Wen FeiWan gritted his teeth in barely contained rage and crumpled the official notice that he still held in his hand. What a freaking bunch of idiots!!
It was already late at night, and he'd already gone to bed, when the man shrouded in darkness kneeling before him had softly tapped on his window, waking him from his rest.
He hated being disturbed in his private chambers! He hated having people wake him up, no matter if late at night or early in the morning. He hated that he was now feeling cold, since he'd only had the time to pull a thin silk robe over his naked shoulders. He hated even more that all his discomfort had been caused by such ridiculous notice!
"Who's behind this?" he asked in a contained voice, trying very hard to restrain his anger and not punish his own man for a work well done, and the man lowered his head even more, his whispered voice sounding muffled.
"The glorified El'Dur signed it personally."
"Of course he did," FeiWan retorted impatiently. He didn't need anyone telling him that. He knew his father's signature and imperial signet all too well. "But the stupid idea has to have come from someone else."
"It's as the El'Gin states. We can't be sure yet. But we do know that the glorified El'Dur shared an evening meal with the honorable El'Gin Wen CalWan just two days ago."
"CalWan?" FeiWan frowned pensively.
CalWan was a constant thorn in his side.
The oldest of the El'Gin, Wen CalWan apparently dedicated most his time pursuing his obsession with everything aesthetically beautiful. In fact, the Golden Forest Pavilion he shared with his mother and younger sister had long been named the Pavilion of a Thousand Wonders, a true paradise on earth.
He was famous for the lavishing parties and erudite encounters he promoted, where one was sure to find the most exquisite dishes, accompanied by the most harmonious melodies and, of course, served by the most beautiful women in the Empire.
Poetry, painting, sculpture, music and all kids of artistic performances constantly filled the large halls of his dwelling. As long as he found them to his taste, he would immediately bring them into his Household, and then selflessly find some way to share and present them for the other nobles' pleasure. Beauty was all that mattered to him. And, although no one dared say such things out in the open, he was even famous for indiscriminately warming his bed with both men and women, as long as they were pleasing to the eye. And so, even though he was well loved and well appreciated by the richest and most influential people in the Empire, he also retained the less complimenting fame of simply not caring about the affairs of the state. In fact, if such boring matters were brought up during one of his gatherings, he would simply laugh it away, fill the glasses of his guests with fresh wine, and call for the dancers to lighten up the mood.
Elegant, well educated, charming and eloquent, he was also known for being an incorrigible libertine, lascivious person. That was, to those who didn't really knew him!
A damned wolf in disguise, that's what he was!, FeiWan squeezed the already crumpled piece of paper. All smiles, glistening jewels and sweet perfumes. While he slowly and discreetly disseminated his own views, filling the ears of idiot, drunken nobles with his opinions, slowly navigating the imperial court according to his wishes!
Still … FeiWan paused for a moment looking down at the crumpled official notice. Was such an dumb action really CalWan's doing? The CalWan he was used to spare against behind the curtains was supposed to be way smarter than this, he coldly concluded. On the other hand, if not CalWan, the only other person able to persuade the El'Dur about such matters was the El'Dai herself.
If CalWan was a slithering, inscrutable adversary, Wen LaoTin was an insurmountable wall standing on his way. It pissed him off more than words could tell, that a mere janwan had managed to rise to such high status, and allowed so much power over the government of the Empire. But what was done was done, and it had all happened when he was still too young to understand, much less interfere, in such matters. As things stood, the fact that LaoTin had a huge influence over the El'Dur's decisions was an undeniable fact, one that greatly displeased the entire court, but also one with which everyone had learned to deal with.
Had she sent the order? But why? It made no sense. LaoTin wasn't that dumb either, FeiWan considered. She'd be long dead by now, if she were. LaoTin would have probably sent her own, trustworthy men to capture him and bring him back to the Palace in secrete.
Publicly announcing what was very close to an order of arrest was equivalent to telling the entire Empire that, soon enough, the well known Governor of Nox would be under imperial custody. And that would only make secretly killing him all the harder.
