18. Two amulets and a second cave
The next day they decided to split up: Su, Rushuang and Fei Yuan were going to stay in town to enjoy the market and festivities. Pei, Zhu, Xie and Zihou were going to the mountain fortress, not just to see it, but also to discuss the smugglers path with the soldiers stationed there. If they had time they would also see if they could walk up the smugglers path to where the landslide was supposed to be. This plan had been thought of during dinner, the men had to rise early, but Su and Rushuang could sleep in. Su was mostly an early riser, so it surprised her when she woke rather late in the morning, but then her husband had insisted on some wifely duties before he joined his brother and friends for breakfast, so Su thought nothing of it. She and Rushuang met with Xin at her mothers stall, where they were captivated by the beautiful necklaces and jewelry Xin's mother made. Both Su and Rushuang bought some of the jewelry and promised they would meet Xin and eat lunch with her. Then Su and Rushuang explored the market, with Fei Yuan happily strolling along. They stopped for a long time at a stall selling medicinal herbs and a stall with cooking utensils and herbs. Su kept a bit back, knowing how long this could take, she walked to some other stalls. Su had noticed that quite some stalls sold amulets to protect you from all sorts of disasters, monsters and ghosts. She smiled to herself, it amazed her how easily people would attribute small accidents to some kind of monster of ghost. If people would just look at those small and large incidents logically they would soon see that they weren't caused by mythical beings or ghosts. Apparently she lingered a bit too long, because the stall holders started to speak to her: "Miss, what catastrophe do you wish to avoid? Which monster haunts your town or which ghost disturbs your family. Tell me and I'll give you an amulet to protect you."
"No, I don't need an amulet. No monsters or ghosts haunt my family." Su took a step back, hoping to be able to walk away, but the stall holder was persistent and walked up to her. From the corner of her eye she could see two ordinarily dressed men take a step forward. Surreptitiously Su shook her head, signaling to the guards that she needed no help. Pei always insisted on two guards incognito following her when he wasn't around. Even though Su felt like it was unnecessary, this was one of the things that was non-negotiable for Pei. The stall holder continued to speak to Su: "No, I can see no ordinary monsters of ghosts haunt you. But if you are staying here you should get an amulet to protect you from the Ghost Army. The Ghost Army has been gathering here in these mountains and forests. Just a few days ago they found a lady in the forest… a soldier form the Ghost Army killed her." This got Su's attention and the stall holder saw it, Su quickly said: "We'll be leaving soon, so I don't need the amulet."
"But don't you know the legend of the Ghost army? They might gather here, but soon will come to all places in the empire. No one is save. They say the Ghost Army comes when that what they fought and died for is being threatened." At that time another man, more people had gathered around Su and the shop keeper, spoke up: "Yes, I have heard of them too. And a friend of mine has seen a Ghost Warrior."
"How does he know it was a Ghost Warrior and not just a soldier? Many solders wander here, I've heard that there are many more rebels now." Su countered, her guards had come closer and seemed to be getting anxious.
"It wasn't a rebel or a soldier from the Marquis. The Ghost Warrior bore another mark. A mark from the past."
"Could your friend draw the mark?" Su asked, the man shook his head: "I don't know, I could ask him, but he is in the forest now, he is a forester. Tonight at the festival I'll bring him to the inn." Su nodded. That is when the stall holder saw his opening: "You see, the Ghost Army is real. Why not buy an amulet to protect yourself. Here." He showed a necklace with a small leather pouch. "This pouch contains dried flowers that grow on the tomb of the general of the Ghost Army. If any of the Ghost Warriors smell it they'll leave you in peace." By this time a large crowd had gathered and a lot of people raised their hands, trying to get the attention of the stall keeper so they could buy the amulet. The stall holder turned this way and that, taking money and handing amulets. Su saw Rushuang and Fei Yuan in the distance, looking around. Quickly Su did buy an amulet and then moved out of the crowd. Just outside the accumulated throng another stall holder stopped Su: "You don't need that amulet, that one won't work. Here, this one will work." She showed a tiny jade tablet with some symbols on it, one in particular caught Su's eye, because she was so intimately familiar with it. "That's Prince Qi's mark." She said, pointing to it.
