TW: There's gore and violence in this chapter. You've been warned.

Ye An didn't know who started galloping first. All she knew when she came to was the silver blur of a sword as Sze Chang passed her by. She barely ducked away from that blow.

Both she and Sze Chang reached the edge of the audience and circled around again. Now facing each other from opposite sides, Prince Adlai was currently behind her. He was so close that Ye An could hear every single word of his pained whisper. "I'm sorry. I tried. I couldn't stop them."

Sze Chang's horse huffed and fidgeted as he bellowed and gestured to the crowd. His posture had a regal quality embroidered into it. "Do any of your soldiers know that Lieutenant Yun is dead?"

Whispers erupted. "What? Lieutenant Yun is dead? I thought he went to the capital to quell the coup there. So what the other soldiers were saying was true.."

Sze Chang then turned to address the crowd directly, each strand of his silken hair in place. A perfect picture of a charismatic royal. "Yes, he's dead. And do you also know that your dear Lieutenant Yun is of Northern descent? That his mother was a priestess of the North?"

The corner of Ye An's eyes twitched. She knew what he was doing and she wasn't going to stand by and let Sze Chang step all over the memory of Xi Chen and discredit his military contribution. Especially not in front of the soldiers who were his subordinates. But she faltered. Ye An couldn't, in her good conscience, rebuke the truth. So, she only said, "Xi Chen is.." She paused mid-sentence, swallowing the stone in her throat. "Xi Chen is dead and we only have your word for it."

Sze Chang laughed as the sun shone behind him, illuminating his figure. His voice was rich and befitting his awe-inspiring frame. He gestured to Prince Adlai. "See for yourself. Not only does your dear and respected Lieutenant Yun have Northern blood running through his veins." Sze Chang smirked. "Or rather ran in his veins. He's related to Northern royalty. This is Yun Xi Chen's cousin. Do you see the resemblance now?"

Ye An and Ah Lin tried to stop the growing murmuring from their respective sides but the damage was already done. The seed of doubt and distrust had sprouted. Hushed voices traversed the air and dispersed skepticism within the ranks. "I always thought that his build was unusually large for someone in the Middle Kingdom. I just assumed that's from all the training."

Sze Chang continued relentlessly, like an asp playing around with its prey. "And your dear emperor here and my dear, dear cousin. Do you know that he is actually a she? An imposter! A female dressed as a man! She and the late Empress Mother had all of you running in circles while she played pretend as an emperor and lied to the entire country!"

Ye An's heart froze and dropped to her stomach. Her eyes stared daggers at Sze Chang only because deep down, she was afraid of the accusing glares she knew she would receive. But she couldn't help herself as her eyes swept across the men of their own volition. Disbelief. Disgust. Then came the acceptance of the truth and the rejection of the idea that a woman was on the throne. It was all etched on the soldiers' faces. The grip of her sword loosened. That was when Sze Chang chose to strike.

Everything happened so quickly that Ye An didn't have time to react. Before Sze Chang had the chance to kick his horse into motion, Ah Lin leaped from his horse onto Sze Chang's ride and straddled the horse, a hand pulling a dagger over Sze Chang's throat. The Northerners moved as one and took a step toward Sze Chang.

"One move." Ah Lin yelled. "And I'm slitting his throat."

The Northerners went rigid as they looked to the next person around who had the authority to give out orders, Prince Adlai. Muscle feathered at the Northern prince's jaw. Looking at Sze Chang, something like fear finally bloomed on his face. But before Prince Adlai could say anything, a velvety deep voice traveled from behind him, behind Ye An. It was Leader Wakhia with a sneering General Shao on his side. Both of them were on horseback and the crowd parted to allow the two older men into the circle.

Leader Wakhia narrowed his eyes at Prince Adlai. "What are you doing, Adlai? Grab that girl."

At first, everyone was confused about which girl the Northern leader was talking about, momentarily forgetting what was revealed only moments before, but soon realized that he was talking about Ye An.

"Uncle.." Prince Adlai's voice was pleading.

"You disgust me more every single day, prince." Leader Wakhia spat Prince Adlai's title like it was dirt in rice. "Fine. I'll do it myself."

Leader Wakhia stalked toward Ye An on horseback and she couldn't help but shudder at his predatory glare. She scanned around her to find support from someone, anyone, in the crowd. Someone to part the crowd for her to escape the circle. However, the men around them, even the soldiers from the northern troop, weren't even opening a glimmer of open path. She wavered, feeling as if the crowd was pushing in from every corner. Her lungs compressed into themselves until there was no air in them. Is this the end?

Ah Lin watched the exchange with worry in his eyes. He roared at the soldiers. "What are you doing?! He- She's your emperor! Open up space so she could run, you fools!"

Ah Lin's outburst brought the soldiers' attention back to him and Sze Chang. As they gazed at Sze Chang, Ah Lin knew that he had made a grave mistake.

"Minister Sze is the true heir of the throne." A soldier said quietly. To give him the benefit of the doubt, Ah Lin and Ye An did sense the trickle of hesitance in the soldier's voice. But all of that empathy went out of the window when the soldier continued. "Captain Zhang, holding the Son of Heaven hostage is an act of treason."