The Governor of Nox was well-loved amongst the people of different Provinces. Mainly due to the fact that the El'Dur enjoyed treating him like a dog, sending him to clean up messes all across the Empire. It was kind of ironic, really. They had all been happily using him as they saw fit, trying to make sure he understood his lower position, and they had made a freaking imperial hero out of him in the process. Simply killing him in some obscure way would not bode well with a lot of people, much less if the killing were to happen while he was under the Palace's custody. So public announcing that he was to return to the Palace as soon as possible or else, was actually a really dumb thing to do!, FeiWan thought, anger rising in his chest again.
He had wanted to capture him himself! Now that damned decree would most certainly drive him further into hiding!
No, he concluded. LaoTin would not have done such a stupid thing either. But if not LaoTin and not CalWan, who had whispered the idiotic idea into the El'Dur's ears?
"Still can't find him?" he asked the man silently waiting, still kneeling on the floor.
"No, El'Gin. We've completely lost their tracks once they left Weiin."
"Those idiots from the Temple! If they're going to make an assassination attempt they better succeed! Failure will only make their target all the more alert!" FeiWan grumbled angrily. He was surrounded by self-serving idiots, all with their own agenda but lacking the brains to act accordingly.
"Also, a few hours after their group left the city a lone rider followed their trail," the man added, offering FeiWan a sliver of hope.
"Have you managed to track him?"
"Unfortunately no, El'Gin. We suspect the rider to be Jundai VinWei, since he departed from the Temple. And the instant we followed him out of the city our men got lost in a forest maze created by an array of refractive crystal. It took them almost an entire day to find the way out. Once they did all leads about the rider's destination had gone cold," the man reported and FeiWan sighed in resignation.
"Well, there's not much we can do about that. The Nai Calzai's oldest daughter is not your average woman. She's not only very talented in daitai control, she's also a dangerous strategist. After all she single-handedly managed to assure her survival and that of her sister during the Seventh Year Gathering, without affiliating herself with any of our groups. And she was only sixteen at the time. We would have more luck tracking the Governor of Nox's initial group than tracking her."
FeiWan took a deep breath, pondering for a moment.
"We still have no idea of what he discussed with the Nai Calzai?"
"Unfortunately not. The Calzai's office at the time was under several layers of concealment."
FeiWan tesked in frustration.
"And then someone goes and openly scares our prey like this!"
He threw the ball of paper that used to be an official decree against the wall.
"Do we at least know if the kid he's hauling around is a boy or a girl?"
"Regarding that aspect … the information diverges. Some of the men that were with them at the Fortress say that it is a boy. But others swear that it is a girl. That it only looked like a boy because at the time it had no hair. Also, some of our men swear they saw the Lun Calzai strolling the streets of Weiin in the company of young girl. The same girl was taken from the Temple to Wei's main Household in a Temple's carriage, accompanied by Jundai VinWei."
"What about other physical traits? Like hair and eye color?" FeiWan insisted and the man shook his head.
"Regarding that, we only have the information we already had from the men that were at the Fortress. Only that the kid has pale, almost white eyes. It would seem that, since they left the Fortress, they have been careful to conceal its appearance."
FeiWan crossed his arms. So he still hadn't enough information to clearly conclude either way.
The moment that news of what had happened in the Fortress had reached his ears, he had immediately activated all the spies he had sent amongst the Lun Calzai's men.
He always made sure he infiltrated a few of his men amongst the military detachments that accompanied the Governor of Nox every time he was sent in one of his missions. Of course he wasn't the only one. The Temple always sent their respective representatives as well, as did LaoTin. And he was pretty sure CalWan also kept him under surveillance.
In all these years nothing had ever happened. Things always went as expected. Actually, it had been kind of boring, keeping an eye on him all this time and harvesting zero relevant information. The Lun Calzai was probably the most boring, most predictable Calzai in the history of the Empire. He always stuck to the rules. He always followed his initial plans. He always delivered his reports on time. And he always presented them personally to the El'Dur, kneeling all properly, like a well trained dog laying at the feet of its master. No matter how much one would try to provoke him he never reacted in kind. He was able to swallow the most aggrieving of insults with the same face with which he accepted a compliment. And then, suddenly, a horrible massacre had occurred.
