A New Kingdom
A/n: This story is made by me and my little brother, who keeps on coming with awesome ideas but doesn't want to make an account on ... The idea of Sun Quan's plan comes from a Beijing opera where Sun Quan is the villain. Enjoy.
Chapter 1 :: Sun Quan's Plan
Disclaimer: Dynasty Warriors don't belong to me... Characters and battles belong to Koei, although Koei adopted it from the San Guo Yan Yi, so for short, everything belongs to Luo Guanzhong... xD
Sun Ce, Zhou Yu and the others came home triumphantly from the Battle of Wu Territory. Everyone was tired, some were wounded, but they were happy. They had won the war.
"The battle was awesome, wasn't it, Zhou Yu," Sun Ce chattered happily, nodding towards his best friend Zhou Yu.
"Indeed," Zhou Yu nodded in agreement. Sun Ce drank from the wine bottle in his hand as they were walking in the corridors of the castle. "You are an amazing strategist!" he complimented.
"As you are an amazing fighter," Zhou Yu replied his friend's compliment.
"You and your spear are a strong unity," Zhou Yu said as they arrived in front of his room. "Ah, we've arrived to my room. Good night, my friend. I'll see you in the morning," Zhou Yu said as he entered his room.
Sun Ce continued on walking, as he passed in front of a hall. He stopped as he heard someone mentioning his name from inside the room.
"I shall assist you in assasinating Sun Ce," an unknown voice to Sun Ce spoke.
Sun Ce let out a quiet gasp as he heard. He frowned. Who was thinking of killing him? He was not able to peep inside the room, he was only able to listen the conversation outside. He sharpened his ears.
"I appreciate your will to assist me. You shall be rewarded handsomely." This time, Sun Ce was able to recognize the voice. It was none other than his own brother Sun Quan! He was surprised to hear that his own brother was willing to kill him -- no, he was surprised because Sun Quan wanted to kill him. Despite the shock, Sun Ce continued to eavesdrop the conversation between Sun Quan and the mysterious man.
"He has become an ambitious man, a threat to the future of our kingdom. You, My Lord, should be the most perfect person to become the King," the mysterious man said.
"I appreciate that, Yu Ji. You have my gratitude," Sun Quan replied. There was silence as Sun Quan eyed the only window in the room. "Ah, it's already midnight. So, it's tomorrow, isn't it? Well then, you shall be dismissed."
"Thank you very much, My Lord. I shall take my leave now," the man whom Sun Quan called Yu Ji answered as he walked towards the door. Sun Ce heard footsteps, and he decided to leave as quickly as possible. He walked quickly but silently to his room.
Sun Ce entered his room hastily, and approached his bed, which he shared with his wife Da Qiao.
"Da Qiao!" he whispered softly but clearly as he shook Da Qiao's sleeping form to wake her up.
"What's the matter, My Lord?" Da Qiao rose to a seated position as she rubbed her eyes, still feeling sleepy.
"We must make our leave now, Da Qiao. We must leave this castle, this land, right now!" Sun Ce answered hastily,
"What had happened?" Da Qiao asked sleepily."
"Sun Quan..." There was a pause between his words. "Sun Quan and a 'someone' named Yu Ji are planning to kill me!" he hissed as he stated the matter in disgust. Da Qiao gasped as she was surprised. "Pack our things now, and prepare some food. I shall take the weapons and prepare the horses. We would leave now, as Sun Quan said that he was going to execute his plan tomorrow night," Sun Ce said, avoiding the topic about Sun Quan's plan of killing him. As Da Qiao brought herself to her feet, Sun Ce exited the room and made his way to the weaponary, trying to be as quiet as possible. As he grabbed his pair of tonfa Overlord, his spear and Da Qiao's pair of fans Qiao Beauty. Then he rushed to the stable, meeting Da Qiao on the way. He took two of his favorite horses, two white trademark horses of the Sun family. He gestured for Da Qiao to ride one of the horses, while he himself climbed the other.
"Where would we go, Lord Sun Ce?" Da Qiao asked, half worriedly.
"Cao Cao recently made an alliance with us by marrying Sun Kuang with one of his nieces, right? Since allies help each other, I don't think he'd mind for us to stay with him for quite a while..." Sun Ce said, despite being unsure himself. "We shall head north," he continued. When they arrived at the castle gate, Sun Ce ordered the guards to open it, telling them that they had to go for an urgent business. The guards opened the gate without further questions.
The night was very quiet and was supposed to be peaceful. But as their horses ran through the darkness of the night, Sun Ce and Da Qiao began to feel this uneasiness stirring inside them. Despite the feeling, they kept on heading north towards Cao Cao's land.
Hours and minutes seemed to be passing so quickly to them. The starry night sky had become bright as the sun rose before they had realized it. They must have travelled around 250 li since their departure from the castle as they hadn't stopped for any rests. Sun Ce stopped his horse, followed by Da Qiao. Around them were big, strong trees, which indicated that they were in a forest. Sun Ce wiped the sweat on his face and decided, "Let us take some rest now!" Then he tied his horse to a nearby tree, followed by Da Qiao.
Meanwhile, in the Sun family castle, Sun Quan, who just woke up, found that Sun Ce had escaped with his wife. He summoned Zhou Yu and asked, " Zhou Yu, do you know where Brother had gone?"
Zhou Yu was confused. "What did you mean, Quan? He was with me last night... Well, at least he was, before we slept..."
Sun Quan shook his head angrily, "Brother had es-- gone. He wasn't in the castle this morning."
"Try to ask the maids and servants. They might know," Zhou Yu suggested.
"I have," Sun Quan replied. "They didn't know where Brother had gone."
"Try to ask the gate guards. Ce might have taken a walk, or gone hunting early in the morning..."
Sun Quan went to ask the gate guards. Two of the guards claimed that Sun Ce left the castle at midnight with Da Qiao, saying that they left for some urgent business. Sun Quan asked, "Where had they gone?"
One of them replied, "Lord Sun Ce and Lady Da Qiao had headed North".
Sun Quan was enraged. He dispatched Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, Taishi Ci and Lu Meng with 500 men to look for Sun Ce. Zhou Yu asked him, "Why so many people just to look for Sun Ce? It's not like he's a little mouse and would disappear from sight that easily..."
Sun Quan lied and said, "I was merely concerned about Brother's safety. He'd gone without saying anything."
After the four had left, Sun Quan let out an evil chuckle, while he looked for Yu Ji to discuss and make a "Plan B". He figured that Sun Ce might have overheard his yesterday's conversation with Yu Ji, and thus he needed to re-design everything.
:: Chapter 1 :: End ::
A/n: How was it? Please review! Anyway, sorry for making Sun Quan a bastard. Once again, please be kind and review! This is our first story, and we need feedbacks!
Edit: Chapter edited on Monday, June 15th 2009. Thanks to Jenizaki for the helpful guide.
Note: 1 li = 500 m