Chapter Text
Xie Lian, the Crown Prince of the kingdom of Xianle, really needed a break.
Every day at the palace was the same. The young prince practised martial arts, swordsmanship, horse riding and calligraphy. He studied history, statecraft, warfare, and diplomacy. He attended banquets with lavish dishes served on golden plates and wore robes with at least five layers, bright gold and blood red and snow white, peach pink and sky blue and jade green.
And every day, he had heated arguments with his father, the King. Always about the same thing: Xie Lian was never going to succeed his father. It wasn’t just that he didn’t want to (and he didn’t), he knew that it wasn’t going to happen. He could almost physically feel the truth of it with every stifled breath as his personal attendant and friend Mu Qing went through the effort of dressing him in the morning, felt it like it was carved into his bones as his sashes were tied and his hair was fussed over.
So much of what he spent time on during the day was for nothing. Xie Lian would never rule. The likeliest explanation was that he would ascend. The whole kingdom expected this to happen. So why couldn’t his father let him breathe? Why had he brought up a marriage candidate this morning? It had become another argument with raised voices, a goblet slammed down onto the table, and Xie Lian stomping his foot like an angry child, feeling like he might batter himself black and blue against his father’s iron will.
The Queen had tears in her eyes, and Xie Lian’s words died in his throat. What was the point? His father would not listen, and continuing this aimless fight would only make his mother sad. All it ever did was make her sad.
He had turned on his heel and stormed out of the hall, his white and jade green robes rustling as he went, to find Mu Qing and his bodyguard Feng Xin. They sat under an apple tree together as Xie Lian complained. These stolen moments with his friends were always the best part of his day. He was playing with a dandelion, Feng Xin was flexing the arrows in his quiver to check them for damage, and Mu Qing was fiddling with the white jade crown in Xie Lian’s hair.
“I wish he would just let me go to see what’s outside of the palace walls. He never allows me to go anywhere by myself. It’s suffocating.” Xie Lian huffed and took off his slippers and socks, flexing his bare toes in the grass. “I feel locked up in here.”
“A fine prison,” Mu Qing’s soft voice spoke from behind him, cool as the early autumn breeze which rustled the branches of the apple tree.
Feng Xin glared at him, discarding a damaged arrow. “You shut up. Your Highness, did you remind the King that you are sure to ascend? He might let you go outside if you can convince him that it will be good for your cultivation. As for marriage -”
“I told him!” Xie Lian exclaimed in frustration. “I keep telling him! He simply doesn’t listen to a word I say. He insists on keeping me here, all dolled up like some prized jewel, and keeps me busy all day so that I can never go anywhere.”
“You are his only son,” Mu Qing reminded him. “He worries.”
“I know,” Xie Lian sighed, twirling the dandelion between his fingertips. “I know that. But I can’t keep living like this. Something will have to change. I’ll have to change it.”
“What do you mean?” Feng Xin said, lowering the arrow he was holding and looking nervous.
Even if Xie Lian would not ascend, and the feeling in his bones was incorrect, shouldn’t he go out and get to know his people? It didn’t seem right that he only heard about the state of his kingdom through official reports. It didn’t seem right that he only ever saw his people during public events, where they cheered for him and praised his name to the high Heavens, before Xie Lian was firmly guided back inside the palace walls. He wanted to know how they actually lived. He wanted to know what they did, what their struggles were, what moved them, what he could do to make their lives better.
Mu Qing helped him get ready for bed that night, like every night - he peeled him out of his many layers, dressed him in his nightgown, and put his hair into a braid over his shoulder. Feng Xin extinguished the candles - his friend still looked a little apprehensive, and before following Mu Qing out of the room, he turned in the doorway, opening his mouth to speak, then closing it again, repeating this a few times before murmuring a soft “Good night, Your Highness” and withdrawing.
Xie Lian lay in bed in the dark, listening as the palace slowly grew quiet around him. The wall tapestry behind his bed, of a sunrise over an ocean that Xie Lian had never seen, gently moved with the breeze coming in through the open window. The prince waited until all he heard was the sound of an owl screeching and the wind chimes outside his window and then he pushed back the covers and got out of bed, bare feet padding across the cold stone floor to the soft carpet in front of his wardrobe.
Xie Lian had made his decision. He was going out tonight.
