Rain fell upon us for days, as if to wash away all the blood staining the land.
The fields began to stink of wet iron and damp soil... What once moved as a single body now broke in hundreds of pieces. Our army is undoubtedly divided now, it was a slow process that began weeks or months ago and now it seems impossible to fix.
There are malicious whispers behind every corner, whenever I walk around the camp I can see the men falling back and murmuring. Not only the 3 Armies have split from eachother, but each unit and squadron was now torn apart in doubts...
There are those who believe General Wu had fallen in disgrace and was nothing but a traitor driven by greed and those who believe he was silenced by a blade harboring ill intentions... Some men openly refuse to follow my orders. While others, especially the veterans who trusted General Cai more than anything, are constantly surrounding me and almost chanting my name as a war cry.
I can't tell which option worries me more.
I haven't slept much lately, torn by thoughts on how to solve this whole situation... Now have I touched Cai's Axe since the day I hammered it in the main tent, actually... Nobody dared to touch it at all.
But now, in the quiet of the war room, with no one else around, I returned to where it all happened. I need to breathe in the memory, to piece it back together... There's still something off, something that doesn't make sense and has been bothering me ever since that day.
-I was just... Following orders- I murmur to myself as I fidget with my fingers over the arm rest of the same chair where General Wu was staying right before his death. The same chair I'm which he got exposed.
A faint stain of blood can still be seen at the center of the tent, where he kneeled down beside Cai Lao's corpse... His blood was now pouring down like rain among the men, or maybe I should say "The Emperor's blood" since this whole chain of events happened because of his order. The same order that Qin Luo kept from me.
As I was lost in thoughts, I hear someone running just outside the tent and then rushing in... It's Xu Lei -Speak- he bows down and then blurts it out -A fight erupted, someone was praising you and calling General Wu a traitor... Then another guy heard him and got angry since he was loyal to him, another tried to mediate but everything escalated too quickly and...!-
I sigh -I get it, suppress it for now and then write a detailed report on the current situation around the camp. Let me know about any soldier who asked for a reassignment or who is unwilling to cooperate-
-Yessir- he is about to leave but I stop him -One last thing, if you see Qin Luo tell him to come here- he nods and leaves.
...
After sometime he finally appears in front of me -You called?- he still can't meet my eyes
-That order... Let me read it- I simply say he nods but then stops -What is it?- I ask him upon seeing him confused -Well... I think General Wu took that letter at the end of the meeting so it should be somewhere around his quarters-
-Well, that means we'll have to investigate his tent then-.
...
-Found anything?- I ask while rummaging through some shelves -Not yet...- replies Qin Luo from the other side.
-Honestly I don't understand why you allowed him to write a report on his own and even allowed him to keep the replies for himself- I say opening a drawer from the desk at the center of the tent -No actually, why did you even keep it from me? This could have been avoided if I knew-
-For real?!- stops me Qin Luo -You seriously think it could have been avoided? Lai'Er think, you're much more clever than this. The Emperor is just trying to get rid of you, he's probably fabricating some sort of fake proof while hidden behind those talk walls just to frame you with the accusation of betrayal! He doesn't want you out of the battlefield cuz he can't stand you, he wants everyone to lose trust in you so you don't hold any power to act against him. Same went for General Cai... Well at least now we got rid of his closest pawn, the most imminent menace is gone-
-I killed a General, Ge. The situation is far from done- a low thud echoes as I close the drawer -Wait- I rise an hand to stop him from replying to me and crouch down.
I knock around the desk until I find a spot that produces a different sound than regular wood -There's something here- I reach my hand inside the drawer and find a small keyhole in the upper part of it -An hidden compartment, let's search for the key... I fear that something important lays here-
We stop looking for the papers and search for a key instead... While opening an infinite number of boxes we stumble upon the letter from The Court.
Involuntary I crumble the paper while reading it -This is absolutely ridiculous, it's clear how they wanted to frame General Cai too...- I exhale harshly and then fold the parchment, putting it away in my clothes -If this is here, then what's inside that drawer...?- I ask and me and Qin Luo share a silent stare that says one thing only "Something even worst"
I turn around and walk toward the exit -Where are you going?- he asks -To the graveyard, if something is hidden there instead of these letters them it must be extremely important. And where do you keep the key to something like that?-
He gulps down -Close to your chest-
-Exactly- I nod and leave.
...
Upon reaching the place where General Wu had been buried I start shoveling. His and Cai Lao's heads haven't been put in display, since everyone knew their faces anyway, but they both got buried in a proper way from each Army.
-If someone sees us it will really taint your name, Lai'Er- murmurs Qin Luo while passing an hand over his forehead -We're far from the camp and it's night time but honestly... I need to know what's inside that drawer more than I need to make a name for myself now-
Finally I reach the coffin and immediately call Qin Luo forth to help me rise it up from the deep hollow. I sprung open the lid and the stench of rotting flesh invades my nose -That's kinds disgusting...- he whisper but there's no time to loose now, an internal war might break out any moment and we must solve this whole matter quickly to unite the men.
I search all over the clothes and finally find something, a necklace tied around his wrist with a couple of keys attached to it -Found it!- I rise up from the coffin in triumph.
-Are you sure that's the one?- I look back at the decaying body and then at Qin Luo -I can only hope it is, I couldn't find anything else on his body-
-Then let's go back, I have a bad feeling about this matter- Qin Luo presses his lips together and we both turn to look at the camp with a worried stare.