A short time later, Abrial returned to consciousness.

Painfully, she blinked her eyes open.

Ouch…her head hurt. A lot. She blinked and looked around, frowning from the pain and confusion.

She seemed to be surrounded by fabric walls…the walls of a tent? The strong scent of earth pressed in from all around, thick as fresh rain. The light here was mild and mostly came from what was probably sunlight filtering in through the fabric walls. Bamboo mats lined the ground. Polished wooden cabinets on either side of her.

Abrial raised a hand to rub her head, which was breaking out in a splitting headache.

Or rather, she tried to raise a hand.

To her shock, her arm wouldn’t budge an inch! She looked down incredulously to find that she had been restrained to a chair.

But instead of being restrained with rope, she had been bound with vines.

She spluttered in disbelief.

“What the heck is this?!” she muttered, puzzled. “Who uses vines to tie someone up? Isn’t that more work?”

The more she struggled, the more furious she became. This was just…excessive!

Her wrists had been bound to the chair’s arms, and her ankles to the legs. That was irritating enough on its own. But when she shifted slightly, she found that even her neck had been bound! How outrageous was that? Did they think she was a dangerous criminal or something? It wasn’t tight enough to prevent her from breathing, but the vines scratched at her skin painfully. In fact, all of the vines were scratching painfully at her skin — at the skin of her neck, around her wrists, by her ankles…

Abrial squinted down. Her eyes widened.

“Are those thorns? What the…?! This is just too much!”

At that moment, a blinding light flashed in the room. Someone had pushed open the tent flaps and swept inside. Abrial couldn’t see who it was because she was too blinded by the sudden light and her splitting headache. The person approached her, still looking blurry. A hand with very sharp nails that glittered gold reached out to grip Abrial by the chin.

Abrial’s head was jerked forcefully back by a single finger of this hand. Her neck stretched painfully so that she looked even further back than straight up at the ceiling.

Studying her from above was a pair of amusedly glittering black eyes.

The eyes belonged to a young woman. She had to be a little older than Abrial, maybe twenty years old. Her angular eyes and black hair that tumbled down from her head were undeniably alluring. A shimmer of teal and gold powder fanned out over her eyelids. She smiled sardonically with lips red as cherries. Even upside down, her face was seductive.

Abrial’s face went hot. At the same time, she felt that she was in grave danger.

“So, she’s awake,” the woman smiled sweetly, showing shining, sharp teeth. “Did you enjoy the beauty sleep, hm?”

The woman’s voice dripped with bemused sarcasm. Abrial swallowed the heat in her face and snapped back.

“Let me go! Who even are you? Why are your nails so long? Cut off these vines, right now!”

The woman stared at Abrial for a moment, eyes glittering darkly. Then, out of nowhere, she laughed a high, sarcastic note.

“Little Lyra wasn’t kidding when she said you were feisty.”

“Lyra? You know Lyra? She knocked me out! Is she here?”

“Hmmm…” This woman smiled widely. She seemed to be deeply entertained by Abrial’s frantic struggle and confusion. Her eyes glittered like black pearls. “It would be better for you if Lyra was here. Unfortunately, she isn’t. She had to return to her post after delivering you to me. I’ll be administering your memory inspection to determine whether you’ll be given entrance to the Wei camp. But I’m a little bored today, sitting around and waiting for new arrivals, so I think I’ll try something different…”

Abrial stared at this alluring young woman, whose smile had turned into a leer. She got a bad premonition.

“What…different? What d’you mean, different? Why do you sound so ominous?! I don’t have time to joke around! Just—give me the exam! I don’t have any bad intentions, I promise! I need to find my friend, so just hurry and—

Before she could get out another word, the woman’s other hand flew up and pressed firmly down on her lips.

Abrial’s lips zipped together as though they had been sealed with ice.

What is this? Abrial spluttered, outraged in her mind. What kind of magic did she use? I can’t get any words out at all! What the heck!!! What kind of move is that? Is she part of the magician’s camp, or did I end up in some crazy woman’s tent?!

The woman smiled sweetly down at her with eyes of onyx.

“Now that you’ve shut up so nicely,” she cooed, “We can get on with the interrogation. I have a new method I want to test. Don’t worry, it’ll hurt, but only for a bit. I’m not going to murder you, and the effects won’t be permanent…mostly.”

