Chapter 17 - Bird Messenger

As the two brother's travelled nonstop for two days and a half, they finally took a break. It was already almost midnight, so they decided to take a rest. If they start going again before dawn, they should reach the Imperial City by mid morning.

Along with the two, there's also ten soldiers with them. They are the trusted subordinates of the Young General Yu Zheqi.

"Let's rest for the night, the horses wouldn't be able to take it anymore if we keep going like this." Zheqi sighed as he directed his orders. He got down and handed his horse to one of the soldiers. Zhefei did as well.

"Yes General." The soldiers didn't complain at all. They had been traveling for almost three days straight. Aside from stopping for personal needs, they eat and drink while traveling. Sleeping was out of the question. Well, they were already accustomed to this anyways. Impending War will always makes you feel alert and sleepless.

"Eldest Brother, Do you have any idea who might have taken our sister? No matter how I think about it, nobody else should know about her prophecy. Could it really be the Xing Kingdom? Or any other factions in our Kingdom?" Zhefei voiced his inner thoughts. The soldiers were now far away from them, so they couldn't hear what they were talking about.

Zheqi sighed again and shake his head. He too didn't have any idea at all. Just then, Zheqi detected movements to his right. A black bird came out from the tree and flew to his shoulders. It was a bird messenger.

He took the letter on the bird's legs and read it. As soon as he saw the contents of the letter, his eyes widen.

"What?! What did it say? Did something happen again in our residence?!" Zhefei asked frantically.

Zheqi shake his head but his eyes was still dazed. He handed the letter to his younger brother and walked towards his horse.

"Eldest and Second Gege, I am fine. I need to talk to you to explain what happened. Follow this bird. When you reach close to the gates, My friends will accompany you in." No name but there was a drawing of a lotus. Same as the lotus on Ronglou's shoes.

Zhefei looked up to only find his Eldest Brother who was already riding his horse and went to instruct his subordinates.

Zhefei frantically went to his horse and rode it. As he got closer to Zheqi, he could hear that they were to left as planned and that he will meet them 100 Li away from the east gate of the Imperial City. They were asked to hide and not let anyone see them. They have to wait for him no matter what happens. Although puzzled, they still obeyed the orders of their General.

Zheqi then looked at Zhefei and nodded. Without a word, they instantly made their horses run on top speed. The bird who was waiting for them up front, started flying away.

"Eldest Brother, there is no doubt that the letter came from our sister. I recognized her handwriting, her drawing and the lotus was only known to our family. But I don't get it, did something happened that we didn't know? And who is this friends that she is talking about? That our parents doesn't even know?!" Zhefei talked nonstop, even though they were riding their horses faster than what they did before.

"I honestly don't know, but I trust little lulu. Let's just see where this leads to." Zheqi knew his little sister well. He knew very well how infatuated his sister to the Crown Prince, so why did something like this happened? Did she not want to get married anymore? Did the Crown Prince hurt his little lulu?!

The more Zheqi thinks about it, he gripped his reigns harder and made his horse ran faster. Seeing that his Eldest Brother going faster, Zhefei also sped up. Unknowingly, they had the same thoughts.