Thunder rolled outside the fortress walls as he strode into the halls decorated with the weapons and banners of his conquered. He threw the wet cloak, that had barely kept him out of the weather, across the end of the table that his men had recovered from the upper floors of this place, after they had decided that this place would be his headquarter for the duration of their stay in the land of their enemy. Temudjin sat down on the bench besides the table and cut himself a slab of meat from the still steaming roast sitting there. He was very well aware that several of his generals and their toadies were loitering around in the hall, their baleful eyes glaring at his back always triggered that itch on his back right where they would like to place the dagger.
Finally after being ignored longer than his patience could withstand one of his general rose and walked towards him. Fortunately for him he had been moderately successful in his conquests and so Temudjin contemplated only humiliating him, instead of killing him outright for the words, he was about to be addressed with.
"Temudjin, the tribes decided that you were allowed to lead the assault on these lands, because it was expedient not because you were to be given the absolute rule over our destiny. Your foolish wanderings across these lands chasing the visions of that hag, you claim is a witch, has cost us too much already. If we had struck Chang'an as I suggested, we would be on our way home to our lands to prepare for winter. Instead we're gathering here for a battle we barely have a chance of winning. I…" His words died as a long curved dagger seemed to suddenly sprout from his throat.
Temudjin rose and turned. He politely nodded at the Arabic leader of his bodyguard, one of the carefully handpicked mercenaries, which he paid handsomely to guard his back, while the mercenary carefully cleaned his blade. Of course he didn't trust them but that was beside the point. "I agree. My quest seems to have let you fools waste the men, horses and weapons you were given in trust by the tribes. I haven't lost a battle in my time in this forsaken country, while the rest of you including this piece of trash." Temudjin tapped the corpse of his former general with his foot. "You managed to cavort around the Empire of Chin like you expected the enemy to just let you burn and pillage indiscriminately. Now they want blood to repay the debt you have incurred. You ask me, why we're gathering here. We are here to ensure that our homeland won't be forced to pay the price for your mistakes. We must stand against our enemy on the field of battle here and defeat him. If not he'll invade our lands, kill our wives and plunder our riches. We must meet him now or after the next winter. It will happen. I say it should happen here. Let the burden of this war remain on the lands of Chin instead of the free lands of steppe."
Temudjin looked around the room on his suddenly less baleful generals and officers. He pointed to one of the now dead generals followers. "You may take his army, if you can command respect of them," he offered and turned back to his meal after grabbing a pitcher of ale and poured himself a large mug. "Leave me," he commanded and drank, then listened to how everyone slowly left the hall.
He was enjoying another mug as a dry, wet and winded man stumbled into his hall. "I've asked to be left alone," Temudjin said in a low tone before even looking.
"Yes, Green Dragon, I've been told. But I have an urgent message and I was sure that you would be more angry, if I had waited until this morning to give it to you," the warrior explained. As far as he could judge from his markings the warrior was from his blood brother's army.
"So you tell me. Has Djenga decided to ignore my orders again or is he late and sent you to apologize? What?" Temudjin rose with a thin smile playing across his lips, while thinking of his tempestuous friend. They had known each other, since they had first learned to ride and fight from his father. Djenga was one of the few men; he had given free reins during this invasion. He trusted his warrior abilities almost as he did his own. Lately news from Djenga had been brief almost as if he was hiding something and there had been no reply yet to his order for Djenga to withdraw from the South either.
The man, his shabby uniform bearing the insignia of a captain, seemed uncomfortable for a moment, then spoke: "No, Green Dragon, Djenga did not ignore your orders, but his opponent outwitted him like she has done time and again."
Temudjin felt his blood run cold, while voices in his head screamed for him to draw his sword and smash things and people to kibble and bits, but he controlled his temper and instead asked: "I'm afraid much of the correspondence from my blood brother about his battles to the south has never reached me. How about you start by telling me, who this enemy is and then work your way around to telling me about what happened to my blood brother?"
