32 The Oath-Giving Day

~ZHA YAO~

The word 'pretender' cut Zha Yao to the quick, and he froze to the spot, but Du was on her feet and sprinting toward the assassin like lightning.

"Death to Tien Lyn!" the man screamed.

Zhenshi pushed Zha Yao to the side and bore him down to the ground.

Ma swung a short sword to cut a bolt out of the air. The Wu Twins scanned the roofs and windows, the bows knocked with feathered arrows.

The screaming and panting stopped, and save for the sickening sounds of Du's halberd chopping into bone and flesh it got very quiet.

Zha Yao pushed Zhenshi away and turned to Lady Chen Guang with a weak smile: "You could not find a dragon, My Lady?"

Lady Chen Guang paid him no heed. She was looking down at the bolt that had struck her below the left clavicle. As his mind caught up to what he was seeing, his jaw went slack with fear. She touched the shaft with her delicate fingertips. They came away reddened.

The governor of Shantong rushed from the inside of the teahouse and caught her as she crumpled without a single cry. Zha Yao wished he'd gathered his wits faster, so it would be him holding the woman.

The governor motioned for the guards to take her inside, and shouted to the hushed crowd: "Zha Yao, I swear, the people of Kefei had no hand in this treachery!"

"I know," he replied as loudly and willed himself to think about their cause.

"The unrighteous Wo Jia plots against our friendship!

But he cannot hurt me when my sworn knights stand with me!

When people stand with me!"

His Five brandished their weapons, vowing loudly to die before Zha Yao could be harmed, to die for Zha Yao, to die together.

Curse all of this dying!

The Five's circle around him became so tight that he felt like a concubine imprisoned in a demon's castle, while the crowd took to shouting, hesitant at first, then louder than he ever heard anyone shout, powered by the camaraderie.

The quiet merchants and artisans of the pleasant city of Kefei tore the assassin's body to bloody shreds in their righteous fury and their unbridled joy. They also chanted for vengeance for the injuries done to the Gracious Lady Tien Lyn by some unfathomable reason.

Zha Yao stood and watched, as he felt obliged to do, while the crowd's bloodlust was satisfied. Then he embraced each of his Five under the peach tree, as Guang would have wanted him to. She'd probably be proud of him.

But she was in the governor's manor, attended by the governor's medic. If only the mad healer Guang had told him about was not rotting in Sutao's jail... The blessed faeries, they all flocked to Wo Jia, left their Temples in the South empty, and cursed Zha Yao's name. He did not give a demon's spittle about their curses, but they left his army to depend on nothing but herbs, knives and bandages for healing.

Curse the blighted faeries!

By the time the Five whisked Zha Yao back to the governor's palace, Lady Chen Guang was resting quietly. He entered without asking for permission. Her hair was down, and her pupils dilated from the pain-dousing herbs. She looked so fragile and beautiful, he nearly took her in his arms.

"The medic tells me I will be able to host the ceremony for you on the morrow, My Lord," were the first words out of Lady Chen Guang's mouth. The words were well-articulated.

Good thing he did not rush at her with embraces like a fool. "That's fortunate. I am told the assassin carried a reloading crossbow, of rare design, and that all the bolts would have been aimed at you, not me. Thanks to Du, he only managed to let two off."

"Interesting," she mused. "If I recall correctly, the knights blocked you from the crowd, but I stood apart."

"You are not mistaken, My Lady," he picked a small vase into his hands and twisted it around, tracing the glazed bamboo pattern with his fingernail. "However, there was more thing to consider. Both the assassin and the crowd mistook you for your daughter today. Does this awful song still make rounds?"

"Alas, My Lord. We tried to suppress it, even sent the storyteller Shan Jiang away," she pursed her lips. "Unfortunately, the commoners like tales of romance between their betters, and this one is catchy. You two are star-crossed lovers in the popular imagination. "

"If I am not a fighter, I might as well be a lover," Zha Yao sighed resignedly. "But I do not fancy losing you because of a foolish song. From now on, you will be guarded."

"Thank you, My Lord." She hesitated. "Zha Yao?"

"Yes?" He could not recall her calling him by name since she had pledged herself to his rebellion, and he liked the sound of it.

"That bolt was not intended to simply rob you of your storied liaison," she said carefully.

"I know that Wo Jia did not stake his hopes on my dying of broken heart," he scoffed. Did she think he needed everything explained to him? "A woman by my side spells 'new dynasty' to him. And it seems that you by my side made me a rival worth killing immediately."

"You should be guarded, My Lord," she suggested.

How touching. "I will be," he put the vase back on the shelf without looking, almost making more nick-nacks fall down. "My sworn sister won't part from me now. Get some sleep, My Lady."

Lady Chen Guang cleared her throat delicately when he was nearly at the doors. "It would be best if you do not marry your consort, My Lord. People love you as 'one of our own', but mine this vein with too much vigour, and it will soon be exhausted."

