50. Just a stroll through the forest?
The forest here did not seem rougher or more inhospitable then the other parts of the forest Su had seen. She and captain Liu had lead their horses to that part of the forest where no cabins were situated, according to the maquette in the military camp. Ever since she had seen this part of the forest on the maquette in the military camp something had drawn Su to this part of the forest and it hadn't let go of her. When she had been working in the border town on the case of the Tong family she had used her interest in the surrounding forest to gather more information on this part of the forest. And oddly enough all had told her there was a clear path through that section of the forest with a foresters cabin halfway down the trail. Why would the army not acknowledge this path or forester's cabin? Su couldn't think of any plausible reason why the army would deliberately keep a clear pathway from their maquette. So she had decided to investigate. She also hoped to meet the forester who lived here and who, she firmly suspected had helped them earlier. Because the villagers had told her about the path Su wasn't surprised to see they could continue on horseback, where according to the army maquette the path would end. Captain Liu didn't question Su when she continued on the path, he did notice some rustling of leaves that seemed out of place, so his attention heightened.
They continued on horseback until the reached a clearing with a larger cabin, there were clear indications that this was the cabin of the forester, as there were several axes propped up against the cabin and a shed filled with logs next to the cabin. "What is this?" Liu asked, looking around for signs of the inhabitant, still on alert. Su told him what she had heard from the villagers, then they dismounted. Su knocked on the door, when no one responded she tried to open the door, which opened easily. Captain Liu tapped her shoulder and nodded to her dagger on her side. Su took it in her hand and then opened the door to an empty cabin. Liu took a quick look around to check for hiding places, having satisfied himself that the cabin was indeed empty he left Su to take a closer look at the items in the cabin and went outside to guard the cabin. Su took in the cabin, at first glance it seemed just an ordinary cabin for a forester with a bed, closet, table, chairs and a place to cook and keep warm. And yet it felt odd: the bed was neater, the clothes were folded neater and objects were kept in perfect rows. There were some plants in the window which Su thought she recognized, but couldn't name. She opened some cupboards and in one she found a large box which held writing utensils, parchment and -curiously- two signing marks. Why would an ordinary forester need two marks? She rummaged through some letters that were left and was shocked by their contents. Quickly she took a closer look at the stamps, confirming her suspicions. At that time the sound of swords clashing rang through the forest, with three steps Su was at the door and opened it. In front of the cabin captain Liu was fighting the forester, who had described the mark of the Ghost Army to them when they had visited the town earlier. The same mark that was on one of the signing stamps Su still held. The sword fight also revealed the other suspicion Su'd had: he wasn't only a forester, but also a very well trained and highly skilled soldier. Before Su could do anything to stop the fight, several Feiyun warriors stormed the clearing and overpowered the forester.
"Stop!" Su shouted, at that moment two Feiyun warriors held the forester and Liu had his sword close to his throat. Su stepped up to the man and now saw the likeness clearly. "We've met before, twice." A statement not requiring an answer. The man remained calm and looked at Su, silently. "There is much we have to discuss, you will join me. Your sister will be glad to see you Dong Ryu. Bind him, let's return to the Marquis's Mansion." Su turned away and walked back into the cabin, leaving it to the men to arrange the return journey. She returned all the letters and signing stamps to the box and closed it. One last glance at the cabin told her nothing more, so she closed the cabin and placed the box in the saddle bag and climbed back on her horse. Dong Ryu was seated on another horse, which would be led by a Feiyun warrior. Su and Liu took the lead, the journey back took a little bit longer and all remained silent. When they reached the mansion Pei was already waiting at the gate. One of the Feiyun warriors had left earlier to inform them about their arrival. Su stopped her horse in front of her straight-faced husband. He took a look at the bound man, the Feiyun warriors and then flicked a quick glance at Liu, who bowed his head. Pei stretched his arms to help Su get down from her horse. "You were supposed to take a stroll through the forest, where did you catch this man?"
"In the middle of the forest." Su quipped, Pei raised his eyebrows, not impressed.
