Dragon Palace

He could hear them getting closer and closer by the second. The more he sped up, the greater the disturbance behind him, the leaves rustling and the ground thudding after him.

He slowed his pace and breathed for air. No matter how good his stamina was, after racing up and down for miles, exhaustion had to begin tempering with him. He looked up and noticed that it was getting dark. What were the chances that his entourage had caught on to his disappearance and sent out his military servicemen to look for him?

His keen ears suddenly picked up on something, giving him only seconds to prepare before a group of men in black appeared from behind the camouflaging vegetation, surrounding him. All of them held their sharp swords towards him, greatly antic.i.p.ating to help him enter the afterlife earlier.

Huizhong also pointed his dragon sword toward them, slowly turning around in a circle as he a.s.sessed them with his steady gaze, considering where to start.

His eyes twinkled with dark amus.e.m.e.nt. "Do you know that this dragon has a record of never losing?" He laughed to himself. "I don't think today will be any different, either."

These men did not seem to be strangers to his feats, as some of the tightly held swords started shaking in their shadowing owners' trembling hands. Utilising the instance of vulnerability, Huizhong briskly jumped forth. His menacing blade flashed as he brought it over his head then hummed a low swift tune when he brought it down.

Small screams and grunts littered the air as he maneuvered from one person to another, blood spattering with the end of each cry. As he sidestepped an approaching attack, the charge that was meant for him ended up slas.h.i.+ng an ally of the men in black. He used his sword to parry with his next opponent, and a blade clashed against the tightly strapped metal on his wrists. As a shriek deafened their ears, sparks were sent flying into the air.

Avoiding a kick meant for him by throwing himself backwards, he swiftly coiled his body around before slas.h.i.+ng the last man left.

Gore encompa.s.sed him as he breathed hard, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng coldly as he scanned his surroundings, blade still out and on guard for any stragglers. Considering how little time it took to end them compared to the previous times, maybe he could regard his gongfu to now be ameliorate from the countless years of practising.

He pursed his lips as he surveyed the wreckage of bodies on the ground, their owners' eyes glazed and unseeing.

"Now don't look at me like that." He accused the fallen body that held a blank stare towards him. "I did warn you."

Determined to resign himself from the revulsing scene, he wiped his bloodied sword using the clothes of a cadaver by his leg, staining the fabric with a dark descending color.

Without the sound of screams and clas.h.i.+ng swords from before, the scene now seemed utterly silent. For a moment, he simply stood there in the stillness and quiet, nothing but the sound of his own breathing and heartbeat ringing in his ears.

The silence finally broke when he spoke aloud to himself. "Huticah, you stole my father's heart and killed him without mercy. Count this as just the beginning," he spat. "Soon, your traitorous nation will be next." He spoke valiantly, his voice heavy with anger and promised retribution.

Huizhong sheathed his sword and flung it to his back. With unrestrained anger that was effluxing within his veins, he felt like cutting their heads and feeding their carrions to hyenas. Huticah was his enemy and each and one of its people deserved death, innocent or not. He believed that his father's death was worth at least that much.

Frustrated by the woes that haunted his soul, he skipped the corpses.

The young emperor abruptly crouched in surprise as surges of pain began to shoot from his abdomen. Adrenaline had been pumping throughout his body that he did not realise that he had been wounded.

"d.a.m.n it." He grunted and slogged his way towards the Borderlands' military camp. He trusted that it wouldn't be a while before his people found him.

"I have no money. I'm just a poor boy!" A feminine voice cried in desperation, catching his attention. He almost sought out the voice but chose to mind his own troubles instead.

Unantic.i.p.ated mocking laughter followed the feminine voice. Why were men bullying a helpless maiden at this late hour? It was so typical of Huticah; so weak they were, yet eager to 'take', trusting that someone would save them.

Huizhong trudged to the left and rested against a huge tree, pressing his right hand on his wound to cease the bleeding. From the corner of his eye, he could see a tall, raddled man yank a helpless figure to the ground.

"Ahh…" The little person winced, causing the men to erupt into laughter.

"What kind of boy are you?" The man who had just pushed the victim to the floor scoffed. "You are quite laughable." Another bout of laughter made its way around.

