Desert Rhapsody - Chapter 35

Chapter 35

Jiang Yuan had thought about this question for a very long time: was Great Tang still her homeland? After time had carried her across thirteen hundred years, as she walked alone through the desert, did the distant East still represent the place of belonging she longed for? It was a question destined to have no answer. She could not answer it, nor could she make a choice. Her mouth remained open for a long while, the astonishment on her face slowly sinking into silence. Li Jie told her, “I bear official duties here. For the next few years, I must remain stationed in this place and cannot return to Tang.”

He laid out every arrangement he had made for her, calmly and in full detail, thoughtful down to the smallest point. “Every five years, an envoy mission travels between Dashi and Great Tang. The next one will depart within half a year. I have already made the necessary arrangements. If my lady is willing, you may return home with the mission at once.” He added, “I am from the Zhaojun Li Clan, which may at least pass for a great aristocratic house. If my lady returns to your native land, I can also write a personal letter on your behalf, arrange for my family to look after you, and gift you fields and land.”

The scholar stroked his long beard, one hand resting on his knee. Though his face was that of an Easterner, the language he spoke was Dashi. Spring in Taif was still cool. Spring water echoed behind the veranda, and houses of pale yellow and white stone stood all around them. Servants from Nubia and Sassanid, each with different skin tones and features, carried water jars and wicker baskets, wearing trousers cut from linen and coarse cotton. They greeted one another in passing, fragments of speech drifting over. The flower hall was open on all sides. Wind stirred the gauze curtains, while the charcoal brazier and fragrance filled the air. Jiang Yuan had only just brewed tea. Small handfuls of scallion, ginger, and mint leaves rolled in the cauldron, along with tea leaves she had fumbled her way into roasting herself-leaves she only dared bring out to drink when she was alone.

In truth, she did not really know how to roast tea. That taste would never again be the same as the one in her memories. Li Jie smiled and said, “My lady need not worry about your livelihood. All you need consider is what bottle of wine to bring to your mother’s grave next spring.”

Jiang Yuan smiled as well. “Thank you. Your righteous kindness will remain engraved in my heart.”

She bowed respectfully with clasped hands, and Li Jie helped her up. The tea was ready. As she lifted the long ladle to serve him, her hand trembled for an instant, but she steadied it and presented the bowl to him with both hands. Then came her own bowl. Li Jie said, “It is rare indeed to drink such distinctive tea soup in this place. The flavor is light, yet its aftertaste lingers.” He smiled and praised her for her understanding, saying she was truly a subject of Great Tang, and that its thousand miles of rivers and mountains were waiting for her return. The person sitting before her had recognized her as kin, but she finally understood: her homeland was somewhere she could never return to. She sat in front of Li Jie, smiling.

Then at last, water fell into her bowl. Her eyes reddened, tears brimming on her lashes.

Jiang Yuan still agreed to return to Great Tang once. Even if she was unwilling to leave the foundation she had put down in Taif, this opportunity was simply too rare. Having old ties with a Tang Envoy, and the chance to travel with an envoy mission, would both add weight to her position, making those blinded by money think twice before proposing to her or accusing her of anything. Beyond that, she could not let Lady Fatini believe Jiang Yuan had only one road available to her. Her mind was filled with considerations for how she would make a living in the future, and that night she lay awake until dawn. She sat by the window, letting the evening wind blow over her, sitting cross-legged as she ate sweet melons and fruit, slicing them piece by piece with a small knife and spearing each piece into her mouth.

She raised her bronze wine cup toward the moon, gave it a slight salute, and drank it down in one gulp. Because the lamps in the master’s room had remained lit until daybreak, the maidservant did not have to wonder whether she was still asleep. Timidly, she came forward to report, “Master…” Jiang Yuan looked at her and asked, “What is it?”

“The leader of a bandit group called Blood Eagle sent a letter to you by name… Your caravan has been detained by them.”

The maidservant had only delivered the letter. Supposedly, someone had taken advantage of the dim light at first dawn to force it into their hands, and there was no more information beyond that. Even the appearance of the words Blood Eagle felt like an illusion. Jiang Yuan opened the letter and read it. It was nothing more than the usual things bandits would say: they had detained her caravan and demanded ransom. At the end, it became evasive, threateningly mentioning the matter of an agreement with Blood Eagle. The letter bore the seal of the caravan leader and had an eagle feather tucked inside.

