~ * ~
Shang ran through the curtain of rain as he made his away across the terrace, peering around corners, between trees and down shadow wrought paths as he moved. There was nothing, no fleeting figure, no flicker of movement, nothing in the direction Tai-shan had indicated.
Giving up, Shang stopped, cursing that he was outside soaking wet and chasing a phantom assassin when he would much rather be asleep. But he had a pregnant wife and an injured best friend, he couldn't let this attack tonight go. Leaning against the pillar of one of the many pavilions, he scanned thoughtfully to get his bearings in this labyrinth of walks, all entwining into the same great pool before him. His gaze fell into the water, thrown into tumultuous rippling by the abundant rainfall, flinging back a wavering mirror of the garden behind him.
The intensity of his stare deepened, there was something in the reflection on the water's surface that did not belong there. He turned around and saw it in truth.
A lone woman was curled in the base of a dragon statue, her slender arms clutching her knees, her head over them, her unbound black hair rendered a waterfall as it dripped heedlessly onto her robes. She seemed unaware of it all, the rain, the state of her clothing. For a moment he forgot his attacker altogether, this woman was so pitiful he thought he could not leave without knowing the cause of her distress.
"My lady?" He sought to catch her attention gently, not wanting to frighten her.
She slowly lifted her face, as if she recognized his voice. When he saw who she was he stepped back, so familiar and yet her eyes said she was a different person, a destroyed person. Lady Jiang, one of Mulan's closest friends.
"It's still raining?" Her eyes were clouded and confused. They flinched when they settled upon his face, and she recoiled physically.
Worried, he stepped closer. "You should come inside. I'll call a guard to walk you to your room if you like."
"No," she flung a hand fearfully. "No, don't come any closer. I want to stay out here."
He blinked. Why was she suddenly so wary of him? Mulan had brought her in his company dozens of times. She hadn't been afraid of him when she forced Mulan to dance for him before the coronation. But he let go of that angry thought quickly, something more serious was wrong here.
"Lady Jiang," he tried again. "If you tell me what's wrong maybe there's something I can do for you. Or I could take you to Mulan and you can tell her."
"You have his face," her eyes stared blankly for a moment. "Go away." But when he turned to get Mulan anyway she called after him. "Li Shang! May I ask you something?"
Puzzled, he bowed politely. "If it pleases you."
"You and Mulan... Before your wedding night, did you ever force her?"
"What?" He stiffened, nettled at the implication. "Do you think I am a man with no honor? Only a barbarian would do something-" He stopped, her face had blanched, features twisted as though fighting a storm of tears. Shang looked her over once more, the shocked, empty eyes, the disheveled clothing, beginning to realize what had happened to her. No, he had to take her to Mulan, no matter her protest, they had to know who the monster was and bring them to justice. She was just a young girl.
Shang froze in mid step as her tears broke. "Get him away!" her whisper rasped through the rain. Whirling around to see who she meant, he found himself face to face with Li Longji, dark eyes regarding him with a painful rage.
"How dare you, cousin!" He nearly spat the word. "How dare you have secret meetings with one of my chosen consorts. I'll have you executed!"
The general stared at him, too much in shock at the accusation to be bothered by the threat. Knowing his hot temper it was likely idle anyway. "What are you talking about? You're the one who attacked her. She told me herself!"
It was dangerous, very dangerous, to throw in the Emperor's face something that could be seen as slander. It went against his better judgment, the usual rigid caution with which he stepped around the Court. But Lady Jiang's words had only fed a long withstanding hatred, but he would hold on to anything that would make him hate him more. Li Longji was like a thorn in his side, after all these years of their quiet rivalry that was barely understood.
Instead of answering, the Emperor stiffened, clenched his fist, eyes narrowed as he crouched. Gaining momentum from a spin, he landed a kick in Shang's chest. Staggering back, the general fought to keep his balance, recover his breath, blocking Longji's next blow with his hand before he could kick again. Sending him teetering several steps, Shang turned and ran, leaping over the terrace steps, hoping Longji would calm himself and forget it.
But footsteps pounded on the ground after him, Shang spun to see Longji jumping from the base of a statue, only a few feet behind him now. There was no choice but to fight. Adopting a ready stance, he waited for the Emperor to land before shifting forward and striking a blow to his jaw. Longji swore, his lip bleeding, returning the effort with a punch in the eye. Shang froze, rubbing the sore flesh with a hand before erupting into motion again, trying to flee his cousin a second time. He could not duel the emperor, it wasn't worth the price. A long shadow fell over him and then the shifting of boots, Shang blinked through the rain to see Longji standing in front of him now, poised to lunge again.
