Chapter 36
Yin
So much has happened in such a short period of time. I can’t keep up. Maybe I don’t have to. There’s only one fact that really matters: I trust him.
I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but I completely trust him.
Okay, I do know how and I do know why. Ever since the fan dance this morning… it’s as if I’ve really seen him for the first time. The walls he keeps around himself can’t keep me out anymore. I can peer right into his soul.
It sounds impossible, but hey, I’m the Savior.
Though I can tell he’s terrified, that doesn’t stop him. He carefully walks forward, pausing every now and then as he waits to ensure the hallway is clear. Once or twice we have to duck into empty rooms. I’m glad that it’s dark and there are only a few torches lit; I don’t want the whole world to know that a) I’m escaping with Captain Yang, and b) that I’m covered in blood.
The past several weeks have been some of the most stressful in my life, yet as I flee with Yang, I’m introduced to a new level of panic.
At any moment a soldier could come out, spot us, and raise the alarm.
Somehow we make it through the barracks, though. Yang ducks off and gets some supplies, then we make it around to the stables.
Though it’s easy enough to make our way out of the buildings of the barracks, the stables are different.
They are permanently guarded.
Horses, after all, are valuable.
Still, Yang decides to take a risk. He whispers at me to trust him, and then he ducks out of where we’re hiding to create a distraction so I can escape.
Apparently, he’s going to meet me out on the street after he secures a horse.
My heart is no longer beating at one million miles an hour; the pace with which it rips through my chest is one that’s not quantifiable. I may have fought numerous battles, and Castor may have trained me to embrace risk when I have to, but this is different.
I feel as if I have so much to lose. Not just my freedom, not just Yang’s, but my destiny. If I step wrong, and we are captured, presumably Garl will follow through on his threat. He will kill me, possibly taking Castor and my village with me.
If he kills me, he can say goodbye to this age and the next. There will be no one to hold the Night back.
With that kind of pressure pressing down on me, I use every technique I know of to control my fear.
Then I listen and wait as Yang straightens up his armor and marches toward the closest soldier.
“I need a horse,” he says flatly, “prepare one for me now.”
“Yes, sir. Though…” the soldier trails off.
I can’t see his face, but right now I would give anything to see his expression.
Why is he hesitating? Is he suspicious? Has Garl already put the word out against Yang?
“I don’t have time to wait around,” Yang says tersely. “I am on a very important mission for the Princess herself.”
“Yes, sir,” the soldier says.
Then I hear him scurrying off, his heavy boots scuffing against the dirt floor of the stables.
Placing a hand on my chest, I actually wince.
“No, not that horse – the fastest one we have,” I hear Yang say as he marches off after the soldier.
Then silence, or relative silence.
I force myself to peer out of where I’m hiding.
I have completely put to rest the possibility that Yang is tricking me somehow. After our fan dance this morning, I feel that if he ever tried to trick me again, I would know. Not by reading his expression or the timbre of his voice – I would just know. His emotions are open to me, and I can read them as easily as any scroll.
So I don’t hesitate.
When I see an opportunity, I trust in Yang, and I dart forward.
Keeping low, I’m careful not to let my footfall scrabble. The last thing I need is for the guard attending Yang to hear some suspicious noise and come running.
So I use my trusty sandals to dampen my footfall as I race forward.
In that moment I am more than thankful that I have a natural affinity for animals. It would be quite easy for somebody to disturb the horses as they scamper along the ground, sweat dripping from their brow, their fear arcing out in waves.
For me, however, though the horses look at me in interest, none of them make a noise.
I smile. It’s small, and it’s a mostly bitter move, but it’s still there.
I’m doing something. I’m finally escaping.
I make it to the great big door at the back of the stables.
I reach a hand out to it, then I notice it’s locked.
Right now I could tip my head back and swear like a soldier.
Instead, I dart backward quickly and assess my environment.
I can’t afford to elicit any suspicion, not while Yang’s back there with the soldier.
If the two of them come out when they are finished only for the soldier to see the back door hanging wide open, it’s going to start a panic, and Yang could be drawn into that.
I have to make this as seamless and quiet as possible.
So I take a step back, twisting on the spot, and I see a set of windows built high into the top of the stables.
There are only several sheer walls leading up to them, and no normal man would be able to scale the distance.
But I’m not normal, and I’m not a man.
Pushing forward, and reaching out to the horse in the stable next to me, it voluntarily comes closer and nuzzles its head into my arm. Patting it quickly along the back, I don’t hesitate as I push up and jump onto its back.
Then, with a silent command, I instruct it to move closer to the wall.
It does.
Standing on the back of the horse, careful not to let my shoes dig hard into its back, I reach up, jump lightly, and manage to grab hold of the window.
Forcing them open, I roll through the tiny gap, and make it to the outside, gripping my feet on the wall just as I hear people moving inside the stables.
Then Yang’s voice filters out. “Hurry up and open the back doors,” he says, a note of stress twisting through his tone. “Why are they closed anyway?”
“New decree, Sir. General Garl has increased the security of the barracks. He feels… some kind of attack is imminent.”
“. . . I see,” Yang manages. “Very good. The general always knows what he speaks of.”
“Yes, sir, he does,” the soldier says automatically.
Though I hang there on the outside of the window listening, I now let myself fall.
Though I’m quite far up, when I hit the ground, I do so with the lightest of rolls, coming up onto my feet and darting forward with ease.
Thankfully it’s a dark night, and though there are various torches around, only a few of them are lit.
I stay deep in the shadows.
But just as I’m racing forward, I hear footfall from behind. It’s not Yang and his horse; it’s coming from around the building.
Heavy, with the distinct grate of armored boots, I realize it’s more soldiers.
Staring around with wide eyes, I note there is nothing to hide behind.
I’m completely in the open.
But it is a very dark night.
Without thinking, I spread my fingers out wide, close my eyes, and command every torch to go out.
“What the heck? Why is it so dark around here? Did Cao forget to light the lamps again? The general is going to kill him,” I hear one of the soldiers say.
I take the opportunity, and I run.
As fast as I can, as low to the ground as possible, and as silently as I can manage.
Though I’ve never been behind the barracks, I keep to a narrow alleyway until I find myself along what must be some main street.
It’s well lit, and there are people milling about.
Instinctively I tuck my arms close to my chest, not only making myself a smaller target, but hi
ding the blood along my tunic.
The smell of food fills the air, and it instantly makes my stomach rumble. Though the Royal Army has been feeding me, if you could call it that, I long for some real sustenance.
Castor, among other things, is a fantastic cook. From hotpots to fruit preserves, there was always something to eat, and it was always delicious.
But I can’t afford to dart forward and grab one of the tantalizing pancakes or freshly squeezed juices from the stalls around me.
Instead, I walk forward, keeping to myself.
Thankfully people hardly stare at me, and I stay close enough to the shadows that they don’t suddenly scream out that I’m covered in blood.
Then, just as I’m walking behind a stall, I spy a long coat. Thankfully the stall owner looks relatively rich and is looking in the other direction, so I duck forward, grabbing the coat and moving on smoothly.
When I’m far enough away, I furl it around my shoulders and hug it close to my chest.
Then… I wait.
Yang told me to meet him out on the main street.
Here I am.
Waiting.
And waiting.
All the while fearing that he did not manage to get out.