Chapter 2
Zhao Yun's ears rang with the sound of a thousand voices screaming and the clangs of metal upon metal. Fires had broken out in hundreds of different places and they now fought by the feint light of those flames alone.
Out of the corner of his eye, Zilong spotted the approaching rider a split second before his sword swung down toward his head. Yun leaned to the left just in time as the Roman soldier galloped past and continued through the crowd, cutting Zilong's men down left and right as he went.
Yun turned back to the column of Roman soldiers marching endlessly forward. Their formation was unlike anything he had witnessed before. They were defying every rule of combat that Zilong had ever learned, and yet they continued forward. Zilong rode down the line, jabbing fiercely with his spear into the tightly packed column of men; his spear deflected every time by their humongous shields and impenetrable armor. They seemed more like a moving fortress than a procession of enemy soldiers. Every few yards a spear would poke out through the wall of shields aiming for Zilong, but he easily avoided the blind attack.
"General," Shin Mai shouted, as he appeared out of the dark chaos. Zhao Yun withdrew from the line and approached his officer. "We can't break their formation and if they continue at their current pace they will be at our camp before dawn. We must pull back to fortify our position."
Zilong was about to respond when he spotted a reflection of light off of golden armor behind his officer. He pushed Shin Mai aside and raised his spear just in time.
The spear head caught the soldier directly in the abdomen and pierced straight through him. He seemed to stop in midair as he was thrust from his horse with a sickening snap.
"You see," Zilong said, pulling his spear from the fallen man. "Their armor is penetrable."
The line had advanced to his position, so he spun around to continue his assault on it. "General, we must fall back," Shin Mai pleaded again. "Unless we stop them at our camp, they will surely fall upon the city."
Yun pulled back once again from the enemy column. He knew his officer was right. They had barely scratched the surface of the Roman's forward units, and they themselves were losing soldiers by the hundreds to the enemy cavalry that continued cutting through their attack.
"Give the signal then," Zilong shouted angrily. His officer ran off through the crowd and Yun turned back to the line of soldiers who were once again upon him. "I will break this line," he screamed, like an animal possessed.
He reared his steed up on its hind legs and brought the powerful front legs down on one of the shields. The line buckled slightly, but amazingly stayed up and continued advancing. Again and again he brought the horse's full weight down upon that one shield, but the line would not break. He was almost caught by surprise by a Roman soldier on horseback who had rushed up behind him, but Zilong cut him down upon his second pass.
A loud gong filled the air and he saw his men pulling back toward the camp. Zhao Yun was not about to pull back though. He wouldn't leave until he had proven that the Roman line could be broken. He reared his horse again and brought it down upon the giant shield. It was dented in several places and was beginning to buckle. Just when it seemed that the shield would fail, an opening appeared and a spear was thrust out toward Zilong. He reacted quickly, grabbing the pole below the blade and pulling hard.
The man behind the defensive wall of shields must have lost his balance because for the first time the line stopped advancing. It was just the section he was attacking though, because the rest of the line continued. Yun turned and realized that several enemy soldiers on horseback were galloping down the line toward him. This was his last chance.
He lifted the front legs of his horse up and with all of his might brought the horse down upon the weakened line. The formation broke and the man with the weakened shield was crushed under the full weight of Zilong's steed.
The men quickly adjusted to the fact that their formation was broken. They dropped their shields and drew their swords in the same motion. Screaming in Latin, they converged on Zilong, who was completely alone upon the battlefield.
He reared his horse up and swung his spear wildly, cutting through armor and flesh alike. He spun around and around, looking for an opening, but he realized that the line he had broken was forming again, his time as a perimeter around his position, trapping him inside.
Like and animal cornered against a wall, Zilong fought with a ferocity that he had never fought with before. He stabbed blindly at the men, piercing one man in the eye, another in the shoulder, and yet another one directly in the heart. Blood splattered and sprayed him as he fought. He was losing control of his horse, which spun and reared and screamed as it began to get cut down under the Roman assault.
