Threads of Silver - II

"Donggunnim mama?" Seo calls after him, his voice hushed in a manner that makes Yong pause. Seo waits until the younger man's hazel eyes return to him.

"I hope you won't join the winter hunt this year."

Yong opens his mouth with a question just as an imperial guardsmen rushes in, looking rather wary and hurried. He stands at attention to Seo, completely missing Yong in his haste to report.

"Summons from princess residence," he pants. "Gongjunim mama reckons she found an intruder - lurking in her chambers."

"And where the bloody hell were you oafs in the meantime," Seo rises - picking up his quiver of arrows from where they lay against the hearth, his mouth twisted to match the foul words. "Pardon me - Donggun nim mama -"

"Pardoned," Yong waves him off. "They will certainly be getting more than curse words when the matter reaches my imperial father." If possible the soldier pales further. "Shall we - General Kang?"

Yong takes the lead and awaits him for a moment at the threshold of princess residence. Waiting, he looks over his shoulder to examine what keeps Seo from joining him. Halted in his tracks, Seo examines the courtyard, brows frowning.

"General Kang -" Seol walks out, long purple riding cloak thrown over her day wear. "Yong - ah," she pauses, eyes flickering between her brother and her guardian.

"They came from the roof," Seo says abruptly, turning around and staring into the low tiled roofs that framed the courtyard. The frown between his brows remains.

"You heard him!" Yong turns to his guards, who nod briefly before fleeting into the night, scaling the walls expertly to reach the roof in no time. But Seo is already moving in the opposite direction, his strides are haste and long. Seol tears after him, throwing Min Ha the hand burner that she had been holding. "Sister - Nui - wait!"

In a matter of moments both of them had crossed the courtyard and disappeared into the night. Yong turns on the retinue instead, his hazel eyes hard.

"Not a word. Understood?"

The retinue bows and nods and he allows them to continue with their wasteful apologies, staring into the darkness where his sister had disappeared to.

*

"I'm not taking you riding out into the night Mama," Seo doesn't stop to argue, instead Seol has to run behind him to keep up. "Please return to your residence at once."

"Weren't you bragging before the Qhitan envoy about my riding skills? Why Kang Seo - I could ride as well as you! Or better!"

"Mama!"

"You found something didn't you? What was it? Where have they gone?"

Seo sighs loudly, mounting Bi, who looks at him with compassionate eyes. Seol clicks her own tongue just the way she has trained her mount Woo and leads the gentle mare out of her own stables. Satisfyingly, Seo waits - not wanting her to rush into the night after him.

They set off at a gentle pace, much of the night is moonlit enough to offer a clear view of what awaits them.

"Why are we going so slow?"

Even in the darkness she could see the silvery outline of Seo's annoyance.

"Because whoever it was, they are already gone." He explains as if she was a child. "We are simply following a trail."

"What sort of a trail?"

There's a beat, while Seo thinks over his answer.

"Can't you feel it mama?"

Seol opens her mouth to deny, but then - then realization dawns upon her. There is a prickling sense in the wind, which one could deceive oneself into thinking is the autumn cold but it wouldn't be the truth. She holds out a hand, feeling that prickling static in the air. Seol inhales sharply, suddenly painfully reminded of the nightmare she had had. The gossamer thread of silver, that one could barely see. Her eyes flicker into Seo's - and she wonders if what they were following was a similar thread - a thread that leads them into a web with no return.

"What is it?" Her voice is hushed. She pulls Woo into a complete halt and awaits Seo's answer.

"Witchcraft." Seo dismounts and reaches out for Woo's reins along with Bi's. "Not very far along."

"Why do we feel it in the air?"

She doesn't question the authenticity of Seo's answer. If he says it is witchcraft it had to be. Despite his misguided first instinct to protect her, Seo would never withhold the truth from her. She watches the way the sharp edge of his jaw moves. Seo is conflicted over how much truth he could spare her.

"You react to heat if you've been burnt. You flinch away from blades if you've been cut. It is the same way with witchcraft."

"We feel it because we have experienced it?"

He nods rather unwillingly.

"Oh there."

What he points out is a circle of stones. Few embers and a single dying flame remain in the center of the circle, battling in vain against the frost of a fall night. Seo helps her dismount.

"Two steps behind me," his voice is finite. "Step exactly where I step. Or stop here and watch. What will it be, mama?"

"Oh!" She groans frustratedly. "Have it your way!"

A flicker of amusement dances in his silver eyes.

"Good," he says shortly, and turns away. Seol feels a hint of warmth at her cheeks which she claws with cold fingers.

"What happens if you step elsewhere?" She asks, trying to follow his steps. Seo stops and frowns at her over his shoulder. "What -? You didn't say I need to shut up!"

"You don't know how many circles they have made on the ground. You don't want to step on one in the darkness."

"Then how do you know where to step?"

"I don't."

"Kang Seo! Are you putting yourself in danger right now?"

He pauses again, so close to the stone ring and turns to look at her.

"No."

Before she asks another question he crouches on the ground, long fingers that mutely shimmer in the light of the embers moving over them.

"Fools," he mutters. "Idiots."

"What is it?"

She approaches him on cautious steps, lifting her skirts slightly to keep them off the freezing ground. The prickling sense of wrongness dances along her arms and Seo looks up at her, silver eyes gleaming in the moonlight with a feline quality.

"Did you have a strange dream mama?" He answers her question with a question of his own. "A dream about a silver spider - perhaps?"

*