Conquering the Emperor

There was so much tension in the air that I didn’t dare call out to Ren to ask him if something was amiss, instead, I slowly rolled my eyes in his direction. Ren was silent and his body very tense and still.

“Rin, you’re so beautiful…” Ren said in a very sweet voice, such that I have never heard before.

While I was stunned into silence, Ren wrapped both arms around me as he hugged me tightly from behind. Nuzzling his face next to mine and kissing the hair close to my ear, I felt his hot breath on my face as he leaned in even closer.

“Stay calm. Don’t move and listen closely. We’re being followed,” Ren whispered softly into my ear as he continued his act of kissing my hair endearingly.

What?! What Ren told me made me panic and I began shifted in the saddle to look behind us. Ren caught onto this immediately and hugged me tighter.

“Don’t. Move. We’ll try to outrun them…” Ren said calmly.

“And…what if we can’t?” I asked in a panicked whisper. This is crazy. I knew the crown prince should never travel alone! Why didn’t anyone object to this insane trip?

“Then you run and never turn back,” Ren answered without a second thought.

“What about you?” I asked softly. I didn’t like where this was going at all.

“That’s none of your concern. If I tell you to run, you run,” Ren said coldly.

“What do you mean?” I asked in fear this time.

“Enough. It’s not your life that they want; it’s mine. There’s no need for you to die at my side,” Ren said matter-of-factly as if he was reciting a book.

“Wait…” I protested in a raspy whisper as my panic and fear started to take over me.

I didn’t have the chance to continue my secret conversation with Ren as the horse launched into a fast gallop. It was all I could do to stay on the horse. I closed my eyes tight against the wind that was rapidly blowing against my face.

I glanced back over my shoulder and found out that Ren was right. Now that we were fleeing, our pursuer didn’t bother to hide their presence any longer. I could see around ten men on horse back galloping after us.

“Don’t look back. Eyes forward,” Ren said to me calmly.

I couldn’t believe how he could remain so calm in this situation.

“What was that?!” I cried out in surprise as I was convinced something just whizzed by at a fast pace.

“An arrow,” Ren replied emotionlessly.

“An arrow?!” I cried out in shock.

“Bend down. Stay as flat as you can,” Ren instructed as he used a large hand to shove me down.

His large frame also bent down, leaning over my body. This situation scared me immensely, but I felt a little comfort knowing that Ren was with me.

Suddenly the warmth and pressure against my back was completely gone. Turning my head back, I could see Ren taking aim with his bow and arrow. With trained focus, Ren successfully shot a man from his horse. I shivered in fear.

I didn’t know what was scaring me. The fear of seeing someone killed right in front of me or the fear that we could be killed.

“Close your eyes if you don’t want to watch,” Ren muttered moodily as he nocked another arrow to his bow.

I did exactly as I was instructed. I didn’t like seeing Ren kill other people even if in self-defense. Worst, I was scared of Ren getting hurt. I cursed the situation that we were in and how useless I was.

The horse continued to gallop forward at an amazingly fast pace as Ren tried his best to deal with the men. I wondered who they were. It was clear that they were after us. Ren did mention that they were after his life, and he didn’t seem surprised or shocked at all.

I opened my eyes and turned around when I heard Ren let out a low groan and clicked his tongue in annoyance. Turning back, I almost screamed when I saw a patch of red on Ren’s left arm. Ren…is bleeding!

“Ren! You’re bleeding…” I said in shock. For a moment, I was oblivious of everything around me as I focused on the wound on his arm.

“It’s just a scratch. Stay down!” Ren yelled at me as his hand shoved me down.

The horse whinnied as it continued to gallop. Then I heard it. Roaring of thunder in the distance accompanied by large dark clouds on the horizon. A storm was clearly approaching.

“It’s going to rain…” I said to myself.

I held tightly onto the horse’s mane to keep from falling off. Ren hugged my waist to him tighter as we rode together. It was nothing short of a miracle that I did not fall off the horse. Thankfully, the path was clear without any large obstacles to slow down or trip the horse.

Soon it began to rain. The rain fell down softly at first but soon the droplets got bigger and belong long, it turned into a full-on storm. The rain beat down on us hard and it was difficult to see very far in front of us.

“Faster boy!” Ren encouraged his horse to gallop faster.

The well-trained horse complied immediately. I could no longer see anything around us. Perhaps our pursuers couldn’t see very well as well. Looking back, I could no longer make out anyone or anything for that matter.

“Stay down. We’ll outrun them eventually,” Ren said calmly, and I sighed in relief. The thought that we would be safe from harm soon was very comforting to my wildly beating heart.

The rain refused to stop, and we were completely drenched as he continued riding in the rain. I doubt that we could get to our destination like this and soon it would be getting dark. It was already starting to feel chilly signally that the sun would be setting very soon.

--To be continued....