The Legend of Moonflower

Chapter 33 - Escape and Evasive Manoeuvres

The first week he posed as a servant, thinking he'd have a chance to enter the lower dungeons to clean or maybe even deliver food. Wen Ning soon realized that Wen Chao's paranoia and distrust did not allow anyone that wasn't a part of his private guard to enter into the lower dungeon. He cursed the fact he wouldn't be able to infiltrate the private guard without being noticed.

Time was limited. He heard that the emperor had declared war on the Wens.  It would be risky to send out a message to let the emperor know he was in the process of trying to save Wei Wuxian.  He needed to get into that dungeon and get the concubine out before the emperor moved his forces.  From what he could see, the only way into the dungeon would be to fight his way in. The challenge with that would be making sure the highly trained guards that were manning the lower dungeons would be unable to call for reinforcements.

He spent the next week studying the guards and trying to determine any patterns or weaknesses that would make it easier. From what he could see from the outside, there were always four men guarding the lower dungeons at all times. At one point, he witnessed Wen Chao drag Wen Xu down into the dungeons. Although he was chained, Wen Xu had gone in with his back straight and head held high, but later came out looking cowed and utterly defeated. Wen Chao had come out after with a smug expression on his face.

It became apparent that the best time for him to get into the dungeon was when food needed to be delivered. During that time, a servant would approach with the food, and two of the four men would take the meals down and within minutes they would come back up. They would give the dirty dishes and anything else that needed to be disposed of to the servant. To make things more difficult, the meals were delivered at random times. Sometimes it was once a day and then sometimes two or three meals were delivered in one day. Always at random times. He guessed this was Wen Chao's doing, wanting to keep his prisoners discombobulated at all times.

Wen Ning began tracking the servant that brought food to the guards. And within a week the poor fellow had an accident that resulted in a broken leg. He made sure to be in the vicinity when the supervisor found out.

"You!" the supervisor shouted at him.

Wen Ning pretended to startle and then rushed over with his head bowed and waited for instructions.

"Hurry to the kitchen. You will pick up a tray of food and take it to the guards at the lower dungeons. This will be your duty for the next few weeks till that idiot's leg is healed. Clumsy fool," the supervisor huffed.

The kitchen was large, but Wen Ning knew from previously observing the servant, where he needed to go. He found the tray waiting for him when he arrived and was about to pick it up when one of the kitchen staff rushed over.

"Wait, it will be death of us if we forget to add this," he said, pouring a powdered substance into two small jars of water.

"Oh s-sorry, I didn't r-realize," Wen Ning said, meekly.

"You're new, aren't you? I heard the other guy tripped and fell down the stairs," the kitchen helper laughed. "That's pretty unlucky. I guess from now on I'll be seeing much more of you."

"Yes," he replied, bowing repeatedly. "I'll r-rely on you for your g-guidance."

The chatty kitchen helper puffed out his chest, seemingly happy to be put in a position to guide the younger servant. "You can call me Tu-ge," he said with a wide smile.

"T-Tu-ge," Wen Ning said, softly. "Do we h-have to put that medicine in every time?"

"Medicine!" Tu-ge laughed, heartily. "You're an innocent one, aren't you? That's not medicine. We have to put that in the water to keep the prisoners down there from shifting and using their cultivation energy."