CHAPTER 25,  A LOOK OF THE CLAN
"You got Li Zhang Ke?" Gan Xin asked a day after finding out the general was in the palace, carried by the Queen of Hei An Guang herself.
"Yes, we just laid him on the ground, half-dead" Sun Ai Er reported. "We thought no one should know our connection so we just left him there,"
Wang Xuan and Li Hua Rong were in deep silence, deadly glancing at Sun Ai Er knowing how the real scene went.
"Thanks for your effort, ladies." He bowed, grateful. "Would you tell me how you did it?"
Sun Ai Er bent her back, describing the timeline.
*flashback*
As soon as they learned the pointers from Chen Li Zuo, the eldest royal spy, the trio marched to the Ming Yun brick, outside of Hei An Guang.
"Wang Xuan, look! There's a cottage there," Sun Ai Er pointed out the same cottage where Gan Xin and Wei An Ge spent time in.
"These peonies are still fresh, there must be a person here. Ai Er, I think it would be better if we don't involve them." Li Hua Rong explained, marching away.
"Alright," Sun Ai Er followed.
"We've arrived," Wang Xuan announced, sneaking behind a large tree after an hour of walking deep into the forest of Ming Yun Brick.
The Forest's shadow clan lives in a camp. There were lines of guards marching around the camp for security purposes. The camp was in deep silence until
"LET ME GO!" A voice echoed in the forest sounding as if the man was in pain.
"That's Li Zhang Ke!" Wang Xuan was startled, moving a step forward.
"Wang Xuan-" Li Hua Rong tried to hold her but failed at the end.
"WE ARE FROM THE QUEEN'S SIDE, LET GO OF THE LATEST GENERAL YOU CAUGHT!" Wang Xuan persisted, furious.
The lines of guards surrounded the trio, threatening them with the sharp points of their spears.
"I REPEAT, WE ARE FROM THE QUEEN'S SIDE," Wang Xuan lied, defending herself.
The guards were clueless and doubtful. They exchanged looks with each other, anxiously.
"Let them in!" A guard shouted from the inside of the camp after getting the leader's permission.
The trio spy went inside by feet. The horses were confiscated. They had butterflies in their stomach, nervous about what the inside of the camp had in store, they exchanged looks with each other, ensuring safety.
A man with a long black beard, squinted eyes as if he can see nothing and crinkled skin give them clues of how old and experienced he might be.
"Wang Xuan," she bowed followed by the other two.
"Li Hua Rong,"
"Sun Ai Er,"
"On behalf of the Queen greets the leader of the Forest's Shadow Clan," Together, the trio announced. Their voice was loud, confident, and strict.
"Ladies, what can this old man do for the Queen?" The old man opened his mouth revealing his lost teeth.
"Her Majesty wished the clan to free General Li Zhang Ke," Li Hua Rong explained, fixing her eyes on him to look for his reaction, determined for his brother's survival.
"That's not a problem," He smirked. "The problem is on how the hell did you find this camp? None of the people of Hei An Guang should know about our clan unless-" He stopped, his squinted eyes expanded as realization struck him like a bullet, blinking twice in disbelief.
"Her Majesty is working with the kingdom of Da An?" He assumed, tilting his head forward, passing his long fingers through the long black beard of his.
The trio looked at each other with a glance.
"Yes, we are. Elder Chen showed us the way," Wang Xuan confessed.
"Then, does Her Majesty only want that one general? How about the others?"
"For now, Her Majesty is only looking for him." Sun Ai Er reported, lying.
"Understood. Take your general now. Our clan is on another mission," He stood up, trying to exit the room.
"Would you mind sharing?" Wang Xuan stopped him as he froze.
"We are going to be handing Hei An Guang to Da An as promised. I believe you know how the thing goes right?" He turned to the trio with a sadly disappointed tone of voice.
"But the previous King is not dead! As soon as we hand the general, the King will be taking over. Would you spare this giveaway?" Sun Ai Er begged, unable to sit calm, she moved a few steps forward.
The old man found himself surrounded by the trio.
"Based on your tone," his fingers passed through his beard again, raising his left eyebrows in curiosity. " You still care for Hei An Guang,"
"We may work with the kingdom of Da An but Hei An Guang is forever our home. Please spare the giveaway, leader!" Wang Xuan's loud voice spoke volumes as they started getting on their knees.
