Fresh Embers of Love

Chapter 53

Linyou the Frog Spirit, Lord of Dongting Lake, and General of the Emperor's secret army stationed in the Mortal Realm, lay in bed, next to his wife Qintian, sleeping peacefully. He was woken suddenly by a loud cry in the distance.

He jumped up out of bed, falling over in his haste, shaking his head to clear it. His wife, Qintian, woke up at the noise that he made falling over. Soon, she was also out of bed.

Another cry sounded, it was coming from upstairs.

"The Princess!" Qintian exclaimed.

They both rushed to the door, opening it clumsily, and dashed out into the hall and up the staircase. As they made their way through the upstairs hallway, Linyou could see that the forcefield was still in place on the door. He was about to lift it when he heard something that made him stop.

"Push hard into me! I want to feel ALL of it inside me!" the demanding voice of the Princess could be heard through the door.

And then, "Princess!" said the unmistakable voice of his son, Sheng-Da.

Linyou's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Oh, YES!" The Princess' voice carried through the hall.

Qintian tried to surge past him, but he held up his arm, blocking her path.

"What are you doing? We have to stop them!" Qintian asked him.

Linyou shook his head. He threw a sound barrier up at the door, muffling the noise.

"Let's not traumatize our son" he said.

"But..." Qintian pointed at the door.

Linyou continued to shake his head at her.

"It's the PRINCESS!" Qintian argued. "And our SON!"

Linyou sighed. "I know. I'll talk to him tomorrow."

He steered his wife around, gently pushing her towards the stairs, as she continued to gesture in the direction of the door, trying to argue with him. She finally gave up arguing with him, but sat up in bed the rest of the night, stewing.

Linyou gave up trying to sleep. He got dressed and headed to his office. When the light of dawn penetrated the gloom of the underwater palace, he walked out to the section of the barracks where his son was supposed to be quartered. He stood outside the door and waited, keeping a carefully composed expression on his face.

The Captain of the Watch came out to sound reveille, and was surprised to see him there. Linyou gestured at him to get on with it. The Watch Captain banged on a large gong, causing a high pitched sound to shimmer through the air.

From inside the barracks could be heard the sounds of movement, as a large group of men all rose and started their day at once. In the building directly in front of him, it was not very long before the noise level of the voices rose, pitched with excitement.

"QingWa Sheng is not here!" the cry rang out, and was repeated, in various forms of questions and expletives.

"Lord Dongting will have our hides if we don't find him!" said one of the Enlisted men.

"Who was on watch?" another voice questioned loudly.

"Oh, COME ON!" complained another voice. "You can't throw this on me! It's QingWa Sheng for crying out loud!"

The slight puff of dust that rose up from the ground in front of the barracks door alerted Linyou to the presence of an invisible person. He flicked his tongue directly above it with lightning speed and precision, grasping the ankle of said person, and dragging them through the dirt towards him.