Disclaimer : Blah blah blah yep done.
Chapter Six : Rematch
I was really angry in the morning. I deliberately slept in so by the time I was up, the main army and the front units had already departed. I stretched and exited my tent. Only about 5,000 soldiers remained out of 27,000 and most of those who remained were the transport units. I was sighing in frustration when a cool voice spoke to me. "I believe Lord Cao Cao should've left more soldiers in the main camp in case of an enemy attack. What do you think, princess?"
I spun around to see a young man, holding a black feather fan. I had never seen him before.
"I agree with your thought…?" I raised questioning eyebrows at him. He bowed deeply.
"My name is Sima Yi and I was told to assist you by Lord Cao Cao." He said. I snorted in my mind. He didn't look as if he could kill a fly, but I assumed he was smart, since father left him here to assist me. He certainly sounded smart, making a quite a good point just before.
"Lord Sima Yi," I said, "do you believe that Fan Castle will fall by today?"
It was my way of testing him. He smirked. "Yes, of course. It shall definitely fall by today. However, whether or not Guan Yu will die today… Now that's a mystery."
I don't know what it was. A chill ran through my body when he said that. In an instant I saw that this man was dangerous and I could positively feel the atmosphere tightening around him. And yet, he could prove to be very useful if I could just manipulate him right. I wasn't scared of him but he fascinated me.
While we were talking, a soldier ran towards us and reported. "Guan Yu as been successfully lured into our trap. Him and his son, Guan Ping is trapped and Fan Castle has been occupied by General Xiahou Yuan."
Impressive. So Sima Yi already knew. He was becoming more of an interest to me. He smirked again. "My prediction has been proved correct. However, Guan Yu is not stupid. He will know he has no chance of winning and will try to break through to retreat… How very interesting."
Okay, this guy was very similar to my brother. He talked about life and death as if it was some play thing. Not that I could say anything since I wasn't any different.
I was about to excuse myself when another soldier came running to report. "Shu's reinforcements have arrived! Lord Cao Cao and the four generals have retreated into Fan Castle, and Shu's army has surrounded the castle! Zhao Yun is headed this way with 10,000 soldiers!"
Shock. Everything was happening faster than I had expected but I remained calm. I found Sima Yi staring at me, searching for a sign of panic or fear on my face but I gave him none. I excused myself to get ready for another battle with Zhao Yun. I remembered how good he was last time and I looked at my bandaged right arm and hand and felt dull pain when I grasped my spear. I chuckled darkly. This rematch was going to be an interesting one.
I had forgotten about the fact that I had no horse. Just as I was about to face Zhao Yun on foot, Sima Yi came, dragging a black stallion behind him. He offered the reins to me. "I believe your white horse caused you trouble last time," he said. I thanked him and Sima Yi bowed. "You're most welcome, princess. May luck go with you."
I took 2,000 soldiers with me. This was a complete suicide. 2,000 against 10,000. Unless I could bring Zhao Yun down in a single combat, I would be dragging 5,000 men to their doom.
Luckily, Zhao Yun came forward once again to challenge me to a single combat. "Ice Princess of Wei, I ask for a rematch!" he shouted. I noticed he had a scar on his face from last time we had fought. Well at least that didn't hinder his fighting.
"I accept your challenge, Zhao Yun of Shu!" I said, charging out at him. He deflected my charge and we continued our fight from where we had left off the last time. Wound on my arm was getting more and more painful as I blocked his continuous attacks. He didn't seem to get tired at all, only more fierce and vigorous. It was all I could do to block his oncoming attacks and I was slowly being pushed back. I needed to come up with a plan, fast.
Sudden pain overwhelmed me as I blocked another attack, stretching my right arm to hold my spear. I couldn't help but give a small cry of pain as I saw the bandage on my arm quickly being soaked in crimson blood and blood from my hand began to trickle down my spear. My wounds had opened up from the movements, and ouch, did they hurt.
Zhao Yun seemed to have noticed as well and – was that a concern I saw in his face?
"This is not good. I wanted a fair match," I heard him mutter to himself quietly.
… WHAT?
I had heard before that Shu's emperor, Liu Bei and his generals were all obsessed with virtue and justice, but this was just getting really ridiculous. He should be thinking of ways to use this as his advantage, not complain to himself that he wanted a fair match. God, what was up with these people?
"Fair match?" I said sarcastically, "this is a battlefield. Kill or be killed!"
Even at my age I know that, fool.
Zhao Yun's attacks became half-hearted and I would've used that as my advantage had not my arm hurt so much. Even with his half-hearted attacks, it was all I could do to guard myself while wincing in pain every time I moved my arm. Additionally, I was starting to feel dizzy. At this rate, I was going to get thrashed.
Even with all of my concentration on Zhao Yun, I could hear lots of voices and movements from my side of the soldiers. For a split second I thought the enemy had gone around to attack us from behind, but when I spared a glance that way, I almost sighed out in relief.
Wu reinforcements have finally arrived.
10,000 Wu soldiers led by three Wu generals came charging towards Shu's soldiers and Zhao Yun had to leave me to round up his soldiers to retreat. I had to admit that I was glad that he was gone. I went back to the main camp where the medic undid my soaked bandages and examined my re-opened wounds, still pouring blood. I impatiently watched him until he lifted his eyes darkly.
"My lady," he said carefully, "your wounds have been re-opened and they are deeper than before. I think while you were fighting, you may have moved your arm too much."
That would explain the extra pain I felt.
"Also, you have lost much blood, I'm afraid you cannot go back to the battlefield until your wounds are completely healed." The medic added, and he must've seen my displeasure clearly written on my face because he bandaged my wounds again and left as soon as possible. I watched him leave with sour expression. Guess I'll have to wait until somebody – anybody – remembers me.
dancing-dolly : Hey thanks for another review, brinapingu! I changed my summary, is that better? I suck at summarizing, especially I don't even know where my story's going overall. Gosh, I suck at this.
Oh yeah, I've been updating basically like everyday but tomorrow school starts again for me, so won't be updating too soon. Heh.