Annie : Arg, I'm so nervous about the exam! My first one starts next Tuesday, and I'm like so nervous! Breathe... Do not hyperventilate... Breathe...
Thank you everyone for leaving reviews! And no, I'm not evil cliffhanger! Okay maybe I am, but so what? HAHAHA.
Ok, this study thing has really gotten to my head. I'm insane! AHHHH!
Chapter Twenty-Nine : Improvising
"Halt!"
Does my horse look like it's moving to you?
"State your business in Tian Shui!"
Holy… How did I come all the way to Tian Shui?
"Answer!"
You're getting in my nerves, go away.
"That's it!"
The man attacked without another warning. I flipped off my horse to avoid his trident and landed lightly on my feet. "You're pestering me, idiot. Leave me alone," I said quietly. If he got on my nerves any more, I swear, I will make him pay so dearly. He seemed to feel my threatening aura growing around me and he tensed up. Coward.
"Are you a Wu spy?" he asked, eyeing my clothes suspiciously. Yes, I was wearing a red top with white sleeves. Did that necessarily mean I was from Wu? And you can't say much – you're wearing green armour!
"Are you a Shu spy?" I asked back, grasping my spear more tightly. If he wanted a fight then he was at the right place. He was just asking for it.
"That's not fair," he said. "I'm a Wei officer under Lord Ma Zun." Lord Ma Zun? That name sounded familiar. Hm. Of course, he was the lord of Tian Shui province. Duh. I saw him couple of times at father's annual meetings. Personally I found him a bit too soft-hearted, but he was supposed to be good at fighting. He'll recognize me as soon as he saw me so perhaps I should let this man capture me and take me to Ma Zun. But then again, this guy had to pay for pestering me. I'll kick his butt first.
"Uh, sir?" a tentative voice carefully interrupted us, "sorry for intruding, but uh, the village is empty now so, uh, shouldn't we get going?" said one of the soldiers this 'officer' was leading. Wait, what did he just say? The village was empty now? I glanced around to see a deserted village, no one else breathing except for me, this 'officer' and about dozen soldiers. How interesting.
"What's going on here?" I asked, purely out of curiosity. "Land under attack?"
The 'officer' eyed me more suspiciously. "Where the hell have you been? Of course we're under attack. Zhuge Liang is leading an army towards Tian Shui and they'll be arriving in half a day!" he said. Oh great, so the first thing I have to do is to save a province from an invasion as soon as I finally get somewhere! Well then, I suppose I should go and meet Ma Zun. He'll definitely be glad to see me again…
Hang on a second. Did he just say Shu was invading Wei? But where did they get an army so quickly? Surely their soldiers were destroyed at the battle of Yi Ling? Not even the great Zhuge Liang could… Oh. Right. Damn him. So that's why he didn't participate in the battle! He had kept some of the soldiers so that he could strike Wei when we had our guards down, thinking that Shu had their entire army demolished! Damn him!
"He's clever, isn't he?" I said, more to myself then to this man. "Very well, I'd better go and see Lord Ma Zun. He'll need me."
The 'officer' gaped at me, surprised. "You know Lord Ma Zun?" he asked incredulously and when I nodded, he shook his head in disbelief. "But how? You're merely a spy!"
I almost rolled my eyes at this young man. This guy was really tiring me out. "Do you have any proof that I am a spy? Trust me when I say, Lord Ma Zun will be happy to see me again."
"We'll find that out, won't we?" replied the man smugly. "There he comes now."
I spun my head around to see an army approaching this way, led by a general on a horse. Yes, that was Lord Ma Zun, alright. I recognized him immediately and he seemed to recognize me as well. It was rather amusing to watch his reactions. First, his eyes went wide and I thought they'd pop out of his eye sockets, then his face turned pale, probably thinking that I was a ghost. He stopped his horse and stuttered, "p-princess? Is that you?" and I suppressed my urge to smirk.
"It's nice to see you again, Lord Ma Zun," I shouted back. "It has been a while, hasn't it?"
"But how? You're supposed to be…" he couldn't finish his sentence, knowing that the truth was right in front of him.
"Dead?" I finished the sentence for him mockingly, and he turned paler. "Well I'm not a ghost, so that must mean I'm still alive." Then I turned serious. "How's the situation so far, my lord?"
He didn't seem to understand what I was talking about. "I'm sorry, princess? What are you talking about?" he asked, totally confused. Seriously.
"The Shu invasion. I expect Tian Shui wasn't prepared for an attack, right?"
