Li Dian – Mànchéng
Yue Jin - Wenqian

The hairs on Yue Jin's neck stood on end. Something was off. Since they had left that pitiful town behind, he couldn't help but feel as if someone or something was following them. He pulled back on the reigns and his horse responded obediently by slowing its gallop to a trot. Jin turned in his saddle to look back down the road from whence they came. In the corner of his eye, he saw the fleeting frame of a small child duck behind a tree. Jin pulled on the reigns once more completely stopping his mount. He scratched at his head in confusion. He couldn't be sure because it moved so fast but he swore that the figure he saw was that of a young girl. He had a feeling they were being followed, but he wouldn't have expected the person tailing them was a young girl. Dian noticed that Jin had stopped and followed suit. He looked back to his comrade to see him staring at the empty space behind him. What was he so enamored with?

"What's up Wenqian?" Dian asked. Jin waved his hand, beckoning Dian to come closer while keeping his

eyes glued to the tree that the girl had ducked behind.

"We are being followed. I think it is by that girl Master Dun saved in the village." Jin

replied as Dian navigated his horse to Jin's side.

"Oh her, yeah...she's been following us since we left the town." Dian said with a laugh. "Master Dun has an admirer."

Jin finally let his eyes leave the tree to stare at Dian.

"Wait you knew this entire time?" Jin asked in surprise.

Dian gave him a nonchalant shrug.

"Well, yeah…sure. I noticed her following us when we first left. I think Master Dun knows as well but he doesn't seem to care enough to stop."

"Why do you think she is following us?" Jin asked with a frown, allowing his eyes drift back to her hiding spot.

Dian shrugged once more.

"Like I said, I think she has a crush, or maybe she just feels safer with him. After all, Master Dun saved her. No one else in that village moved to save her."

"Shouldn't we do something? I mean, her family must be worried about her," Jin stated as his frown seemed to deepen.

If she belonged in the village, she should be there. It wasn't safe for a girl to follow a group of men she didn't know. Where exactly was her family? After the Dun saved her, no one went to the girl's aide. He remembered seeing her stand in the middle of the road watching them leave. No one ran to her side to check on her. In fact, it seemed as if the villagers were putting distance between them and her. He didn't think much of it before but the memory was at the forefront of his mind now.

"It isn't our problem." Dun cut in. He had stopped his mount and was looking back at the two men.

"We are going to lose light soon and I don't want to be wandering around at night trying to get to

this place. We are already a good distance away from the main road."

Dun shifted his glance from Jin and Dian to the servant that had been leading them. He was fidgety, looking around constantly as if watching for something.

"Hey you!" Dun barked out. The sound of his voice made the servant visibly jump. His head snapped to look at the frowning visage of Dun.

"Y-yes! my lord? Yes?" He asked, trying his best to look as calm as possible.

"What are you looking for?" Dun asked, his eye narrowing as he watched the reactions of the

man.

"N-nothing, my lord! Your humble servant simply wanted to make sure we are going in the right direction."

"And how much further is it?"

"Not much further, my lord. We are nearly there! Yes!" The man bowed, and swallowed hard,

hoping Dun would not question him further. Dun studied him for a few more minutes.

"Hmph...Get moving then," Dun finally said after his scrutiny couldn't determine exactly what the servant was up to. The man bowed and hurriedly turned around to continue leading the way.

"You two," Dun called out to Jin and Dian. "Leave her be. Let's get moving."

Jin and Dian exchanged glances then followed after Dun and the servant. Hearing the hooves of the horses on their way once more, the girl peeked from her hiding spot behind the tree. She verified that they indeed had moved on. As quickly as her little legs could move, she scrambled from behind the tree and followed after them.

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Time passed as they slowly made their way through a particularly dense copse of katsura trees. With each step they drew closer to the mountains. Soon they would have to tie their mounts up and continue on foot if they continued on their current path.

The sun hung low in the sky. Nightfall was almost upon them and it didn't look as if they were remotely near a home. Dun was losing his patience and his gut told him something was off. He was about to voice his displeasure to the servant when the little girl darted from behind a boulder and sprinted towards them. Hearing the sudden scramble behind them, Jin and Dian halted their mounts and looked at her.

"Hey, what's going on?" Dian asked the little girl who did not stop to acknowledge him.

She ran past Jin and Dian and headed straight to Dun. Dun who had already stopped his mount turned to face her. Finally at his side, she looked up to him, chest heaving as she tried to suck in breathes. With shaky hands she held smooth painted stones up to Dun. His face was impassive as he started down at the little girl and the stones she held up to him. Dian and Jin maneuvered their horses over to them.