Zhao Yun knew that the end had arrived, but he fought on. His horse began to collapse, using its final ounces of strength to keep its rider up above the fray. A sword slash cut deep into Zilong's arm and a spear was thrust into his leg. "My emperor," he muttered painfully, blood pouring from his lips. "Forgive me…"
His spear dropped from his hand as his horse collapsed and Zhou Yun fell to the earth amide a flurry of gold clad Romans, broken and shattered.
As Zhang Fei approached the city of Jian Wei he could make out a feint glow on the horizon. "Do you think the battle has already begun," his son Zhang Bao asked.
"Those Roman swine," the general muttered. "If they've arrived before us, there will be hell to pay." He turned to his son and exclaimed. "Lead the men as quickly as you can to the camp at Jian Wei. I will go ahead." With that, the general kicked his steed and ran off toward battle.
As he approached the camp he could see that the soldiers were severely demoralized. They were fortifying their position by constructing fences and towers, but the mood was certainly grim. "Where is Master Zhuge Liang?" he asked a soldier in passing.
"The command tent," he soldier replied, pointing off toward the back of the camp. Zhang Fei made his way there and arrived just as one of Zhao Yun's officers, the young Shin Mai, was rushing into the tent. Zhang Fei leaped from his horse and followed him in.
"He's still out there Master," Mai was exclaiming to the Minister as Fei entered.
Zhuge Liang bowed his head upon hearing the news. "Who's still out there?" Zhang Fei asked feeling the tension in the room.
"Zhao Yun, General," Mai said. "We've got to rescue him."
"It's too late," the Minister replied, his head still bowed.
"Like hell," Zhang Fei retorted. He rushed toward the door.
"It's too risky," Zhuge Liang called after him as he stood from his seat. "Zhao Yun has paid the price for following the passions of his heart and ignoring the reasoning of his mind. Shall you pay the same price as well?"
"I won't leave him out there to die when there's something I can do about it. You may deal with me as you see fit when I return." Zhang Fei ran to his horse. Shin Mai was calling for him to wait, but the General ignored his pleas. He jumped on his horse and raced off toward the gate.
As he approached the enemy line he could see a commotion in a particularly disorganized section of the enemy formation. He galloped toward it and came under fire by enemy archers as he neared. The arrows whizzed past him, one cutting clean through his ear, but he continued on. As he got closer he could finally see what the commotion was about. Zhao Yun was trapped in the middle of the horde of Roman soldiers fighting desperately to free himself.
Zhang Fei was almost to the group. He lifted his serpent spear into the air and shouted loudly, "Zhang Fei is here." Several soldiers spun around in surprise, but were cut in halves by the powerful force of Zhang Fei's blows. Soldiers went flying through the air as he rushed into them.
He was almost to Zhao Yun when the horde began to envelop him as well, hindering his advance. "Away you Roman pigs," he shouted. "I will slaughter the whole of your army if Zhao Yun is harmed." His thunderous voice startled the crowd just enough for the general to make his way to Zhao Yun's side just as he was falling to the ground. Zhang Fei reached down and grabbed Zilong with one powerful arm, while swinging his spear in a giant arc with the other.
Zhao Yun was limp when he picked him up and Zhang Fei wasn't sure if he was still alive or not. He was severely wounded in several places. Rage took hold of Zhang Fei and he began cutting down several men with each swing of the deadly serpent blade. "Barbarians," he shouted. "Tonight is the night that you will learn to fear Zhang Fei."
He was making good progress through the chaos when he realized that several more columns of Roman soldiers were convening on his location. Surrounded by a legion of Rome's finest men, Zhang Fei continued to fight fiercely. He had come to a complete stand still though and was now fighting to simply stay upon his horse, which was losing strength quickly. "I cannot die here without my brothers," his voice boomed over the masses.
"Zhang Fei" a voice shouting was barely audible over the fray. The gereral began to push his way toward the voice, which was growing louder. Suddenly he spotted the man; it was Shin Mai. The young officer was spinning his twin cobra swords wildly, cutting a path toward Zhang Fei. Distracting some of the soldiers, his presence was enough for Zhang Fei to finally break free of the circle of soldiers around him. He came to Shin Mai's side and together they broke free of the Romans and galloped as fast as they could, through a shower of arrows, toward their camp. Whether they had saved Zhao Yun's life or merely won him a proper burial; neither man knew.