The sound of more boots echoed through the trees, the flash of swords beaded with rain. "Your Majesty!" The Guards poured onto the terrace, flanking the Emperor and holding out their weapons.
Li Longji flung out a hand, still crouched like a tiger on the wide stone steps. "Stand back!" He ordered them, his voice deep and bellowing through the once quiet garden. "Withdraw! He's mine!"
Without waiting to see if he was obeyed, Longji balanced himself and ran forward again. Shang jumped back, raising his leg to kick the other man down, but Longji had put more force in the move than he anticipated. Seizing his foot, his cousin pulled him to the ground, throwing his weight over him as they rolled down the terrace steps. Shang struggled for freedom under the body that pinned him down, kicking to free his legs where they were entangled with Longji's, yanking away his wrists that his cousin was trying to hold fast to the ground. Longji was heavy, every inch of him pressed against Shang as if he were trying to break him with his weight alone.
They landed on the grass, Longji under him now, hooking one leg around his knee so he could not rise, his arms locked around Shang's waste.
"What do I have to do," Longji panted in Shang's ear, both of them exhausted from the struggle. "To keep you from defying me."
Shouts echoed through the garden, Shang felt hands prying him away from Longji's grasp. Imperial Guards to arrest him no doubt, despite the Emperor's orders.
"Stop it," Mulan pleaded from his left. Shang looked to either side of him. There were no Imperial Guards at all, just Mulan and Tai-shan. He let them pull him to his feet, clothes torn, bruised and scraped from the fight.
Longji rose to his knees as Shang was led away, just as disheveled as he was. "Li Shang!" he roared after him furiously. "I will kill you! Stay out of my dreams! I won't share her with you!"
"Come on, Shang" Tai-shan had an arm draped around his shoulders, helping him up the steps.
Nodding, Shang looked over his shoulder again. His cousin was still kneeling there in the rain, shaking he was so angry. But Lady Jiang was no where in sight.
~ * ~
"Ah, stop!" The sting of antiseptic made Shang groan. He tried to relax in the hot water filling the tub, but the burning in his forearm had him tense all over again.
Shaking her head, Mulan dipped the cloth in the water and began wiping the blood from his cheek. He tried to shy away from that too as the rough cloth rubbed his sore and puffy eye, but she held his head against her shoulder with a hand under his chin and continued anyway. Setting the cloth down, she took to kneading her hands into her shoulders. He sighed, it was much more pleasant than the stinging medicine on his scrapes.
"Why do you hate him so much?" She asked quietly after a moment.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tortured himself with that painful emotion, it seemed to settle into every bone in his body. "My mother used to say I could never be a mystic. She said my hate for him was like a seed of corruption, the one thing that would keep me from letting go of the world. Well I never wanted to be one anyway. Why? Because ever since I can remember he's always been the favorite, my father's, Taiping's. He knows it too, and he likes it. My father used to say he wished he could trade us and have him for a son."
"Is he like you father? Is that why you hate him?"
"No." Maybe the answer was too quick, but still, there was nothing worse than someone who wasted their life for the wrong things. "I think somewhere inside he's a good man, he's wounded in a way. When he was born, the lady of the house threw him and his mother out. His mother comitted suicide when he was six and he was given to military men and raised by them. They died one after another in the war and so he moved from house to house. He came to live with a general who brought him with him to the Palace, Taiping recognized him and raised him herself until he went to school. I met him sometime later." He recalled his father bringing Longji home, telling him that Longji was a fine example of a man, and his father had cared nothing when Longji had admired Tie-lin so openly. Tie-lin, only thirteen at the time.
Rising from her knees, Mulan dried her hands and pushed down her sleeves again. "Well, I'm going to bed. Maybe you should soak a while so you won't be sore in the morning."
"Mulan," he caught her arm before she could turn away. "Tomorrow find your friend, Lady Jiang, make her talk to you. Make her tell you everything.
She paused, eyes filled with a strange apprehension in the candlelight. Finally she nodded and padded back to the other room.
~ * ~
With a final flourish of his wrist, Shang managed to disarm his opponent, sending the other man's sword flying several feet until it clattered on the ground, raising cheers from the assembled onlookers. Making a little bow of acknowledgment, Shang lowered the guang dao to stare down his opponent, sighing.
"Looks like you have a few more weeks of training, Kuang. Go see General Meng, tell him to write you orders to return to camp at Louyang tomorrow. Tell him to leave a note for my old friend Yao, saying that I'm disappointed in him."
