5 years ago
Zheng yawned. It was almost midnight. The moon hung low in the dark winter night sky. It was quiet on the palace grounds except for the occasional cricket chirps to keep the middle-aged guard company. He had been working for His Majesty for two decades now.
Two decades, Zheng thought. One more year and I can finally retire.
Guard duty wasn’t the most exciting job in the kingdom. He had spent the last twenty years and had been involved in only half a dozen small skirmishes. Of course, the army was where the action was at. His son was in the army and would always tell him tales of liberating villages from bandits and keeping the border safe from the damn dwarves encroaching on their lands.
Zheng took in a long breath, the cool crisp air slightly stinging the inside of his nose. Winter hadn’t been as harsh this year as it had been the previous year. There had been reports of snow in the valleys near the mountains down south, and their meteorologists had predicted that the snow would soon arrive in the capital city. Until then however, their crops would continue to grow and produce. Harvest would be great this year.
“Clear night, eh?” asked Tu, another guard on duty with him that night.
Tu was a head shorter than Zheng and half as old. Zheng thought fondly of the man, treating him as he would his own son. They had been working together ever since Tu had joined the palace guards. Zheng had personally trained him and looked after him ever since.
“It’s beautiful,” Zheng commented, nodding towards the full moon. It was slowly rising up, outshining the stars around it.
“Here,” Tu said, pushing a small metallic bottle towards Zheng.
“What is this?” Zheng asked but a small whiff of the content told him that it was home brewed saké. He frowned. “Drinking on duty is prohibited.”
“Oh come on,” Tu said with that disarming smile of his. Zheng always mellowed when he saw that smile. It reminded him of his son’s smile which he got to see only once a year when his boy came home for a month. “I bought that from this beautiful lady earlier this afternoon. It tastes great and is actually not that strong, contrary to the smell. I drank a bottle and wasn’t intoxicated.”
“Saké that doesn’t intoxicate is no saké,” Zhen said.
“Maybe but it’s perfect for drinking on duty. No intoxication means we can go about patrolling as usual.”
“But if the commander finds out…”
“Oh, he’s hardly going to go about sniffing all our mouths. Go on, taste it at least. Take a swig. If you start feeling tipsy then don’t drink it tonight. Keep it for later, when you’re off duty.”
Well, a small amount wouldn’t hurt, Zheng thought.
Tu hadn’t been lying. The wine tasted great. It wasn’t too sweet like those cheap wines one found at the inns in the inner market. It wasn’t watery either, instead it was almost like a thick syrup.
No, Zheng thought.It’s more like milk. Not as thick but not watery either.
“I see you like it,” Tu commented as Zheng took another gulp.
“The taste is as good as you said,” Zheng said, feeling the aftertaste in his mouth. “Where did you buy it again?”
“There was this lady, probably a Lornerian going by her accent, selling it in the city square this morning. She had several jugs of this saké with her and needed to sell it all by today since she was leaving for the port and couldn’t carry it all with her. So, me and a couple of guys had a taste and bought it all off her since we really liked it.”
“Others bought it too?”
“She gave us a hefty discount because of her urgency to sell it all and because we bought all of it. Zuì is probably going around giving everyone else on patrol a taste of it.”
Zheng frowned. “Giving it to everyone? We could be in serious trouble of commander Jiān found out.”
“Relax old man. I told you it doesn’t intoxicate. I drank a bottle of it – do I look drunk to you?”
Tu smiled and stood with his arms wide, as if waiting for an inspection. Zheng just shook his head and handed the bottle back to Tu, who grabbed it, put the opening to his lips, and took a sip.
“I gather you don’t want to drink more,” Tu observed. He held the bottle towards Zheng. “Here, keep it anyways. Drink it at home. It is a gift for you. I have loads more.”
Zheng raised an eyebrow. “Loads more? Tu, I don’t want you ending up like Zuì. It’s a wonder he even has his job as a palace guard.”
“It’s because our Emperor is lenient,” Tu remarked.
“Too lenient. He has grown lazy in these peaceful times.”
“Would you like instability instead?”
“No, but I would like our Emperor to be prepared for everything. If a war were to start tomorrow, we would surely lose.”
“Oh come now, don’t be so pessimistic. Who would dare attack us? We’re the largest empire in the world. Even Rachhas isn’t so foolish.” Tu retrieved another bottle from within his trouser pockets and took a sip of the saké. Seeing him, Zheng did the same.
The alcohol filled his body with warmth and, instead of intoxicated, he felt alert and fresh.
Good stuff,Zheng thought.
“You should look at yourself before you go on off to me about how I may end up like Zuì,” Tu said, nodding at the bottle on Zheng’s hand.
“Don’t show me that sass. I am older than you and more tolerant to alcoholic temptation.”
Tu simply shrugged and took another swig from his own bottle.
“This would have been a perfect night to–” Tu’s voice slurred and he suddenly slumped to the ground.
Zheng was immediately by his side, holding the young man’s head in his arms.
“Tu! What’s wrong–”
And then the saké hit Zheng.
His vision began to swim. While a moment ago he had felt fresh, he now suddenly felt drowsy. The strength began to drain from his arms and legs and he slumped down beside Tu, who had already fallen unconscious.
Was the saké this potent? Zheng thought. No, this wasn’t the symptoms of drunkenness.
His legs felt heavy and Zheng found himself fighting sleep that threatened to envelop him.
