Wei Wuxian approached the Wen prison camp. His ability to cloak himself, make others see what they wanted (or what they feared) had improved over the past thirteen years. It no longer drained him to maintain an illusion for hours. He could hold an entire battlefield in thrall, at least for a while.
Of course, doing so would only get him killed once it wore off. He had no clan or army behind him. But it served his purposes for rescuing his friends and innocent civilians who had been swept up in the war between the Lan, Wen, and Jin clans that had been raging for nearly a year.
There was little doubt of what the outcome was going to be. Under the ruthless sword of Hanguang-Jun, a dragon leader that no one had even heard of before a year or so ago, the Lan had already conquered almost all of Qishan and nearly half of Lanling.
With most of the soldiers busy fighting the Lan in the next village over, there weren't many guards to watch out for in the camp. He had been avoiding getting close to any active battles with the dragon clan, but since he hadn't managed to find Wen Ning in the other camps that were further back, he had to take the chance.
Even thirteen years after someone had tried to assassinate some members of the Lan contingent when they arrived in Yiling, the Lan still had a reward out for any sign of a huli jing. The Lan had nearly razed Yiling to the ground hunting down everyone who had been involved. And of course someone had thrown Wei Ying's name into the mix, and outed him as being a fox. Evidently dragons held grudges.
He'd had the Jin, the Wen, and the Lan hunting for him, though for different reasons. The Wen and the Jin had been behind the attack and wanted to make sure he was dead before the Lan could ask him any questions, and the Lan seemed to have believed that he was involved in the attack based on the fervor with which they were searching for him.
Someone had seen the trick he'd pulled in the marketplace to distract the attackers, and it hadn't taken long for people to figure out the scrawny kid who'd been living in the abandoned shed at the edge of town was a huli jing.
There were rumors that a full-blooded dragon had appeared, and had been so furious with Wei Ying that they had ripped the shed he'd lived in apart, sifting through the ashes looking for his bones. Most believed it to be just an exaggerated tale, but Wei Wuxian had been glad that the river that ran near the back of his house had been swollen from recent rains. He had cut a length of bamboo and used it to breathe as he stayed under water, letting the current take him away from the town leaving no scent trail behind.
The dragons had left Yiling without even attending the conference, razing the Wen camps that had been infringing on their territory with ease, then retreating back to their sanctuary. The clans were wary after that show of strength. The person behind the attack had not been concretely determined. Everyone had tried to assure the Lan that none of them had been involved, but any emissaries to Cloud Recesses had been turned away, unheard.
The stony silence made the clans nervous, waiting to see if the Lan would feel as though their revenge was complete or if they would continue to push to uncover who had been behind the attack. Even the Wen had been cautious, not taking revenge for the attack the way they usually would. The clans had decades of experience fighting each other, and knew the strengths and weaknesses of their foes well, but the Lan were of unknown skill on the battlefield.
Dragons were powerful, but they did not have the fighting experience the other sects did. Most of the sects hoped that--as long as they stayed off Lan territory--the Lan would resume their isolated existence on their mountain.
But there were worries. Rumors began to spread about rogue cultivators and fighters being invited to Cloud Recesses. Some claimed that the Lan were training an army. Despite the lore around the nature of white dragons to focus on virtue and integrity, the Lan were also part human. And humans were greedy and power-hungry, no matter what other blood flowed through their veins.
Wei Wuxian hadn't even known the boy he'd jumped in to help had been tied to the Clan of fucking dragons (though it did explain the crazy power that had been pumping off the older guy the boy had been walking with before the fight had broken out). Still, he didn't regret it. There had been something about the beauty and stillness of the boy that had caught Wei Wuxian's attention when he'd entered the market place.
Wei Wuxian had seen the large group of Mo Fan's men closing in, of course focusing on the weaker one, and hadn't thought twice about stepping in. He wished he'd gotten the boy's name, or knew anything about who he was. He had been dressed as a simple guard, but Wei Wuxian doubted that was truly what he was. He had been too shocked at Wei Wuxian's coarse language to be anything other than nobility of some kind. He hoped the boy remembered Wei Ying fondly, but he knew it was unlikely the boy remembered him at all, after so much time had passed.
Wei Wuxain had barely escaped Yiling with his life, exhausted and injured with half the town hunting for him. Most people thought he'd been killed in the fire, but he did not want to take any chances. He'd traveled as far from Yiling as he could, eventually collapsing from exhaustion. But it had been how he'd met Wen Qing and Wen Ning, who had provided him with the first real home he'd had since he was a toddler, so he supposed it wasn't all that bad.
