THE AMBUSH

POV: PRINCE LIU XIE: LORD OF THE CRANNIES

LOCATION: THE ROYAL HUNTING GROUNDS

TIME: THE FIRST DAY OF THE NEW YEAR

"I only kill predators general Song." You reply

"That is because they always try to fight first."

"Then you should be happy to know that the main reason for this hunt is to find a large man eating tiger that has been reported to be patrolling the area."

General Hanfu Song gives eunuch Zhao Zhong a look to kill but the eunuch couldn't care less as he rides towards you.

"A tiger? Father never said anything about a tiger." You counter

"That would probably be because he did not see fit to mention it and I am sure he will not appreciate an over eager attendant mentioning it behinde his back." Hanfu Song says acidly

"Well either that or he already expected you to know but some people (he gives Hanfu Song a dirty look) went to great lengths to make sure that their nephew catches the tiger first."

Not having any thing to say in reply Hanfu Song speeds up his horse in order to end the conversation.

"Well if that is the case, then it just means I have to find the tiger on my own." You tell Zhao Zhong

"All due respect my prince, this is the royal hunting grounds." Zhao Zhong says trying to keep his voice level

"There are bears, wolves and other predators that could possibly kill you. And you mean to tell me that you plan to go along?"

"Do you think I cannot defend myself eunuch?" Your tone becomes sly

"I am just going to find the tracks. You can come with me if you want."

"Then I hope you do not mind my company my prince." He says as he moves his horse to accompany you.

You spend some time searching for the tiger tracks but it seems like the tiger is very cautious. Well either that or you do not really know how a tiger track look likes.

"You know we were all expecting you at the new year festival my prince." Zhao Zhong says

"Really now?" You reply casually while trying to figure out how a tiger track looks likes

"Of course my prince." He continues

"The emperor would not start without you, the empress personally inquired about your presence and even your royal brother was a bit sad when he did not see you."

"Do you know why I hate political discussions." You ask the eunuch

"It is because all of you can not say a single sentence without saying a single lie. The emperor would not start without me? How would he even notice my absence when he surrounded by talented flatters like you? As for the empress and my brother, I am very sure that the only reason they were unhappy about my absence is that they had plans to poison me."

"You should not talk about your family that way my prince." He reprimands

"So I should not speak the truth then?" You ask slyly

"Is that why you choose to spend the new year with common peasents." He counters swiftly changing the subject

You nod lightly

"When a peaseant laugh at your joke, it is because he finds it funny and not because they expect gold tales in return. When they share their wine with you it is because they like you and not because they expect an appointment in return and when a common girl smiles at you, it is because she likes you and not because her father ask her to in order to secure her future." You explain sincerely

"The new year is the most important day to me eunuch. I would much rather spend it with my sincere peasents than with the back stapping politicians at the imperial palace."

"So does that mean you have no ambitions with regard to the royal palace?" He asked carefully

"Are you trying to inquire if I wish to be the crown prince?" The look of shock in his eyes tells you that your guess is spot on.

"My only ambition is to survive up to adulthood eunuch. Any other ambition can come later."

"So does that mean you might have the ambition later?" You give him a dirty look

"Tiger tracks my lord"

"Where?"

He stops his horse and points at the large cat like tracks on the ground.

"Get my father and the rest of his entourage here." You command

"I am going after the tiger"

You quickly leave before he can complain

You follow the tiger tracks for a while until you come to the mouth of a large cave. At the mouth of the cave, you check your bow and arrows, draw your sword and turn back to the forest road.

"Are you two going to come out or are you going stand around waiting untill my people come?" You ask boldly

Exactly as you expect, two men armed with longswords and daggers emerge from the forest.

"Seems like you are very perceptive your highness." One of them says

"Our targets do not normally see us before our daggers land on their backs."

"Well you must be losing your touch." You counter

"I could smell you from a mile away. Are these all of you?"

The glance they both give to each other tells you the full story.

"I take some misfortune befell the rest of you?" Your tone is laced in scorn.

"Apparently your protection were quite talented." The second one admits.

"But not enough to stop us from getting here." The first one adds

"Unless you sacrified the rest of your group to get here in which case I can rightly call you cowardly and pathetic."

This words brought about an anger that could be felt even from a far distance.

"Enough. We were sent here to kill you and that is what we are going to do." The first one cried

"So do yourself a favor and surrender and we will grant you mercy of a quick death"

"Surrender?" You ask with false innocence

"It seems your employer never told you but I am not an easy person to kill."

