3.
I chose eight of my best men to go along with me. Eight would be enough, if they were good. More hands, if not up to standard, would only add to confusion and danger. My chosen men were good. They had been vigorously trained and proven in skill, courage and dedication. I knew not every one of them could come back alive.
The danger was on the return journey when we had to escort the future emperor back to the imperial capital.
We reach Fangling without incident, and went straight to the rundown compound that was the home of the future emperor for the past decade.
Li Xian was terrified to learn that a troop of armed men was sent by his mother. He thought it was for his execution or that he would be ordered to commit suicide, just like her brother years ago. It was with great effort that I was able to convince him that the Empress meant no harm and he was to be re-instated as heir apparent. This was not exactly something he would be overjoyed to hear. I could understand that. Heir-apparent or not, he would shiver with fear every night in the den of the tigress-mother.
I arranged the escort as efficiently as possible; any delay would mean increased danger. Prince Wu would not stand idle and watch his chance of succession being snatched away at the last moment by a once-disgraced prince.
This was the first time I saw Li Guo’er, the daughter of Prince Li Xian. She was no more than fourteen then. It was a face one could never forget once set eyes upon. She had every potential to become a beautiful woman in a few years’ time.
The wife of Li Xian was also a good looking woman. Though veiled, the thin gauze could hardly hide her attractive face. But I found her eyes troubling: they were eyes of a woman who could do anything to get what she wanted. With such a wife, the life of the husband prince would be less than tranquil.
We set off at dawn, the closed carriages transporting the couple and then their daughter flanked by my troop. I knew from the start we were being shadowed.
The first two days were uneventful.
On the third day, when we were fording a shallow stream, the shadows struck
Prince Wu had chosen his men well too: hardened fighters who were not afraid of anything. They knew what kind of price they had to pay if they failed. Disappointing Prince Wu was never an option they would choose.
There were twenty of them, outnumbering us by nearly two to one.
The attack began with showers of arrows that were concentrated on the carriages. If I had not had the foresight to have these hardened by thick strong wood planks, the prince couple and his daughter would have been turned into porcupines. Failing to make a kill, the enemy, all masked, charged. I drew my sword, ordered two of my men to throw a protective ring around the carriages and led my men to deliver a counter-charge. Blades clashed, shields were hammered in by heavy maces, armors gave way to mortal cuts and limbs and heads littered the bank of the ford. They were good but my chosen men were better. We lost two men, they were slaughtered.
Then, I heard shouts behind my back. I brought the horse around and saw four more masked riders charging at the carriages.
I was not unduly worried as I knew my two left-behind men could hold their own until we could ride back to reinforce them. But when one of the doors of a carriage, the one carrying the future beauty princess was slid open and out came running a frightened maiden on her feet, my heart almost jumped out of my mouth. To add horror, one of the attackers broke off the engagement and was galloping at the runaway princess, his sword swinging high to a position to bring it down onto her swan-like neck. There was no way I could not get within range to block that cut in time. I could see the horror in her eyes as she turned to face her foe. The blade was now being brought down and in a flash, her head would fly. I gave a yell and send my own sword through the air. It sank into the chest of the attack just in time to stop the blade from doing its work. The rider was thrown off his saddle. The girl was safe, for the moment. But the danger had not passed. Another rider had broken off the fight and was in full pursuit. I had no weapon now and it was too late to wait for the others to come to our aid. Without thinking much, I spurred my mount into full gallop, snatched up the princess by the waist and settled her horizontal on the saddle. She did not try to struggle. The purser was very close now. I could sense the tip of his sword pointing directly at my back, ready to ram in as his mount gathered speed.
We were heading a dirt-road, uphill and this would give him advantage as we had to slow. To run him out was not an option. I let him get closer and closer and just as his blade was to run me through, I threw my body weight to one side, hanging on only with a foot on a stirrup. His blade missed me by less than a faction of a horse hair. I let it pass, grabbed at his wrist and had it snapped. He uttered a cry of pain. I did not give him the chance to curse as I snatched the sword that had fallen out of his hand and buried it into his neck!
The fight was finally over. We lost four men, half our numbers. The enemy was annihilated.
I helped the princess sit proper on my saddle and started our trot back to her anxious parents. She, on the other hand, seemed undisturbed by the close brush with death. She had large round eyes, with intelligent pupils that danced with an internal fire.
“You saved me.” She said. “You will always be my champion, my First Knight.”
I smiled and did not pay much attention to it. She was little more than a child then.
It was years later than I finally understood what that act of titling would mean.
4.
The imperial reunion was more cordial than expected.
