Fire

When Pangu created the universe, he split the heaven and earth into with his mighty axe, dividing the world into four continents…. [1]

Oh, fret not dear reader, I was jesting. This is not that story, that story is long done, the journey to seek the Buddhist scriptures long accomplished.

This story begins in the warm summer of 163rd year of the Great Wei, on the first new moon of the month of the dragon.

What was to be a normal day for the court of the Kingdom of Wu, turned out to be the greatest calamity of their existence.

No one expected that the King of Han would be such a coward as to let the tribal Mongols freely pass through his territory. Of course, if only it was simply that.

The greed of cowardly men is a scourge upon heaven and earth, a dark but true reflection of human heart. What then, can such men do, when faced with heavenly retribution? That is to be seen, to be lived.

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From the back of the carriage, Wei Rong looked at the burning visage of Chaoyang fading off into the distance. What was once the capital of Wu, now became a rubble covered in inferno. The fire and smoke filled the darkening sky, that which was once clear, was now filling up with clouds, as if the heavens themselves were crying at this treachery.

He was tasked by his father to take the last group of refugees with him, those that could survive. There were few left, for most became victims to the sharp arrows of the Mongol archers when fleeing the city. He tried to save as many he could, but he could only do so much, and be at so many places.

He wished he was stronger at this moment, he wished he could have been more like his father, shown more talent, grew even faster, so that on a day like this, his father didn't have to stay back on his own.

He knew his father was strong, everyone in the norther outreaches knew that Wei Xian was the greatest sword of Wu in all history, but he was still one man, a man, no immortal. As much as he wanted to believe that his father would win against an endless stream of Mongol rats, it would do no good to believe in wishful fantasies.

It became certain that there was no chance of victory the moment he was ordered to run away. If only it were to be just that, but his father also gave him a responsibility that he could not shirk in his wildest dreams, just for the sake of stubbornly dying in battle along with him.

He looked at the blanket covered form of Princess Wu Xue, the only remaining child of Wu, finally asleep as the night approached. She was his responsibility, his father's last words to him were to keep her safe, protect her, and as is his duty to Wu, he would do what he was told.

They were the only ones on this trail right now. As was planned, every group took different routes. By the time enemy would get to know that a Wu was still alive, and had successfully escaped, it would be too late. As it was now, their goal was to travel through the remaining stretch of the mountainous lands of Wu, and reach Yingkou, the port city from which they would be able to get a ferry to the Great Wei.

Maybe, if the political state of Wu had been good, they might have chosen to stay in the kingdom, but as it was, no lord here in this backwater state could be trusted. The state was a can of vipers who would try to take more the each can, and if it came to it, there would be nothing stopping them from just siding with the Han.

Indeed, Wu was a backwater kingdom of weak mortals on the outskirts of the Great Wei, the struggles of which were of not worth to the Wei emperor. Although his father had his duty, he never hid from Wei Rong in terms of what was truly there out in the world.

Men and women alike, meditating for thousands of years to become immortals, ancestral immortals of the great clans of Wei, those who ascended beyond mortality.

Wei Rong knew about all of it like childhood stories of magic told to put children to sleep, but maybe now he will know for sure.

He had once asked his father how he knew about all this, to which he had said that he will know when the time came. Now there was no such time to come, but he will figure what was when when they reach Great Wei.

What would they do after that? Heavens know, but Wei Rong will do whatever it takes to survive, and make sure no danger befell the princess.

Once they were sufficiently deep into the forest, and far from the capital, Wei Rong slowed down the horses, pulling the cart to the side of the trail.

He ran through the motions of tying to horses to the trees, and went to the back of the carriage to wake up the princess. Indeed, there was no time to mourn yet, he had a duty and he needed to fulfil it.

He lightly knocked on the wooden board of the cart, making some noise in the hope that it would be enough to wake her up, which fortunately, it was.

"Princess, we are far enough. It is night so it's better if we camp out at this time, than in the day."

Wu Xue slowly crawled her body against the wall of the carriage, and sat there. She nodded at him, while trying to stifle a yawn.

He gave her some privacy while he started setting up things.

"We were able to bring some ration for the journey, so we won't need to hunt for the first few days at least. if nothing goes wrong, we should be at Yingkou in five days. It would be better if we were to disguise ourselves, because princess' royal garbs would attract attention if we were to meet people along the way."

He looked for any dry wood along the trail sides in the nearby trees. He would not go far from the carriage if he didn't need to, staying close to the princess all the time was necessary. Picking up pieces of dry wood one by one, he brought them to the back of the carriage.

"I was able to take a few sets of peasant clothes when we were taking away the refugees, so I would hope the princess changes into them."

