Nightfall

"It is unexpected to meet you here, Cǎo Jiàn," Dàilán spoke conversationally as she watched the other Cultivator with a calmness she did not feel. Her thoughts were threatening to freeze at the sight of a trickle of blood making its way down her friend's neck, despite years of training to deal with kidnappings - an unfortunate necessity of her birth and status.

"Unexpected for you, perhaps." Something ugly twisted Jiàn's handsome face, "but I was expecting you. Fortunately for me - I still have friends in your precious Sect. Enough to let me escape, anyway. Not so fortunate, for this puffed up chit," he jerked his restraining arm savagely, choking Chénli and causing her to gasp for breath.

"Quiet, Enforcer. Or I slice that pretty throat of yours and then finish off your mistress." The threat was more alarming for the conversational tone the fugitive used.

"That is why you are here," observed the young Heiress, feeling very much a child at the moment and fighting not to show it, "to finish your attempt to assassinate me."

Jiàn rolled his eyes, "Obviously. Any other obvious comments, girl?"

"You do not need my bodyguard for that," pointed out Dàilán carefully, "let her go and I will go with you." As she spoke, something tugged at her neck. The Heiress blinked as a familiar sensation of concern, confusion and protectiveness came from the Soul Tablet now brushing against her collarbone beneath the robe.

"Let the trained assassin go? Yes, of course, there is no way that could possibly go wrong," mocked the other Cultivator. "No, you do as I say, or she dies. Painfully."

Shrugging, Dàilán turned to go around the pair where they stood on the trail and started walking slowly past them - while pushing her feelings of danger and needing assistance as hard as she could towards that part of her resting in the Heart through her Soul Tablet.

"She would be the first one to tell me, her death is part of the job, if it keeps me safe," Dàilán explained matter-of-factly, "it is regrettable, but she would be most unhappy if I got killed trying to protect her instead."

Jiàn laughed mockingly, "How does it feel to be saddled with such an ungrateful empty vase, Enforcer Fuan?" He turned on the spot to keep Dàilán in view, dragging Chénli around with him, "I would be a lot more worried about you, Enforcer, if you did not have an empty vase dragging you down."

Dàilán felt an answering wash of shock, alertness and anger flowing back from the Heart via her soul tablet. Circling around until Jiàn faced away from the arch, leaving the trail open in front of her as she turned back to face the other Cultivator. She noted that Chénli was no longer choking, so perhaps his attention was not as focused on his hostage anymore. Over Jiàn's shoulder, she saw a shimmer running through the Essence Formation barrier set up around the stone arch, while the eyes of the carvings on the stone páifāng seemed to shine oddly in the late afternoon light.

"Of course, if I leave unscathed, you fail your mission," pointed out the Heiress in a disinterested tone, taking a deliberate step backward, further down the now open trail, "Your… masters will be displeased you were discovered - with so little result to make it… worthwhile… is that not so - Grass Sword?"

Cǎo Jiàn froze and Dàilán spotted a very slight, momentary blurring over Chénli's skin as Jiàn's arm loosened slightly. Over his shoulder she saw another, more pronounced shimmer run through the barrier around the stone páifāng.

Another ugly expression crossed Jiàn's handsome face and he pointed the sword he was holding at Chénli's neck at Dàilán, snarling angrily, "You know nothing…"

Chénli shifted, limbs striking out for Jiàn's vital points as she attempted to twist free of his hold, even as Dàilán leapt forward as her fastest possible speed, blades leading for Jiàn's throat. There was a sharp cry from Chénli a niàn before the Heiress slammed into Cǎo Jiàn, accompanied by a flash of discharged Essence as her daggers slammed against his hastily raised sword.

The Grass Cult infiltrator flew back as her shoulder crashed into his chest - sending him skidding on the trail as he borrowed momentum from the strike to leap clear. Dàilán's momentum had been stolen by the clash; she stepped to the side, her focus on Chénli who was crumpling against one of the boulders on the left side of the trail, blood quickly beginning to show through her robes.

"Damn, not fast enough... sword went through my... barriers like butter." Chénli gasped as her face rapidly paled from a combination of pain and blood loss, "Sorry, I let the bastard... get the drop on me, Mistress."

"Hells," swore Dàilán as she pushed a hand against the wound on her friends side, pushing Essence into the only Wood Essence technique she knew - only intended for basic healing of minor cuts and bruises.

