Chapter 38
Chapter 38
He was a quiet young man, beautiful as moonlight. Yet in armor, he also possessed the bearing of a king. He galloped away.
Qin Liuyuan and I climbed the high tower and looked toward Linbei. Northern Qian soldiers had surrounded it. After Linbei’s failed attack on Nancheng, the two armies faced each other fifty miles outside the capital. Zheng Long and Helan had withdrawn into Linbei’s deep mountains to recover. Linbei had survived for years so close to the Northern Qian capital because the north’s greatest strength was cavalry, which was ill-suited to mountain forests. No one imagined Chen Dong would send a force to infiltrate Linbei’s base and suddenly attack at dusk. Most people left there were old, wounded, or weak. Caught unprepared, Zheng Long lost his stronghold. When he fled here for aid, Northern Qian soldiers pursued him all the way.
I knew Zheng Long’s ability in battle. The person who had reduced him to such a state…
“My lady, look here.”
Qin Liuyuan handed me a western spyglass. Beneath a black standard snapping in the wind stood Chen Dong’s foremost general. Behind him, a dense army waited like a restless beast.
Naihe stood in red, like a pure flame of crystal beneath the evening sky. Behind him were Zheng Long’s battered remnants, facing the northern army.
Qin Liuyuan continually released smoke, apparently transmitting signals.
I stared into the distance. “Can we win?”
The armies clashed. Chen Dong’s troops were elite soldiers, an iron force in which one man could fight ten, almost undefeated.
“The Heavenly Venerable did not order my lady to leave. Therefore, he must be able to win,” Qin Liuyuan said respectfully. “He has always valued my lady above his own life.”
“Always?” I repeated. “Did he know me before he came to Northern Qian as an envoy?”
“That is a matter between the Heavenly Venerable and my lady. This subordinate does not know.” His answer remained flawless.
“Very well. Then I will ask about you.”
I continued, “Your speech and bearing are uncommon. Why did you join the Primordial Origin Faith?”
Qin Liuyuan smiled bitterly. “My lady flatters me. Before I met the Heavenly Venerable, this subordinate… could not even be called a man. Have you seen a puppet play? I was such a puppet, moving only when strings were pulled by the hand behind me. The Heavenly Venerable cut those strings. I do not follow him. I follow my own heart.”
Battle dissolved into chaos. Darkness fell. I could only dimly see Naihe’s forces retreating, like the final crimson sunset being swallowed by night.
“You followed him when he was still very young. Another faction must have supported him from behind. Was it Helan?”
Zheng Long was the Linbei Bandit King, yet styled himself a general. I had long guessed that someone else must be their king. I first suspected Helan himself, only to discover it was Naihe. If Helan had arranged everything, the pieces would fit: one hand building military power in Linbei, the other secretly expanding the Primordial Origin Faith to command popular loyalty, all in preparation to restore the dynasty.
But why choose Naihe as his lord?
To my surprise, Qin Liuyuan denied it, with an almost imperceptible pride in his voice. “Helan Zhiyan is a capable man, but he is not enough to command the submission of the Primordial Origin Faith’s Seventy-Two Orders. The Faith and the Linbei bandits have nothing in common except that both recognize the Heavenly Venerable as their lord.”
The clamor of battle was now faintly audible. I saw Naihe’s troops driven steadily backward. Blood stained him, though I could not tell whether it was his own. Northern Qian soldiers surged toward us like a black tide.
“My lady need not fear. The elite of all Seventy-Two Orders wait beneath the tower. Even if we must perish together, no harm will touch you,” Qin Liuyuan said softly.
“Send them to help Naihe instead. That is a northern general. Those battered men cannot defeat him.”
“Please trust the Heavenly Venerable, my lady.”
Night closed completely. I could no longer see the soldiers, only hear the distant clash of weapons. I sighed. “What an absurd wedding night. No wonder Helan calls me ill-omened…”
“My lady, take care with those words.” Qin Liuyuan suddenly turned grave. “The Heavenly Venerable cannot bear to hear them. He has followed the Buddha for years, and the only time I ever saw him lose control was when someone slandered my lady as a demon consort who destroyed a kingdom.”
