Flower of Bulann

Chapter 23

King Liu Huang looked over the letter once more before crumpling it angrily in his hands. It was enough to have the Faden lord rise again from those long-dormant ashes, it was another to have the Hyenta backing this... this upstart!

"Where is the messenger?" he demanded of his servant, the young man shaking as he raised his head.

"He was hired by a man upon our border to deliver the message, his description of the man yielded only that he was of the Hyenta's, my king," the servant replied, his shaking voice was starting to annoy Huang. He may just kill this man to satisfy his annoyance.

"Lord, word from the frontlines!" one of his messengers called out hurriedly, dropping to his knee before him.

"Tell me," Liu demanded, could this day get any worse?

The messenger looked up and Huang could tell he had sustained light injuries, the news would be bad...

"We have won several decisive battles in the last day, my king," the messenger started, Huang knew there would be more though.

"However, during the fighting, your eldest son was mortally wounded by a Garbrand lance. Your son Han was also badly wounded."

Huang almost had a heart attack, in one fell swoop his lineage had been reduced by half should Han die, with Kuan a prisoner of the Hyentas and Hu on the western border.

What should he do? Huang had always pushed the boundaries of acceptability, naming himself a king and not emperor had been a foolish gamble, but he had been left alone. He took quill and paper before writing out a letter to Hohin, he would trade a year-long peace for his son's life... though knowing this his rival would take the western lordships, he had little choice. Huang had foolishly underestimated the Garbrand and Dian families, with his sons paying the price.

"My lord king!" another messenger cried out, dropping to his knees before him... how could there be so much bad news in a single day?

"Make it quick, my patience is wearing thin," Huang said through gritted teeth.

"Your son, Kuan, he is not a captive of the Hyentas," the new messenger said hurriedly.

"Then that is good news," he cut in quickly, perhaps his good for nothing son would be useful after all.

"He has renounced the name of Liu and taken on..." the messenger stammered, though Huang knew what he was going to say. "He has been bestowed with the name of Faden, he rules there with his sworn brother now."

Huang threw his desk aside, the exquisitely carved wood tearing through the wall panels and startling his concubines in the next room.

"God damn that boy!" he screamed, this betrayal was too much to bear.

"Send envoys to the Garbrands and Dians and secure me a peace, then we send all forces to kill these... Faden's once and for all!"

His blood boiled and he couldn't think straight, the Faden had killed his father, his two elder brothers and raped his sisters, whelping a young boy upon one of them.

They were all long dead now, his sisters dying by his hands, for he couldn't be associated with such tainted loins as theirs, better to die in ignominy, than live on in shame.

His messengers bolted from the room, clearly happy to have kept their heads. Huang took a step through the broken panelling, taking one of his concubines by the arm and stripping her naked before him.

"I need more sons," he told the seven gathered women, his wife averting her eyes from him.

Huang dragged the woman to his chamber through the gap and pushed her onto his bed, he couldn't even remember her name he thought as he forced himself on her.