Falling Snow

Chapter 14

Unbelievable. Just impossible. What are the chances, that he would meet her again, in the most inconvenient place and time.

But that image, no doubt belonged to her. The cascaded long hair black as raven; the slender and petit figure; the eyes full of defiance and sorrow. There she was, standing in front of the gate he was about to walk in, arguing with the guard in a frantic voice. Prince Yang stared at the scene, not sure what to react. It's only a matter of time before they would notice his presences, or general Lin's. One word, one glance, and everything falls.

"Go away, you are wasting my time." The guard said in an impatient tone. " If you don't disappear, I will have soldiers drag you away by your hair!" Yang half expected that the girl-what was her name, right, Xue- would back away. But somehow, after their previous short encounter, he knew that she wouldn't back down. "Please, if you would just let me, or tell me where General Lin......." That's far enough, Yang decided. He should probably get the situation under control before everything went sideway.

He had no time to formulate a flawless plan, so he just went with his instincts. Offence was the best defence, so here went nothing, he thought as he calmly walked toward the guard. no one was near this side of the gate except for the guard and the girl. Yang was dimly aware that Lin was following him silently and confused. So he turned his head around and gave Lin a look that says"just be silent and go with it", and Lin immediately understood and nodded.

As Yang approached the gate, the guard suddenly realized his existence. At first, he was quite confused, then, realization frown on his face. As his jaw suddenly opened to a shocked position which awkwardly hung in the mid air not sure whether open or close. " What, your......" Before the guard could finish his sentence, Yang waved his hand and stared at him with his shut-up-and-be-quiet-or-you-are-going-to-regretted look. The guard immediately shut his jaws. He might be a prisoner in this palace that he so called home, but he was still a Prince, he was still the royal heir.

"I will take it from here, you may leave now. " Yang said solemnly to the shocked guard. After a pause, the guard regained his composure and gave a deep bow before silently slipped back into the army house. The girl was keeping her head low for the whole time. As the guard exited, she fiddled with her fingers and slowly turned around. A strand of her hair wavered in front of her face, hid part of her feature as she looked up with her eyes.

"What do you want, didn't I tell you to not to wonder the palace!" As soon as the guard exited, Prince Yang changed to a low and whispered voice. The girl looked scared for one second, which kind of made Yang felt bad at being so harsh on her. But it's just for a second, then her face was serious.

"Please, I don't know who to turn who. You won't see me ever again. But this is important, it's life and death!" Even if she was keeping her voice low, Prince Yang could hear that she was trying to suppress screaming.

" Please, General Lin, just take this, and you will understand." The girl quickly reached into her sleeves and pulled out a slip of bamboo stick. She handed it in front of Yang, he could tell that there were some characters carved onto the bamboo stick, but it was too small to tell. Yang was wondering if this was a trick, but from the pleading eyes which the girl looked at him, he tool the stick and slid it into his pockets.

The girl let out a small breath, then she bowed her head to both him and General Lin before turning around and walking quietly and quickly down the alley, soon disappearing from his view.

Prince Yang turned toward General Lin, who raised an eyebrow at him. "What was that about?" He asked with amusement and confusion. Yang sighed, well, he had it coming. Before he tried to answer, he felt the sensation of the stick in his pocket.