Puffing out his lip, the short soldier turned away in a pout. Setting the machete aside, Shang frowned. That was the fourth soldier out of seven today who had failed the test to enter Longji's guard. The object was to either defeat him, or at the very least not be disarmed. The guang dao wasn't even his best weapon, he preferred hand-to-hand. Since Yao and Ling had been appointed training officers at Louyang, Shang expected some improvement in the caliber of men fit to become bodyguards. Ordinarily, Shang wouldn't be so concerned with his cousin's safety, not after last night anyway, but this was a part of peacetime duty.
Scanning the soldiers lined up along either side of the hall, Shang's eyes settled on a slender young man who had been watching the entire spectacle excitedly, his eyes too large for his small face. He looked like a girl, in fact he would have made Shang suspicious were the boy not standing there shirtless like the rest of them. It wasn't yet noon, but even in the autumn the day was still sultry.
"Alright, E'dan," he called to the boy from the center of the hall. "They say you're good. You defeat me hand-to-hand and you make Imperial Guard. Let's go." Shang adopted a fighting stance as the boy stepped forward.
The doors creaked open, and everyone froze to see Li Longji stride in with half a dozen of his bodyguard. Soldiers dropped prostrate but Shang made do with a little bow, the Emperor did not seem to care or notice.
"All of you out!" He bellowed without a glance at them. "I wish to speak to General Li!"
Shang stiffened as the soldiers scurried through the doors. He could not help but take a step towards his machete again when the Emperor waved his guard off as well.
"Your Majesty," Shang gave another awkward bow. "If it's the state of your bodyguard, I'm-"
The Emperor cut him off shortly. "I don't care about them. I can beat most of them with my eyes closed. If they think half trained children from Louyang can help me, well... they should look at you and I. We're true warriors, aren't we, Li Shang?"
His jaw nearly dropped. The words were conversational and even friendly, without any of the rage and madness he had shown last night. He sighed, somewhere inside him there was a decent man, Shang was sure of it.
"Maybe so, cousin," he answered warily.
Picking up the guang dao, Longji examined it a moment, fingering the red tassel before setting it down again. "You know what impresses the people most? Muscle." Shang froze as the Emperor laid a brief hand on his chest for emphasis. "You should consider commanding my guards. You'd look splendid in one of those uniforms."
Shang was silent for a moment, trying to puzzle out the motive. "This is my way of honoring Taiping, keeping the duty she left me. I owe her."
"Of course," A look of pretended understanding crossed his face, but it seemed more of hidden frustration to Shang. "She left you the army. My army," he added more quietly, managing a firm hold over the bitterness that his eyes flashed at those words. Then he blinked, showing nothing but a deep sense of loss. "What I would have given to hold her hand as she died, to beg her please stay with me always, teach me her wisdom and the ways of the world. She was the only one who showed me true love, and now she is gone and I am left with this sense of piety as if she were my mother or my wife, and these dreams of her that will not let me sleep. Do you have them too, cousin?"
Swallowing hard, Shang slowly shook his head. He refused to pity a rapist and an enemy, but a part of him could not help himself.
Longji smiled, a kind of melancholy smile. "Then she did leave me something for myself. But where is the peace that she promised me? I feel trapped by her ghost and her crown." Shaking off the subject, he stood in front of Shang, forehead creased in thought. "I heard your wife is with child. Let me offer my congratulations. I'm sure you're glad to finally see her shed her armor and her wild ways. I was hoping, cousin, that you would make her see there is no shame in being a mother and remaining the young lady of your house. There is honor in raising sons. The truth is, I want my reign to be glorious, to wipe out the stain of that whore Wu Zetian. Corruption starts when women rise above themselves. Men signify order and stability, having a female general hurts that. I know you love your country, I know you will persuade her to renounce her rank. It would be the best thing for everyone."
Shang stared at him in disbelief, trying to keep the anger from showing in his face. So it came down to this? Jealousy over Taiping. When he realized he could not defeat Shang last night he saw a true threat to his power and wanted to remove him. Commanding the guard was a good way to keep a threat under careful watch, and Mulan. Shang doubted it had anything to do with Mulan herself in Longji's eyes, but more that she was an extension of him and this power Longji was envious of. He wouldn't have cared, he would have renounced his rank gladly were it not for Taiping and her final wishes.
"You are the Emperor," Shang answered evenly. "She's too stubborn to listen to me. Revoke her rank if you feel it's the right thing. You are the Son of Heaven after all." He watched a moment as Longji's eyes narrowed, outwitted. He knew his power as Emperor was not so consolidated, he knew Mulan had gained some influence after killing Anle, and that she was a hero to the people. Revoking her rank would only cause the people's opinion of him to suffer. "By your leave," Shang bowed deeply. "Your humble servant wishes to withdraw."
