The Story of Dusk 205 AN ESCAPE ROUTE

"I want to know what secret matter that you want to talk to me. Your personal guard looked very anxious when he told me that you wanted to meet me." The Emperor of Zodasian didn't beat around the bush. He didn't like Mo Qian Yuan, but he didn't like his son, Mo Qin Yi, even more.

"I want to let you know that Mo Xuan Fei and your daughter Lin Xinyang are hiding inside Xiao Jun's courtyard." Mo Qin Yi informed him casually.

The fact was, he wanted the Emperor of Zodasian to go from the imperial study room, so he could poison his imperial father.

Yes, the wine that he had given to Mo Qian Yuan a moment before his appearance in front of the Imperial hall was contain with poison. Logically an arrow that pierced through his heart wouldn't put Mo Qian Yuan straight to his death, at least he would have time to have imperial physician to heal him, though it would take longer time.

But, with poison in his blood added that to the poison in the arrow, it could send him straight to his death right away and Mo Qin Yi had calculated this.

He had bribed some of physician to cover this up and would kill them after all of this had done. He didn't want to have another witnesses were roaming around and threatened him one day with this secret, it much better to silence them at once.

Dead men tell no story.

Mo Qin Yi believed in that proverb.

He stared at the tea that still filled the cup that the Emperor of Zodasian didn't drink as smirk grazed his lips. "I will not poison you Emperor. There is no benefit for me to harm you here." He said lazily. "We are still having collaboration to take down the Azura's army and became the sovereign in Azura, we can split that country only for us." Mo Qin Yi poured another tea on to his cup and drank it again in one gulp.

"I think there was no reason for you to kill me right now." The Emperor of Zodasian pushed away the tea cup from him as he stood up. "If you think my daughter is in Prince Xiao Jun's courtyard, then I will leave it to you. Give me a news if she is already with you, I want to punish her by my self before she is sentenced to death." He said callously before he left Mo Qin Yi with his tea.

Mo Qin Yi didn't heed him at all as he continued to drink his tea.

Another reason why he called the Emperor of Zodasian out of the imperial study room was because he wanted his men would be the one who found out Liu Wei and let people knew about it.

If it was his men who had found the culprit, people would have doubt about the credibility of the story, but since it was the Emperor of another country who had found him, then the risk to be found out would be reduced.

He was very sure no one would question the Emperor of Zodasian's story, with that he would be saved.

Mo Qin Yi continued to stay in the pavilion for some time while thinking his other moves the moment he had Xiao Jun in his hand and what he would do to Qianru.

He was so excited to imagine that impossible thing because the moment he received the next news, it would be the excaped of the entire Xiao Jun's people from the besieged courtyard.

***  

The new appointed general was so livid when he watched the closed gates of Prince Xiao Jun's courtyard, he asked some of his men to call out the guard from inside, but no one who come out and greet them.

It was an atrocious act! Especial when the general said he brought an imperial edict with him. However, there was still no movement from behind the closed gates.

Angry, he asked all of his men to tear the courtyard's gates, after all The new Emperor, Mo Qin Yi, had said he could do anything that necessary to get the prince from Azura Kingdom if he didn't cooperate with him.

His act right now was part of didn't cooperate with his order, right? He justified his own action.

It took long time for those men to tear the Courtyard's gates down, as this was the second best courtyard aside from the crow prince's and also they couldn't climb on it's wall as the General didn't want to act like a thief.

He wanted their arrival gallant and domineering, climbing a wall wasn't an option for him.

However, the moment the gates had busted down, the scenery that greeted them turned them puzzled.

The sun had set and The general men had light up the torches to illuminate their way, however not a single torches was lightened up from inside the courtyard. It was eerily dark and gloomy as if no one was inside.

However, how that was even possible? Prince Xiao Jun had brought around hundreds of servant and guards with him the moment he came, so it was impossible for this courtyard to be so quiet like this.

The general frowned deepened as he ordered his men to go inside and checked if there was no one in the room, or if they were hiding, found them out and dragged them to his feet.

"Go inside now!" He roared as he moved forward slowly while riding his sturdy horse. "Find all of the people!" He shouted again and then glanced at the Chief guard who was still buffled with the sight before his eyes. "You, come here." The general moved his forefinger to call The chief guard.

The chief guard come forward and knelt before his superior. "Yes General."

"Did you really besiege this place?" He asked from atop of his horse. His black eyes looked at him suspiciously as if the chief guard had lied to him.

"Yes general, the crown prince…" He shook his head hastily. "The Emperor Mo Qin Yi had ordered to surround this place and no one come out from inside." With the meaning of 'no one', the chief guard reffered to Prince Xiao Jun or Princess Xiao and as for their guard, they were free to go in and out as they were not a significant person so he didn't pay close attention to them.

However it wasn't necessary, because their aim was the prince Xiao Jun and his wife right?

