Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 117167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117167 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 586(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
“I’m surprised others aren’t up here with us,” Cao Zimo continued. “But then, there was some question whether Shixiong and Er-ge3 would make it home tonight or tomorrow night.”
Yichen cracked. “Why are they traveling at night?” His head whipped around to glare at his companion. “It’s more dangerous to travel at night. This makes no sense, and Shixiong is always sensible. He would have stopped at an inn if they couldn’t make it before the sun set.”
“Maybe something happened in Chang’An with the emperor, and they’re in a hurry to get back.” Zimo’s face wrinkled in a wincing, lopsided smile. “Good news, maybe?”
Yichen bit his tongue. Good news and the emperor couldn’t be spoken of in the same breath. His stomach twisted into knots. This didn’t feel like good news.
“Or maybe Shixiong is in a hurry to get Shifu’s body home,” Zimo suggested.
But that wasn’t it. Yichen had been standing beside Li Xiang when he’d opened the brief message from Zhang Xiao Dan. He and Chen were traveling ahead of the wagons bringing Shifu and the others to Luoyang. He’d been clear that they would arrive after sunset in three or four days. And that they were returning with an imperial edict.
No. None of this was good.
“What was that?” Zimo whispered.
Yichen jerked his gaze up, searching in the direction his companion pointed. There was nothing but shadows and tree branches shifting with the light breeze. “I don’t see anything. Probably a fox or rabbit.”
“I don’t know. It seemed…faster.”
That lifted one of Yichen’s brows. What in the world was faster than a fox or hare on the run?
He opened his mouth to say Zimo was flinching at shadows when the distant pound of horses’ hooves reached his ears. His breath stopped in his throat, and he strained to hear if it was there or his imagination.
No. Horses were approaching. Fast.
Shixiong and Er-ge were drawing close, or someone was coming up from the town with a problem. The Sword of the Heavenly Garden Sect acted as peacekeepers and healers for the townspeople as often as they could. It was common for a request to come in the middle of the night.
He was hoping it was the former. Helping the locals was nice, but right now, all he wanted was to see Xiao Dan’s and Chen’s faces. They could reassure him that they had no intention of sending him home.
After another minute, the horses came into view. Three of them.
“That’s them!” Zimo shouted, seizing Yichen’s arm and shaking him. He ignored his companion and squinted. It should have been two people. Who was with them?
“I’ll open the gate!” Zimo announced as he jumped down from the wall.
Yichen hesitated, wishing he’d grabbed a sword or a dagger. Something. A sickening cold crawled across his flesh and bit into his bones. Something about all of this felt wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He wanted to tell himself that it was uneasiness clinging to him after the way Shifu had died. Yet, there was still the strange message from Shixiong and the fact that they’d traveled at night. Not to mention this unexpected visitor.
As they drew near the gate, they slowed their horses while Zimo opened the giant wooden doors, giving Yichen a clear view of Xiao Dan’s face. His shixiong lifted weary eyes to him and flashed a weak smile. He seemed paler than normal, but that could be from everything they’d gone through and the travel from Chang’An. Chen appeared tense, his hands clenched on the reins and shoulders painfully straight, between Xiao Dan and the stranger.
Ignoring the knots twisting up his stomach, Yichen jumped from his perch on the wall and walked over to where his clan brothers had stopped their horses. Mourning white wrapped both men while the stranger was dressed in black with a sword strapped to his back. There was something so chilling about him. Not simply cold, but to look at him was to freeze the blood in Yichen’s veins and scatter frost across his soul.
“Have there been any problems, Didi?”4 Chen’s sharp voice ripped Yichen’s gaze from the stranger and to his face as he now stood in front of him.
“N-no. No problems. We have been saying prayers and burning spirit money for Shifu and our other lost brothers since we received your first message.”
Chen gave a quick nod and squeezed Yichen’s shoulder with one hand. He wanted to inquire why they’d traveled through the night to reach home and what news they had from the emperor, but those questions lost their urgency against the bigger one: who the hell was the stranger standing in the courtyard, eyeing their home as if he’d come to claim ownership?
It was better to leave that last question unspoken for now. He turned his eyes to Chen to ask him about his trip and what news he had from Chang’An. Zimo was saying something to the stranger. Just his usual friendly chatter of greeting when his voice cut off. Yichen whipped his eyes back to see the man holding Zimo by the throat, lifting him up off the ground so that his toes barely scratched the ground.