Cold Sands

VII Unexpected

♚♔

Murong Yu gathers many of his men in his room after supper. It looks as if they’ve got very important matters to discuss. 

I sneakily head to the prison. The guards know that I’m Murong Yu’s personal retinue so they don’t give me a hard time. 

It becomes colder as I pass through the dim walkways and deeper into the prison. A rotten, moldy smell hits me and I have to hold my breath. The torches squeak and wheeze on the walls and cast shadows and figures everywhere, making it all the more creepier. I don’t stop until I reach the innermost cell. 

Is that famous scholar of a lord locked in that tiny cramped place? 

Under the dim torch light, I catch a glimpse of a person sitting in silence in the corner. His light body frame seems weak and frail. He looks miserable under the flickering lights; his face is so pale it’s transparent. His eyes are tightly shut as if in deep sleep but his pale slender fingers are slightly quivering. 

I gently crouch down, not wanting to disturb him. 

It is him, after all, Duke Yu Qing. 

Suddenly he starts coughing violently and my heart clenches. “Are you alright, my Lordship?” 

His eyes slowly open and he stares at me, fazed, like he doesn’t know me. Only after a minute does he slowly but surely call out my name, “Han Xin.” 

“I knew you were still alive.” He sits up a little and moves towards me with a light smile. 

I nod guiltily and he smiles again. “It’s not easy at times like these.”