Jiang Yuan did not hesitate long before concluding that the letter was fake. The current Governor of Bakum could not possibly write to her like this anymore. But since the letter contained such words, perhaps the matter was still worth weighing. Jiang Yuan thought for a while, then decided to turn their own scheme against them. She drew a triangle on a piece of parchment and sent the letter out. After that, she took the threatening letter to the governor of Taif and begged him to send troops.

Naturally, the governor could not possibly send troops, but Jiang Yuan still managed to drag things out for a few days and let every peer, rival, and enemy in the city learn of her predicament. She fought for as long as she could, sent the governor ample gifts, and only after seeing there was truly no other way did she make preparations, gather strong servants and hired muscle, collect ready cash, change horses, and head out with her eagle. An eagle was essential for socializing with people and raising one’s standing. This eagle, named Monsoon, was a first-rate creature the Governor of Bakum had once paid a heavy sum to have trained for her, and it had helped her draw in many clients. Sun was now in the prime of life, running with high spirits. When Jiang Yuan reached the city gate, she saw Abdul and another burly man from Arabia before her.

Abdul saw her too and frowned in disgust, displeased that a woman would dress in men’s clothing and show herself in public like this. Jiang Yuan pulled on the reins for the moment and greeted her sworn brother. Abdul could only ask, “Where are you going?”

Jiang Yuan said, “I still have goods to inspect and must set out in a hurry, so I have no time to inform the guest staying at my house. He is the Tang Envoy and must not be neglected.” With that little reminder, Abdul’s expression indeed turned somewhat uneasy. She said earnestly, “Please help me receive him properly when the time comes, sworn brother.” Once that was settled, she squeezed her horse’s sides, and with a dozen or so people in tow, rode out of the city in grand procession.
She fell into the trap on the third night. The meeting place chosen in the letter was fiendishly awkward, far from the trade road, with no suitable towns along the way, so they had no choice but to camp in the wild. In the middle of the night, she was ambushed. They were not bandits or soldiers. A group of men with veils over their faces and leather armor on their bodies brandished curved blades and shouted loudly enough to shake the wilderness. “Seize Jia Nan Adnan!” “Take her gold!” Then they came galloping down from the far side of the dunes.

The camp fell into brief chaos. Hawks cried, horses screamed, and the turmoil would not stop. Jiang Yuan personally wounded two men and threw them out of the camp. The attackers clearly had not expected her to be prepared, or at least not this thoroughly prepared. One horse tripped over a hobble rope and broke its leg, letting out an agonized scream in the night. The sharp, choking smell of oil quickly spread along the sand and the long strips of white cloth, circling the campsite once and stopping them from advancing another inch. Jiang Yuan had been caught somewhat off guard. This group of ill-intentioned strongmen had nearly overrun the place, only to fail at the last step. Now they had no choice but to face off against her and her people by the bonfire, the camp itself forming a clear dividing line between them.

In the firelight, she could see them closing in with vicious, resentful expressions, like a cruel pack of wolves hunting in the deep night. Jiang Yuan calmly ordered her people to pile tents and baggage into barriers while lighting torches on all sides to brighten the night sky. No one was going to sleep tonight. The leader rode up to her on a camel. She stood on the ground while he looked down at her from above. Jiang Yuan said, “…Oh. It’s you.”

It was the man who had been with Abdul that day.

Jiang Yuan thought Abdul’s taste in helpers was as terrible as ever. This one was even worse than the man back in Alexandria. Calmly, she said, “However much Abdul promised you, I’ll give you three times that.” The man who claimed he would become her future husband burst into laughter. His voice was coarse and raspy, like the smug bark of a hyena.

“Abdul told me your fortune is worth tens of thousands of gold coins.” He stroked his beard and looked her up and down, as if he were staring at a life-sized statue made of gold, his eyes filled with nothing but greed. “That is enough to serve as your dowry, even if you are as shriveled as some brutish ram. I am Ayi Houzaifa, your future husband. You are only a woman. Do not forget that your duty is to bear children, not defy men.” Guiding his camel, he proudly took a few steps forward to show that he was not afraid of the ring of fire.

“I am giving you a chance to free yourself from your current status. Why are you not kneeling before me yet, kissing my feet, and stretching out your hands in gratitude?”

The men behind him broke into waves of jeering laughter, stamping their feet, roaring, and beating their chests. Her answer was to light a fire arrow and shoot it out.

