The Queen's Honor Guard
by Nyohah
IV.
It was just after dawn, and Hua Quy Ling was nearly alone on the beach.
Of course, that was because all the sane people were sleeping, he thought unhappily. Everything was deserted, from the princess's tower window—which was always deserted, since she was gone—to the army's new training ground, out by the metallic glint of the missile silos, hidden in the lush forest. Of course, the missiles had nowhere near the destructive capabilities of the nuclear warheads the humans had in their missile silos. Only the humans would be that stupid.
Essentially, there were no possible distractions anywhere. The birds were not even singing. Yet that was probably why Vendetta, the only other person around, had forced him out on the beach to train. Vendetta was constantly complaining that Quy was too easily distracted.
Pacing in front of him, facing the calm morning sea, Vendetta barked commands. Quy Ling followed them without hesitation and to the best of his ability, but he had already decided that wasn't enough for Vendetta. Nothing short of perfection ever would be.
Sweating hard in the cool breeze, Hua Quy Ling practiced a difficult form with his katana. He was doing quite well—the best he'd ever done, certainly—but Vendetta still scowled beneath his mask. Then, Quy saw a movement near the palace. It was two rather petite figures on horses. The first rider had a long braid, and the second, on the smaller horse...
He would know that profile anywhere. Startled, he lost his concentration and dropped his katana onto the soft, white, sand.
"What is it now, boy?" demanded Vendetta. "What could possibly have distracted you this time?"
Quy Ling swallowed. "I think the princess and her handmaiden have returned," he said carefully.
Vendetta's manner changed instantly. "Well, don't be a fool, boy. Go tell Emperor Yuen. Now!"
Hua Quy Ling sprinted across the sand.
High in the palace, Emperor Yuen sat at his desk, inspecting a list. The Edenian nobleman who had brought it stood in front of the desk, looking nervous at best.
The emperor read through the things that the Edenian wanted to trade leisurely. "...slaves, yes...gold, certainly..." Then he stopped and looked up at the Edenian, raising his eyebrows. "Silver? That is going to cost you quite a lot. And what are you offering in exchange?" The Edenian did not speak, and Yuen scanned another sheet. "Rubies, emeralds, sapphires, diamonds... Are you trying to cheat me? I know how little these mean to you. They will certainly cover the rest of these items, but silver? I want Hithron."
The Edenian blanched. Hithron powered all starships. At the moment, Yuen had very few of them, but with more Hithron, and therefore more space flight, his grip on the galaxy would only tighten. That was the last thing anyone wanted, and the Edenian would far rather not have the silver than give him any Hithron... Yet could he deny Yuen to his face?
"Yes, sir," he said finally. "I will get you Hithron." Yuen began to smile, but at that moment, a teenage boy burst in, gasping for air.
"Princess Yuen Ming and Kei Sa have returned," he panted.
There was only one person who had ever caused Emperor Yuen such stress that he paced his office, at a loss for actions. And she was back.
Shang Tsung had seized Yuen's chair and looked through the hastily departed Edenian's papers with dwindling interest as Yuen fretted this unexpected problem.
"I cannot let her escape punishment," Yuen mused aloud.
"Certainly not," agreed Tsung, absently, flipping a page.
"Yet what would be a suitable punishment...?" He turned sharply on his left foot and turned to the window. The army had begun to gather on the training fields outside. "She could do a slave's work...clean the Great Halls floor, yes, that is it... I should treat her as a slave for a while, make her see her fortune..."
"Of course..." muttered Tsung. It was incredible how invaluable diamonds were on Edenia. Perhaps he should stop there on his way back to Earth to pick some up.
"Yet what of that handmaiden of hers? She is used to hard labor... And there is always the problem of how we are going to eliminate Ming as a threat. It seems more likely each day that the Master is right about her."
Tsung stacked the papers and sighed. "There's no reason our original plan will not work."
"She will not marry you."
"Not willingly, but what if I were to go in her room and make her have to. In order to save her honor."
