The Spirit of the Plum Blossom Tree (TSPBT) - 15. Chapter 15

A heavy silence fell upon the room, broken only by the crack of Guan Shixin’s neck as he rolled it back and forth. At last, Zi Sheng Shou spoke up.

“You mean to tell me Guan Yushe is capable of taking over the entire Imperial Complex and holds enough power to dethrone the Emperor?” His tone was almost incredulous, but his face was carefully blank, his colored eyes expressionless.

“Yes.”

“And how do you know this?” Hong Shen countered, suspicion written across his features. Not only was it hard to believe the walking tree could take over the huge Complex, but to threaten to kill all his siblings and his own father too? How did Guan Shixin know any of this anyways? Was this part of the reason why they worked to free him from the underground prison?

Guan Shixin scratched his head, his eyes flitting to the side as he confessed. “Guan Yesheng and I have been suspecting him for a while. We could never truly catch him in the act of treason against Father, but Guan Shuilian came to us last night after the ceremony ended. She told us what she had heard of Guan Yushe’s plans, and told us to escape with you and the divine doctor. We almost couldn’t believe it, but when Guan Yesheng heard of your arrest and the reason for it,” he made eye contact with Hong Shen, “he knew it to be true. But it doesn’t matter much now, does it? He still got left behind.”

At the last sentence, his voice cracked a little, and he immediately went silent, looking away. Hong Shen was stock still on the pallet, his words crashing around his mind like waves.

Guan Shuilian, that irritating white lotus jiejie, had told them to escape with the black sheep of the family and a divine doctor that could probably be replaced. And Guan Yesheng, that odd brother whose face looked like Wang Lei’s, had gotten gravely injured in order to help him, and then stood back to cover them as they fled from the Complex.

He had seen the blame and fury in the stone-faced prince’s eyes before he turned away, and that look made him feel a twinge of pain and unease in his unwittingly thawing heart. It was not unlike the look in Wang Lei’s eyes before Hong Shen ran from the scene on that horrible night.

The only difference was there was hatred in those haunting hazel eyes as well.

“You know as well as I that the Fifth Prince has ways of protecting himself.” Zi Sheng Shou hesitated for a moment, then knelt to put a soothing hand on Guan Shixin’s shoulder. “He will survive and escape, and you will see him again.”

In one piece were the words left hanging uncertainly in the air, but Guan Shixin seemed to take the doctor’s comfort for what it was, his strict features softening. It was very uncharacteristic to see the frightened teenage boy beneath the usual hard exterior, but he let down his walls for the briefest moment to allow the words to sink in.

“Thank you,” he muttered quietly, and then his mask was back into place, and the doctor removed his hand and stood. “Guan Shuilian should be able to escape with Ah-Xiao and Father as well. She was always quick.”

Seeing as the moment was over, Hong Shen cleared his throat and spoke up, asking another question that was festering at the front of his mind. “So… why the divine doctor and I? I am only half royal, and Zi Sheng Shou is just the imperial physician.”

Guan Shixin focused his attention back on him, and his eyes narrowed. “You haven’t realized it yet? You are now a Dragon Guard, one of 9 in the Empire, and a Prince of the royal family regardless of your other origins. Your status makes you a valuable pawn, and your power makes you a valuable weapon.”

He paused, glancing at Zi Sheng Shou. “At least, it would have. But since your heart is connected to his, you could not fully merge with the celestial dragon, and you are useless the way you are. He would’ve executed the both of you by dawn tomorrow.”

Useless? Hong Shen frowned. In the end, his only options were escape or die, and if he had fully merged with Suan Ni, who knows what he would have been forced to do?

Was the soft-spoken, calm Er-ge who never went anywhere without wearing green and holding a fan, really capable of such ruthlessness?

The ones who scheme behind smiling masks in the silence of night are always the deadliest. Suan Ni spoke up within his mind, sharing a fragment of oh-so-heavenly wisdom from the depths. You have no idea what a mortal driven to utter desperation is capable of.

What? What’s that supposed to mean?

You’ll find out eventually. His presence slowly faded once more. Hong Shen wanted to strangle him - what use was a dragon of so-called wisdom if all he did was leave obscure messages at random?

“Guan Hongye,” Guan Shixin said, drawing Hong Shen’s attention back to him. “Have you truly lost all of your memories?”

He felt Zi Sheng Shou’s careful gaze upon his face, and he glanced at him to see the doctor watching him for his answer. Strange, but not too odd, he supposed. The man was a doctor after all.

“Yes,” He said simply, keeping eye contact with the man. Seemingly content with the answer, Zi Sheng Shou broke his gaze, looking down at the Sixth Prince.

“Then, do you remember anything from last night after the ceremony?”

Again with ‘after the ceremony’. Hong Shen knew nothing after Suan Ni forced his way into his mind, and the dragon was less than forthcoming with any information regarding it considering it was the cause of his arrest.

“All I know is that I - no, not me. Suan Ni did something with my body, and I was arrested for attempting to murder the Emperor or some shit.”

Guan Shixin raised a brow, looking at Hong Shen like he was crazy. “The celestial dragon took control of your body?”

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it?” Hong Shen snapped. Guan Shixin nodded slowly.

“Huh. There are no records of that being possible in the Imperial Archive.”

“With all due respect, Sixth Prince,” Zi Sheng Shou interrupted, “The Imperial Archive has only about 70% of the Empire’s records, and only 5% references anything about the Dragon Guards. They have been careful to safeguard the full extent of their abilities, and the little we truly know comes from legends and stories. Even less is known of Suan Ni, whose last known Dragon Guard was contracted over 2 centuries ago.”

