The Ballad of Luwei

Chapter Four

It was two tense full days before Weiwei woke up. When she did she saw a covered cart ceiling. Weiwei observed that the cart was currently stationary and she had been covered in her most treasured furs that were from the first hunting trip with her father. There were no sounds of an animal walking and she could hear people moving about outside but she could not make out any specific voice. She took stock of her injury and pain levels. Seeing that it was manageable she started to rise out of her makeshift pallet to see what was going on outside. As she was rising Sisi lifted the cloth makeshift door to climb in and nearly dropped the large bowl she was holding.

"Princess! Oh my heavens!" Sisi cried as she moved over to Weiwei and gently pushed her back down to her pallet. "You need to rest, don't get up. I'll go get Kei Ouyang for you. I'm sure you both have questions. Thank Shangdi, you are awake. You have no idea how worried we all were." Sisi wiped her tears and left before Weiwei had the chance to retort. Releasing a sigh the princess waited for the curtain to open again. Weiwei had to cringe when she heard Sisi's shouts for Kei Ouyang to come quickly. Weiwei did not want to know what sort of panic her normally calm handmaiden caused.

Moments later the stoic Kei Oh rushed into the cart and calmly sat down next to the injured princess when he saw that she was fully alert. "Highness." He bowed his head in greetings before cutting straight to business. "We are currently headed south towards Xue Shan with a majority of the tribe's army. I have sent the rest of the tribe along with the most trusted warriors to the East to your mother's homeland. I enclosed a letter to your grandfather. Our people should be safe there. As well as sending some of your most trusted spies to the chief's place of power, I am currently awaiting more word on what all has all transpired there. What has been said is that the red general has slayed the mighty Bei with his consort due to the Great Bei not allowing him to take you, the princess's hand in marriage. Zhen has claimed that he slayed General Luwei and was wounded in battle. There is no word on where the princess is but the coward has seized control of the tribes at this time."

Weiwei took a deep breath and acknowledged her dearest friend's words. Temporarily pushing aside Zhen's bluster about how he was wounded in battle. While she did not want to think about the massacre of her parents she knew that she needed a clear head to go over the event. Sighing Weiwei started telling Kei Oh of the events from her perspective that happened when she reached her father's camp. She left no gruesome detail behind. Pausing to think she knew that while she had her father's royal seal she knew the item would be worthless if the tribe leaders chose to follow Zhen. What she needed was a new ally. Weiwei pondered for a few moments. "Kei Oh, where was the last known whereabouts of the tale from Tsinghua?"

"In Feng Teng's territory as of two weeks ago, what is your plan?" Kei Oh asked.

Weiwei smiled. "Change our destination to Feng Teng's stronghold. I think it's time to pay a very public visit to Feng Teng. After all, he is set to marry my sweet cousin Shanshan in a few short months."

The war councilor paused to figure out what his Princess was saying before a smirk crossed his lips. What better way to poke holes in the older Zhen's story than to have the red general very publicly show up in neutral territory and broker a new peace alliance while she was at it. Leave it to her to think outside the box.

As she rotated her shoulder to test her maneuverability, Weiwei let off a string of orders. "Tell the men we should be riding out in two hours time. Pass me my waiting table and ink then send Sisi in with the healer. This wound needs to be healed quick and dirty. I need full movement by the time we are on the outskirts of Feng Teng's territory. I will need to be seen in my prime by both Feng Teng along with the Tsinghua people. It's time to let the world know who is the person behind the red mask. Also tell her to pull my more ornate armor. I need to be the center of attention when we arrive at Feng Teng's fortress."