At dusk, Commander Tie Yuan stood at a window in the Crimson Bastion's southern tower and watched the Bastion-marked courier mount in the courtyard below. The man checked the seal on the jade slip before putting it away. The flying spirit beast rose beneath him and lifted clear of the courtyard.
Tie Yuan followed it with his eyes as it passed over the northern wall. His warning was on its way to Prince Huo Zhanlong.
Years ago, he had urged his elder brother to seek a marriage with King Huo Chilong's younger sister. Tie Wushan had married her, and the Blackwood Domain had followed. He had then named Tie Yuan Commander, leaving him to handle the troubles within the domain while he attended to cultivation and war.
The king had made his conditions plain at the wedding. Govern the domain well and hold the line against Frozen Jade, and the Tie Clan would be rewarded. Fail at either, and he would take the seat back.
Half a dozen cultivators at half-step nascent soul had sought that seat, each with a clan behind him. Huo Chilong had chosen the man who married his sister. The Tie Clan's fortunes were now bound to the Huo Clan's survival.
Yet if his brother failed, the Cai Clan would be waiting to take the domain.
Cai Hongwen's father had died for the kingdom a generation earlier. The throne still remembered his service. When Blackwood needed a Domain Lord, his son's claim had been strong enough to honor. But Huo Chilong had distrusted the son.
The Cai Clan had already refused a royal marriage. Offered the king's sister as a wife for one of their heirs, they had pleaded themselves unworthy of the honor. They still wanted the domain. They simply wished to remain free to abandon the Huo Clan if its fortunes failed.
The king had understood them.
Tie Yuan rested his hands on the windowsill. He had watched Cai Hongwen for two years. The man was patient enough to accept a defeat at court and ambitious enough to keep seeking what he had been denied.
His brother had shown little concern at a Huo prince entering the domain. Tie Wushan trusted him to deal with whatever came of the visit, just as he trusted him with the other troubles inside their borders.
The flying beast had disappeared into the dusk. Tie Yuan remained at the window. He had sent the warning for the Tie Clan and for the elder brother who led it. Whatever was being done under his brother's seal, he would have to answer for letting it continue.
...
The courier reached the Prince's camp the following morning, before Redstone's gates came into view. He had ridden his flying spirit beast through the night and found the royal banner from the air.
Prince Huo Zhanlong took the sealed jade slip from him. Tie Yuan had used his private under-mark, the one he kept for matters that were to stay out of the Domain Lord's open ledgers. The Prince had expected word, but not so soon.
He read the slip twice, his mortal shedding qi held close. Outside the traveling pavilion, cultivators were readying their mounts. His chief retainer waited across the table.
"The Wang Clan," the Prince said. "Their formation work would be useful."
"The western fortresses need it," his retainer said. He had already read the slip. "Whether the clan will come is another matter."
"Spirit stones, pills, elixirs. What we offer everywhere else."
"Enough for loose cultivators. Most sects will refuse, and clans are little more willing."
The Prince laid the slip on the table.
"A formation clan knows what its work is worth. They will ask dearly for it, if they agree to come at all."
"And the kingdom does not compel them."
"No." The Prince glanced toward the cultivators outside. "Nor are they wrong to hesitate. We can abandon a domain when holding it costs too much. A clan that fought for us must still face whoever takes it. Conquerors have wiped out clans for choosing the losing side."
His retainer looked down at the slip.
"And where no kingdom takes the land?"
"The demonic sects move in. Clans, sects, mortal villages. They can all be destroyed." The Prince drew the slip back toward him. "The Wangs know what they risk. More spirit stones will not change that."
"Then you mean to speak to them about the trouble in the Bastion."
"Not yet. Tie Yuan is still looking into it."
The retainer leaned forward.
"He says the same hand that backed the Xue Clan against the Wangs is now pressing them directly. Spirit stones, delegates, all passing through the Bastion. He doubts their authority."
"So do I. But we do not yet know whose authority they are using."
The Prince turned the slip over in his hand.
"The Xue Clan is gone. Whoever used them will have to reach for the Wangs more openly now. I want to be ready when that happens."
"To offer them protection?"
"When they need a way out. They may accept help then that they would refuse today." He tucked the slip into the breast of his robe. "And when I do, I will stop whoever is misusing the Bastion's seal. I want it understood that Redstone is under my protection."