What to wear? He brushed a hand over his many robes and sighed. The most simple outfit he had was pure white - not very convenient since he wanted to sneak out. But he also couldn’t wear his robes of fine brocade or his colourful silks! They were hardly less eye-catching, and even if he made it outside the palace walls, his princely garments would surely get him in trouble out there. He’d make the white robes work somehow. He put on simple white boots and then covered his dazzling white outfit with a black cloak trimmed with grey rabbit fur, before covering the lower half of his face with a white bandage and pulling up the hood of his cloak. Xie Lian had prepared a pouch with pieces of gold foil in advance, which he slipped into his sleeve.
Almost as an afterthought, Xie Lian stuck a dagger under his belt - the most simple one he had. The blade was straight, made of cold grey steel, and the handle was black with a golden pattern, a sunburst at the end, with red tassels dangling from it. The sheath was made of brown leather, and he made sure it was hidden under his cloak.
Xie Lian stood in the middle of his room for a few moments, listening for any noises. When he was satisfied that the cost was clear, he climbed out of his window and let himself drop to the ground, where he rubbed a couple of handfuls of dirt onto the hem of his white robe and his boots. There, that was better. The prince sat in a crouch underneath his windowsill and looked around.
His room offered a view of the garden. The lanterns were still on, casting a warm glow onto the pathway and the wooden bridge. The light of the crescent moon and the stars made the surface of the pond sparkle gently, and the leaves of the willow tree were stirred by the wind. There was no one around. Xie Lian took a deep breath, and then he was moving.
Not all of his daily lessons were a waste of time. His martial arts training was also quite useful with what he was doing tonight. Xie Lian used qinggong to get on the roof, and then he ran, jumping from rooftop to rooftop without making a single sound, his breathing even and his balance perfect.
Suddenly, a shadow seemed to move across the moon, blocking its light for an instant, and Xie Lian thought he saw a big, white shape soaring through the night sky from the corner of his eye. For some reason, his heart rate spiked and his breath hitched, and before he knew it he was out of balance, struggling to keep himself from tumbling off the roof. By the time he managed to regain his balance and could afford to look up at the sky, whatever it had been was gone.
It was just a bird. My guilty conscience must be making me jumpy, Xie Lian thought, shaking his head at himself before moving on.
He arrived at the part of the outer wall where he had planned to jump off - it was close to the centre of the city, yet not too close to where the guards would be watching the palace gate. Xie Lian drew his cloak around himself and crouched down on the roof tiles to check if there was anyone in the street below. Not seeing or hearing anyone, he jumped down, backing up into the shadow of the wall right away.
Xie Lian’s eyes shone with excitement in the dark, and he put a hand in front of his mouth covered with the bandage to further stifle a helpless laugh. He’d done it. He’d actually done it. He was outside the palace grounds, all by himself. The young prince stood there for a few minutes, the euphoria of freedom and youthful rebellion burning in his veins, and then he made his way to the entertainment district of the capital. At first he flitted from building to building, sneaking around in the shadows, but as the streets got more crowded, he started moving like he belonged there, and he drew the hood of his cloak back to see everything better.
He only kept the lower half of his face covered - it wouldn’t do to be recognised tonight. The people loved him, and if they knew he walked among them, they would crowd around him, begging for a word or a touch of his hand, and throw flowers at his feet. That was not what Xie Lian had come for. He wanted the freedom to explore.
It was late at night, but this part of the city was still very lively - as Xie Lian had always been told. Light was cast onto the street from the houses on both sides. Flute music filled the air, old men were playing a game of weiqi, and a group of children almost ran into Xie Lian. There were food stalls on both sides of the street, with vendors yelling out their wares. Xie Lian flinched at the sounds of fighting coming from what appeared to be a gambling hall, and actually jumped when a pair of soft hands grabbed one of his own.
“Young master, would you like to come with me?”
It was a young woman in flowy pink silks and heavy makeup, golden jewellery around her neck and arms, her hair pulled up into two buns. Xie Lian looked towards where she was trying to pull him - more young ladies in revealing colourful silks were on the porch and the balcony of the residence, all smiling at him like he was the sweetest treat. The prince was sheltered but not stupid - of course he knew what kind of establishment this was.