"I will, ladies. I will," He sighed. "Please, get off my dirty carpet already,"
"Thank you, leader,"
"You may go find the General now."
The trio followed one of the guards, leading them. As they walked, Sun Ai Er and Li Hua Rong were scanning the area. It was indeed like Hei An Guang cold and dark. The color scheme was solid black and brown.
"He's in here. Make sure you instantly leave the camp as soon as you got him," the guard reminded, strict with such a poker face.
The trio nodded, understood as he opened the door of an old shack revealing the general having his hands a foot high and he was pinned on the wall. His feet are baseless. His face was full of slash marks, his hands were bleeding, holding onto his weight. His neck was clearly strangled for quite a while.
"BROTHER!" Li Hua Rong ran to him, lifting his upper body to reduce the weight of his hands.
Wang Xuan threw her sword, cutting the thin string tied to his hands. Based on the pattern of the string, it was the same size as the strangle mark on Li Zhang Ke's neck proving the fact that he tried to kill himself. Wang Xuan burst to tears.
"Hua Rong, let's get him out of here," Wang Xuan placed his arm on her shoulder, dragging him to the exit door.
As soon as they were ready to leave, their horses appeared at the exit door showing how they were not welcomed in the camp in the first place. With Li Zhang Ke in their grip, they marched to the palace as planned to surrender him to Wei An Ge.
"Leader, they've gone." A guard reported.
"Good. Have all of our members in the Shadowless hall." The leader instructed.
The hall was filled with the members of the clan in a blink of an eye. Being trained strictly and aware of the rules, they were standing according to the line and the hall was silent.
"Leader, are we going to proceed to assassinate the officials?" One of the bravest guards dared asking.
The leader shook his head in denial with his left palm on the level of his chest.
"The new ruler failed since day one. She even collaborated with Da An." He declared openly accompanied by a disappointed tone of voice.
The members were whispering to each other in disbelief.
*So we will be passing Hei An Guang?" The same guard questioned with a furrowed eyebrow and anxious eyes.
Once again, the old man shook his head in denial.
"The previous King is still useful so we will not give Hei An Guang away. I wanted the Queen dead. She failed in leading the people, betray the kingdom, and was biased." He explained. "I shall give you a month to train for this mission. The exchange of throne will not be known to the public until the death of Her Majesty is confirmed. Also to have an eye on the King if he can rule again. If he can't, then kill them both and Hei An Guang shall fall to Da An's Emperor, Feng Da Chen."
Wang Xuan, Li Hua Rong, and Sun Ai Er entered Hei An Guang and arrived at the Imperial City.
Li Zhang Ke was on the same horse as Wang Xuan, leaning against her back throughout the whole journey, unconscious. The three horses were aligned in the middle of the crowd, scanning the area.
In all of a sudden, Sun Ai Er kicked Li Zhang Ke that he fell back on the ground, hard.
" SUN AI ER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!," Wang Xuan and Li Hua Rong furiously turned to her.
They instantly caught the crowd's attention. The crowd started circling the unconscious body of the general and started throwing tantrums to the trio on the horse.
"LET'S GO!" Sun being in the middle of the other two, kicked their horses on the butt, making them run away fast and being uncontrollable. *
"BROTHER! SUN AI ER WHAT IS THIS?" Li Hua Rong shouted, furious realizing she was unable to control the horse anymore. She kept looking to the back as the figure of her brother faded.*
*End of flashback*
"Miss Sun, Miss Li," Gan Xin called in a soft tone of voice. "Thanks for your sacrifices. Sun Ai Er did do the right thing. I hope you wouldn't take it to heart,"
"IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HIM, -" Wang Xuan threatened before realizing Gan Xin's status as the leader.
" Please ensure his safety, leader" She stepped backwards, pulling her chin to the ground. She didn't even dared to make eye contact with him.
He nodded, understood.
---
The room was dark and cold with only a single ray of light. Li Zhang Ke found himself on top of layers of dried hays. He rubbed the back of his neck, not believing the fact that he's still alive.
He reached for the line of poles, realizing he was in the prison. Tightly, he gripped on the poles.
"LET ME GO! I WANT TO KILL THOSE PEOPLE!" He burst out screaming in anger. He forced his hands through the poles trying to have his way out.
"LET ME GO!"
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