No! This was not caused by the saké. Something else … in the saké. I have been drugged! Zheng managed to turn his head to look at Tu with great difficulty. Already, he could not move his legs and arms. We were drugged. How many of the guards bought that saké? How many must be lying around the palace right now, unconscious?
His vision began to darken. No, his vision was fine. It was his eyelids that were slowly closing. Zheng fought to keep them open. He had to fight the drug that had been in the saké. He had to.
The Emperor! He’s in danger!
Gritting his teeth, Zheng tried to lift himself up. But, he found himself unable to lift even his own head. The eyelids were almost closed.
NO!Zheng roared in his mind.
No, he told himself.
no… a whimper in his own mind.
And then, his eyelids closed shut. Zheng, like Tu and half the guards on duty that night, fell into a deep slumber.
Shin didn’t like winter. He preferred summer when it was warm and everything around him was full of life unlike winter when the trees shed their leaves, the animals went into hibernation, and the birds migrated to the south. Winter, to him, was a dead season. Everything either died or hid away. What was there to love about such a dreary season?
He walked along the palace perimeter, twiddling with a dagger in his hand. It was a gift to him by his beloved wife, who was the daughter of a blacksmith. She had carved the wooden handle and then beaten the hot metal alloy metal into a sharp blade all by herself. The dagger was his most prized possession.
“Lok!” he called out as he neared an archer outpost.
Silence.
“Lok?”
Shin frowned as he neared the outpost. Had Lok gone somewhere? If the commander found out that Lok had left his post, even if only for a minute, they would be in serious trouble.
“Where did you run off to?” Shin muttered to himself as he walked into the outpost. With a cry, Shin fell back as he saw Lok’s body lying down on the ground.
“Lok! Lok!” he exclaimed as he stumbled to his feet and ran to Lok’s side. He put his hand on the man’s chest – Lok was still breathing. He was merely unconscious.
What happened? Shin wondered, fear creeping up to him. He clutched his dagger tightly as he scanned around the small walled off area.
He felt a sharp stab of pain on his back as something small stabbed him. His cry was muffled by a hand that covered his mouth from behind.
Who…? Shin felt his mind grow clouded. We are under attack!
We are … under …
With a slump, Shin dropped to the ground unconscious.
Emperor Bao was a man of short stature.
At fifty years old, he looked a decade older than he really was. His hair had receded past his head’s equinox and greyed to an almost pure white colour. His chin sagged slightly and his face had wrinkles too many for a man his age.
And yet, despite his appearance, Emperor Bao was a happy man.
He was an emperor of the largest empire on Arëth. There was peace in his lands and his people were happy. And they loved him. His people loved him as their emperor.
Emperor Bao was content.
But today, he was happier than usual. His wife, Empress Kireru was returning home after a month long trip to her homeland in the Western Isles.
He had met her three decades ago, when he was still an heir and working as an ambassador of his people to her lands. It was not her beauty that had captivated him but her wit and charm. The first time he had talked with her, he had been astounded by her knowledge and understanding of the world around her.
It was then that he had known; this was a woman he wanted to spend his life with.
He had spent the next part of the year seeking excuses to meet her. He might have been an ambassador of his empire but he had been a youth nonetheless and had acted like one in love, shirking off some of his ambassadorial duties to take her to unexplored beaches, meeting her at nights in her own room by climbing up the balcony, sending her flowers on random days. This continued until he was due to return back to his own country when, the day before he was supposed to leave, he had asked her to marry him.
She had said yes.
They had been married for twenty eight years now. They had two daughters and a son.
And even after all this time, Emperor Bao was still in love with his wife.
There was a knock on the door. It was a messenger.
“Lord, message from Lady Empress Kireru,” the messenger said.
“Speak,” Bao commanded.
“Her carriage is moving smoothly with no hindrances and it is estimated that she will arrive in the next two hours. The Lady says she wishes to have fish for dinner with you.”
Bao smiled. He waved the messenger away.
Fish for dinner. He knew exactly what that meant. He looked forward to the night with his wife.
A cool breeze brushed against Bao’s neck. He didn’t remember opening the window. This high up in his tower, he never opened his window. The wind was always cold, even in summer. And tonight was a winter night. He turned around, intending to walk to the window and closing it, when a knife stabbed him directly in the heart.
Diana watched the Emperor’s eyes open wide in shock.
“You’re the white assassin,” he spluttered.
Diana was impressed. Despite the fact that there was a knife in his heart, the Emperor did not scream. Instead, he was talking to her. Shock did that to dying people.
She yanked her blade free from Bao’s chest. She stepped to the side, avoiding the spurt of blood from the open wound on his chest. Emperor Bao gasped, the pain finally registering. He staggered back and crashed down on the floor.
He did not scream for help. He knew he was dying and accepted it.
Diana admired the man’s calm acceptance.
She turned and walked to the window. Her job here was done. She had successfully murdered Emperor Bao without any collateral damage. The guards patrolling the palace were either oblivious of her presence or unconscious. She had been instructed to kill the Emperor and the Emperor only. Nobody else was to be hurt.
“So …” Bao gasped, “Rachhas finally … sent you … I am honored … that he … thought I was … dangerous enough … to send you …”
Diana turned around and looked at the dying man. His face had gone pale. Soon, he would lose unconsciousness and within minutes, he would be dead.
“I wasn’t sent here by Rachhas,” she said.
The last she saw of the dying Emperor was a confused look on his face before she jumped out the window and flew away into the night.
ns 15.158.61.51da2