They'd helped him keep his identity hidden. Wen Qing was a doctor, but carried some of the immortal blood as a direct descendant of the Wen line. Her power was not nearly as strong as those of dragon blood, or even of Wei Ying's huli jing blood, but she had herbs and charms that kept his true nature better concealed. So far, every immortal-blooded person he'd tested it on had been fooled into thinking he was a regular human. It gave him freedom to attend classes and find work without the fear of being caught as a fox. Huli Jing tended to be blamed for anything bad that happened whenever they were around.
He had lived in Dafan Village with Wen Qing and Wen Ning for a decade before things started to get bad again. After the dragons had shown their slight flex of power in how quickly they were able to hunt down and slay their attackers, the other clans had backed off.
For ten years, the fighting had diminished to minor border skirmishes, and no one had encroached on Lan territory. But, of course, it didn't last forever. It was only a matter of time before Wen Ruohan decided to push his luck again. They invaded the Jiang and the Nie lands, and started pressing closer to GusuLan territory once more.
The Wen had been researching how to defeat the dragons, and must have believed they had found something. Either that, or Wen Ruohan had simply been unable to control himself.
It always came down to blood.
Each of the most powerful clans were descended from the mating of an immortal being and a human. Depending on the nature of the immortal blood that ran through their veins and how long ago in the family tree it was, it shaped both the powers and behaviors of the ruling families.
All of the great clans were descended from immortal creatures that took human form and mated with a human. The divine (or demonic) blood that ran through them gave them powers that normal mortals didn't have, but the exact nature of it varied depending on the initial creature.
The cruelty of the Wen flowed back to the Zhu , the owl demon with a human face who had always enjoyed inflicting pain and causing strife. Just as the Jin's love of gold was rooted in the golden toad immortal creature who mated with the daughter of a wealthy nobleman.
Wen Ruohan was amassing an army even larger than before, and had started to draw deeper into their population, forcing more and more civilians to join his armies.
Wei Wuxian hadn't meant to draw attention to himself, but he hadn't been able to sit by and let people from Dafan and the neighboring villages get sent to the front lines to die. It got worse when he heard stories that Wen Ruohan was taking the children and holding them in prison camps to force their parents to fight and not desert.
Wen Qing hadn't even tried to stop him, at that point.
He knew using his huli jing powers was dangerous. Few creatures could create mass illusions or influence the minds of entire groups of people the way a huli jing could. It was why people hated and feared them so much. As far as he knew, only dragons were immune to his magic.
It would draw attention to not only him, but the family he'd built in Dafan village if he wasn't careful. So he'd started in Yiling, taking over a Wen prison camp, killing the guards and releasing the prisoners. They were mostly Nie prisoners of war, some Wen civilians who had refused to fight, and some Wen children that were being held hostage to force their parents to fight.
When Wen Ning had been taken, Wei Wuxian had stopped holding back. He no longer cared about being discovered as a huli jing. His attacks became more blatant, more punishing as he searched for the man he considered his younger brother.
Wen Ruohan was not going to stop until he had the rest of the world dead under his boot.
The Lan must have reached the same conclusion, because it wasn't long after Wei Wuxian stepped up his attacks that the Lan came back down the mountain--riding behind a powerful leader they called Hanguang-Jun that no one had ever heard of before--with a fully trained army behind him.
It was lucky timing for Wei Wuxian. Despite his best efforts to keep himself concealed, rumors had spread about a rogue huli jing attacking the Wen, freeing their prisoners and terrorizing their soldiers. The Wen had begun pulling their soldiers back from the front lines, mounting an all-out hunt for him when the Lan attacked, making them have to divide their efforts.
The Lan swept through the Wen camps that had been slowly encroaching on their territory once again, wiping them out without much resistance at all. Whatever 'plan' Wen Ruohan had either had failed or he foolishly hadn't been ready to implement it.
But this time, Hanguang-Jun, the new head of the Lan dragon clan, did not stop the Lan at their borders.
The leader of the Lan was a dragon warlord so powerful that it was said he could kill ten men with a single stroke of his gleaming white sword. Hanguang-Jun's aura was said to be so dark and powerful that half the enemy fled the battlefield in blind terror before the Lan even attacked. Tales spread of his ability to read minds, to be able to tell if a person was lying just by looking at them, that he could shift between human and dragon forms, something that had not been possible for the clan for centuries.
Wei Wuxian knew that most were likely an exaggeration, but he tried to steer clear of the Lan forces. If he was lucky enough, he could free Wen Ning, then disappear back into the shadows and let the Lan take out the Wen while Wei Wuxian faded into obscurity and rumors of the rogue huli jing died away again.
The Clans tried to appease Hanguang-Jun, offering tribute of gold, territory, and concubines, but the powerful dragon warlord showed no interest in anything other than completely decimating the Wen. The Wen and Jin had been partially allied, with some of the prison camps run jointly between the two. Wei Wuxian had decided to stay clear from the Lan, and search for Wen Ning on those camps.