Wanting to get a closer look, Dian dismounted and went to the little girl's side. He leaned over her to get a closer look at the stones she held in her small hands. Jin followed shortly after, his curiosity getting the better of him. The servant tried to sneak a peek at what the girl had been showing Dun, but was blocked by Jin and dared not push his way past.

"Hmm..." Dian hummed thoughtfully as he stared at the stones.

"I don't get it. Is she giving you a gift Master Dun," Jin asked as he looked up to Dun. He was surprised to see that his expression had changed into a scowl, his eyes boring not into the little girl, but the servant.

"Yeah, it's a gift," Dun began not letting his eyes leave the servant. "She's letting us know that this maggot had been leaving a trail."

The servant's eyes went wide with fear. He took a few steps back before turning and trying to run. He was too slow as Dun's foot collided with his back, kicking him to the floor. Dun got off his mount and stood over the servant.

"Who were you leaving a trail for?" He asked through gritted teeth. He knew something was off about the servant and that girl proved that his instincts were spot on. This man was going to pay for his deception but Dun planned on making him talk first.

"M-m-my Lord!" he managed to stutter out in his fear as he flipped over to face Dun. He pulled backward slowly, wanting to put distance between them but knowing if he moved too fast he would pay for it. "She lies! I don't know where she got those from but they aren't from me."

The girl who had time to catch her breath ran over to the downed servant and pulled at his robes. The servant swatted at the girl, trying to get her away from him. Dun reacted. He kicked one of the servant's hands away from the girl and unsheathed his blade. Without batting an eye, he stabbed it horizontally into the man's arm, effectively pinning it to the ground beneath. The man screamed in pain, instantly forgetting the girl and focusing his efforts on trying to pull the blade from his arm. Nonplussed by the sudden violence, the girl continued to dig into the man's robes until she found what she was looking for. Hidden in the sleeve of his other arm was a pouch half filled with similarly colored stones. She held the open pouch up to Dun for him to see. He took the pouch from the girl's hands and threw it down hard into the servant's face.

"She lies huh?" Dun growled.

"I-I'm sorry! Please, please forgive me!" The man cried, tears welling up in his eyes and his nose bleeding from the impact of the stones. Dun grabbed the hilt of his sword and jerked the blade from side to side further opening the already gaping wound in his arm. Blood gushed from the wound, further saturating the sleeves of his light brown robes. The man cried out, the tears now streaking down his cheeks and mucus pouring out of his nose and coating his lips.

"Who were you leaving the trail for?" Dun asked again. The man was sobbing much too hard to answer now. Dun growled his patience nearly at its end.

"This is pathetic. Be a man!"

"M-my Lord, please don't kill me," he blubbered. The mucus on his lip extended and contracted as he spoke looking like a thick cloudy spider web. "I'll tell you anything you want. I'll lead you to Lady Zhuyue. Please don't kill me."

"Who was the trail for?" Dun repeated.

"I left it for my master. I hoped...hoped..." The man let out a loud sob. "That I would lead you astray and force you to have to camp. Then he would be able to find us and rescue me."

"After killing us in our sleep that is," Dian added. To this the man wailed loudly, confirming to the others that this was the plan.

"So how far are we away from Lady Zhuyue?" Jin inquired.

"I will take you! I swear! I SWEAR! Please do not kill me!" The servant cried out.

"I know where she lives..." said the small voice of the girl barely audible over the servant's cries. Dun looked over to her.

"Are you sure?" He asked. She nodded her head up and down indicating that she was.

"Is it far?" She shook her head no.

Most would think Dun mad for taking the word of a child but he did. She already showed him her intelligence despite her age and there was something about her that was special. He decided to put his faith in this strange child. Dun gave a short nod to the girl letting her know that he would follow her lead.

"Then we no longer have need for you," Dun said wrenching his blade from the man's arm.

The man cried out at the pain of the blade being removed so forcibly. He held up his good arm using it as an ineffective shield against any incoming blows.

"No! My Lord Please no! Don't kill me." Dian grimaced. This girl had already seen too much violence. She didn't need to see this as well. He reached for her, wanting to pull her next to him so he could shield her from what was likely to be a gruesome scene. The girl however was quick on her feet. As soon as she saw Dian move towards her, she was darting away, dashing to the other side of Dun.

"Leave her, Mànchéng," Dun said, his piercing glare fixed on the crying man at his feet. "If she is so eager to watch, let her."

"But Master Dun, she's just a child. She should not witness what you are about to do. I understand you are angry, I am as well, but we shouldn't sully the mind of this poor child. It would be a disservice to her after she went out of her way to help us. Please Master Dun," Dian implored

Dun tsked at Dian's words. "I heard tales of your powers of observation. Were they false, Mànchéng?"

