66 The Queen's Tomb

Jasmine stared at Blake—no.

He was not Blake. At least not yet.

His long black hair was tied back with a leather strap and his handsome virile face with those striking amber eyes was raised in a haughty fashion.

He looked nothing like the kind and gentle Blake she knew. This man was the one who had just poisoned her Brother-in-law, the King.

He was now coming to eliminate the Queen along with all of the consorts and concubines. There could not be any possibility of the old King's spawn allowed to have a chance at life.

"Who is she?" The new King pointed to Jasmine.

"Your Majesty. She is the Princess Dai Tien Lai, the Queen's younger sister."

"So she's not one of his wives?" Blake eyed her with sly interest.

"No, Your Majesty. She is betrothed to General Sha Kai, but he is still fighting alongside his troops at the borderlands and they are not yet married."

"Take her and bring her to my quarters. She will be the first of my consorts."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Jasmine began weeping and wailing.

"Oh nooooo! Please!!! Don't take me!!! I beg of you!!!"

As the men came towards her, she quickly lunged forward, kicking the closest one in the nut sack, grabbing at his sword as he went down, clutching his crotch.

She plunged the tip of the sword into his gut and pulled it out, blood-drenched.

"Come any nearer and you will suffer the same fate." She threatened the other one.

Blake laughed.

"Oh ho!!! A spicy one! I will enjoy taming you!" He gestured at his men to converge on Jasmine.

With a quick vault, she sliced the throats of the three men immediately in front of her and ran deeper into the chamber.

There was another exit from the chamber but it required for her to cross the room to the other side.

Unfortunately, there were three men in between her and the back exit.

Unfortunately for them, that is.

"Aaaaaaarghhh!!!" She yelled as she ran towards them, sword raised and pointed forward.

The men saw her coming. They were ready for her, their own swords raised.

She swung her sword at two of the men, aiming for their necks.

Slash!!!

They slumped in a bloody pool of blood.

The third man kicked the sword from her hand and raised his own sword. He was about to strike her when a knife came flying and impaled him through the heart.

"Aaaaagghhh!" He gasped, slumping over, almost knocking her off her feet.

As she looked up, Blake's face came into view.

"I told you to subdue her. I did not tell you to kill her!" He sniffed with disdain and kicked the third one out of the way.

Reaching down, he picked her up by one arm as another man grabbed her other arm.

She snarled and kicked her legs at them until the soldiers hog-tied her with leather straps and hauled her between them like caught prey.

"Not too bad for a tiny weak crying Princess. You just took out seven of my men with their own sword." He laughed. "You might be too dangerous for me to keep as a pet. How about I keep you as a chained sex slave?"

She growled like a wild animal and spat at his face.

Blake laughed and wiped his face with an embroidered handkerchief before turning away.

"Oh my Lord! You're such a hell cat, you're making me horny! Take her to my chambers."

As the soldiers converged in on her, Jasmine shrieked.

They dragged her from the Queen's Chamber through the connecting corridor that led to the King's Chamber. Twisting, she kicked them and tried to escape, but they held her with iron grips.

Once they dumped her unceremoniously on the King's bed, they left her alone in the room, hogtied and struggling to unbind her arms, which had been savagely twisted behind her.

Jasmine heard the door open and then close.

"No need to scream, hell cat," Blake laughed as he came closer to her. "There is nobody to hear you screaming, and even if they did, they would just think you were screaming with pleasure."

He came closer, just as she managed to untie her hands. Reaching out with full force, she clawed at his face.

"Argggghhh!" He howled with pain and anger as his cheek was slashed by her long fingernails. He turned back to her, with bits of blood running in rivulets down his face.

"Hmmmm. So you want my blood, eh?"

He reached out and was about to grab her when she back up into the window by the bed.

Without thinking, she clambered onto the sill.

Her only thought was to escape his clutches, but the speed at which she moved left her unbalanced.

"Stop! Don't move or you'll fall!" He yelled, but it was too late.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

She felt herself falling over the edge of the window. Her hand reached out, trying to catch the frame, but there was no frame to catch. She had fallen past the window.

The sound of her screaming reverberated throughout the palace.

Sobbing and crying with horror, Jasmine felt a wrenching of her mind as a powerful force sucked at her with an intensity that left her dazed and half-mad with pain.

She awakened, as if from a bad dream and saw Tong Li's face twisting in the same agony that she felt.

Above her, the stars had begun to wink out as the new day greeted them with a faint blush of pre-dawn, glowing in a half-hearted attempt to awaken the world below.

Tong Li gave a start and then recovered as the pain gradually eased from his countenance.

"So now you know," he muttered, barely conscious. "Have your questions been answered?"

"Oh God! Blake killed the King!"

"And all along, I thought you were her," a voice called out from the semi-darkness.

Turning, she saw Anh Hai's face, unreadable in the flickering dying flames.

And now she knew who he was. His proud countenance, the visage of a once powerful King. He still held himself in that regal fashion.

Still highborn. Still noble.

Around him, the dark robed figures rose up from their seated position, no longer interested in trying to keep the flames alive.

One by one, they pushed down their hoods, revealing for the very first time to Jasmine, very ordinary men and women who had proven to her, over the course of the night, to have some very extraordinary powers.

They avoided looking at her as they began to busy themselves, tidying up all traces of the ceremony.

The robed figure sitting next to Jasmine and Tong Li was lifted up off the dais and transported down, where they began attending to his needs. He began to show some signs of returning to normal.

The sun was starting to peek over the horizon and soon, it would illuminate the courtyard of the ancient ruins.

Jasmine buried her face in her hands and tried to focus on the present, desperately trying to shut out the horrible experience of the past.

"I'm sorry that I can't tell you anything more about your wife—my sister," she said to Anh Hai. "I don't even know if she escaped the clutches of the soldiers."

"I knew that there was a woman who had died the day of my funeral." Anh Hai's countenance was harsh.

"I knew for a certainty that it was you, from the signature of your earthly soul. Only, I didn't know who you were, a concubine, slave girl, or the Queen herself. Turns out you were her sister, the beautiful Princess Dai Tien Lai."

"The Queen died of old age," a voice spoke up from the recesses of the nearest temple ruins.

All eyes focused on the voice except for Jasmine.

How long Aunt Tien Ha had been hiding behind the crevices of the ruins, there was no telling. The Nun stepped from her place in the shadows and came towards Jasmine.

"My brave beautiful sister, Dai Tien Lai," she touched Jasmine's face. "You protected me and stayed behind to hold off the soldiers long enough for me to escape. You gave your life to help me escape. So, in this life, I will protect you to the best of my ability."

"You're my sister, the Queen???" Jasmine gasped.

"Yes, I was that poor, pathetic, scared creature once upon a time. But now, I have begun the process of cleansing my soul so that I may achieve nirvana in a future time."

Jasmine sighed. "There's your wife, Anh Hai. You no longer need me for any further information."

"On the contrary," he shook his head and stepped closer to the dais. "There is much more I need to question you."

"But we all know I am not the Queen, just her sister. What further reason do you have to keep me here?"

"You were buried in the Queen's tomb. The jewels were buried along with your body. We need to find that gravesite and restore the gems."