The two stumbled away from the cliff, running in the opposite direction.
Achou supported the Crown Prince. Every step he took on his left leg made his face go pale with pain.
The masked man had a wedding robe plastered over his face. He cursed, yanked it off, and chased after them.
Lin Yue immediately stepped in front of them, holding his saber across their path.
“Who goes there?” he shouted.
The masked man had no desire to waste time fighting him. He swung his saber to strike.
Lin Yue raised his own to block.
With a clang, his saber was knocked flying. The web of his thumb split open, and blood poured out.
In that brief moment, the Crown Prince and Achou had already run more than a dozen paces.
Several other masked men rushed after them. One raised his saber and brought it down toward the Crown Prince.
Achou had no time to think. She threw herself in front of him.
A flash of steel.
“Clang!”
A feathered arrow shot from nowhere and struck the masked man’s blade, sending sparks flying.
The blow knocked the saber aside. It scraped past Achou’s shoulder, leaving a bloody line.
Before Achou could react, a second arrow and then a third came in quick succession. Not one missed.
The masked men cried out and fell to the ground, their sabers scattered everywhere.
Achou looked around in alarm. The mountain wind howled through the swaying trees, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.
The arrows seemed to have flown out of thin air.
Seeing this, Head Zhao’s face changed. He turned to run, but an arrow struck the ground half a step in front of him, and he collapsed onto his backside in fright.
Lin Yue stood frozen too, saber still raised, staring around in bewilderment.
The entire fight, from beginning to end, had lasted no more than a few breaths.
Half of the eight masked men were down.
The remaining four exchanged glances. Their hands trembled around their sabers, and they didn’t know whether to advance or retreat.
Just then, the clear, hurried sound of hoofbeats finally came from the mountain road.
A troop of cavalry charged up from the foot of the mountain, bearing the banner of the Qingzhou garrison.
Their leader was a man in his thirties, powerfully built, with a well-defined, bronze-colored face.
He saw the fight and, without a word, drew his saber and charged over.
“Who dares commit violence on Qingzhou soil?”
The four masked men exchanged glances, then quickly retreated into the woods.
The man reined in his horse and glanced at the bandits lying dead with arrows in them. A puzzled look crossed his brow, and he couldn’t help letting out a hiss.
Then he spotted the Crown Prince nearby. He immediately dismounted and dropped to one knee.
“Qingzhou Zhechong Commandant Han Zheng arrived too late to protect Your Highness. I beg Your Highness to forgive me!”
Leaning against Achou and breathing hard, the Crown Prince looked at the man and curled his lips into a faint smile. “Han Zheng, you’re still as slow as ever.”
The man raised his head, his eyes red. “Your Highness, your leg…”
Only then did Achou notice that the wound on the Crown Prince’s left leg had split open. Blood had soaked his trouser leg red.
“It’s nothing.”
Han Zheng knelt on one knee and carefully rested the Crown Prince’s injured leg across his own knee. He pulled a clean piece of cloth from his waist and began to bandage it.
A soldier came over, pointed at the dead bandits and Head Zhao, who was still slumped on the ground, and asked quietly, “General, what should we do with these men?”
“Drag the bandits’ corpses away and examine them carefully! Tie up that bastard and take him back to camp!”
Two of Han Zheng’s personal guards immediately stepped forward and hauled Head Zhao up like a dead dog.
Head Zhao seemed to come to his senses. He howled like a slaughtered pig. “You’ve gone too far! I’m an imperial officer appointed to escort the prisoners! You local garrison troops dare lay a hand on me? I’ll appeal! I’ll take this all the way to Yujing!”
“An escort officer? You colluded with bandits and plotted to murder a member of the imperial family. The evidence is conclusive. You’ll appeal to Yujing? Does that mean someone in Yujing ordered you to do it?”
The man surnamed Zhao didn’t dare answer. He only kept shouting that he would lodge a complaint.
“Take him away! Lock him in the camp’s black prison and keep a close watch on him. I’ll interrogate him myself!”
His subordinates said no more and dragged Head Zhao away.
Lin Yue collected himself, stepped forward, and clasped his hands toward Han Zheng. “General Han, I’m Lin Yue, a soldier in the escort party.”
Han Zheng looked him up and down. His gaze fell on the web of Lin Yue’s thumb, which was still bleeding.
“How badly are you hurt?”
“It’s only a surface wound. Nothing serious.” Lin Yue paused. “General, the escort party…”
“Now that the traitor Zhao has been dealt with, Lin Yue will take command of the escort party for the time being. You will do everything in your power to protect His Highness. Any suspicious behavior will be punished under military law!” His voice rang out. “We leave at once. Follow me back to camp. I’ll assign elite troops to escort us along the way!”