Abrial made a noise of protest, struggling in vain to pull her lips apart. What was this woman going to do?! Not something good, that much she could tell. If this was really the magicians’ camp, why did they have such a crazy person welcoming new arrivals?! She needed to get out of here, ASAP! Screw getting into the camp with a memory inspection. If this woman was the memory inspector, she’d just escape and find Finley herself!

Meanwhile, the young woman dropped Abrial’s chin and left to go rummage in a drawer of one of the wooden cabinets. From this angle, Abrial could see that she was a towering, buxom young woman. Her body was draped with teal satin robes that made Abrial raise her eyebrows in puzzlement.

Do people normally…show that much skin? was Abrial’s first thought.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The dress was slit all the way up to the thigh. The woman’s pale, shapely legs shone through, white as jade. The dress’s collar, too, sloped down in an arrow shape very low on the woman’s white chest.

Abrial’s face burned. She averted her eyes.

“What are you looking at, hm?” the woman said in her sweet, sarcastically amused voice. She smiled a honeyed, cherry-red smile at Abrial. “See something you like? Why don’t you take another look?”

Abrial’s face burned even brighter. She clenched her fists and made no noise. This woman was definitely crazy.

The woman finally seemed to find what she was looking for. With a slender-fingered hand, she lifted a rod out of the drawer. Abrial saw that at the end of it, a large piece of metal had been melded.

The ominous feeling in her stomach surged.

The woman twirled the rod between her fingers nimbly. She returned to Abrial and brought the rod down near Abrial’s neck. Abrial felt a gradual heat radiating onto her skin. She twisted her head to look down.

The metal melded onto the end of the rod was now glowing red, a literal hot iron.

“This is a branding rod,” the crazy woman murmured, lowering her head so that she spoke softly by Abrial’s other ear. Abrial tensed up automatically with discomfort at the closeness of the whisper. “If you really want to join the magicians’ camp and show that you aren’t a spy, you’ll let me brand your neck while I search through your memories. Sounds reasonable, wouldn’t you agree? It’ll hurt a lot, yes. And it’ll be…somewhat permanent. But you’d do that much at least to join the camp, or get to your friend, wouldn’t you?”

Abrial swallowed, finding that her mouth had been unsealed. The rod burned hot and bright, so close to her skin that the heat was scalding.

She had been taught from a young age by her parents that she should respect her body. She should not cut her skin, she should avoid scars, she should not harm herself. Of course, she had rarely listened to these instructions. She had climbed until her hands bled, fallen off windowsills and cracked her bones, slid down pine tree trunks and sliced open her palms and knees on their bark. She had always had the faintly red crescent-shaped scars on her collarbone from surviving the scarlet plague when she was young.

But still, the idea was instilled inside of her subconsciously, that she shouldn’t purposefully mark herself. She shouldn’t burn herself on purpose, she shouldn’t brand herself on purpose, she shouldn’t permanently tattoo herself on purpose.

“So if I let you brand me…you’ll let me into the camp?” Abrial murmured, the glowing rod filling her vision.

The woman smiled in response. “Do I look like a liar to you?”

Abrial swallowed again. Her mouth tasted dry.

Yes, this woman definitely looked like a liar.

She squeezed her eyes shut, deciding not to say that.

Anything for Finley, right? If this crazy woman wouldn’t let her go without torturing her for a little first, then she’d just get it over with.

“Okay,” she muttered, bracing herself. “Do it.”

The woman's eyes lit up with a strange excitement. She plunged the iron like a dagger towards Abrial’s pale, smooth skin, right where her neck met her collarbone.

Just before she could harshly press the burning hot metal into Abrial’s neck, the tent flap burst open.

“Bi Chanjuan, stop!”

The rod jerked away from Abrial’s skin. The heat subsided. Abrial’s chest deflated with relief, but then the relief was replaced with shock, and her splitting headache struck again. Wincing in pain and disbelief, her eyes darted towards the tent flap.

She knew that voice.

She knew that voice!

Her heart seemed about to explode within her chest. It was as if it had erupted with a sparking fire, rippling across her entire body with warmth. Her eyes widened, sparkling with thrilled stars.

When she called out, her voice was a little hesitant, but it sounded so joyful it seemed on the verge of tears:

“Instructor Wei? Is that you?!”

Her vision adjusted slowly. Standing in front of the open tent flap with the light streaming in from behind him, was a tall, slender and graceful figure in river blue robes. A thin headband rested on his forehead, and a thin sword was sheathed at his waist.

