43. Exploring the caves

The following morning it was soon agreed upon that Su and Yunchuan would remain in the village under the protection of the Beirong guards and two Liang guards. They would wait for the Mingjing Office guards who were expected to arrive later in the day. The men left with the soldiers to find the entrance of the cave system. They took food and supplies with them for a longer duration, as Pei and the soldiers who had lived in this area thought it might take days to find the entrance and then to navigate through what others also had said was an elaborate system of caves and passages in the mountain. "Please be careful." The warmth of his hands and her love for him reflecting in his eyes, it could be days until she felt them and saw that love again, Su rose on her toes to give Pei a kiss. He closed his arms around her and drew her closer. It would be the first time they would be apart from each other for several days. From the day Yan and Su had met in Quanzhou to investigate the case of the stolen silvers, they hadn't been apart for more than a day. Finally he released her, gave her one last kiss on her forehead, turned to his horse and got up. He checked the other riders, they had asked Wang to join them. Wang had asked two older villagers, who were familiar with the mountain and the area at the foot of it, to join them. The soldiers were busy with the supplies, that morning they had gotten ropes, torches, food and water and even paper and writing utensils. Pei saw his brother seated on his horse looking out towards the forest, while he was taking his younger brother in, Pei narrowed his eyes slightly when he saw the tight grip Zhu had on the reins. It told Pei enough. As did the gesture between Zihou and Yunchuan. Zihou was already seated on his horse and Yunchuan stood next to him. They exchanged words, Yunchuan had placed her hand on his hand that was holding the reins and rather than doing nothing or removing his hand Pei saw him press her fingers with his. Once more Pei narrowed his eyes, then shook his head and called out: "Zhu, Zihou, let's go." Pei turned his horse and led the group to the forest.

The group rode to the second cabin, there they would turn to the mountain. "Where are we going first?" Zihou asked Pei when they had left the cabin behind – the soldier stationed there, like the other in the first cabin hadn't seen Xin. During the evening several likely places for entrances into the mountain had been discussed. "One of the villagers said that there is a story in the village of a fairy entrance near a waterfall, it's the closest. So we'll check that one first. Though the other villager said he had never seen an entrance there. It won't be bad to check while we replenish the water supply. After that, when we haven't found anything, we'll continue on in the direction of the Tower of the Hawk, there should be some entrances that way."

"Once we found an entrance we'll enter and see how far we get. We'll also try to map it." Zhu added.

"All right." The group continued on until they reached the mountain and the place they were searching for, it was a steep rockface that appeared in front of them and on their right a mighty waterfall splashed down the mountain into a small lake. They stopped and dismounted, while some soldiers went to refill the water bottles Pei, Zhu and Zihou along with Wang and the villagers walked up to the mountain, there were no caves or openings that they could see. The men looked up the rockface, it wasn't smooth or too steep, so they would be able to climb up, but there seemed to be no reason to. Near the waterfall there was a ridge where several plants cling to the mountain. Zhu saw the plants move slightly but saw nothing that resembled an opening into the mountain. When the water supply had been replenished the group rode on. After a while they reached a place where there was an opening into the mountain. Once more dismounting the three men walked to the opening, just by sight it seemed to lead deep in to the mountain. One of the villagers came to stand next to them: "This is a cave known to the villagers, but we rarely enter it, the caves inside are a labyrinth. Many have lost their way and their lives because of it. If one of these caves connects to the mine of the family Tong I fear miss Tong might not have found the way out."

"You're not sure this connects to the mine? Won't it be better to check another entrance first then?" Zhu asked, but the villager shook his head: " The caves inside this mountain have never been plotted, there is no map. As far as I know the family Tong has never explored beyond the useful caves." Here Wang joined them, obviously having heard the last comment.

