*Hello my lovelies, in this chapter I'd like to reintroduce two characters in more detail. Here are pictures of what I envision them to be. Enjoy!!
General Xu Xuan Zhong/ General Xuan
Second Prince HelianChen/ Prince Chen
Chapter 14
The cell was dark and damp. He had been injured and roughly treated along the way to the famed city of Yan An - Qi kingdom's capital. What he knew of the capital came from stories he heard as a child. It was said to be the most beautiful capital city in the whole four kingdoms. However, in his damp cell inside a carriage where he was chained, he could only heard faint noise of a crowded place as the shaky wagon drove through. It was no different than the place he came from. He had been injured and unconscious. A soldier physician dressed his wound sloppily. Did not even bother cleaning it thoroughly before dressing it up. He wondered how a low skilled physician would be accompanying someone of General Lan's stature.
His arm and stomach had been wounded in his exchange with General Lan.
He had been following orders. Political games were not his strong forte. The emperor himself had decreed the take over of Qinghe and promised the hand of the princess if he was to succeed. Truth be told, he had only met the princess a few times when he was in the company of the Xu princes. He was a military man who was constantly on military duty. At his age, he had refused many marriage offers to the dismay of his family.
The princess had served him tea once at the presence of her brother, and might also have offered her hand made cake. She was the epitome of a youthful beauty who might have taken a liking to him. Her face flashed across his mind. He wondered if she was worth the humiliation of being defeated and paraded in a carriage to be handed to enemy territory.
He felt warm on his stomach. The dirty armor he had downed had been removed and only his inner wear remained. The poorly managed wound seemed to have reopened. He felt his consciousness fading away.
A sharp coldness cut through his skin and jolted him awake. He opened his eyes. He was in a dark place. The air smelled foul and the torches that hung on the jagged stone walls poorly illuminated the surroundings. It appeared that he was in some sort of a dungeon When he woke up. The icy water burned his face and splashed to his wound raw.
A sweet scent of incense filled his senses overpowering the scent of blood and dirt. There was a slender figure clad in luxurious white robe in front of him. The wind blew on his face and he could smell her sweet scent of red poppy flowers. She had a beautiful face, like a fairy. Perhaps he had died and ascended through heaven and met a fairy.
The beauty was holding a dark serpent like object coiling around her fingers. She raised the serpent and in one swift movement brought in down. Sharp piercing pain tore through his skin. It slashed across the wound on the side of his ribs and the pain made him wish he was dead instead. He had suspected that the wound had taken turn to the worse and he might suffer from infection from the maltreatment.
"Speak!!! Were you the one who stole the map in Qinghe?"
The fairy spoke. Her voice was a few tones deep than it should be unbefitting of her elegant demure image. Her hands held the poisonous vine that carried a murderous intent. He was at her mercy.
Divulging information at the cost of his worthless life was unwise. By now, someone might have picked up the map. He was not sure if the messenger survived the trip. If he had failed the mission, someone else would replace him.
He chuckled and spat blood on the ground. The slender arms that held the serpent whip twirled again, and again. Agony, pain.. the smell of blood, sweat, leather, dark, distressing.. his muscles stiffened.
The nerves around his body convulsed trying its best to brace themselves for the attacks.
Endure! His brain screamed, fighting reason and desperately clinging to his last glimpse of hope to survive.
Beautiful... He focused himself on the image of the beauty to help him cope with the excruciating pain.
He smiled at her. You can hurt my body he said to himself. But its okay at least I will have the memory of you laying your hands on me.
His eyes were filled with fatigue but he endured the pain and tried his best to give her a smile. The gesture seemed to anger her and her beatings became more intense.
"My prince, I'm afraid he would not last if you continue to beat him."
Haa... So she was a man. he chuckled to himself.
"I'll tell you.. but come closer."
The beauty walked a few steps closer, his hands never loosening the tight grip on the black serpent whip glistening on his palm, its tip sharp like the tail of a poisonous scorpion. He shuddered in fear at the evil object at what it had done and could do to him.
He took a deep breath inhaling the beauty's scent. He was going to die anyway. So why not make it count.
"If you kiss me I'd tell you"
He whispered on his ears. Their faces were close.