Acknowledging his words, Guan Shixin then pushed himself to standing, running a hand through his short, choppy hair. “Very well. Then we must continue with the information we have.”

Reaching behind his white belt, he pulled out a metal cylinder, twisting it open and dumping the parchment within onto his palm. Carefully unfurling it revealed a map of something, and he gestured for the other two to come close. Reluctantly, Hong Shen got up off the pallet and walked over.

“This is a map of the Guan Empire. This is the Imperial Complex,” he pointed to a square looking symbol on a northernmost stretch of land, “and this is the cliffside, leading into the Lu Yun He.” His finger trailed along a river that started to the left of the cliff the Complex was on, and continued almost three quarters of the way through the continent. “We are in this town at the base of the hill, and there are five different roads that lead out of this town. We came in on the main road leading away from the Complex, and these are the ones that are left.” There were rough squiggly lines that represented roads leading away from the spiral symbol of the town.

“It appears that Guan Yushe is not willing to make his current actions public quite yet, and is keeping the events in the Imperial Complex a secret from the public while they celebrate the festival. A tactical move, as the violent transition of power will only be known after the fact, and will leave no room for rebellions. If he sent soldiers after us, the coup could be discovered and could be stopped.”

“Valid reasoning, but you still haven’t answered specifically why you escaped with Prince Guan Hongye and I.” Zi Sheng Shou’s voice was cool as he spoke. “You must need us for something if you would save us from execution in such a dramatic way.”

Hong Shen recalled how Guan Shixin had answered, but it didn’t make much sense, now that he thought about it. If Guan Hongye was hated by his siblings, why would they care if he died? Why would they expend that much effort to rescue a useless Dragon Guard?

Guan Shixin did not refute his statement, and he looked up from the map to look the doctor in the eye. “Tell me, divine doctor. Is there a way to break the Incantation between you and Guan Hongye?”

Zi Sheng Shou was silent for a long moment, and one of his hands clenched the fabric of his dual colored robe. Finally, he exhaled a long breath, releasing the cloth. “Yes. But it will take a long time, possibly several months. Many rare and exotic materials must be found, a couple not even from this realm.”

The stone-faced prince observed him closely, then nodded once. “I will do my best to buy you as much time as needed. I don’t know how many Dragon Guards Guan Yushe has on his side, nor how many provinces. You will need to work as quickly as possible.”

“Wait, did you guys rescue us so that you could turn around and make us work for you instead?” Hong Shen scowled. “You think that Zi Sheng Shou can break this Incantation so I can be useful to you as a Dragon Guard? Why? In fact, what is so bad about Er-ge being Emperor in the first place? Are you scared he’s gonna be a tyrant or some shit?”

“I don’t know!” Guan Shixin said sharply, his words cutting through the air like a blade. Hong Shen fell silent, surprised at his outburst. He could see a bit of the angry and scared teenager beneath showing through. “I don’t know,” he repeated, calmer. “But the way he has gone about stealing the throne and his treasonous actions are not the ones of a righteous Prince. They are those of a coward fearing the Emperor will not name him Crown Prince, and retaliating before it could happen.”

“And what will you do to stop him?” Zi Sheng Shou asked, with no apparent reaction to the heated exchange that just passed.

Turning back to the map, he gestured at a road leading away from the town, heading west towards the Lu Yun He. “I must make haste to my army in Shushui City beyond the Xiyang Mountains. The fastest way there is by ship, and the next one to set sail will leave tomorrow at midday.” He mapped out the route the ship would take with a slender finger, starting at the bank of the Lu Yun He and going west along the mainland between a cluster of islands and down to the far edge of the continent, ending at a black dot that read ‘Shushui City’.

“It should take me about a week, if not more. In that time, I have agents in Tianmi City that will give you money and other supplies to begin your own journey.” Guan Shixin pointed out a different road heading east of the town, ending in another black dot. “It should only take about an hour by horse, more if you walk, but I will leave both horses here for you to use when I leave in the morning. I move faster by foot.”

With that finished, he rolled up the map and slid it back into the cylinder. After tucking it away, Guan Shixin pulled a long brown feather out of his belt, handing it to the doctor. It had a triangular shaped chunk taken out of the top left of it. “This is a goose feather. Show this to any soldier in any major city, and they will take you to an agent of mine who will help you contact me. The opposite also applies; if a soldier approaches you with a feather that looks exactly like this, they are a messenger from me.”

Zi Sheng Shou took the feather and slipped it into his sleeve. After he had accepted it, he gave a slight bow to Guan Shixin. “Pardon me, Sixth Prince, but it has been a rather eventful day. I will retire to the second room you rented, and will rejoin you here in the morning.”

After wishing the men a good night, he soon vanished out the door, leaving Hong Shen with the stone-faced prince. Without so much as a glance at Hong Shen, Guan Shixin unstrapped the sword that had been fixed to his back, positioned himself near the door, and sat down, leaning against the wall. He laid his sword reverently over his crossed legs, and immediately closed his eyes, ignoring the other person in the room completely.

Well, screw you too, I guess, Hong Shen thought morosely. All the information Guan Shixin had shared clouded up his thoughts like tar, and as he made his way back to the pallet, he half heartedly kicked off his shoes, and fell onto the hard bed. Despite his running mind, his body was exhausted, and within moments he felt his eyelids closing to cool darkness.

Before he could truly succumb to sleep, he heard the soft, faint notes of a flute playing next door. Beautiful but poignant, the sounds chased him into his dreamless slumber.