They remained locked in a standoff for two days. Ayi Houzaifa feared the oil and fire and could not storm the camp by force, but his men refused to leave. In any case, this place was some distance from the trade road, and no one would easily come this way. Jiang Yuan truly had not brought enough dried rations, nor had she expected this group to have more men than she had imagined. In the eighth century AD, this was one hell of an awful way to propose. With nothing much to do during the day, she led her people in digging trenches, improving her oil-fire traps right under their noses. Almost every day, she could see the men outside showing expectant, savage expressions, waiting to cross the trenches or take advantage of some lapse in attention to launch a charge. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to devise a way to lure one of them in.

That unlucky bastard successfully left covered head to toe in oil. Flames rose from the thick black liquid on him. He screamed and rolled across the sand, but he could not put it out. The surrounding horses and camels nearly broke into a riot, and Ayi Houzaifa had no choice but to cut off his head himself. The scene was so brutal that Jiang Yuan could feel the people behind her trembling as well, but as their leader, she had to stand straight and watch her enemy die. She gave a cold laugh. “What I brought is rock oil. Ever heard of it? If not, perhaps you can ask someone what wildfire oil is.”

Ayi Houzaifa’s face twisted as he looked at her. He roared, “Bitch, whore,” yet he could do nothing to her. They began to retreat, leaving seven or eight meters of open space from the camp, but because they could not stop thinking about the gold, they were unwilling to leave just like that. Their defensive line stretched out in a wider circle and gradually became less tight than it had been at first. They began waiting for her to run out of food. On the seventh day, Jiang Yuan slaughtered an old camel.

That day, they ate camel meat while listening to the distant sounds of Ayi Houzaifa losing his temper.

Only Jiang Yuan knew they could not drag this out any longer. Food was not what they lacked. They lacked water. The water in the camel’s stomach was truly foul, and worse, there was far too little of it. Even if they used it only to stay alive, it was a drop in the bucket. If they did not break out by force while they still had the strength, this fragile balance would soon collapse. And then? Jiang Yuan did not want to think about it. The best possible outcome would be being raped in public.

As a woman, there was nothing she could do about enduring an inborn disadvantage. Jiang Yuan sighed and wrapped strips of cloth tightly around her hands. She gripped her knife, tried swinging her dagger, and found the feel of it acceptable. By her calculations, the time was just about right. Late on the eighth night, the weather was good and there was no moon. Dark clouds hung heavy, and there were no stars. Heaven and earth were like the gaping maw of some monster, so dark she could not see her hand in front of her face. The sand reeked of oil. She lay on the cold sand and heard a hawk cry from far away in the sky.

She opened the eyes she had been resting. The torches had been kept burning all along, one in each direction to guard against a sneak attack. She climbed up briskly and set the horses’ tails alight. Two horses screamed madly as they charged out of the camp. One fell in the trench and ignited the petroleum. With a boom, flames roared up, suddenly lighting half the sky and revealing the men opposite them, holding their horses and wearing armor, clearly preparing for an ambush of their own.

This was absolutely not a good time. Without hesitation, Jiang Yuan shouted, “Charge!” She lashed Sun hard across the rump, forcing it to leap across the trench. The burning horse screamed as it plunged into the enemy ranks. Half the men opposite them collapsed into chaos, while the other half charged over with savage expressions. Jiang Yuan’s side was not much better. Some of the horses and camels were afraid of the fire and failed to jump out according to plan.
Jiang Yuan galloped through the night, the eagle’s cry drawing closer and closer. She put her fingers to her mouth and whistled, guiding it toward her. Hoofbeats were approaching from all directions-the reinforcements she had arranged in advance were following the eagle in.

Behind her, Ayi Houzaifa roared in fury, “Catch her!” She flattened herself over the horse’s back, gritted her teeth, and drove Sun on.

But Sun was no fine steed. She simply was not fast enough. Ayi Houzaifa’s hoofbeats closed in, forcing Jiang Yuan back the way she had come. Firelight and screams drew nearer and nearer, and with no other choice, Jiang Yuan crashed straight into the enemy formation. Sun lost her balance. Jiang Yuan kicked free of the stirrups in time and avoided being thrown hard enough to break her neck. Stars burst before her eyes when she hit the ground, and before she could even draw her dagger, she collided with the enraged Ayi Houzaifa.

He clamped a hand around her throat. She braced one hand against the side of her windpipe, keeping him from snapping her neck in one squeeze. Then she tightened her waist, kicked up with her legs, and used every ounce of strength she had to make room. She yanked her dagger free-but Ayi Houzaifa snarled and jerked his head back, dodging it. At the same time, he knocked her blade away. An eagle happened to dive from the sky just then, its talons tearing open his scalp.