After taking out one or two camps guarded by the Jin, the Jin began a manhunt for him as well. They must have also done something to piss the Lan off, because soon Hanguang-Jun's army was taking out Jin armies with the same ferocity as it had the Wen.
Wei Wuxian was racing against time. It was clear the Lan would easily conquer both the Jin and Wen clans within the year. The Nie had already sworn fealty to the Lan (so quickly that some claimed the Nie had been working with the Lan all along). And the Jiang had been all but wiped out. The smaller clans would align with whoever won. The fall of Qishan and Lanling to the Lan would make Hanguang-Jun effectively the ruler of them all.
Unlike the Wen and Jin armies, who decimated the civilian populations of the lands they invaded, Hanguang-Jun's forces released any civilians they found in the Wen or Jin prison camps. Wei Wuxian was almost tempted to let them liberate Wen Ning, but he was afraid that somehow, even though his friend had never raised his sword in battle, his blood tie to Wen Ruohan would see him killed.
So Wei Wuxian kept searching.
He was currently way too close to the front lines, with the sound of the fighting able to be heard in the distance. But the rumors that Wen Ning had been transferred there had been credible, and Wei Wuxian didn't want to miss his chance to free his friend.
The guards were a mix of Wen and Jin. It didn't take Wei Wuxian long to find a Jin guard who was drunk on the job and quickly knock him unconscious and rob him of his robes, leaving his body behind a bush. He wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant smell of the alpha clinging to the fabric. Things had been much better before he had presented as an omega, shortly after his encounter with the Lan back in Yiling. His sense of scent as a fox had been strong, but it hadn't carried the visceral responses to scents that his omega nose had come with.
There were very few alphas whose scent he could tolerate, and none that he actually liked. Wen Qing's was comforting just because of who she was to him, but not because he found her scent attractive.
Wei Wuxian ignored his discomfort with the man's scent and quickly wove an illusion over his face to resemble the unconscious man he left in his under robes lying in the bushes. The sounds of battle were be dying down, which meant it would not be long before whoever the victor was arrived at the camp.
He made his way quickly through the camp, not bothering to be subtle. He wove an illusion of safety, and began playing on his flute a song that soon had the entire camp asleep. The prisoners were shackled to large wooden posts. Wei Wuxian had created a talisman that would break the locks, which he quickly used, waking the prisoners and moving tent by tent, hoping to find Wen Ning.
There were three tents left when he heard the sounds of an approaching army.
He cursed under his breath as he realized he had waited too long. He should have left as soon as he heard the fighting stop, but he knew himself well enough to know that he would never have done it if there had been a chance to save his friend.
The first set of Lan soldiers, easily identifiable by their gleaming white robes, were already heading into the camp. Wei Wuxian briefly considered trying to make a run for it with the rest of the freed prisoners, but then he wouldn't be able to find out if Wen Ning were in one of the few remaining tents.
He released his spell on the camp and dropped his illusion, hoping that none of the dragon clan had been able to sense his magic. Or--if they had--at least had not been able to trace it to its source, and moved quickly, using the confused running, terrified shouts of the remaining camp guards to slip into one of the remaining prisoner tents.
Wen Ning wasn't there.
Wei Wuxian quickly took off the Jin robe he wore, wadded it up and threw it into the corner of the tent before going and sitting with the remaining prisoners hoping to pass himself off as a civilian. The Lan hadn't been able to sense him in Yiling, and his ability to suppress his scent and magic had only gotten better with Wen Qing's help.
"Hey! Who are you?!" one of the prisoners asked.
Fortunately, there was no time for Wei Wuxian to answer as a group of Lan guards had entered the tent.
It had been a full decade since Wei Wuxian had seen a Lan clan member up close. Looking at the wide, sour face of the one standing before him, he wondered if his memory of the ethereal-looking boy he'd saved in the marketplace had been exaggerated by his memory, or if the man in front of him was not blood-born to the Lan. He certainly didn't seem to be particularly powerful. If he was blood related, it was a very diluted link.
"You, prisoner dogs! You should be on your knees to your saviors," the unpleasant Lan soldier spat.
Several of the prisoners beside Wei Wuxian fell to their knees, but Wei Wuxian and two others remained standing.
The soldier laid his hand on the hilt of his sword in a clear threat. Wei Wuxian's nose crinkled as the scent of the Lan alpha trying to assert his dominance filled the room. He had never been sure if all omegas had the same discerning nose, or if being a huli jing made his sense of smell more acute, but--to his nose--there was nothing worse than a posturing alpha who had nothing to back it.
"Grovel, and maybe you'll be set free."
Wei Wuxian knew he should keep his mouth shut, but he had always lacked impulse control. It was what had caused him to save the younger Lan guard when he was a teenager, and it was what was about to get him in trouble with an older one as an adult.