“N-no, thank you,” he stammered, pulling his hand from the young woman’s grip, feeling the blush peeking up from under the bandages covering the lower half of his face as he stumbled backwards. The women tittered.
“Don’t be afraid, young master, I won’t bite. It’s such a cold night, let me warm you up. Or maybe you’d prefer to have a few of us at the same time - that could be fun too.”
The woman in pink was coming towards him again, and Xie Lian stepped back, waving his hands in front of him - stepped right onto the toes of a man, who shoved him with an annoyed grunt before he kept walking.
“I’m sorry!” Xie Lian called after the man, turning back to the woman and panicking when he saw how close she was. “I - I m-must apologise to you, too, miss. I - I can’t get erect!”
And with that he turned and fled down the street, pulling his hood up, the sound of raucous laughter following him. He finally slowed down near a large square, catching his breath, furtively looking around for more brothels nearby. Not seeing any, he went to a food stall and bought a little basket with six mantou, slipping it into his qiankun sleeve for later. He’d share them with Feng Xin and Mu Qing and tell them all about his night out. His anxiety forgotten, Xie Lian smiled at the prospect, imagining their expressions when he told them.
His friends would be angry with him, he expected, but they’d forgive him - and he had already done it, so they might as well share some snacks.
Xie Lian also bought himself a baozi with pork belly filling to eat while he looked around, uncovering his mouth just enough to chew on it happily. It tasted wonderful - it tasted like freedom and new experiences.
Loud, drunken laughter emerged from the taverns all around him, and someone was playing the pipa in a large inn at the edge of the square. There was a play being performed on the square, and Xie Lian stood on his tiptoes to try and see the stage. The play, it turned out, was about the, er, intimate exploits of a famous General. Xie Lian hastily put his heels back down on the ground and backed away, careful not to step on any toes this time. What a sin!
He fled into the inn, where he sat down at an empty table in a corner of the common room and ordered himself a pot of white tea, to rest and recover from all of these unfamiliar impressions.
The prince sat there, sipping his tea, listening to the laughter and the arguments and the conversations of his citizens around him, and to the tune of the pipa. It was more upbeat than anything that was ever played at the palace. He liked it. Xie Lian moved his head from side to side to the sounds of the music, feeling happier than ever, when a low voice suddenly spoke from right next to him.
“You must leave, little prince.”
Xie Lian’s pupils contracted. What? Who? Had someone from the palace discovered him? Who would dare address him like that? He quickly turned to see a woman filling another cup with his tea. She was wearing purple and black robes, and a silver cat-mask over the upper half of her face. It was hard to determine how old she was, though Xie Lian guessed that she must be around his mother’s age.
“Who are you? How -”
“How did I know who you were?” Her voice was deep and dark, just like the eyes behind the mask. Yet her tone was amused. “Sweet thing, your expensive cloak has been drawing some attention. There is a group of four men waiting for you to exit this building - they mean to rob you of everything you have.”
Xie Lian set his jaw. He did not come out here to fight with his people, no matter how low their intentions towards him were. He’d have to slip away without being seen. Still, if it was just the cloak -
“And I knew you would come,” the woman continued.
She knew he would come? What did that even mean?
“Who are you?”
“I am called Zhou Qinru. But we don't have time to get to know each other, sweet prince.”
Xie Lian had never been spoken to by a stranger like this in his life - this woman was really too bold!
“Now listen here, Lady Zhou -”
Zhou Qinru set her cup down, her eyes serious.
“Your Highness, what do you know about the Four Calamities?”
He looked at her and tilted his head, puzzled. “The Four…?”
Zhou Qinru sighed, looking down into her tea pensively, like it held the answer to some kind of riddle. “As I expected. He wouldn't have told you, or let anyone else breathe a word of it.
She looked back up at Xie Lian, a tight smile on her face. “Sweet prince, we don't have much time-” she lifted her hand to stop him from indignantly interrupting her. “We don't have much time, so please listen to me. You can call me a crazy witch when I'm finished, okay?”
Xie Lian hesitated, but closed his mouth and nodded tersely, drawing his cloak a little tighter around himself though it was almost too warm inside the inn. He was confused, and this woman was scaring him. Who had kept what from him?