Dian's scratched the back of his head in confusion at Dun's words. "What are you-"

"When I stabbed him the first time, did you happen to take a glance at her?" Dun asked, cutting him off.

"Uh...no...I was a bit preoccupied by you stabbing him."

"Well if your bleeding heart would have taken a minute to look at her, you would have noticed that she didn't flinch when he was stabbed. Nor did she bat an eye when I opened his wound further."

Jin's brows rose and his mouth formed an 'O' shape as a realization hit him.

"The horse!" He exclaimed suddenly.

Dian looked at him still confused. "What?"

"When she was about to get hit by the horse, before Master Dun saved her, she didn't look afraid. She didn't try to move. She just stood there. I thought maybe she was frozen in fear but now I see that it's not that," Jin explained, looking between Dian and the girl.

"This isn't the first time she's seen something like this. I'm willing to bet that in her short life she's seen a lot worse. In this age of chaos, there is no such thing as innocent," said Dun.

At hearing Dun and Jin's words, Dian took a look at the girl. How did he not notice before how expressionless her visage was? Taking a closer look into her eyes, he saw that they showed nothing, absolutely nothing. No happiness, no sadness just nothing. That certainly wasn't normal for a child or any adult for that matter.

"My Lord! Please I beseech you! Do not let him kill me!" The servant said as he reached out to Dian with his good arm. He seemed to be the softer one of the group so perhaps he could get compassion from him. That was his hope anyway.

"Kill you? When did I say I was going to kill you? You are not worthy enough to be killed by me," said Dun before Dian could even open his mouth.

"Oh thank you! Thank you for sparing me, my Lord!" He said in between sobs turning his head to look at Dun once more.

"I don't recall ever saying I was letting you go," Dun replied with a sneer as he thrust his blade into the servant's leg almost completely severing it. The man's screams pierced the air.

"You aren't worthy enough to die by my blade, but perhaps you may at least serve as a decent meal for the beasts that roam here or you'll die from lack of blood, whichever comes first. A coward like you deserves a slow death," said Dun, ignoring the man's wails as he used the portion of his robe that wasn't stained to clean his blade. Satisfied that his blade had been clean, he sheathed it and climbed back onto his horse.

"You," Dun called out to the girl. She looked up slowly from the servant whose screams began to taper off as he slipped in to unconsciousness from the blood loss.

"Which way do we head?" She titled her head in thought then pointed her finger in the direction opposite of where they were originally heading. Dun turned his mount around while Jin and Dian returned to theirs and did the same.

"Well?" Dun said, not looking back at the girl. "Let's go."

The girl ran towards the direction she had just pointed to. Dun nudged his horse forward, catching up to her quickly. He leaned down and scooped her up into his arms, placing her in the saddle in front of him.

"Foolish girl. It'll take forever for us to get there if you are running the whole way." The girl twisted in her seat to look up at Dun. Dun looked down at her, and for a brief moment, he believed he saw a flicker in her eyes. Something besides that soulless gaze shone through for the briefest of seconds before disappearing, making Dun wonder if he had truly seen it at all. He placed his hand onto her head and made her face forward.

"Quit gawking and lead the way...and hold on. I'm not stopping for you if you fall off." The girl did as she was told grabbing the reigns in her little hands tightly. Dun looked over to Dian and Jin.

"We need to make haste, we have wasted more than enough time here and I'd rather not spend the night in the middle of nowhere. Make sure to keep up." The two men nodded as Dun nudged his horse forward. Dian looked back to the servant, he had stilled now but he wasn't dead just yet. He could see the shallow rise and fall of his chest. The fate Dun had left him with was cruel indeed. He pondered going back to put him out of his misery but thought better of it. The man deserved no sympathy.

"Come Mànchéng, we are getting left behind," Jin stated before nudging his horse back into the copse after Dun and the girl. Dian cast one last glance to the servant before following as well.

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Zhuyue opened the door to the dim room, the smell of death rushed out at her, nearly made her gag. She brought her sleeve up to her nose and coughed into it, struggling to adjust to the sickened air. She would have gladly opened a window, but knew the room's inhabitant forbade it. She lowered her sleeve and scrunched up her nose. If she approached the bed with her sleeve to her nose, she would earn its occupants ire. There was nothing to be done but to deal with the putrid air as best she could. She crossed the room to the bed sitting in the center and knelt beside it bowing her head.

"You called for me father?"