So saying, you charge at the second masked man and attack him with a fury of attacks. This move was quite unexpected so more than a few gets past his guard but eventually his experience helps him put up a solid defense against your attack. You are forced to withdraw when his partner comes to help him and tries to attack your flank. The duo then begins to counter attack but you are able to predict and put a good defense against their very cunning attacks even though your armor takes some blows in the process. The two then try to flank you from both sides and begin to launch coordinated against you. You begin to find yourself gradually being pushed back and your armor begins taking more ànd more blows. This is because whenever one of them strikes the second would quickly follow up in order take advantage of any openings in your defense. Seeing that these men were experienced assassis who were coordinated you decide to try something desperate. So the next strike you receive you swiftly defend it and counter with a flying kick that sends the first assassin flying a few feet backwards. In that brief space the second assassin performs an over head strike but you easily get below his strike and counters with two quick strikes to his ribs and his back. You were about to take advantage of his disoriention but a swift slash to the back of your legs by the recovered first assassin sends you leaping back in defense. The two assassins begins to attack again but this time you use your fancy footwork to move around and make sure that they do not have the chance to flank you like before. This moving around quickly gives you a dangerous idea and it shocks that you did not think about before.

Following your plan, you slowly bait them into switching places with you and unknownly placing their backs on the entrance of tiger's cave. Once their backs were there you shamelessly throw sand into the second assassin's eyes and brutally kick him into the tiger's cave. This briefly stuns the first assassin and you use that space to leap forward and begin launching some very vicious strikes against him. When he finally tris to counter, you place his sword on your sword, let his blade run down the length of yours, knock aside his hand when the blade get to the handle and deliver a deep slash that cuts down from his chest to his stomach. You take advantage of his injury and delivers a stap that should end everything but he quickly drops his sword, catches your weapon with his bare hands and holds on tight.

"Now Mo wen!" He cries

The second one leaps out of the cave with his sword pointed towards you in a move that would have ended your very life, if it wasn't for the large white tiger that appeared behind him and gave him a blow that knocks him to a completely different conner. The tiger takes a look at the two of you but decides to go after the prey it has already knocked down.

This turns the fight into a one on one and you take advantage of the surprise of the tiger's appearence to withdraw your sword from the assassin's hand, delivering a deep slash to his palms in the process. You follow up with a quick strike but he quickly leaps back to his sword thereby avoiding your strikes by the narrowest of margins.

When he finally picks up his sword, you quickly notice that he was having trouble holding it because of the wound on his palms. The wound on his chest was gushing red as well and your sharp eyes see that he is having trouble standing up.

"If you leave right now I will not hold this crime against you." You offer

Rather than reply directly, he simply adjusts his stance, presents his sword and says

"The bloody crown will never fail."

He then leaps forward towards you but you leaps to meet him halfway and you both clang swords in the air. When you land on the ground, you both begin trading blows for blows and you gain a distinct advantage because unlike your opponent you are wearing light iron armor so while his strikes do little or no damage to you every strike of yours that lands draws blood from his already severely dehydrating body.

Eventually he tries to gain some space by leaping back but you leaps forward and position your sword in an over head strike. He then tries to block the strike but it turns out to be a feint as you quickly switch your sword to your off hand and with the aid of gravity, deliver a brutal strike that sends his head flying clean off.

As you watch his blood gush out in droves from his headless body, the only thing you could think was that

You should have just accepted my offer .

You quickly turn to face the the second assassin but you find out that what is left of him has already served as food to the large white tiger. You take a defensive stance, in case the tiger attacks but the large white tiger who was bleeding from multiple poisoned stap wounds, slowly struggles to get to the entrance. When it got there it looks back at you and looks at the cave.

"You want me to come in there?" The tiger moans in response

"Well I just hope you won't eat me"

Slowly you disarm yourself and walk into the cave while still keeping a cautious eye on the tiger. The tiger then slowly struggles to move to a certain conner of the cave and slowly lies down. To your surprise three cubs comes out from cracks in the cave and quickly go to suckle from their mother. You can see that she is dying and even with her dying breath she still tries to feed her cubs one last time. She then tries hard to stand but is unable to so she slowly crawls towards you and gives you a look that can only be described as pleading.

"Don't worry I will take care of them." You say gently rubbing her head

"I swear to the heavens, I will take care of them."

You don't know if it is the sincerity in your voice or if the tiger understands you but as soon as she hears these words, she crawls back to entrance and stays there.

Meanwhile you take another look at the cubs and the words of the red letter comes rushing back to you

Is this what the letter means when it talks about a surprise pack?

Thank you Liu Su