The retainer was silent for a moment.
"You will let them make the first move."
"Yes. Until then, we give the usual speech."
His retainer rose as the Prince stood.
"The fortresses still hold," Huo Zhanlong said. "They are losing formation work faster than it can be replaced. Whatever comes of the Wangs' troubles, we need cultivators willing to go west."
"I will have the herald ready."
The Prince dismissed the courier. Then he stepped out into the morning, his retainer following him toward the waiting camp.
...
That morning, Lord Cai Hongwen sat at his desk in the domain capital while three of his men gave their accounts. None had been offered a seat.
"Huo Zhenyang has sent his account to the Domain Lord's hall," the man nearest the desk said. "He has softened it. Half of what was said at the hearing is missing."
Cai turned the page before him.
"And the Prince?"
"On the road into Redstone this morning," the second man said. "His banner is already raised. He is to speak in the central square before evening."
Cai looked up. Earlier than he wanted.
"Send Liu Changyun, Huang Ying and Wei Zhennan to Redstone. They are to bring formal accusations against the Wang Clan before the Bastion, in my name."
The first man bowed his head.
"What shall we charge them with, Lord?"
"Concealing what they owe the kingdom. The clan declined for a decade, then suddenly found the means to recover. Wang Tian spent nine years crippled. Determination did not heal him." Cai put the page down. "They have come into wealth they have not accounted for. Make the charges grave enough that the Bastion must inquire."
"And demand to know where it came from?" the first man asked.
"Yes. Let them prove it. Let the Bastion open their vaults and examine what they hold."
The third man shifted beside the other two.
"If they can prove where it came from, Lord?"
"Then there will be another question."
Cai watched him until he lowered his eyes.
"An inquiry ends when the Bastion is satisfied. Answering one charge need not satisfy it. The Wangs can keep answering until they have nothing left to sustain the clan."
He drew the page toward him again.
"One fewer clan between me and Redstone. Once I have the city, I can look to the rest of Blackwood Domain."
The second man spoke again. "Huo Zhenyang may object."
"Huo Zhenyang is an idiot with no standing at court. The king sent him to a frontier because he had no better use for him. He has kept his city for decades by asking little and looking away. I expect him to continue."
Cai's hand stopped on the page.
"The Prince is another matter. If he takes an interest, we will have to deal with him before he can interfere. I want the accusations to have force before he turns his attention to them."
"Shall the men leave today?" the first man asked.
"Today. Quietly."
The three bowed. Cai returned to his reading as they withdrew.
...
The royal horn sounded over Redstone in the early afternoon. Wang Ben came out of the archive with a jade slip still in his hand.
Zhao Yu was in the courtyard, looking toward the gates.
"A royal signal," Zhao said.
"Let's hear what they want."
Ben set the slip back inside the archive and took his outer robe. Pulling it over his shoulders caught at his ribs. He eased the cloth down, then joined Zhao.
People were already moving toward the central square. Mortals stepped aside as cultivators passed, then followed them along the streets. Ben noticed men turning to look at him. A conversation near a shop door grew quiet as he and Zhao went by.
The square was crowded beneath the dragon-and-mountain banners of the Azure Crimson Kingdom. Beyond the heads in front of him, Ben could see a platform raised before the great stair. Royal cultivators stood in rows on either side, wearing light armor suited to the road.
The pressure from the royal cultivators made Ben slow. He stopped with Zhao at the crowd's edge.
The man at the center was tall and broad-shouldered. His robes bore the stains of travel, and a half-cloak the color of dried blood hung from his shoulders. He turned toward a herald beside him, giving Ben a view of a sharp-featured face.
The herald stepped forward.
"His Highness Prince Huo Zhanlong!"
Nearby conversations stopped. Ben could hear the last few voices farther back, then those fell quiet too.
The Prince began without bowing or waiting for a response. He spoke of the defenses that still held in the west and those that were failing. His voice carried plainly to the edge of the square.
"Holding the border will not end this war. We need more cultivators to win it."
A low, uneasy murmur passed through the people near Ben. The men ahead of him turned toward one another, then back to the platform. Zhao stood listening at his side.
Ben glanced at Zhao. The Prince was asking men from their city to go west.
He kept his eyes on the platform. Around him, he could feel spiritual senses moving through the square, more than he could count.