Zha Yao sketched a mocking bow, "Lady Chen Guang, haven't you heard? I am smitten and my lot is to be forever separated from my Gracious Lady Love, precious plum blossom Tien Lyn. Ancestors only know why. I should ask Shan Jiang when he returns from his exile."

Lady Chen Guang fell back on the pillows and closed her eyes with a martyred expression. The dark tresses framed her pale face prettily, and he allowed himself a split moment to enjoy the sight.

Well, that was fun.

Du was waiting in his bedroom, impatient, and still in full armour. At least she had left the halberd in the corner, and was not fiddling with it like other girls of her age might have fiddled with their fans.

"So, will the old shrew live?" Du asked uncharitably.

"Thanks to your valour, Deserving Du!"

Du scoffed.

"Forget about Lady Chen Guang," Zha Yao whispered into her ear and ran his hands all over her body, looking for the familiar chinks in her armour. "Forget about her..."

Did I mean it for Du or for myself?

Whatever the case, the mantra worked for them. Du was no Gracious Lady Tien Lyn of the songs, but she cleaved to him like no woman ever had, and probably never would again. Sometimes Zha Yao went as far as fantasizing that she'd have wanted him even if she knew he was a runaway chemist apprentice, a murderer and a pretender. But he'd never tell her. Why tempt fate? It was bad enough that Lady Chen Guang knew, and would never let him forget it.

***

Kefei's palace had a walled square, sizable enough for provincial ceremonies. Zha Yao surveyed it from the gallery over the main gates into the palace and noticed with satisfaction that it was packed. The silk-clad nobles and black-hat wearing officials stood in neat rows on the sand and pea gravel.

The oath-giving ceremony started without incident if one discounted Zhenshi riding the oldest, the ugliest, and the boniest white mare in the Evershining Empire around the square keeping an eye out for trouble. His grandson was grinning from ear to ear.

Lady Chen Guang was still pale and had her arm in a sling to let the shattered bone mend. Her eyes glittered feverishly at him from whatever stimulant herbs the medic gave her, "May Celestials bless you today, My Lord."

It galvanized him as much as her wound moved the people of Kefei.

"You have seen the portents," Zha Yao declaimed, "right here, in your own province.

The Turbulent River flooded the fields and cities

when Wo Jia ordered his castle ships built and named Thirty Claws his Admiral.

Then came the pestilence.

And did you receive any relief from the capital?"

"No!" the sea of faces chanted back at him, "No!"

"I came among you.

I swore to end Wo Jia's corruption and warmongering.

Since then, Shantong recovered.

The canals were rebuilt.

The dams held this spring.

Just yesterday I saw a peach tree laden heavy with new fruit.

As I sat below this tree,

I saw five valiant knights approach me."

He extended his hands towards the crowd as if wanting to press them collectively to his bosom and held the pause. An image of Lady Chen Guang blinked before him momentarily.

"I swear to serve you, people of Shantong, as righteously as a man should.

And with me stand Zhenshi, as solid and giving as the soil we plant.

Wu Ling and Wu Yuan, quick and passionate, like fire and water.

Ma the Smiley, good and noble like the air we breathe.

And Deserving Du, my first sworn sister,

the force of life itself, who fears nothing, let alone telling me the truth."

"And with me, and my Five now stand you all!"

As his last word rang out over the gathering, an insistent voice echoed him. "My Lord Zha Yao!"

Now what?

He was ready for the cheers to start and be done with the speeches. But the speaker, a black-clad man, broad, short limbed, and round-faced like a barbarian from the Northern Steppes, was of another mind.

"My Master, the War Mage Zhu Zhao stands with you all!" The man in black fell to his knees, and Zhu Zhao's robes swept him as the mage strode on towards Zha Yao.

He looks like a mage alright.

His black robes were covered with ancient words and creatures of nightmares. His stark white hair and mustache were braided with golden thread. Ancient symbols covered his forehead and cheeks- potent curses, not just profanities like Du's tattoos.

The man in black fell behind his Master, joining a group of four robed youngsters carrying a banner emblazoned with the magic bird fenghuang. The hush deepened as the crowd watched the mages' procession. Even Zha Yao's Five were gawking.

Lady Chen Guang alone had the presence of mind to step forward and bow reverently. "Lord Zha Yao welcomes the Glorious Lord of Arcana, the One of Nine, and his Coven."

Behind him, old Zhenshi mumbled a prayer to a list of ancestors twice as long as the list of his descendants. He was asking each of them to protect him from the First Coven since... since... he sounded at a loss since when. Lady Chen Guang whispered something urgently into the old knight's ear and he calmed down.

Zha Yao shot her a quick sideways glance.

Is my face animated enough, My Lady?