"He's the forester who…"
"Saw a warrior from the Ghost Army the last time we were her. I recognize him." Pei interrupted. Su nodded, turned to her horse and got the box from her saddle bag. "Where are the Marquis, Xie and Rushuang? I'm sure Rushuang will want to see her brother and talk to him." Now Pei was surprised and said: "Her brother?! Take him to the study of the Marquis, by way of the stables. Prince Shuomo has just arrived." This was said to captain Liu, who nodded and signaled the others to follow him. One of the warriors took the reins of Su's horse and lead it back. Pei took Su's hand, taking her inside to greet the other – expected – guest. He also took the box from her and carried it under his arm.
The welcome from Su to prince Shuomo was necessarily short. Pei explained something had come p, which necessitated their party to interrogate a prisoner. As Pei and Shuomo had already had a lengthy chat, Shuomo assured them that he would be fine sharing some time with his sister. "We'll meet each other before dinner." Pei said, bidding Shuomo a good afternoon. Pei and Su walked out of the room. On the courtyard Liu walked up t them and bowed. "Fei Yuan is waiting in front of the study with the Marquis, Xie and lady Xie."
"Thank you, captain Liu." Su said, she and Pei turned to the study. Pei hadn't insisted on talking with Su before they met the others, he'd decided to just let Su lead. So when they reached the group he let Su talk, he was simply there to listen. Su looked at all assembled persons closely, she considered them all friends, but in this case she very much feared they would be unwilling to tell the truth. It would be up to her to figure out what was the actual truth. So she let her eyes wander over the figures of her friends, as with all they became nervous, though most concealed it. "I took a ride through the forest today, I needed the exercise. And I needed to visit a certain part of the forest. The army seemed into on keeping that part secret as that part is only shown as inaccessible on the maps. The villagers told me it was very accessible ant that the forester lived there. I went there, I found the cabin and the man who lives there. You all should meet him and then we can discuss the true nature of this man." Su nodded to Fei Yuan, who opened the doors as she said: "Let me introduce to you: mr. Dong Ryu." From the corner of her eyes she saw her husband do what she did: gauge the expressions of the Marquis, Rushuang and Xie. She didn't expect a big reaction, other then curiosity, from Xie. To him this man could become important as his brother-in-law, but for now he had no relationship with him. The reactions from Rushuang and the Marquis were of much more interest to Su. Rushuang was surprised and after she had recognized and verified that this was indeed her brother, she had become anxious. Su could imagine her anxiety, what had he done and had he acted honorably since he had joined the army? Those were most likely the questions which stopped Rushuang's being able to be happy to see her brother again after such a long separation. The Marquis had kept his expression blank, but Su could still see that he was guarded. He had of course been able to deduce who was in his study by Su's words. Su knew the Marquis was acquainted with Dong as evidenced by the box Pei had taken from her to carry. But the Marquis had also quickly flicked his gaze to Pei, who had seen it and raised his eyebrows, a clear indication to Su that he had realized something of importance. So it could be taken as a sign that the Marquis and Pei had spoken about Dong, but without Pei's understanding that this was the man he had discussed with the marquis. Or maybe her husband had already known of the existence of an unnamed soldier posing as a forester. But his first reactions when he had met them at the gate told Su this was not the case. To Pei this man, still bound, was only the forester they had met before.
What was much more telling was the lack of reaction by the Marquis about the information that this was Rushuang brother. Indicating he had already known or guessed their relationship. As always when people where confronted with unexpected situation the Marquis, Xie and Rushuang hesitated in moving forward. Su took one more close look at the three and then stepped into the study. The other soon followed. Su and Dong locked eyes, Su saw he was unimpressed, he wasn't nervous or anxious and was only focused on her. Maybe he thought this would unnerve her, but Su only gave him a cold, calculated look back. It was Rushuang who broke the silence: "Why is he bound?" Without taking her eyes of Dong Su replied: "He is bound because there are still question to be answered and inconsistencies to be straightened before we can determine the nature of this man and see if he is friend or foe."