The general who heard the sincerely in the chief word's frowned, he knew that he didn't lie to him about this as he saw it with his own eyes that he was indeed had surrounded the place with his guard scattered all over the courtyard, no one would be able to go as they wished in this kind of situation.

He was sure about this, but the situation in front of him was something that he couldn't deny.

After a long time of search, they still couldn't find anything or anyone their search ended up without result.

"No one is inside the courtyard, general." One of the soldiers reported back to him as he knelt on the ground. He and his fellow soldier had looked over the entire place, but no one inside.

"Impossible!" The chief guard roared in disbelief as he dashed inside to check with his own eyes if the soldier had been telling them the truth.

The general finally got off from his horse and walked inside the empty courtyard as some of the torches had been lightened up to illuminate the dark place.

He walked inside and saw there was no one, this place was totally empty, but with the guard where waiting outside of the courtyard, how they could escape this place? It was totally absurd!

Suddenly another soldier came to him to give another report. "General, the people inside this courtyard had escaped through the secret passage way inside the dinning room." He said hastily.

He was also in shock when he discovered there was actually a secret door.

"Show me!" The general was so furious to discover this matter, with long strides he urged the soldier to half running in front of him and led him to the dinning room.

Just like what the soldier had told hhim, there was another secret door inside this place.

The debris and dirt flew on the air because of the movement of many people around it, seemingly those people had torn the wall and destroyed it, but how Xiao Jun, who was someone from the other country, could possibly knew if there was a secret door behind the wall of his courtyard?

"Mo Xuan Fei!" The general called out Mo Xuan Fei's name without his tittle as if he wasn't a prince of this country anymore.

It must be him who was with Xiao Jun, or else how the outsider knew about this? He was truly a traitor.

"GO INSIDE!" He gestured to his man to go inside the tunnel as he led the way, his face flushed red with anger as he shoved the imperial edict inside his robes agitatedly.

He didn't believe it, the first edict that he received and the first task that was given by the Emperor was ended up like this. He didn't believe it that he failed in his first duty as a general.

He moved toward the depth of the tunnel with his men tailed behind his back.

Outside the tunnel, the chief guard who had just arrived and saw what was happening, hastily went to the imperial study room to meet with Mo Qin Yi.

He was going to report this news.

***  

The night had fallen upon them as they stared at the stary night above them.

"It's good thing tonight is not raining." Qianru lowered her head as she looked at Xiao Jun.

They only managed to find one horse and Qianru, as the pregnant woman, had the privilege to ride it alone as Xiao Jun held the rein so the horse wouldn't suddenly went out of control.

"Yes, it's indeed a good thing." Xiao Jun looked up and saw the smile on Qianru's lips. "Hungry?" He asked with concern as he tried to recall when the last time Qianru ate.

It was this afternoon, after they took a stroll in the yard to help her digested the food that she had eaten, however after that, she didn't eat anything anymore.

Qianru shook her head, she didn't feel hungry, but she was afraid if they took a break someone would chase after them.

They had came out from the secret tunnel and appeared inside the dinning room of the crown prince courtyard, fortunately for them, there was only a few guard that patrol around as Mo Qin Yi had moved to the Emperor's courtyard, he didn't bring anything and only left his stuff just like that.

Moreover, Zhao Tianqi also no where to be found, she and the bunches of her maids had disappeared, actually Qianru had never heard any news about her ever since the birthday banquet of the Empress.

Even the case about Xiao Jun was being attacked had never been discussed anymore, as if it had never been happened in the first place. Though, Xiao Jun never demanded the explanation, but it was weird.

After they appeared at the crown prince courtyard they went straight to the north gates, the place that was further away from the main gates as there were not many guards patrolled around it.

It was a good thing that Mo Qin Yi had ordered the chief guard to bring many men with him, because of that, the road seemed empty and they could escaped easily with hundreds of men tailed behind them, they looked like a new recruit of soldiers and servants.

It was easy enough to hide two women among them to make their appearance looked less suspicious. Because Qianru and Lin Xinyang appearances had been known for some of the people inside the palace.

However, they couldn't get horses for their ride, because it would draw unnecessary attention toward them.

All they could do was to get one horse for Qianru and Lin Xinyang so both of them wouldn't tire themselves along this journey.

"Lin Xinyang, are you hungry?" Qianru tilted her head and asked Lin Xinyang behind her, both of them rode the same horse because Lin Xinyang was still injured.

"I am fine." Lin Xinyang replied weakly. Her head had been spinning, but she didn't dare to complain, remembering all of this hardship was partly because of her.

"There is a village in front of us, maybe it took thirty minutes if we walk in this pace." Mo Xuan Fei said from the other side of the horses, he glanced at Lin Xinyang coupled of time, didn't know what he had to do to ease her pain, he knew from her facial expression that she has been holding back her pain, so she wouldn't slow them down.

