The Last Concubine

hell without the bits of flesh I claim as my just due. You will pay for your entertainment at my expense. I have waited a long time for this.”
    Wen flinched but forced himself to watch as Ning drew a dagger and sliced through Wu Min’s trousers, severing his balls from his body. Wu Min howled with pain, but his voice was softer now, almost sobbing as the strength left him.
    Ning tossed the dismembered testicles as far as he could throw them up onto the rocks, saying, “Let the buzzards have them for their dinner. That is all they are good for.”
    “Why would you do this, Lan’xiu, my dear sister? Why do you hate me so?”
    Silently, Lan’xiu and Ning stood by and watched as Wu Min’s blood clotted in the dust around him, turning black as the flow grew slow and ceased. When his body sagged into the laxity of death, Ning spat upon him, and Wen thought he might never plumb the depths of his hatred. Lan’xiu dismounted and grabbed her brother’s boots, dragging his body to the side of the clearing. She looked up at Wen.
    “We will make a stand here. Wu Min may have brought five thousand men, but they can only come by twos and threes through that gap. We must stop them here for the safety of the general and his force, your compatriots. Have your men ready with their bows.”
    “Five thousand—yes, your Highness.” Captain Wen swallowed, feeling as if he was emerging from some bad dream. He whistled and his men appeared from their hiding places, their shocked faces showing him they were equally shaken by what had transpired.
    Lan’xiu was atop her horse again, and she had her bow in her hand. “Soldiers of my guard, we are few and the enemy is many. My Lord Hüi Wei is down in that valley, fighting to defend our land and our honor. If his forces are split to face the men of Liaopeh, we may not carry the day. We will make our stand here and force the enemy from their hole.” She pointed at the gap. “Five thousand may wait beyond that pass, but today twenty will stop five thousand. The Liaopeh forces must not march past us to surprise the general from the rear. Are you with me?”
    “Yes,” Captain Wen said. “We will stand and fight by your side.”
    Lan’xiu smiled, a smile in which courage, adventure, and amusement were combined. “I thank you for your service and your oath to me. If you die, I will die with you.”
    “We will not die,” Ning said firmly. “We will fight.”
    Lan’xiu looked at him with an admiring gleam in her eye. “Ning, you were magnificent!”
    “Thank you, Lan’xiu. And now, perhaps we’d better fight.”
    She turned to face the first of the soldiers bursting through the gap.

Chapter 20

    “ J IANG , where is she?” Hüi was practically shouting in his panic. He was riding amongst the wounded and dead, looking for any familiar sight that would guide him to Lan’xiu.
    “Gently, Hüi. I vow Ning and Captain Wen have kept her safely at the rear. And you have soldiers to attend to, be they wounded or dead. They have served you faithfully.”
    “You are right and I would do it, but I must know if Lan’xiu is alive!”
    Jiang grabbed the General’s arm. “Do not dishonor her by this demonstration of emotion. Even if she has died, the gods forefend, you will honor her as well as all the others who have fallen in your service.”
    Drawing a deep breath, Hüi tried to calm himself. “You are correct to reprove me. Have the field hospitals been set up? What of the prisoners?”
    “The prisoners await your review. The hospitals are at the rear. I need your aid in transporting some of the wounded,” Jiang said, knowing that what the general most needed right now was a task to take his mind off his worry. “I wonder whatever happened to Wu Min and his troops? I could have sworn the flash off that shield was a signal to a watcher on the hill.”
    “Perhaps he did as Lan’xiu suspected, lured Daji into making a stand and then abandoned him to his fate when he saw the size of our forces.”
    “Where is Daji?”
    “He is being held apart from the prisoners,” Jiang said. “Let us take care of our own first, and attend to the enemy last as befits his treachery.”
    “Very well.” Hüi Wei tried to curb his rising fears and put his trust in the gods that Lan’xiu would not have come to any harm. When he bent to help a wounded man onto a litter, his mind was distracted from his personal fears by the suffering borne by his men. He turned his attention to them,