He had a creeping feeling that something bad was about to happen, like icy tendrils wrapping around his limbs and making his hands go numb. It was similar to what he had felt after he saw that white shape in the sky earlier. Xie Lian pushed the feeling down forcefully.
“The Four Great Calamities are the four great dragons. I can tell by your face that you have never heard of them - that's okay. Your father has kept you in the dark about their existence on purpose.”
“Why -” Xie Lian couldn't help but interrupt.
Lady Zhou continued without answering him.
“The first is a green dragon named Qi Rong. He has styled himself Night-Touring Green Lantern, but he is more commonly known as the Green Ghost, since his only truly impressive feature is that he can cause a lot of trouble and then vanish without a trace. Qi Rong has very poor taste - he likes to take up residence in swamps and eat all of a city’s sheep, actually demanding a virgin sacrifice before he’ll move on. Most people are of the opinion that the Green Ghost is only included to make up the numbers.”
Xie Lian dazedly thought that this sounded about right.
“Then there is Black Water Sinking Ships, He Xuan, an all-black beast with sky-blue eyes who haunts the oceans and lives underwater. He sinks imperial and royal vessels with his spiked tail whenever he feels like it - if there is a ship he wants to bring down into the depths, not even the gods can save the crew. He Xuan has a great appetite for fish. Many a fisherman has pulled up his nets to find them all chewed to tatters, all the fish gone.”
The young crown prince shifted on his cushion. He had promised he would let Lady Zhou finish speaking, but he really didn’t see what any of this had to do with him. They were nowhere near the ocean. He had never even seen the ocean!
“The third is Hua Cheng - Crimson Rain Sought Flower. A massive black and red monster with one fiery red eye they say is cursed. He has caused the downfall of over thirty kings and emperors and he is the scourge of dragon hunters. There are rumours that this beast has a sentimental side - they say he has been seen using one of his wings to shield a patch of tiny white flowers from a hail storm.
Hua Cheng? It was a good name - Xie Lian felt the urge to smile. He liked the story about the flowers. He had always liked flowers himself, had always cherished the flowers that his people threw at him during festivals and parades.
“And lastly, the White Calamity, Bai Wuxiang. He disappears for years or decades at a time, only to suddenly reappear and destroy an entire kingdom, taking only one precious treasure with him each time. His breath is poisonous and causes outbreaks of infectious disease.”
Xie Lian was clutching his tea cup between his hands. “But - but what does this have to do with me? And why didn't my father want me to know about these - these dragons?”
“Because what I am about to tell you, I told your parents when you were born. The King would not hear of it. He almost took my head for it. This is the reason you have been cooped up in the palace - to keep you far away from the truth.”
“What?” Xie Lian whispered. “What truth? What did you tell them?”
“That you will bring disaster to Xianle. The White Calamity is coming, and the treasure he wants is you.”
Xie Lian could barely hear the noise of the inn's lobby over the blood rushing in his ears. The white shape in the sky…
“You're lying,” he croaked.
Lady Zhou shook her head, and Xie Lian thought that her eyes looked sad. “I wish I was, my prince.”
“You're wrong. How can you know this?”
The woman took a sip of her tea, the flickering of the candle on the table making the light dance across her mask, as she pushed back her sleeve and started unwrapping a black bandage from her wrist.
“I have had dragon dreams since I was a child. The closest thing you would be familiar with is divination. I dream about things that have yet to pass, involving dragons. My dreams are sometimes about the Calamities, though usually they are about smaller dragons. Based on my dreams, I offer kingdoms advice on how to defend against a dragon's aggression, or I help dragons in need. But back then, twenty years ago, I dreamed of you.”
She put her forearm on the table, wrist up. There, on the inside of her wrist, was a patch of copper scales.
Lady Zhou gestured with her other hand. “Touch it if you want to see.”
Xie Lian didn't want to see. His insides were frozen with fear, and what he wanted was to run outside, back to the palace, back to his room, to hide under the covers in bed. Instead, he extended a trembling hand, touching the leathery scales with his fingertips.
His mind was flooded with images and sounds. Screams, fire, blood, collapsed buildings. The palace of Xianle in ruins. Outside the dream, Xie Lian’s body jolted when he saw himself sitting next to the bodies of his mother and father. Mu Qing and Feng Xin were nearby, their sightless eyes staring up at the red sky. They were dead. Everyone was dead, or dying. Xie Lian’s face was covered in blood and tears, but the tears had stopped flowing. He was silent, his eyes devoid of life though he was still breathing, and he didn’t even respond when a large white monster walked up to him from behind, stomping on broken bodies and rubble alike as it went.
