Chapter 09: Echo of the last Morning Song

"Take care of the boy and leave us alone. I'll follow in an instant!"

"Yes, Captain, as you order!"

"You know what to do. Fail me and you won't see the next sunrise! Did I make myself clear?"

"Sure, Captain, sure!"

"Good! Hurry now! We don't have much time. Dawn is close!"

"Yes!"

Ouyang Nien inhaled a deep breath while he waited for the guard to leave. It felt like half an eternity until the steps finally trailed away within the tangle of corridors the dungeons were drawn with. As soon as it got all silent again, he breathed a sigh in relief and finally dared to open the door leading to the cell he stood in front of.

The key gave off a nasty squeak when it moved inside the lock and he had a quick look around before he went in just to close the door behind him again with one swift move.

There she stood: A small silhouette against the barred window within the sparse light of an almost extinct candle. She did not move, neither did she speak. It was just when she heard the door getting closed that she lowered her head and asked: "Is it time for me to die now?"

"No, not yet and not if I can prevent it", he replied in a low voice: "Yang Hui-zhen! It is me!"

She turned round and hurled herself into his arms while her eyes teared up: "Ouyang Nien!"

Holding her tight, he closed his eyes with his cheek nestled up against her temple and tried to calm her down as she got tossed by sobbing.

"Do not despair", he whispered: "do not despair. You will leave this place, do you hear me?"

He pressed his lips upon her temple and freed himself gently from out of her embrace: "Will you do as I tell you?" She nodded slowly and he went on: "I will take care that you will get the clothes of one of the guards. Follow the one who will take them to you. He will take you to a safe place. Hide there for a couple of days, till I can send word to Shih Wen-chao or Lu Ting-yen..."

She lifted her gaze in a mix of hope and worry and shook her head: "But my brother! I cannot leave him here, all alone!"

"Yang Hui-zhen, I promised your father to protect you and Chien-cheng. Never would I depart from my word..."

His voice ebbed away and he lowered his head, unable to look into her eyes when he grabbed her hands when he finally added: "Hui-zhen, as soon as you will leave the dungeons, you will be outlawed. The High Eunuch will not hesitate to set a price on your head and the same might apply to General Shih and General Lu. You are the daughter of Yang Lin and Wei Tu-zheng knows that Shih and Lu are loyal against your father." He lifted his gaze and went on: "Hui-zhen, you won't be safe here anymore. You must leave and hide in exile until your father's name and reputation will be whitewashed..."

"But...what about you? Will you come with us?"

"No", he shook his head, his eyes filled with sadness and an unuttered pain: "no, I cannot come, but", he caressed her cheek: "my heart will be at ease and filled with delight because I know you will be safe."

"Ouyang Nien! No! Please, do not demand this from me..."

"Hui-zhen, I have no choice! If I want you to live, I have to let you go. Wei will send his hunters after you. No", he leant his brow against hers: "there is no choice. You must live and you will live..."

A silent knock at the door tore him out of his thought and he hurried to let the man in whom he had sent away before. The guard handed a bundle of clothes over to him and turned towards Yang Hui-zhen: "An honour to save the daughter of the noble Yang Lin."

She stared at him in utter surprise, unable to speak or even to think. It was Ouynag Nien who replied to him instead: "You know what to do!"

"Yes! I will do as you command!"

"You will answer me with your life for hers."

"Yes, commander, I know!"

"I will entrust her to you then." He turned round again and his voice died away when he said: "You must live, Hui-zhen, no matter the price!"

With this he turned on his heels and left without looking back again.

Ouyang Nien rushed down the corridor until he reached another cell. He blinked several times to keep himself from tearing up and straightened before he went in and he knew why he did so.

Before he was even able to close the door behind him, he already felt two small arms getting wrapped around him and so he went down to his knees that he would be able to look at the young boy at eye level who snuggled against him.

"I knew you would come!"

Chien-cheng beamed, but although he was glad to see the little lad smile all over his face, it did not escape Ouyang Nien that his eyes were reddened and tired and that his cheeks were smeared with dirt and tears.

Therefore, he forced himself to return the smile. "I heard, you kept the guards busy. Is that true?"

"Yes! They tried to make me talk, but I did not tell them what they wanted to know."

"You are valiant, little tiger, do you know that?"

"Yes!" Chien-cheng nodded eagerly: "You taught me so!"

Ouyang Nien laughed: "Did I? Well, then you will surely not mind if I ask you for your help?"

"Me? But you are the hero! How can I be of help to you?"

He grabbed the boy with his shoulders and looked into his eyes, all stern and dead serious: "This is no fun, Chien-cheng. I really need your help. Hui-zhen needs your help. And it is important that you will listen to me attentively. If you do, I can get you out of here. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course. I'm still little, but I'm not stupid. Hui-zhen and I know what father wanted to do. He always thought we would not, but we just did not tell him."

"Then it is even more important that you will help me."

"What must I do?"

Ouyang Nien smiled and stroked the boy's cheek: "You must play theatre for me. I want you to make the High Eunuch believe that you are dead. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes!" Chien-cheng smiled widely: "Yes, I can do that!"

"Even, if this means to deceive your sister too?"

The boy thought about it for a moment, then he nodded again and said: "Yes! I know, you will tell her the truth. Maybe, she will be angry for a while, but that's nothing new to me."

