Sorry that it has been a few weeks since I updated! I'll explain more at the bottom. Obviously I don't own FMAB, or I'd be rolling in a money pit rather than writing fanfiction. Enjoy!
Just Another Playing Piece
Chapter Five:
"Runaway Bride I"
Two and half months prior…
Throughout Tianxian's life, she had thought of numerous, though mostly not implausible, ways she could die.
Some of which included, being crushed under the palace, being strangled in broad daylight, being trampled by overzealous common people expressing their admiration…the list could go on. However, she had never once considered the fact that she might possibly die of a combination of thirst and heatstroke while stranded in the middle of the desert miles from civilization, or that she would be wearing her bridal robes in the amidst of it all.
And yet, here she was.
"What a savage and undignified way to die," Tianxian grumbled to herself.
Currently she was laying belly down in the sand, grabbing fistfuls of granules in an attempt to drag herself further. The relentless sun beat down upon her prostrate figure. After sweating buckets for hours, by now the girl had reached the point of dehydration that she no longer had any more fluid left in her body to perspire. However, the silk of her bodice was still sticky with the last vestiges of her sweat, and clung awkwardly to her middle. The leftover moisture was almost soothing.
When did she get here?
Why had she decided to do this?
How had she ever thought this would turn out successfully?
Oh, right. Desperation.
When faced with insurmountable obstacles and limited options of escape are presented, suddenly the craziest of plans seem all the more inviting. That was how she ended up here.
Perhaps, this was not the best, or even the most well thought out, decision the concubine had ever made. Not that she would ever willingly admit that to anyone. Heavens, no. She had a pride that bruised like a peach.
If she should survive this, and if anyone asked, then she would regale the fact that she had chosen to travel the desert by foot in nine layers of ceremonial garb without provisions as the most strikingly brilliant idea that had ever graced a mind on this earth.
But, she was not out of the desert, nor was anyone around for her to put on airs for. So, just for this once, Tianxian confessed in the secrecy of her own mind that she was, indeed, a hapless fool.
"This is it. This is the end for me. How plebian of a way to expire," the young escapee mumbled into the sand. Even in her debilitated state she could not find it in her to drop her typical snobbish demeanor.
The girl's vision blurred, blacking in and out as she realized that she was on the precipice of unconsciousness. The corners of her lips were dried and cracked, caked with tiny granules that prodded at the sensitive skin. Sores littered the palms of her hands and the balls of her bare feet, stinging with a renewed vigor each time she dragged herself across the sand with shaking arms. Navy eyes shut unable to focus as Tianxian came to terms with the fact that the remainder of her strength was rapidly leaving her body.
One last push.
That was all she had left in her.
This was it, the end.
A last hurrah.
Mustering what was left of her waning might and once indomitable will, Tianxian placed her blistered hand firmly against the ground and shot forward as far as her meager heave would allow. Following the push, her weakened arm immediately gave way under the pressure of her full body weight, and her nose was buried deep within the sand as her other hand was still outstretched towards the hope of salvation.
Bright lights flashed behind the concubine's closed eyelids as a searing white hot pain surged across the bridge of her nose. Undoubtedly, her crash had broken it. She could already feel blood beginning to pool on her upper lip.
However, it was not the feeling of tremendous ache that overwhelmed nearly all of her senses that held her attention. Rather, it was the fingertips of her outstretched hand that buzzed with nerves lit alive with feeling. For, for the first time in many days it was not sand that she felt beneath her extremity.
Hard?
Smooth?
Flat?
Tianxian ran her fingers over the unknown surface with all the purposeful care that one would caress a lover with.
It must be a stone, she surmised lifting her head the slightest bit to gaze blearily as what her hand was touching.
Her intuition had not led her astray. The hand was, in fact, resting upon a stone. A cobblestone, to be exact, and there were many more running in an interconnecting, weaving pattern alongside it. A road. She had found a cobblestone road.
