The Untamed Princess

Chapter Twenty-One: The Lucky Escape

Ming Yue opened her eyes and stretched out her aching limbs, which had stiffened up during her early morning sleep.  For a moment, she simply enjoyed the physical sensations creeping back into her body, even welcoming the twinges of pain that came with them.  Then, she sat bolt upright, her eyes wide.

With the prince's injury last night and her own exhausted state, she had completely forgotten about the most astonishing aspect of the evening.  Something that made the assassination attempt seem almost normal by comparison.

She groaned and rested her head in her hands.  Then, suddenly curious, she focussed her thoughts.  Sure enough, the barrier in her mind that she had been aware of since she was a child had gone.  This was it.  Her full powers had now been revealed.  Thinking logically, she supposed it made sense.   If she could communicate with animals, why not the rest of the natural world?  Plants were living things, after all, and this ability could prove to be very useful indeed.  But, Ming Yue acknowledged, only if she was outside.  Hmm.  Perhaps not quite so useful then.

Nevertheless, she resolved to test out her new ability as soon as possible.  Before that, though, was the pressing matter of the prince and Luo Jian.

Maybe they wouldn't remember anything?  Her first thought was quickly dismissed.  Who would forget something like that?

Maybe they would think it was an hallucination from their injuries or the stress of the situation?  Her second thought was equally quickly dismissed.  The chances of both men having the same stress or injury-induced hallucination were slim to none.

Her final thought was the strategy she eventually decided on.

***

A short time later, Zhao Weisheng had relocated to his study.  An urgent request for an audience with his father had been sent, and he and Luo Jian were now waiting for Ming Yue to make an appearance to address the other, more unusual matter.

When she arrived, Weisheng was relieved to see that she looked refreshed from her rest and, other than a shallow graze on her neck and a bruise on her wrist, relatively unscathed from the night's activities.

"Ming Yue," he said.  "Come closer.  We need to discuss what happened last night.  First, did you notice anything about the assassins that might tell us where they came from?" 

 Luo Jian threw the prince a sceptical glance.  He was clearly trying to avoid dealing with the elephant in the room.

Ming Yue thought for a moment.

"Nothing unusual," she said.  "Their clothing was non-descript, and their weapons were standard.  Their fighting style was consistent with the martial arts taught across Han, so I would say that they came from within the kingdom rather than being foreigners but, other than that..." she shrugged.

"Yes," said Weisheng.  "We came to much the same conclusion."  He took a deep breath.

"About what happened after.  After I was hit by the arrow, I mean. I mean..." he stammered.  Then, adopting the same strategy as the night before, he decided to just blurt it out.

"Luo Jian had I have discussed it and we distinctly recall being carried to the wall by the branches of a tree."  He looked at Ming Yue in an expectant, almost challenging, manner.

She took a deep breath and prepared herself to lie to Weisheng's face.

"What a relief, Your Highness," she said.  "I believed I was hallucinating.  Was it not the most amazing and surprising thing you have ever seen?  Surely the heavens were with us."  She stopped her little speech and looked at both young men with her eyes wide, blinking.