"Yes, Green Dragon," the man wisely answered. "It all began after your blood brother destroyed the pathetic army put in his way by the Chinese mongrels. He went east seeking to take control of a coastal city hoping for a great load in loot and supplies. We had heard rumors of small regiments of cavalry and footmen guarding the coastal town, but we thought nothing of it, having just shattered an army thousands of men larger than ours. We were traveling, when we heard a single peal of thunder nearby. The general was worried, it might be the work of an unseen enemy and as we were only a short ride along a river bed away from an open plain, he took his regiments of cavalry through first. The rest of the army following behind us so that we might defeat any traps set up by any unseen enemy. But we had underestimated the scope and abilities of the enemy or rather the ruthlessness of the enemy commander. Somehow she managed to burst the dams of many rain swelled dams further up stream at precisely the right time to envelop the entire army in a flash flood, which destroyed almost three quarters of the entire army and then when we rode into the hills to escape the water, we rode right into hundreds of men with bows, spears as well as roads patrolled by her riders. We lost a great number of good men to the mongrels that day and in the months that followed." The captain gulped and awaited any reaction by him.
"Go on," he suggested gruffly, while his mind raced with the thoughts of the appearance of this unknown player on a board, he had been so sure was set up to ensure his victory.
He nodded and swallowed what was probably a lump of fear in his throat. While Temudjin despised such behavior, he had gotten used to it both from own his men and enemy soldiers. "As I said the months that followed was no better. While we did occasionally score small victories against our numerically inferior opponents and our spies easily walked even into their central camp, it didn't matter. No assassination attempt even got past her guards. And worse she didn't share plans with anyone she couldn't trust. In the end the general managed almost to defeat her, when she rode out to fight a decoy force and we fell on Suzhou like locusts in search of food, which we almost were at that point. But again we were tricked. That devil woman had left behind exact plans for the defense of the city and soon her army was attacking us from behind as well. In the end we were driven back and left with only twice the number of her army in men and were no closer to conquering the city. Even worse the woman was becoming legend even amongst our men. She outfought anyone, she came up against. She was like a fiend on her white horse easily the equal of the general. Her weapons were exotic even as she was. Her pale white skin made the men think she was a spirit from the beyond sent to defeat us. And I must admit I almost agree with them. I saw with my own yes, how a great archer shot an arrow into her back in a place that should have killed her on the spot, but she fought on like nothing had happened," he reported.
Now Temudjin felt intrigued. The woman sounded like a wondrous creature and could possibly be that challenge that he had wished the so-called Great General would have been. Instead he had only shined with his absence.
"In the end Djenga bowed to your wish to withdraw and did so only with great shame. Still he was careful and when our spies near that demon woman's camp started disappearing suddenly, we sent more only to discover that she had gotten reinforcements. Now we faced not a numerically inferior enemy, but a well supplied and fresh force of veteran Imperial footmen, bolstering the fanatics that already followed that woman. We immediately took, what we thought, was the safest path back through the lands we held. Then we learned that their army had marched out to hunt us down, but it was only the footmen, the cavalry seemingly being kept in reserve. We gloried, as we thought our enemy had finally made a move out of arrogance. We were wrong. They were following a carefully timed plan and we should have known, when the other possible escape route to the one we had chosen, was found to be guarded by another regiment of footmen that the enemy had marched off before going after us. Still against the footmen we had a chance of winning and so we stopped our withdrawal to destroy the mongrels and regain some honor," the warrior paused to draw breath.
Temudjin thought that he saw emotions of anger and remorse play across the man's face for a few moments.