Chénli pushed at her hand, already dragging out a roll of inscribed field bandages out from somewhere under her robes with the other, paling with the effort, "Do not worry about me... Mistress, focus... on the threat - I will manage," she choked out as she strapped her torso with the bandages, which glowed as Chénli pushed Essence through the formations embroidered on them, eliciting a pained cry as they tightened over the wound.

"Your bodyguard is down, - Heir - " Jiàn's voice was gleeful as the young teen heiress pulled her hand away from Chénli and turned her attention fully on him, placing herself defensively between the evil cultivator and her wounded friend, "now I can deal with you easily without her interfering. My Masters, as you put it, will reward me highly for your head." He licked his lips, "But first, I can think of better uses for the rest of you."

Dàilán let her eyebrows raise, "If this is how you wield your sword, I do not think I have much to worry about." She shifted into a deliberately cat-footed saunter towards him to hold his attention while she stayed between between him and the boulder Chénli leant against, keeping her disgust hidden with a mask of cool disdain, "You are clearly the sort that finishes things… prematurely. Fleeing the Sect, letting your Senior be captured, while you escape… taunting the Sect your false identity." She clicked her tongue in mocking disapproval.

"No one in your precious sect has the brains to see what was in front of their eyes - they were too busy falling all over themselves gifting me resources trying to keep me - their Sect Genius - happy," Jiàn sneered, " and if you are referring to that overweight waste of space that your sanctimonious Sect called an Elder, the greedy coward was working for me, not the other way around."

The now confessed Grass Cult infiltrator, paused in a mockery of surprise, "or did you really think he was the type to suicide to escape capture? He would have never agreed to having a punishment formation implanted into his Essence - if he knew about it."

He laughed at the teen Heiress' stunned expression, "I was right, you knew nothing. I, on the other hand, was quite sure that the sudden disappearance of so many of my agents was related somehow to your arrival. The timing… I do not suppose you would be willing to explain exactly - how - you managed that?"

Dàilán calmly stepped back, sinking into a defensive stance - ready to defend or attack as she kept Chénli behind her, but the infiltrator just tilted his head and regarded her as if he was looking at a particularly interesting insect, "I did not think so." He began walking slowly towards her, "actually, I - had - planned to leave straight after the Elder's punishment Formation alerted me to his demise, but that tournament was simply too good a chance to pass up."

"You should have left," answered the young teen, matching his steps to keep the distance open while still making sure that she was between him and the boulder.

"I had to try," he shrugged, "it would have made things a lot simpler if you were removed - just like your mother. And I would have been rewarded instead of punished for escaping." He grinned, "I still will be."

There was pained laughter from behind Dàilán. "By all the gods and demons... this dog can bark forever... like this cursed day... that never seems to end," Chénli gasped out with gallows humour, "if I have keep listening to his endless yapping... dying seems preferable."

Out of the corner of her left eye, Dàilán could see Chénli glaring at Cǎo Jiàn as she leant against the boulder, despite her injuries. The sight flushed away the red haze that had threatened to cover her vision and she cocked her head as if she had not heard Jiàn's offhand comment, despite seething internally - Chénli's interjection had given her a moment to grasp control of her instinctive response to Jiàn's taunting. "How do you get through the Heart anyway? Obviously, your Soul Tablet is a fake."

Jiàn rolled his eyes again at Chénli's comments and Dàilán's question, but the throbbing of the vein at his temple showed that Chénli's mockery was having the desired effect, despite his pretence of ignoring her.

"Obviously, I do not go through the Heart," he replied sarcastically to Dàilán, "just as obviously, you already know that. And no, I am not going to tell you how." He smiled thinly, "Were you expecting me to spill all my secrets before I kill you? Sorry 'Heiress', not that gullible." He twitched irritably as Chénli scoffed weakly at his words, but continued, "I know all about the Sect Soul Tablets, remember?"

Cǎo Jiàn's lips twisted and he shrugged, "I grow tired of this. Time to die, foolish girls." Even as he spoke, he struck out towards the young teen Heiress like a coiled snake.

Dàilán pushed herself away from the strike reacting just quickly enough to dodge Jiàn's blade, which brushed her battle robes in a flash of Essence as the defensive formations woven into them responded. Her Essence Daggers parried the sword blade downward with the right blade and struck at his shoulder with the left as she spun inside the sword's reach.

Since she was inside his blade and had it trapped, Jiàn was forced to pull back to defend from her strike. He twisted backward and a bright flare leapt from his free hand. Dàilán was forced to disengage to dodge the Essence strike and it slammed into the trail with a sharp report and a shower of gravel.

