At a fork along the route that anyone pursuing Princess Fang had to take, Wang Qian lay hidden in the branches of a huge old banyan tree whose crown covered half the road. He was ready to leap down and kill at any moment.
Chen Liang chose a different approach. He lay on a low hill eighty paces away. Though layers of greenery covered it, the hill was flat and poorly suited to an assassin’s ambush.
He looked down at his pale gray-white robe, still clean and neat, then removed it without the slightest regret. After rubbing it through a mound of flying dust, he put the dirt-colored garment back on. His topknot had been arranged by skilled hands and would not come loose no matter what he did, so he picked many leaves and stuck them through his hair at every angle.
Chen Liang held a precious carved-lacquer bow. It was his favorite, a birthday gift from his mother when he was eight. Ever since then, it had helped him and Princess Fang hunt prey and win glory.
Beside him lay twenty feathered arrows dyed the green-brown shades of leaves and bark, together with three signal arrows.
A party of constables soon raced to the fork. Their leader pointed toward one of the rutted roads, said something, and raised a hand as if giving an order.
Chen Liang drew one of the bright-green feathered arrows Princess Fang required for woodland ambushes. He had colored it with plant sap and only just coated its head with poison. He released the string with one hand. The arrow streaked away like a beam of light. The leader clutched his chest and tumbled from his horse.
The party fell into chaos. Several constables wanted to charge along the road, but the others stopped them. After a brief dispute, they all turned their horses and galloped back, apparently to report to their superior.
Chen Liang did not shoot again. He had only twenty poisoned arrows and needed to use them sparingly. Even so, he felt very pleased with himself. Princess Fang’s powder had to be mixed with water before it could be applied. He had found no water nearby and could not bear to waste any of his drinking supply, so he urinated off to the side and shook just enough into the packet. It had worked perfectly.
Before long, the ground began to tremble.
From their high hiding places, Chen Liang and Wang Qian saw a dark mass of people advancing from the distance like a mountain-shattering flood.
*See the commander come in majesty,*
*Strong of frame, in the prime of his years.*
*A bright silver helm crowns his head,*
*Hammered and worked a thousand times.*
*Twin dragons chase a pearl above fine jade,*
*While double plumes divide high and low.*
*Such a helm lends courage to a hero,*
*Fit to govern a realm and face its foes.*
*His face is a silver platter,*
*His eyes bright stars, his ears finely formed.*
*Forehead and jaw meet every noble measure;*
*His teeth are white jade, his lips vivid red.*
*Dragon scales cover his armored form,*
*Cold brilliance dazzling every eye.*
*The guard at his heart is a full moon,*
*Proof against both saber and arrow.*
*A white silk robe sets off the armor,*
*Autumn frost descending over pale clouds.*
*Cut by a beauty and sewn by a woman’s hand,*
*It bears coiling dragons, flying phoenixes, and sacred beasts.*
*A dragon’s mouth holds the Great Sovereign Sword,*
*Three feet of steel that shocks the soul.*
*It cuts iron like mud and never curls,*
*While gold adorns its sharkskin sheath.*
*Its equal cannot be found anywhere;*
*Its price alone would reach a thousand in gold.*
*Long ago, Zhang Liang gave such a blade to Han Xin,*
*Whose might drove the Conqueror-King to his death.*
*His horse bears the sheen of dragon scales,*
*White as snow and bright as silver,*
*Without a single stray-colored hair.*
*Like a flood dragon bursting from the sea,*
*It carries a great commander who guards his ruler.*
*Horse and rider form one piece of jade,*
*An auspicious cloud rising from level earth.*
Chen Liang’s eyes burned red at the sight of his enemy. Yet even he had to admit from the bottom of his heart that the grand chancellor–his former foster father–possessed the bearing of a true immortal. Every lift of his hand was elegant, every step graceful. The court was filled with refined civil officials and heroic generals, but anyone who stood beside him could only feel inferior.
When the grand chancellor urged his horse beneath the old banyan tree, a signal arrow shot into the sky.
The moment it rose, his personal guards closed around him so tightly that not even an arrow–not even a mosquito–could reach him.
The arrow was also Wang Qian’s signal. After waiting for their agreed count, he dropped from the tree, more than ten yards above the road, and hurled himself straight at the grand chancellor.
The guards drew sabers and raised spears, forming a forest of steel to receive the falling assassin.
“The wretch seeks death!” they shouted.
Chen Liang fired two more signal arrows in quick succession. The vanguard immediately formed ranks and prepared to meet enemies who might be approaching. Everyone knew signal arrows announced an attack. No one imagined there were only two attackers.
The grand chancellor rode with the forward unit. He had always led from the front in war. Apparently, he did the same while hunting his wife.
Wang Qian wore a treasured suit of soft armor from Princess Fang’s collection, so he did not fear the surrounding blades and spearpoints. Even so, he swung his paired maces wide to knock aside as many weapons as possible beneath him.
Only one man stood between Wang Qian and the grand chancellor. The grand chancellor was mounted, and so were his guards. Men on foot could press together without a gap, but mounted men were kept apart by the size of their horses. Wang Qian had fallen into the heart of their formation, but he had also landed on horseback. At such close range, his paired maces were better suited to combat than the guards’ long spears and short sabers.
