“Did he send you to look?” Yishan said in an offended tone. “That’s pretty rotten of him!”

“It was my idea,” Yanna said, drawing herself up taller. “And if it wasn’t for you, I probably would never have offered.”

“Me?” Yishan said.

“Not you,” Yanna said, smirking at Yishan. She nodded over at Pinmei. “You!”

“Me?” Pinmei said, just as surprised.

“It was that story you told,” Yanna said. “I started thinking about, and it made me feel ashamed. I’ve been working for the king all this time hoping that someday he could help my father, but I never thought about what I could do to help him. That story made me realize the king might be as worried about his son as I am about my father.”

“So you volunteered to run in the middle of the night into a soldiers’ camp?” Yishan shook his head.

“At least I am disguised,” Yanna shot back. “I could see your hat with my eyes closed! Besides, if it weren’t for me, you’d be crawling on top of the commander right now!”

“Shhh!” Pinmei warned.

Too late! A sword blade stabbed through the tent fabric and the RIIIIPP tore apart the quiet that had blanketed the entire camp.

“Who’s there?” shouted the commander.

CHAPTER 30

“This way!” Yanna said, pulling them behind a rock sculpture. The camp was now alive and swarming, throngs of men starting to swell together like boils of a plague.

“I’ll go first,” Yanna said. “I’ll lead them toward the main palace. Then you two go the other way. You’d best get your lady friend and leave right away. Get out of the City of Bright Moonlight as fast as you can. It won’t take long for the emperor to find out you’re here now.”

“You’re going to lead them away?” Pinmei gasped. “Yanna! You can’t!”

“Don’t worry about me,” Yanna said. “Once they find out there were strangers here, they won’t suspect me at all. I just have to get someplace to change clothes.”

“B-but…” Pinmei stuttered. She looked at Yishan, who was strangely quiet. “But…”

“Just remember, no one crosses to the western side of the walkway,” Yanna instructed. “No matter what you do, stay on this side. Do not cross the walkway!”

A bellow from the camp howled toward them and they looked at one another.

“Take care of yourselves out there,” Yanna said, her crooked smile returning. Her eyes met Pinmei’s, and suddenly, Pinmei found they were friends. “Make sure you put me in a story someday.”

And she was off.

Pinmei watched as Yanna hollered and the soldiers began to chase her, a single running figure in the night, like a rabbit being chased by wolves.

“She’ll be okay,” Yishan said. “We’re the ones in trouble. Yanna’s right. We’d better get out of here.”

He took off his hat and shoved it into his bag. Pinmei took a deep breath, and together they began to run.

The snow of the uncleared ground padded their footsteps, but nothing could muffle the pounding inside Pinmei. They passed a tent. Then another. Pinmei could see the covered path of the Long Walkway.

Behind them yelled a voice.

“Over there!” the voice shouted, cutting into the night air as well as Pinmei’s chest. “That way!”

Stomping and shouts clattered closer behind them. They were steps from the Long Walkway, but how would they ever make it all the way back? Pinmei’s feet slipped and stumbled as she tried to run even more quickly. Faster, she told herself. Faster.

But the thunder behind them only grew louder, like an inescapable storm. Yishan turned his head to look at Pinmei, but his eyes widened at what he saw instead.

The soldiers were right there! They were like a pack of mad dogs, their torches flickering like demonic eyes and their swords glittering like sharp teeth.

“Children!” one of the soldiers spat with disgust. “Come here, you brats!”

He leaped and his hand clawed the cold wind between them. Annoyed, he snarled and the group of men behind him echoed his growls like hungry beasts. He lunged again, grabbing the sleeve of Pinmei’s coat. She pulled with all her strength, but he only laughed.

“You’re not getting away!” the soldier said in a tone that would have been mocking if it weren’t so vicious. He began to drag her to him. Pinmei screamed.

Then she felt Yishan pull her. He jerked her from the soldier with such force it threw her to the ground. When she looked up, breathless, Yishan was standing like a mountain between her and the crowd of soldiers.

“Yishan!” she screeched as she scrambled up. She pulled at Yishan, tugging him with all her might to lead him away. “Come on!”

He let himself be pulled a few steps, but he moved with such reluctance that she finally lifted her head to see what he was looking at. Then she too stopped.

The soldiers weren’t following them! They stood all in a row alongside the Long Walkway, the fires from their torches trembling. What were they waiting for? Why were they just standing there?

Then Pinmei realized she was looking at the soldiers through the posts of the covered pathway. That meant she and Yishan were on the other side, the western side! She and Yishan had crossed the Long Walkway!

CHAPTER 31

“We’re on the wrong side!” Pinmei whispered to Yishan.

They glanced at the soldiers, who were eerily quiet. Behind, another row of men formed. But none dared to cross the walkway. Instead, the soldiers simply stood flanking the corridor, all silently staring at them.

“We shouldn’t be here!” Pinmei said, her voice still an urgent whisper. She began to tremble. “Yanna said not to cross the walkway.”

“Too late,” Yishan said grimly. He looked at her and she saw that he too was disturbed. “What should we do?”

The bleak faces of the soldiers watching them frightened her even more than being chased. Their eyes were fixed on them as if she and Yishan were ghosts.

“Let’s go somewhere so we don’t have to see them looking at us at least,” she said.

Yishan nodded. They turned and walked into the garden, choosing a tree-covered footpath that would hide them from view. Round lanterns lit the zigzagging walkway, their glowing circles echoing the full moon above. The constellations glittered in the black sky, a star streaking across it like a shimmering loose thread.