Jiàn looked at her with an irritated expression, "You were holding back in our last fight."

Deliberately rolling her eyes, the young teen made an unimpressed face, "Or I am not completely tapped out and wounded after fighting twelve other people, coward?" she retorted sarcastically.

Even in the late afternoon light that was quickly dimming towards dusk she could see the darkening flush of his complexion, just as Dàilán felt a sudden sensation of warning from the Heart. Realising what both things meant, she threw one of her daggers directly at him, massively charging the blade with Essence as she did so. The resulting thunder and brilliant Lightning Essence crackling from the formations on the real, full strength Essence blade leapt between them like an actual lightning strike; hiding the quieter flash and crackle as the barrier around the stone páifān collapsed.

The faux-thunderbolt blasted the infiltrator back towards the gate and away from her - despite his instinctive block - as if struck by a giant hammer; defensive formations flared to life around him as he was thrown through the air and directly into the sudden charging mass of Sect Enforcers that crashed through the opening of the stone páifāng - like raging flood waters sweeping into the small gully.

For a moment the gully was a confused mass of battling Cultivators; in the rapidly dimming light Dàilán could not see past the shouts, flashes, explosions and sounds of weapons clashing to make out details as Jiàn - presumably - reacted violently to the sudden incursion; in the chaos, two figures separated and dashed over to Chénli's prone form.

The young heiress darted over to stand protectively in front of Chénli, causing the two Cultivators to pull up sharply, "Let us pass… ah! Heiress, we thought…" The two suddenly flustered Cultivators were young women and Dàilán blinked then nodded as she got a good look at their robes - they were simpler versions of the robes the Head Healer had worn.

"I am not injured. Treat my Guard," she ordered, stepping aside and keeping a watchful eye on the swirl of combat and another on what the healers were doing - they moved swiftly past her, attention totally focused on their patient, so she felt reassured that they were genuine - but she kept watch on them nonetheless, her worry mounting as she saw that Chénli did not react visibly to their presence.

After a few breaths of combat, a figure broke free from the far side of the furball and cast a violent look at her over his shoulder - Jiàn in serious dishevelment and clearly enraged, blood staining his robes.

"Your fortune will desert you soon enough, Knife Witch!" the Grass agent screamed wildly at her as he leapt upward from boulder to boulder up the far side of the gully to escape his pursuers, "and I will be there waiting for you!"

He then dodged, ducked and disappeared over the top of the gully as the Sect Enforcers sent dozens of techniques his way and began flowing up the small cliff after him like a crashing wave, with a certain diminutive figure waving an enormous weapon and cackling madly - visibly and audibly - at the fore.

One Cultivator remained behind, then walked quickly over. As he drew closer, Dàilán recognised the Head Guard in the dimming light, his body language expressing relief as he recognised her. "Heir," he greeted her formally, "I am glad you are unhurt."

"He was too busy explaining how many mistakes I had made to take the time to realise that I was reacting always just a fraction faster than he was," replied the young Heiress wryly, "but I am glad the Heart brought his barrier down and the Sect came through as fast as you did. I am fairly certain he had gotten tired of the game. If he had gone all out..."

The Head Guard looked over at the two Healers, who had lifted Chénli onto the flat surface of the boulder and were still working on her with Essence lights hanging in mid air above them, providing a bright light. Dàilán followed his gaze, releasing a long, distressed breath, "It helped a great deal that Chen'er kept most of his attention on her. Unfortunately, he wounded her when she took a chance to escape his capture."

"What is Enforcer Fuan's status?" enquired the Head Guard tersely of the two healers.

One of the female Cultivators working on Chénli straightened up and turned to face them, speaking through the shimmer of a small Essence shield that projected up from the collar of her robes and covered her head entirely. "Reporting, the Enforcer is in a serious condition. We have managed to stop the bleeding and temporarily stabilised her, but the Enforcer sustained a very deep cut with a Yin aspected Essence weapon through major sections of her torso, exposing the ribs. She will need to return to the Sect for full healing and recovery time is likely to take at least a week, even with Essence assisted healing and rehabilitation techniques."

The Heiress slumped and closed her eyes, "I cannot stay with her. If I do not return to Hujian before the last of the crow-light leaves the sky, my Father is liable to start a war with the Sect over concerns with my safety." She looked despairingly at the last of the light of crow-set lining the tops of the mountains, "Even now it is too late…"

"Not too late, Heir," assured the Head Guard, then focused his attention back on the Healers, who were still working on Chénli. "Take the Enforcer back to the Sect. Protective status."