Jiang Yuan shouted in outrage, “Moonlight?!”

It actually was not Monsoon, the one she had released. After all these years, this bastard was still as arrogant as ever-and just as hopeless at cooperating. Jiang Yuan had no time to retrieve her dagger. She could only grapple with the madman lunging at her. Pinned beneath the weight of another human body, she was too breathless to speak. Her ears were full of shrill eagle cries and beating wings. Then she heard Monsoon’s call.

All she had in her hand was a riding crop. She looped it around Ayi Houzaifa’s throat. He was far too strong and flipped her over in one motion. Jiang Yuan rolled across the ground with him twice, then slammed her elbow back into the bridge of his nose. Luckily, she had seized the initiative. She was certain something in her own body had broken, but she kept tightening the riding crop in her grip. Around them, dozens of horses swept past the crowd, blades and spears clashing with ringing clangs. Jiang Yuan had no attention to spare for any of it. At last, the hand gripping her wrist loosened and fell heavily into the sand like a meteor hitting the earth.

She sagged with it despite herself and sucked in two breaths. Blood ran down from her head-or from somewhere else; she could no longer tell. They had come within a hair’s breadth of rolling into the burning piles of naphtha. The scalding sand spat upward, hot enough to blind a person.

The eagle with the cobalt-blue neck landed on the corpse, looked at her, flapped its wings, and gave a proud cry.

…Truly, it could not help her succeed, only ruin things.

Exhausted, Jiang Yuan said, “…Get lost.”

She wiped at her eyes, blurred with blood. When she lifted her arm, pain drilled straight into her bones. Fuck. It was definitely broken. From the corner of her eye, she saw Moonlight take off and land in the shadows nearby. Sun ran over, found her, and nickered affectionately, rubbing against her face. Jiang Yuan reached out, caught the reins, and stroked her.

She took two steps to the side, intending to pick up her dagger first. She had only bent halfway down when a hand wearing a sapphire ring swept in faster than she did and scooped up the blade.

A larger shadow followed, enveloping her. Several severed heads rolled across the sand.

Jiang Yuan paused, then straightened. Beside her, a horse neighed. Its coat was black and glossy. It sidled over with practiced ease, allowing its rider to lean close. Its hooves shifted twice, and Sun gave a cheerful whinny, rubbing her neck against it.

Calmly, Jiang Yuan raised her head. Her vision was a little blurred. He seemed very different from her memories, yet not exactly much larger. All she could still make out were those blue eyes, dark as an abyss. The man on horseback bent toward her and untied his face scarf. The sapphire ring on his finger gleamed. His headscarf slipped down until it almost brushed her. Jiang Yuan calmly stepped back and put distance between them. He let out a laugh and straightened at his leisure, moonlight falling across his shoulders.

“I heard my business partner had turned into a woman, so I traveled all this way to see the novelty for myself,” the Governor of Bakum said with a smile. “I ran into your little bird messenger halfway here. I brought it back specially. Would you like to check whether it has any injuries?”

Bold as anything, he slid her dagger into his own belt with a reverse grip.

“This is my payment.”

“You ruined my plan, intercepted my reinforcements, your bird got in the way while I was fighting, and now you’ve stolen my knife.” Jiang Yuan continued to look up at him calmly. “Not even an apology?”

He gave a soft scoff. “After all this time, I saved your life. Not even a thank-you?”

The captive on the ground started struggling. Jiang Yuan kicked him down and wiped the blood from her face.

“Thank you. I didn’t need it.”

I feel like this is a really good stopping point, so I’m posting it first as a little bonus for everyone.

I’ll squeeze out the remaining half tomorrow.

Something about it still feels a little off.

But it’s finished!

After all, this is an afterword, and an afterword is basically another kind of extra.

Next up is Abal and Yuan Yuan’s Egypt adventure.

I’ve really been working overtime constantly lately, and the pressure has been huge. Real life has been busy, so updates have been very much dependent on fate.

This desert story was originally meant to help me decompress, but halfway through I switched to a new main brain for decompression. In short, I’ve been under a lot of pressure.

Thank you all for putting up with me and following this until now. Deep bow. Mwah.

Thank you to the little angels who threw Overlord Tickets or watered me with nutrient solution~

Thank you to the little angel who watered me with nutrient solution:

Ye, 2 bottles;

Thank you all so much for your support. I’ll keep working hard!

Rewrote it again. Mwah.