Chapter Four

The Zhao Prince

Monday

Ling awaited word that Takeshi Zhao had reached the imperial city. By noon he was concerned that yet another clan had been attacked en route to see him. Perhaps he should cancel the other two visits, or at least insist they remain here until everything was settled.

By two the guards around the city confirmed that no one had been attacked near by, nor was anyone en route. This annoyed him. Why confirm the invitation and then not come? Why not send word you were cancelling at least. Xing did have phone lines after all, it wasn't impossible to call. Ling made a mental note to discuss international phone lines while he had people here for his coronation.

He hoped it could be arranged, it would make conversations with foreign leaders easier, and he would be able to stay in contact with Mei when he sent her back to study alchemy/teach alchestry. He would also be able to call and bother Edward. Ling didn't deny to himself this was a perk. He did miss annoying his friend. Occasional parenting advice would be nice too. Like was it normal for Ping to drool so much? Who was he supposed to ask around here, he was supposed to know everything.

When five rolled around and Takeshi still had not arrived, Ling wrote off the meeting as bad luck and returned to his apartments to stew about the wasted day. He hated wasting time. He preferred to always be busy, that way he didn't have the time to think about the things that have happened. Thinking too much leads to nightmares and insomnia.

The rest of the evening passed uneventfully, as Ling read through some paperwork before bed after the children were asleep and the women had retired for the evening. He sensed the intruder of ill intent around eleven. The person slipped silently down the hall toward the bedrooms containing his wife and sons. Ling stood and followed just as silently. Whoever they sent was not trained in sensing, luckily for Ling. It made slipping up behind them easier.

Not that it would have done them much good, as Ling had learned to mask his presence thanks to his time with Greed. He had tested it with Lan Fan and the palace guards and knew that it worked well. He meant to show Mei and Lan Fan how to do it soon, but for now was enjoying the unique ability to slip around completely unseen.

The intruder, Ling suspected an assassin, paused outside the bedrooms. Now was the moment of truth. If he entered Ling's rooms Lan Fan would have him pinned within moments. If he went further and entered Mei's she too would have him down. Ling assumed both women were aware of the intruder by now.

Ling's blood boils when the intruder turned to the nursey. Ling rushed forward, still silent, as they reached for the door, dagger in hand. They never had a chance to turn the knob before Ling had them pinned to the ground and Lan Fan had a knife to their throat. Ling took half a second to appreciate why he loved his wife so much.

He pulled the mask off of the intruder to reveal a middle aged Xingese man. Lan Fan passed him some rope, improvised from the ties of the drapes in their room. He tied the man's hands together behind his back, making sure to place a thick cushion between them and tied into place as well, just in case the man was an alchemist.

Afterward he pulled the man into a sitting position and nodded to Lan Fan. She knocked once at the nursey door, which opened just enough for Mei to poke her head out and give an all clear gesture before closing it again. They couldn't count on there not being a second intruder lingering around so Mei would stay with the boys until Ling and/or Lan Fan could take over.

Ling crouched down in front of the man and with his signature smirk and serious tone said calmly. "I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you were mixed up in your directions and were seeking my chambers. Because if I were to assume you in fact knew who sleeps behind that door I would be inclined to deal with you myself and for go the trial. That said, I want to know who sent you. Now."

"I will tell you nothing." The man said in response, making Ling sigh. It was as Ling expected but that didn't make it less annoying.

"Name. Now," Ling growled, with a name he could track the rest of the information he needed.

The man refused to answer, but Ling hadn't really expected him to. Ling rolled his eyes and gestured for Lan Fan to call the guards. She slipped away, silent as a ghost, and Ling leaned slightly closer to the man. "I will find out who send you, it will just be easier on you if you tell me now. I am beginning to lose my temper here, and am beginning to rethink my assumption."

"The layout of the royal apartments hasn't changed in over two hundred years." The man replied, clearly attempting to taunt Ling into killing him before he could be questioned further. It didn't work. Ling wanted to know who sent him far too much to fall for the trick. Though it meant he no longer felt obligated to be gentle in any way with the man. As such Ling casually punched him in the face.

