For You

The whistling of arrows was heavy in the air as the now 800 defenders unleashed a rain of death upon the charging foe. Though they fell in vast number, mowed down by piercing arrows, it did not stop the horde from pressing forwards. Above the gate men fought hand-to-hand to prevent Wei men from flooding up the siege ramps. In the gateway a score of men stood defiantly before the storm of men that tried in vain to force them out of the gate. The defenders knew that they were vastly outnumbered. However they would let none pass.

~ Flash back~

Zhou Yu had been riding all day gathering what extra men he could. His forces grew to 800 but that would not hold 10,000 for long unless the men fought tooth and nail as he was prepared to do.

That night the men had gathered to defend Hin Gi Gate. Defensively they had the advantage of terrain funneling the army down a narrow pass into a gorge in the mountains. The Gate was on the side of a mountain giving the defenders the higher ground. Still they were vastly outnumbered and the enemy had siege weapons. Even so Zhou Yu had a few plans in mind.

Once they were all set Zhou Yu turned to his men as the first enemy came into sight.

"Why are you all here? For glory and riches? Death and honor? I say NO! We are here so that they shall not pass this gate. We are here to defend our wives, sons and daughters from a fate worse then death. Will you let the men of Wei rape and kill your wives and daughters?"

A loud "NO!" echoed through the mountains.

"Will you let them enslave your sons?"

"NO!" Echoed once again.

"Arm yourselves. Though we may die tonight will be a night that Wei, Wu, indeed all of China will remember! Tonight will be the night 800 men defeated the army of the great Cao Cao! Tonight will be the night when we turn this army around and chase it all the way back to Cheng Du!"

A cry rose out of the ranks with such volume the Wei forces shivered in fear. They had thought this would be an easy operation. Little did they know the defenders were not going to go down easily.

 The hundreds fell within the first few moments. A volley of 800 arrows decimated and demoralized the Wei ranks long enough for them to stop and be struck down by another volley. When the Wei forces pressed forwards they were met with death from above and below; mines that killed hundreds more men. Before any had made it to the gate 1/3 of the Wei forces were already dead.

The battle wore on into the night and into the next day and the defenders had dwindled for under 200. Still they stood their ground.

~End of Flash back~

"Hold them! They are struggling!" Zhou Yu yelled as he struck down yet another man. He had lost count of the number he had struck cold with his blade, he didn't know how many had fallen to his arrows. But he had not lost count of the overall standings. By his estimations Wei was down to about 4,000 men while he only had 189 left. His moment of pause for thought cost him as a man slashed Zhou Yu across his chest. The cut was light thanks to Zhou Yu's quick reflex but the damage was done.

"They're pressing up the ramp!" A man cried from above. Gritting his teeth Zhou Yu raced up the stairs to the ramparts and hacked several more men down. An enemy archer struck him in the arm as another struck his leg. Ripping the bloody arrows from himself Zhou Yu continued to fight on. Slowly the sun rose higher in the sky and slowly the defenders fell but Wei was paying a very high and bloody cost for each defender that fell. Soon Zhou Yu was one of a handful left.

Finally he too fell from fatigue and blood loss. Zhou Yu muttered to himself as he lay on the ground; "Xiao, forgive me…" His conscious thought was to clasp a dagger firmly in his hand. He never saw the banners of Wu as they came charging up to the gate nor did her hear Sun Ce call his name. The darkness had already taken him.

A few candles and the moonlight that came streaming in through an open window dimly lighted Xiao's room. Xiao sat on her bed in a large Chinese style shirt on that loosely covered her body. Slowly Xiao flipped through her scrapbook looking over all the pictures she had of Zhou Yu. A tear escaped her and trickled down her cheek down to her chin. The tear dropped from her chin down to her slightly exposed chest and disappeared between her breasts. Xiao closed the book and clutched it to her chest for a few moments. She finally set dot book down on the bed and picked up a small knife. She knew that Zhou Yu had lied to her and only said he was coming back just to be nice. He was dead by now, that Xiao was sure of. She had gotten a copy of the early report that Sun Ce had sent from Hin Gi Gate when he had gotten there with the extra men.

It read; The gate is desolate of life, 8 men were the survivors of the defenders and the bodies of Wu and Wei litter the ground. Lord Zhou Yu was not among the survivors. Over 6,000 Wei soldiers lie dead and the rest are in full retreat.

The rest was just military jabber but that one line had made Xiao's mind up for her. She lifted the knife up. She was certain now as she ran the line through her head one last time.

The door opened and Da came into Xiao's room. "Xiao what are you doing?" Da said worryingly as she rapidly made her way over to Xiao.

Caught up in her thoughts Xiao didn't hear or see Da. "I'll join you soon, my love." Xiao said as she drove the knife down.

A/N Thanks you guys about telling me about the extra reviews. Thanks for all the reviews so far and as I said before don't worry, this is a romance drama but I dislike the whole Romeo/Juliet sort of romance. I'm a romantic so all will be well.