Tales of Valor: Chapter 1: The slave boy

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"You want to know about Shin?" I was quite surprised by this girl's sudden interest in Shin. "I suppose the question I need to ask now is, why?" I know full well that this could be a ploy to try and get closer to me, so I needed to question her and find out her reason. "Why do you want to know of him?"

I knew of this girl, she is Kou's friend. You I think her name was. She risked her life to protect Kou and Rei's lives during Ryo Fui's rebellion, though it's officially called the State of Ai rebellion. I can't recall if she's been to my bed chambers before she asked Kou to recommend her to me.

"I know that this is strange of me to request your highness." I watched as she bowed her head low. "But you see, when the plot against your highness that brought rebellion last year, I along with Kou-chan and princess Rei were rescued by Shin-sama. It was the first time I got to put a face to Kou-chan's stories."

I stifled a laugh."Sama?" Now that was funny to hear coming about Shin. I have called him with the honorific "Dono" before but that was only at an official award ceremony. Though I'm certain that his men must refer to him in some respect.

"So you've come to me to find out more about the man who saved you?" I clarified to her and she nodded her head, "Though, I'm not sure you'll like what you hear about him, however, as a soldier many of my stories involve quite grue-."

"That's alright!" She burst out quickly seems that she really wanted to hear about him. "I don't mind at all, I was standing right there when Shin-sama slew the man who was about to kill me." She finally raised her head to me, I could tell that she was sure that she could handle any detail that I choose to tell her.

I closed the scroll I was reading giving her a small grin. "I see, then I suppose the only thing left would be to decide where to start." I waved for her to join me in bed. No sense in leaving her in the cold.

She glowed, she looked as Kou did when Rei took her first steps. She joined me in bed without hesitation. "Anywhere is fine your highness."

I racked his brain to think of the best place to start.

The Shin that I know?

I took me some time but I finally reached a conclusion. "All right I know just where to start then. Though most of this will be the story that I heard from Shin himself or experienced first hand."

You's eyes sparkled in anticipation.

I took a deep breath.

-8 years earlier-

I was awaiting the return of my most loyal retainers, at the time, from a scouting mission he was on. He was late but I knew the reason for the lateness.

There was a knock at the door, "Your Highness. It's me, Shou Bun Kun (Chang Wen Jun)."

I opened his eyes, "Enter."

The door then opened and in came two figures, I could tell that one was large and the other much smaller, around my size. "Your Highness, I have brought the boy that I wrote to you about." Shou Bun Kun spoke as he sat on the side of the room. "His name is Hyou (Piao), he is a former servant from a village. I believe he will be of great value to your highness."

I have trust in this man's judgment so I had little issue believing it but I wanted to get a look for myself. Between us was a curtain to hide my appearance. "Don't lie to the boy Shou Bun Kun, what we want him to do is a very dangerous and likely deadly job. In the remote possibility of our plan failing he could very well die. Hyou was it?"

The boy prostrated himself before me, his king. He remained quiet for a time. Only to turn his head to Shou Bun Kun, "Mister Shou Bun Kun, could I speak to his highness?"

"Relax Hyou, you may speak before me." I gave him permission, though I must admit this politeness was unexpected.

I could see his once tense body begin to relax, "Yes your highness. My name is Hyou, but you already know that. I figured that the reason I was brought here was for a dangerous job."

I actually cracked a smile, "We shall see if that is true. Have you been informed as to why you have been brought here?"

Hyou paused raising his head-

-present-

"Your Highness, what does this boy have to do with Shin-sama?" You interrupted my tale it wasn't that big a deal, "You'll see."

-8 years earlier-

"No not really, your highness, I was given a chance to be something more than a servant so I took it. It would have been a disservice to the promise I made." Hyou proudly placed his hand on his chest.

"Promise, you say? And what promise would that be?" I inquired of that proud child.

Hyou began, "I was a mere servant not a few days ago, but I wasn't alone. There was another boy with me. These two servants dreamed of becoming strong and then working their way to be the most fearsome generals in the history of China. We promised that we would do all we could to become the greatest generals of all time." He spoke with such conviction and passion. "That is why I left him there and came with mister Shou Bun Kun."

I listened intently to the boy. "All right then," I stood up and approached the curtain. "I don't want you to look away Hyou."

This, of course, confused Hyou a bit but he did as I had ordered him to.

I removed the curtain so that he could see for himself why he was there.

Hyou did not avert his gaze as told. After a few moments, Hyou realized that he looked very similar to me, the young Qin king. Anyone would get the two of us mixed up. "I see. So that is the reason then." Hyou stayed seated, "Then before I take on this role could I make one request of your highness?

I stared down at the young man. "What would that be?"

Hyou would then raise to his feet to be at eye level with his me. "If anything were to happen to me, would you please seek out my brother, Shin? He's stronger than I am."

"Shin? The other servant boy?" Shou Bun Kun spoke up. "You said that you were virtually tied in you daily duels."

"Daily duels?" I couldn't help but be intrigued.

"Oh yes, your highness. Becoming a general wasn't something we just stayed up at night talking about. We trained our bodies to become stronger. As of now, we stand at 334 in my favor, 334 to Shin and 587 draws."

Shou Bun Kun seemed surprised, "Ah so he tied it up since that time." He let out a light laugh.

"That's quite a lot of duels. And you say that this boy Shin is stronger than you are?" Even I was impressed by the number of duels the two have had.

"That is right." Hyou gave me nod, "If I ever got ahead of him in our duels, no matter how hard I tried, he'd always pull off a win and tie it up again. I could never truly best him."

