General Zhànshì pulled the curtain closed and kicked his horse to meet the rider.
“General,” called out the arriving soldier as he quickly reined in his horse, “there are bandits ahead in the forest. The patrol you ordered is holding them off, but we need help.”
“We can’t leave the princess,” Lieutenant Chéng said to the general.
“I know,” General Zhànshì replied. “You stay with her. I’ll take six of these men and help clear the path before we take her through.”
“Yes, General,” Lieutenant Chéng nodded in acknowledgement of the order.
He watched the seven men ride toward the forest with the messenger. He looked in the direction of the capital in contemplation of their situation. They had already passed the halfway point of their journey. It could be more dangerous returning if the need arose. All he could do was hope the bandits would be overcome for the sake of the girl.
Princess Mĕilì Xīng pulled her legs up on the seat beside her as she scooted as far into the corner as possible. The carriage had stopped, and the voices sounded worried. When the curtain was pulled open, she expected to see the general. She gasped when it was the man he had introduced as his lieutenant.
“Forgive me, your highness,” Lieutenant Chéng bowed his head. “We’ll be here for a short while. General Zhànshì is riding ahead to inspect the safety of the forest we’ll be riding through to get to the village. Are you all right? Do you need anything?” he asked.
She bit her lip in contemplation of his kindness. He didn’t seem angry or annoyed at her presence. She simply shook her head and looked down at her doll. Lieutenant Chéng smiled before closing the curtain.
After a few moments of watching for the general to return, he saw a movement at the corner of his eye. He looked to see the girl peeking out from beneath the curtain. He smiled to himself and pulled out a small wrapped candy.
He held it up for her to see and asked, “Would you like it?”
Princess Mĕilì Xīng squinted her eyes and lifted the curtain a bit more to see what he held between his fingers.
“It’s candy,” he said as he reached it toward the window.
She quickly drew back, and he smiled at her bashfulness. He placed the candy on the sill and straightened again in the saddle.
A moment or two passed before he saw her hand reach up and take it. The curtain was pushed aside a few inches and she looked at him in question.
“It’s candy,” he said again in answer to her confused glare.
When he realized she had never had such a luxury, he pulled another from his robe pocket to demonstrate.
She watched as he twisted the paper at the top until it opened, revealing something shiny inside. He pulled it out and put it in his mouth. She waited cautiously until he smiled and chewed the treat.
She did as he had shown her and opened the wrapper. Inside was a small light brown object. She tasted it with the tip of her tongue and her eyes widened from the sugary sweetness. She looked up at him and watched as he continued to chew his. She put the one he gave her into her mouth and slowly bit down.
The sweetness made her smile for a second, and he sighed quietly about giving her some semblance of joy. He watched as she held her doll and glance around at the field where they had stopped.
“Does your doll have a name?” he asked, and she looked down at the toy rabbit.
She shook her head and quickly picked up another candy he placed on the sill.
“Was it a gift?” he asked.
He was hoping he could get her to speak. He could see his friend was going to have a difficult time breaking through this barrier living with her revolting father created.
She nodded. He suspected she had no friends, and he knew her father never would have given her such a toy. It looked old and he could only surmise it was a gift a mother would give her young child.
“Was it from your mother?” he asked softly, hoping the question wouldn’t bring her pain.
She chewed on her lip as the candy dissolved in her mouth. Slowly, she nodded. She held the rabbit closer and played with its long dangling ears.
The lieutenant watched her for a bit as she warily looked him over. The redness on her cheek was all that was left of the slap he’d heard her father had given her. It was no longer swollen. He wondered bitterly how badly it would have gotten if they hadn’t arrived when they did.
“You won’t have to be afraid of your father anymore,” he said gently, and she looked down in embarrassment. “The general is a deadly force on the battlefield. He’s known for his skills and the number of enemies he’s eliminated. He takes his duties seriously, and protecting you is his highest order. All of us here respect and admire him. As his wife, we’ll honor you just the same.”
He smiled warmly as she looked up at him with a bashful blush creeping across her face and neck. He was about to continue with the progress he felt he was making when a swooshing sound went right passed his ear. He looked ahead and saw a group of men rise up from the tall grasses nearby.
“Bandits!” someone yelled, and he watched as more bandits rushed toward him.
“Get down on the floor and don’t come out!” he yelled at her as he drew his sword.
Princess Mĕilì Xīng crouched on the floor of the carriage against the back seat. She held tightly to the doll and cried as she began to hear swords clanging and men grunting in pain. She held her hands tightly against her ears and shut her eyes as she rocked back and forth. The sounds of battle were too loud. She tried to hum as she cried to drown it out, but nothing worked.
The carriage would shake from time to time as men slammed against it during hand-to-hand combat. She tried not to scream, but each time was as terrifying as the first.
Suddenly, everything became quiet and still. She heard voices loudly barking commands but no swords or fighting. She lifted her hands just a bit away from her ears to listen for what could happen next.
“Come out, your highness,” said the man through a bloody smile. “I have a game for you to play.”
Her eyes grew larger and she pulled her knees up against her chest as she still clung to her doll for comfort.
His expression became serious as he glared at her. “If I have to come get you, I’ll hurt you worse than your father ever dared.”
Tears rolled faster down her face as she forced herself to stand and go to him. She tried to stop crying but yelped in pain when he grabbed her tightly around the arm and pulled her out. She thought she was going to fall to the ground as he pulled her down from the driver’s seat without the aid of a footstool. He held her up as she fell against him and pulled her with him as he walked.
She looked around and saw six of the soldiers that stayed behind kneeling a few feet from the side of the carriage. There were three dead on the ground, two of them the drivers and one who had been a mounted soldier. She looked across the men and recognized the lieutenant. Even in their unfortunate state, she was relieved he was still alive.
