Promise and Betrayal: A Mo Dao Zu Shi (the Untamed) Story

Chapter 27

The next month sees the people of our village bustling about, making arrangements for Wei Ying and his two chosen companions to go to the christening. I see little of Wei Ying for two weeks, instead hearing questionable noises and suspicious smells floating from the shut door of his makeshift workshop. He comes out briefly to announce his two companions will be me and Wen Ning but retreats immediately after. During those two weeks, I head the town, and Wen Qing tasks herself with finding Wei Ying something befitting for him to wear. By now, all our clothes have turned ragged and worn, despite their comfort and constant washing. If she wishes to make us presentable, chances are she will need to sew the robes herself.

Despite my lean knowledge of sewing, I offer to help her. She declines, her excuse being while she would appreciate the help, she does not believe I would actually be of help. In short, I would only be in the way. Instead, she tasks me with going into town to buy the fabric and sell our turnips with Wen Ning.

While in the town, I leave Wen Ning to his turnip selling and drift across the market in search of relatively nice, but not expensive, fabric. Wei Ying's color scheme is normally black and red, as is Wen Ning's. Mine, however, is gold and black. I make the executive decision to change my colors. Part of it is money, but the other part is that my fate is inexorably linked to my brother's. No amount of individuality in fashion will change that.

The rest of the time before the christening finds us panicky and nervous. Wen Qing finished our dresses four days before the event, and it is now less than twenty-four hours away. The three of us, in our newly made and matching robes, stop for the night. Carp Tower is only a swallow's fly away from Burial Mounds, but it is a long enough road to merit camping for the night. We have half a day's travel ahead of us, but the christening will not begin until after midday.

Despite the cold spring night, we extinguish our camping fire early. We are still wanted criminals, and although no one knows our faces, if they see Wei Ying's flute, Wen Ning's markings, and my dual sheathes, they will come to the conclusion that we are exactly the three they have been told to watch for. They will raise the alarm and we will find ourselves in prison with little hope of escape.

We take precautions. We set a rotating watch, Wei Ying first, me second, Wen Ning third. The next morning, we avoid the main roads, sometimes preferring to walk parallel to the road rather than encounter those on it. The sun is at its zenith when we are forced back onto the main path because it is the only way to Carp Tower. For the entire time we travel in plain sight, we are tense and paranoid. Every movement I hear in the trees makes me half-draw my swords. Every flash of color makes me freeze and lock onto it.

We pass Qiongqi way, the site of our grand show of rebellion a year and a half ago. All is still in the abandoned place. The only remainder of the fire is the deserted land, devoid of structures, people, or equipment. They must have forsaken it after we freed their slaves and killed their overseers.

The wind changes and ruffles the plants that have sprouted in the field, a wind that blows away from us, down the road. I pause, something tickling my nerves. I motion for the other two to pause as well, informing them of my feeling. They have learned to trust these feelings I have, for rarely are they wrong. They oblige, stopping their advance. They turn to me, Wei Ying looking quizzical, Wen Ning looking around in fear.

"Someone awaits us," I say after a while. "But I cannot be sure of who or their intention."

"Do we have a choice to not continue?" Wen Ning asks.

"We are not to be delayed," Wei Ying says, the curiosity leaving his face after my announcement. "Whoever they are can be dealt with. I will not be late to my nephew's christening."