"I will vouch for their skills your highness. Even at their age, they'd easily give any veteran soldiers a hard time." Shou Bun Kun added.

I heard his statement and gave a slight nod. "I believe that could be arranged. But only if he proves as potentially useful as you."

Over the next few weeks, Sei Kyou's (Cheng Jiao) coup would come to a head, forcing my faction to scatter in an effort to get me to safety. Of course I was already in a safe place, instead, the pursuers were actually chasing after Hyou, my secret body double. To be expected, Sei Kyou would not only send soldiers, but he also would send assassins to make sure that I would be killed.

I would later find out that our plans failed and that young man died for me struck down by an assassin.

While I waited in the safe house for Shou Bun Kun or anyone from my side to come and we would then move on to the next position. But to my surprise After hearing a big commotion in the nearby bandit village. Before long there was someone at the door of the safe house and I found myself face to face with a young man.

"HYOU?" He spoke in shock.

"Wrong guy. I am Sei." I corrected him.

His presence at the safe house meant that Hyou somehow made it to him to tell him to go there. He even was wearing the sword we gave to Hyou, through that I deduced that Hyou was now dead.

We couldn't talk for long as soon we were interrupted by an assassin. The very same one it turns out that killed Hyou.

Forced outside the safe house we were forced to face the assassin. While Shin was not yet aware the assassin unintentionally informed him of just who I was. Of course, Shin still grieving over the loss of Hyou

Shin was inexperienced in a real battle and the assassin while quite skilled he could not manage to land a fatal blow on him. He used killing intent to intimidate Shin, claiming that he was much too inexperienced to face him. Managing to kick Shin into the remnants of the safe house it was clear that Shin never was in a real life or death battle.

"Shin…" I caught his attention while he struggled to get up. He was clearly psyched out by the aura emitted by the assassin. "Don't think of anything else. Just focus on getting your revenge for Hyou."

After getting berated for uttering his brother's name, Shin got back in the fight. After he managed to regain his bearings he went back at it with the assassin. Only this bout was considerably more in Shin's favor. At first, they traded blow for blow and then just when the assassin thought that he had the killing blow lined up he went for the kill. A clean slash across where Shin had been.

To his dismay, Shin was not there. In fact, Shin had dodged by jumping high in the air ready lining up his own final strike. I watched as the assassin tried to put up his sword to defend but it was not enough. With his anger and pain behind his sword, Shin's strike was far too heavy and he broke clean through the assassin's sword cutting deep into his shoulder. Shin had attained his first victory in a real battle.

His strike, unfortunately, was not enough to kill the assassin. Bleeding and defenseless the assassin began to beg for his life to be spared. Shin had never killed before was now considering letting him go. I, on the other hand, had another idea in mind. I drew my sword and slew the assassin where he stood. "Your crimes have nothing to do with your children." I berated Shin for listening to the begging of such a man. "You cannot allow such things as sentiment cloud your judgment. This man's family had nothing to do with what he has done."

Shin clearly had something on his mind that he wanted to get off his chest but I was too busy at the time to sit around and wait for him to find the words that he wanted to say. Not but a few moments later I felt the ground shake. It was not natural either. It was Chancellor Ketsu's backup plan if the assassin failed an army of what I believed to be at least 10,000 soldiers. Soon after Shin felt the ground shake as well.

With all avenues of escape including the river blocked off, Shin said something that to this day would leave me speechless. Shin faced the direction of the army, readied his sword and said, "Dammit! Then I guess I'll go another round."

Like anyone I was floored, "You're intending to fight an entire army?" Clearly, he was more foolish than brave but those words still struck a chord in me.

His answer was only something that I could expect of him now. "Of course! Like hell I'm dying in a place like this… Make sure you keep up with me!"

At first, it didn't register with me but after denouncing the idea it hit me. "Keep up with you?" It was quite shocking to hear, considering he didn't care if I died at the time.

But what Shin said next motivated even me. "I'll decide whether or not to kill you once we've broken through the encirclement you better stay close."

I readied myself, "Looks like I have little other choice in the matter. Let's go."

And with that Shin and I began charging to our inevitable deaths. But fate had other ideas in mind. Before the army came into view the most curious creature appeared before us. It was a child dress to look like an owl.

"I know a way around that army. I can show you."

-Present-

I looked at the lantern and could tell that the oil was running low, "I think that will be where I should leave off for now. I hope you enjoyed the start of Shin's tale. I've enjoyed reminiscing on those times."

You's eyes were glistening with excitement. It was if she had held on to every word of the story. "Your majesty has granted my request, there's no way I wouldn't enjoy it." She had the optimism of a child, it sort of reminds me of Rei. "Your majesty, may I ask a question?"

I raised an eyebrow, "What would that be?"

She bowed and hesitated a moment as if to find the proper words, "I have heard of the exploits of Shin-sama on the battlefield, but there isn't much about his home life. Has he taken a wife? A man of his rank would normally take one right?" She kept her head low. I presume because she was bracing herself for a possible answer.

I apologize for the late entry. I made multiple attempts to see which one I liked the most. So I decided that this will be a series of different perspectives. There will be other characters to tell You stories of Shin. The perspective of the story will change whenever someone new enters to tell her a new story. I am working to graduate later this year so my schedule will be very very slow. As always I welcome all comments, corrections, critiques, rants, raves, etc. I want to improve my skills as much as possible. If you like this story idea or just want to talk don't hesitate to leave a review or pm me.

Until next time.

Shi-oon Yi signing out