The Story Of Dusk

The guard who was kneeling on the ground raised his head slightly and looked at his Master with anxious expression. "Prince Xiao Jun is greatly injured and Commander Dam asked Master to come to the north and take the lead of the three hundreds soldier."

"Injured?" Xiao Tianyao couldn"t discern this, how bad his injuries until he have to come to take the lead?

As to answer his question, the guard gave him a letter, on the envelope there was the wax stamp of The Emperor.

Xiao Tianyao couldn"t help but scrunched his brows, why the letter was official with the stamp of the Emperor? If that was the case, than the letter must have been seen by the Emperor, wasn"t the letter came from Elder Dam?

No one could answer that.

Xiao Tianyao stretched out his hand to take the letter and opened it immediately.

Xiao mugi in Luna"s hand also stretched his neck to see what was inside, though even he could see it he still couldn"t read it.

"What is that?" Xiao Mugi pointed his finger toward the letter in Xiao Tianyao"s hand.

"Ssst." Luna hushed him. "That is a letter." She whispered at her son.

"Father hates letter." Xiao Mugi whispered back at Luna. He saw the expression on his father"s changed drastically and his father became even scarier than usual.

Luna didn"t answer to that statement and only gave Xiao Mugi to his wet nurse and asked all of them to leave, including the guard.

Luna was waiting for long time before Xiao Tianyao turned down the letter and squeezed it in his palm.

"What happen?" She asked, looking at the poor letter that now had turned into a ball. "Something is wrong? How is your brother?"

Xiao Tianyao didn"t answer her immediately, he closed his eyes to calm himself before he spoke. "I have to go to the north. Jun has been unconscious for a week." He said.

"Why the letter came from the Emperor?" Luna saw the wax stamp on the envelope too and knew that the Emperor and her father had been plotting something, this past year was too uneventful for them to not come up with another schemes.

Xiao Tianyao gave the letter, which had turned into a ball, to Luna. He let her to read while he walked back toward his courtyard.

Luna was standing there, trying to unravel the letter and fortunately it was still readable.

This letter was official and the contain said Xiao Jun was badly injured because the enemies had sent a secret a.s.sa.s.sins and there was a betrayal among Xiao Jun"s soldier, who had poisoned him, that was the major caused of Xiao Jun"s  injuries as he wasn"t able to fight them all.

However Luna knew better to not believe that. Secret a.s.sa.s.sins, poison, those things most likely came from the Emperor and Modama itself.

In the other paragraph it stated that Xiao Tianyao"s military status had been restored by the Emperor and his first duty was to bring glory and ended this war as soon as possible, with that, the Emperor would pardon his mistakes in the past.

Luna sneered at the word of pardon, how this person became so shameless to pardon Xiao Tianyao? While he was the one who had arranged her to seduce Xiao Tianyao? Seemingly, his conscience had gone.

In the last paragraph, it explained why the letter was coming from the palace, apparently Elder Dam had to go to the former Xinghe Kingdom"s territory to take care of the rebelation that occurred there.

Therefore the northern fortress was left without a real leader and not only that, the three hundred soldiers that was left there was the former of Xiao Tianyao"s men and all of them were really royal to him.

Except Xiao Tianyao, it was only Xiao Jun who could take control over them, thus it was only right if the Emperor gave back the military power to Xiao Tianyao.

Luna was speechless with this schemes, they didn"t give Xiao Tianyao another options neither he could reject it, giving to the fact his brother was nearly death and no one could protect him if Xiao Tianyao didn"t hurry back to the northern fortress.

After reading the letter, Luna went back to their courtyard and toward their room.

Inside, Xiao Tianyao was giving Yang Yu an order, both of them were talking very serious, thus Luna had to wait before she could step in, she didn"t want to disturb their conversation.

Only when Yang Yu walked out of the room and gave her a bow, which she reciprocated with slightly nod, she went inside the room and found Xiao Tianyao was standing beside the window, looked very distracted.

"Tianyao…" Luna called out to him. "That letter…"

"I have to go." Xiao Tianyao cut her off before she could voice out her concern.

"I know." Luna nodded and continued. "But, don"t you think all of that was happening according to the Emperor"s plan?"

Xiao Tianyao looked at Luna, she was right and he knew it as well. However…"Even so, I still have to go, I need to see Jun"s condition with my own eyes." Xiao Tianyao said determinedly.

"I got it." Luna knew, the reason was so perfect until Xiao Tianyao couldn"t reject it nor he had time to think about this. The time was very critical. The longer Xiao Tianyao delayed his departure the more in danger Xiao Jun would be.

No matter what Xiao Tianyao couldn"t let his brother die like that. He had not yet gotten rid of his guilty toward him and mended his mistakes, though he knew there would be another schemes that would be waiting for him there, he still had to go.

"I will help you to pack." Luna said and went to their chamber to pack some clothes and all the necessary things that Xiao Tianyao would need in his journey to the north.