"So this is a display of the Lan reputation of being righteous and free from vanity?" Wei Wuxian asked. If this is what the Lan had to offer for soldiers, Wei Wuxian had been wasting his time being so careful to avoid them.
In two steps, the man had crossed the room and back-handed Wei Wuxian across the face with his full alpha strength
Wei Wuxian didn't try to avoid the blow, since it would give away that he was more than just human. If this was who the Lan were, to strike an unarmed prisoner because of their fragile alpha ego, then Wei Wuxian would have no problem lumping them into the same category as the Wen and the Jin.
While the other sects were many generations from their immortal blood source, Wei Wuxian's grandmother was the celestial fox, Baoshan Sanren. She had not stayed long in the mortal realm, but her blood and power ran strong through Wei Wuxian. He might not have an army, but he could thrall this weak-minded alpha in under a second, search the last tents for Wen Ning, and get out of the camp with no problems if this was what the Lan army had to offer. He wondered how the fuck they were able to take out the Wen so quickly when they didn't appear to be much stronger..
"Who are you!?" the Lan alpha snarled, looking Wei Wuxian up and down, taking in his black robes. Wei Wuxian's scent was concealed, disguising both his omega status as well as his fox scent from all but the most powerful cultivators.
"He… he came in wearing a Jin robe, just before you did!" one of the prisoners on their knees said, looking at the Lan guard fearfully. "He's not one of us."
Wei Wuxian sighed as the Lan alpha drew his sword. He couldn't really blame the prisoner for ratting him out. They had no idea he had been trying to free them. For all they knew, he was just another sleazy Jin guard trying to avoid capture by the Lan.
The Lan alpha slashed down at Wei Wuxian, but this time, he didn't just stand there and wait for the hit. He snapped his fingers, his huli jing magic instantly stunning the weak-minded alpha, freezing him in place.
Wei Wuxian scoffed.
" This is what dragon-blooded alphas are like? You've got to be fucking kidding me."
"Wha-what are you?" one of the other prisoners asked, darting fearful glances between the frozen Lan guard and Wei Wuxian.
"I'm someone who was coming in to try to set you free before the Lan got here," Wei Wuxian said. "I can release you, if you want. The camp is full of Lan soldiers by now, so you'd have to try to make a run for it on your own. Or I can leave you here, and you can take your chances with the guards letting you go."
The group hesitated, not sure what to decide. Both options carried significant risk.
"Free me," the prisoner who had remained standing with Wei Wuxian said.
He was an alpha from the Nie clan, from what Wei Wuxian could tell from his scent.
Wei Wuxian nodded, casting the unlocking talisman that he'd invented months ago to reduce the amount of time it took to free the prisoners.
"Anyone else?" he asked.
No one else spoke, seeming afraid to answer either way. The Nie alpha slipped out of the entrance to the tent. There were no immediate shouts of discovery, which raised Wei Wuxian's hopes of finishing his search of the prison tents. Maybe only a small group of Lan soldiers had bothered to check out the prison camp.
"Look, I need to go check the other tents, so this is your last chance."
None of them would meet his eyes. Wei Wuxian was just about to leave, when a voice drifted in from outside
"Su She! What's taking you so long! I've got the prisoners from the other three tents already moved to the main pavilion. The rest were empty, so it looks like someone -"
The Lan soldier who walked into the tent was definitely not of the same ilk as Su She. Wei Wuxian cursed under his breath as the man took in the sight of Su She frozen with his sword raised right in front of Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian could feel the soldier's power, and it was significantly higher than the first guard. His eyes were sharp and intelligent, and Wei Wuxian was pretty sure his simple mind tricks wouldn't work on this one. Several other Lan guards of similar power level entered the tent behind him, and Wei Wuxian realized any chance of being able to slip out and finish his search for Wen Ning was over.
His only hope was that the other prisoners relocated to some central tent would still be there when he arrived. If Wen Ning was there, he could grab him, activate the teleportation talisman he had concealed in his wrist guard--which would be accessible even if his hands were bound--and get them both out of there. Judging by the suspicious looks of the newly arrived guards, he was going to be needing it.
"He did something to Su She before I got here. Shackle him with the warded manacles, and bring him to Hanguang-Jun," the senior Lan alpha said.
Internally, Wei Wuxian cursed. If the rumors of the dragon warlord's prowess were even half true, there was a good chance he would recognize Wei Wuxian for what he was the instant he laid eyes on him.
But given that half the prisoners had been freed and one of the Lan guards was frozen right before them, his chance of staying under the radar was pretty much gone, anyway. He'd have to rely on his speed to get him and Wen Ning out. Luckily, his speed had always been unmatched.
