WangXian: The Arrangement ✔️ [Untamed Fanfic]

8-Thirsty Corpses

When they met the junior disciples at the inn, it was well past midday. They ordered food, and Lan Wangji asked them for a report.

"Nothing as such," Sizhui told them, "but one of the elders thought there might be something strange going on with some of the farmers outside the village."

"Strange how?" Wei Ying asked. 

"Two different families buried their oldest daughters yesterday, both saying they died of a sudden sickness. But today, the heads of both families were in the village buying new clothing and farm implements."

"He thinks they shouldn't be?" Lan Zhan asked.

"He doesn't see how they could afford the things they purchased," Sizhui explained.

"I'm not sure--" 

"What kind of sickness?" Wei Ying asked, giving Lan Zhan a look to make up for the interruption.

"He just said they were fine the night before, but dead when the families discovered them the next morning," Jinling added. 

"Any marks on the bodies?"

Jinling shook his head. "They didn't know. And they've already been buried."

Lan Zhan was looking at Wei Ying. "You think we should go?"

Wei Ying nodded.

"Jinling," Lan Zhan said, handing him six silver coins, "looks like we'll be staying the night. Go get two rooms for us."

"Two?"

"Yes. One for you two and one for me and Wei Wuxian."

***

Out of the village, the two farmsteads in question were easy enough to pick out. One was getting a new roof and in front of the other, a new plow was being hitched. 

"I think we should split up," Wei Ying said.

"Good idea," said Jinling. "Why don't you take Sizhui and go talk to the new roof family. Lan Wangji and I will take the plow."

Wei Ying couldn't help but laugh. "Fine by me," he said. "Lan Zhan, be sure to keep your little dog tightly leashed."

"Why you--" Jinling had drawn back his fist, but it dropped when Lan Zhan clamped him on the shoulder.

"Let's go."

***

Inside the farmhouse with the new roof, Wei Ying immediately knew something was wrong. Mother, father, son, and baby all wore new clothes, for one thing. And not mourning clothes.

Sizhui introduced them as representing the Lan cultivation clan and explained why they had come.

The farmer's wife shook her head. "That's just like some people," she said. "As soon as you've got a little money, they start mongering gossip about you."

"That's right," said the farmer. "There's nothing here unexplained. Just bad fortune and good fortune, the same as with every other person."

"We are very sorry about your daughter's death," Wei Ying said, looking from one family member to the next. Only the little boy looked sad.

"I have an older sister," he said, meeting the boy's gaze. "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to her."

"Jingyi," his mother said, shuffling him outside, "go check on the goats."

Wei Ying turned to the parents. "We aren't here to judge you or take your money, but if your daughter had two small punctures on her neck, you need to tell me."

The father's face gave the game away, though the mother remained stoic. "We don't know what you're talking about," she insisted.

"Maybe you think the payment you received in exchange for your daughter's life was fair." He shivered as he said it. "I don't know. But I do know that she won't be able to enter the afterlife if you buried her in the normal way. In fact, in all likelihood, she'll return as a bloodthirsty corpse. Your lives and the lives of your other children will all be at risk. Was the payment sufficient for that?"

"What--"

The farmer shushed his wife. "What do you need to know?" he said quietly. 

Wei Ying sighed. "Just show us where she's buried. We will take care of the rest."

"And she... she'll be able to pass on and be reborn?"

"We'll see to it," he said.

***

Lan Wangji and Jinling had less success, but they all followed the farmer's instructions to the village cemetery.

"How did you know about the puncture marks?" Sizhui asked Wei Ying when they had all regrouped and were on their way. "I don't think they would have told us if you hadn't guessed that."

He and Sizhui were walking behind Lan Zhan and Jinling, but Wei Ying could feel Lan Zhan was listening. He sighed. "The timing for one thing," he told them. "The Wen clan members would have passed by here going to and from the conference at Gusu. As to the marks... I've seen them before."

They found the cemetery and the two freshly filled graves easily enough. 

"Now what?" Sizhui asked.

"Now, we wait for sundown," Wei Ying said. "If they rise, we cut off their heads."

Jinling grimaced.

"But that will be the end of it?" Sizhui asked. "They'll return to the cycle of death and rebirth then?"

"They were just buried last night," Wei Ying said. "They won't have risen at all yet, so won't have killed anyone." He pointed at Jinling. "Just don't let them bite you."

Jinling gave him a one-sided scowl. "Don't worry about me. I just hope you're as handy with your sword as everyone says you are. I wouldn't want you to embarrass Lan Wangji now that you've been called on to do something other than play around."

There was to be no playing around that night. They dispatched the two girls easily enough and returned them to their resting places. 

But the forest on either side of their road back suddenly came alive with shambling corpses with glowing red eyes. Wei Ying and Lan Zhan drew their swords simultaneously and moved to shield the two younger boys.

They made short work of the first two waves, but they didn't stop coming. The woods teemed with them, red dots blinking into view on both sides and moving closer. 

The boys kept in a tight formation and slashed and slashed. Wei Ying heard Jinling yell and looked to see that one of the corpses had pulled off his sleeve and torn the flesh all the way down his arm. He knew he and Lan Zhan could hold out, but what about the other two?

Making a quick decision, he stepped back for a moment, hiding behind Lan Zhan's sword, his back to Jinling's. He bit his thumb to create a blood talisman, drawing characters down the front of his robes.

"What are you doing?" Lan Zhan demanded.

"It's an attraction spell," he yelled. "I'll lure them into that open field up ahead, past the fork. You take these two back to the village. Once I get them rounded up, I can take care of them."

Lan Zhan opened his mouth to object, but Wei Ying didn't stop moving. He hopped up onto his sword and glided over the heads of the oncoming mob. The symbols he'd drawn on his chest started to glow red, and the corpses sniffed the air and began to follow him.

>>>>>>>

A/N: If you're liking this story, don't forget to vote!