The beauty's face and ears turned crimson. His mouth opened and mouthing intagible curses while his slender arms violently swinging the poisonous scorpio tail wrecking havoc in his already helpless body. As if it could only be satisfied if his worthless body had been cruelly multilated and shredded to pieces.
He choked a few mouthful of blood and luckily for him, he lost consciousness thereafter.
The second prince of Qi HelianChen was infamous for his interrogation tactics or perhaps it should be called his evil sadistic torture tendencies.
The prince ordered physicians to fix the wounds on the General's body before leaving the cell, his face was red with fury.
He was supposed to be breaking him apart by hitting him and forcing obedience. Yet when he got back to his chambers he could not stop thinking about those unyielding gaze that had watched him lovingly without an ounce of hatred as he inflicted such terrible wounds on his body. It was wrong! Totally wrong. He should be angry and only saw him in contempt yet why did he smile and gaze at him so tenderly. The usually calm and collected prince Chen flustered a little.
His concubine came into his study.
"Your Highness, I brought you tea."
He drank the warm tea on his hands and was feeling despaired as it had failed to wash down the fury in his heart.
"If you kiss me, I'd tell you." the words rang in his ears.
His face turned red and he smashed the tea along with the tray containing the teapot onto the ground.
"Your highness, forgive me." His concubine quickly kneeled hoping to placate his anger.
"Leave. He hissed at her."
The concubine quickly got up and left with her handmaiden. She was no stranger to the prince's temper tantrums and she knew better to give him his space and to stay far far away to keep herself safe everytime his temper flared up.
In the dungeon where the prisoner was kept, a physician was summoned to dress his wound. Xuan was confused why they had even bothered. A few days later, he would find out why.
When he was feeling just a little better, he was once again dragged outside to the torture chamber and had his body hung once more. This time his two hands were tied to a chain and hung above his head.
The beautiful prince arrived and the air turned cold. What a beautiful person he thought. It was a pity he was not a woman.
The prince had been restless and could not get over his inexplicable anger toward this particular prisoner. He found his attitude quite troublesome to deal with.
His hand was always holding on to his serpent whip as if it was the only thing that could give him comfort. The evil black whip was lashed about once more tearing him apart.
At night he was patched up again. The treatment continued on for several days and even general Xuan himself was slightly perturbed how his body could last so long. His meals had improved and there were even tonic added to it.
"Whats the point of fixing me up if you're gonna hit me again? Why waste your precious medicines on me? Might as well finish me up."
He asked one day when he could not bear the torment any longer.
"Why should I? How could I let you die so quickly when it brought me great pleasure to torment you."
He snickered, his smile evil. He stared at the prisoner waiting for a sliver of disdain in his face.
He had none.
Just a broken face full of wounds and a smile.
His deep brown eyes gazed at him full of warmth.
This guy was a total nutcase!! Was he a masochist? Prince Chen wondered.
He probed and administered torture but it seemed that he had the heart of stone.
Finally, he could not bear it anymore. The prisoner would not talk no matter what and it was useless to keep wasting his energy to keep torturing him and breaking his body. Prince Cheng thought that he ought to try something else.
General Xuan had been unconscious for two days. When he woke up, he was laid out on a soft bed. He had been cleaned up. His wounds were dressed and wrapped tightly on a bandage. He was dressed in comfortable human fitting clothes. Even his stubble had been shaved clean.
His body had not felt such comfort in a long while. A sweet smell of incense wafted in his nose. A beautiful maiden was by his bedside as he awaken.
"Where am I? Who are you?" he asked.
The maiden smiled. Her outer robe was thin almost transparent. The outline of her inner clothes could be seen covering the lower half of her plump bosoms. The top mounds could be seen through the flimsy
outer robe. The revealing outfit she wore resembled the dressing style of the women from brothels he had frequented in the past.
"Great General, please relax. You are on good hands. She wiped his forehead with a towel. After that, she hand fed him his medicine and a bowl of congee."
The smell of incense was strong and intoxicating. The beauty in front of him was breathtaking. The soup she fed him was glorious. It made his body warm and left him feeling very pleasant.