Being acclaimed as one of the best strategists of the Empire, his men rarely got injured during his missions. Less even lost their lives. That was exactly one of the reasons that led everyone else to tolerate what looked like a preferential treatment on the El'Dur's part, when he kept assigning all those trashy missions to the same person time and time again. And then the news that the always meticulous, always prudent Calzai had just lost more than one-hundred of his men flooded the Palace. More than that, it was said that the cause of such number of fatalities wasn't some unforeseen, bloody battle. Somehow, in a split second, hundreds of men, friends and foes, had all dropped dead.
After that the crazy rumors had started.
Some said that the Lun Calzai, or the Demon General as the people called him, had killed them all with one of his powerful arrays. There were even those who swore that he'd managed such an amazing feat just by looking at the poor souls who had lost their lives.
Others, more skeptical minds, said that it had all been some strange natural phenomenon, brought upon by the fact that the Province of Pon had been left ungoverned for the past ten years. Some climatic changes were to be expected.
The fanatics from the Temple had invaded the main hall, shouting that the Heavens had cursed them all, that all this was the first of many divine punishments that were to follow.
But some voices, the ones that had captured FeiWan's attention, had spoken of a bloody child that had fallen on its knees in front of the scary Calzai. And they had described a beautiful golden array that had supposedly surrounded the two of them.
Everyone was so focus on trying to understand what had caused so many sudden and unexpected deaths, so intent in pushing the blame onto someone's back, that they paid little attention to other precious pieces of information. And he may be going crazy, but that golden array … the description of that golden array immediately made FeiWan think that a Tien'Elhar had been present in that Fortress.
And then, the most unexpected thing of all had happened. The always predictable, the always law-abiding, the obedient dog of the El'Dur, had refused to return home. Instead he had sent one of his men to lead the small army back to the Palace, and he had simply disappeared.
If he already had his suspicions, at that moment FeiWan immediately knew that something big had happened in that Fortress. Knowing Nox ZaiWin like he did, he knew that he'd never risk incurring the El'Dur's displease just to try and escape being blamed for a few deaths. Which meant it had to be that child. The child that had also disappeared when he'd left. The child that some swore that had actually been the cause of all those deaths. The child they said belonged to the Demon Clan,which made no sense. If that was really true, why would ZaiWin take it away and not allow it to travel to the Palace with the rest of its Clan?
Thinking about the Demon Clan, his mind immediately turned to different direction.
"What news of the his army? Have they reached Won yet?"
"They have crossed the border two days ago," the man informed.
"And the CalDai of the Demon Clan? Does he still fair well?"
"He does, El'Gin. The one in charge of leading the army back to the Palace has been careful not to push their march too hard. He is probably aware that the CalDai and his people are not used to traveling such long distances."
FeiWan doubted that very much. The one leading the army was LaoTar. And even though he was a member of the Zai Clan, he was still ZenTar's younger brother, who, like ZaiWin, had also conveniently disappeared. If LaoTar was slowing their march it most certainly was not out of consideration towards the Demon Clan. He was simply trying to earn ZaiWin and his brother as much time as possible. Well, no matter, he quickly decided. He'd rather have them take a bit longer than risk the CalDai's health anyway.
"I want you to keep an eye on him. If he so much as stumbles I want to know," FeiWan declared and the man bowed.
"It shall be done, El'Gin."
"Also, keep searching for the Lun Calzai's whereabouts. And post men on every road leading to Nox. There's a big possibility that he might try to return home, to where he feels safe."
"Yes, El'Gin!"
"I need to be the first one to capture him! Understand?"
The man bowed even lower.
"It shall be as the El'Gin demands!"
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Yay! Double update! (to make up for the day I missed last week). And FeiWan is back! (couldn't abandon him for long, pour Fei-chan) 😊
Another big chapter, I know. Please do forgive me. Like before I could have split it in two, but I didn't want to leave you guys hanging. I know that for those of you that read novels on mobile phones large chapters aren't that funny and can be tiring. But ... just this once? (though I'm bad at promising such things 😑
Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! 😁