It was a dozen times the size of a horse, with weathered white scales littered with inflamed bumps, oozing puss. White horns on top of its head, yellowed fangs dripping red, a white mane along its spine, sticky with blood.
In the dream, Xie Lian didn’t look up from his mother’s face even as the creature stopped behind him. He didn’t cry out even as the dragon closed a gnarled white claw around his body and flew off with him.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Xie Lian pulled his hand back from Lady Zhou’s wrist. He was shaking all over his body, and clutched the sides of his head as he curled in on himself. He thought he might be sick, right there in their corner of the inn's lobby. Xie Lian faintly registered Lady Zhou patting his shoulder and talking to him in a low voice. He was crying, he realised, as a shiver passed through him.
She kept patting him until his senses returned to him and he could hear the cheerful sounds of the inn around them again - the pipa and the laughter and the chatter. It felt so wrong, after what Xie Lian had just seen.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Lady Zhou was saying to him, sounding sincere and sympathetic. “Deep breaths. That’s it.”
“Did - did you show this to - to my father?” Xie Lian choked out through shaky sobs.
Lady Zhou sighed softly. “He refused to see it. I showed it to the State Preceptor, but the King would not hear it from him, either. I only avoided execution or lifetime imprisonment because your mother pitied me and got on her knees to beg the King to spare me - I was forbidden from breathing a word of this to anyone, otherwise my sentence would be carried out immediately. Your father was scared that the common people would hear of this, and there would be panic, and they might try to take you to sacrifice you to the White Calamity, to try and appease him.”
Xie Lian shuddered violently, his eyes still closed tight, and she rubbed soothing circles into his shoulder.
“It would not matter if they did. From what I know of Bai Wuxiang, making your watch as he destroys your kingdom and your loved ones would be the most enjoyable part of it, to him. If they gave you to him, he would fly you back here and put you down at the city gates, still in the restraints they delivered you in, and kill us all before your eyes.”
“Can’t he be stopped?” Xie Lian whispered desperately, asking despite already knowing, deep in his heart, where this was going. He always knew he would not rule…
“Your father has tried, sweet prince. Over the years, he has sent out so many dragon hunters, lone heroes and troops of his strongest men, only telling them that it was for the safety of the kingdom. It did not matter what he told them. Even if they suspected that it had something to do with the Crown Prince, none of them ever returned to share these suspicions with another soul. Even now, the King holds to his belief that his armies can defeat the White Calamity when he comes. He is wrong. None of his preparations will matter. All will burn, blood will flow like a river through the streets, and those still breathing will be infected by the dragon’s poisonous fumes.”
Xie Lian wanted to stay in denial, but it was no use. Everything was falling into place. The way he had been all but locked up in the palace. The way his father sometimes wouldn’t look him in the eyes while they argued. The way he had sometimes caught his mother looking at him, worried and unfathomably sad. The way the State Preceptor had sometimes seemed like he wanted to tell him something important, only to cut himself off and tell him something insignificant, something Xie Lian already knew. There was another memory trying to claw its way to the surface, but Xie Lian’s mind was in chaos, and he couldn’t focus on it.
He lowered his shaking hands and put them into his lap, tightly clasped together. As another shudder passed through him, Xie Lian finally opened his wet eyes and looked up at Lady Zhou.
“Can it be changed?”
“Only you can change it, Your Highness.”
Xie Lian swallowed hard and nodded. He had expected as much. “What must I do?”
“Leave,” Lady Zhou said, like it was obvious, like it was simple, like it didn’t feel like a sword thrust through the heart. “Leave. Disappear. Make sure he never finds you.”
Another sob rose in Xie Lian’s throat, and he wrapped his arms around himself. His stomach hurt.
“And Xianle will be safe?”
Lady Zhou sighed, taking a snow white handkerchief out of her sleeve and dabbing at the tears on Xie Lian’s cheeks. “I dare not guarantee it, little prince. But Bai Wuxiang is fixated on you - if you are not here, at least they have a chance.”