"Of course. If you wear his mark his army will protect you." The stall holder said. Su furrowed her brow, stroking the mark on the tablet: "But he has no army, he has no military power." Su knew she wasn't telling the truth, because Prince Qi did retain quite a large army, but no one except Pei, Xie, Rushuang, Fei Yuan, the emperor and herself was supposed to know this. "That may be so, but he will raise an army if we need protection. Who else can protect us from a ghost army then our own God of War? When the Ghost Army comes I'll pray to the God of War and like the wars a few years ago he'll come and save us." The stall holder vehemently said. Su smiled to herself, despite everything that had happened in court Prince Qi was still the hero of the people, just for that she also bought this amulet. Then she quickly joined Rushuang and Fei Yuan again. Together they returned to Xin and the four of them ate something at a nearby restaurant. Su looked up at the mountains, wondering where the men were at that moment.
At that moment the men were having a meal with the solders up in the Tower of the Hawk fortress. They had already seen that the smuggler path was not visible from the fortress and they were discussing who would check the smugglers path. Pei had succeeded in persuading his brother to stay in the fortress. Commander Fu would also remain behind. Five solders would go with Xie and Pei to inspect the path. After the meal they left. After a long descend and ascent they reached the first cave, nothing had changed, suggesting no one had stayed there overnight. Then they climbed on. Pei was thankful they hadn't climbed on with the ladies, because the path became treacherous. "I think the slide was about here." One of the soldiers said, looking up at the side of the mountain. "Yes, see this is still a bit of rubble."
"But the path has been opened again." Xie commented.
"By who?" Pei wondered. Then soldier commented that the army didn't know the path was reopened. "This troubles me." Pei said. "Let's walk on a bit, where would the next cave be?"
"I don't think to far from the top." The soldier looked up, the top was still far away, Pei also looked around: "Let's press on for a short while, if we can't find the cave quickly we'll leave it and return tomorrow." The group continued the climb, though the path was still clearly marked it did require more climbing. In the meantime they also had to keep checking for the cave. Just as Pei wanted to suggest going back, Xie called out: "Brother Pei, here is a cave." The others hurried to where Xie was standing. They all got their torches out, the soldiers leading the way. There was no one in this cave, but it was clear this cave was also used as a shelter. It had a firepit, a table, several seats, several beds and several chests. As in the other cave most of the chests contained blankets, pillows, clothing and dried foods, like rice and flour. But one chest held weapons, swords, daggers, arrows and crossbows. Pei took some out, and in the light of his torch examined the weapons. The weapons held no crests or marks, but the design showed that these were weapons from Liang, Beirong and Fan Yan Na. "Look here." Pei showed the weapons to the others. "What does this all mean? How long have these been here? Are these caves still used and if so for what?" Xie asked. Pei shook his head: "Good questions Brother Xie. I don't know. It is getting late, we have to go back to town if we don't want to miss the festival." The group descended the mountains, when they reached the cabin on the foot of the mountain Pei ordered two soldiers to remain in the cabin. Two others left to discuss the mountain pass with the Marquis. "Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow at the latest we will return to the mansion of the Marquis." Pei told them before they left. The soldiers had just left when Zhu and Zihou walked into the clearing. "We thought you would return soon. What did you find?" Motioning for his brother, Xie and Zihou to follow him, Pei started on the path leading to their horses. "The smugglers path is open, we reached the second cave, which also serves as a shelter. However we also found weapons from Liang, Beirong and Fan Yan Na in that cave."
"Weapons?" Zhu asked to reaffirm. Pei nodded.
"Why would there be weapons there? We're not at war with Beirong."
"I don't know, brother. But I don't like it. We'll return to the Marquis tomorrow and discuss this further." Zhu nodded, they continued on in silence. When they reached the horses they swiftly vaulted on the horses and returned to the town, where they found Su and Rushuang, Fei Yuan and Xin in the inn. "My dear." Pei greeted Su, kissing her on her cheek.
