Chapter 11: Attack

The ride was silent and Samaya kept glancing at her son from time to time, trying to see if he was okay. He was looking out the small window, the curtain lifted by his hand. He seemed fascinated by anything and everything. Samaya smiled fondly at the child but otherwise left him alone. They did need to have a talk but the men were paying close attention to them right now and little Manu was absolutely fascinated with just about everything he was seeing. So she kept quiet for now. She would have to find an opportunity soon.

She looked outside. Han Qin rode at the front while what she assumed were his subordinates surrounded the carriage. Her eyes naturally swept over the formation. The strongest at the front. The second strongest at the back. The middle is surrounded. Fairly good formation. There were holes… but no ordinary bandit could exploit them. She didn't think she could either. These people clearly knew martial arts, and she was clearly outnumbered by a lot, if she calculated right. She could feel none of the hidden ones. Had they been sent back? Bad decision on their part.

She looked back at her child, looking outside with stars in his eyes. "Manu," She called, her voice firm and sharp but not unkind, before she started to speak in English. "I know you're curious about everything but do not let your guard down, alright? We are going to a place where no one knows us and there will be a lot of people who will be hostile to us. We have to be careful."

Manu, who had already become fluent in English and French, and was also learning other languages with her, immediately straightened at her words and nodded. "Yes, Mama."

She nodded back, satisfied. "And whenever we need to have conversations like this in front of others, you know what to do, right?"

"Speak in English!" He exclaimed, his eyes once again shining with excitement. He was a child, after all. He loved that he was learning languages that no one else knew. She smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

"Good boy!"

He beamed at her. And then the moment was broken by a harsh rap on the side of the carriage.

"What are you two muttering about in there?" The boy riding along the carriage sneered at them. "Speak clearly!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. He couldn't be more than 17 or 18. He had a haughty posture and haughtiness exuded from his black eyes. Probably someone with good talent who got to a high position early in life. Arrogant and hot-tempered.

She opened her mouth to speak when there was a scoff beside her. "We are talking clearly," Manu said, switching seamlessly back to Chinese, "It's not our fault you're too dumb to understand!"

The boy's face turned ugly.

"You–"

"Pfft!" A loud laugh escaped Samaya's lips. She had almost forgotten how protective and vicious her son could get sometimes over her, however unnecessary it was.

She let out another laugh before flicking his forehead. "Calm down, Manu. Don't be so rude."

Manu crossed his arms. "Well, if he wasn't such an ass, I wouldn't be rude!" He deliberately spoke loudly so that the boy could hear in the one language the boy could understand. Samaya had to suppress her laughter, though she did end up snorting.

"You uncivilized little-"

"Second Young Master, please calm down. He's a child." A smooth voice came from the other side of the boy. Samaya tilted her head to see who it was and saw that it was a young man. He had a smooth, fair face, with the disposition of a scholar and bright, kind eyes.

'Second Young Master' scoffed. "What if he's a child? Can he just blabber anything he wants?"

"He's the Prince."

"What's that got to do with anything? It's because he wasn't taught properly that he is so uncivilized!"

Manu was about to snap again when Samaya flicked his forehead. "Calm down, brat. You will hear a lot worse from now on. You need to learn to keep your temper cool."

On the other hand, the young man also persuaded the Second Young Master. "Alright, alright. Calm down. No need to get angry. Come on. Let's get ahead a bit."

The boy calmed down and nodded. It seemed he listened to this older guy. As they trodded away on their horses, Samaya heard him speak in a harsh voice. "Qing-ge, how many times have I told you not to call me Young Master? Call me Ming'er. Ming'er!"

The young man - Qing apparently - said nothing and smiled.

What an odd pair of brothers.

Han Qin looked back at the mother-son pair by the fire. The mother was skilfully skinning the rabbits they had caught. Since they were a small entourage on a special mission from the Emperor, they did not bring many rations with them, they hunted for food and only bought some dried jerky and buns whenever they were in town. None of them had thought to make extra preparations for the new woman and child in their group.

Thankfully, the woman did not seem to mind. She even seemed habituated to working with hunts. She had insisted on preparing and cooking the rabbit. "Well, since you are the ones setting up the camp and hunting, it's only fair that I cook," was what she had said before almost forcefully snatching the rabbit from them.

He had never seen a woman act like her. Then again, most women he saw were the soft-spoken and well-bred ladies of the Capital or the occasional fearful peasant women. Not a woman who lived at the edge of a seedy village and taught her son to steal. And skin animals, apparently. She was muttering instructions softly at him as she did quick work of the rabbit, the boy watching the process with fascination. There was no mistaking the worship and devotion in the boy's eyes as he looked at his mother. It made him hope that the Emperor would not decide to separate them.

