CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE

Ma Chao stared out over the darkened horizon. It was before dawn, before the morning sun was awake, and more importantly, before General Cao Cao was awake.

Thousands of men sat on the hill adjacent to the large castle that held an equal amount of enemy forces. The mood was anxious, excited. The thousands of pairs of eyes were focused on two things, the castle in front of them, and the general on the ivory horse. They were all holding some sort of weapon, a crossbow, a spear, or a sword. In a kneeling position, the soldiers were ready to charge at the wave of a hand.

As for the general that some soldiers were looking at, he sat a top that beautiful ivory horse doing what the rest of the army was, staring at that castle. The castle held the seemingly insane tyrant, the source of pain and trouble in his life for years. Ma Chao stared at the castle, his face blank. In his mind he told himself this would be his burial place. The last castle he'd ever see would be this one.

"Are we going to invade at sunrise?"

Ma Chao turned his head to the left, towards the voice. His golden dragon headpiece sparkled in the light of the torches that the soldiers held.

The man sitting next to him, on a brilliant red colored horse, was Zhao Yun.

He was a magnificent soldier. Long light brown hair pulled into a low ponytail, and braided. A beautiful navy and gold headband was covering parts of his forehead. Zhao Yun impatiently hit the bottom of his spear on the ground, in hopes it would get a speedier answer from his leader.

Ma Chao stayed silent, though. He turned his head back towards the castle, saying nothing.

Seeing he was being ignored, Zhao Yun growled lowly. He asked once more, but louder. "Ma Chao, are we to invade at sunrise?"

Again, staying silent, Ma Chao closed his eyes. If they invaded, that would surely mean an automatic five-hundred lives that would be taken from his troops alone. And that would just be from the beginning of the battle. Although Ma Chao was confident in his and Zhao Yun's skills on the battlefield he worried about his young soldiers. He always worried about his soldiers, they were like his brothers.

His mind drifted even further. What if they did beat Cao Cao? The feeling of excitement rushed through him once more, just as it did when he was talking to Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, the day before. Liu Bei, the ruler of the Shu kingdom and army, had told him the plan.


"We have chosen you, Ma Chao, because Zhuge and I feel you will be able to perform the best when the battle gets... well... overwhelming," Liu Bei was sitting on the floor of the room in his own castle.

The walls were dark and would be bare, except they were strewn with various Shu flags. Green and gold embroidered pieces of cloth with the Shu dynasty symbol.

Ma Chao stared down at his cup of green tea for a while before looking up at his leader. Nodding silently, he waited to hear what exactly the plan was.

"Zhuge and I have decided to launch a surprise attack at Cao Cao's castle tomorrow morning. We want it to begin just as the sun is rising and just as Cao Cao and his army are waking up. That is when you will strike and finally, kill Cao Cao."

This hit Ma Chao like a ton of bricks. Kill Cao Cao? The thought of it almost made him sick to his stomach. This was the leader of the Wei dynasty, the man who had supposedly torched thousands of villages, killed thousands of innocent people in ancient China. And now Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were telling him he was going to get revenge for all.

At first his reaction was disbelief. He didn't want to do it. But as soon as Zhuge saw this he smiled warmly.

"Ma Chao, you are one of the Five Tiger Generals, if we didn't think you could do it, we would not have asked you. You will not be alone. A good portion of our army is going to be under your control, along with Wei Yan and Zhao Yun. Liu Bei and I will also be there." Zhuge said.

Ma Chao stared at him for a moment. What could possibly possess these men to send a twenty-two year-old out as the leader in what could be one of the most historic battles that would ever occur?

"You would become a hero, Ma Chao. A hero. Anything you want, you'd be able to have quicker than a blink of the eye. Think about it, young warrior." Liu Bei smiled.

The three sat in silence for a few minutes. Ma Chao stood and set his tea on the small oak table in front of them.

"I am off to say goodbye to my mother." Ma Chao stated, solemnly.

Zhuge and Liu Bei looked at each other, they each smiled and nodded. Liu Bei excused him and Ma Chao left.



His mother was the only one left in his family. His father and younger sisters were murdered at the torching of Ouen village. He was told Cao Cao had murdered his family and he had always wanted revenge but never dreamed the chance would actually come.

Now, sitting on that ivory horse, Ma Chao was starting to have second thoughts of avenging his father and sister's death. He thought about the possible retaliation from Cao Cao's forces.

But what did it matter? His family was dead, except his mother. He had to avenge their deaths. It was the only way to get piece and Cao Cao was the only one who had to die. He continued to sit silently.

"Ma Chao, the sun is about to rise and we will miss our chance. Are we going to invade or not?" Zhao Yun's annoyed voice cut into his head.

Ma Chao looked at him. He was about to speak when something caught his attention. His eyes turned behind him to look at Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, sitting next to each other on black horses. The horses are what drew his attention to them.

"Zhao Yun." Ma Chao said softly.

"Yes?" Zhao Yun sighed, he figured his question would never be answered.

"What color did Guan Yu say the horses were when they attacked Ouen village?" Ma Chao spoke softly, so those not invited into the conversation couldn't hear.

"Black," Zhao Yun replied, "Why?"

"What color horses does the Wei kingdom use?" Ma Chao's eyes moved from the midnight colored horses to the man sitting next to him.

