Legend of The Young Master

Chapter 214: Lotus Order Arrival

As music played in the courtyard, Elder Yueli stretched her arms and smiled wearily at Wuyi, who stood with his back to the fire, playing his flute. She turned to another elder and ordered a cask of wine to be opened.

Baijian put a warrior at the door to the cellars and another at the barracks. He and Yun Ming whispered for a moment in the darkness beyond the fire, and Yun Ming doubled the watch and forced some unwilling warriors onto the walls where the farmers could see them. When Yun Ming looked down, Baijian was dancing with the seamstress' daughter.

Feiru and a few other elders hauled a great cauldron of meat soup to the door of the dormitory. Cheering archers and farmers hauled it together into the firelight. Yinhai Hu appeared with wine jugs and handed them to the first men he saw. They toasted him, and the jugs passed around, warriors to farmer, and farmer to warriors , until they were empty.

A farmer went and burrowed in his belongings in the stable and returned with a sack that proved to contain another musical instrument. And the music played on.

Jia and his Young Master allowed their fingers to fall still. The flutes dropped out of the busy music, which swept on. Jia felt his Young Master's arms go around his shoulders. He was afraid he'd cry. Wuyi had never hugged him before. Or anyone else that he knew of.

He'd never seen the man's face so open. So – defenseless. And then he was gone into the swirling darkness and firelight.

Luding could hear the music. It drew him the way a candle flame will draw insects and frogs on a still summer night in the deep woods. He walked heavily to the edge of the woods and listened with his keen senses to the sounds of people laughing and dancing, to the sounds of as many as ten instruments. He listened, and listened. And hated.

While the public danced, Wuyi went into the darkness and saw Liwei. He saw her sitting quietly. He went and sat down; she smiled at him. They embraced each other. After a while, he lay with his head in Liwei's lap. She was looking at the firelit scene at their feet, inside the walls of the courtyard, and he was looking at the line of her throat and jaw.

She was thinking about how simple happiness could be, and he felt the current of her thoughts through his consciousness.

Gradually – glacially slowly – she lowered her mouth over his. Playfully, at the last moment, he licked her nose, and they both dissolved into laughter. He shifted, grabbed her under the arms, and began to tickle her. She shrieked and tried to hit him. He put her in his lap and bent to kiss her. She arched her back to reach him more quickly, and their tongues touched, their lips touched—

He drank her Qi, and she drank him. Each of them could feel the contact, real, ethereal, spiritual.

He had pulled her robes above her hips, and she had not stopped him. The feeling of her naked flank inflamed him a bit, and he pressed on. She broke the kiss.

"Stop," she said.

He stopped. She smiled, licked her lips, and then rolled out from under him, as swift as a dancer. Or a warrior.

"What will it take to leave with me? How about you marry me?" Wuyi said.

Liwei stopped. She froze.

"What?"

"If something like that you desire, I am ready to give you that. Marry me. Live with me, old and surrounded by children and grandchildren." He smiled.

"You'd say that to any girl who keeps her legs closed," she said.

"Yes, but this time I mean it," he teased her, and she swatted him.

"Liwei," said Elder Yueli. She was standing by the peach tree. She smiled. "I missed you at the fire." She looked at Wuyi, to her Wuyi looked like young boy in love. "She may choose for herself whether to marry a young master or serve the heavens," Yueli said. "But she can choose in daylight, and not on a peach-scented night."

Liwei nodded, but her eyes concealed a spark that Wuyi saw, and he saw the opportunity. He got to his feet and bowed.

"Then I bid you good night, ladies."

Yueli stood her ground.

"It was well thought," she said. "They needed to rejoice. And the lady would have wanted a better farewell than we were providing."

Wuyi nodded.

"It was good. I didn't—" He shrugged. "I just wanted some music. And maybe to lure this lady into my lair." He smiled. "But it was good."

"There is more heart in us tonight than last night, despite everything." Yueli looked at Liwei. "Will you marry her?"

Wuyi leaned very close to the elder. "Oh, yes," he said.

Yueli put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Then tell us your real name young master," she said.

"I know his name," Liwei said. "He's—"

There was a sudden cheer from the courtyard, and then a roar of voices. Wuyi saw that Yun Ming was standing at the edge of the firelight, and behind him were three men dressed in Qi armors. Most of the armor was covered by black robes with lotuses on them, the fire lighting some of their visible armor areas like moving mirrors. Wuyi turned away from the two women.

He waved to Yun Ming and leaned out into the courtyard.

"What's happened?"

"Now someone's come into the secret passage," Yun Ming said. "From outside. From the king." At the word "king," the courtyard burst into cheers again. Yun Ming pointed to the trio of armored figures standing in the ruin of the covered way. "From the Lotus Order branch of the Lotus Sect."

The music stopped. One of the three warriors removed his mask. He was an old man, but his smile was quite young. The relief that flooded Wuyi was palpable, solid. He felt giddy.

He said, "Splendid." Wuyi clasped hands towards the first man.

"I'm leading this ragtag bunch of warriors," he said. "I am called Young Master."

"Li Zhang," said the man whose right hand was clasped in his own. "May we offer you our compliments on a brilliant defense? Although I understand from Yun Ming that the lady Pavilion Mistress is dead."

"She died last night, my lords. In battle." Suddenly Wuyi was hesitant. He had no idea how the sect orders felt about them punishing the monk.

Master Li Zhang nodded. "She was a great lady," he said. "I will go and pay my respects. But first – the king is across the river, moving carefully. But he should be opposite the Bridge Castle by late tomorrow. The next day at the latest."

Wuyi smiled with pure joy. "That is welcome news." He looked at the three men, all in full armor. "You three must be tired."

Master Li Zhang shrugged. "The armor of righteousness is such that we feel little fatigue. But a glass of wine is never amiss."

"Let us go to the pavilion hall,pay our respects" murmured the central figure.

"If I may: I'd rather you stood where the people could see you just a little longer," said Wuyi. "There have been doubts."

Li Zhang nodded his head. "We're late and no mistake, young master."

Wuyi raised his hand for silence. In the courtyard, they cheered and cheered. But after a few resurgences of spirit, they fell quiet, with Feiru shouting, "Shut up, you fools," and a titter of laughter.

"Friends!" Wuyi said. His voice carried. "Our prayers have been answered. The king is here, and these three warriors of the order of the Lotus Sect are the vanguard." There were cheers, but he went on. "We've had a sip or two and a dance tonight. But when the king comes, we'll have to break this siege.

The enemy is still out there. Let's have some sleep while we can."

Men who had cursed him as evil a few hours before raised their wine cups.

"Young Master!" they shouted. And others shouted too.

And then, as if by magic, they tottered off to bed. Luo and Yinhai Hu put Qinujian over their shoulders and carried him to bed in the healing hall. Weixu found himself carried by Yuei and Xueqin to his pile of straw in the stable.

Together the four men walked to the pavilion hall. Wuyi didn't say anything. They were taken to the place where the Pavilion Mistress's body lay for the last rites to be done in a few days. The Lotus Order members bowed to her. After some time, they rose in unison. Wuyi led them to one of the abodes near his, which, as he expected, was empty, without a sign of Jia's sleeping bed.

Wuyi said, "If you wish to disarm and rest, I can send you a couple of archers."

One of the three smiled. "I've been sleeping in Qi armor since I was fifteen," he said.

"Are you three alone?" Wuyi asked.

The prior shook his head. "I have sixty warriors in the woods east of the ford," he said. "Short of direct intervention by the enemy, they won't be found."