellency?!” The Imperial Guard called out, evidently also having been temporarily blinded.
“My lord!”
There was no response to either of them. Tao Qian blinked fiercely, his eyes finally adjusted to the light. He brandished his sword, trying to sense if there were enemies nearby. Tao Qian glanced about, meeting only the watery eyes of the Imperial Guard. The two stared at each other and then around their surroundings, horror dawning upon them.
Zhao Wenyuan was gone.
“Fuck! Scan the area!” Tao Qian snarled. He and the Imperial Guard took off in different directions, shouting out for Zhao Wenyuan. The Duke had seemingly disappeared into thin air. Not just Zhao Wenyuan, but the presence of any hostile attackers had also vanished. Even Wenyuan's horse was gone. They were still searching when a breathless Captain Jiang joined them, accompanied by Zhao Chao and the other Imperial Guard.
“What happened?! Where’s the Duke?!” Zhao Chao demanded.
“He’s gone,” Tao Qian said in disbelieving shock. “There was some kind of a magic spell and then he was gone!”
The five of them shared a horrified look. As if to mock them, Captain Jiang’s communication device began to work again at that very moment, showing a call from Tabuyir.
“Senior Investigator,” Captain Jiang answered, a desperate note in his voice.
“Captain Jiang! We couldn’t get into contact with you! The suspicious persons were a trap, we were lured into an ambush–”
“Duke Zhao has disappeared,” Captain Jiang cut him off.
“Fuck.” Tabuyir paused for a second. “We need to contact the palace and send out a search party.”
“No, wait!” Zhao Chao hastily interjected. “Don’t do it just yet.”
“Are you crazy?! What the fuck are you even saying?! Do you think we can take responsibility if something happens to the Duke?!” Captain Jiang’s subordinate exploded.
“Do you think they planned so carefully for nothing? I thought they wanted him dead, but evidently not. This whole trap was intricately designed so they could get their hands on him–most likely, they want something, either from him or from us. If we go ahead and contact the palace, they might kill him!” Zhao Chao explained.
“I doubt we’d be able to contact the palace even if we tried,” Tao Qian cut in. “There are more communication blocking wards in the area, larger ones. I can’t reach Lord Liang.”
Zhao Chao and Captain Jiang glanced at Tao Qian’s communication device in unison.
“Damn it! Alright then, four of the guards will protect the rest of the delegation and await any communication from the abductors, assuming this is a kidnapping. The rest of us will try to figure out the situation, with the aim of finding Duke Zhao and safely extracting him,” Tabuyir said authoritatively. “Captain Jiang, you and your men should investigate the identities of the assailants and see if you can find any clues. Zhao Chao, Tao Qian, the two of you can start the search. My men will come join on both ends momentarily. Captain Jiang, I’ll post the guards for the delegation from amongst your men. Keep quiet about the situation for now until we know what's going on, lest we play into their trap.”
“Alright,” Captain Jiang agreed.
“We’ll keep you posted,” Zhao Chao replied.
They ended the call and split up for their tasks. Zhao Chao and Tao Qian remained where they were to look for clues, Captain Jiang and his men turning back to investigate the dead assailants. Ever thoughtful, Captain Jiang actually remembered Governor Bao who had been left behind, and rapidly dispatched one of his men to go confirm the Governor’s safety and escort the official home. Tabuyir’s Investigators and the rest of the Guards quickly came to join them, leaving the befuddled delegation in the dark as to what had happened.
The air was fraught with tension as they worked. Night was falling, and Zhao Wenyuan was still nowhere to be found.
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Kayla jolted awake, her eyes snapping open to take in a dark night sky.
“Fuck!” Kayla sat up. She was sitting on the grass in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere. She didn’t have any injuries save for her sore muscles.
Where the fuck is this? It had to have been a good distance away from where she was–she seemed to be in a patch of abandoned fields, with no hills in sight. Or maybe they were there, but she couldn’t make them out in the dark.