He allowed himself to be shackled by the Lan guards, noticing that they only bound active magic, not sealed his powers entirely. He would still be able to activate the talisman, just not attack anyone.
"Release Su She," the senior guard said, after he deemed Wei Wuxian securely bound.
Wei Wuxian sighed. If the man attacked him and he had to use his teleportation talisman before being able to check to see if Wen Ning was there, he was going to be really annoyed.
"I will ensure he does not attack you. You are bound and in my custody. You do not need to be afraid."
Wei Wuxian realized that the new alpha must have been able to scent him as an omega. Maybe he thought Wei Wuxian had used a talisman on Su She, rather than huli jing powers. He decided to play it up, releasing the thrall at the same time he cast a harmless talisman that dried wet clothing on Su She.
Su She swung his sword, nearly overbalancing when it met empty air instead of the unarmed prisoner he had been aiming at.
"What the-!" Su She began, looking at first startled then embarrassed when he realized that the tent was not full of his clansmen who had witnessed his defeat by a lowly prisoner.
"You!" Su She snarled, lunging at Wei Wuxian. His attack was blocked by the senior alpha, who looked at Su She with distaste.
"Fighting outside of battle is prohibited. Attacking the innocent is prohibited," the alpha said.
"He's not innocent!" Su She said, pointing at Wei Wuxian angrily. "He's a Jin spy who tried to sneak in and conceal himself with the prisoners rather than face justice."
"What evidence do you have of this?" the senior alpha asked, frowning.
Su She looked around until he found the prisoner who had spoken before. "You! You said that he came in wearing a Jin robe. Where is it!"
The prisoner looked guiltily at Wei Wuxian. "I… he was just trying to help us. He -"
The man cut off as Su She threatened him with his sword.
"Where are the robes!" Su She asked again.
The man instinctively glanced over to where the wadded up gold silk was sticking out from the storage boxes where Wei Wuxian had hastily thrown it.
"See!" Su She said victoriously as he stalked over and snatched it up, waving it in the other alpha's face. "I discovered a spy. Hanguang-Jun should be made aware of this immediately."
The senior alpha looked at Su She, then Wei Wuxian. "Bring the robes." He turned towards the rest of the soldiers in the room. "Escort the rest of the prisoners. Hanguang-Jun will want to have everything settled by dusk."
Wei Wuxian let himself be led out of the tent, his fingertips brushing the edge of his wrist wraps, reassuring himself that he would be able to escape as soon as he either found Wen Ning or determined that Wen Ning wasn't in the camp. Unlike the Wen or the Jin, the Lan had established a reputation for never keeping civilian prisoners as slaves or concubines. Enemy soldiers were captured, and some were killed. But all civilians were released. If Hanguang-Jun didn't sense that Wei Wuxian was a huli jing, he might be able to walk free without even using the talisman.
Unfortunately, it was clear that Su She was going to make that as hard for him as possible. His cheek throbbed from where Su She had struck him, and he could feel it swelling as he walked towards a large, white silk tent that had been erected on the edge of the prison camp, but he didn't use any of his powers to heal it.
The GusuLan banner flew from its center pole. The exaggerated rumors painted Hanguang-Jun as twice as tall as a normal man, more beautiful than Jade, and as powerful as a pureblooded dragon. Wei Wuxian had wondered what the alpha warlord who had managed to conquer so much of the Wen and Jin territory so quickly was like.
Evidently, he was about to find out.
Wei Wuxian would have known without being told that the dragon warlord of the Lan clan was inside the tent before they even entered it. He could sense the man's power pulsing through the air as they approached. It was clear the man was in an entirely different league from the soldiers that had been sent to the prison tents.
A sharp kick to his back nearly sent him sprawling into the dirt, the shackles digging painfully into his wrists as he struggled to keep himself from falling.
"Keep moving! It's too late to worry about what Hanguang-Jun will do to a coward like you!" Su She said.
"We were instructed not to harm the prisoners until they have been vetted," the older alpha said, getting between Wei Wuxian and Su She. "I will not warn you again, Su She."
Su She's lips pressed together for a moment in anger, but he wasn't brave enough to say anything to someone who had the potential to fight back.
There was a group of prisoners huddled together outside the tent's entrance. Wei Wuxian scanned their faces, but Wen Ning was not amongst them. He was torn between relief and frustration. He wanted to find his friend, but he was less clear than he had been five minutes ago that he was going to be able to get out of the current situation unscathed.
"Let's bring this one in first," the senior alpha guard said. "Hanguang-Jun might want to question the other prisoners about him before they are released."
Wei Wuxian briefly considered teleporting out immediately, now that he knew that Wen Ning was not in the camp, but part of him wanted to take the measure of the Hanguang-Jun. Based on the way he'd been treated so far, he had a feeling that the rumors of the Lan warlord's benevolence were greatly exaggerated. Wei Wuxian wanted to know if the man was likely to be better or worse than Wen Ruohan had been.