In his disbelief, Ah Lin unintentionally pressed the dagger deeper, drawing blood from the nick on Sze Chang's throat.

The quick swoosh of a thrown spear cleaved through the tension. Ye An saw the spear flying above her head. Before she could respond, a thump reverberated, signaling that the spear had found its fleshy mark. She cast her gaze towards Ah Lin and screamed.

The spear had jammed itself through the space in between Ah Lin's eyes and came out from the other side of his skull, his blood splattered across Sze Chang's ghastly face. Sze Chang's eyes widened as his head turned around, its movement jerky, and watched Ah Lin's body slip from the horse and splayed on the ground.

The soldiers stiffened with silent horror while the Northern warriors whooped and cheered as Khenbish appeared on Leader Wakhia's side and dismounted from his horse. He then sauntered leisurely across the clearing as if piercing through someone's skull with his spear was all in a day's work. He stopped by Ah Lin's body to retrieve his spear. He heaved as he jerked the weapon out, wiping the blood roughly on Ah Lin's unarmored sleeves. Ye An clapped a hand over her mouth at the sight of Ah Lin's lifeless body, her eyes wide, her mouth in a silent scream.

Khenbish merely said, "He interfered with the duel." And he deserved it. Ye An could hear the sentence even when Khenbish didn't say it.

"Well done, Khenbish. Maybe I won't put your head through a stake after all." Leader Wakhia purred in satisfaction. "Now. To all of you who were under this... Captain's orders, I will gladly bring you all under my wings. I don't believe in wasting military talent. But just so I could ensure that none of you think of betraying me, let's move on to the next segment."

He nodded at Khenbish who returned the nod grimly. His mouth a thin line, as if even he himself had a limit on how much cruelty he could stomach. But still, Khenbish followed through dutifully as he gestured to another three men, and each of them tied Ah Lin's limbs from all four directions using thick ropes. From how practiced they were at tying the knots, it was apparent that this wasn't their first time doing this.

Khenbish whistled and Ye An paled. Four grey wolves butted their heads through the crowd, snarling and snapping at anyone who was in their way. The Northern warriors merely stepped aside, while the shell-shocked soldiers flinched and some even jumped at the sight and sound of the beasts.

The wolves came to a stop in front of Khenbish. Khenbish whistled again, this time more high-pitched and in bursts as he made eye contact with each wolf and gestured to where each of the ropes ended. Like sorcery, the wolves prowled to their places and stayed put. Khenbish and his men then attached the ropes to the wolves' napes. Khenbish whistled again, this time in three short bursts. The wolves snapped their jaws at the signal and with drool dribbling down their furry chins, they head in different directions, pulling Ah Lin's body taut. Joints popped and bones cracked. The sounds ricocheted in Ye An's skull and merged with the sound of her thundering heartbeat and the ringing in her ears. The grey wolves pulled and pulled. Until the tension was so great that Ah Lin's limbs were completely ripped off from his torso.

Ye An vaguely heard a gut-wrenching scream, probably her own, as darkness enveloped her.

*******

Ye An woke up with a start. It was dark. She blinked her eyes a few times until her eyes adjusted. Her clothes were disheveled and her body ached as if she was thrown around without a care. Disorientated, she tried to make sense of her surroundings. It was freezing but the smell of dried herbs pricked her nose. As her eyes roamed around the room, she realized that she was in the medicine room back at the barracks.

Her heart stilled, as her memory came flooding back. Ah Lin's mangled body seared into her eyes, forever imprinted into her sight like Xi Chen's death. Ye An stared into the dark blankly, her mind shutting down. She didn't know how long she had sat there and stared, but it was long enough for her eyes to have assimilated. Ye An could make out every nook and cranny of the room. Judging from how she was locked in here, she deduced that the North, along with Sze Chang and General Shao had already taken possession of the Northern border.

Ye An tried to find an ounce of her body that cared about that, that twinged at the thought of losing the Northern border. But there was nothing. Not when she had lost everyone on her side.

Her eyes continued staring vacantly at nothing, her mind drifting to find a quiet place to settle, a place far, far away from the reality that she was currently facing.

Then, a glint shone through the gap between the wooden walls.

+* Thanks for reading! Please vote, comment, and follow if you like the story!*+

*Writer's note: So, no one asked but I'm gonna tell you how I decide who dies in my stories. Some of them (like the Empress Mother), I knew was going to die and I knew of the circumstances of their death before I even started writing. Some (like Ah Lin in this chapter), I knew when I was in the midst of writing that he most probably will wind up dead but I just didn't know when. And when I reached the point while writing, it always catches me by surprise. I will just... Stop. And then I'll be like "Sh*t. Is this it? Is this where he's gonna die?" And then I would need a minute and I just stare at myself in the mirror (my writing table doubles as a dressing table). Honestly do not know how I could handle it if I was Ye An. If I'm writing or reading, I could just be like "Ok. I cannot do this right now." And just pause before I could face it again. That's the beauty of fiction, I guess lol. Ok byee