“What happened then?”
“The Heavenly Venerable killed him with his own hands.”
I froze. At that moment, the wind carried chaotic shouts in the northern tongue – cries for help. I leaned out to look.
The Northern Qian soldiers had been drawn into a valley. Naihe’s men had vanished. Dry grass and dead wood filled the ravine. Now countless burning arrows rained from the slopes, and northern soldiers howled on every side.
The raging fire illuminated the night. I saw Naihe standing on the hillside, looking down upon them. Behind him, archers in crimson armor stood in ordered ranks.
Crimson armor was the mark of Southern Xu soldiers. How could soldiers of Southern Xu be here? Were they from the remnant court in the west? But why did they obey Naihe? Because of He Sulong? No. He Sulong was still a hundred miles away and could not possibly have arrived.
A soldier handed Naihe a bow. From such a distance, I could not see his expression. Yet for some reason, his cold face appeared with perfect clarity in my mind. He fitted a thumb ring and drew.
The arrow flew like a falling star and buried itself in the Northern Qian general’s heart.
With their commander dead, the northern army collapsed into chaos. Cheers thundered from the hillside.
“How? How can soldiers of the remnant court be here?” I murmured.
“They were concealed here all along, waiting to annihilate the raiding force. That is why the Heavenly Venerable left everyone to protect you. These men are our true strength.”
Qin Liuyuan smiled coldly. In the darkness, I could see only the outline of his face. Suddenly, I realized he looked familiar. His brows sloped downward, giving him a faintly sorrowful appearance when he did not smile.
A chilling thought rose in my mind. The heavens above seemed to become an enormous game board, and the hand moving its pieces possessed one face of a wolf and one of the Buddha.
“My lady! The Heavenly Venerable has returned! The late meal I ordered kept warm should be ready. Let us go down.”
“My lady? What is wrong?”
I took a step back. “Lord Rat is the Mortal Venerable, and Naihe is the Heavenly Venerable. Then you are the Imperial Venerable. Why?”
Qin Liuyuan slowly lowered his hand. “Ah…”
How had I failed to understand? What allowed a religion to expand rapidly was not formidable military power, but wealth great enough to rival a state. The Linbei bandits did not possess such wealth. But the prosperous remnant court, secure in its small corner, did.
Naihe had remained at my side. Only the king of the remnant court could bring so many soldiers to meet him.
I stared at Qin Liuyuan and whispered, “Cousin?”
He pursed his lips, seemingly at a loss. At last, he admitted, “This subordinate did not mean to deceive you. We intended to wait for the Heavenly Venerable to tell the princess – no, to tell my lady.”
“The Linbei bandits recognize him as lord, and the Primordial Origin Faith reveres him as Heavenly Venerable. I could still call those coincidences. But you are the king of Southern Xu. You call yourself his subordinate and support him with the strength of an entire state. Who is he?”
My gaze passed Qin Liuyuan. Naihe had already ascended the tower and stood quietly watching me. He still wore his wedding robes, the red silk radiant, his beauty almost demonic.
Scattered images gathered in my mind into an enormous, terrifying truth.
“That day, you arranged to meet Old Ge. Why did he agree to come…?”
“The Helan family has served loyally for generations and would rather die than serve two masters. Yet Helan recognizes you as his lord. He recognizes you…”
“So many extraordinary people submitted to you when you were still a child, because from childhood you were…”
Trembling, I raised my hand. Naihe had probably washed hurriedly before coming, wiping the blood from his face and hair. But he had not had time to disguise anything.
I touched his forehead. A red mole rested there. People said Crown Prince Shanhe bore a red mole upon his brow, an auspicious sign from birth.
“Helan wanted me dead, yet sent Youchun with the bridal crown. It was not a wedding gift. What Helan truly meant to say was…”