Ignoring the stream of blood that trickled down from her nose and along the sides of her face to sluggishly drip from her small chin, Tianxian's hazy vision took in her new surroundings. Just through the swirling airborne tufts of sand she could make out limestone columns. Some cracked in half, others severely battered with age.
She tried to blink away the image, thinking it was merely a heat-induced mirage playing tricks on her mind. However, the stone road and tall pillars stood their ground, unmistakably real.
A single word filtered through the haze of a brain that was only moments away from descending into a condition of full out mental oblivion.
"Xerxes," the name tumbled from her tongue like that of an old, much missed friend as a feeling of irrepressible familiarity settled deep into her bones.
The revelation renewed just enough of Tianxian's strength to allow her to twist herself onto her back. A delirious chuckle escaped her arid lips, sounding much more like a desperate gasp for air than a sound of mirth. The tiniest of smiles made a home upon her mouth as flecks of flaking blood decorated her face.
Elation swelled in the girl's chest. She had made it to one of her destinations. Unfortunately, this looked like it would be both her first and last stop.
A hand that was an unnatural shade of sunburnt pink peaked out of gaudy crimson robes. Tianxian had reached out in one last attempt to assure herself that it was stone beneath her before she gave way to her speedily ebbing consciousness.
However, what she rested her hand upon felt neither of stone or sand.
Tianxian's head lolled to the side, choppy black tendrils clinging uncomfortably to her cheek as she turned. Her vision swam, but she could just barely make out that her hand had ended up being placed upon a black shoe. Wariness took hold of her as the traditional stealth combat garb of the Xingese Empire came into view.
Panic was set aflame throughout her entire body, prickling at every nerve ending.
Oh no.
They had come for her. To drag her back into the pits of Hell that awaited her in the bedchambers of the Emperor. It would seem that her impromptu escape and the resultant harrowing journey that followed had been all for naught.
An unrelenting urge to fight her way to freedom settled within her core, but was lost to the sharp pinging beneath her eyelids. The darkness that gripped her vision was too strong to resist, even the sudden surge of overpowering fear did nothing to combat the pull of unconsciousness. With the sound of rustling kunai and the shuffling of hasty steps as her sweet lullaby, Tianxian's world faded to black.
Lan Fan was an extremely shrewd young woman.
Her even calm was rarely ruffled, and very few things were lost to her perceptive gaze. So, when her prince bustled off to examine the ruins of the ancient city they had come across with her grandfather dutifully tailing him, she took the opportunity to investigate the slow moving red blob in the distance.
The bodyguard approached it with caution, a poison-laced kunai held at the ready. It was not until she was only several feet away did she realize that it was a person she was pursuing. A girl no older than herself, perhaps.
Just as Lan Fan took a step forward to check whether the girl was still alive or not, a bloodied hand gently brushed her boot and stalled her. With a carefully controlled expression, she watched as the girl slumped to the side, and gazed at her boot with hazy almond-shaped eyes. The stranger stiffened, seemingly alarmed by the mere sight of her boots, before her dark eyes rolled back and all consciousness was lost.
Though blood and open sores decorated much of her body, the warrioress could nevertheless determine that the girl was still very much alive.
Lan Fan's sharp eyes assessed the girl in one swift sweeping motion. With a single glance, she was able to effortlessly ascertain several identifying facts.
First, she noticed the shape of her eyes and the rich color of her raven hair, easily giving away to the fact that, like her, the stranger was of Xingese descent.
Second, her dark tresses hung at odd angles. Some clumps of strands were long enough to fall to her knees, while others looked as if they had been hastily whacked off at her collar. It was obvious that this was a quick cut job rather than some sort of peculiar fashion statement. The length of the longer strands revealed that the girl was most likely a noble, as it was only nobles who could afford the luxury of growing their hair to be so uselessly long.
Third, and most importantly, Lan Fan recognized the gaudy, unmistakable outfit that swallowed the girl's petite frame. They were traditional wedding robes, each of the nine layers meant to be discarded at various stages during the consummation night. The fact that the girl still had all the layers intact told the female bodyguard that the she had either never made it to her wedding or that she had disappeared not long after the ceremony.