"What questions and inconsistencies are you taking about?" Xie asked, keeping an eye on Don, while standing a bit closer to Rushuang, his men had followed Liu and Su at his urging, because his search for the missing soldier had led them here. Who this missing soldier was and from which side he was, was were still unknowns. Xie then turned his attention briefly to Pei, but as always in these kind of cases he was hard to read. But the defensive stance of his close friend was easily recognized, Pei was -for now- the guardian of his wife, letting her lead, but ready to step in if necessary. For now though Su was clearly in charge.
"We first met you a couple of months ago, when a villager from the border town introduced you tu us as the forester who had seen a soldier from the Ghost Army. We had no reason to suspect you then. But later you and I met again didn't we? You came to the military camp to deliver a message to the marquis. I didn't recognize you then, but I suspect you did recognize me, you were in a hurry to get out again. It took me a few days to link the forester to the messenger, by the time I did we were already on our way back to our home. That day when you came to deliver a message to the Marquis, two more things caught my attention. One was the curiously empty stretch of the forest on the military map. And the second was your handwriting on the envelope you gave me, once more something I thought I'd seen before, but I couldn't recall from where. Tell me, at that time, did you know who we were? Do you know who we are now? Did you recognize your sister?"
Dong at first seemed reluctant to answer, but after a long silence he eventually did: "My friend from the village told me only that he had met a wealthy woman from a different city who had been interested in the Ghost Army. But when I saw Rushuang with you I knew you had to be Su Ci, the lady detective, her husband Pei Zhou and Xie Beiming, who had married my sister. I had not yet discovered Pei Zhou was an alias for Prince Qi."
Su nodded and then said: "Let's start at the beginning. Six years ago you entered the army of the marquis. This can be verified by the report made in the army. Then the Dong family received news of your demise at Honggu, but we know this report was false, since you're standing before us and no report of your death has been made int eh army. Here is the first inconsistency we need to clear up. I believe it will require both you and the marquis to tell this story." Su turned to the marquis, who showed no surprise at her mentioning of him. If Pei was surprised he didn't show it, but Su saw he was getting more and more interested. The marquis was the first to respond: "Why do you think I could help?" Su turned to the marquis fully: "What was the assignment you gave him when you sent him to Honggu with your signing mark?"
"What signing mark?" the marquis asked. Su motioned for Pei to step closer, understand what she needed Pei placed the box he'd been holding on his hands. They had a quick meeting of their eyes, when Su opened the box and removed one of the marks and held it out for all to see: "This signing mark, had he stolen this, you wouldn't have allowed him to remain in this forest with the mark. So you gave it to him. Also his handwriting matches the handwriting on the request to the magistrates office to report on the Honggu battle, which was issued by someone from your army. Let me ask you again: Why was Dong Ryu in Honggu?" Faced not only with Su's logic, but also Pei's uncompromising gaze, the marquis relented and told them he'd received news that the army of Cheng might do dishonorable deeds which could result in a loss at Honggu. As Dong had often been able to infiltrate opposing armies and get valuable information, the marquis had asked him to do this to the Cheng army and if necessary try to sabotage them or get the incident properly examined by court. "I told him to use my mark when he needed to get something done by court." The marquis concluded his story.
"Why wasn't the report of the magistrate recovered, you knew of it's existence." Pei demanded, thinking many things could have been averted had this report been presented at court.
"For a long time I didn't know Dong had requested the report. By the time Dong had found a possibility to inform me about it, it was too late. We were all fighting the other wars, in the end no one seemed to care about the Honggu battle. Then the Tiger Tally was taken from you and you didn't seem to care about anything anymore and turned into an idle prince. So I never told anyone."
