Ming Yue shifted uncomfortably in her carriage. She would much rather be entering the Han capital on horseback, but it would not have made a great first impression.
However, for someone of royal status, she was still travelling relatively light, with only two guards and the carriage driver for company. At Ming Yue's insistence, two other Jin soldiers had gone ahead to the palace with Jing Yi and another carriage full of gifts, supposedly to inspect the security arrangements for her arrival, but the reality was that if the traitors took the bait that had been dangled in front of them, she wanted as few people as possible put at risk.
Her brothers had wanted to accompany her, but relations between Han and Jin were still delicate, and she had managed to persuade her family that it was best that she enter the palace alone. All being well, she and Weisheng would pay a visit to Jin in due course, so that he could meet her father and second brother and reconnect with her other two siblings without any secrets between them all.
She poked her head out of the window. It was not far to the Han capital. If the enemy was going to make a move, it would have to be now. She sat back and told herself to be patient. Luckily, she did not have to wait long as, after a couple of minutes, the carriage came to a sudden halt. She leaned out of the window again and addressed the closest guard.
"What is it, Chen Lei?"
"A wagon ahead of us with a broken wheel, Your Highness."
Ming Yue suppressed a smile. It was hardly original.
"Very well. Go and see if you can do anything to help. I will take a walk to stretch my legs while we wait."
She got down from the carriage and started to walk towards the nearest tree line, while the other guard dismounted and followed at a respectful distance. She glanced back at him. Her companions had been told to do whatever they had to in order to defend themselves, but that they were not to risk their lives to stop what she suspected was about to happen. They merely had to make their resistance look realistic.
Sure enough, within moments of stepping off the road, she heard the thud of hooves. Without warning, an arrow came flying out of the bushes and hit her protector. He went down without a cry. She glanced at the location of the wound. He had moved at the last instant, and it was not life-threatening. In normal circumstances, he would not have fallen, but he was well aware of his princess's instructions and was following them to the letter.
She could not see Chen Lei or the carriage driver, so she could only hope that they too had managed to remain relatively unscathed. She started to run into the woods, but a horse was on top of her in seconds, and she was unceremoniously dragged into the saddle. A blow to the back of the neck rendered her instantly unconscious.
***
The atmosphere in the prince's study was tense. Zhao Weisheng paced back and forth, and Luo Jian and Minister Shen sat as still as statues, waiting for him to speak.
"What if they don't take the bait?"
The older man sighed.
"Your Highness, my spies are all extremely trustworthy and very good at what they do. The rumours of Princess Ming Yue's strong opposition to the marriage arrangement and rebellious spirit have been widely circulated in all of the places and areas frequented by the ministers and their families. There is no doubt that they would have heard them."
"But that doesn't necessarily mean they will act on them."
"True, but we have a secret weapon."
Weisheng opened his mouth to ask another question, but Minister Shen did not give him the chance.
"Do not worry, Your Highness. I have every confidence that the plan will succeed."
It was a relief to all concerned when Eunuch Wang came running into the room, forgetting to pay the proper respects in his haste.
"Your Highness, Princess Ming Yue has been kidnapped on the road just outside of the capital!"
Weisheng took a deep breath. Even though they had expected it, even counted on it, it was still hard to hear it spoken aloud.
"Luo Jian," he turned to his friend. "Bring as many men as you think necessary to avoid arousing suspicion and we will start the search from where she disappeared." He looked back at Eunuch Wang.
"Send word, as we discussed. Also, what about the guards who were travelling with her?"
"Injured, but not severely. They are being tended to by palace physicians."
Weisheng nodded. Ming Yue would be relieved to hear it.
"And my parents?"
"They have not yet been informed, Your Highness."
"Excellent. With any luck, this will all be over before they find out, and we can present my father with irrefutable proof." His calm words disguised the fear that was coursing through him.
Weisheng was well aware of his future wife's ability. He knew that she could more than hold her own. Still, the thought of her dealing with such a risky situation without him by her side was painful in the extreme. He glanced to his right and saw Luo Jian watching him intensely, his expression unreadable to anyone other than his closest friend.