"Grey and brown," Zhao Yun looked at Ma Chao, an eyebrow arched, "Why?"

"Zhao Yun, look at the horses Zhuge and Liu Bei are on." Ma Chao kept his head straight, looking at the castle in front of him.

Zhao Yun turned his head towards the back. What he saw made him snap his head to the direction Ma Chao's was facing.

"So this- this means they lied? They lied to their whole army, their whole kingdom?" Zhao Yun looked at the ground below his horse. Ma Chao said nothing.

On a rainy day a few weeks ago Liu Bei announced to his kingdom that Cao Cao's forces, on black horses, had attacked the Ouen Village. He stated that there was not a single survivor left. The news struck the kingdom hard, there were special memorials constructed and special services held for the victim's families. The kingdom stood behind Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang when they declared they would bring Cao Cao to his knees.

"I'll bring them to their knees..." Ma Chao muttered, a single tear falling from his eye and down his cheek.

"Zhao Yun looked at his general with concern, "What are you going to do, Ma Chao?" he asked, softly.

Ma Chao climbed off his ivory horse, silently. He carefully walked to Zhao Yun and looked up at him.

"Listen to me, I want you to march forward. Lead the troops around to the back of the castle and into the forest. Be careful, don't let the Wei forces know you are there. That is an order." Ma Chao hissed at him.

Zhao Yun knew what he was going to do. He nodded and aimed his sword to the side of the castle. "Onward!" he shouted, and led the thousands of men off to the side of the castle, leaving Ma Chao behind.

He had escaped the masses and was hiding behind a tree. Carefully, and quietly, he crept his way through the bushes to where Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were sitting. They were surrounded by a mere five guards. It always struck Ma Chao as odd that they would always have so few bodyguards protecting the ruler of Shu.

"You truly are brilliant, Zhuge." Liu Bei turned to smile at him.

"Thank you, Sir." Zhuge nodded his head in appreciation.

"To think, murdering one simple village would bring so much life and passion to our army. I did not know so many of their relatives lived in that impoverish village. And now that Cao Cao's going to be gone I am one step closer to ruling all of China." Liu Bei laughed a little and stared at his army as they crept around the side of the castle.

Ma Chao tried not to cry out in anger. He couldn't believe it. This was the man who said honesty was the key, that keeping secrets made kingdoms deteriorate. This was the ruler who was supposed to have high morals.

Without another moment wasted Ma Chao screamed in anger. He rushed at the black horse and jumped high into the air. Grasping onto the long yellow handle of his spear he used it to knock Liu Bei right off his horse. Landing solidly on the other side he held Liu Bei down with his spear.

The bodyguards never saw it coming. Zhuge, in fear of his own life, backed the horse up until he was at a safe distance. The five bodyguards stood back, aiming their crossbows at Ma Chao. By this time, he had the sharp end of his spear at the throat of Liu Bei. Tears streaming down his cheeks, he yelled.

"Don't come any closer or Liu Bei will die!" Ma Chao shrieked.

The bodyguards looked at each other quizzically. What would they do?

Liu Bei sputtered in anger, "What are you fools doing? Kill him!"

The bodyguards looked at each other again. They aimed their crossbows.

"He's going to die anyway, why risk your lives! You all know I can end it all in a matter of seconds!" Ma Chao screamed confidently.

While the yelling was going on Zhuge had crept around behind Ma Chao. Holding up his battle fan, way over his head, he was about to strike when he let out a horrible shriek. Falling to the ground, he had a blade stuck right in his back. Ma Chao looked behind him.

The bodyguards aimed at Ma Chao, becoming more fearful for their lives every second.

"Wei Yan?" Ma Chao asked.

There, where Zhuge stood, was a giant man. Standing at seven feet he grinned down at Ma Chao.

"...Me... standing next to Zhao Yun heard all." Wei Yan spoke, his voice loud and sharp.

He always talked in short, simple sentences. He was a very simple-minded man and never liked talking that much. He had a gold and magenta colored mask that covered his face and had edges that were spiky and jetted off his head, looking like golden flames.

The bodyguard's crossbows were not straight, but shaky and unstable. Wei Yan grinned and nodded to Ma Chao. Raising his two-bladed sword, which he clutched in the middle, Wei Yan yelled angrily at the bodyguards and charged after them. Seeing the gigantic soldier running at them they dropped their weapons and took off running in different directions.

"All that is left to do is to do what I came here for," Ma Chao stared down at Liu Bei with angry eyes, "avenge my family's death."

"I made you, Ma Chao, and this is how you repay me?" Liu Bei spat in his face.

Ma Chao ran a hand over his forehead, to wipe it off. "You needlessly killed my family! All except my mother!"

"She was next." Liu Bei stared at him with cold eyes.

Zhao Yun stood in silence with the rest of the army. The only thing that could be heard was one, distant, scream that ended as quickly as it began. Looking down at the ground, Zhao Yun turned to the army. Just then he heard Wei Yan yell Ma Chao's name and cry out in disbelief. Zhao Yun took a deep breath and looked at all the young faces in the army, they were about his age. He didn't want to tell them. But from the looks on their faces he knew he didn't have to. They already knew Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, and Ma Chao were dead. They already knew their kingdom had fallen.

::back::main::

Favorite : Story Author   Follow : Story Author