"My persona as idle Prince was to let others thing I was no longer a threat to their plans. I've always worked to uncover what had happened since my father's death." The marquis bowed: "I'm sorry, I should not have doubted you. Please forgive me." Pei waved his hand: "It matters no more, you couldn't have known and back then there were many doubts over many things. Forget it." Pei turned to Su, who had turned her attention back to Dong. Pei could see she still had questions and she still didn't trust him. "By who and why was the report made to your family that you had died in Honggu? There seemed to be no need for it. You were under orders from your general and presumably you could easily return to your own troop after Honggu." Su asked Dong. Dong broke the eye contact wit Su to turn to his sister: "I wrote the report myself and signed it with the marquis' mark, then I made sure it was send."
"But why? Father was broken after we got the report. You could have saved him the pain." Rushuang asked, Dong shook his head: "I saw no other option, you had to believe I was dead so you wouldn't contact the army or try to find me." He took a few moment before he continued: "While at Honggu I saw a few soldiers carrying an unknown mark. It seemed that they were part of a third party. As the marquis already said, there were doubts and signs that the Liang army would meet opposites within or from unknown sources. I decided then to try and get more information on this mark. The soldiers were hiding nearby. I couldn't get the information I needed quickly, so I took action during the battle. I killed two soldiers bearing the mark. I took one of their medals and placed their bodies and remaining medals amongst the deceased from the battle. I remained behind to make sure someone found the medal with the mark. I'd also made sure someone from the army of Liang Cheng 'killed' the unknown, recently transferred soldier, who had made himself quite annoying. Thereby ensuring my assumed identity was reported killed. With my new identity I found the remaining soldiers and joined them. In order to get the required information I needed to lose my own identity and fully become the other solder. I couldn't risk anyone trying to find me. With the marquis I'd arranged several ways to communicate. I kept him up to date on where I was and what I had learned. Which was unfortunately very little. The group was just a group of footmen send out to do occasional jobs, everywhere in Liang and Beirong. We traveled a lot, by the time something more important was being planned I made the mistake of returning home during the time we had gotten to get ready. At that time I didn't know that the Huang family was part of this group, but they were and one night someone from the Huang family recognized me and got some soldiers together. That night they held dad on his bed and made him drink the poison so they would spare my life. I left with the solders, I took me many years to regain their trust and show them how I could be of use to them by spying on the army of the Marquis. The Ghost Army is very secretive, they don't call themselves 'the ghost army', they are Xuan's risen Army. I finally got the name when I sent the message to the General which you saw."
"So, you are infiltrated in the Ghost Army, but are pretending to be infiltrated in the army of the Marquis?" Xie asked, clearly thinking carefully about the information Dong just shared. Don nodded and Pei cut in: "Do you know who's behind the Ghost Army?"
"No, I don't. The orders I receive come through pigeons or lowly messengers. They took me to a higher ranking official after father's death, he was called Nuo Ho. I believe he's coordinating the moves of the Ghost Army here on the border. They are posing as three different rebel groups, but they are actually…
"All part of the Ghost Army. We know." Pei waved the information away, after all it was only confirmation on what they already knew or suspected. "Do you know their strategy, what their next moves are going to be?"
"No, I only give them information on the actions of our army, but I'm not given any information about what they are going to do."
"How often do you report?"
"I'm expected to report shortly on the presence of the Mingjing office in the border town. They seem to be worried about the investigation into the fire at the Tong Mine, which was instigated by them. They also want to know how much influence the Pei family has in the army and court affairs. And the best way to get Feiyun Manor to work for them."
"Feiyun Manor will never work for them." Xie immediately responded. Dong held his hands up in a conciliatory gesture: "Calm down, they are only asking information." Pei didn't pay any attention to Xie's predictable outburst, but kept thinking: "Do they know we visited these regions before?"
"Yes, which is why they are interested in your position. It would have been logical to send the minister of War here to get a personal report on the rebel situation, and yet you are here." Before anyone could continue Su held up her hand: "How can we be sure you are still loyal to Liang, after all you also carry this signing mark from the Ghost Army." Su opened the box again and showed the other mark.
"That mark ensures my information gets to Nuo Ho directly."
