27 Moonlit Blade

"Lady Mingxia." Mingxia stretched her hand and Xing stepped out of the carriage.

They had traveled for a number of hours and the sun had begun to set. Grandmother's bodyguards had prepared a campsite to stay for the night, with one of them out hunting, another is preparing the tent and another guarding the comp site.

"Change into clothes suitable for running later and pack some basic necessities." Mingxia whispered to Xing and Xing nodded.

"Lady Mingxia." The guard opened the tent flap and allowed for Xing to go in.

When the tent flap lowered and covered the entrance, Xing's shoulder relaxed and sat down. She massaged her shoulders and did some simple exercises to loosen the tension in her muscles.

"Who would of known that riding in carriages would be this tiring. No wonder Mingxia wanted me to disguise as her." Xing complained.

After her simple stretch Xing remembered what Mingxia had asked her to do and immediately began her task. She reached into one of the boxes and took out a fabric sack. She carefully began to pack some clothing and rummaged around the box to pack all the necessities she believed her lady would need. When Mingxia told her to pack she knew that something bad would happen. She can not imagine what would happen but she understands this would be dangerous and that she must do what she can to help Mingxia.

After packing the clothes she closed the box and walked towards the box containing her luggage. Her box is smaller than Mingxia's since she did not own much. She opened the box and took out her cloak, a leather bag and a dagger. The dagger is small but it fit perfectly in her hand. The sheath is made of wood and leather, the hilt of the blade is made of metal and a silver letter is engraved on top. She unsheathed the dagger and gently balanced it on her palm. The blade is made of iron and looked to have been just polished. She closed her hand around the hilt before sliding it back into its cover and set it aside.

She then took out an outfit and began changing into it.

This outfits consists of black trouser, a maroon shirt with a brown belt. She tied the dagger onto the belt and a pouch of all the money she possessed. She then wrapped a green robe around her to cover her outfit and loosely tied it around her so she can easily take it off later. The fabric sack was placed close to the door for convenience.

"Lady Mingxia." A gruff voice called from outside the tent.

"Ye-yes?" SHe stammered.

"Dinner is ready." The voice simply relied.

"En." Xing tied the mask around her face again and made her way to the door. Dinner consists of bread, a rabbit that was hunted earlier and a very bland soup.

"Lady Mingxia." Ming, Mingxia, walked up to her and extended his, her, hand to Xing.

Xing placed her hand on Mingxia's and sat down on a log to eat. She took a bite of the meat and almost spat the food out. The rabbit meat had been seasoned with too much salt making the entire meat unbearable to eat, the soup on the other hand tasted almost like water. There was absolutely no taste to it whatsoever, the only item that was okay to eat was the bread. Xing looked at Mingxia who also looked like she was having a hard time eating but the guards scarfed down the meal and ate it as though it was the most delicious meal on earth.

Xing looked at Mingxia and made eye contact with her.

"I'm full." She set down her bowl and made her way back into the tent.

The guards took no notice and Mingxia grabbed a loaf a bread before walking back into her own tent. When in her tent, took out her black cloak and a strapped bag. She wrapped the bread in a piece of fabric and placed it into the bag. She then placed in a bag full of medical herbs and bandages that she took from the luggage cart. When she finished her packing she opened the tent flap and saw that the guards were still eating. She shook her head at them.

'Did grandmother actually pick them herself or did she picked them up from the streets. They seem to be so focused at eating that if the assassins were to attack now they wouldn't even notice until the blades were on their necks.'

Unfortunately for Mingxia that was exactly what the assassins planned to do. These hired assassins purposely stayed away from the camp but close enough to see them. The five figures easily blended into the night with their black outfits and capes. They carefully studied Mingxia's group like a predator looking at its prey. They took notice of the eating bodyguards and the young man walking into the their target's tent. The secret bodyguards grandmother had sent were all killed by the assassins. Their bodies were thrown into the forest for the beasts to feed on.

As the moon rose higher and higher into the night, the forest got darker and when all candles were blown out they began their mission. They watched their target lie onto the bed and blow out the candles and made eye contact before they jumped down from the trees without a sound.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five.

All five guards were killed without sound and notice. The five assassin stepped closer towards their target and arrived inside of the dark tent. One of the assassin nodded at the others and raised his blade. The moonlight reflected off the blade and marked it's path as it plunged down.

The assassin conducting the act did not hesitate and a bloodthirsty smile appeared on his face.