"We charged our enemy, when suddenly seemingly springing from forests that our scouts had reported to be safe, the woman and her cavalry comes upon us from behind. Any slim chance of victory we had turned to dust as they ground us between their spears and horses. The general himself brave as he was, walked into combat, challenging the devil herself to single combat. He lost. I fled with the men taking the only route they had left us, which took us through mountains impassable for horses forcing us to give up the last things that remained ours. I came here as fast as I could to report this disaster to you and to tell you that your blood brother is now in the hands of the enemy." The man bowed, relief showing in his eyes as he began to notice that Temudjin didn't seem about to cut his head off.
"This woman, what is her name?" He asked.
"It is a mystery. To the Empire she is know as the Warrior Bard, but all who fight with her call her Little Dragon for the mark of a dragon that covers her entire back. She has never given her true name to anyone as far as I know," the weary captain explained while still bowing.
"Describe her to me," he commanded.
"Her skin is white, her hair is short and the color of gold and her eyes are green. She bears the mark of a green dragon on her back. She is only a little taller than a colt, but her body has the muscles of a seasoned warrior. I know not her age, but she looked like she had seen many full seasons of life, but her beauty clearly proved her to not having passed her prime yet," the captain described the woman from memory.
"Thank you for coming here. I am glad you ignored my moods to tell this. Consider yourself promoted. There is an army out there, whose leadership is in dispute. Here take this." Temudjin handed him a small scroll he had just scribbled. "And give it to my bodyguard on your way out. He'll make sure you'll get what you deserve," Temudjin explained and dismissed the man with a wave. He walked quickly towards the door that led to a stairway. An unpleasant meeting awaited him.
Temudjin composed himself, before knocking on the thick wooden door. "Yes!" An irritated woman's voice answered from inside. While he needed the owner of that voice, he wasn't about to let her boss him around. Temudjin almost ripped the door of the hinges and strode inside.
"I have news witch," he said and stopped before the low table in the musty room hung full of rotting animal carcasses and uncured hides. A small woman sat there, he knew very well that while she looked like a woman a little past her prime and was clad in the same clothes that any proper woman would wear. She was by far not one. She was a shamaness, she knew the past, present and future. Her visions had named him as her master. Her visions had allowed him to conquer the Great Wall. And her vision had started him on his quest to power.
"Tell me already Temudjin," Jenn asked and reached for her bag of bones and a cup of blood from a horse.
"A new enemy has come. A warrior woman was capable of outwitting and outfighting my blood brother like he was a common warrior. You swore to me that this game was already played out. You swore that this invasion would ensure me the throne both here and amongst the tribes. Did you lie to me, witch?" He asked, while his eyes narrowed. He knew better than to try false bravado on this woman. He meant it. If she didn't explain this new development, he would kill her and find another shaman that would ensure his success.
She reached down into her bag, grabbed a handful of bones and tossed across the blood caked wooden table. She stared at them for a while then spoke: "This woman is a no consequence to your success. She will oppose you and she is dangerous. But she is guided by a heart full of mercy and hope. If you use that against her, you'll be able to defeat her. But understand this, my dear Temudjin, the Little Dragon that is coming for us is no one to be taken lightly. If we misstep just once, she will defeat us. Your path to the throne is as I have told you many times still in your grasp. If you fulfill the prophecy and consume the lifeblood of one of the heavenly dragons you will become invincible in combat, your skin impenetrable to the weapons of mortals and your life will extend into infinity."
He nodded with satisfaction and turned to leave not wanting to spend too much time in the company of this woman lest her nature was contagious.
"Temudjin, was she by any chance accompanied by a black haired warrior woman?" His shamaness asked a tinge of never before heard anxiety in her voice.
"I wasn't told of anyone. Why?" He asked, while holding the door open, enjoying the fresh air that suddenly flowed towards him.
"Oh, just another prophecy, but if there was none… It will happen some other time. Maybe in my next life," the witch mused and turned her eyes back down on the seemingly random scattered bones lying all over the table.
"Right," Temudjin said tersely and left.
Jenn looked over the bones once again and shook her head. "Beware the black haired woman warrior, she is the mother of your undoing," she said to herself. "Why does that one always appear these days? There are no black haired women involved in this," she thought and picked up the bones she had cast.
