18 Let's go to Lysania

Qing Chan felt both down and pretty upset. This servant of Wei Lin's just took the initiative to carry her away from her only ally, Cheng Hu. Such a powerful mage, even if he wasn't Selnan's Great mage anymore, was second only to Soon-Yi. Without this valuable backing power, she felt utterly vulnerable.

Her own family was far away, in the Southern Duchy, and her relatives here in the capital would never dare to openly oppose her husband, the First Prince. In no time, she would be considered a shameful runaway wife, shunned by her own family. Moreover, she fled with the help of a man and she could already imagine her rivals gossiping about how she became troublesome, unreliable and unfaithful after her return from the temple in the Northern Duchy.

How could she proudly show her face at the Imperial court and the Inner Palace with such rumors running wild ? Moreover, she didn't even start to clear her name from the suspicions regarding the kidnapping of Wei Lin and her child. Maybe it had been a mistake to seek Xian's support.

Up to now, she had always been envious of Wei Lin who had such a faithful attendant, but of course he had always been loyal to his Lady Wei and never to herself. It was even possible that, as his master's longtime rival, he was trying to harm her and ruin her reputation. She didn't know why she still trusted him. She kept on reminding herself to be weary of him, to no avail.

For one thing, Qing Chan had always been the loyal type. Even though she never loved her husband, as it had been an arranged wedding for political convenience, she was still striving, day after day, to be a good wife. She knew her ways in the Inner Palace schemes and the Imperial Court complex alliances and since a long time, she had been acutely aware that her trusting nature had to be suppressed. It was a dangerous weakness, almost as deadly as being overly naive in this lion's den.

Maybe the months she spent in the North had dulled her edges and even when she came back to the capital, she had unconsciously let her guard down. Trusting someone she barely knew, moreover an enemy, was just an invitation to be betrayed. As if she was willingly baring her flank, waiting to be stabbed. What a foolish woman ! She kept on berating herself while Xian hurriedly carried her even farther away from the capital.

Qing Chan had always had a hunch that Xian was more than he seemed and ever since he had saved her and helped her go out of the Orchid Palace where she had been held in custody, he had never missed the opportunity to awe her – without even trying which was infuriating in itself. She was so grateful for her strict upbringing and her years of pretense. Thanks to that, dissimulation was a second nature to her and she was proud to manage to keep a straight face most of the time. Being stunned silly and slack-jawed was so shameful she could die of embarrassment. Even if he was a mere servant and she was a princess, official wife of the First Prince and heir to the throne, she had a hard time not to simply admire him.

Right now, he was carrying her, princess-style, as if she weighed nothing and running wildly jumping over any obstacles as if they didn't even exist. He had such a natural gentlemanly demeanor. His speed was tremendous, he was even faster than the best horses she'd ever had and because the wind had been bothering her, he had cast a flimsy magic barrier to protect her, just enough to be comfortable and unnoticeable.

He was always pretending to be useless with magic but she didn't believe him one bit. Every time they spoke about his magic powers, he had a cute little frown on his face and more than once had Qing Chan been expecting quite eagerly to see him pouting. She couldn't help it, she had to admit that she liked his pretty face. And he looked so harmless with his short stature and girlish body that concealed an unfathomable strength. The gap made him hopelessly endearing to her.

Qing Chan as well was small and slim. She probably didn't weigh all that much and was easily impressed and scared by men with overly burly physique. The guard Xian knocked out in the Orchid palace had been such a freakish brute in Qing Chan's eyes, even if he had treated her well, with the utmost care. Truth be told, if she had trusted the brute and obediently gone back to her chambers, maybe her reputation would still be safe. The guard had also been trustworthy in his own way, as much as Xian in any case, except that Zhou Xi had been the only one who could rely on him and Wei Lin was the one Xian regarded as his master.

Qing Chan felt a pang of despair and immediately suppressed it. If she couldn't be the object of anyone's loyalty, she would just snatch the fighter she felt the most at ease with – Xian obviously – and make him her own. The problem was, it was easier said than done and Wei Lin was her rival more than ever.

Had Qing Chan known that said burly guard was lying between life and death after being tortured for a couple of hours by order of her husband, she would probably change her opinion about loyalty. She didn't even know the name of the guard who had been protecting her with his life, to no avail, out of respect for her and gratitude towards Xian. She had been totally oblivious of his internal struggle between his duty and his wish to set her free and of how relieved he had been that not only Xian solved this dilemma but healed him as well.

For sure, she hadn't known him for long and wasn't interested in a mere guard, but she didn't know her own husband all that well either. Unaware of the fact that Zhou Xi felt betrayed by her, by his trusted guard and was upset because he missed Xian's return to the capital. Now the kid had once more given him the slip, even though Zhou Xi had been so worried about him ! The First Prince was incensed and used the poor guard to vent his anger.

Qing Chan heaved a worried sigh and looked back in the direction of the capital. Behind his back, Xian's hood had long given way to the remarkable hair hidden within. His hands were busy holding Qing Chan and he hadn't been able to readjust his garment. His golden braid was flying freely as he ran, as if a godly whip was urging them on.

In the distance, the sky was orange and crimson, the center of the capital seemed ablaze. Smokes and ashes were rising high in the sky and already drifting away, encompassing the other districts of the Imperial capital. Even from far away, it was a disquieting and frightening sight. Qing Chan's thoughts at that time were that mages, even Cheng Hu, were far too powerful and utterly mad. She felt indignant. They were still at each other's throat, wrecking havoc in the Imperial capital. It was unbelievable and unforgivable. How could they fight in the middle of a city, harming scores of innocent citizens without blinking an eye ?

