Moonlight Startles the Magpies - Chapter 3

They clearly meant no good. I hurriedly sent Xiaotao back for help.

Then I pushed through the bushes and crept closer.

“…You’ve only yourselves to blame for taking someone who wasn’t yours to take!

“The star courtesan of Nanfeng House goes to the highest bidder. Rules are rules. If your father doesn’t understand them, we’ll teach you!”

Pei Huaichuan had nowhere to run. As a knife was about to fall, I shouted,

“Don’t you dare!

“His Majesty cherishes Prince Chun. Anyone who harms his son will live to regret it. Stop now, and I can pretend this never happened!”

The masked men plainly hadn’t noticed me. At once, the blade turned my way.

“If we kill you too, no one will know who did it.”

My threat had achieved absolutely nothing. Instead, they tied us both up.

Suddenly, cries rang through the trees.

“Your Highness!”

“Young lord!”

The masked men exchanged looks, realizing the danger.

I cursed inwardly too.

Why was Xiaotao so stupid?

If they made this much noise searching for us and angered our captors, wouldn’t we be killed on the spot?

Luckily, the kidnappers valued their own lives. They looked at one another, hauled Pei Huaichuan and me onto their horses, and fled.

At a slope, they flung us down it.

We went tumbling.

With our hands bound and no way to break free, we could only rely on the stones and trees along the slope to slow our fall.

By the time we stopped at the bottom, every inch of me ached from the knocks.

I was still all right. I did, after all, have a few more years on him.

Pei Huaichuan lay on his back nearby, his eyes already closed.

I struggled up and saw a pool of blood spreading behind his head. My heart lurched.

Please don’t let him have hit his head.

“Pei Huaichuan!

“Pei Huaichuan, wake up!”

His eyelids stirred, but his eyes never opened.

I looked around. Even if Xiaotao could bring help to this wilderness, we would have to avoid being eaten by wolves until then.

And Pei Huaichuan was still bleeding.

Fortunately, I had appeared unexpectedly, and the kidnappers had left in such a hurry that they hadn’t bound our legs.

I staggered to a sharp rock and began sawing the rope against it, over and over.

The sky was nearly dark. After a crash of thunder, the rope finally snapped.

I stumbled back and held a hand beneath Pei Huaichuan’s nose.

Breathing. Thank goodness.

Only after examining him carefully did I realize that the blood wasn’t coming from his head. He had injured his shoulder and back, and blood was seeping from there.

I tore up my outer garment to bind the wound, did what little I could for it, then hoisted him onto my back and began climbing.

Thin as he looked, a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy wasn’t someone I could carry easily.

I broke off a thick branch to use as a staff and inched forward.

Halfway up, I nearly fell, almost sending us both tumbling back down.

The jolting woke Pei Huaichuan, who flatly refused to be carried any farther.

So I supported him as we walked on, my calves trembling.

By then, it was completely dark.

Before, I could still follow the trampled ground. Now I had only my pitiful memory to rely on.

I had gone nearly ten hours without food. I was hungry and thirsty.

After a silence, Pei Huaichuan suddenly said, “Leave me here. Save your strength, and you can still get out.”

I tightened my grip on his sleeve. “No. If we get out, we both get out.”

“At this rate, neither of us will.”

I caught my breath.

“Don’t worry. Xiaotao went for help. They must be looking for us already.”

He fell suddenly silent.

After a long while, he said, “When I was little, I was playing and got locked in the ice cellar. Father didn’t come looking for me. Neither did my nurse.

“I spent the night in there. When I was nearly frozen to death, a maid came in for ice and saved my life.

“If you’re counting on Father to rescue you… Ha.”

I gave him a puzzled look.

“I’m not counting on the prince to rescue me.

“I told Xiaotao to go straight to the emperor.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get out, and so will you.”

“…With that fool of a maid? Aren’t you afraid you’ll choke on those big words?”

My eyes widened.

“So young, and already so rude!”

He shot back without mercy,

“So old, and still picking fights with children.”

…