“What does he want with me?”
She bit her lip and shook her head. “I do not know. I pray to all the gods that you’ll never find out. All I know is that he covets you.
“I saw him.” Xie Lian’s whisper shouldn’t have been audible over the noise around them, muffled by the bandages around the lower half of his face, but Lady Zhou heard him anyway, and she moved closer to him, putting both hands on his shoulders and squeezing.
“All the more reason to go. Right now. While you’re out of the palace already. Don’t go back. It will only be harder if you do. If you try talking to your parents about this, your father will have you locked up - more securely this time. This is your chance. Go.”
Xie Lian was shaking his head repeatedly, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. He couldn’t just leave his friends, his mother, even his father, without saying goodbye to them. How was he supposed to do this to them? And underneath it all - Please, I can’t. I’m scared. Someone help me. I’m scared.
Just this morning, he had been sitting under an apple tree with his friends, daydreaming about travelling the world. And now that it was suddenly time to go, to leave his golden cage, he only wanted to fly back in. Xie Lian wanted his mother to hug him, to stroke his hair and tell him it would be okay. He wanted to tell Feng Xin and Mu Qing about all this. They would come with him, if he asked. Wouldn’t they?
But he knew that Lady Zhou was right. If he burrowed into his mother’s embrace like a child right now, how would he have the strength to leave again? And how could he ask his friends to go with him, when this sounded like a journey there was no coming back from?
“My prince,” Lady Zhou said softly, squeezing his shoulders again, “I cannot begin to understand how hard this is. But every moment we sit here, we get closer to your absence being discovered. They will come after you. You really must go now.”
“Where do I go?” Xie Lian flinched at the sound of his own voice. He sounded like a lost child - he felt like one too. What if he gets me? was what he didn’t ask, but maybe Lady Zhou could see it in his eyes, because she petted his head, the way his mother did when he was younger, and more tears fell.
“Travel by day, take shelter at night. Bai Wuxiang is most active at night - he does come out during the day, but the sun burns his sores. You cannot afford to wait for dawn, so cover yourself with your cloak and watch the sky. Stay out of sight as much as possible - stick to treelines and the edges of towns. Make for the mountains. Hide there for a few days and then cross to the other side, find a small town and blend in. Never stay anywhere too long. Can you repeat it back to me?”
Xie Lian repeated his instructions through his tears, and Lady Zhou sighed, her own eyes wet behind the mask.
“Brave little prince.” She sat back and took a leather water flask out of her sleeve, handing it to Xie Lian.
“I wish I could do more for you. Put it in your sleeve. There, that’s good. Now go. Take care of yourself, Your Highness.”
She made to rise, but Xie Lian grabbed her sleeve. “Lady Zhou, what about you? Now that you’ve told me, my father -”
Lady Zhou patted the top of his head twice and rose to her feet. “Don’t worry about me, A-Lian. I can take care of myself. I will distract the men outside who want to rob you - you have enough on your mind without having to worry about them. You take the back exit out of here. Good luck, sweet prince.”
And with that, she was gone, and Xie Lian sat there for a few moments, shivering in his warm cloak. Maybe this was all a dream. Maybe he would wake up in a few moments, in his warm bed. He would go to breakfast like every morning, give his mother a kiss on the cheek, exchange pleasantries with his father and then go to his lessons. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.
But it was, of course. He had always known he would never rule. So maybe the reason wasn’t ascension. Maybe it was banishment. Self-imposed banishment. Or maybe, his mind whispered, the reason is a destroyed kingdom and an untimely death in the maw of a monster.
No. Xie Lian set his jaw and stood up on shaky legs. It would not happen. He wouldn’t let it. He took a step, and another, and left the inn via the back exit. Back in the busy street, Xie Lian felt oversensitive and jittery. He had been delighted by the excitement and the hubbub before, but now everything was too much, and every time someone walked into him he wanted to scream.
As he left the busy district and things got quiet around him, Xie Lian withdrew into the shadows. He crept forward until he got close to the city gate, where he saw horses tied up in a horse pen. A black mare was eating grain from a trough, fully saddled and ready to go - a messenger horse. Xie Lian nodded to himself and got out his money pouch. He took out a couple of gold foil pieces and put them down under a rock next to the horse. A quick glance around - and another - confirmed that no one was watching the horses, so Xie Lian untied the horse, led it out of the pen and mounted it.