The Empress could be forgiving when she chose to; her son only too relieved when he found out that her rage at him years ago had been erased clean. He paid her his allegiance and retired with his wife to the lodging prepared by his mother. It was not really a prince palace but definitely an improvement over the rundown house at his place of exile.
Prince Wu was furious but there was little he could do; his fear for his aunt, the Empress, was as intense as anyone else’s. I knew I made a dangerous enemy though and one day, score would have to be settled.
The surprise was the princess. The Empress took such a liking of her, her granddaughter being pretty and intelligence, she decided to keep her in the imperial palace and raise her personally. Her daughter, Princess Taiping and Shangguan Wan’er, the secretary to the Empress and some said the latter’s same-sex lover, also liked Li Guo’er at first sight. I had met Princess Taiping many times; the same was true with Shangguan Wan’er, both of them women of exceptional beauty despite of their ages. The princess was in her mid thirties while Shangguan in her late thirties and did not look it. Shangguan was also famous for her beautiful poems, quick wits and promiscuity.
I was awarded handsomely by the Empress and in time, forgotten about the task completed.
It was four years later when I saw Li Guo’er again.
5.
I had predicted that Li Guo’er would become a beautiful woman.
I was wrong.
She had become a dazzling one. Many would say that she was THE most beautiful woman in the entire empire, counting right from the beginning of the dynasty!
I realized that when I was summoned into the palace again, this time with a more pleasant task: I was to teach the Princess Anle, the official title of the rescued princess now, to ride. She actually could ride but she had demanded that someone proficient to perfect her skill.
“And who do you want to be your teacher?” The doting Empress had asked.
“Xu Bin, my First Knight.” She was said to have replied.
I was astonished that she could still remember my name. After all, it was over four years and her world had changed. From a prisoner who could be executed at the whim of the Empress, she had become a much doted over grand-daughter, and a spoiled child. Child was perhaps not a very proper term. She was eighteen, grown body and soul. When she glided across palace floors, she put all other beauties there in shame. Young nobles and military commanders secretly feasted on her charms and would do anything at her bidding. The body, once thin and fragile, had bloomed, the silk that graced her torso accentuating her figure to the lustful eyes of the court. She did not mind, as if the admiration of men was her plaything she was entitled by birth, something she could not live without, and yet not treasured when obtained, to be flung into the dark corners of her closet, a forgotten trophy that was allowed to rust and decay in sad silence.
Though I had been warned, I was still dazed by her glow. It could not be helped. It was like that special flower sent as tributes from Tianzhu, a country on the other side of the Kunlun Mountains. Used properly, it could save your life; too much of it, it would be the death of you. The trouble was, with Li Guo’er, no one was able to stop before too much was taken.
I was approaching my thirty now, an age not old enough to refuse temptation of something beautiful and too young to heed the advice of the wise. Of course I dared not hope for any special treatment, being only an army-man. But the first time when I lay my eyes on the peony in full bloom, I knew I was lost. Worse, she led me on, coyly at first until it was too late for me to turn back, too late for us to turn back. Her first lessons were always accompanied by Xiao yun, her trusted maid-in-waiting and we were discrete. But soon, she began to abandon caution to the winds, Xiao yun was sent away deliberately into a safe distance as we walked our horses through thick woods offering shelter. I knew what was coming but I kept lying to myself that it was nothing but my imagination. “How could it be possible? She was like the brightest star in the Milky Way while I was just a common soldier, the rank of commander would be a source of joke to the nobles who were relentless to go around her like bees on nectar.
“Go fetch me some water from the stream, Xu Bin.” She told me
I obliged.
When I was back, she was standing there, naked.
We looked at each other, the sound of cicadas drowning around us, eroding our senses and constraints. The water was forgotten.
I knew it was not love. She was not capable of it. To her, it was a conquest, an affair, a past-time, a fulfillment of a crush long time ago, perhaps even a showing of gratitude for once saving her life.
We tried to push off such unpleasant thinking from our mind.
We laughed and made silly plans.
“If we have a child, how would you name it?” she once asked.
“Will it be a boy or a girl?” I asked back.
“Let us pretend it is a girl.”
I thought it over and said, “Yuen Zhi”
“Yuen Zhi?” she repeated the name I proposed.
“I once had a sister and her name was Zhi. She died when she was seven. I still missed her.”
Virginity was never at issue under Tang or Zhou banners. They had nomadic blood in the imperial veins. Father and son could share the body of a woman if they wanted to. Nobody would expect such a beauty as Guo’er to remain pure till her wedding night. Of course, we would be in grave trouble if we were caught; at least I would be in mortal risk. As for her, the worst thing would be a severe scolding.
We embraced, necked. She had me striped and our limbs entwined together.
To me, it was heaven.