The Purple Jade Palace: The Hummingbird's Plan

An Unwelcome Guest

A horn bellowed loud and long. It came down from the mountains, through the trees and wound amongst the tents. The busy camps, both Keglar and Talbecan soldiers, came to a standstill as the warning sound of impending travelers on the Arina Pass reached their ears.

It wasn't just a one-off call. The horn sounded three times. A sound that indicated immediate support and assistance was required. The morning meals were immediately forgotten; bowls and cups were scattered to the ground, and men who had been training, dropped their wooden practice weapons and ran to take hold of their real ones.

Jale scrambled up and out of the pillows that had been scattered across the ground during the previous night. He scanned the tent to find Prince Rathner had already left in the early hours of the morning. It was a little disappointing. Jale wanted to ensure the Prince had enjoyed himself. He was confident Prince Rathner had found the evening pleasurable, but mornings could bring a new perspective to a person's actions that could sometimes lead to a change of heart. Jale shook his head to clear his thoughts. Hopefully, he was being paranoid.

Drean sat up and looked around in confusion. "What's going on?"

"There's someone trying to come through the pass. Stay here if you wish," Jale said to him. "It shouldn't take long. We can break our fast together when I return."

Drean blinked, still bleary. "Prince Rathner?"

"He's left already," Jale answered. "He'll be getting ready to head to the pass as well, I'm sure."

Drean rose to his feet and at any other time, Jale would have paused to admire his sculptured naked form.

"Oh well," Drean yawned. "Is there anything I can do to help?" He leant down, picked up a pair of trousers and started to shuffle his feet inside.

"No," Jale answered. He took a step forward, pulled Drean towards him and placed a hard kiss on his lips. "I'll be back soon. Stay here and keep the bedding warm."

Drean smiled. "All right. I'll wait, but I insist that you let me finish putting some clothes on in the meantime. It's freezing in here!"

Jale smiled and as he turned to leave, he managed to deliver a playful slap on one of Drean's bare buttocks. He didn't wait to see Drean's response. Instead, he hurried out of the tent and towards his horse.

The mare was waiting, saddled and jittery, picking up on the urgent energy around the camp. Jale mounted the horse in one easy stride, pulled on one rein to turn her and squeezed with his legs to urge her into a canter. As he headed off, Jale gave one last look over his shoulder towards his tent, annoyed at the inconvenience of these travelers and their audacity to interrupt on their fun.

The noises and bustle of the camp pulled Jale's attention back, and he urged his horse on towards the edge of the camp and towards the pass. Surprisingly, Jale saw Trent emerge on the path, cantering his horse towards him. He was supposed to remain at his post and wait for Jale's arrival. Jale slowed his mare to allow Trent to fall into stride with him.

"It's urgent," Trent said, out of breath as if he had been running and not his horse. "There's more than a hundred men and six caravans according to the clansmen."

"What!?" Jale drew in his breath quickly. "How far away?"

"About half an hour," Trent replied.

Jale deliberated on the news before speaking again. "Call the second and third line of both Brelen's and Uleron's regiments to join us," he ordered. "The fourth can stay back and defend the camp. We have plenty of time to ready ourselves."