There was no mistaking him. He was indeed the one and only brilliant blade master, Instructor Wei Guang!

“Wei Guang. Great,” muttered the crazy young woman, Bi Chanjuan, bitterly. She shoved the rod back into a drawer and slammed it closed, crossing her arms in contempt.

Instructor Wei looked no different than the last time Abrial had seen him over a month ago. His robes still flowed around his lithe limbs like water. He was still tall as a blue wisteria tree and just as graceful. That same silver pin decorated his long, dark hair. His eyes still sparkled gently. She was staring at him so perplexedly that she didn’t even notice as the thorny vines snaked sneakily away from her neck, her wrists, and her ankles, freeing her from the chair.

Everything about him was the same, except for one thing. That gentle, comforting smile Abrial had always seen resting on Instructor Wei’s face like a constant, soft flame was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, his warm brown eyes were flashing with anger. She’d never seen him look so un-calm before.

When his eyes met Abrial’s, his entire face changed. The sternness melted away, and a gentle, crescent-eyed warmth softened his features.

“Han Abrial Chae-young. It is good to see you again.”

Abrial couldn’t contain her joy.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU’RE HERE!” she bellowed with elation. A big grin spread across her face. “I thought I’d never see you again! I — “ Abrial glanced down, puzzled that she could suddenly move her limbs. When she saw that the thorny vines had disappeared, she shot to her feet and tackled Instructor Wei with a bear hug in an instant, smearing a little blood on his perfect robes.

He stumbled backwards slightly, laughing a gentle laugh. She squeezed him more tightly than she ever had, pressing her nose into the warm shoulder of his robe. Just like she remembered, he smelled like fresh water and the wind. It was so comforting to smell this calm scent again. It made Abrial feel safe, as though she didn’t have to worry about anything anymore. Everything was going to be fine now!

Abrial smiled up at him. For some reason, her eyes felt wet.

Behind her, Bi Chanjuan stared at them, incredulous. Her arms were still crossed. Clearly, she was in disbelief that these two knew each other already.

At last, Abrial released Instructor Wei. Confusion had finally dawned on her.

“What are you doing here?!” she frowned up at him.

Instructor Wei laughed. It was a gentle sound, like a spring breeze swaying the branches of a willow.

“It is a long story. Why don’t we sit and talk for some time? In another, more welcoming tent. Will you come with me?”

He gestured towards the open tent flap. Abrial grinned. Without even nodding, she sped out before him like a gust of wind, happy to be free of that dank interrogation tent with that crazy woman Bi Chanjuan and her hot iron rods.

Instructor Wei laughed.

“She has not changed a bit, despite everything,” he murmured to himself.

He turned to Bi Chanjuan.

“Bi Chanjuan,” he said. His voice was calm, but stern. Bi Chanjuan raised her eyebrows sarcastically back. “I have spoken to you about this multiple times before, as has your sister. You are not to restrain newcomers unless they have violent intentions, and even then especially not with your thorns. You may not brand or cut them, or harm them in any shape or form. If this occurs one more time, your sister or I will remove you from all leadership duties. Do you understand?”

Bi Chanjuan’s lip curled. She waved her hands at him carelessly. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say. I don’t wanna be here anyway. And I wasn’t even gonna brand her for real. I just wanted to incite fear and test how that affected her memories. But you all don’t understand experimentation, so whatever. I don’t expect you to.”

Instructor Wei’s warm brown eyes remained calm.

“I’ll also ask you to apologize to that young woman when you see her next. She has gone through much hardship recently. A welcome like this was surely distressing for her. Her name is Han Abrial Chae-young. Please give her a proper apology.”

“Mm,” hummed Bi Chanjuan boredly, studying her long, golden nails.

“Instructor Wei!” called Abrial’s bright, impatient voice from outside. “What’s taking so long? You’re so slow! Also, why are there so many tents out here?”

Instructor Wei gave Bi Chanjuan another unreadable look. Then he turned and left gracefully as a breeze, the tent flap swinging quietly shut behind him.

Bi Chanjuan sneered as soon as he had gone.

“I don’t understand what the big deal is. I didn’t even do anything to her. And how does he know her already? Old Wei Guang’s never been one to meet new people outside camp. Whatever…tsk. This is just great. Now there’ll be another annoying loudmouth at camp to deal with.”