***  

When it almost turned dark, Xiao Tianyao and Yang Yu was standing out of the entrance gates, Xiao Tianyao only brought Yang Yu with him, he left all of his men in the mansion, in case the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt happened again, he still couldn"t let his guard down.

Xiao Tianyao felt unease to leave Luna and his son behind as if he wouldn"t be able to see them again and the feeling was disturbing.

Luna hugged him and let Xiao Mugi gave his farewell hug as well.

"I will be back." Xiao Tianyao promised while kissing his son cheek and gave him to his wet nurse.

"I will wait." Luna said in deep voice. This was the second time they were apart and she didn"t feel good with this parting situation, as if she wouldn"t see him again.

Luna stepped forward and hugged Xiao Tianyao tightly as she whispere into his ear. "I love you…" She said ever so softly.

Xiao Tianyao didn"t answer her confession and kissed her forehead instead before he galloped away with Yang Yu tailed closely behind him.

With that, the short farewell happened and no one could predict what would happen next or would they be able to meet each other again.

Luna felt her heart tightened and her eyes stung.

She hoped, they could be together again, soon.

"Locked the gates." Luna said to the guards, turning around and left the entrance with her son, hugging the young boy tightly.

***  

Xiao Tianyao and Yang Yu rode the horses very quick, the sun had just set and they had crossed the capital city"s gates.

However, suddenly Xiao Tianyao stopped his horse as he drew his sword.

"Who is there?!?" He roared to his surrounding.

Currently they were in the dark street and the only light that illuminated their way was the occasional torches along the road and the faint light of the moon.

Xiao Tianyao felt they had been followed since they left the capital city, he wanted to ignore it, however he was also getting annoyed by this person who openly followed him.

The sound of their horses were so clear.

Yang Yu positioned himself slightly in front of Xiao Tianyao, to protect him if something bad happened.

But, unexpectedly the person that had been following them was someone that they had known, very familiar if Xiao Tianyao could say.

"Qianru?" Xiao Tianyao mentioned her name in disbelief. What was she doing here, following him?

Beside Qianru was Yang Yu, both of them were riding their respective horses. And only now Xiao Tianyao knew that Qianru could ride a horse, it must be his brother who had taught her.

"What are you doing here?" Xiao Tianyao put back his sword on his scabbard. "Go back to the capital." He was in hurry and didn"t have time to send her back, it was a good thing that Yang Yu was also there to help guard her.

"No." Qianru shook her head stubbornly. "I will go with you to the north fortress." She said determinedly as she approached Xiao Tianyao.

"What will you do there? knitting?" Xiao Tianyao couldn"t help but be a bit sarcastic toward her, he couldn"t waste his time to persuade her.

But Qianru ignored that completely as she answered seriously. "I will look after Jun. There must be something that I can do for him."

Xiao Tianyao"s eyes darkened. The battlefield wasn"t a place for a woman like Qianru to visit, no matter what the reason were.

"Didn"t my brother told you to look after Princess Xiao!? Why are you letting her out of the mansion in this dark night!?" Xiao Tianyao vented his anger toward Yang Yu instead.

Before Yang Yu could answer Xiao Tianyao, Qianru had cut the conversation coldly. She knew Xiao Tianyao wouldn"t be easily agreed to let her joined this journey, but she didn"t need his permission to do whatever she needed to do.

"I am here not to argue with you. I will go to the north with or without your conscience Tianyao!" Qianru glared at Xiao Tianyao viciously. "I don"t need your permission!" She stated.

Seeing Qianru like that was surprised Xiao Tianyao, but he also couldn"t waste any more time to dwindle in this wasteful argumentation.

He couldn"t convince Qianru to do the otherwise if she determined to go, after all it was her husband, whose life was on the line, if something happened to Xiao Jun and Qianru couldn"t see him, she would hate him for the rest of her life.

Xiao Tianyao scoffed and continued their journey, it was quite troublesome to bring a woman, however, along the way Qianru had never complained, even when they had to ride the whole day and night, so the could arrive ahead of time.

She had never uttered a single word about that.

It was an eye opener for Xiao Tianyao as he had underestimated his sister in law.

It took less than a week when the four of them finally arrived at the northern fortress, the condition ther wasn"t really good and it was so distracted that a few miles away Rockstone and Zodasian Kingdom"s flags could be seen. They were too close for Xiao Tianyao liking.

Recognizing the person who approached them, the guards immediately opened the gates for them and went to greet Xiao Tianyao and Qianru.

The enemy seemingly not yet knew about Xiao Jun"s condt.i.tion if so, they would have attacked them mercilessly.

This was one of Xiao Zi"s plans as well, he didn"t want to lose this war, but he had to stop Xiao Jun from playing him like a fool.

"General Xiao Tianyao, Princess Xiao." Captain Hua, the person who, was in charge ever since Xiao Jun was unconscious, came forward to greet them.

Captain Hua had heard about Xiao Tianyao who would take over the leadership in this fortress because of Xiao Jun"s injuries.