"Ming Yue will be fine," the prince announced. "My wife is far too skilled to allow herself to be defeated by a few stuffy officials and their minions."
Luo Jian gave a rare, encouraging smile. He was not fooled in the slightest by his friend's confident tone, and Weisheng knew it.
"Let's go," he said. "All being well, we should receive word soon."
***
When Ming Yue opened her eyes, she was lying on a bed in a small, sparsely furnished room. Her hands and feet were not bound, but when she looked around, she could see no easy escape route. Still, she was not concerned.
She reached out with her senses, and felt her mind connect with any number of potential allies, including the one who was integral to the plan. All was well.
The door opened, and a eunuch who looked to be in his forties entered with two armed guards. She took a deep breath. The game was about to begin.
"Your Highness, please forgive our impertinence, but it was the only way we could speak with you privately before you entered the palace."
Ming Yue raised an eyebrow.
"And who exactly is 'we'," she demanded to know.
"Certain interested parties who are just as concerned as you about your marriage to the crown prince. Your Highness is clearly an intelligent woman, who sees that allying with the crown prince is not a good move, for Han or Jin. The current king is gaining in years, and when he eventually passes the throne on, it will in fact be to his youngest son, who has the support of the most influential figures in the nation. It is they who have authorised me to make an offer that I think you may find interesting." He reached into his robe and withdrew a sealed letter.
"Once you have read this, Your Highness, I am instructed to burn it, for the safety of all concerned."
Ming Yue took the offered paper, opened the document, and read it quickly. In short, it proposed that she take the opportunity offered by her kidnapping to disappear for a year, where she could live in luxury and comfort before either returning to the world with a new identity as adopted daughter of an influential nobleman and entering into a marriage of her choosing, or making her own way as she saw fit. If she were indeed a young princess bitter at being forced into an unwelcome union with a foreign power, the prospect would have been a tempting one.
She glanced at the bottom of the missive. It was not signed. There was no indication as to who might have written it, and the eunuch had been careful to talk in vague terms. They needed more.
"It's certainly an interesting proposal," she said. "However, how can I be sure that your masters will keep their word, or that they have the necessary authority to do so?"
I can assure you, Your Highness..." the eunuch began, but Ming Yue raised a hand to silence him.
"I'm afraid your assurances mean nothing to me. I do not know you, and it is clear that you do not have the standing to be making any kind of guarantees."
She knew what card she had to play, but the question was, how to get there. She thought furiously for a moment until a piece of advice her shifu, Master Zhong, had imparted to her not long ago in Jin fixed itself in her mind. "Be more cunning than them," she thought to herself, then raised her eyes.
"I have a counterproposal," she said, confidently, "and I will only negotiate with the puppet-master, not the puppet."
Having said her piece, she handed the man back the letter, turned around and walked back to the bed, sitting down with what she hoped was an air of finality. In moments, she was, once again, alone.
After a few agonising minutes, the doors to the room opened again, and two familiar figures appeared. They must have been waiting a short distance away, out of sight, just in case their presence was needed. This was it. There was no going back. She reached out with her mind for Zhenli, sending him an image of Weisheng, willing him to find the prince then come back to her. It was a complicated message, and she only had a brief amount of time. She focussed her thoughts more intensely than ever before and hoped that it was enough. Then she turned to greet the new arrivals.
***
Weisheng studied a trail of hoofprints in the ground near where the carriage had been stopped. The direction swerved suddenly, then the prints became deeper, as if the animal making them had grown heavier in an instant. This must have been where Ming Yue was taken. From the looks of it, her abductor headed east. He glanced back at his companions, quickly mounted his horse, and turned its head to face in that direction. However, before he could urge it forward, a shadow above caught his eye.
Zhenli spotted his target and glided downwards, alighting gracefully on an outstretched branch. He cocked his head and studied the man in front of him. Yes, it was the same person as the image in his mind. The face was a familiar one in any event. He had carried messages to him before. He recalled the second part of his lady's request, waited long enough to be sure that he had captured the man's attention, then took off once more into the air, circling a few times to be sure the group of people below were following.