However, he was after all, not ranked general for nothing. Everything seemed too bizzare and he told himself he could not let his guard down. Thus, after he finished eating, he sent the maiden away.
"Come out. I know you're here."
The cold prince Chen entered the chamber where he lay. He was like he was the last time they met, beautiful, cold, arrogant and untouchable. His perfect princely appearance undeniably shrouded the ruthlessness hidden in his heart. But Great General Xuan knew better to not let his guards down.
"Not bad for a general. You've discovered me so quickly."
Truth be told, Xuan was a trained martial artist and was trained to feel another's presence within close proximity. It was a necessary survival instinct that grew and mature through experience.
He moved closer to the bed. His heart raced in anticipation and fear. The man in front of him was not to be treated lightly. He understood the comfort that he was pampered with could be taken away as quickly as it was given to him. He was a dangerous man just like the rumors about him had said. So his body and mind became wary and tensed. The cold prince pointed his fingers to his chin and lifted it slightly.
"So that pretty maiden isn't to your liking?"
His face flushed. But even though he was ruthless in the battlefield, he was an upright man when it comes to matters of the heart. He stared at the beautiful face close to his. Their eyes met. The beautiful obsidian eyes carried an aura of contempt yet it only managed to accentuate its allure. His heart skipped a beat.
"Tell me Great Prince, What do you plan to do when you have that map in your hands?"
"Unite the four kingdoms of course! Thats what everybody wants isn't it so?"
"If I give you the map I will be betraying my own country."
"Your own country has betrayed you General. Your king made you attack our territory and planned for you to be his scapegoat. After that they would try to exchange you for some flimsy item to get our king to refuse it and execute you. It would be the perfect excuse to start a war. You were the perfect candidate. A nobody being engaged to the princess? My father may be deceived but not me."
The General turned pale. The words hurt. His head drooped low. He could not refute what the foreign prince had said since it did indeed carry some degree of truth in it. He was a military man who was not good with politics. He always believed in his personal integrity. The prince was right on point. He was a nobody who raised through the ranks through hard work. He had to work twice as hard to be given half tasks of others of noble birth. He had to scrape and toil day and night much harder than the rest to earn him the General's badge. Yet he was promised the hand of the princess. It all seemed too simple. He did not know any better in the past.
"What is it? Did you really believe it was your exceedingly good fortune to be bestowed the hand of the princess?"
He did. And so the words stung him where it hurt. It seemed that how ever hard he had worked in the past could not compensate his biggest handicap-birthright.
He was only the son of a servant who worked in the queen dowager's palace. He was placed in the imperial military school because of his mother's dedication for the queen dowager thus he got the priviledge to receive education and training alongside the princes in his kingdom.
"The Xus do not recognize your worth general. In our kingdom we recognize that talent was superior to noble birth. You see high ranking officials here were not given any privileges from their family. Everyone got their positions through excelling in imperial examinations and military achievements.
Prince Chen continued telling him stories of the great Qi and his visions for uniting the country as a whole- how that would serve the people. The kingdoms were united by the river they share in common. One kingdom could control the waterways much easier than if the kingdoms were spilt.
Truth be told, he was actually quite moved by this beauty's speech. Not only was he ruthless, cruel but surprisingly he also possess the charm and speech of a leader. He had never met anyone like that. One capable of hurting him and inspiring him as such. The fact that he would share such grand vision to him was something he never had experienced in his life.
"Work for me General and I promise you riches beyond anything you ever imagined."
"Wealth isn't something I desire."
"Don't be naive General. Everyone desires wealth, power and position. Thats the only thing that made people feel secure with themselves. No one wants to live in poverty."
"There is something else I want."
The prince had a twinkle in his eye.
"Ah! Do tell."
"Its you."
"Me? How?"
"Just let me stay by your side."
*
*I hope you like the side dish or would you prefer just main course all the way? Let me know through your votes and comments.
Also, this story was not rated mature so I'm still debating internally if I should add mature scene and change the rating. Those of you who have read my other stories may be familiar with my 'draggy' mature scenes-sorry don't know how else to describe it *blushes... I'm thinking if it should be similar for this story as well or would you like it more subtle? Let me know. More XXX or not.