The bodies were still in chains.
There were more, older. Piles of bones pushed aside and into corners. Bones dark and still covered in scraps of decicated skin. Nothing like the bright white they became out in the prairie.
But the two newest bodies were what had Mingzhe's attention.
And what Rat recognized as dangerous.
They'd started to rot. Wrists so dwarfed by their shackles that Mingzhe immediately thought they should have been able to slip free before he reminded himself that they were dead before they'd ever become that thin.
They were starting to lose their features, but just. Mingzhe could still make out that one was a woman, her long hair thinned and detaching from the skin around her skull in chunks. The male figure was taller, paler coloring faded nearly into nothing.
They were tucked together, despite being shackled separately. Reaching for each other, some kind of comfort as they'd approached their end.
They must have known it was coming, Minghzhe thought. His heart breaking at the thought.
It wasn't hard to put together who the two young bodies were. They looked like they'd been locked away down here for a couple of months.
The Yangs must have caught them only a few weeks after they'd left to start investigating.
Maybe they'd even been alive for a bit before they'd been left to starve. Mingzhe recognized the telltale signs of starvation in the prominent ribs and sunken cheeks that weren't entirely from death.
Emmy and Patrick.
The poor young kids who'd gotten caught up in everything that the Yangs were doing in the shadows. They'd had no idea of the danger they were in, just trying to help a friend.
…
And Finn.
Well, now no one would have to tell either side about the other's death.
All three of them could reunite as friends in the Pure Lands.
Or whatever other place they believed souls went after death.
The Yangs had killed all three of them. It settled in Mingzhe like a rock sinking to the bottom of the river and becoming a part of the riverbed and changing its foundation forever.
Mingzhe hadn't been as close to them as Eirian or Yuze.
Eirian would not take this well. She carried a lot of guilt over Finn's death, blaming herself for letting him get involved at all. Emmy and Patrick had followed Finn, their friendship growing as they worked together, and Emmy had even seemed to take to the work well. She'd clearly idolized Yuze.
Three innocents destroyed by the Yang's quest for power.
Because Mingzhe, Chenzhou, Eirian, and all the others hadn't been quick enough to realize what was happening and stop them.
"The Yangs will realize we've found this place soon enough," Rat warned. "The bodies are too fragile to move, and they'll lose their last identifying features soon."
"How soon?"
"A week. Maybe two. It's not cold enough in here to slow their decay."
That was too soon. There was no way Mingzhe could convince the High Court to search the Yang Manor in such a short time frame.
He could tell Chenzhou, and he could storm the manor, but there was no way to surprise Lady Yang, who would likely know instantly what was happening and make sure any evidence was gone by the time Chenzhou and the guards arrived at the manor. The only reason she'd left the bodies now was that she'd felt so confident and safe.
"We have to find a way to preserve them," Mingzhe muttered.
Rat shook his head. "It's too late for that. The others are too far gone." He gestured at the bones. "Unless you can get the High Court here in the next few hours…" he trailed off, not bothering to hide his disappointment.
The High Court would never infringe on a noble family like that. The laws of Sorrow afforded every citizen a right to their own home and privacy, and the High Court and throne were usually loath to infringe on those rights. Especially against the nobility.
In a case as important as the one happening in the Camelia it would take weeks of evidence and debate before they would act on something like this.
Most of the Camelia didn't even know Patrick and Emmy were missing. There'd been no talk of anything being wrong. For most of the estate, the news that they'd died in the Yangs' cellar would be too shocking to believe.
Something stirred inside him. It was a feeling he hadn't experienced in a long time. Not since he'd rushed to Eirian's aid during the war.
He'd thought he'd exhausted his magic then. Hadn't felt the stirring of it under his skin since that day.
It didn't feel very strong, but then, it never had.
Mingzhe had a small puddle, nothing like Eirian's endless well.
But perhaps… he had just enough for this.
It wanted to come out of him; he could feel it like a brush of butterfly wings against his skin.
"Step back."
Rat did with a raised eyebrow.
Mingzhe crouched over the cold stone floor and put the palm of his hand on the stone, just inches from Patrick's feet. Eirian had only managed to teach him a little about magic before the war interrupted their lessons, but Mingzhe remembered some of it.
And that magic at times had a will of its own.
He concentrated, let it flow.
It was a strange feeling, like it was leaving him as it sank into the stone.
Water appeared, leaching from the floor and forming a large puddle around the bodies.
Mingzhe exhaled, surprised to see his breath in the air, and watched as the water began to turn to ice. Once he realized what was happening, he focused on it, and it happened even faster.
Ice crawled over the bodies until they were completely covered, so clear that Mingzhe could still make out what was left of their features.
~ tbc