Chen Liang took two arrows in one hand. Whenever he fired in rapid succession, two was the number he trusted most–one on the string and one ready to follow.
His first arrow killed a guard who blocked the line between him and the grand chancellor.
Chen Liang’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. He knew that guard. From childhood onward, he had played with the attendants who served both the grand chancellor and Princess Fang.
But there was no room now for personal feeling. No bond and no friend mattered as much as Princess Fang.
As the dead guard fell, the men beside him tried to close the opening. They were too late. The second arrow traced a green line through the narrow gap between them and sped toward its target.
The instant his guard was struck, the grand chancellor dropped low beside his saddle, hiding within the stirrup. The poisoned arrow grazed the arm he could not withdraw in time, but it failed to pierce his outer armor. Instead, it struck another guard’s arm. The man died of the poison at once.
The guards fighting Wang Qian had recognized him, and his identity shocked them. The older men had watched him grow from childhood. The younger ones were close companions; if not confidants, then at least friends. They had not accompanied the grand chancellor when he disguised himself as the head constable, so they knew nothing about what had happened.
Wang Qian fought bitterly against their combined assault. He was not one of the finest fighters in the grand chancellor’s residence, nor did he possess Jin Wuniang’s strength. Several times, he nearly collapsed beneath their attacks. Fortunately, when he was only a few moves from defeat and capture, the guards all recognized his face and eased their strength without needing to speak.
Wang Qian seized the chance to shout, “The grand chancellor murdered his wife! Heaven will not tolerate it! Her Highness is dead, and I will avenge my mother!”
Amid the chaos, someone said, “You cannot defeat us, and you cannot defeat the grand chancellor.”
Wang Qian answered solemnly, “Even if I die, I must prove worthy of my mother.”
The grand chancellor had already ridden some distance away. Now he turned his horse and said with effortless calm, “She is not dead.”
Wang Qian clenched his teeth. He swung a bronze mace aside to knock away a steel saber and roared, “The poison took hold. She died!”
Chen Liang fired again, aiming at the grand chancellor’s exposed neck through a gap in the crowd.
The arrow struck the back of his neck with a metallic ring. Its force drove him forward, but the shaft dropped harmlessly to the ground. The soft armor he wore had been custom-made at Princess Fang’s order. It covered every part of him except his face.
The grand chancellor straightened, his flawless face unchanged. Neither joy nor sorrow disturbed it. Beneath his helmet, the same clear and friendly gaze as always settled on Wang Qian.
“Tell her to come back. I have something to say to her.”
Wang Qian twisted aside and struck another man who tried to ambush him.
“She is dead! She truly is!”
The grand chancellor smiled. It was as gentle and intoxicating as a breeze passing through a garden in full bloom. He looked softly at Wang Qian, then drew three golden recall tokens from his robe and displayed them in his palm.
“If she were truly dead, the emperor would not have sent three orders in quick succession commanding me to withdraw and return to court.” He sounded entirely unconcerned. “We stayed together for twenty years, yet I never knew she and the emperor were so close.”
Another poisoned arrow flew toward him, only to be stopped by his armor again. Chen Liang could only hate the armor his mother had commissioned for being so strong. Commanders were rarely struck by arrows. Why had she needed to make it so impenetrable?
Still fighting, Wang Qian asked, “The emperor knows my mother is dead?”
“No. Child, once again you are not listening to me.” The grand chancellor smiled helplessly and shook his head. “She sent word to the emperor through her secret guards. She said I was hunting her and had already wounded her severely. The emperor flew into a rage. Within half a day, he sent three golden tokens ordering me to abandon everything and return to the capital to answer for my crimes. I know she will not die.”
The grand chancellor’s composure drove Wang Qian almost mad. With a wild roar, he forced his way toward him.
The guards could hold back and slow their attacks enough to give Wang Qian a chance to escape. But they could never allow him to reach the grand chancellor and kill him.
Wang Qian swept one bronze mace with all his strength and forced the guards back a little. Then he hurled the other straight at the crown of the grand chancellor’s head.
At the same moment, Chen Liang drew three more arrows and aimed at the back of the grand chancellor’s neck. The shafts flew one behind another along the same line.
The grand chancellor raised one hand and caught the bronze mace as if it were nothing. He passed it to a guard.
“This is one of my wife’s treasures. Keep it safe.” He sighed softly. “Wang Qian, I have been with her since childhood. We were swindlers, outlaws, and mountain bandits together before we finally joined the army. After twenty years, how could I possibly know no martial arts?”
This time, the grand chancellor leaned backward over his horse. All three arrows passed above his head. By now, everyone knew the arrows were poisoned, and shields rose to catch them.
With one mace gone, Wang Qian was quickly captured.
The grand chancellor plucked an arrow from a shield and rode to where Wang Qian stood with his arms twisted behind his back. His expression remained bright and compassionate. He was still the same peerlessly handsome man who drew every eye.
He stroked Wang Qian’s hair, then drew the poisoned arrowhead lightly across his face.
The cut was deep enough to bleed.
Facing Chen Liang’s hiding place, the grand chancellor raised the poisoned arrow high. With one hand, he snapped its chopstick-thick shaft in two.
“There is no need to capture Chen Liang.” The grand chancellor smiled, untouched by the dust of the mortal world, like an exiled immortal descended to earth. “He will tell my wife that I wish to see her.”