When he was pushed through the flaps of the tent, he thought he was prepared to face the Lan warlord who had risen so quickly and was conquering the world with seeming ease. He had expected the man to be powerful, and to have a strong presence, given his immortal blood.
He had not expected to be pinned down by a somehow familiar golden gaze the instant he lifted his head. He wasn't even fully sure if there were other people in the room, as he was unable to tear his eyes away from the dragon-blooded alpha standing by a desk in the center of the room. Every one of Wei Wuxian's huli jing senses were fixed on him, as the threat he presented but also… something more.
There was a sort of resonance that pulled at Wei Wuxian in a way he had never felt before.
He could sense the incredible power coming from the dragon warlord. If Hanguan-Jun wasn't a full-blooded dragon, he was as close to one as Wei Wuxian had ever heard of.
It made the hairs at the nape of his neck stand on end.
But even aside from the power he could feel pulsing through the man, the sheer physicality of him had Wei Wuxian regretting his dismissal of the rumors of the ethereal, jade-like beauty of the alpha along with the tales of his physical strength. Because how could someone be both brutishly strong yet elegantly beautiful?
Hanguang-Jun was both of those things.
A faint memory tickled in the back of Wei Wuxian's mind. The face of the Lan clan child he had helped all those years ago coming to the surface. The eyes had been similar, as had aspects of the facial structure but his body had been smaller, more fragile, and his power almost nonexistent. Power like Hanguang-Jun's was either born or built through decades (or even centuries) of discipline. So Hanguang-Jun could not be the boy he had saved that day, but the child likely had been a blood relative. He wondered if the boy had ever told his side of the story, if he had tried to fight the rumors that Wei Wuxian had been behind the attack.
The two newest members of the circle were said to look enough alike to be twins. But the difference in power as well as temperament set them apart. Hanguang-Jun was known to be both brutal and ruthless in battle, with a power that surpassed even his uncle and brother.
Wei Wuxian's only hope was that his scent was concealed enough by the talisman he had on him to prevent the alpha from recognizing just exactly who and what he was.
Another shove in the center of his back made him aware that he had simply stopped walking when he entered the tent and had been just standing there, staring at the dragon warlord.
"Show some respect! Kneel, you dog!" This time, it wasn't even Su She who pushed him.
Wei Wuxian let himself be shoved to his knees, though he couldn't stop the baring of his teeth. It reminded him of what his purpose was. He had wanted to see if Wen Ning was in this tent and--if not--he needed to get out before his identity was discovered. It didn't matter how beautiful or oddly familiar his captor was
"Enough," Hanguang-Jun's voice was low, cutting through the noise in the room like a blade.
Everyone stilled as the dragon warlord approached where Wei Wuxian was kneeling on the floor. Wei Wuxian knew he was expected to kowtow, but he lifted his chin to watch Hanguang-Jun approach instead.
Hanguang-Jun's eyes did not move from Wei Wuxian's face as he walked towards him, coming to stand before him. This close, Wei Wuxian could pick up on the cold scent of icy pines and petrichor, as well as a trace of a warmer note of sandalwood and gentian from the alpha.
He wasn't sure what to expect, but it definitely was not the man's large hand to reach down, lifting the underside of his jaw, almost as though cupping it. His fingers gracefully traced the darkening bruise on Wei Wuxian's cheek, his thumb brushing against the split of his lip. Though his expression was as impassive as ever, his scent shifted to take on the smell of ozone, the smell of lightning during a dangerous storm coalescing into the air around him.
"Who struck you?" Hanguang-Jun's voice was cold and hard when he asked the question.
"Hanguang-Jun! This spy was captured posing as a prisoner," Su She spoke before Wei Wuxian had a chance to respond.
Hanguang-Jun's gaze flickered briefly to the man before returning to Wei Wuxian's face.
"I did not direct my question to you, Su Minshan," Hanguang-Jun replied, his focus fixed back on Wei Wuxian. "Speak."
Wei Wuxian wondered how he should play this. It was clear that the dragon warlord was less than pleased with Su She, which could play in his favor, but there were too many people who had seen him wearing the Jin robes. It was time to test to see if the illustrious dragon warlord really was as merciful as people were claiming. It would give him a sense for how urgently he needed to search for Wen Ning in the prison camps near the Lan front.
"I was freeing the prisoners," Wei Wuxian began, but was cut off by Su She.
"Lies! He was wearing Jin robes, and tried to hide them to pass himself off as a civilian! I have the robes here. The prisoners waiting outside can attest to the fact that -"
Hanguang-Jun moved one finger, and Su She's words cut off in a muffled noise.