Did they just drop me in the middle of nowhere? For what? Kayla glanced about uneasily but could barely see more than a few paces away.
She patted her robes, trying to see what was left in them. The communication device and talismans were gone, as well as the golden plaque from the palace. The various spell talismans and her money pouches were also nowhere to be found. Her robes, however, were still completely intact.
No communication devices…Turkish horsemen…the fact that I’m unharmed…Kayla paused, the pieces clicking together in her mind. Oh those fucking bastards.
Faintly, she could sense the presence of surveillance magic, but it was too far and too weak for her to make out where it was coming from.
These pricks are probably waiting for me to get really desperate and then offer me a deal. Then once my loyalty’s been compromised, they can blackmail me to their heart’s content.
“What kind of shady bullshit is this? Are they the fucking Triad or something? Damn,” Kayla muttered. She was a little surprised at how far the Khagan was willing to go. Was he desperate, or just tyrannical?
I’m his son-in-law, can’t he at least try bribing me first?!
She looked up to the sky, trying to find the North Star. Unsurprisingly, they had chosen a cloudy night. Even if they hadn’t, she was sure that this wasn’t walking distance to anywhere remotely safe or that Kayla’s people could find her–they wouldn’t have taken that chance when they’d already gone to the trouble of doing all this.
They didn’t even bother choosing something more complicated–even if I can see through this, they know I have no other options.
The thought of it made her insides boil. After the terrifying chase in the afternoon, Kayla was pretty sure she had used up every last reserve of fear she had in her body. She could feel her self-preservation draining away, replaced by a dark rage.
“Fuck,” she hissed under her breath. She pushed herself up onto her feet, looking around the empty field. Frustration and rage won out over fear. Kayla seethed as she swept her gaze around, stumbling on the uneven ground as she struggled to get her bearings.
She bared her teeth in an ugly snarl, dropping every ounce of decorum and grace she had inherited from Wenyuan.
“Fuck the Khagan! The fucking second Hu Qing leaves he pulls this bullshit?! The fuck is this dipshit even trying to accomplish?!” Kayla raged towards the empty sky, slipping into English. Kayla held onto the blinding anger for a moment longer, clinging to its searing heat. She had no doubt that the Khaganate agents had some way of monitoring her–at the very least, they wouldn’t let her die out here. That would be counterproductive.
“He wants me to be his bitch? He can go fuck himself,” Kayla scoffed, switching back into Wenyuan’s mother tongue.
She tossed her head back.
“Come on now, assholes!” Kayla called into the darkness. “You want to make a deal? Show yourselves!”
She waited a moment. There was no response. Of course they wouldn’t show up so easily, not when she wasn’t desperate yet.
Thank god I got these robes done, Kayla thought to herself. She took off her outer robe and turned it inside out, ripping the inseam of the collar open with her teeth. Inside, there was a thin strip of cloth with tiny embroidery stitches. If you looked closely enough, they formed a string of spell talismans.
Take that, bastards. Kayla felt a surge of vindication. Despite the ready availability of talismans, it had been expensive to hire someone who was willing to set up spells on such a small space and to keep their silence as well. Setting up the fail-safe measures for herself and Hu Qing had taken a good amount of money, money that she didn’t actually have, considering the debt the Zhao clan owed the treasury. It was an exorbitant waste under any other circumstances but lifesaving at the right moment.
And here we are now, huh?
She activated the second spell from the right. It was the tiniest and most inconvenient communication talisman in existence with only a single function–sending a distress signal to Hu Qing and her bodyguards.
Too bad we don’t have a GPS spell of sorts, or I’d be in a much better position, Kayla thought wryly to herself. It didn’t matter. The spell wouldn’t help them find her that quickly, but it would force the hand of the Khaganate agents. Kayla was certain that their surveillance spell could detect her use of magic, and it probably blocked off communication magic as well. But they didn’t know what she was doing or how.