Backing away, Shang met the other man's eyes bravely for a moment full of tension and anger. Longji looked away, snatching the machete from the floor. Shang left him there to dance through the forms by himself.
~ * ~
It was late afternoon and still Lady Jiang had not left her rooms. She had been awake all night, muffling her tears into the pillow so the servants would not hear and ask what was wrong. How could she tell any of them? What was her word, or her sorrow worth when pitted against the Son of Heaven?
Li Shang, she never expected the man would endanger himself on account of her, accusing the Emperor so boldly. She wondered why, was it because she was Mulan's friend? She could not say that she wished he had not said it, but it brought her too much shame to hear it spoken aloud. He had no idea of course, being a man.
"My lady," the servant appeared, and Lady Jiang rose from her window seat. "His Majesty is here to see you."
For one unsteady moment, Lady Jiang gazed at the third story window and considered throwing herself through the glass. She had heard it said it was more honorable to die than to survive the shame. It was not exactly fear which sustained her though, it was something else. There must be something in this mortal world to wash the pain away, somewhere where the healing began.
She could not send him away, and he was already there, standing in the doorway. Lord Buddha help her, she was riven all over again by the sight of him.
"Your Majesty," her voice was an empty whisper, befitting the ghost she had become.
He stepped forward, his eyes regarding her the same as before, with amorous affection. It was not at all the same man who had attacked her last night, maybe that was a demon, one of the hungry ghosts who had taken his form. She had heard a story like that once.
"I have decided," he said, smiling. "Tonight I will make you my consort. I will name you Meifie, my Plum Concubine." He stepped forward, she flinched as his hands lifted her face, his eyes soft. "Even if I have a thousand beauties in all the Six Palaces, you will always be my only love. I will never forsake you." His mouth closed over hers, she shook with sobs as she let him kiss her, his lips felt warm and filthy at the same time.
Inside her heart was sinking, she felt ravaged a second time. A concubine? That was nothing, no power, no freedom, just his plaything at night. She wanted to be his only wife, not the favorite of a thousand.
~ * ~
Lady Jiang lifted her face from her hands as Mulan set the tea down. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, her eyes rimmed with dark circles from a long night of crying. Pouring her friend a cup, Mulan's teeth were still gritted in anger after what Lady Jiang had told her. So this was what happened last night between the Emperor and Shang, he had not said. It was no like Shang to lose his temper so easily, and he barely tolerated Lady Jiang for some reason Mulan did not know. The events of the previous night hardly made sense.
"Concubine?" Mulan handed her tea. "Only a concubine? I thought he loved you. He can't just go and have any woman he wants. Emperor or not. He owes you more than that, how can you accept?"
The other woman shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "How can I refuse? My only other choice is to commit suicide."
Mulan sighed, what kind of a man could treat a woman that way? She almost wished Shang had killed him, if it weren't for the consequences. Li Longji may be a good ruler, but a crime like that did not deserve to go unpunished.
"Have you told your father?" Mulan poured her own tea, but did not feel like drinking it after Lady Jiang shook her head. "How can you just accept this? Being a concubine when he wanted to be Empress? Isn't it enough that he took away your wedding night?" Rubbing her own eyes, she sank into the sofa. "I wish Taiping were still here. She would find justice for you."
Lowering her face, Lady Jiang gazed into her tea. "You know, Wu Zetian was always my hero. Whether I agreed with her methods or not, it didn't matter to me. She gave my sisters and I hope that if we opposed her, our daughters might have a chance to make our mark in the world, and show the people that a woman is not worthless. But the time for women like Taiping and Wu Zetian is over, and we are supposed to be happy for it? Look what happens to us when the men are in power again? You can't imagine how happy the Court is to see with child like a proper wife. They consider it a triumph. There's nothing to come for us but suffering, Mulan, women like you and Taiping and Wu Zetian only made our lives easier for awhile."
Mulan looked down at herself. Instead of the armor or training clothes
she would usually be wearing at this time of day, she was sitting there
in a silk dress now. It was true, she had been out less and less of late,
but she had not been feeling well, and with his promotion to rank Tai-shan
had taken some of those duties off her hands in light of her condition.
She had not thought of it in the way Lady Jiang seemed to. Still, Mulan
made a promise to herself, the same promise she had made in the temple
with Taiping. She would never forget her duty.