"Do not interrupt others," Hanguang-Jun said, as though reciting something, not even glancing in Su She's direction.
"Continue," he said to Wei Wuxian.
It was not a request.
There was something in the intensity of the warlord's gaze that made Wei Wuxian wonder if he should just take his chances and teleport out immediately rather than trying to talk his way into being released with the rest of the prisoners. He had the feeling that Hanguang-Jun already knew what he was and was just toying with him. But using the teleportation spell would leave him weakened and vulnerable for at least a day, so he decided to take his chances. He could always activate it later if things went south.
"I… I took the robes from a Jin guard when I entered the camp. I wanted to avoid detection. If you ask your men, you'll be told that most of the prisoner tents are empty. I was the one who freed them."
Hanguang-Jun narrowed his eyes at the gold robes still clutched in Su She's hands before turning back to Wei Wuxian. He leaned down slightly and drew a slow breath, taking in his scent. Wei Wuxian tried to not react, but if the dragon could smell the fox in him, Wei Wuxian would need to get the fuck out of there immediately.
"You smell of Jin and a weak alpha's scent," Hanguang-Jun said, his voice low with the hint of a growl in it.
Wei Wuxian didn't know what to make of the statement, nor the strange way the low rumble of Haguang-Jun's voice resonated in his bones.
"I wore the robes for over an hour. Makes sense that I would smell like the previous owner, I guess?"
His answer did not seem to appease the warlord. If anything, the edge of anger in his scent sharpened further.
"Was it the Jin guard who struck you?"
Wei Wuxian felt annoyed that Hanguang-Jun thought he would be so incompetent as to get taken by someone so weak. He also found it odd that the man was acting as though he cared about Wei Wuxian's injuries when it was his own soldiers who had inflicted them. Of course, it was unlikely Hanguang-Jun would take a prisoner's word over that of his own clansmen.
But that didn't mean Wei Wuxian wasn't going to tell him anyway. It would only prove that all of the rumors about the white dragon's supposed righteousness were false. From what Wei Wuxian could tell, he was just like all the others.
"No. It was one of your men."
The temperature in the room dropped abruptly, so cold that Wei Ying could actually see the puffs of his own breath. He had never been in the presence of an immortal-blooded human this powerful before, and the level of power now shimmering in the room made him agree with the rumors that Hanguang-Jun was possibly a pure dragon, not a human hybrid at all.
"Who?" Hanguang-Jun bit out.
"That one. Su She," Wei Wuxian replied.
The silencing spell must have been not fully lifted, because Su She's lips were bleeding as though they'd been torn when he shouted in his own defense.
"He's lying! He's just a Jin deserter! He could easily have gotten his injuries in battle, fighting our clan!" Su She shouted, panic clear in his voice.
"When I entered the tent, Su She had raised his sword to the prisoner. The prisoner was unarmed," the older Lan alpha said.
"He attacked me first! I was only defending myself!" Su She replied frantically, clearly contradicting his own statement that Wei Wuxian's injuries had been received in battle. But it didn't seem to matter because Hanguang-Jun hadn't even glanced at him, his eyes remaining locked on Wei Wuxian.
Despite the lack of expression on Hanguang-Jun's face, the room filled with the scent of deadly alpha rage, threaded with a dragon's power. Hanguang-Jun reached down to draw his sword.
" Fuck!" Wei Wuxian muttered.
He had hoped he would be able to have time to explain, but it looked like Hanguang-Jun was going to execute him without even hearing him out. He tucked his fingers into his wristband, his fingertips brushing against the talisman paper. All he needed to do was touch one of the lines and he could activate it. Somehow, Hanguang-Jun clocked the move and--with preternatural speed--his had clamped around Wei Wuxian's wrist, blocking him from activating it as he dragged Wei Wuxian up to his feet, their bodies only a hair's breadth apart.
This close, Wei Wuxian could see the tiny flecks of red hidden within the gold of Hanguang-Jun's eyes, the dragon blood and the alpha blood activating together.
"Look! I told you!" Su She approached, drawing his own sword. "He attacked me and now he has tried to attack Hanguang-Jun right in front of-"
With his hand still holding Wei Wuxian's wrist in a vice-like grip, Hanguang-Jun finished unsheathing his sword, the blade arcing out and beheading Su She in a single, fluid motion.
"Lying is forbidden," Hanguang-Jun said coldly to Su She's corpse, still not taking his eyes from Wei Wuxian.
Wei Wuxian and everyone else in the room seemed to hold their collective breath, trying to process what had just happened. Given the shock Wei Wuxian was sensing from the other Lan members in the tent, the beheading of one of his own men was not a usual occurrence.
Hanguang-Jun had believed Wei Wuxian. He hadn't tried to blame him for everything that happened. Wei Wuxian didn't really know what to make of it. His experiences with people in power had never gone like this before.