"Good!" Ouyang Nien ruffled his hair and pulled him in a tight hug: "Then I will let you in on my plan. Your father would be proud of you, little tiger, very proud!" The smile vanished from his lips and he got stern again, when he beheld the boy: "But now listen to me, we must hurry..."

Yang Hui-zhen stared out of the window. Her gaze got lost somewhere in the nowhere and she was not able to turn round to look at Ouyang Nien, who still sat amongst all the blankets and cushions they had spread on the floor earlier that night, with his arms wrapped round his legs and his head rested on his knees, and who beheld her out of thoughtful eyes.

"Why do you torment yourself so much", he asked: "Now, as you know, Chien-cheng is still alive? I told you he is and also that I will find him for you."

"He will not understand my lack of trust in both of you. You and him..."

"He will! He is your brother and he was determined to save you, even if it would have cost his own life."

"They both entrusted their lives to you, my father and my brother. My father, because he knew, you would not deny his last wish to him, and my brother, because he loved you unconditionally from the day on, he first met you." She turned round: "So did I, but all I saw that night was the High Eunuch's guard. You murdered my father and my younger brother. How could I have doubted for only one moment that you would sell me out too, together with the generals Shih and Lu, as soon as they would come for me?"

Her voice died away...

Ouyang Nien reached his hand out for her: "Nothing, we are able to do, will ever be able to change what happened. Don't allow your troubled mind to make you suffer again. Isn't it enough that others still try to do so? Come, we only have a few more hours till the break of day – and till we have to part again."

She grabbed his hand and allowed him to drag her down by his side, missing that silent sigh that escaped him as well as she missed the bitter smile he smiled when he buried his face within her hair to inhale its scent.

"Come with me", he whispered close to her ear: "It does not make a difference anymore now. You are outlawed and so am I. Wei Tu-zheng will not allow us to live, if he should ever get hold of us. We will be on the run for the rest of our lives. There will never again be a safe place for us, neither for you nor for me. Let us at least try to find your brother. Together."

"You know, I cannot come", she replied: "Shih Wen-chao and I will return to the monastery. Our fight is not over, yet. Mun Ta is dead, but you know better than me that Wei will not be satisfied before this place and all of its inhabitants will be wiped out. General Shih and I owe those people our lives and we are alone now. Lu Ting-yen fell and so did his son. We cannot leave."

She leaned back against his chest, relishing the moment when he wrapped his arms round her, and added: "Find Chien-cheng and tell him, I love him. Will you do that?"

"I will take him to you then you can tell him yourself. It will make it easier for me to settle my score with Wei Tu-zheng if I know you and your brother will be reunited."

Yang Hui-zhen turned round and stared at him in pure horror.

"No!" She touched his cheek. "No! I won't allow this! Do you listen? I won't allow this!"

A little laugh escaped him: "What is this? It's not even a few weeks since you had only one wish: to see my death."

Yang Hui-zhen knelt down in front of him and shook her head while her gaze melted into his: "No!" Her fingers trembled when she caressed his lips and cheeks before she buried them within his hair to loosen his bun and braids from their clips and pins and before she went on with her voice trembling as well: "I did not save your life for you to throw it away in a senseless attempt to vanquish Wei Tu-zheng..."

"What else did you save my life for then", he asked half way teasing her and half way touched by her being obviously stirred up that deeply.

"Don't you know by now", she answered in a choked voice.

His eyes brightened up as he beheld her again. The years in exile had left their marks on her but never before did she appear that lovely and enchanting to him like she did within this moment...

"Yes", he said: "I know..."

"The scent of your hair, of your skin, of your lips will always be a part of me from now on."

He brushed a strand of hair from her brow and traced the fine lines of her face, letting his lips follow his fingers until they found hers.

"I just shouldn't let you go. I just should keep you in here together with me, within this chamber, till the end of time."

"And I just should stay in here together with you, within this chamber, till the end of time."

They knew both, as much as they wished for their little dream to come true, there was no other choice for each of them than the path they would have to choose with sunrise.

A single tear ran down his cheek until he could taste the small salty drop on his lips. There was only one more question he wanted to get an answer for: "Why the scribe?"

She rose up upon an elbow and looked at him out of eyes filled with sadness and love: "Loneliness! Desperation! Hate! I hated you, I hated myself, I hated the love I felt for you and I hated myself for still loving you..."

"Do you still..."

"No", she cut him off."

She was gone.

He already knew before he woke up. He already knew before he opened his eyes.

Her warmth still filled the place by his side and her scent still filled the air round him, but she was gone.

He sat up, slowly, unwilling to open his eyes as it would mean to accept the truth, but then he felt the small something within his hand and he looked at it.

Wrapped in a note, he found that she had left a gift for him: a skillfully crafted gem in the shape of jasmine blossoms. And everything the note said was: 'Give it back to me when it is time.'

He denied to himself the urge to follow her as he knew, this was not the time to return the piece of attire to her, but he made a promise to himself, that before they both would die, he'd see her in her wedding dress.

It was time for him to leave as well and therefore he got up, got dressed and packed his belongings. He added the jasmine blossoms to the clips that held his bun and grabbed his sword.

His path would lead him south and there was no certainty for him for ever to return...

"Have you seen the respectable Yang", he heard a familiar voice while he was on his way out of town and he knew it was the scribe, Gu Sheng-zai, searching for Hui-zhen...