This is the moment when Huizhong stepped forward. "That's because she is a girl." Others might be easily fooled by her clothing disguise, but not him. All his life, he had seen Princess Yang Liu pretend to be a boy, so identifying her gender was effortless.

By the time the surprised men whipped around and thought to ready themselves, it was already too late.

How he pounced on them, who he beat, how he flew in the air or even broke bones, it was all a blur. He only remembered when it was done with, only to find himself standing before a damsel in distress. She lay on her stomach with her ears covered, trying to silence the ugly world that so wanted to torture her.

He looked down at her cooly. "Boys don't cower away like that during a fight," he said, nudging her leg carelessly. Her huge eyes looked up to meet his, and slowly, the biggest of smiles spread across her face, clear appreciation glowing from her pupils. He frowned.

As if being careful to not strain her back, she pushed herself up slowly, struggling to lift herself like a child who was learning to stand up by herself.

Remembering himself, he was quick in pulling his cloak hood and draping it over his head, concealing his ident.i.ty.

"My saviour." A small sound that appeared to be a giggle escaped her as she wrapped her small arms around his st.u.r.dy body. He tried to keep his balance but stumbled backwards due to her weight, which was profusal due to his circ.u.mstances. He sucked air through his teeth and pushed her away. Not giving her another look, he turned and walked away.

"You are bleeding," she called from behind, sympathy dripping in her tone.

He didn't reply but continued to stagger along. Although he tried to increase his unsteady pace, she still caught up to him.

"How did you defeat all of them so fast?" She reached for his coat with the intention of bringing him to a halt.

He moved away. "A girl should not walk alone at this time of the day," he reprimanded and tried to increase his strides.

"Girl?" She choked, the surprise causing her to miss a step. "I'm a boy!" She was quick to deny by trying to spin tales about how she could have killed them all if he did not show up.

He sighed, not bothering to respond. She was too loud and tiring to be around.

"I will be leaving first," he said, hinting that her companions.h.i.+p was unrequired. Her face turned sullen.

To give himself a head start in arriving at the military camp before he could faint due to blood loss, he started running.

"Wait!" She shouted from behind but he was already done with her. It was no crime to save someone, but she was making it one for him. He ran through the woods with much determination but soon, his vision became hazy, a fog clouding him while darkness took over...

"Young sir!"

He later felt his body being rocked back and forth but felt too warm and fuzzy to answer back.

It felt like only a few minutes had pa.s.sed by when he opened his eyes to a lit stygian room. He blinked away the blurriness that obscured his vision, but still, his eyelids were heavy with drowsiness. The room was stuffy with the pervasive smell of blood. He looked around at the messy room which had discarded wine bottles all over and didn't recognise any of it. How had he gotten there?

Again, he found himself slipping away like death was tugging his legs to the land of the dead, but there was nothing he could do about it.

When he awoke once more, this time he opened his eyes to find that his body was half naked. Slightly lifting his head, he looked further below and saw that some leafy herbs had been applied to his wound. Waves of sudden pain shot up through him, stealing a groan from him as his head fell back down again.

"Sshhh…" A silencing whisper came from beside him. He tilted his head and found Big Eyes—the girl he saved earlier—kneeling before him. She squeezed the cotton cloth in her hands, the water trickling into the clay bowl.

With a big smile, she bent forward, but he reflexively grabbed her wrist away from him, on guard.

"You can trust me," she said softly, looking unbothered by his hard grip. As if a war was waging in his mind, his hand shook before finally letting go. Taking her hand back, she pointed. "I used vinegar water and some of my secret herbs to treat you." She winked proudly. Beside the bowl of clay that she was using to wet her cloth, he saw that there were also b.a.l.l.s of b.l.o.o.d.y cloth that she had used to clean his wound.

"I promise to reward you heavily," he said seriously.

She beamed from ear to ear, then gently started dabbing his forehead. With her so close, kneeling over him, he could smell her sweet lavender scent. His previously tense muscles inadvertently loosened a little.

It was at that moment that he found himself struck by her appearance

Her silky black hair resembled the wild sea waves at night, so remarkably long that it cascaded past her shoulders and extended to her lower back. A few of her strands hung to the front and barely veiled her naked upper body that he now noticed was bandaged with snow white cotton cloth.

Realising where his eyes were, she squirmed in embarra.s.sment and pulled his coat to cover herself.