"A wise man would just tell me who hired them to attack my children in their beds."

"Prince Huan is an interloper who had no right to raise his station to direct heir."

"Prince Huan had no say in the matter, as I chose to absorb his clan into my own. Nor is he the next heir." Ling said calmly. "So you are admitting then that you were hired to kill a baby."

"Yes. No wait." The man said as Ling pulled him roughly to his feet, and punched him again in the stomach.

"I am going to ask one last time, before I let my wife take over questioning. Trust me, she's the scary one. Who sent you?"

The man simply laughed and Ling stepped back to allow Lan Fan to take over. He walked a little way down the hallway, before calling out quietly "My love, if you intend to use you usual interrogation technics might I suggest relocating to somewhere more sound proof…and easier to clean up."

The man scoffed, after all this woman was the new princess. It was doubtful she was trained in torture technics. Even less likely than the prince. It was generally left to personal guards to receive training in those things. He was almost certain the Yao clan was among those who had done away with such things anyway. Before he could consider it further though, Ling added "Forgive my rudeness. You may be unwilling to introduce yourself properly, I however, was better raised than that. Allow me to introduce my wife and former bodyguard, Lan Fan Yao."

The man's eyes widened slightly to learn she was once his guard. This made things a lot more frightening, but he still refused to speak. Lan Fan said nothing as she began dragging him down the hallway, when he realized she had a metal arm. This frightened him a bit more. He had heard of automail, but never seen it. There was talk though of it being a powerful weapon in the land across the sand.

Mei Chang then made an appearance right beside Ling to say just loud enough for the man to hear. "Many pardons Brother. Should you be willing to sit with the children until the Nurse returns I am willing to assist Lan Fan in the interview. I am very well versed in questioning technics and have been meaning to test the pain threshold of qui."

That was the final straw as the man agreed to tell them whatever they wanted to know. All three of them were relieved as they were not entirely comfortable with following through with the threats they had been making. Mei had been mostly bluffing, though she wasn't going to let anyone in on that.

Friday

Ling was once again waiting for Takeshi Zhao, this time he was certain his wayward brother would arrive however, because the palace guards had gone to collect him and any members of his clan who had been trained in combat.

The assassin had admitted to having been sent by Zhao, to eliminate not Ling but his heirs in hopes of reopening the competition. The Emperor had decided he would leave the situation to Ling to handle. Though his behavior was not strictly speaking against the laws, it was a violation of the rules their father had laid down for the competition. Since Ling had already won, and it was considered over, it was decided this could be Ling's first official act as crown prince.

Ling had hoped for a better outcome for his peace negotiations than he was receiving so far. One yes, one adopted by default, and one assassination attempt. If the next two were not in favor of the treaty he wasn't sure how to handle it. He had assumed, that like him, most of his siblings would be tired of the constant fighting. It seemed he had overestimated the decency of his siblings and their people.

He hadn't given up yet, he would make changes to his country, even if he had to force it, he still held a sliver of hope that he could pull this off peacefully. Heh ad seen enough warfare to last a lifetime before his sixteenth birthday. Which he would be celebrating in a few months. Suddenly, he felt very old.

He was once again sitting in his throne room, surrounded by loyal guards, when Takeshi Zhao was brought into the room in chains. The remainder of his army was awaiting their fate out in the courtyard, to be interviewed by his sister. Takeshi refused to kneel, standing proudly as he could muster with the way he was being held.

Ling stared at him for a long time, but Takeshi didn't so much as flinch. Finally, Ling spoke loudly and clearly. "I invited you here weeks ago, to negotiate a better future for yourself and your clan. I received your response Monday. Now I simply ask, do you speak for just yourself, or for your clan, when you plead your case?"

"I speak for myself and my loyal subjects, who realize as I do that I am the rightful leader of this country, not my idiot younger brother who bought his way into his birthright with shiny trinkets and irresponsible behavior."

"Very well, consider your clan in your answers then." Ling said, doing his best to sound bored with the whole thing like Greed had taught him. "I would exile you Brother but you would simply attempt to repent to get to my children again. Therefore I am sentencing you to twenty years in prisoned. The same goes for your advisors. I shall interview your clansmen before further sentencing."