"Where is Jun"s room?" Qianru asked anxiously after she reciprocated Captain Hua greeting. Ignoring her tiredness, she didn"t want to take a rest before she witnessed with her own eyes that Xiao Jun wasn"t in critical condition anymore.

Captain Hua understood that, though he was a bit surprised that Qianru was there and came with Xiao Tianyao, but he wisely didn"t ask much question as he led both of them to Xiao Jun"s room.

The protection inside Xiao Jun"s room was very tight, despite numerous guards who were standing there, even the window was locked with cell bar so no one could enter easily.

Xiao Tianyao recognized many of the guards were from his three hundreds royal soldiers and as soon as they saw Xiao Tianyao their dim expression turned bright.

Their real Commander was here.

All of them gave Xiao Tianyao a deep bowed along the way, in spite the fact that they were a little bit ashamed because they couldn"t protect Xiao Jun and caused him fell ill like this, but it couldn"t hide their excitement to work under Xiao Tianyao again, they had been waiting for this moment for so long.

Qianru immediately went inside the room and found Xiao Jun on the bed, laid unconsciously with purple lips, indicating that the poison was still left inside his body. But, why they didn"t remove the poison until now?

"How is he?" Qianru looked at Captain Hua anxiously, he was a young man who had been fighting back to back with Xiao Jun and Xiao Tianyao in the past. "I heard he was being poisoned by his attacker?"

Qianru sat carefully on the edge of the bed, afraid she would wake him up, though Xiao Jun wouldn"t be wake up anytime soon.

"Yes, and we have been trying to remove the poison from his body, however our physician apparently is not able to do that." Captain Hua said that regretfully.

"Unknown poison." Xiao Tianyao mumbled as he looked at Qianru in meaningful gaze.

Qianru knew what was inside his mind, but the symptoms were different from what Bai Yuyan had suffered, because her lips didn"t turn purple like this and Xiao Jun"s body temperature also didn"t raise.

This must be another type of poison that the Emperor had used. Qianru really wanted to tear that Emperor"s face apart for doing this kind of thing to her husband.

"So, what the treatment that you had done for him these days? Is he still in critical condition? How is the progress?" Qianru didn"t want to know what the poison was, the only thing that she wanted to know; was Xiao Jun would be alright?

"Doctor Hong had been performing an acupuncture on him and keep the reaction of the poison in check, these two weeks, even though there was no progress, but his condition didn"t get worse either. I think that will be better as we still look for the right antidote for him." Captain Hua informed Qianru the truth.

Xiao Tianyao looked at his brother for the first time after more than a year, the last time they saw each other was when Xiao Jun was trying to kill Luna at the resort and after that, when Xiao Tianyao was injured, Xiao Jun came to see him, however he was in unconscious state at that time and couldn"t talk anything with him.

Now they met again, but their position was changed, this time, it was Xiao Jun who was lying on the bed and couldn"t talk to him.

Qianru was crying silently upon seeing her husband and didn"t want to let his hand go.

"Let"s talk outside." Xiao Tianyao said to Captain Hua. Qianru needed her time alone with Xiao Jun and there was nothing much they could do if both of them were staying inside the room.

Xiao Tianyao stepped out of the door with Captain Hua followed behind him.

Once they were not inside the room they saw Doctor Hong came from different direction. The old doctor bent his body to give Xiao Tianyao and Captain Hua his respect.

"Doctor Hong will give night treatment for Prince Xiao Jun." Captain Hua informed Xiao Tianyao.

"Yes Prince Xiao, I will try my best to extract the poison from the body of prince Xiao Jun." He said.

Xiao Tianyao looked at the black pouch of the acupuncture needles in Doctor Hong"s hand and only waved his hand, indicating for him to continue with whatever he intended to do, as long as he could save his brother"s life.

Doctor Hong nodded and left both of them.

"Tell me what happened with my brother, how he could be injured that bad?" Xiao Tianyao asked Captain Hua.

Captain Hua started to tell him about what had happened.

Apparently, the night when Xiao Jun was being attacked, he received a letter three days before that told him to go to the backyard fortress, three days after he received the letter.

"A letter?" Xiao Tianyao scrunched his eyebrows. "What letter?" What kind of letter that could lure Xiao Jun into a trap?

"Seemingly, the attacker had imitated Princess Xiao"s handwriting and told General Xiao Jun to meet the guard who had brought a gift for him, in the letter. The letter was coming first before the guar and that was why, General Xiao Jun needed to wait for three days for the guard to come."

Xiao Tianyao didn"t believe that his brother fell for this kind of trick, but giving the fact that he had just won Qianru"s heart again, probably he wouldn"t have thought that The Emperor used this fact to play a trick on him and took an advantage of it.

Sometimes his brother was hard to predict. This cheap trick actually worked on him.

"Not only General Xiao Jun was being attacked by the a.s.sa.s.sin, but he was also being poisoned. It"s a miracle that he still could survive." Captain Hong remembered his condition when they found them. "Though we couldn"t catch the a.s.sa.s.sins, but, we managed to capture the man who had poisoned General Xiao Jun."