Hanguang-Jun had still not released his iron grip on Wei Wuxian's wrist. He wiped his blade off on the robes of Su She's body before resheathing it. Then he slid two of his fingers inside Wei Wuxian's wrist guard, pulling out the teleportation talisman. Intelligent, golden eyes glanced down at it, skimming it.
"Hm. Clever. You could access it even with your wrists bound," Hanguang-Jun said. "I had wondered how you had avoided capture for so long."
The statement did not bode well for Wei Wuxian. Everyone in the room was watching them, waiting to see if there would be another body to be disposed of, or if Hanguang-Jun would decide to let him go.
The dragon warlord tucked the talisman into his own sleeve, then pulled out a silver necklace. It was finely made, in the form of a dragon with golden topaz eyes and glowed with a power of its own that did not come from the ambient light. What caught Wei Wuxian's attention were the etchings carved into the metal.
Sigils.
He didn't have time to study them before Hanguang-Jun was placing it around Wei Wuxian's neck. The necklace glowed brighter and went cold against his skin as it fastened itself around Wei Wuxian's throat. The magic it contained rippled along Wei Wuxian's flesh like a physical caress, causing Wei Wuxian to shiver. It felt possessive , which was ridiculous for an inanimate object, magic or not, but Wei Wuxian felt it anyway.
Once it was secured, the dragon warlord released Wei Wuxian's wrist. Wei Wuxian's hands immediately went to check the necklace, feeling for the clasp.
"It is sealed. I am the only one who can remove it. No matter where you go, I will be able to find you."
Murmurs rippled around the room, but Wei Wuxian wasn't paying attention to their words. His entire focus was on the dragon warlord before him as Hanguang-Jun traced one long, elegant finger along the smooth metal of the collar that encircled Wei Wuxian's neck with a pleased, almost smug, expression on his face. Wei Wuxian realized that the man hadn't looked away from him since he'd entered the room.
"Hanguang-Jun," one of the Lan soldiers said hesitantly. "Should we… put the other prisoners back into their tents for now? We can… give you some privacy with your… prisoner. Please allow me to remove Su She, first."
The dragon warlord frowned slightly towards where the body of the alpha guard was laying on the floor not far from where they stood. He pulled his hand back from Wei Wuxian's throat, then bent down to pick up the wadded Jin robe that Su She had brought with him as 'evidence' of Wei Wuxian's behavior.
Wei Wuxian could see Hanguang-Jun's nostrils flare slightly as he detected the scent of the Jin alpha on the robe. He leaned forward to scent Wei Wuxian at the base of his throat.
"Your true scent is masked. You smell of Jin," the dragon warlord said, the edge of anger in his tone from earlier re-emerging.
Hanguang-Jun slanted a gaze to an elderly female dressed in the white Lan robes.
Wei Wuxian had not noticed her before, as his attention had been fixed completely on the dragon warlord. Her scent was faded with age and her eyes were a milky white, but her expression was alert. She inclined her head slightly in their direction, whether at him or Hanguang-Jun, Wei Wuxain wasn't sure. Blind or not, she seemed to be fully aware of what was happening, which was more than Wei Wuxian could say for himself.
"Have him stripped, bathed and brought to my tent," Hanguang-Jun's cold, inflectionless voice cut through Wei Wuxian's thoughts.
What, Wei Wuxian thought, his mind frozen as he tried to process what was happening, to find some alternate interpretation of the words Hanguang-Jun had just spoken.
Judging by the frozen, stunned silence in the room, he was not the only one.
Hanguang-Jun did not take concubines. Ever.
Both the Jin and the Wen had tried to bribe him with offers of such war prizes, and were always summarily rejected. Word had also spread that even individual captives seeking either leniency or favors by trying to offer themselves to Hanguang-Jun were coldly rebuffed.
When the guards came towards him, Hanguang-Juni's voice stopped them.
"No one touches his skin but me," the warlord said, his voice edged like a blade. "Lan Hui will supervise."
The elderly woman seemed to be the only person in the room not surprised by this turn of events. She simply nodded, rising from her seat as she made her way towards Wei Wuxian.
The guards pulled on the chains, careful to avoid touching his skin as Wei Wuxian found himself dragged from the room, wondering what was happening. If Hanguang-Jun had wanted him killed, he would be lying in pieces on the floor beside Su She. But if he'd wanted him freed, he wouldn't be wearing the man's collar on his way to Hanguang-Jun's private tent. Even if he made another teleportation talisman, it would be useless now. All it would do was drain him, leaving him vulnerable for when Hanguang-Jun hunted him down.
The last thing he saw before being pulled from the tent was Hanguang-Jun handing the Jin robes to one of his guards.
"Burn them. And send in the next prisoner."