Takeshi bowed a smirk still on his face, as he was certain some of his men would be able to break him out of the prison. It was always a possibility that this first attempt failed after all. He was led from the throne room, and Ling sighed heavily before he announced he would be interviewing as many a possible today.

He had decided early on though, that some of the interviews would be lead by Mei. She was already underway in questioning them. It was several headache filled hours before they had finished with the people being held in the courtyard, then they moved on to the rest of the clan, interviewing as many as possible of the clan's two hundred today so they wouldn't have to spend the entire day interviewing tomorrow.

It was late afternoon, when it was announced they had no further people to talk to, but he was hopeful that there seemed to be a rough majority on his side, but that didn't make him less annoyed by this issue. His sons were safe at the moment which is what mattered most to him. He considered his options before he began making calls.

As their leader was out of the way, most of the clan was willing to be absorbed into new clans. Provided Ling could find a place for them all. Now he had the unpleasant task of calling the safer neutral clans to see how many would being willing to absorb new members. He wasn't about to add them all to the Yao Clan or ask Mei to add them to the Chang.

It was still his plan to talk to everyone who was willing to listen about a mass treaty, this was a minor set back. Which didn't seem as terrible as it had at first in light of the conversations he'd had today. Many of his lesser known siblings and/or the representatives seemed far more open to his ideas than he feared. In the end, he was able to find a solution for everyone involved and there had been promises to keep an eye out for further trouble.

For the most part, it seemed that his siblings had lost the race with far more grace than he had expected from them. It made him realize he had a very narrow point of reference. After all he wasn't alone in the suffering he had endured by the nature of being born a prince. Once he had made it tiredly back to his rooms, he was happy to spend the remainder of the night with his wife and children.

Prison Cell

Takeshi was annoyed. It was taking longer than he had expected for any of his agents to arrive to release him. At this rate he was going to have to spend the night in a cell. Him! He was a prince, he didn't belong in a cell, he belonged on the throne. If only that idiot out East had actually been willing to give him the information he had demanded.

Takeshi had gone so far as to leave the continent to find the answer to his father's riddle. He had looked into every avenue he could find even going so far as to look into magic. He had been so close to the answer. He knew he had been. Then word came in to return because the race had been won.

Takeshi was livid. He had gone further than anyone else, tried harder than anyone else, and had been within months of success. What exactly had the Yao brat done to win anyway? Befriend some alchemist and buy out their sister from what he understood of it. Where had he suffered? What had he done to earn it?!

Worse, he brought in an heir cementing their father's acceptance, and then he went and adopted their youngest brother. Their youngest brother, who literally had done nothing to win a place in the palace was now above him in the line! Unacceptable. He heard now, from what was being said around the palace and from what Yao himself had suggested, that Yao intended to end tradition.

If Yao got his way, none of them would ever have a chance to win again. His clan would have to settle for never having another Emperor unless some future idiot was willing to summit to marrying into the Yao clan. As if any descendant of his would be that weak willed. Yao was going to lead their people to ruin, and it was up to Takeshi to stop him. Clearly he had somehow bewitched their father into agreeing to his terms, and apparently at least one or two of their siblings, but the battle was far from over.

If Takeshi had to take out the entire Yao clan to stop this madness so be it. They weren't exactly the strongest clan but his clan was unique in that they had something no one else seemed to carry in their blood. Magic. Very rarely did they actually bother to train in it, instead they would be trained to use the magic to make their alchestry stronger, but Takeshi had gone ahead and trained under a magic school just long enough to get a hang of it and to hear the right rumors to find his father's riddle.

Now, this idiot Yao, who as it turned out wasn't even an alchestrist, claimed the prize. Takeshi knew his thoughts had grown circular then. Part of him wondered if magic had been the wrong way to go after all, and maybe if he had looked at alchemy instead he would have won to begin with. It was too late for what ifs though. Soon it would be late enough for him to fall asleep, and tomorrow he would escape himself since apparently his clanmen had abandoned him. They would suffer for their disloyalty. He would be sure of it.