"The Tong family plotted their own mine system to two caves on all sides that do not hold the metals they wished to mine. They left further exploration to later generations. But it is believed that their mine connects to other caves in the mountain." The soldiers came to stand in attention in front of Pei. He saw that most were equipped with torches and rope. "Al right. Let's go." He said and took a lit torch from one of the soldiers and together with his brother and Zihou entered the cave first.
The group walked for hours, tying rope to the walls so they could retrace their steps. There were no signs anyone had visited these caves in recent days. Every time they met with different directions the group split. Sometimes groups rejoined when their routes intersected or their routes had been a dead end. After they had stayed in the caves many hours the group led by Pei and Zhu, Zihou had split off a few caves earlier, came upon a large cave with a small lake. There seemed to be five entrances, two with small streams leading to the lake. "Let's rest here, you two please get a fire going. We'll eat and drink." Pei pointed to two soldiers who immediately started to work. Zhu sat down on one of the boulders near the lake, after a few moment Pei came to sit with him and offered some tea. "It seems pointless to wander around in these caves, we haven't found any sign anyone has ever been here." Zhu sighed dejectedly.

"We've encountered several skeletons, we know she isn't where we've been." Pei countered, trying to sound optimistic.

"Bu you've seen how vast this system is, there are six groups wandering these caves, we're running low on rope. How can we ever search all these caves?"

"Keep hope brother. We've travelled a little over a half a day on horseback to reach the entrance. It takes a day and a half on foot to reach the mine of the Tong Family from here, if you go in a straight line. We're not even half way there. We'll stop here for a longer period, allowing the others to get back to us and get a good rest, maybe some sleep." Pei had barely spoken those words when the group of Zihou came from one of the other entrances. The joined the others quickly, also sitting down and getting drink and food. Zihou came to sit with Pei and Zhu, he handed the paper where they had drawn their route to Pei. "Well that hall connected here without any other branches. What's the next step?"

"We'll stay here for a longer period, to allow the other groups to return to us." Pei placed the route they had traveled next to the route Zihou had handed to him and made a quick not to link both routes together. They waited a long time even sleeping in a few shifts to regain their energy. At last Pei and Zhu thought it best to continue. Four of the six groups had returned, two groups coming from two other entrances, leaving only one to continue their search. Two soldiers remained behind to keep the fire going and to wait for trailing groups. The others formed two lines and followed Pei, Zhu and Zihou as they led them to this last passage, to continue their search.

"You're the one princess Yunchuan likes, aren't you?" Pei asked, when Zhu had advanced a little bit more and Zihou was walking beside him. Zihou turned his face to look at Pei, who at first kept looking forward, but after a few moments of silence turned his face to look into Zihou's face. Zihou saw there was no hesitation in the eyes of his best friend. This wasn't a question, it was a statement. Knowing lying wouldn't work Zihou turned to look forward again and then said: "Yes."

"How long have you known?"

"She told me after she'd recovered from the poisoning, before they left for Beirong." Zihou responded, thinking back to that day in front of a shop. Yunchuan had been frank with him and he had told her he couldn't like her, because he still loved his deceased wife. "I told her not to waist her time on me, because I could only love my wife."

Pei kept silent for a moment, considering what he had seen and observed these last months: "What has changed?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we lost the girls in Beirong I saw the same fear in your eyes that was in Xie's eyes and I imagine in mine. Not nearly as prominent or intense, but it was still there. And when we left yesterday you pressed her hand, as a friend she shouldn't have placed her hand on yours and you would have told her, but you didn't do anything to remove your hand, in fact you pressed her fingers. So what happened?" Pei calmly looked at his friend, Zihou refused to look at Pei, he didn't want to talk about what was happening between him and Yunchuan. Mainly because he didn't know what exactly had happened to make him question his stance on this situation. If he didn't even know, how was he going to explain it to his childhood friend, who knew him so well? So he kept quiet, but he felt the gaze of his friend and his understanding. It took a little bit longer then Pei had thought, but then Zihou did start: "When Yunchuan had returned to Beirong she wrote me a letter to tell me they had reached home without any trouble. She told me of their journey. I wrote her back and since then we've been sending each other letters. When she returned to Liang I invited her for a dinner with my family. I showed her all the places she hadn't seen before. We talk and enjoy each other's company. The days I receive letters from her and the days we spent together are days of joy. And then I see my brother or I think or my wife and I feel guilt. I've mourned my wife, I know I could marry again, but I fear I will always feel that guilt. My parents often remind me of my duty a their eldest son to provide an heir. And on other days I look at my brother…" Here Zihou paused, thinking about his brother.