And then he rode through the gates. It was really too easy, he thought as he nodded to the guards, but then they were only really checking people entering the city rather than people leaving. And they recognised the messenger tag on the horse’s saddle - how were they supposed to know that they were letting their beloved Crown Prince slip through their fingers?
Once outside, Xie Lian spurred the mare into a trot, and as he heard shouts from behind him at the gates - probably the real messenger - he squeezed gently with his knees to make her break into a gallop. He was fleeing, leaving the only home he had ever known behind, most likely never to return. The prince had always craved freedom, but it did not feel at all like he’d always dreamed it would. It felt lead in his stomach, pulling him to the bottom of a dark well.
Xie Lian didn’t look back once, for fear of losing his nerve and turning around - and for fear of seeing a large white shape soaring across the sky, following him.
Xie Lian didn’t stop the rest of the night, making full use of his head start. He looked for cover as much as possible, as Lady Zhou had told him, and once the sun started to rise he made the horse run at full speed for a while. That morning, he hid in a copse of trees, to rest his horse and to rest himself.
Though the sun was up, and he didn’t expect his human pursuers to catch up yet, he stayed out of sight while his mare grazed contentedly. There was a small stream flowing through the trees that she could drink from, and Xie Lian listened to the soft gurgling of the water as he sat with his back against the trunk of a tree and ate one of the mantou he had bought the night before.
He couldn’t eat more than one. His stomach protested and his throat felt tight. He was supposed to share these with Feng Xin and Mu Qing. What had he done? As his bodyguard, Feng Xin would be punished for letting this happen, he knew it. Xie Lian slipped the basket with his remaining food back into his sleeve and covered his eyes with one hand, sobbing quietly. And then he kept moving, because what else could he do?
Xie Lian travelled all that day, only stopping for short periods of time, hiding behind rock formations or between trees, or blending into the crowd in small towns, keeping his face half covered at all times.
That night, he stayed at an inn, unable to fall asleep for the longest time, listening for the sound of large, white wings above him, and for the sound of hooves on the street outside. Any moment now, fists would be banging on the door, and loud voices would demand that the innkeeper open the door in the name of the King of Xianle.
Xie Lian slept eventually. Only for a short time, but it was enough to see Lady Zhou’s dragon dream again. He woke up just before dawn, with tears on his cheeks. Xie Lian got up from his bed, quickly washed his face and only ate a few pieces of still warm, fluffy bread with butter before leaving. He still didn’t have an appetite - his stomach was in knots.
That day, he didn’t rest much, constantly looking over his shoulder. He’d lost his head start, he knew it. Any moment now, they’d catch up with him. They’d drag him back home and throw him in a cell, and then there would be nothing he could do, except wait for the White Calamity to come and take him - but not before destroying everything.
Xie Lian spurred his horse to go a little faster, feeling bad for the poor animal. But the mountains were so close. If he could get there before nightfall, if he could find a cave to hide in, he might make it through another night. Xianle’s fate could be avoided for a little longer.
There was a small town at the foot of the mountain, and Xie Lian decided to leave the horse there. The mare wasn’t his - he couldn’t take her up there with him, he had put her through enough. With his martial abilities, he might even be able to cross the mountain faster on foot. As he was tying the horse up at the local inn, he heard voices from the doorway.
“The Crown Prince of Xianle? No, I’d remember if I’d seen him.”
“He’s wearing white robes and a black cloak trimmed with rabbit fur. He’s riding a black mare,” said a clipped voice. Xie Lian knew that voice. It was one of his father’s Generals. They were here.
He held his breath and retreated into the shadow of the building as he listened.
“The King and Queen of Xianle are beside themselves with worry. Whoever finds their son will be rewarded. Could you ask your guests if any of them have seen him?”
“Rewarded, you say? Just how much -”
The General spoke in a low voice, and the innkeeper laughed nervously.
“Oh! Oh, I see, well let me think, I might have seen him -”
Xie Lian didn’t stick around to listen any longer. He turned and ran, fast as a deer and quiet as a mouse, not stopping to rest. He left the town behind, not even looking to see if he was being followed, and ran into the forest covering the mountain slope.