They’re not just going to stand back and let me do that, surely.
There was silence. Kayla let out her breath in a humorless cackle, the white-hot rush of adrenaline pulsing beneath her skin. She waited a moment longer and activated another spell.
“Show yourselves!” Kayla shouted.
A colorful flare shot up into the sky, bursting apart into shining shards and disappearing. Given the cloudy weather and strong winds, the spell was barely visible, but it was enough.
The wind picked up, sweeping through Kayla’s robes and hair. Her outer robe fluttered and billowed, remaining anchored only by Kayla’s grip on its collar. She closed her eyes and listened intently, waiting.
There we go. Even muffled by the grass, Kayla could sense the horses approaching.
Kayla opened her eyes again, pulling her face into a smile.
“Why, hello there,” Kayla said. Two shadowy figures loomed over her in the dark, their faces covered entirely by featureless masks.
The two horsemen said nothing, one of them tightening his grip on the hilt of his blade.
“Shy, aren’t we? That’s alright. It’s your boss that I want to speak to anyways,” Kayla said.
One of the men said something quietly in Turkish to his taller companion, the second man keeping his eyes trained on Kayla.
“We’re running out of time here,” Kayla interrupted them. “My men already received my distress signal, it won’t be long before they find me. If you guys want to talk, then let’s hurry the fuck up and talk.”
The taller man came closer, staring down at Kayla from horseback. Faster than Kayla could react, he had snatched Kayla’s outer robe from her hands.
“A bit late for that,” Kayla taunted him.
“Not too late for us to kill you,” the taller man snapped.
“I don’t think you have the power to make that decision,” Kayla replied. “Let me talk with your boss. This all boils down to cooperating with the Khaganate, doesn’t it?"
She glanced between the two of them with a confident gaze. "Fine. I’m open to discussion.”
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Cultural Notes
Khitan People: Tabuyir's been around for a while, but his tribe hasn't been important to the story until now, hence the late introduction. The Khitan are a proto-Mongolian people believed to have descended from the Xianbei (ancient proto-Mongolian nomadic people). They were composed of eight tribes in their early history, and were less unified and militarily powerful than the Turks. They were essentially dominated by the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and the Tang Dynasty between the 6th and 9th centuries, often being caught between the two. After the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate and the Tang Dynasty, they rose to prominence in the power vacuum and founded the Liao Dynasty, which was eventually conquered by the Mongol Empire.
代州/Daizhou: An administrative region in Tang-dynasty China. In the northeastern part of modern-day Shan'xi province. Close to the Wutai Mountains.
恒州/Hengzhou: An administrative region in Tang-dynasty China. Located between the modern-day Shan'xi and Hebei provinces.
易州/Yizhou: An administrative region in Tang-dynasty China, in modern-day Hebei province.
幽州/Youzhou: An administrative region in Tang-dynasty China, near modern-day Beijing.
西域/Western Regions: Often used to refer to any region West of 玉门关/Jade Gate Pass in modern-day Gansu province, but can refer to anywhere between Central Asia to the Middle East. Unlike horses native to China, horses from the Western Region were prized for their endurance and speed.
Shifting grips on weapons as a martial art technique: A technique that can be used with most mid-range weapons in Ancient China (i.e. spears, lances, staffs). The most optimal grip during an attack is usually a full-handed grip, often on the lower half of the weapon. Skilled martial artists can use the momentum of an attack to slide/push the weapon forward while shifting their grip to the very end of the weapon, so that the usable length of the weapon essentially increases mid-attack. This sounds pretty straightforward, but can be hard to pull off without either losing grip of your weapon or drawing back too slowly when you're in a real fight and everything's moving fast as hell. The friction alone can take the skin right off your hand if you don't do it right.
Spells in clothing seams: Kayla offered to get this done for Hu Qing after he was first reinstated a few chapters back. The function essentially turns your robe into a wearable talisman in case of any danger.