Part 2, Chapter 32

Back at camp

Ch 32 

Leng Zai tightened his grip on Xun’s hair stick.

Renping laid her hand over his. “Are you ok?” She asked. 

Leng Zai shook his head. “I know that Xun is missing,” he said slowly. “But it seems like something I read in a book,” he tried to explain. He had never spoken of the way his emotions seemed to fade after the initial impact, not even to Xun. She had always just seemed to understand. He closed his eyes, “I remember what it felt like when we found her camp empty, but now it seems like someone else felt it and then described the feeling to me. I know in my head that I want to find her. I know that I will be happy when I see her… but I can’t feel it.” He looked at the hair stick again.

Renping frowned at him. “I’m not sure I understand all of this, but we need to find Xun and the first step is to figure out who took her.”

“Someone took my daughter?” Said an ominous voice from behind them. Madam Lai loomed over them, or at least gave the impression of looming, since she was shorter than both Renping and Leng Zai.

“We don’t know for sure,” Renping rushed to reassure her. Leng Zai tucked Xun’s hair stick hurriedly into his belt. “She could have just wandered off to collect… firewood… or something….”

Madam Lai leveled her glare at Renping. “And why would my daughter, who is supposed to be safely back in the capital, be collecting firewood.”

Renping and Leng Zai traded frantic looks. After a long, extremely awkward silence Madam Lai latched onto Renping as the most likely target. 

“Where. Is. My. Daughter.” She made it a series of statements rather than a question.

“She’s…” Renping stammered, enraptured by the rage boiling off the head cook.

“We don’t know,” Leng Zai blurted. “She was following us and we were with her almost the whole time, but tonight when we went to see her she was just gone!”

The color drained from Madam Lai’s face. “Gone?” She repeated.

“We don’t think she’s hurt,” Renping said quickly. “We think she’s been taken.”

“Taken by who?” Madam Lai asked.

Renping opened her mouth to reply, but Jin, one of the camp guards, rushed into the kitchen tent. “Madam Lai, send broth and tea to the medical tents! We’ve captured scouts from the God of War’s army, but we took injuries.” 

Jin rushed back out again as quickly as he had rushed in. Madam Lai’s glare was back and she returned it to Renping and Leng Zai. “You better thank the God of Narrative Causality when we get back to the Emperor’s Palace. Go. See what those rebels did with my little girl.”

They didn’t need to be told twice, Renping and Leng Zai rushed after Jin.