However, the most identifying factor of all was that they were a vivid crimson in color. That could only mean one thing…
"Shi Clan." Lan Fan let out a guttural scoff.
It was a member of an opposing clan that lay prone at Lan Fan's feet. The girl was a noble, she was potentially a royal bride, she was of the Shi Clan, and all that made her dangerous to the young lord. It was her duty as a good retainer to eradicate this threat for him.
Disgust pooled in the female bodyguard's gut, as she drew herself into an offensive stance. Spinning the kunai around her finger before adjusting her grip, she skillfully lunged toward the Shi Clan bride.
Her attack, however, was brought to an abrupt halt when a hand encircled her weapon wrist, and a curious tenor voice cut the tense air.
"Oh my, what do we have here?"
Lan Fan startled at the sound of her master. The kunai fell from her lax grip, lodging itself in the sand between her boots. She clumsily reached for her mask to cover the flush on her exposed face.
"Y-Young lord! Well, I—" Lan Fan could not help herself from becoming flustered in Ling's presence.
Ling cut in before she could continue, that familiar closed-eye grin aimed her way, "What did you find, Lan Fan?"
With her mask now securely in place, Lan Fan regained her unflappable persona, and responded in a firm alto voice, "I have discovered a woman. Her robes clearly identify that she belongs to one of the noble houses of the Shi Clan. Perhaps, she is a spy or a disguised assassin, but undoubtedly an enemy."
The royal teen hummed to let Lan Fan know that he had considered her concerns as he bent at the waist to examine the stranger, his hands placed on his knees. Lan Fan warily looked on as a surprisingly serious expression rolled over Ling's features. His piercing eyes opened as he reached a hand out to brush the choppy black tendrils from the enemy girl's battered face.
A frown marred Lan Fan's brow as she noticed her lord's hand slightly falter as the girl's aristocratic features came better into view, and with a stern voice he addressed her with an urgent demand,
"Lan Fan, water."
The female retainer hesitated, unsure whether to heed his request or not, "My lord, that might be—"
"Fu, water." Without missing a beat, Ling beseeched his elder guard.
Lan Fan was less surprised by her grandfather suddenly materializing beside her than she was by the fact that her normally amiable master had dismissed her. Ling was typically only this authoritative when it concerned another life. It was at times like these that she saw his potential as a true leader.
Fu brushed by his granddaughter, bumping lightly into her shoulder as he murmured, "It is not your place to question your superiors. Remember that."
Chagrined, Lan Fan clenched her fists and lowered her gaze embarrassedly. She was thankful that her mask covered her self-conscious blush. Reprimanded by the two most important people in her life, both of whom happened to be her superiors, she truly felt ashamed.
"Young lord," Fu detached the water pouch from his waistband to hand to his charge.
Ling turned to straddle the nameless girl, water pouch in hand. Using his teeth, he quickly unraveled the sarashi wrap on his left wrist. He poured a bit of water across the girl's lip to wash the dried blood away, dabbing gently at her nose with the sarashi strip. Fearlessly, he reached forward, took hold of the thin but obviously broken nose, and snapped it back into place.
Wild eyes shot open as a screeching moan pierced all of their ears. Lan Fan dashed to her prince's side, ready to protect him from the potential threat he was poised over. She locked eyes with her grandfather, who stood in a defensive stance similar to her own.
Despite her years of intense training, Lan Fan was hardly prepared for the chaos that erupted next.
Was death supposed to be this painful?
The inquiry drifted through Tianxian's mind. She would have thought that after living the precarious life she had led, that she would be more accustomed to the feeling of encroaching death. After all, it was not the first time that she lay on the cusp of oblivion.
However, all questions were answered as a horrible crunching noise filled her ears and a feeling of indescribable agony coursed through the concubine's skull.