The Healers nodded sharply, then activated some sort of jade plate that expanded, lengthened then slid under Chénli's body on the boulder. The platform lifted Chénli between them and kept pace as they walked swiftly towards the stone páifāng, then vanished under its arch.

"Our Healers will deal with your friend's wounds, Heir. Enforcer Fuan has had worse in the past. Let us get you home." He offered a hand in a nobleman's gesture, handing her the dagger she had thrown at Jiàn - and despite how terrible she felt, Dàilán felt the corners of her lips twitch upward at this final absurdity - on top of the rest of the rest of this absurd, endless day.

Taking the blade she pulled it back into its sleeve sheath; then responded with the appropriate 'orchid' hand shape as dictated by noble custom as she placed her hand in his.

Moments later they were airborne, the landscape rolling beneath them for a breath as the golden crow appeared to lift slightly back into the sky and Hujian appeared below them.

The Head Guard released her from his domain. She fell swiftly towards the ground, pushing the Veil technique outward to stay invisible and Essence through her body to withstand and slow her fall, landing at Hujian's gates unnoticed. Here, the walls of the city cast long shadows but the last of the afternoon light was still shining.

The young teen shook herself and then pulled the Veil technique inward slightly, making sure she remained unnoticed, but not unseen, and mixed in with the daily stream of workers, travelers and merchants going into the city.

After following the flow of incoming travellers, carts and merchants for a few moments, she ducked free into less travelled streets and then raised the veil to full strength as she moved swiftly through the streets of the busy outer ring for the time it takes an incense stick to burn - and then a breath after that into the less hurried but still crowded inner city as its nightlife of taverns, restaurants and other entertainment establishments shifted into their busiest cycle.

She arrived back at the Guan Clan compound quickly and mingled quietly, using the Veil technique again to pass unnoticed, into bustle of servants passing in and out of the compound on errands, though she felt the brush of the Clan's formations recognise her and allow her access.

A number of the servants were complaining quietly about being sent out on delivery tasks to the favourite restaurant of the young masters, rather than her cousins being satisfied with the fare from the Clan's Essence Chefs.

Dàilán shook her head ruefully as she ducked into away down the paths leading to her wing of the compound - the matron would be in a bad mood tonight.

Walking quickly through her wing to remain unnoticed, despite the servants moving around lighting the Clan Compound's lamps to stave off the fall of night, had her knocking quickly at her own suite doors in a specific pattern a few breaths after leaving the main courtyard.

The doors slid open a crack and she slipped through, letting herself become visible as she pulled the Veil inward to hide her Cultivation like her Grandfather had shown her, rather than releasing the technique.

She was met with Ài and Chàng still in their 'Bodyguard and Heiress' disguises, both looking worried and apprehensive. Ài's eyes widened at Chénli's absence and Dàilán raised a hand to forstall questions, "Chénli had to remain at the Sect for the time being. Ài, you will act in her place until she returns. Let us change our clothes quickly - If you could call Biyu to run me a bath, I shall be forever grateful."

The three of them broke into a bustle of disrobing and changing outfits. A few moments later Biyu opened the doors and came in quickly, relief plain on her face as she went directly into the bathroom, dipping a bow in her young mistress's direction as Dàilán divested herself of the battle robes and weaponry.

"Recovery and soothing oils please, Bi'er. My muscles are tense," called the young teen heiress after her maid's disappearing back as the maid's and lady-in-waiting's disguises vanished. Chàng reappeared from behind the privacy screen in her ordinary servants dress with a large laundry bag over her shoulder and disappeared out the door.

Ài appeared a moment after Chàng, similarly dressed in her regular servants dress and picked up the weapons and battle robes, disappearing into the suite's wardrobe for a moment as the Heiress headed eagerly for her bath.

As the Heiress sank gratefully into the steaming, scented and medicinal water, she closed her eyes. Ài appeared at the bathroom door and spoke, "My pardon, Young Mistress, but your father has been by twice in the last shi to check on you."

"Please let him know I am bathing for dinner, Ài. I apologise for the short notice, but you will need to accompany me tonight - and likely for the remainder of the week," responded Dàilán. As Ài bowed and turned to follow her instructions, the young heiress spoke wearily, "Thank you - all three of you - for your help today. I am sorry I cut it close - there were unavoidable complications."

"We are just glad you are safe," responded Biyu happily.

"That remains to be seen," sighed the young teen although humor danced in her eyes, "There is still Father's interrogation to face at dinner tonight."