Gabrielle felt like every inch of her body was aching. She was bone tired and had every right to be. She rode down the dusty road all the while hoping that Sun wouldn't insist on sparring the next day. The General had completely changed his attitude towards her ever since he had recalled her from the south to help him arrange the defeat of Temudjin. Every morning he asked her to either join him in sword practice or playing chess, a game Gabrielle hadn't even known, before he introduced her to it. She had gotten quite good, but she hoped that he would grant her a reprieve from both playing and sparring tomorrow. By her judgment she and her regiment of cavalry wouldn't make it back to the main camp until well after Helios' chariot had been stabled, and she was already tired from days of combat.
Sun Wu not only used her council in his planning, he also depended on her to go out and take on small armies and patrols, that Temudjin sent out, picking off his troops and so further insuring that they even more massively outnumbered the enemy. Soon the cautious general would march out and meet the collected armies of Temudjin, but in the meantime he wielded her and her tactical gifts like a weapon against the enemy.
Almost every week these last four months she had been asked to take some detachment of cavalry or footmen out to fight a battle or take on some other mission, as the successful general she had become. General, a title she now also carried on top of all the other ridiculous titles that she could plaster behind her name. A name she had only told three people amongst her allies.
"Little Dragon, the scouts have spotted a small patrol of enemy soldier camping atop the next hill. If we follow this road we'll be riding into their view in just a few minutes," one of the lieutenants, that had been with her since Suzhou, reported.
"Halt!" She commanded the entire column of riders. "How many are they?" She asked him.
"We don't know, but it seems that they have come from afar, because they have several pack horses with them," he said.
"Alright take the men back to camp taking a route out of their sight. We should avoid any confrontation as tired as we are. I'll ride up and take a look at them myself. I'll rejoin you later," she explained and rode into the bushes. The lieutenant nodded to himself and began distributing her orders.
Gabrielle smelled a campfire long before she was even within sight of the camp of the enemy soldiers. They had made camp on a hill covered in trees, which still offered them a good view of the roads in the area. Gabrielle wondered, what their presence here signified as Temudjin's army was placed south of here, and this area was neither useful for ferrying his army through in a sneak attack due to the terrain nor was it important to their war effort and thus a target to be conquered.
She dismounted Ghost and tied her exhausted steed to a nearby tree. She stripped off her armor and hid both it and her katana in the bushes, before slowly stalking her way up the undergrowth towards the camp from which she smelled cooking.
She peeked out between the branches of a bush. The camp was set up typically for her enemy with both their tents and horses guarded by separate standing watchmen in turn. On a central fire a large pot of stew boiled around which the men were just sitting down. They would be eating soon. Gabrielle quickly counted them. There were around twenty men in total. Way more than she could have safely handled, even if she hadn't been bone tired and already covered in small scratches earned in the battle, she had led this morning.
She had almost resigned herself to withdrawing, when she noticed the weed growing on the ground around her and flashed back to memories of old. Memories of her conducting a choir of stone and of Joxer triumphantly defeating an army without using a weapon flashed in her mind. With an impish smile she quickly plucked a couple of the weed's leaves and dug out a few roots, which she then after withdrawing mashed into a wet ball of plant matter making sure not to smell the vapors of the vile mix. Gabrielle picked up a few large stones and deposited them together with the ball of Henbane into the pockets of her already torn green silk pantsuit.
As quietly as possible, she climbed into the trees surrounding the camp and like a white and green shadow made her way within throwing distance of the pot of stew. She drew out the two stones. She took careful aim then threw them as hard as she could. Gabrielle launched her two distractions off into the distance hoping that it would draw off the men. Two great cracks echoed into the camp, causing her to smile. The men launched to their feet and many went off to search the woods for any enemies sneaking up on them. No one noticed an ingredient being added to the boiling stew as Gabrielle with a gentle drop deposited the Henbane into the pot and crawled back into the top of the trees to await the result of her handiwork.