Yuen looked blank for a few seconds. "You will defile her?"
"Yes," sighed Tsung.
"And you are certain this will work?"
"Absolutely."
"Very well," agreed Yuen.
Yuen Ming sprinted from her rooms, down the spiraling staircases, through the marble halls. She wrenched open a thick mahogany door and stormed into her father's study, flushed and irate.
"What do you think you are doing?" she screamed.
Emperor Yuen slowly stood, shocked by his daughter's raised voice. She had never yelled in his presence before. This was unacceptable, but first... "Where is Shang Tsung?"
"On the floor in pain!" spat Ming. "Do you think the Oracle taught me nothing?"
Yuen seethed, and struggled to maintain his usual calm composure. Anger would get him nowhere with her; he had learned that the last time. "I cannot believe such rebellion as I have gotten from you. Your brother has never been a fraction of the trouble you have shown yourself to be. He realizes, as you do not, how very lucky you are. I have given you riches others only dream of, everything any woman could ever want. You have never done physical labor. You have been spoiled, Yuen Ming. Only the finest dresses, more silver than any other Mandalorian. Do you not see the envy of the other women around you? Would you prefer to be a slave? Because I can arrange that very easily," he threatened.
As he spoke, Ming reached up to absently finger her silver earring. Perhaps he had given her any material thing she could have ever wanted, but what about the truly important things? Freedom, kindness...love? She shook her head decisively as he continued his lecture, a worthless cacophony of lies. She was a slave. A slave to his whims. She felt her delicate earring, a gift of his deception, and she wrenched it out of her ear, ignoring the sudden sharp pain, and the blood that began to well in the piercing.
The emperor halted his speech in bewilderment as his daughter held her glittering earring high in front of her. Without a word, she dropped it to the cold marble floor and stamped her foot down on it, crushing its fragile twisting shape into an ugly mess.
Ming slowly raised her chin and looked her father in the eyes as his face flushed to a remarkable shade of crimson.
With an inhuman roar, he seized Ming's braid and savagely wrenched her out of his office. He dragged her up three stories of winding stairs, and threw her into a room she had not seen for seven years. He slammed the door and Ming heard the click of its lock, just before Yuen bellowed, "Stay in there forever!" and stormed away.
Ming looked around her old nursery, now completely devoid of anything unnecessary, especially anything she could use to stage an escape again. She sat on the sheet-less bed, and cried angry tears, hating her father, and cursing herself for not listening to all those who had been right about him.
She was still crying, though quietly, when she thought she heard a noise by her window. Blinking away her tears, she rose and approached the window. As she grew near, something small and hard collided with the strong glass pane, and Ming jumped back, startled. Intrigued, she pushed open her nursery's window and leaned out.
Below, on the beach once used for army training, stood Rah Cai Yue, a stuffed bag strapped to his back, rope slung over his shoulder, and small rocks in his hand. The sight of him brought an instant smile to her lips; she had not seen him in a year, and she had missed his company dearly.
He called from below, quoting Shakespeare fluidly in his typically broken English,
...wond'ring eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.
O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse they name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
She answered him playfully, and then said in Mandalorian, "Just what are you doing here?"
"I'm rescuing you!" He unslung the rope and threw to her the ball he had strung on one end. "Tie it to something and I'll come up."
She glanced around the sparse room, but she could see that there was nothing to tie it to. Even the mattress of her bed lay directly on the floor. She returned to the window. "There's nothing to tie it to!"
"Well, then," answered Cai Yue, grabbing the rope. "Brace yourself for I'm coming up anyway." He began to haul himself up, and Ming braced herself against the window, leaning back to counter his weight.
He turned out to be a rather good climber, and in no time, he grabbed the windowsill and dragged himself over into her old nursery. Ming blew on her raw hands as Cai Yue pulled up the rope and coiled it by her window.
"It's nice to see you again," he said. "Too bad you'll be gone again in a few minutes."
"What's all this?" she asked, opening his bag.