It was the 'officer' who answered me. "No, we really had our guards down. We didn't think that Shu would be able to replenish their troops so quickly."
"They didn't replenish them," I replied coldly. "Zhuge Liang had kept some of them to attack us while we had our guards down." And I turned to Ma Zun again. "How many soldiers are you leading, sir?"
Ma Zun looked troubled. "The scouts have reported that Zhuge Liang is leading fifteen thousand army here. At Tian Shui, there is only seven thousand and I have led them all out, to reinforce General Xiahou Ma–"
"Wait, why the entire army?" I interrupted, sensing something was amiss. "You didn't leave any for the castle's defense?"
"No, princess. We received a letter from General Xiahou Ma for urgent reinforcements, and he asked at least seven thousand men so–"
"Who was the man who delivered the letter?" Keep calm. Breathe. The situation may not be so bad…
"Some officer that I've never heard of, he went away so quickly to deliver the letter somewhere else as well–"
…
Oh. My. God. "Order your men to head back to Tian Shui castle quickly! Now! That's an order, sir!" I said clearly, restraining my fears from leaking out. "This is Zhuge Liang's plot. Go!"
Ma Zun seemed to be shocked for a moment, but followed my order. He was so easy to boss around, this soft-hearted lord of Tian Shui. But now wasn't the time to talk about that. "Did you really leave no fighting men in the castle?" Please say you did leave some! I swear, I will kill you if you say you didn't!
"I-I did, but it'll be less than two hundred. They're guards and gate captains, but–"
I didn't need to hear more. "You!" I pointed at the 'officer', who looked taken aback by the sharpness in my tone. "Whatever your name is, do you have a horse?"
"Uh, yes, princess," he replied, still a little shocked.
"Good, get on it quickly!" I turned to Ma Zun again. "Lord Ma Zun, lead your soldiers back to Tian Shui castle as soon as possible. I shall take your officer here, and ride to castle first. Please come as quickly as you can!"
"What… Wait, princess!" I heard Ma Zun shout, but too late, I was already on my horse and galloping away towards the castle with the 'officer' behind me. Ma Zun had to lead the soldiers who were on foot so it'll take longer for him to reach the castle. But two people on horses could ride to the castle much quicker therefore if we could reach it before Zhuge Liang's ambush did…
Oh boy, I just hoped I knew what I was doing.
Tian Shui castle hadn't changed much from the last time I saw it. The walls were repaired here and there, but other then that, everything was as exactly as I'd remembered it. The guard let us in, recognizing the 'officer' and we jumped off our horses inside. Then I turned to the 'officer'. Okay this was getting really irritating.
"First of all, soldier, what's your name?" I asked, not wanting to call him the 'officer' anymore because it was annoying me.
"Jiang Wei, at your service, my lady," he answered bowing slightly. No, never heard of him before.
"Jiang Wei, please assemble every soldier in the castle right now to the courtyard," I ordered. He bowed before he left. My calmness was returning back to me quickly. There was no good in panicking right now, it would only cause confusion among the soldiers. To keep them calm, I need to be confident, and for me to be confident I needed to stay calm first. I wished Zhang He was here; he would be able to raise the soldiers' morale considerably with his calm attitude… Or maybe even Ling Tong–
No, stop. Don't approach those memories. Danger, danger. Ok, stay calm, Hua. What are you going to do once the Shu soldiers attack? They'll have to climb the walls, won't they? And Tian Shui castle is a fortress. But if ten thousand men climbed the walls at the same time, then it would be impossible to defend the castle walls. So how are you going to stop them from climbing over?
A funny thought just flashed past my head and I smirked coldly. I had a plan. Oh I would just love to see them try to climb the castle walls with that! It would be very entertaining indeed. Ha ha ha.
About twenty minutes later, Jiang Wei came back. "Princess, the soldiers are gathered at the courtyard."
I nodded. "How many?"
"Just under two hundred."
This was going to be a hard fight. But I only had to hold out for two hours or so, and my plan should work. "Jiang Wei, do we have plenty of oil inside the castle?" I asked, and he seemed to be confused.
"Yes, my lady. Tian Shui is famous for their natural oil. But why do you ask?"
I smirked. "Because," I replied slyly, "we're going to need lots of them."
Annie : I'm still insane. AHHHH!
I'm planning to match Hua's intelligence against the Sleeping Dragons. Geez, she's such a perfect girl isn't she? She's TOO perfect. Hmph.
