Prologue

"Hyah!"

A woman, 16 years of age, with long, jet-black hair tied up in a ponytail with a white bow and straight bangs hanging on top of her brown eyes, charged toward her brother with a white mare, spear-on high. Her brother, with a headgear that brushes up his short yellow hair, was high atop on a brown stallion, glaring at his sister as if she was an undefeated long enemy of his. He reared his horse and charged with his spear. The sister, with a sleeveless green crop top designed with bamboo leaves showing her midriff, a large black belt with a white long bow tied to the side, green and white fingerless gloves tucked up to her arms, a short green skirt above her knees, white socks that covered her knees, and long green boots designed with leaves just inches below her knees, swung her long spear at her brother, whose spear clashed with hers, and began dueling. After dueling and spear clashing for an hour, in which both sides seemed to have no advantage over the other, the brother swiped his spear over at the horse. Frightened, the horse reared, but the sister clung on, clashing spears again with her brother, who had unsuccessfully tried to finish her.

Smirking, she asked, "Mengqi, you think I'm so incapable of handling your tricks?"

The brother, who is none other than Ma Chao the Splendid, softened his expression, and laughed. "I'm not underestimating you, Yunlu. I'm just testing your skills."

Ma Yunlu, the sister of Ma Chao, shook her head. "Why can't you just admit that I'm harder to throw off on horseback? It's not like I don't know, you see?"

"Nneeeah," neighed the mare as Ma Chao kicked its legs, making the horse rear as high as ever, but Yunlu had already jumped off the horse, making a midair charge toward her brother. Blocking it, he returned some blow, in which Yunlu dodged, and managed to land behind Ma Chao atop his horse.

He, in return, frowned, and said in an annoyed tone, "Yunlu, you can't do that."

"Well, I just did, Mengqi. What are you going to do about it?"

Before Ma Chao could get the chance of knocking her sister down, a loud voice boomed from behind. "Yunlu, Chao, that's enough. You have improved, indeed, but it may not be enough for any of you to defeat the toughest general of all." Chao and Yunlu whipped behind to find a man, somewhere in his 30s, tall, mighty, and strong, but showed signs of aging and weariness. Yunlu jumped off the brown stallion and ran toward him.

"Father! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be on your way to visit Uncle Han Sui?"

Ma Teng, the father of both Ma Chao and Ma Yunlu, chuckled. "Ah, he had sent a message saying that he would be busy, so I've decided to watch my children duel. I was checking to make sure that my precious daughter would not be killed by my son."

"I'm not a wimp, Father! I can fight as well as anyone. You don't have to take care of me."

"Aw, as expected of my little sister, trying to be strong. Always saying that you can take care of yourself when you tied with anyone. Looks like I have some catching up to do," whistled a voice from behind. Yunlu turned to find her second oldest brother, Ma Tie, patting her on the head, with a smirk on his face. He continued, winking, "Just don't die on me, mmkay?"

Yunlu slapped his hands off of her head and whacked him in the back of his head. "Hateful as ever, Tie. You will never change. Trust me, one day, you will lose a fight to me instead of tying."

Ma Tie smiled like he did not mind her hitting him. He resumed to patting her head. "You will never learn, would you? It will be a long time before you can even think about defeating me."

Before Yunlu could protest, a gentle yet mighty voice from behind spoke, "Brother Tie, you know well that Sister Yunlu does not like that. Why don't you leave her be?" It is none other than Ma Teng's third and youngest son, Ma Xiu, dressed in a full suit of armor, and looked very much like a knight, except that he was holding a book- The Art of War- by Sun Tzu, in his hands. He greeted his two eldest brothers and smiled at his younger sister. Ma Tie withdrew his hand from Yunlu's head while Yunlu brushed her hair lightly.

"Thank you, Brother Xiu. You are the only good brother out of them all. If only they could be like you." Yunlu glared at her two other brothers while walking over to Ma Xiu and stood by his side.

Ma Chao and Ma Tie grumbled. "Yeah, you always show respect to him. Never even called us 'Brother' once," mumbled Chao, who already got off of his stallion and leading his and Yunlu's horse toward where his siblings stood, chatting.

Yunlu decided to ignore Ma Chao's comment and focused on her favorite brother, Ma Xiu. "So, how are your studies?"

Ma Xiu smiled. "Ah, it was the same as always. I have heard that you have improved your fighting skills, as well as Brother Chao."

"Yup!" Ma Chao pumped his chest triumphantly.