"First of all," he answered, digging through it, "a pair of pants and a shirt for you to wear, to make it easier to run. You can't go by the stables this time and take my mother's horse because they're guarded."
"I'm not sure I want to wear this shirt," she said looking at the bright fabric.
He looked slightly hurt. "That's one of my favorite shirts. But anyway, I'm going to need a dress. I looked through my mother's, but she didn't have any like most of yours."
"Unfortunately, this is the only one I have right now." Ming pulled at the silk of the one she was wearing.
"That would be a bit of a problem." He paused. "Well, I'll turn around and you can change, and I'll have to wear the dress you have on."
"Very well," Ming said. "Turn." She undid her sash. "Tell me now, how did you know I was here?"
"I'm omniscient," he answered, just as a dress of thick, deep blue embroidered silk hit him in the back of the head.
"No, honestly, Cai Yue, how did you know I was in this room?"
"Did I not just tell you that I was omniscient?"
"Cai Yue!" Another dress hit him in the back of the head, this time with force. This particular layer was a pale yellow, and cut slightly different from the first
"Ming, I'm the official palace rogue. I have connections." Another gown came, this one pure white. "For heaven's sake, how many layers do you wear?"
"Just the three," Ming answered. "Usually. And might I add that you are truly quite thin?" she added pulling on his pants.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. Are you done yet?"
"Yes." She posed for him. "So, how do I look?"
"Better than I'm going to. Your turn," Cai Yue added, drawing a circle in the air with his finger. Yet in a few seconds he approached her, holding the first layer shut. "Uhh, tie this, please?"
Smiling, Ming helped him put on the other two layers as well. "So, how does it feel to be a woman?"
"Oppressing, and I haven't even gotten to the makeup yet." He stuffed his clothes into his bag and pulled out the paint. "If you would do the honors?"
Minutes later, Rah Cai Yue hung the rope out the window once more, complete in face paint, a wig, and a dress, looking not extraordinarily unlike a woman. Nevertheless, he would never fool a close observer. But even what little time he might buy, Ming needed greatly.
"I still can't believe you'd do all this, put yourself in such danger, for me," Ming said, as she prepared to climb out the window.
"I'm your knight in shining armor," shrugged Cai Yue.
"Perhaps my odd friend in drag is more correct, but it is the effort that counts." She swung her leg over the windowsill. "Farewell!"
She disappeared behind the tower wall, and when he no longer felt her weight on the rope, Rah Cai Yue leaned out the window, and called affectionately after her sprinting form.
"Haste, haste, fair maiden!"
Half an hour's time found Rah Cai Yue lying quite unladylike on the mattress, reading a small leather book. His parents had never been religious, but he had found himself inexplicably drawn to that one book that Emperor Yuen feared so much. And for the past few days, he had found himself pondering one verse, a verse truly not philosophical in the least. It simply stated a historical truth, one so incredible that it sent chills up Cai Yue's spine when he thought of the implications.
"After him was Shamgar, the son of Anath, who slew six hundred of the Philistines with an ox goad; and he also delivered Israel."
If such power and invulnerability were truly possible, was there any doubt to why Yuen thought this belief so dangerous to his authority?
Suddenly, he heard a click at the door and dropped the book down the front of his dress, where it was caught by the sash, forming an odd bulge. He sat on the bed and tried to look like Ming.
In stepped Kei Sa, the slight widening of her mismatched eyes the only outward sign of her astonishment at seeing the person inside was not the princess.
"Rah Cai Yue...?" she ventured, studying the imposter's facial structure.
"Yes..."
"I came to release the princess," she explained, holding up her smuggled key.
"Very nice of you. Unfortunately, I beat you to it. You truly like her enough to risk your hide for hers?"
"She has always treated me kindly. I fear I am not far ahead of her father, though."
"Well, then," answered Cai Yue, gathering his rope and bag. "We had best leave now."
But hearing footsteps in the hall, Kei Sa whispered, "Too late."
Emperor Yuen burst in, took one look at them, and bellowed, "Guards!"