Black against this burning background, a large shadow seemed to be hovering above the city, giving an ominous touch to the dreadful and disheartening landscape. Qing Chan couldn't see what kind of monster had been summoned. She knew of spells taking the shape of powerful beasts but couldn't imagine a mage so powerful as to cast a spell this huge. Anyway, she couldn't help but shake her head seeing the reckless behavior of the highly respected mages. With such selfish and rash freaks throwing tantrums, the Selnan Empire was all but doomed.

Qing Chan clenched her fists. Even if she wasn't empress yet and would mostly likely never be, seeing the beautiful capital's impeding ruin was driving her to madness and despair. She didn't even notice the tears falling freely from her eyes and blurring her sight. Everything had gone to waste, all her fears and efforts had been useless. She couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed Xian's shirt with both hands and buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing loudly while trying desperately to stifle the unbecoming wails escaping her mouth.

Sensing her distress, Xian paused in mid-step. He knew Lady Qing Chan wasn't very expressive and far from expansive. Her tears were shockingly heart-felt, as if her facade was crumbling right before his eyes. He didn't know how to react. In his fourteen years long life, nobody had ever trusted him enough to lay their heart and emotions bare before him. To Xian, it was a precious, albeit unsettling, experience.

He hugged her tighter and waited in a companionable silence until she had cried herself to sleep. She must have been exhausted by this bout of despair and his reassuring heartbeat had lulled her easily, just like a little child.

Keeping her close, he sat down against a tree trunk. In the distance, he could see the battle unfold. His keen enhanced eyes showed him in details the maddening power of the dragon. He could recognize Soon-Yi's spells as well. She had taught him all her spells, even the most powerful and demonstrated them too in an attempt to catch his interest. Xian could tell for sure that by now Soon-Yi had managed to raise the magic emergency barrier with the formation located in the Great Mage's tower and was now, together with the other mages, including two other very powerful ones, namely Arthur Caucel and Cheng Hu, in the throes of a deadly battle against the enemy beast.

Just where had this dragon come from ? The Selnan Empire, through the intermediary of its Southern Duchy, had an agreement with the kingdom of Lysania and the two countries were at peace. The border was only for show since, aside for mountainous areas, the people themselves had no will to mingle. Lysanian were looking down on Selnan inhabitants who, in turn, feared the dragon's kingdom of legends and wisely remained near their own abodes.

The unannounced incursion of a dragon in the Imperial capital of Selnan was a huge breach in the peace treaty. What could be the cause of such a irregularity ? Xian really missed his Lysanian friend, the redhead Chen Yu. Even though the latter wasn't deeply knowledgeable about dragons, he had heard of many stories and rumors when he was a child. Maybe he knew about dangerous rogue dragons. With the tight control of the Dragon king and its retinue over all kinds of Lysanian magic users, did rogue dragons even exist ?

Just at this moment, Xian's whole body emitted a blinding flash of magic elements. He hadn't noticed that his headband had been askew due to his wild run and had slipped from his brow when he stopped. Moreover, the well-deserved rest he was taking had consequently allowed a significant amount of magic elements to quietly gather in his motionless body without him noticing.

In a split second, the battle above the capital came to a standstill. The dragon had flown higher in the sky, out of reach of the mages' spells, and had its big head raised as if looking for something or awaiting a signal. Moreover, it seemed to stare in Xian's direction. The young boy didn't know if the dragon was really able to see him but with his enhanced eyes, Xian was definitely able to see the dragon's formidable gaze. He could even see the flimsy puffs of smoke coming out of its gigantic nostrils when it breathed.

Xian was spellbound. He had always been fascinated by dragons and even if he was quite far, it was his first time seeing a real one. In a daze, he barely noticed the trembling hands of Qing Chan who was now wide awake and trying to retie his headband properly. But Xian absent-mindedly prevented her from doing so.

"Let's go to Lysania. We can lure the dragon away from the capital, I'm sure it will follow the light of the magic elements !"

Xian tried his best to sound confident but deep inside, he felt both anxious and elated. Maybe he would be able to see the huge dragon up close ? Would it let him touch its scales or would it try to kill him ? Most likely, it would be the latter. However, the young boy was so worked up that he felt his whole body electrified and didn't really know or care if it was due to his excitement or the level of magic elements reaching some kind of dangerous limit in his body.

Indeed, the dragon's enormous body shifted and it slowly started to fly away from the capital. Whoops of joy and relief mingled with cries of despair, but mostly the city was now safe from this tremendous, hitherto unseen threat. At the same moment, Xian stood up, took Qing Chan in his arms and resumed his mad dash through the land. This time, he headed directly towards Lysania, even using the flying spell he tried for the first time during his escape with Chen Yu.

Qing Chan was grabbing Xian's shirt once more but her grip was so tight that the fabric was bloody where her nails dug into her palms. They would not have pierced Xian's hardened skin but she was a delicate princess, after all, and it was her very first flight.

Closing her eyes as tightly as she could, Qing Chan just wondered how she got tangled in such a mess. Being close to Xian just brought her endless troubles. How unfair was that ?, she cried out in her heart.