Threads 179-Dawn 2

The magnificence of the court of Xiangmen had not changed. The faces in the crowd had. The great stone platform held in the curled branches of the great tree was more crowded than it had been the last time Ling Qi had seen this place through the projection array. She could make out the distinctions between the coimital clan contingents, now no longer represented by a single ambassador and their attendants.

The newcomers had the look and feel of soldiers and officers to Ling Qi’s eye. Perhaps they were here to aid coordination of the province’s forces? She didn’t know, only that the remaining courtiers, the ones belonging to the court clans, had a distinctly nervous air. She supposed that the last time that there was so much military presence in the capital, things had been very unpleasant.

She kept her idle thoughts to herself as she knelt in full kowtow beside Xia Lin, Gan Guangli and Meng Dan before the burning radiance that sat upon Xiangmen’s throne. Cai Renxiang knelt in front of them, her head held only marginally higher.

“Welcome, my daughter,” proclaimed the Duchess, lounging upon her throne. As always, Diao Linqin stood quietly at the arm of her throne. “From your disposition, it would seem that you found some success?”

Although she phrased it as a question, it was a statement in tone.

“We achieved all that you directed us to, Your Grace,” Cai Renxiang said, keeping her eyes on the rich carpet. “And more as well.”

That brought a scattering of whispers among the court, silenced as Cai Shenhua leaned forward, the weight of her presence focusing down upon her daughter. The woman wore a surprisingly conservative gown this day, not so dissimilar to the way Liming usually appeared on Renxiang, and wore her hair in a single braid that wound about her shoulders and spilled like a cord of liquid night down the stairs of her throne. “Oh? Do tell. If you are so confident, I will hear as much as you wish to say.”

Ling Qi swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling dry. She had known what they were getting into, but it didn’t make the feeling of pressure any less oppressive.

Cai Renxiang did not flinch or falter though, despite being the actual focus of the Duchess’ attention. “I feel it would be best to split our report between those of us with the most expertise on each route. To that end, Xia Lin, your report on the Hui corpse immortal.”

Noise, the low susurrus of voices from the court, and the faint shimmering of light as the Duchess tilted her head in curiosity followed Cai Renxiang’s words. Xia Lin raised her head promptly, though no higher than Cai Renxiang’s.

“On the day of departure from the main sect force, we chose to travel south through a heavily forested valley which saw little nomad activity,” Xia Lin began crisply. Only a faint tremble in her hands gave away that she, too, felt the Duchess’ eyes. “In service of this, Baroness Ling and I set out ahead of the party to scout for dangers and obstacles. We found that the forest was under the effect of a large scale illusion that confused passage and that it was heavily infested with spiders. In our search of the valley, I discovered a crumbling imperial formation array which seemed to be the source of the problem. Baroness Ling determined that further breaking the formation would draw too much attention, and we instead sought the power source, and in doing so, we discovered an underground bunker.”

“To think one of those odious little holes could have been missed,” a woman in Jia colors said. “I believe we were informed that all of their communications had been cracked a century ago.”

“I can only accept shame for this.” A thickset man wearing the colors of the Wang clan shook his head

“Honored lords, the bunker was far from imperial lands, even accounting for recent expansion. Who would imagine that even the Hui would run so far? Neither I, nor General Xia, believes that this reflects poorly on the Wang clan,” Xia Lin said politely. She waited a moment, and the man waved her on. “Below, we found a nest of giant spiders who seemed convinced that they were but waiting for a ‘Day of Return.’ Upon dispatching them, we descended below and found the corpse immortal lurking in a sealed chamber writing foul screeds denigrating the rightful lords of the province as traitors. Luckily, though he had once been a higher cultivator, his powers had rotted enough that the Baroness and I were able to slay him. He gave his name as Hui Peng.”

There was silence for a moment, and then, Ling Qi felt the pressure shift away as Cai Shenhua turned her gaze on Diao Linqin. “Darling, remind me, which one of the vermin was that? You have a better memory for these things.”

“There were four living Hui Pengs at the time of your ascension,” Diao Linqin answered demurely. “Three were accounted for, which would make this one… the Duke’s herald. I believe he announced your first petition to the court.”

No one spoke while the minister was speaking, nor in the aftermath, as Shenhua pondered the answer. Then, the Duchess began to chuckle. It was not a happy sound, and it sent a chill down the back of her neck. Going from the faint unease rising from the court, they didn’t care for it either.

Thankfully, the Duchess’ humor faded quickly. “Rotting in a hole for two centuries… How very fitting. I might be cross that you put him out of his misery, young lady.”

“I—That is—” Xia Lin stuttered, undoubtedly pressured by Her Grace’s gaze.

“I am not, of course. You did well in cleansing such a lingering pustule. He was surely too mad to suffer further by this point,” the Duchess said dismissively.

Despite the dismissal, Ling Qi still felt a frisson of discomfort. The tinge of scorn and cruelty in Cai Shenhua’s tone felt foreign compared to her previous experiences with the Duchess. Even with everything she had experienced through Renxiang, such emotion did not suit the Duchess.

“I will be certain to update the lists of those who are accounted for. By your story, he was alone. Was there evidence of others having occupied the redoubt?” Daio Linqin inquired calmly, and Ling Qi saw the woman lay a hand on the Duchess’ shoulder.

“It was constructed to hold somewhere between twenty and fifty individuals,” Xia Lin said, recovering. “If my judgement is correct. As to whether it did, I must defer to Sir Meng, who organized the records and treasures we found.”