"Zizhou still mourns her?" Pei asked, keeping an eye on Zhu, who was getting further ahead. Looking down at the ground Zihou nodded: "It's more than mourning. When I look him in the eye I only see bleakness and sadness. My brother has not just lost het woman he loved, but it feels like he lost a large piece of himself. I'm afraid he will never recover. My mother laments that he should have married miss Fu."

"It wouldn't have mattered, the outcome would still be the same. Qu Luncheng choose her for her beauty not for the groom." Pei explained, Zihou interrupted him: "I know. I've told mother the same." The men walked on in silence, until Zihou started to talk again: "I can't deny I think very highly of Yunchuan. But how can I give her all she deserves when I can't forget miss Du?"

"Does she expect you to forget your first wife? Yunchuan will have to marry, even If she can't like her groom the same way she likes you. Do you want to burden her with an unhappy marriage without deep feelings?"

"More have marriages that have no deep feelings. You were willing to marry Yunchuan." Zihou reminded Pei, who briefly closed his eyes and sighed: "Only to save Su's live. I'd made a bargain with the emperor. He would release Su after our marriage."

"I didn't know that. Su must have been grateful." Zihou commented, Pei stopped and turned to Zihou: "Grateful?! When I saw her again in the inn, the hurt in her eyes pierced my already broken heart. Later she told me that even though she would have her life I would still be married to another woman. She didn't want to be separated from me during her life. And neither did I but I deemed her life more precious than her love. I can't imagine what it would have done to her had we both lived with a forced separation. Can you imaging that for Yunchuan? Share your hearts but not your life? Denying happiness to her? If Zizhou and miss Du had told you of their hearts, what would you have done?" Zihou remained silent. Pei placed his hand on his shoulder and patted it: "Think it through carefully." A very small nod from Zihou told Pei that he had heard him.

Darkness was an ally, make sure no one saw what you were doing until it is too late. That is the best way to operate. The man bowing would wait, complete obedience to the order given. "Has the calamity in the border town been completed?"

"Yes."

"Then why does our man in the army of the Marquis report a missing girls and a search by the army?" the words, softly spoken, left the bowing man trembling. When he remained silent the word 'Speak' was blasted through the room.

"As you had ordered the family was burned as well as their house, after they refused to do business to the advantage of Beirong. It seems the daughter managed to escape to the mine. She closed it."

"Did she see anything?"

"Our men, disguised in the manner you ordered chased her. So if she saw them she will recognize them wrongly."

"Has she been discovered?"

"No, the Liang solders think she is in the forest, they are searching for her. They have soldiers in the cabins to meet her when se reaches a cabin. But she hasn't been found. The mine remains closed these last nine days, so she should be there. Now she surely must be dead." The man remained his deep bow as he relayed the information.

"Exchange the Liang soldiers in the cabins for our own, disguise them in the clothes and under the mark of the deceased soldiers. If she is found or if she is found dead report it immediately. Is the mine under our control?"

"No, the gate is closed. No one can get in."

"Keep a watch if it opens or if it remains closed take it for our cause. We have a miner already in the village. He should be able to put the mine in operation again. He has the will of the master of the mine."

"Yes Master."

"Good, it should help us get more villagers to undermine the conditions of the trade agreement. It will collapse." Turning to a small table to the right, a hand took the three scrolls from the scrolls placed there. "Have this delivered to the rebel groups of Nuo. Failure is not allowed." The man took the scrolls and then left.

The pieces were moving, moving to their places so the attack would be flawless and be a complete victory for Beirong. And in the chaos the ultimate price would be seized easily.