The man did not look over to her. He no longer had the strength to do so. Opening his mouth to speak, ragged coughs ripped through his throat instead. She lifted her head and picked up the cloth from the rim of the water basin next to his bed. She dipped the cloth gingerly into the water. He didn't like it when the cloth was too wet. She learned that lesson long ago. To ensure there wasn't any excess water, she wringed the cloth out as much as she could. Satisfied, she gently wiped the drool that trickled down his chin after coughing. After she was done, the man attempted to speak again, his voice hoarse.

"Idiot girl."

Zhuyue sighed. This was already off to a good start she thought to herself as she tossed the cloth back onto the rim of the basin.

"Another suitor has left. What did you do to him?" He continued.

"He was weak father. What good would come from me marrying a man that couldn't protect me? These are dangerous times father and I only foresee them getting worse." This was a lie and she knew it. Zhuyue did not feel as if she needed any man to protect her. She could handle that job on her own but this lie kept her father from marrying her off to the first idiot that had designs on her family's wealth. She would use it for as long as she could.

He coughed again. Zhuyue waited patiently until his fit died down and he began speaking again.

"Who are you to say a man is weak? You are but a woman. Your role is to bear children and take care of your husband."

"I will not marry a man I do not respect," she proclaimed, staring her father defiantly in the eye.

Foolishly, she let her true feelings slip through. This would earn his wrath; she knew it as soon as the words passed over her lips. He tried to lift his hand, wanting to strike her but not having the strength to lift it more than a few inches high. Defeated, he let his hand fall back onto the bed.

'Yes father, the days of you striking me because you do not like something I have said are long over.' She thought to herself.

"Enough of your games. I do not know what you have done to these suitors to make them run from here but I will not allow you to meddle any longer."

He sucked in a raspy breath. Zhuyue stood and took the cup of water from his bedside. She brought it gently to his lips and titled the cup slightly, allowing some of the water to flow into his mouth. He swallowed loudly and she lowered the glass, resting it back on the side table and kneeling once again. After a few moments, he continued speaking.

"You will be married before I leave this world girl. Since I cannot trust you to handle this, I will have to do it for you. I have had correspondences with Yuan Shao. He has agreed to take a wretch like you into his noble family. You will marry his son, Yuan Tan."

It took all the restraint Zhuyue to not jump to her feet at that moment and adamantly protest this arrangement. She remained silent for several minutes, calming herself down and trying to ensure that her next words came across as calm and not disrespectful in anyway.

"Father, I humbly request that you reconsider this."

"I will not. The letter finalizing the arrangement will be sent out tomorrow."

'Tomorrow? So it hasn't been sent yet. This arrangement is not set in stone?' She thought to herself, her mind assessing this information and trying to come up with a way to get out of this.

"Do not even think about trying to stop the letter from being sent girl," her father said as if reading her mind. "You have been a curse to this family since your birth. You stole the life of your mother from me and this damnable illness is punishment from the heavens for having such an unruly daughter. You will be married and finally your cursed existence will bring some semblance of honor to this family."

Zhuyue bowed her head and stood.

"As you say, father."

"Get out of my sight. I wish to rest."

Zhuyue bowed once more and left the room. Once the door was completely slid closed, she balled her hand into a fist and banged it against the wall.

"Bastard!" She growled through clenched teeth. "You'll die before making me marry the son of that pretentious maggot!"

"My lady?" called a nervous voice behind her. Zhuyue whipped around, still boiling with anger from the meeting with her father.

"What!?" She asked a bit more harshly than she intended. She stared into the freighted face of her vassal and sighed feeling bad for taking her anger out on her.

"My apologies, Xiulan. My father brings out the worst in me." Xiulan nodded, feeling a bit more relived that her mistress had calmed down though she was sure her anger would rise once more when she delivered the news she had to.

"But I thought I told you before to stop calling me my lady. I don't see you or Xiaolian as servants," Zhuyue continued as she turned to face Xiulan, a soft smile now playing on her face.

There was an odd expression that played on Xiulan's face when Zhuyue mentioned the name of her sister. Zhuyue couldn't put her finger on what it was exactly but it was out of place for the normally timid woman. Xiulan chewed at her bottom lip a bad habit she had whenever she was nervous. This was behavior was more reflective of the woman she know and the Zhuyue had dismissed the momentary inconsistency from her mind.

"I know my la-" She paused, catching herself. "Zhuyue, but last time I did so, our master was very upset."

Zhuyue scoffed and waved her hand dismissively. "When is he not upset?" She smiled at Xiulan again. "Tell me, what did you need?"

Xiulan bit her lower lip again, and braced for her anger once more.

"We have visitors."