There was surely more to this woman than met the eye. The image he got was a poverty-stricken woman who had to resort to thievery to raise her son. She taught it to her son as well. He could imagine the uproar that would be caused in the capital if it was revealed that the first Prince was a thief. And Han Qin was sure this was the Prince. Even if he ignored the face that resembled the Emperor, those golden phoenix eyes were all the proof he needed. The boy had inherited little from his mother in terms of appearance.

Everything else, however - from character to attitude to speech - was from the mother.

Han Qin made sure to observe thoroughly so that he could make his report to the Emperor. Knowing the Emperor, he would want all the details about this child he suddenly found and, more importantly, the mother of the child.

A figure rushing towards him brought him out of his thoughts. He glanced towards it, only to see the little prince running towards him… no, he was running past him. He quickly grabbed the boy. "Where are you going?" He asked, strongly reminded of the first time they met.

The little Prince looked ready to jump out of his grip, and Han Qin tightened his hand. "I need to go pee!"

Han Qin's tense face relaxed a bit, though his hand didn't. "I will go with you."

The boy - Manu, he said - hesitated before looking back at his mother. Han Qin glanced at her as well. She was staring at him intensely, just like she had when they first revealed their intentions. She apparently found what she was looking for because she looked at her son and nodded. The boy turned to Han Qin and repeated the gesture.

Only then did he let go, but made sure to gesture his men to keep an eye on the woman. He had a feeling that she was a slippery one. He made his way into the woods with the boy. Once they paused, the boy turned around him with his brows furrowed. "Don't look!"

Han Qin sighed and turned around, not bothering to argue. It was not like he could escape from him just because he wasn't looking. The sound of clothes being removed and liquid hitting the ground confirmed that he really did have to pee. He sighed and waited for him to finish.

At that very moment, he felt the hair on his back stand. His senses sharpened and he heard the swoosh of the knife flying through the air before he even saw it. His sword was out of the scabbard and deflecting the knife that was clearly aimed at the Prince's head. He grabbed the Prince and almost flew out of the woods.

"ATTACK! GATHER!"

His voice reverberated throughout the camp and the men were up in an instant. So was the woman. He would have been surprised if he'd had the time to be. But he didn't. She was rushing forward, her eyes fixed on the child. He crossed the distance in a moment and shoved the boy into her arms before he and his soldiers surrounded the pair, facing the woods.

Any moment now.

There was a faint whistle that went right beside Han Qin's ear and then he heard a gasp behind him. He glanced back, only to see the woman holding her left hand out in front of the Prince's throat, formed into a fist. There was a wire as thin as a hair wrapped around her fists, digging into her flesh as she pulled it taut. Blood slid down the wire.

She pulled her son into her arm and twisted her hand to tighten her grip on the wire, unflinching despite the fact that it was pressing further into her flesh. Song Yuan was the first to catch on. He grasped the wire before he tightened his hand around the wire firmly and pulled with all his strength. There was rustling in the woods before a figure stumbled out of one of the trees and smashed into the ground with a loud grunt.

Han Qin gritted his teeth and barked orders. "Zhongqing, get him. Yuming, Song Yuan, find the rest of them. Try to capture at least one alive. Ah-Long, stay behind the Prince and protect them"

The three figures blurred past him. Zhongqing ran towards the man. Yuming and Song Yuan leaped into the woods. Despite the campfire, the surrounding was dark. Though Han Qin could sense things, the pitch darkness did make it hard to see. But he could still make out the figure prone on the ground spring up and attack Zhongqing. It wasn't much of a fight and Zhongqing subdued him easily. But there seemed to be a struggle and Han Qin could clearly hear a soft "No!" from the young man, followed by "Spit it out, spit it out!" Han Qin could faintly make out Zhongqing's hand on the man's jaw. After a moment, the figure slumped in Zhingqing's arms and the young man shook him a few times before he sighed and laid him down.

He turned around and yelled. "He's dead. He killed himself!"

At that moment, Yuming ran out of the woods, a look of disappointment on his face. Ah-Yuan followed him soon after. He hadn't paid attention to the fight in the woods but he knew he had heard swords clashing. Were they done so quickly?

"They fled," Yuming said, shaking his head.

"Not all of them," Song Yuan said. "Two of them distracted us while the rest ran away, We wanted to catch them but-"

"They killed themselves," Yuming completed.

"Well," Han Qin heard the feminine voice from behind him. "This is off to a good start."