"My dear husband. You have returned." Before she continued Su took in Pei's face. "Have some food first." She tugged his arm to get him to sit next to her, which he did. The boss of the inn came to fill the table with dishes. The others all sat down as well and together they ate. During dinner Pei and Su informed the others on what they had discovered. After dinner they refreshed and reassembled before the inn to visit the festival. Just as they were ready to go, they had to wait for Zihou who had run an errant, the man who had told Su that he knew someone who had seen a Ghost Warrior cam up to them. Another man followed him. As all were focused on the first man, no one saw the shock of recognition on the face of the other man. "Lady, this friend of mine has seen a Ghost Warrior in the forest recently." He pointed to his friend who bowed in greeting. "Sir, when and where did you see this Ghost Warrior?" Su asked.
"It was in the forest near the mountain path, I think four or five days ago. He walked up to the path, he seemed to be carrying something. He walked past me, but didn't see me. I was working in the bushes which shielded me. The handle of his sword was stamped wit a mark, but I didn't recognize it. I've lived here for a long time and I know the military marks from the troops here. Even the rebel marks are known to me."
"And the man himself, how was he dressed?"
"Like a soldier, but definitely not a Liang soldier. The colors seemed more Beirong, but not completely. It was getting dark so the colors were a bit difficult to see." The man told Su. Su nodded and asked: "And what did he do?"
"He walked to the old path and walked up the mountain. This was odd as the path was blocked a long time ago by a landslide, so he wouldn't be able to go further. The next day I checked the cave, he hadn't returned, but the cave was empty."
"Could you draw the mark?" The man nodded, Su asked Fei Yuan to get some paper, ink and a brush. He quickly ran inside and after a short while later he returned with the required materials. The man sat down to draw the mark, after he was finished he handed the paper to Su. Pei looked over her shoulder to the mark drawn. "It might not be completely right, I only saw it for a short moment." The man apologized. The mark drawn resembled the mark that Su and Pei had encountered before. Su looked up at the man and asked if he had seen the soldier again, to which the man answered that he had not. Then his friend spoke up: "I told you: the Ghost Army is real, soon they will come in full force." Zhu looked at him: "Why though? The Liang Empire isn't at war with anyone."
"Who knows? They will have their reasons. It doesn't matter does it? They're ghosts, you can't reason with them" the man reasoned. Pei and Zhu glanced at each other and Pei gave a slight shake of his head. "You're right." Zhu said to the man, with this the conversation seemed at an end and both men bowed, they wished the visitors joy during the festival and then they left. The others exchanged looks, Pei took the drawing, folded it and put it in his pocket. "Let's enjoy tonight and discuss this tomorrow with the Marquis. Unless you need more time here?" he asked Su, she shook her head and took his hand. "Come on, there were some nice stalls." Rushuang said, dragging Xie with her. The friends did enjoy the festival. Pei also noticed again how comfortable his brother was with miss Tong and how much they enjoyed each other's company. "What will happen if she knew who he is?" Su asked, she had clearly also observed the pair in front of them. "I don't know. She is the first maiden I have ever seen him so relaxed with, but as you say… he isn't who he is. He has always been polite with maidens, but he seems genuinely interested in her."
"Can he do for himself, what he did for you?" with adoration Pei watches Su, he kissed her hand, knowing he owed his happiness to his brother. "Disregard the officials and courtiers? I suppose he could, but I'm not sure he would. Beside he has only known her three days. There is almost no chance he'll come here again as he is today."
"Miss Tong told Rushuang and me that her family does occasionally travel to the capital."
"But they most likely won't meet on those occasions. The family Ton is not particularly well known within the palace or court."
"What if she comes to Pei mansion and asks for him? Would you tell him? What will you tell her?"
"I would tell him. Can you check the family?" Su looked up, a little bit surprised. Pei saw her surprise: "I'd like to be prepared and know her background. I could also ask Liu Yu if you prefer."
"I think that would be for the best."
"What?! You would check families when the Dowager Empress asks you to, but not when your own husband asks?" Pei feigned indignation. Su merely smiled and sweetly said: "Yes, because she is the Dowager Empress and you are a mere prince." Laughing he pulled Su to his side, put her arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Have you no shame, sir? Displaying such acts for all to see?" Su teased. She didn't tease him often, he on the other hand delighted in teasing her, but she felt happy, content and so assured of his love for her as to make her bold. Pei relished this impish side of Su. "No I have not. I would not feel shame if all the world would see that I love my wife." Smiling Su let Pei draw her into a deep hug and the rest of the evening there was no more discussion on the possible happiness of others, only on their own happiness, love and hopes for the future.