Yunlu shook her head and pointed, "You didn't even win against me, Mengqi."

Ma Teng laughed. "Like always, Yunlu, don't try to discourage your brother."

"Father, I'm just pointing things out." Yunlu went to Ma Chao, taking the white mare's rein from him and began grooming her horse.

"Not only that, you are always landing midair attacks. If it was the enemy general, I doubt he'd let you jump on his horse that easily," Ma Chao continued, annoyed.

"Don't worry, Mengqi, I will take his head off before he can behead me, but it also does not change the fact that we tied."

Ma Chao, in an effort to disregard what his younger sister said to him, decided to change the subject. "Father, what other news do you have?"

Ma Teng, hoping that his son would not even ask the question, replied gloomily, "Well, I have received news that the son of the warlord in the neighboring kingdom refused the marriage that I have arranged for Yunlu. Apparently, Yunlu, you have scared him."

Yunlu shook her head. "Father, he is no man- he cannot fight, does not even have any decent knowledge of China, drinks a lot, and is after pretty women. I'm not like one of those girls who were shallow enough to look after power, looks, money, and fame. If you want one of your daughters to marry, why don't you adopt one off of the streets and present her to one of the warlords? I'm not interested in marrying, Father. Your words wouldn't persuade me, ever, and besides," Yunlu smiled and stood beside her father, "if I'm single, I can live with you and Mother forever, and I can take care of you two. Isn't that wonderful?"

Ma Teng, alarmed at his daughter's words, replied sternly, "Yunlu, you must marry. There is no choice. What will you do when we die? You will be old by then, and your brothers can't take care of you forever. I wouldn't even be able to support you when your mother and I age. You need a family of your own, Yunlu, or you would be left to die by the time we entered our graves."

Yunlu, persistent, retorted, "Since 10, you have always arranged me with some boys that did not match me in skills nor wit, and I have predicted every single one of them would end up being a drunkard, a womanizer, an incompetent ruler, or a coward. Looks like I'm right. If I have to die, I would rather die beside my beloved parents than be left to die with a husband that I do not love nor care for. Please, Father, give me a chance." Her eyes are steady and pleading, and Ma Teng, hurt by her daughter's words, did not know what to say or do.

"Father, if Yunlu cannot marry, I would be glad to take her as a wife, if that's fine with you. Besides, you wouldn't have to worry about her, right, Yunlu?" Ma Tie interrupted, winking at his youngest sister.

Yunlu whacked him on the back of his head for the second time and yelled at him. "There will be no way that I will marry you, Tie! You would be the last of all the men in China that I will consider as a husband. Seriously." She sighed, shook her head, and left the training field, heading to the stable with her horse. Midway, she stopped, turned around, and stuck a tongue out at her second oldest brother. "If I have to marry, I rather take Brother Xiu instead!" She turned around and ran toward the stable, her mare galloping behind.

Ma Tie glared at his younger brother while Ma Xiu blushed. Ma Chao, laughing silently and soundlessly and patting Ma Tie in the back, followed behind his sister, holding on his stallion.

Ma Xiu, in an effort to comfort Tie, spoke innocently, "Brother Tie, don't mind what Yunlu said. She might not like you because of your actions. Try to be a little nicer to her." Tie grumbled, and wordlessly, without looking at his brother nor his father, stomped out of the field, leaving Ma Teng and Ma Xiu. They both looked at each other and shrugged, then headed each to their own way.

Note from the author: Hello everyone ^^. This is the first fanfic that I have ever written, so it may have some flaws. Any suggestion is appreciated, and any requests, well, is not guaranteed -w-;;. Anyways, Ma Chao is based upon his DW6 form, and if you have a keen eye, you may notice that Ma Yunlu is based upon one of the girl forms of a general. In the next chapter, I am planning to drop their last name (Ma). As for Ma Tie and Ma Xiu, they were originally and historically Ma Chao's brothers, so I guess I am going to add them into the fanfic. Their looks aren't that important though (and you will see why). So is Ma Teng's. Thank you all for reading ^^.

SPOILERS (DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO):

Yunlu is based on Jiang Wei's DW5 girl drawing (Ma Chao's girl form is too...exposed). As a matter of fact, one of the primary characters, Ma Dai, will be in the next chapter. Ma Chao, however, will switch into his DW5 form in the next chapter, and will remain that way until the day he duels Zhang Fei, in which he will be in his DW7 form. Ma Dai, of course, is based solely on his DW7 form. Zhao Yun will be introduced much later.