It was past dusk and anything was barely visible in the moonless night, so a fire was necessary for them.

"I am going to dig a fire pit, so that we can warm up in the night and make something to eat. We must also dispose off our old clothes, so no one finds them. We can burn the plain clothes, as for the jewellery, it might come of use, so I suggest we preserve it, although in case of princess, I would suggest to be especially careful in case the enemy gets their hand on any of it."

Once done digging a one foot deep hole with his bare hands, Wei Rong took the firewood and arranged it neatly in the pit. He took out a pair of special stones from his spatial ring, which he infused his qi into, and targeted it towards the wood. It lit up in a brilliant inferno of golden and red light.

Although they were mortals, his father had taught him the way of the sword, which in his father's words, allowed him to have some control over the barely present qi in this part of the world.

By the time he was done lighting up the fire, princess Wu Xue exited the carriage in a yellow garb like that of a peasant woman. Although her face would be hard to pass for a mere peasant as she was, it would not be too hard to believe for a peasant girl to be so beautiful.

He bowed to her in all the respect and humility of a subordinate.

Wu Xue nodded in retrospect, to which he stood straight again.

"The fire is burning, let me also setup something for us to sit on."

He found two relatively big black stones a few paces away from their camp, which would work well. Although he was walking away here and there, Wei Rong made sure that the camp was always in his sight, and he was always in Wu Xue's sight. She had already been scared enough in the day.

When Wei Rong found the princess today, she was hiding in the wardrobe in her chambers. She heard the commotion, and was cautious enough to hide herself, instead of getting out to check what happened like the other children of the royal family. In the end, the Han's goal was to eliminate them entirely, so that even if he couldn't capture the whole territory smoothly, they would still cripple the kingdom's leadership.

Running away in a carriage while seeing countless arrows flying their away would have done nothing good to her psyche either, so it was imperative that he showed her all the care he possibly could.

"Princess, please sit."

Placing the stones around the fire pit, Wei Rong invited Wu Xue to sit.

He could see her face was devoid of most emotions, but in her eyes there was a hint of trepidation at what all had happened.

He pulled out a big bowl of steel from the carriage, and placed it on the ground. Then, he dug two tiny holes on the sides of the fire pit, and pushed a stick in each. He tied a third stick and top of both, making a sort of bridge.

"Let me help you."

Wu Xue said as she stood up to take water from the cart.

"But-"

"There is no point arguing, it would simply be faster for both of us if we did our parts instead of you doing all the work."

He was cut off before he could even finish two words.

"But princess, it would be unbecoming of me to let you do such menial chores in my presence. I could do all this as is my duty, you need not to tire yourself in such tasks."

"There is no princess here, a princess needs to have a castle, a kingdom, a father as a king, I have none, I am no authority. So when you say and do such as if nothing has changed in just one day, " Wu Xue's voice faltered for a moment, caught between strength and sorrow, but she pushed forward, "it makes it all feel worse."

It hurt his heart to hear such words from her, for it seemed as if he had failed at his duty to the kingdom, his duty to her. All his 17 years of life, he had trained to be strong, to be someone who could serve this kingdom as well as his father, but to see such a day come, it pained his heart like it had never before.

"Forgive me, for my words are harsh, but consequently, it would also be better for our disguise if we were to change this dynamic between us."

Wu Xue said with a determined face.

"It would be necessary in the future anyway, so it is better if we start now, than later."

Wei Rong nodded at her words. He bowed again, this time in a slight defiance to her words, but also in acceptance of her demand.

"Wu.. Xue."

He spoke with difficulty, but it seemed it pleased Wu Xue enough to let out a tiny, mirthful smile.

"Good. I'm glad you can do it. Do not call me princess, or highness anymore, no more such honorifics. I know it must be hard, buy you will get used to it. Now, let us get started on food."

She turned around and picked up the vessel of water from the cart, and poured some water into the big bowl. Wei Rong hung up the bowl on the wooden bridge he made right above the fire pit so that it warmed up.

"We have wheat in the cart that would last us a few days, we can make porridge till it lasts, after which we will have to hunt for the remaining days we stay in the forest."

Wei Rong said as he pulled out a bag of grains from the carriage.

Wu Xue nodded and took the bag from him. She poured about four fistfuls of the wheat in the bowl, before tying the bag up and putting it back in the cart again. Once done, she settled down on the stones Wei Rong had arranged.

Seeing her sit, Wei Rong followed suite.

While they waited for the porridge to cook, they took in the warmth of the fire and finally felt some relief at the end of the day.

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1. The opening lines of Journey to the West.