Ning Chen knew he had brought a catastrophe down on himself this time.
That was the Fifth Prince. The son of the reigning emperor.
The whole world under heaven belonged to that family. He had taken the Fifth Prince hostage and beaten him besides. If they caught him it was a death sentence, and no doubt about it.
He didn’t regret it. Given the choice again he would do the same thing.
He had been a soldier. He had crossed into a world he didn’t know, but the soldier in him hadn’t died… No evil, no danger, no situation however bad was going to make him step back from it.
His face had been covered, but there had been no time to change clothes. The Fifth Prince might well recognize him.
Xuan Hong probably wouldn’t give him up. The man was out for himself, but Ning Chen had gone from his table to holding a knife on the Fifth Prince. Handing him over would drag Xuan Hong in as well.
But this was the Fifth Prince. If he ordered a full investigation it would come back to Ning Chen for certain.
Ning Chen thought it over and made a decision. Run.
He couldn’t stay in the capital. He had to get out and let the wind die down.
Damn it. I should have told the Fifth Prince my name was Ning Gan and pulled the whole Ning household in after me.
Running took money, and all he had on him was some odd bits of silver. That wouldn’t carry him far at all.
He thought a moment longer, then went straight for the general’s residence.
Elsewhere, the Fifth Prince was with Xuan Hong.
This Fifth Prince was an impostor from beginning to end. He was in fact one of the crown prince’s personal bodyguards, a man named Lu Yan.
“Is the injury bad?”
Lu Yan had a hand over his chest and his face was drawn with it. “Reporting to Your Highness. This subordinate’s breastbone is broken.”
The crown prince frowned. “Is he that dangerous?”
Lu Yan said, “The way he moves is very strange. He gathers the strength of his whole body into the elbow. It’s fast and it’s violent, like a hunting leopard… His strength is on the weak side, though. If it weren’t, this subordinate would have come away with a good deal more than a broken breastbone.”
“Forgive this subordinate, Your Highness. I had drunk too much and my reactions were slow.”
The crown prince waved it away. “It isn’t your fault. I was the one who had you drink, because I was afraid you wouldn’t play it convincingly enough… I didn’t think it through. I had no idea he could fight like that.”
“Go back to the palace now and have an imperial physician look at it. Rest properly… I need to think hard about how I apologize to him. By now he must have me down as a man who clings to his own skin and has no loyalty in him.”
“All I wanted was to test his character. I never expected it to end up like this.”
Elsewhere again, Ning Chen had reached the general’s residence.
“What do you want to borrow a hundred taels for? Has something happened?”
Ning Chen had come to him out of nowhere asking for a hundred taels, and Old General Chen was curious about it.
Ning Chen’s face was urgent and open at once. “I wouldn’t presume to deceive you, Old General. Every last person in my family is dead. All I have left is one lame old servant… He’s been taken suddenly and badly ill, and I need silver for a doctor.”
“You know I have five hundred taels on deposit with Uncle Tian Xuan. I can’t get to him. When you see him next, have him pay you back out of it. Tell him I said so.”
“Old General Chen, a life is at stake… I’m begging you. Help me.”
Old General Chen was generous about it. He called in his steward and had a hundred taels drawn from the counting room and put into Ning Chen’s hands.
“Thank you, Old General Chen. A kindness this size is past thanking. If I ever get the chance I will pay it back… I swear it.”
He said his goodbyes and went straight to the drill ground, where he found Qi Yuanzhong.
“Brother Qi. Old General Chen is sending me out on an errand. He said you’d get me a fast horse.”
Qi Yuanzhong didn’t doubt him for a moment and had a tall, powerful horse ready at once.
Ning Chen rode straight for the city gate.
He went the whole way at a gallop, and at the gate the garrison men on duty stopped him going out.
“I’m under Old General Chen’s command, out of the city on orders. Stand aside, quickly.”
One look at the warhorse under him and the garrison let him through.
Once he was clear he didn’t dare lose a moment. He put the whip to the horse and was gone in the dust.
The palace. The Hall of Cultivated Heart.
Nie Liang was on watch at the hall door.
He and Eunuch Quan were like a married couple. One ran the inside and one ran the outside.
A guard with a sword at his belt came up at a fast walk and bent to say a few words in Nie Liang’s ear.
Nie Liang’s face changed slightly. He waved the man away, went quickly to the front of the hall, and bent respectfully. “Your subject Nie Liang. I beg an audience on a matter of business.”
After a while Eunuch Quan came out with his small quick steps.
“Commander Nie. His Majesty summons you in.”
Nie Liang followed him in. The Xuan Emperor was reading memorials.
As emperors went, he was a hardworking one.
Nie Liang went down on one knee. “Reporting to Your Majesty. Lan Xing has run.”
The Xuan Emperor’s face went blank for a moment. His eyes left the memorial and went to Nie Liang. “Run? Run where?”
“Your Majesty had your subject put men quietly on Young Master Lan to keep him safe… They reported just now that he had ridden out of the city.”
The Xuan Emperor asked, curious, “And what did he go out there for?”
Nie Liang told him what had happened at the Heavenly Blessing Tower.
The men Nie Liang had sent had recognized Lu Yan as one of the crown prince’s guards, so they hadn’t dared step in.
The Xuan Emperor’s face darkened by degrees.
“No method in it at all. Test a man’s heart like that and all you end up with is his heart turned away from you.”
Neither Eunuch Quan nor Nie Liang dared breathe out loud.
He was talking about the crown prince, and that was not a conversation either of them could enter.
“Nie Liang. Are your men still on him?”
Cold sweat came out on Nie Liang’s forehead. “Young Master Lan is on a warhorse from the general’s residence. My men had no horses ready, so… so they lost him.”
Men protecting somebody quietly do not ride. And it had come out of nowhere. Nobody had expected Ning Chen to run, still less to run on a warhorse.
The Xuan Emperor’s face was getting steadily worse.
“How long has Ning Chen been gone?”
“Four hours, Your Majesty.”
“Four hours, and you tell this emperor now…” The Xuan Emperor’s anger came up. “Why not wait until he has reached the ends of the earth and tell him then?”
Nie Liang was sweating with fear. “Your subject knows his fault. I beg Your Majesty’s mercy.”
It had in fact been fast. The general’s residence stood inside the inner city, but the imperial city was enormous, and the palace inside it more so, and nobody rides within the palace walls. Two hours on foot from the palace gate to the Hall of Cultivated Heart counted as quick.
The Xuan Emperor’s face was set. “Quan Sheng. Carry this emperor’s verbal order. Geng Jing is to send men to trace Lan Xing along the road. The moment they find him they bring him back… And mark this. Not a hair of him is to be harmed.”
“This servant obeys.”
Eunuch Quan went out at speed, on those small quick steps.
The Xuan Emperor looked at Nie Liang. “Which gate did he leave by?”
“The South Gate, Your Majesty.”
“Carry this emperor’s instruction. The Prefect of Liangzhou is to keep a close watch. If Ning Chen is found, he is to bring the boy back in person.”
“And every post station along the road is to keep its eyes open… Lan Xing is on a warhorse. He will not be hard to pick out.”
Nie Liang said quickly, “Your subject has the order. I go to it now.”
Once he had withdrawn, something moved in the Xuan Emperor’s eyes, and he said it under his breath. “Gifts beyond the ordinary. Intelligence. Strategy. A talent worth shaping… That Fifth Prince may have been a fake, but the boy knew him for the Fifth Prince and struck him anyway. Set the dignity of the imperial house at nothing. He still needs taking down a peg.”
(End of Chapter 29)