Gabrielle dropped to the ground and surveyed the camp. The two guards had ridden off a few moments ago, probably running off in fear or going for help depending on how disciplined they were. All around her people were sleeping, hallucinating like she had or suffering from convulsions. Taking no pride in the results she carefully examined those struck the hardest from her poison and after making sure that they would all wake up alive, she grabbed one of the men still conscious but not quite lucid. After tying him up and throwing him across one of their horses she walked off with her raving prisoner. She would interrogate him later, probably when he stopped trying to make up his own language.
"Oh, my head," her prisoner complained, before he realized that he was strapped across a saddle, his hands and feet tied together below the belly of his horse. "What in the name of…" The man grumbled.
Gabrielle interrupted him: "You're my prisoner. Now feel free to cry out, we're only a few miles from the main camp of the Imperial army, so no one around here cares."
"Who are you?" He asked after tossing his head over to look in her direction with a pained wince. Gabrielle figured he had a headache.
"I'm called the Little Dragon, but if you feel up to asking questions, you won't mind me asking you some," she said and climbed down from her by now completely worn out steed.
"L-Little Dragon," he stammered, the look in his eyes revealing, that what ever fearsome reputation she had in their army, had reached his ears.
Gabrielle stepped up and after a little confusion over how to apply the pinch from the angle she was standing in, made two precise stabs to the blood vessels on his neck.
"I've cut off the flow of blood to your brain, you have 30 seconds left to live," she explained in a tired following the routine that Xena had established long ago.
"What do you want to know?" The man asked without offering resistance.
"What were you guys scouting for?" She asked.
"We were ensuring that the back roads up there were passable for a heavy cargo," the soldier answered in a strained voice muted slightly because he was talking into his saddle.
"What cargo?" Gabrielle pressed.
"No one knows. Temudjin and his witch are very excited about it. One of his bodyguards told a friend of mine that he expects, it will allow us to crush your armies," he explained readily.
Gabrielle was happy to have caught such an easy prisoner. "When and from where is that cargo coming?" She asked.
"It will arrive four days from now. It comes from the extreme North West of Chin. The areas we still rule," he said and began having convulsions.
Gabrielle quickly undid the pinch, but left her prisoner conscious and tied to the horse. "Could it be the dragon Djenga mentioned," she mused and mounted Ghost. She decided to postpone dealing with that issue until she had gotten food in her belly, a warm bath and a good night's sleep in her warm tent that awaited her only a mile or so up the wide trampled dirt road.
The morning was cold and Gabrielle had a throbbing headache even as she climbed out of the warm furs that were piled high in her bed.
After finishing her visit to the chamber pot she put on another fresh silk suit laid out by her attentive maid, while she had been dropping into her bed.
"Little Dragon," Mai greeted her as she finally came out into the main area of her tents, where her maid awaited her washed and dressed mistress with a large breakfast.
"You know my habits, huh," Gabrielle said with a smile as she noticed that the late breakfast had apparently been made recently.
"Of course, I've been keeping your tent for over a year now. I'd be a fool, if I didn't know by now Gabrielle," her maid said with a smile and walked off probably to air out her furs or something. She had told Mai all about her life on their trip from Suzhou to Chang'an some months ago. Since then the tone between them had gotten more familiar even if the shy maid still kept her distance.
"I might go soft, having a maid to take care of me," Gabrielle mused.
"No chance of that I think," the voice of her commander said as Sun Wu the Grand General of Chin's armies stepped into her tent wearing a bright smile.
"Hi Sun," she said between bites of warm bread and tender meat.
"That was quite dangerous, going out on your own just to capture a prisoner, we didn't really need," he admonished her standing besides her breakfast. He grabbed a piece of chicken to eat.