He only slowed down when his cloak got caught behind a low branch, and he whirled around with a yell, striking out with his palm to beat back a pursuer who wasn’t there. Xie Lian freed himself and leaned against the trunk of the tree, panting for breath and listening for the sounds of pursuit. Nothing. He’d done it. He’d reached the mountains without being dragged back to the palace by his father’s men, and without being snatched up by a white dragon’s claws.
He took the water skin that Lady Zhou had given him and drank deeply as he thought. He had been thinking a lot these past two days. Stay home and let Xianle be destroyed, stay on the run for the rest of his life - what if he made a third path? Xie Lian could make sure that he became strong enough to defeat the White Calamity - maybe he would even ascend - and then he could meet the beast on his own terms, and slay it. Yes, Xie Lian thought, hopeful for the first time since he had left his home, that’s what he would do.
Xie Lian’s optimism was tempered before long. He was pretty sure that he was very much lost. He’d left the trees behind, and was trying to make his way through a rocky mountain pass, but he had no idea if he was going the right way. Clouds gathered in the sky and it started raining as evening fell, softly at first, and then harder, until it was pouring, and Xie Lian got soaked to his bones. His hair was plastered to his head and his cloak was heavy. His steps were slow as he tried to see where he was going in the dark, through the curtain of rain. Some of the rocks were slippery, and he had already stumbled a few times, only barely managing to keep himself upright with the help of harsh rocks lining the path he was on.
A sudden flash of lightning lit up his path and the stone around him, and the following clap of thunder had Xie Lian pressing himself flat against the rocky surface beside him. He had to find a cave to take shelter in, but he hadn’t seen anything on his way. Even staying under the cover of the trees would have been better, but he had felt uneasy with his father’s men so close behind him, so he’d insisted on moving on.
Xie Lian shivered, the cold seeping into his bones. He pounded the stone at his back with a fist and grit his teeth at another flash of lightning. He simply had to move on. He had to find a cave.
He pushed away from the wall and took a step, and then another. And then suddenly, what little light there had been was gone and darkness filled Xie Lian’s vision as a large black shadow landed right in front of him with a resounding crash, making the ground shake. Xie Lian fell backwards in shock, on his behind, scraping his palms open on the stone when he tried to catch himself.
Another flash of lightning was enough to show him the monster in front of him, and Xie Lian sobbed out a laugh as he curled up into a ball, hugging his knees with his bleeding palms and pushing his face up against them.
Black scales glistening in the rain, scales red like blood, spikes and claws and horns, wings as wide as his room at home, and a single red eye which glowed like embers in the darkness, staring at him. Hua Cheng. Xie Lian didn’t want to see, didn’t want to look his death in the eye, but he felt the beast’s stare, and he pressed his face into his knees with a whimper.
How had he ever thought he could grow strong enough to defeat one of these creatures? He faintly thought of the dagger in his belt as he heard the dragon’s deep, rumbling breaths over the sound of the rain. What was the point? What was he going to do with that dagger? He was cold and he was wet and he was tired and he was lonely, and he could never go home again. What difference did it make, dying in the jaws of this Calamity dragon instead of the other one. Maybe Hua Cheng would at least spare his kingdom, his family and his friends. Maybe Bai Wuxiang would move on once he realised Xie Lian had died in the wild.
Xie Lian waited for the pain, for the end of his story. Instead, he heard a voice in his head, deep and…consoling? Gege, it said. The prince let out an hysterical laugh against his knees. Well, he had truly gone mad then, if he was imagining that a huge monster who was about to eat him was talking to him inside his head, and calling him gege of all things. Yes, he’d definitely lost his mind. Could the dragon just get it over with?
But nothing was happening. There were no claws or fangs tearing his body apart, there was no dragon fire burning him. Hua Cheng wasn’t even picking him up to enjoy him as a snack later. He hadn’t left either. Xie Lian could feel him, the warmth of him nearby, and its pull on his cold body. He could hear his deep, almost soothing breaths. And there was also the absence of something, the absence of - the rain! As Xie Lian slowly lifted his head, he became aware of another sound - the constant pitter-patter of rain above him, as if on a big umbrella.
He looked up, just as there was another flash of lightning. It lit up the red underside of a large wing covering him, shielding him from the rain.