Lin Yue was startled, then a glimmer appeared in his eyes. He clasped his hands and answered loudly, “Yes! I’ll obey your order, General!”
Han Zheng stood and glanced at the dilapidated prison cart, frowning deeply. He ordered his men, “Go to town and find us a carriage. A clean one, with plenty of thick padding inside.”
One of his men acknowledged the order and ran off.
“Han Zheng,” the Crown Prince said, his face deathly pale but still managing to tease him, “you’re pretty bold. I’m still in exile, and you dare change my carriage?”
Han Zheng clasped his hands and bowed deeply. “Your Highness is still in exile. I wouldn’t dare disobey the decree and alter your route. But with your leg injured like this, another jolting ride in the prison cart could leave you disabled for life. I have already failed Your Highness once. I cannot let it happen a second time. I’m willing to take full responsibility for any consequences!”
An incense stick’s time later, they hurriedly brought back a carriage lined with thick dried grass and coarse cloth.
Han Zheng personally helped Achou and Lin Yue lift the Crown Prince carefully into the carriage.
Achou climbed in at once and rested the Crown Prince’s injured leg across her lap, using her body to cushion him from the jolts as much as she could.
Lin Yue quickly reorganized the remaining escort soldiers and followed close behind the carriage.
Han Zheng’s elite cavalry rode at the front and rear, surrounding them in a grim formation.
The horses’ hooves pounded along the mountain road. About half an hour later, they reached a stockade built against the mountainside.
Its gate towered above them, and its defenses were tight. The banner of the “Qingzhou Zhechong Office” fluttered in the wind.
The carriage drove straight inside, passing through several checkpoints before finally stopping in front of a secluded courtyard deep within the stockade.
It was presumably Han Zheng’s quarters at the garrison.
“Quickly! Carry His Highness inside! Send for Doctor Zhang!” Han Zheng jumped down from his horse, issuing orders as he personally lifted the carriage curtain.
Two of his personal guards immediately went forward and, together with Achou, carefully carried the Crown Prince—nearly unconscious from blood loss and pain—inside and laid him on the bed.
Before long, an old military physician with hair and beard half white hurried over, carrying a medicine chest.
He carefully examined the Crown Prince’s reopened wound and his swollen, misshapen left leg, then took his pulse. His expression grew graver still.
He rose and spoke quietly to Han Zheng and Achou, who were standing by the bed.
“General Han, His Highness’s leg had not healed to begin with. The wound has split open again, and it’s deep. After all that jolting along the road, the bones and sinews have been badly damaged. If he doesn’t rest properly and receive careful treatment, he may be left with a lifelong disability.” He chose his words carefully, but there was no hiding how serious the injury was.
The Crown Prince seemed to hear him, and yet seemed not to. It was as if he had expected this all along.
Han Zheng stood beside the bed, his face dark as iron.
If a prince were left disabled, he would have no hope of ever ascending the throne.
He drew a deep breath and said to Doctor Zhang, “I’m counting on you, Doctor Zhang. Use the very best medicines. If you need any rare medicinal herbs, take them from my private stores or the army’s supplies. You must help His Highness recover as quickly as possible!”
“Yes, General. This old man will do everything in his power!” Doctor Zhang bowed in acknowledgment. But his brow furrowed as he added, “However…the damage to His Highness’s bones and sinews, especially where the sinews are displaced and adhered together, is beyond what ordinary medicines and acupuncture can treat. If we’re to eliminate the hidden danger, I’m afraid we’ll have to call on someone.”
Han Zheng’s gaze sharpened. “Who?”
“My master, ‘Rejuvenating Hands’ Liu Buyan. He lives deep in Wangyou Valley, on the border between Qingzhou and Yunzhou. He has spent decades studying how to mend sinews and set bones, and his skill is said to be miraculous. I’ve heard that years ago, a Northern Border Army commander had bones shattered throughout his body, yet my master’s expert hands restored him to his former condition.”
Flames kindled in Han Zheng’s eyes. “In that case, send for him at once!”
But Doctor Zhang looked troubled and shook his head repeatedly. “There’s something you should know, General. My master is extremely reclusive and has laid down the Three-No-Treatment Rule: he won’t treat those who aren’t at death’s door, those who don’t have difficult, incurable illnesses, or those who aren’t people of fate. He has lived in seclusion for years and long since stopped concerning himself with worldly affairs. Besides, steep cliffs and poisonous miasma surround the valley, making it hard for ordinary people to approach. Though I am his disciple, he called me a ‘worldly creature’ for leaving the mountains to serve in the army when I was young, and cut off contact with me. He hasn’t summoned me in more than ten years. If we go to ask him without warning, we may not even get past the mouth of the valley, let alone persuade him to come out of seclusion.”