The Nine-tailed Fox gets drenched in blood

"How is he on his feet again?" Wu Yun says, asking nobody in particular and running up the stairs with the cumbersome weight of the phoenix under his arm.

The phoenix replies anyway, "You didn't kill him hard enough!"

"I didn't kill him at all, now shut up," he says, setting the phoenix and the sling on the floor while he tries desperately to close the passageway before Min Guifen reaches them.

He manages to lower the lever just as the Prince starts climbing the stairs. He can hear him screaming through the floor but can't make out his words.

Wu Yun pushes the shelf back in place over the trapdoor, to make it harder for Min Guifen to leave the secret room.

He pants from the exertion and wipes the sweat on his forehead with his long sleeve, "I want to see him getting out of there now."

"Don't put anything past him," she says ruffling her feathers.

"Let's get out of here."

Wu Yun leaves the main pavilion and goes out to the courtyard, where he has to step over the bodies of several unconscious servants and guards to reach Lan Tian, holding two horses by the reins.

"What took you so long?" he asks, looking Wu Yun up and down, searching for signs of injury.

"The Prince was in a talkative mood, and so was her," he says showing Lan Tian the phoenix.

"Oh I was wondering where your handsome friend went," she says, fanning out her tail feathers. "Thanks for saving me."

"Hey, I saved you!" Wu Yun can't believe this bird's nerve. He's starting to wish he left her in the cage.

"She can talk?" Lan Tian asks, dumbfounded.

"Apparently we can only hear her because we're not humans, let's stay quiet in front of the others," Wu Yun says. "Speaking of which, where are they?"

"Qiao Xioajian has been trying to get everyone out, most of them are already gone. Xin Liqin managed to use the herbs on Rong Jizi, and after that we locked him in the room. Wei Su's idea of tying sleeping powder to the doves legs was effective. The servants and guards who ran around trying to catch them ended up getting dosed and falling unconscious. But it won't last forever, we need to leave."

"Yes, the Prince was only out for about fifteen minutes, I managed to lock him inside the hidden room, but he might have another way out." Wu Yun says, sliding the sling with the phoenix towards his back, and trying with great effort to climb up on the horse.

Lan Tian helps him with a gentle hand on his waist, and gives him the reins. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you?" he asks.

Wu Yun shakes his head, and smiles. "I'm fine"

Lan Tian takes his hand and holds it in his. "I'm glad." The setting sun makes his brilliant amber eyes glow with inner warmth. Wu Yun thinks he will never grow tired of looking into them.

"Weren't we supposed to be leaving?" the phoenix asks, pecking Wu Yun on the back.

Lan Tian snorts and climbs up on his own horse. "Is she always this demanding?"

Wu Yun grumbles, "Unfortunately."

They gallop out of the courtyard and towards the Qi estate's gates, where Qiao Xiaojian is waiting for them next to Wei Su.

"I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it," Qiao Xiaojian says. He looks even more sickly than usual, the strain of orchestrating all the captives' escape clearly took its toll on him.

"What would you do if we hadn't?" Wu Yun asks.

Qiao Xiaojian rolls his eyes. "Clearly, I'd leave you here to die."

Wei Su interrupts their banter with a worried question, "Do the young masters think the Prince will come after us?"

Wu Yun waves her worries away. "He has no use for the captives without this," he says, patting the phoenix strapped to his back, who squeaks indignantly.

"I'm worried about their fates either way," Qiao Xiaojian adds, pensive. "Many of them will return to their families greatly changed from who they were when they left. I'm afraid many will not enjoy a warm welcome."

"We did all we could, now it's up to them." Wu Yun turns his horse around, ready to ride back to the Jiang estate, and deliver the news of his success to that nuisance Jiang Tanmei.

"Maybe if they tell their families what they suffered at the Prince's hands they'll want revenge," Lan Tian says.

Qiao Xiaojian shakes his head. "I don't see that happening, the families will want to pretend none of this took place. They'll try to hide their shame, that's how it always goes." He lets out a dispirited sigh that turns into a violent coughing fit.

Wei Su leads her horse closer to Qiao Xiaojian and takes some herbs from her inner waist pocket. She holds them out under Qaio Xiaojian's nose. "Here young master, smell this."

He takes in a big lungful that makes his coughs subside immediately. He inhales slowly through his nose until his breathing evens out. "Thank you, Wei Su, I promise that once we're back in the Qiao estate you'll be released from service and I'll personally pay for you to continue your medical studies."

Wei Su looks taken aback. "Young master, I couldn't..."

"You'd rather be his servant than a doctor?" Wu Yun cuts in, shaking his head. "Humans...," he mutters under his breath.

Qiao Xiaojian takes out a folded piece of paper from inside his robes and hands it to Lan Tian. "Have this, it's my account of your efforts to help release us from the Prince, you can give it to Jiang Tanmei."

Lan Tian takes the letter and stores it in his sleeve pocket. "Thanks for all your help. I hope we meet again in the future."

Wu Yun rolls his eyes fondly at Lan Tian's attempts to speak all-proper like the humans.

Qiao Xiaojian and Wei Su bow to them both, Lan Tian bows awkwardly back as Jiang Tanmei taught them, and Wu Yun waves distractedly, desperate to leave.

"I hope the next time we meet happens under more auspicious circumstances," Qiao Xioajian says, turning his horse around in the opposite direction. "Safe travels, may the Gods always illuminate your path."