"Yeah, well if I hadn't done it, some of our spies would've had to do it later on. Besides I got some very important news from him," Gabrielle explained and took a breath. "Temudjin is getting something very heavy delivered from the North West. I think his men have captured a celestial dragon just like Djenga told me during his interrogation," she said.
"A dragon, come on, Little Dragon. Don't believe in foolish myths and tales. I have lived for nearly 30 years and I've yet to see anything that couldn't be explained as a natural phenomenon. Don't come to me with old wives tales of Dragons, Gods and the like. I am convinced any kind of religion is just a bad excuse for the shortcomings and fears of humanity," Sun said and took a large bite out of the chicken wing.
"Now you're being foolish Sun. I've known, befriended and fought Gods, their schemes and their beings for long periods of my life. I have experienced and used the great shamanic arts of the Amazons that can bring the spirits of the dead back. I have died and been brought back to life by the powers of a god. I've been both an angel and a demon." Gabrielle rose with the emerald fires in her eyes.
"If Temudjin completes this ceremony he will most likely become invincible in combat and he will then lead his men to victory against us. We must free that dragon," she demanded.
"No. I won't waste resources on something futile like that. No one man wins a war, Little Dragon. Armies and their commanders win them together. No matter of singular fighting strength can change to outcome of a large enough battle," Sun said and his eyes revealed his iron belief in the truth of this.
"X… I… I had a friend, who defeated entire armies single handedly. I know that I've been the key component in many a victory in our war here. Don't tell me a single person won't make a difference. If Temudjin is allowed to through with this, he will defeat us. Call it instinct or woman's intuition, but I just know it. Let me at least lead my cavalry out to capture whatever it is he's transporting. Call it a weapon in your mind, or think of it as a strategically important item, just let me do it," she pleaded.
"No, General. You are needed here. Your cavalry are part of my plan. Your men under your command are the best unit I have. I need you here. Especially now," he said and his expression changed slightly all emotions seemingly leaving his face.
Gabrielle looked at him for a moment then said: "It is time then. When and where are we meeting them?" She heard the subtle footsteps of Master Fong coming from his end of her tents. They stopped just short of the separating cloth.
"All the attacks I've had you and some of the others making were meant to goad Temudjin and his generals into taking to the field of battle I've chosen. They are walking out to meet us there as we speak. We will tarry here for awhile, as if we don't know, then in three days we will take hurried march veering of to the south west, where a terrain that we are prepared to fight in awaits. Can I expect you to lead your men in battle for Chin?" He asked.
Gabrielle nodded silently, while keeping her fingers crossed out of his sight. "My men will be apart of the first charge," she swore.
"Good. Put all thoughts of dragons and magic out of your mind for now, Little Dragon. We have a battle to prepare," he said and left her tent.
"So are you going to do as he asks?" Master Fong asked as he entered the main area.
Gabrielle considered the aged man, who over the course of the time she had known him had grown slowly weaker. Age was winning over her friend, but neither of them cared to mourn the passing of time knowing that there would be another life after this one. "Nope," she said and drank a large gulp of milk to finish off her breakfast.
"Don't you think he'll notice if your cavalry doesn't follow him into battle," Fong asked and sat down in one of the free chairs.
"Oh, the cavalry is going and it will even look like I am there as well," Gabrielle explained.
"Really and how are you going to arrange that," Fong asked with undisguised curiosity.
"I've been carefully delegating battle responsibility these last few months. Unless anything critical happens they don't need me to lead them. The officers will be enough," Gabrielle explained.
"Still it is kind of hard to miss you on the battle field. That blonde head of hair, your weapons and until recently your clothes sets you apart," Fong said and crooked a white eyebrow.
"I've been using a helmet a lot recently. Head wounds are kind of deadly, you know. As for my replacement, Mai, could you join us in here for a moment," Gabrielle yelled.
"Oh and you'll have be there to protect her of course," Gabrielle said to her astonished looking friend.