"Then why, if you are loyal to Liang did you continue to work for them. Your story indicates that for a long time not much valuable information could be found. If you'd thought this group was dangerous for the safety of Liang, wouldn't you have told the marquis to take action? From both your actions and the marquis we can infer you both did not consider this group of importance. Why continue to work for them then?"
Dong sighed, looked down and then up again, it seemed like he was gathering strength. "It's because of Rushuang. They knew I have a sister. They know her name and are keeping track of her. Occasionally they'll make sure I know they are still keeping her in their sights. It was made clear that any misstep from me could result in her demise." The response to this was immediate and predictable: Xie took Rushuang's hand and pulled her to his side, Rushuang was first shocked and then felt indignation, Pei and Su first looked at Rushuang and Xie and then looked at each other. The marquis had no reaction, telling Su he'd already known. "Captain Liu!" Pei called out, the door opened and the captain appeared. "Please aske Fei Yuan to prepare some tea." As Pei spoke he signaled something to Liu who only nodded and then turned and left again. "Do you know if they have a permanent watch on Rushuang?" Pei asked, also looking at Xie's anxious and determined face. Xie hadn't mentioned any suspicious activity surrounding Rushuang, so it was fair to assume no one from Feiyun had seen anything strange. There was no doubt the Feiyun warriors would receive extra orders this evening. Pei only hoped Liu's mission would show results.
"I don't know. I don't imagine I'm important enough to have someone tail my sister all the time. It wouldn't surprise me if they occasionally check up o her. But I have no way of knowing for sure."
"Dear, I think we can untie him, unless you have more questions or objections?" Pei turned to his wife, whom he saw was getting tired from standing so long. Su shook her head: "I have no further questions right now and if you all feel assured by his explanations I have no problem with untying him."
"Brother Xie…Let's all take a seat and wait for Fei yuan to bring us some tea." Xie untied the rope from Dong's hands, Pei helped Su take a seat and stood behind her rubbing her neck and shoulders. Dong rubbed his wrists and then hesitantly stepped to his sister. Pei, Su and the marquis, understood their need for privacy and kept to themselves, silently talking to give the Dong family some time to talk. "I'm sorry sister." Dong said, taking one of Rushuang's hand in his, with tear filled eyes. Rushuang shook her head: "You did what you had to do for the safety of our empire."
"I'm sorry I gave father and you so much suffering."
"I'm alright now, don't you see?" She gave him a smile, which Dong returned before he turned to Xie: "Mr. Xie, brother-in-law thank you for taking care of my sister all this time." Xie bowed and said: "It's what I should do, brother-in-law." Rushuang then looked at Pei and the Marquis: "Brother, after today you can't come back yet, right?"
"I fear not, the threat to the empire and the threat to your life have not yet been cleared. There is still much work to be done. Hopefully after everything is resolved I can live peacefully and near you and your family."
Noise from outside and the opening of a door turned all attention to the door where Liu and Zihou came in with two bound and gagged soldiers. "We found these two listening to your conversation, they tried to run. The Feiyun men are doing another sweep of the grounds with soldiers from the marquis." Liu reported. Pei walked to the bound men and motioned for Xie and Dong to come as well. Xie took hold of one of the men and grabbed a string from his neck, it revealed a by now well known medal. The same happened to the other man. "These two have been keeping an eye on me recently. By the looks of it they're simple footmen. They won't care much about losing these two."
"Good, get them to the cells, make sure they are kept separately. Then come back and escort my wife and Rushuang to our rooms. Have Fei Yuan serve them tea and keep guard." Pei ordered Liu, who as always bowed and carried out the order. Pei turned to the two ladies: "Don't mention any of this to the princess Yunchuan or prince Shuomo. Zihou…"
"I understand." Zihou said.
"I need some more time with Xie, the marquis and Dong to discuss this situation further. But you need rest now." Pei said to Su, holding her hands. She understood Pei needed to discuss military matters, she appreciated him including Rushuang in his assertion that they needed rest. She held his hand, it was getting more difficult to get up easily and Pei helped her stand. A short while later Liu once more opened the door and carried out the rest of Pei's order.