Lieutenant Chéng tried to force a smile for her, though he knew she was completely at the bandit leader’s mercy. He and the other men had been disarmed and were surrounded by ten bandits. Twenty waged the initial attack.
With fewer men, the soldiers had managed to cut their number in half. It still wasn’t enough to avoid a defeat, and he was dying inside as he watched the bandit pull the weak girl to stand before him. He wondered if she knew the true danger she was in, and he wondered if a miracle would find its way to them in time to save her from it.
“They fought hard,” the bandit told her as he rested his heavy arm across her shoulders. “You should be proud of their commitment to your safety. I promise you they will have an honorable death.”
She watched in horror as he stepped away and unsheathed his sword, then placed it against the neck of a soldier. She screamed and quickly covered her mouth with her doll.
The bandit chuckled as he watched her reaction to the blood trickling from the cut his blade caused as he pressed it harder. To the surprise of the soldiers and her, he quickly pulled the sword away and sheathed it once again.
He walked back to her and pulled a long knife from his belt. He stretched it out in front of her as he once again wrapped his other arm around her shoulders.
Leaning downward, he said, “I will let most of these men go unharmed, but you have to do something for me.”
The soldiers stared at him and the young princess in fear he was going to rape her then and there.
Her body trembled against his steamy rancid breath as he leaned his mouth even closer to her face. Her tears wouldn’t stop, and she chewed her tongue to keep from crying or screaming again.
All the years of learning self-control under her father’s temper came back to her, and she tried her best to behave the same with this man. She blinked away tears and tried to calm her breathing. She clutched the rabbit against her chest and waited for him to do whatever he had planned.
“Kill one,” he whispered loudly against her ear.
Though it was a whisper, the soldiers heard and looked at each other in shock.
Her eyes flew up from staring at the lieutenant for a focal point of courage. She glared into the madness shining back at her from the bandit’s dark orbs.
“If you kill one, I will let the others go,” he said a little louder. “I’m Duìzhăng Gŏu and I honor my word.
You’ll be mine no matter what happens to them. I have to deliver you to your father in one piece, unfortunately. I would do as I please, but he promised someone a virgin for a bride.”
It was then that Lieutenant Chéng realized these bandits were sent by her father to take her back as the bribe he had arranged for Shāngrén Yán. He began to pray to whatever god deemed him worthy to hear his plea that General Zhànshì would return soon.
At the mention of her father, Princess Mĕilì Xīng’s knees grew weak. Her bottom lip trembled, and she struggled to keep her composure.
Duìzhăng Gŏu laughed and pulled her up to stand straight.
“Your fate is sealed, Princess,” he told her, “but you can save five of these brave and noble men who risked their lives to save you. All you have to do … is kill … one.”
She looked down as he tried to force the handle of the knife into her hand.
“Hold tight,” he whispered.
He forced her fingers around it as she tried in vain not to cry.
“Which one will it be?” he asked as he walked her in front of each soldier slowly.
He stopped in front of the lieutenant when he noticed her crying harder as she looked at him.
“Oh, I really like this game,” Duìzhăng Gŏu laughed as he looked around at his men.
The other bandits joined him in mocking the poor girl.
“He’s going to die, anyway,” Duìzhăng Gŏu said as he released her hand. “If you don’t do it, I’ll make it slow and painful, and then, I’ll kill the rest the same way because you refused to save them.”
She looked down at the heavy knife she now gripped tightly more out of fear than weakening resolve. Though he had scared her more than even her father had managed, her mind had continued calculating the situation before her.
Duìzhăng Gŏu huffed loudly. “Today, Princess. Kill him now or…”
🔴 He was unable to complete his sentence as the blade of the knife slid upward through his throat and into his skull.
🔴 Everyone remained motionless as they watched the girl standing beside the bandit still holding onto the handle. The deep red blood poured down her hand and soaked the light blue of her sleeve.
🔴 She let out a loud scream that came from deep within her as she felt the hot liquid and watched his eyes roll back into his head. She couldn’t stop screaming as she tried to release the handle, but her mind no longer had power over her hand. Her fingers wouldn’t loosen.
🔴 He started to collapse, and as she tried to pull her hand free, the knife pulled down. As the knife was released, a surge of blood gushed out and covered her, splattering part of her face and the rabbit still held firmly in her other hand.
The soldiers hurried to their feet and attacked the bandits that were caught off guard by their leader’s sudden death. They fought all around her as she continued to scream. Still holding the knife and screaming, she staggered toward the carriage to find a safe place to hide.
Before she could make it, she collapsed and threw up the meager contents of her stomach. She looked up just as a bandit was thrown against the carriage near where she knelt. A second later, she watched as the men and the sky turned grey before everything went black.
“Get on your horses!” Lieutenant Chéng ordered as he caught her in his arms.
He lifted her unconscious body, the knife falling free from her loosened grip, and hurried to the front of the carriage. He climbed inside and carefully laid her onto the floor before rushing out and mounting his own horse.
“Where to, Lieutenant?” asked a soldier on horseback.
“We have no choice,” Lieutenant Chéng answered. “We have to ride toward the forest where General Zhànshì is fighting. None of us will make it back to the capital if they set up another trap. Our only chance is rejoining the others and hope our numbers are better than before.”
“What about her?” asked another soldier as he motioned toward the carriage. “I never expected to live through this. She saved us.”
Lieutenant Chéng sighed.
“At what cost?” he replied as he recalled the eeriness of her screams.
Seeing her covered in blood would haunt his nightmares. He couldn’t imagine what it would do to her.
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