The young woman's eyes jetted wide open, and an involuntary groan of distress ripped from her dry throat. Panic clawed its way into her chest, and her eyes madly darted around, attempting to find something that they could focus on. She could barely concentrate as waves of pain spread from her nose.
Finally, one important factor came into her vision. Someone, a young man it seemed, was straddling her waist, his ominous presence looming above her. More so than his face, a glint of sliver caught her eye.
A sword. He had a sword resting against his back. This man was a combatant, an enemy, a threat!
Without so much as a second thought, Tianxian lunged forward, looping her knees around the bare ankles of her adversary. Using all of her meager weight, she sent the man toppling over, so that their positions were reversed. Just before his back hit the sand, a trembling hand reached out and slid the sword from his back.
The heaving girl held the weapon awkwardly in her untrained hands. While she might have been a novice at sword play, the consort was still skilled enough to aim the point of the blade at the man's jugular. Though her hands shook from exerting a strength that she truly did not have left within her, her fierce navy eyes never wavered.
"Tell me who sent you, ill-bred lout?!" Though Tianxian was a barely audible rasp, the sneer held in her tone was quite clear.
There was something about the man beneath her that was strikingly familiar, but she could not place just where she had seen that peculiar looking face before. Had they once been acquainted? She was certain she would remember that airhead expression if she had. Perhaps he just looked similar to someone she did know. Regardless, alarm bells still rung in her mind.
He lay there with closed eyes, and a countenance that gave off an aura that was far too pleasant for someone who was at the wrong end of a weapon. A smile beamed up at her mangled face. He did not even so much as flinch when blood dripped from her chin down onto his tanned cheek.
"Well?" Tianxian pressed the blade down further, irritated by his lack of response.
A nervous chuckle filled the air as the man spoke around his wide grin, "Now, now, let's not be hasty."
Insulted by the stranger's gall, the concubine tried to lean her weight forward when she felt a sharp prick at her own neck. It was only then that she realized two kunai were positioned at the perfect angle to lop off her head. From the corner of each eye she could see the dark shadow of a well-trained opponent on either side of her.
Tianxian dropped from her kneeling position onto her bottom, turning the sword to bury the blade partially into the sand. It now became a crutch rather than a weapon. With haggard breaths, she sent a heated glare at the delirious-looking young man.
She hoped the mere stare would burn him alive.
The scorned man sat up, his long dark ponytail falling over his shoulder. He did not even bother to wipe her blood from his face as he snapped his fingers, the pressure from the kunai disappearing from her neck. She did notice, however, that it took one longer to be removed than the other.
At the sound of him clearing his throat, Tianxian returned her attention to the odd man. He placed his hands inside the sleeves of his yellow shirt, and gave a swift bob of a bow. In a cheery voice he began,
"Let's start over, shall we? My name is Ling Yao. And, you are…?"
Thank you all for reading the fifth chapter of Just Another Playing Piece! I decided to divide the desert recap into two chapters. I'm a bit worried that this chapter was too boring since there wasn't much dialogue. Hopefully not, but I promise the next chapter will have A LOT of Tianxian-Ling interaction. Also, I apologize for a late update! I've been in the hospital for the last two weeks, and that slowed me down a bit. However, I'm out and recovering, so updates should come sooner. :)
Additionally, I have a poll up on my profile page. Basically, I am writing two stories, and unfortunately, that takes up a good bit of time. Therefore, I will be updating one every week and the other once a month. Please go vote on which you would like for me to update weekly, so I know which to handle more expediently! Thank you.
A BIG THANKS TO: Thanks to Copycat25, xmilotic, ShindaHinata-chan, and darkxXxflames for following last chapter! Thanks to JMichelleW, xmilotic, ShindaHinata-chan, and lovinurbuks for favouriting last chapter! A HUGE, HUGE thanks to mun3litKnight and to JMichelleW for reviewing last chapter! Your words of encouragement really helped me get through my struggles and work out this chapter. I appreciate all views this story gets, too. :)
Please follow, favourite, and most of all review! Please keep my passion for writing this story going.
pseudo ~