Noir

Chapter 21 - The Execution

"I have to go to him!" I pleaded with Luhan. "Yixing will be put to death if I do nothing!"

Luhan sat before a wash basin, his tunic loosely hanging about him as he rebandaged his wounds. It had been a day since Yixing had surrendered, and the talk of the village said that his execution was set to be this afternoon. I hadn't slept, and had only stayed with Luhan because he needed me.

"What is it that you can do, Milady?" He asked, tying a knot. "The more that you cry and beg, the better the show will be for the audience. They need to make an example of him."

"I can't just sit by and do nothing!" Tears brimmed in my eyes and I hastily wiped them away. "I love Yixing! He would do everything he could to save me!"

"You have an infant daughter to care for!" Luhan scowled. "She cannot lose both father and mother! Would you make your child an orphan?"

"No..." I buried my face in my hands. "I just...I am so afraid. I've never been so afraid in my life, Luhan. Yixing will die today, and I...I can't..."

My shoulders shook with sobs, and Luhan reached out with a comforting arm, clasping his hand over mine. I would have given anything to take Yixing's place.

"Go to town for the execution," Luhan said softly. "I will stay here and care for the baby. If you are not back by sundown, I'll come looking for you, alright?"

I looked up in surprise. "Thank you," I breathed, and got up. "I wish that I didn't have to, but thank you."

++

When I arrived in the village, the square was packed with people. Soldiers stood around, some containing the crowds, while others drinking and eating with the people. Everyone, it seemed, wanted to watch the execution of the Lord Zhang. I pushed my way towards the center, frantically trying to find Yixing, calling his name above the hundreds of voices talking.

"Yixing!" I called, shoving past more people to the center of the square. I saw a row of men in a line, waiting to be hanged at the gallows, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Yixing was not the one hanging by his neck. A line of men, heavily guarded stood awaiting their turn, and I saw Yixing amongst them.
There was already a noose around his neck, held firmly by a soldier guarding him. I screamed his name, running forth.

"Jikyung!" He spotted me, his face becoming alive again. He took a step towards me, but the soldier holding his noose dragged him back.

"Yixing! Yixing!" I sobbed, and was suddenly caught around the middle by a soldier and dragged away. "No! Show mercy, please! Don't kill him!"

Tears ran freely down my face, as the soldier fought with all of his might to drag me away. "Yixing!" I shrieked, sobbing, as the soldier nearly threw me into an empty shop and slammed the door shut.

"Let me go to him!" I begged, picking myself up from the floor as the soldier took off his helmet. I gasped in shock, pausing in my tracks.

"What are you thinking?!" He cried, as I gaped at him in shock.

"Chen?" I breathed. Here was the last person in the entire world that I expected to see, and he was standing right before me. 

"Don't know know they'll just be harder on him if they see that?" He asked again, and I was so stunned and overwhelmed that a fresh wave of tears came over me.

"You're alive..." I murmured, and he rushed towards me to catch me in his arms before I sank to my knees.

"Milady, stay strong," Chen said encouragingly. "You must be strong for My Lord."

"He's going to die!" I cried. "We must do something!"

"I already have you safe with me," Chen said, looking out of the window almost expectantly. "Milady, you mustn't go out there again."

"But Yixing is going to hang!" I pleaded, trying to push past him in the door. Chen was stronger than I was and was able to hold me back. My gaze fell to the window, and to my horror, I saw them leading Yixing up onto a box, and tying the noose to the gallows. "No!" I screamed, hysterical, as Chen had to nearly tackle me to keep me from leaving. "Chen, let me go! They have him! He's on the gallows!"

"Milady, please!" Chen struggled to hold me back, but I refused to relent.
"Your husband isn't going to die!" I shrieked, sobbing hard. I could only watch, as he wrapped me in a bear hug, through the window, as the box was kicked out from underneath Yixing's feet. I let out a horrible, strangled cry, as I watched my husband flail and kick his feet, his hands bound behind him as he suffocated. "Chen, no!" I wept bitterly. Watching my husband suffer was the worst possible punishment, and I longed to be up there in his stead.

Suddenly, a soldier came running onto the platform, his sword raised, and with one easy slice, leapt up into the air and split the noose, letting Yixing fall hard onto the platform. I blinked, unsure if I had seen this correctly, when Chen grabbed me by the arms, leading me out of the door.

"Come on, Milady," He ushered me through the crowd, as I strained to see what was going on.

"What's happening?!" I cried, my heart ramming inside my chest. "Was this planned?!"

Chen fixedly lead me through the streets, away from the crowds and to an awaiting soldier with a horse. "Yes," He replied, mounting and then helping me up. "With any luck, Huang Zitao should meet us with My Lord by sundown."

"Huang Zitao!" I didn't know what to think. This all seemed far too surreal. Yixing was being rescued! And then another thought struck me as we began to ride. "Chen, we have to stop! Luhan is with my daughter, wherever we're going we can't leave them!"

"Well he's going to have to wait!" Chen said fixedly, riding as fast as the horse could take us.

"My infant daughter!" I repeated urgently. "Chen, I can't just leave her!"

"Do you want your husband not to be caught?" He cried. "Trust me when I tell you that this way is safer for all of us."

"And what if they send troops to our home? They already have! Chen, you must turn back! Luhan said he would look for me by sunset if I did not return!"
"The priority is you and My Lord - "

"She is a baby!" I cried, seizing the horse's reigns and bringing us to a fast stop. "Barely three months old!"

Chen turned around swiftly, looking furious. "You are impossible to please," He snarled. "My job is to bring you to our hiding place. Zitao's job is to bring my Lord. Luhan will protect your daughter at all costs, and once we arrive, I will go myself to look for them and bring back the baby, alright? But if you want Yixing to live, you must cooperate with me. Understand?"

I sighed, swallowing. I could count a million ways that this could fail, but I had no choice. "I understand."