Chapter 78
“HAVE YOU SEEN Hel… He Mo?” Duan Ling asked.
“Didn’t you leave on an errand?” Yao Jing sounded perplexed.
“Is that what my uncle said?” It was just as he’d anticipated.
Yao Jing studied Duan Ling for a moment and nodded.
“Where did he say I went?” Duan Ling asked.
Yao Jing wrinkled her brow. Duan Ling noticed his reflection in the mirror—he was a disheveled mess. No wonder he’d roused Yao Jing’s suspicions. But as she was marrying either Helian Bo or Shang Leguan, she was the only person he could be sure wasn’t working closely with Bian Lingbai. He decided to be frank with her: “Could you pass a message to He Mo for me? Tell him I’ll be waiting for him at the bottom of Luoxia Hill, outside Tong Pass, at sunset.”
“That Tangut young master went out this morning,” Yao Jing said. “He took a bunch of men with him. General Bian was worried he’d renege on the wedding and asked him specifically. Uncle Deng told me.”
Perplexed by this turn of events, Duan Ling asked, “And then what happened?”
“He said he was just going out on a hunt, that he felt stifled staying in the city. He wasn’t sure when he’d return.”
Duan Ling’s heart sank. Had Helian Bo left the city of his own accord? If Bian Lingbai had attempted to dissuade him, then it wasn’t likely he’d put his trap into action yet.
“Then… Can you speak with Mister Fei instead?” Duan Ling asked.
This certainly was possible. Yao Jing nodded, and Duan Ling entrusted her with a message.
The young lady departed, and before long, a familiar carriage rolled into the back alley. Fei Hongde peeled back the curtain and glanced outside, and Duan Ling quickly climbed in.
“I knew there was more to the story when that man came back on his own.” Fei Hongde had chills after listening to Duan Ling’s tale. He muttered, “Thank goodness heaven has eyes, and you didn’t die down there.”
As it turned out, Fei Hongde had suspected foul play the second Bian Lingbai returned without Zhao Rong. Before anyone could ask, Bian Lingbai had hastily explained that he’d sent his so-called nephew to deliver a message to Jiang Prefectural City to keep the imperial court at bay. But how was that remotely believable, when Bian Lingbai had left that morning without any notice, and had been lying to Fei Hongde about everything otherwise? His first guess was that Duan Ling had been murdered and his corpse left in the wilderness. Unsure what had motivated Bian Lingbai to dispose of him—whether the exposure of Duan Ling’s identity or something else—Fei Hongde had gone straight to Helian Bo to inform him Duan Ling was in danger.
Helian Bo’s immediate, extreme worry had proven to Fei Hongde that his relationship with Duan Ling was more than met the eye. But he wisely did not pry. With what men he had on hand, Helian Bo left the city to search for Duan Ling.
“I pointed him in the correct direction and told him to beware the guards Bian Lingbai stationed there,” Fei Hongde said.
“We can’t wait for Wu Du anymore. We have to act now,” Duan Ling declared.
Fei Hongde hesitated. “Executing the plan will be difficult with our strength alone. Shaoye, listen to my advice—”
“No,” Duan Ling said without thinking.
Fei Hongde’s brows pinched. He was briefly disgruntled by the frank rejection, but his displeasure bled away at Duan Ling’s next words: “I don’t want to wait around for someone else to come and help me anymore,” Duan Ling said with firm resolve. “Even if I were only defending an abandoned city, I can’t just sit here in agony without acting. Those who intend to save others must first be able to save themselves. I won’t let the same thing happen again…never.”
Duan Ling’s words shook Fei Hongde to the core.
Many times over, Duan Ling had remembered those final seven days in Shangjing. The person he was now would never merely wait in the city for his father’s return—he would take up his bow and blade to fight his enemies alongside the soldiers before searching for his father himself. He had grown up.
But certain things, and certain people, were no longer waiting for him.
“I trust Wu Du,” Duan Ling said. “I trust in his ability and in his heart. It isn’t lack of trust that spurs me to act now, but that I must also do what I can.”
Fei Hongde smiled at his declaration. “In that case, what do you propose, Shaoye? If you trust this old man, tell me your ideas, and we can discuss them.”
“I think we should poison him and make his death appear to be the work of a venomous insect,” Duan Ling said.
“Do you have the means?” Fei Hongde asked. When Duan Ling responded with a firm nod, Fei Hongde considered a moment. “Then perhaps it is doable.”
They discussed the plan until they were satisfied, then split off to see to their own tasks. Duan Ling would locate Helian Bo, while Fei Hongde would return to the governor’s residence hoping to lower Bian Lingbai’s guard and lead him into carelessness. If they didn’t act now, more variables might arise.
“An excellent plan,” Fei Hongde commended him. “I will return at once to make the arrangements.”
Duan Ling borrowed a horse from Fei Hongde and rushed out of the city in the last light of day.
Wu Du had traveled from the Xichuan road to the Tong Pass approach, covering nearly four hundred li in a day. Despite the relentless pace, Skychaser showed no hint of fatigue; if anything, he grew more energetic. Perhaps he’d been shut inside the palace stables too long. Allowed his head, he raced freely with the spirit of an eagle soaring back into open skies.
If everything went smoothly, they would reach Tong Pass by tomorrow night. They were making good time; Wu Du stopped Skychaser at the bank of a river for a short rest.
“You’re a clever one,” Wu Du said to him, stroking the horse’s mane as he drank from the river. The water’s surface reflected their figures. “But why don’t you like the crown prince?”
The horse couldn’t answer his question. Skychaser turned away to graze the meadow.
“You know I’m off to save someone, don’t you?” Wu Du called after him.
Surprisingly Skychaser seemed to understand his urgency—maybe because, in his last moments with Li Jianhong, the horse had been pushed hard racing to Shangjing to save his little master. Yet as far as Wu Du knew, Skychaser had never met the young prince before Li Jianhong’s death; perhaps, the whole way back to Xichuan following the fall of Shangjing, this horse that was as smart as a person had never stopped thinking about the last mission Li Jianhong had entrusted him with.
He suddenly understood why Skychaser had rejected the crown prince. Fragmented memories of Li Jianhong must’ve remained with the horse, leaving behind the simple-minded belief that the one he was meant to rescue had not yet been saved. He’d temporarily obeyed Lang Junxia, but his time in the palace stables had been one of restlessness—to him, his little master wasn’t yet found. This must also be, Wu Du thought, why Skychaser allowed him to ride him. Wu Du felt a wash of guilt: At the end of the day, Wu Du was using this magnificent steed’s loyalty for his own ends.