Chapter Twenty-One:

"Zhou!" Ce exclaimed, turning to look at his friend. "You didn't catch them, then?"

The look in his best friend's eyes broke Ce's heart and chilled him to the bone at the same time. Zhou was hurting, he was afraid, and he was murderous. Ce knew the angry, almost berserk gleam in Zhou's eye. It had only happened once before, when his brother, merely a year younger, had joined the yellow turban cult and been killed in battle. Zhou had lost sanity for a time that day, and had struck fear into the hearts of their enemies and allies alike. He had killed many more enemies than anyone else that day, and Ce found himself being a little frightened of his friend as well. How much worse would it be with Mai Li, considering how much closer he was to her? He knew his friend would fight through the depths of Hell itself to get her back if there was the slightest chance she was still alive, and he would likely torture any and all responsible parties if she was killed.

"Why," drawled another voice from the door, "is it that I never find out about all the exciting doings in my own palace until long after they're completed?"

"Dad!" Ce exclaimed turning to look at his father. There was a sleepy but unconcerned look on his face, and Ce realized that his father must not have heard all of the exciting doings.

Suspicion dawned on Sun Jian's face when he noticed everyone's expressions and a missing face. "Where is Mai Li? Shouldn't she be with you?"

"She was taken," Ce whispered. Zhou hadn't even turned to look at Lord Sun Jian, he just stood there stiffly, staring at the prisoners, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Tell me," Sun Jian ordered.

Zhou fought down a wave of anger and disgust with himself, and told the story in a matter-of-fact tone, all the while railing at himself for not being able to help Li in time. If only he had taken out the two he was fighting quicker, he would have been able to get to her before they knocked her out or drugged her. Those were the only ways she would ever have been so limp and still like that as she was carried off.

He closed his eyes to hold back a spate of tears.

"I am sure that there was nothing you could have done differently, Zhou," said Sun Jian, and Zhou opened his eyes to look at his lord. The compassion and fear for Mai Li's well-being on the man's face forced Zhou to clench his jaw and try to choke down the tears once more. Sun Jian knew well the possibility that instead of being released, Li would be killed upon discovery that she wasn't the right girl.

Then Sun Jian turned to the prisoners. "You will tell us where she is being taken," he said severely, "or you will be tortured." When the men simply lifted their chins higher, as if saying that torture couldn't frighten them, Sun Jian grinned wolfishly. "You won't be tortured by just anyone, you'll be tortured by the fiancé of the woman that was taken away. Perhaps you've heard of my young general, Zhou Yu?" At that, one of the men jerked his head up. "Yes, I see you have at least heard the tales. They're true. This is the same young man that cut through the ranks of those infidels alone to cut down Zhang Bao."

The prisoners all looked at each other, panicked. "We'll tell you, but only if we're allowed quick, clean deaths," the oldest one said.

"Provided she is found and returned safely, you may be assured that the executioner's blade is sharp," Sun Jian said.

Two dark-clad men crept into the busy kitchen of one of the less reputable inns in the city, one of them carrying a large bundle wrapped in a blanket over his shoulder. The inn's kitchen staff–consisting of a head cook and two underlings that mainly took care of the cleaning and onerous chores–were busy cleaning up for the night, since it was well after hours for people to be eating. Not that many people really ate at this particular inn anyway, the food was worse than pig swill. The main reason people came to the place was to drink and cause trouble.

When the rather formidable head cook descended upon them, brandishing a ladle menacingly, they quickly sidled out the serving door and into the ill-lit, boisterous common room. Knowing better than to expect their employer to be in the common room, they kept to the shadows on the periphery, moving quietly and unnoticed around to the doorway that would take them to the guest rooms. Normally, they would have walked right through, laughing and joking with the men in the room and probably propositioning the serving girls, but there was a brawl going on at the moment and they were under strict orders that their "loot" be as undamaged as possible.

As it was, it was nearly impossible not to be dragged into the fight–a beautiful thing it was, too. Encompassing well nigh the entire room with no one quite sure how it had started–as all the best brawls were.

Another night, perhaps. After their job was completed, and not likely in this city. They had been brought in from the Han capitol, and weren't bloody likely to show their faces here again. Especially after being chased by that madman all the way to the palace gates. They knew they had barely escaped this time, and as it was, three of their number had been captured.

When they finally reached the room their employer had rented for the evening, the unladen man tapped out a quick pattern on the door. Not many would notice–or care about if they did–the shady doings, such things happened here all the time, right under Sun Jian's nose. They were summoned inside with a gruff "Come in." The two entered the small room–no better lit than the common room had been–and were told to laid the heavy bundle out on the small, lumpy mattress.

"So you succeeded, finally," their employer said, irritation underlying his words. He hadn't been pleased when they had returned empty-handed the last time. "Where are the others?" he asked as he unwrapped the blanket.

"They were captured–there was quite a fight, sir," one of the men said.

"Yes, they were ready for us," added the other one. "We barely got her–"

"What in hell..." the man in charge interrupted as he got a good look at the face of the girl that had been wrapped in the pillow. The two lackeys quieted immediately, hearing the surprise and fury in his voice. "This isn't the right girl! I know you've both seen the one you were supposed to be after, how could you have made such a blunder?"

"She was in the room we were infiltrating, sir!" one of the men cried, prostrating himself on the floor. "By the time we realized our mistake, the fight was well under way, and we couldn't just leave empty-handed! Besides, we were pursued at least to the palace gates by someone who appeared to be quite important–he was too proficient a fighter not to be high rank, and the fact that he was trusted with the guardianship of this girl...she must be rather important too, right? It should be worth the effort, and we can't risk trying again–we would be caught and our lives forfeit."

"Your lives are already forfeit, you knew that before you took the job. I'd thought you were more skilled at your work, but apparently I was mistaken. Unfortunately, now I'm stuck with your mistake. I only hope that my lord doesn't decide to take my head for what you idiots did," the man snarled. "We have to get out of here, and quickly. I don't want anyone to trace us here. Give her another dose of the drug, she's starting to come back to consciousness–I don't want to risk her calling for help before we've left the city."

"But, sir...having her inhale more could kill her!"

"We'll have to take that chance then, won't we? Give her a lesser dose if you must, just do it now and then bring her out to the stable. We have to get away now."

With that, he left the room to go down to the stable himself. He wanted to be rid of the oafs, but he didn't want to be forced to take care of the girl himself the day's ride it would take to get to the river. Perhaps he'd throw them overboard once they were safely on their way back home. He knew well that neither of them could swim and were deathly afraid of a watery demise. He allowed himself a grin of anticipation.

"They're taking her where!" Zhou exclaimed. "No...I've got to get to her before it's too late..." He ran from the room without looking back, almost definitely off to the stable and one of the fastest horses therein.

"Ce," Sun Jian said, "I want you to follow him, but take a couple days travel rations for the three of you. I doubt Zhou thought about that in his haste to go after the men who took Mai Li. Not," he added, "that I blame him–I'd do the same thing, if it were the woman I loved in jeopardy."

Ce nodded, and strode out. With any luck, he'd catch up to Zhou just as his friend caught up to Mai Li's captors.

Thousands of apologies for the months and months you've all had to wait for this...I swear I'm working on more...I finally have internet at home again...I love you all, and thank you all so much for the lovely reviews!