Both he and Wei Su ride away in a wave of dust, Wu Yun watches them go before turning to Lan Tian with a smirk. "May the Gods lead me to the Jade Emperor so he can die by my hand."

Lan Tian nods but his gaze remains distant. "We almost failed against a deranged human Prince. I can only imagine how much harder a divine Emperor will be."

Wu Yun strokes his horse's neck. "We'll cross that bridge when we reach it," he says.

---

They gallop at speed through the same road they followed almost a week ago. Wu Yun relishes the feeling of the wind in his hair and the horse's strong body between his thighs, in a way he thinks it's the closest a fox like him will ever get to flying. He looks to the side, to Lan Tian riding besides him, his long black hair swaying in the breeze, and wonders if they could just keep riding, the two of them.

Take the horses past the Jiang estate and continue ahead, forget the money, and see where the road takes them.

He feels a sharp pain in his chest every time he remembers the whip marks on Lan Tian's back. They've met nothing but trouble since they encountered the humans, perhaps it's for the best if they leave before they get even more entangled.

He's about to voice these thoughts when Lan Tian announces:

"We're here."

The Jiang estate looms over just a few li away, close to where the dirt road becomes paved again. Wu Yun slows down his horse to a slow trot, and they approach the Jiang estate's gates.

As soon as the tall wooden gates are in sight Wu Yun notices something isn't right.

"Do you hear that?" he asks Lan Tian, straining his ears to hear the sounds coming from the estate.

"It sounds like fighting," he says, and kicks his horse into motion.

Wu Yun rides after him, and watches in awe as Lan Tian rides straight through the closed gates, using the horse's hooves to break them down in a shower of splinters.

Inside the main courtyard a fierce battle is going on between the Jiang guards and masked men wearing all black. Wu Yun recognizes the Prince of Qi's insignia on their armour.

"How did they get here?" Wu Yun asks, dodging an arrow by the slimmest margin.

"They were probably already here. Qiao Xiaojian noticed there were fewer guards in the palace than he expected." Lan Tian says, dismounting.

Wu Yun dismounts after him, and takes the sling with the phoenix off his back. "You're staying here, out of sight," he says, carrying it towards a few low shrubs. "Pretend to be a statue or something."

"You can't just leave me here!" she flaps her wings indignantly but Wu Yun shushes her.

"You either stay here, or risk getting an arrow to the neck."

Inside the house things aren't much better, Jiang Yilong's reception room is destroyed beyond recognition and the wall-hangings lie in tatters on the floor.

Wu Yun picks up a discarded sword from the floor, and hands another to Lan Tian, but he shakes his head and shows him the whip Jiang Tanmei gave them.

They follow the sound of fighting through the house and stop at a corner, where they can see Lu Meng in a doorway stopping three Qi estate guards from entering the room.

Lan Tian looses the whip and wraps it around the neck of one of the men, throwing him to the floor and dragging him away from the doorway, with a swift pull. Wu Yun jumps out of the corner and slashes the sword across the man's neck, killing him instantly and splattering his cream robes with a spray of bright red arterial blood.

He staggers backwards, shocked at the amount of blood coming out of the dead man. The other guard notices his distraction and advances towards him, sword at the ready.

Lan Tian grabs him out of the way, and trips the man with his whip, making him fall down. Still reeling, Wu Yun stabs him through the back with the sword, as if his body is moving beyond his control, compelled by a survival instinct completely alien to his fox nature.

Now only facing a single guard, Lu Meng manages to disarm him quickly.

"Meng-er, are you alright?" asks a familiar voice from inside the room.

They follow Lu Meng inside, and find Jiang Tanmei standing in front of a group of scared servants like a mother hen.

"You're alive? When the Prince's guard arrived here, we thought for sure he must have killed you," Jiang Tanmei says, looking them up in down as if he's expecting them to vanish into thin air.

"The Prince did find out I wasn't you, but he must have bid his time until he came to find you," Wu Yun says. "It's a lucky coincidence that we decided to escape on the same day he attacked the Jiang estate."

Jiang Tanmei's brows furrow, and the line of his lips sets in anger. "I don't know if I agree with your definition of lucky."

Wu Yun shrugs. "When have we ever agreed on anything?"

"Do you know why the Prince is attacking the Jiang family?" Lan Tian asks. "Is it just because Wu Yun went in your place?"

"The guards were more concerned with attacking us than explaining themselves," Lu Meng says, frowning darkly.

"I think I know why," Wu Yun says, and tells them all about what he heard from Min Guifen in the hidden room.

Jiang Tanmei's skin turns ashen, and he clutches at Lu Meng's arm for support. "My mother? With him...all this time?"

"How didn't you know?" Wu Yun asks.

"On that day lady Jiang, entered the estate unnoticed and went straight to A-Tan's room. I was the only one with him. I heard the Lady scream that it was all his uncle's fault as A-Tan fell to the ground, but neither I, nor A-Tan had ever seen the Prince before, we had no idea it was him." Lu Meng, holds Jiang Tanmei against his chest, and cradles his head softly against his neck.

"Well, now that he can't have your mother, he wants you as a substitute," Wu Yun says, crossing his arms.

"Over my dead body," Lu Meng says, hiding his face in Jiang Tanmei's silky hair.

"As you please," a chilling voice says from the doorway. Wu Yun turns around in time to see Min Guifen aim an arrow at Lu Meng's back.

Jiang Tanmei is the first to spot him over Lu Meng's shoulder.

He pushes Lu Meng out of the arrow's path, who watches in horror as the arrow meant for him lodges itself in Jiang Tanmei's heart.