Xia Lin had managed to stay on script, despite the hiccup.

The other girl lowered her head, and Meng Dan raised his, the faint sheen of sweat on his forehead the only sign of his nerves. “And quite a fine trove of treasure it was, Your Grace,” he took over smoothly. “The corpse immortal’s particular madness was useful in this regard since it compelled him to write many records among the more incoherent screeds. His writings indicate that his original group consisted of about thirty individuals, six of which were junior members of the clan and the rest of which were servants dragged along with their masters.”

Ling Qi thought that sounded right given the space available in the bunker. She wondered what it must have been like when all of them were there, jammed together in isolation. If Hui Peng were any indication of Hui disposition, it must have been awful.

“The servants suffered attrition first, some dying of old age within the first fifty years, and more still vanished while performing tasks outside for their masters,” Meng Dan continued. “Records indicate that encounters with barbarians dwindled their numbers further until roughly one hundred years ago when only three other Hui remained. The corpse’s scribblings indicate that at this point, two betrayed the third, killing him, and left the bunker of their own volition. Rants about the ‘traitors’ temporarily eclipsed complaints about your own person for some years after that, Your Grace.”

“How predictable,” Cai Shenhua commented. “Even in a crisis, they did not change one bit. Although, we already knew this.”

There was a general rumble of agreement from the court, many of its older members wearing sour expressions of remembrance. The noise fell silent at the Duchess’ raised hand.

“You have records regarding these two Hui.”

“Of course, Your Grace. I have compiled that knowledge in a written report,” Meng Dan replied. “Such matters need not be spoken of publicly.”

“You have been educated well. We will have your report brought here for perusal,” Diao Linqin said coolly. “You may continue with your findings.”

Meng Dan lowered his head in acceptance. “In the creature’s storage ring, buried beneath the mountain of mad and seditious scrawling, we discovered a significant fraction of the lost Hui archive.”

That drew some appreciative and dubious noise from the court, and Ling Qi was quite sure that Meng Dan’s grandmother, standing among others of her clan, looked more than a bit pleased.

“Although there were not many arts, I estimate that the volumes within may account for nearly a quarter of their mundane library going by the records of it at its height. In addition, it contained a truly staggering amount of art and artifacts, much of which even date back to the Weilu era. Truly a lucky find for Sergeant Xia and the Baroness.”

“Lucky indeed,” his grandmother, Meng Diu, said, “that so much that was lost may be returned.”

“Yes, I intend to aid the Baroness and the Sergeant in seeing an auction organized so that the artifacts may find worthy owners,” Meng Dan agreed.

Ling Qi was glad for that. Some of the considering looks she had felt falling upon her and Xia Lin were less than friendly. She knew well enough that even if she wanted all the historical junk, it would be a bad idea to try and keep it all.

“But most importantly, I was able to find historical records which confirmed that in the past, the Weilu and the people of the southlands had intermarried at least once in their royal lines and otherwise interacted. This proved most useful in our negotiations,” Meng Dan announced proudly. “Although it is distant, both the Meng and Diao clans have some small measure of blood connection to one of the great clans of the southlands.”

The reactions of the people around them were mixed. Meng Diu looked pleased, but some of the other Meng with her looked ambivalent. So it was with the Diao as well. Some of the more scholarly types in their clique looked intrigued, but there was little interest otherwise. Some of the more imperial-aligned courtiers looked faintly repulsed.

“One of the ‘great clans’? You’re implying some things there, boy,” chided a richly dressed Bao man, stroking his short oiled beard with ring-adorned fingers.

“I should leave such explanations to Lady Cai,” Meng Dan deflected. “But first, I believe Sir Gan must give an accounting of the journey into the unexplored lands.”

There was a brief pause as they waited for the Duchess to gesture for them to continue. Meng Dan lowered his head, and Gan Guangli raised his, though she could see from his whitened knuckles and shaking shoulders that the Duchess was not being particularly kind in her attention as it turned to him. To his credit, he did not stutter as he began to speak.

“With Sir Meng and Baroness Ling occupied with cataloguing our findings, determining the route and pressing forward was left to Sergeant Xia and I. Our first task was navigating the remainder of the forest and dealing with the concentration of spiders remaining above ground. As it happened, these descendants of Hui beasts were those which split from their loyal kin, deciding that if the Cai their wretched master spoke so highly of were so mighty, that it made more sense to offer them obedience instead. Lady Cai naturally took advantage of this, and now, this nest merely awaits orders from the capital.”

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“Amusing,” Cai Shenhua said languidly. “Beasts are often wiser than men.”

There was some polite laughter among the courtiers.

“The truth of their loyalty will need review, but it is a boon regardless. I don’t believe silk exports have yet recovered, have they, darling?”

“Bulk output remains under half of the pre-war production, although specialty processing has largely recovered,” Diao Linquin replied briskly. “Young man, can you give me a population estimate?”

Ling Qi had a feeling that Shenhua could probably give them the numbers down to several decimal places. She supposed that the Duchess was just giving the Minister the chance to speak because she could. Or perhaps because it was considered beneath Her Grace to know such things exactly? She was always a little unclear on what level of involvement with trade and coin the nobility was expected to have.

“We detected somewhere in the range of one hundred third realms and a fourth realm leading the nest. Beyond that, I am afraid it was not possible to count,” Gan Guangli answered.

“Significant,” the Prime Minister said. “Continue your report.”