Had she used part of her own undergarments to treat him? And when had she decided to use his own coat to cover herself? If he had a heart, he bet that it would be fluttering erratically in excitement at the moment. Nonetheless, his legs weakened and his palms started to sweat a little.

"You said you will reward me heavily?" She pulled his coat closer to herself, her innocence and vulnerability hitting a nerve inside.

He nodded. He had promised, so he would stay true to his word.

Her demeanor took a more serious turn. "I don't care for the riches of this world," she said, "please reward me with something else." Her big amber eyes pleaded to him, reeling him into their depths.

Forcing himself to look away, he instead s.h.i.+fted his eyes to the side of her face. This chanced him to see her strangely shaped ears. If he wasn't wrong, they were elven ears.

Furia? She was from Furia.

The top of her forehead was crowned by lotus flowers that intensified her beauty. She had a kind of understated beauty, or maybe it was because of what lay within; such pure innocence. This only served to fuel his curiosity about her and her mysterious request.

"Go on." He probed her to speak further.

"Marry me." Her eyebrows raised in antic.i.p.ation, a closed mouth smile gracing her face to indicate how unashamed she was to ask this. This was what society labelled as 'indecency', a woman asking a man for betrothal.

When she smiled like this, he wished he could forget the sorrows that darkened his soul and smile along with her. Her presence gave him the sensation of a flower radiating under spring's sun rays.

Huizhong wanted to reach out and touch her full lips, red and plump even in the darkness of the room. He couldn't help but entertain the thought of himself waking up next to her every morning, though the possibility of that happening was very unlikely, as they would be arranged to sleep in separate palaces if they were to wed.

She took his big hand into her small palms. Perhaps it was due to her request before and his wild thoughts, but he couldn't help noticing how her fair skin was flawless and soft to the touch.

Marry her? She looked to be fourteen or fifteen summers old, too young for marriage. But such beauty...

"Please?" She beseeched.

Alarmed by her plea, he panicked. He desperately stretched out his other hand to pull her into his arms, but it was no use. This was the part when she always disappeared, the dream coming to an end.

"No, no, no…" Huizhong struggled with himself, grasping at the air. "At least let me know your name! Who are you?"

"Answer me, Lotus Flower!" His whole soul was crying wildly for her, desperate to not part like the many times before.

"Your majesty! Please wake up, you are just dreaming." Eunuch Nam carefully shook him.

Huizhong's eyes snapped open to find his green garbed subject looking down at him with pity. Seeing that his liege was finally awake, the eunuch was quick to fall on his knees. Protocol did not allow him to stand above his master.

"I told you to not wake me up!" The emperor roared with agitation and punched the pillows.

The eunuch trembled. "Forgive this servant, your majesty." He was beginning to slightly regret his action, though he really had done it out of love and respect. "Your majesty seemed to be in so much pain so this…"

Smas.h.!.+

The gla.s.s vase emblemed by a red velvet lotus flower plummeted from the bedside hickory cabinet and shattered into tiny pieces. Water and lotus flowers that had inhabited the vase disarrayed on the floor.

"Your majesty! Please calm your anger!" Eunuch Nam cried out.

"Get out!" Huizhong lashed out. He was breathing heavily, his fist threatening to cause chaos. The eunuch knew that if he stayed a minute longer, he could lose his life.

"A good night... to his majesty." Petrified and rid of all sense, like a dog with a tail between its legs, he could only scamper away.

Left alone to himself, Huizhong ran his hand through his loosened long hair and took a breath to calm down. The long dark-shadowed curtain that covered his large window blew steadily, letting a soft breeze invigorate his sweaty body. His eyes scanned his dark room and noticed the strewn lotus petals. Even his room was pure evidence of what his heart yearned for from time to time.

Slipping his legs onto the unheated floor, he moved forward to pick one of the petals. He attentively caressed the lavender infused petal and waved it before his nose, his eyes slightly closing in bliss; just a reminder of her made him feel euphoric.

Where was she now? Had she moved on and got herself a husband?

His mind plagued with the same things he had been wondering for years now.

Did her smile still contain the same radiance that lit his world? Would she still look at him with the same glowing glint in her eyes? Did she even remember him?

His heart ached.

Would they ever meet again?

S.V