"We will buy four carriages and horses for the rest of us. So we can move faster." Xiao Jun said as he glanced at Qianru. "Is it alright with you to rest inside a carriage?" He didn't want Qianru felt uncomfortable and disturb her resting time.

As for the carriages, they needed more because one carriage would be for Qianru and the other was for Lin Xinyang while the rest would be for the other maid that they brought.

"I will be fine." She said reassuringly.

"Why don't we stay for a night there?" Mo Xuan Fei also has his own concern, he wanted to call a doctor to take a look on Lin Xinyang's wounds, afraid if it would get infection.

"The possibility that people from the palace had already known about our escape is high and with our current pace, they could catch up to us anytime soon." Xiao Jun said in matter of fact tone. "I don't want to engage in unnecessary fight." No, when he was with Qianru. Xiao Jun would be extremely extra cautious with every decision that he made.

Mo Xuan Fei thought about it again and found out Xiao Jun's word was right. If they engaged into a fight, they could barely escape and even if they could manage to escape there would be victims from the battle.

Xiao Jun didn't want to see his men died in vein, neither Mo Xuan Fei. Moreover, there was also female maidservant among them that couldn't fight the victims would likely increase.

"You are right." Mo Xuan Fei muttered.

The rest of their journey to the nearest village took longer time, so when they arrived some of the shops building had closed.

Xiao Jun asked Feng Jin to bring ten people with him and bought them the carriages and horses before he gave him the money that he needed.

Feng Jin nodded his head as he walked away toward the village entrance with ten men with him, while the rest of the entourage stayed a little bit far away from the village, with Xiao Jun.

Xiao Jun helped Qianru to get off from the horse as Mo Xuan Fei did the same to Lin Xinyang.

Both women stretched out a bit and drink some water to moisten their throat.

"Where we will go?" Qianru asked Xiao Jun as she didn't have any idea where they would go after they runaway from Rockstone Kingdom's territory, they couldn't be possibly back to the Azura Kingdom, right?

"We will go to Greenhill Mountain." Xiao Jun replied.

Greenhill Mountain would be the safest place for them now, there was not much people could relate Xiao Jun with the people from Greenhill, except Azura's people.

Most of them knew that Xiao Jun and his Master Ye Xiu were people behind the existence of it.

Xiao Jun covered Qianru with his cloak as he hugged her from behind. "Don't run about, it is dark here, you can trips and falls." He reminded her.

Qianru giggled and hugged his big arms that circled around her neck. "Alright." She said sweetly.

Xiao Jun was all worry about her since her pregnancy and Qianru was very happy about it, they were getting closer because of the baby.

If their child came out, Xiao Jun and she would shower her or him with endless love so the child would know how much both of he ors her parent's love them.

It took a little bit longer time for Fengjin to gather the things that Xiao Jun asked, however they could only manage to find one carriage and couldn't find another three.

In the end, every guards would ride with one female maidservants, this decision made a little bit noise within the female servants as they looked at the sturdy guards shyly.

But, Xiao Jun didn't want to bother himself with this kind of event, so he let them to pick with whom they would ride and moved quickly.

Meanwhile the carriage that Feng Jin managed to find wasn't that big, so in order to let both women get better place and could rest comfortably.

Xiao Jun and Mo Xuan Fei took the initiative to be the coachmen. Both of them sighed regretfully as they needed to spend the rest of the night sat beside each other and not with their own women.

This was very regretful and unfortunate.

However, before they moved forward, Xiao Jun gave one of the horse to Feng Jin to ride.

"Master?" Feng Jin received the rein with confusion was written on his face.

"Go ahead and informed people from greenhill mountain to assist us." Xiao Jun then gave their route so the people from greenhill mountain could trace the road toward them as they wouldn't stop for long time. "Go now." He said and got on the coachmen seat.

"Yes Master." Feng Jin nodded and rode the horse as fast as he could.

No matter how fast this entourage, Feng Jin would be faster to arrive at Greenhill Mountain as he rode alone and aside from that, Xiao Jun needed much more people to help him to get back Liu Wei from Mo Qin Yi.

He would never abandon his own people especially the one who was always loyal to him.

Inside the carriages, Qianru was chatting happily with Lin Xinyang as she was talking about many things from Zodasian Kingdom and how much she missed her own country.

Lin Xinyang was a beautiful woman, if it wasn't for the scar on her face, Qianru was very sure that the previous Emperor had fallen for her because of her beauty, but Mo Xuan Fei's love was an unconditional love, because no matter how Lin Xinyang's look, he loved her without reservation.

A moment later both women was so exhausted and lied back, ready to sleep.

However, when Qianru was about to fall asleep a sharp pain on her belly woke her up, this was the same pain that she felt when she was in the small village after their visit at the black market.

Qianru bit down her lips to repress the pain, it was so painful.

Chapter end