Scion of Madness
Chapter 5: Death in Red
One second later, same place
So, a surprise for us has come? Hmm, this better not have anything to do with Sima, or I'll throttle him myself. Zhuge, this shouldn't be your doing… who does that leave…? Zhou Yu pondered while the messenger barely had time to slid off his horse and pant a 'Sir!'
"D-Dong Zhuo… is… trying…to atta-…attack…the…Lords coming. They… riding hard to here… close…army behind them… Lu Bu in lead… with woman…" The messenger, a scout for Wu, sketched off a poor salute and stood at slumping attention.
"Damn them!" Sun Jian cursed. "Rally the troops! Preparations for battle are to be made, defenses immediately saw to!" Several underling commanders ran to accomplish this, but the main generals themselves stood thinking.
Zhou noticed that Sun Ce was talking to an archer from the wall. "This man here says that he can kinda see Liu Bei and Cao Cao coming. They should be here in minuets. But that also means that Lu Bu is comin' quick too!" Sun Ce muttered as he started into the distance.
Lu Bu is foolish enough to lead the attack head first? Doubly foolish for bringing that woman. Triply foolish for having her at the front lines… Hmm… I think I have an idea! Zhou Yu nodded to himself in satisfaction. "This will be excellent."
The Sun family male line turned to stare at him. "Uh… wha?" Sun Ce asked, echoing in simplest terms the question on everyone's mind.
"As long as our 'allies' can get through this gate before the army comes, I have a plan. I want all troops to be inside the gate at all times. This is a plan that requires demoralization, and delivers it with a vengeance." Zhou Yu snapped additional orders, and everyone listened and obeyed. The Suns stood off to the side, letting the commander of the army do what he would.
Keen-eyed men kept watch at the top of the gate, and informed the rest of the furlong by furlong approach of the fleeing generals. Within minuets of Zhou Yu barking his orders, all the generals gathered just inside the gate could clearly see the details of the racing figures. Cao Cao and Liu Bei were in the front, Xu Huang and Zhao Yun close behind them for protection. Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei rode on either side of Sima Yi, all three urging their horses as much as they dare.
Behind the five rode Zhange He, Ma Chao, Guan Yu and Xiahou Dun. The four warriors served to be the rear guard, though pursuers were not close enough to engage combat. Zhou Yu himself stood atop the gate with the archers, a longbow in hand and arrow notched.
He cast a glance behind himself to see Gan Ning mounted on the fastest horse in the entire capitol, and Zhou Tai mounted on a standard charger. Gan looked up at him and gave a sly smile before he said something to Zhou Tai that had both pirates laughing.
"Pirates…" Zhou sighed to himself with some humor.
Suddenly, one of the archers shouted and pointed. Zhou Yu followed the finger to see a streak of red, followed by a blur of white. Far behind the two splashes of color, a sea of men erupted over the crest of a hill.
Zhou turned and called down to the men below, "I will take my shot, then the two of you must move like the winds!" The pirates nodded and nudged the horses closer to the gate.
The archers on either side of him stood ready, but it was Zhou Yu who notched the red fletched arrow and he who spied his target. The figure riding the white horse behind Lu Bu…
If she is dead, he will lose his head and attack mindlessly. He will frighten his own army as much as ours. This… … is a great plan! It also happened to be the one plan he did come up with at all, but perfection needs no second chance… right?
The two horse-mounted figures finally came into range and Zhou Yu took one last breath before he fired. The arrow soared high into the sky as the bow-string twanged in his ears.
The two pirates, seeing the flight of the single arrow, dug their heels into their horses. Zhou Tai launched straight down the road at Lu Bu. Gan Ning veered to one side. Within seconds of the arrow flying and the pirates launching through the open gate, the woman known as Diao Chan fell from her horse. The mixed group racing for their lives and their main pursuer, Lu Bu, failed to notice this as the game of cat and mouse continued to play itself out.
As Zhou Tai came closer to the summit people, they moved to one side to let him pass. As far as they were concerned, if one Wu general was crazy enough to go face Lu Bu, then let him die the quicker. Of course, some also though it might be a clever ruse… but to the lot of them, it really didn't matter at that point.
moving along at horse speed, towards the fallen woman
Zhou Yu is an awesome guy, but geez… … those strategist can have some downright cold ideas! Gan sighed to himself as the horse galloped beneath him. Normally, Gan went right along with whatever his superiors said… as long as it made sense. What he was presently doing made sense to him, but sorely offended his lady's man sense of honor.
He's got a point though. Follow your man to war, and you gotta expect to face the same treatment. Another words, oh yeah, you're expendable! As his horse labored to keep the frenzied pace, Gan noticed Zhou Tai talking to Lu Bu. Well, talking just didn't do it justice. They were shouting at each other. Zhou Tai was a man of few words, but the ones Gan could make out sounded something like, "Never… surrender... undisciplined traitor…" and a few words he simply must have picked up being a pirate.
Gan ceased to consider the matter any more, however, as he realized he was past them and Diao Chan lie a short distance ahead. The only problem with that was that the army was closing in, and even at his break neck pace, he might not make it.
Hmmm, no time to stop and be a gentleman! He turned his horse away from her and seemed to charge straight at the enemy. They halted long enough to try and form ranks to intercept his attack. Gan only sharply turned the horse before he came too close and leaned far out of saddle, only his knees and the grip on the reigns keeping him on the beast.
As the lifeless body came within grasp, Gan managed to snatch her up with one arm and halfway pull her into the saddle. Ugh, the throat. I guess the only way to keep her from screemin' though…
The former pirate squinted at the gate, to see if the Wei and Shu warriors had made it in safely. They had, and Zhou Tai seemed to be getting a real workout from Lu Bu. Their horses stood to one side as they stood in the middle of the road, lunging and slicing at one another. Is that blood I see on Tai's katana…? Gan marveled as he galloped by.
Lu Bu must have noticed Gan's passenger, for he screamed her name thunderously. Gan wasn't sure what happened next, but he slid inside the gate at the same time the other pirate did. A split second later, the gate slammed shut.
"Shit…" Gan muttered as he slid off the horse, woman in tow. To the poor horse's credit, he was only flecked with sweaty foam and whinnied for water. Gan huffed at him and ignored him, letting a stable hand lead the beast away.
Sun Ce ran up to help Gan with Diao Chan, but made a face as he saw her up close. "I… didn't realize this was what he had planed." It was stated quietly.
"Gruesome, yeah. Effective…" Gan didn't have to answer affirmatively to that. Instead, the very tip of a halberd penetrated the gate, sending splinters of wood flying. Shouts of death and destruction could be heard from the outside. Lu Bu, to understate things a little, was a very unhappy man.
"We'd better do somethin' about him, or he's gonna take down the gate by himself!" Sun Ce cried.
Huang Gai came running up with a squad of troops and lumber to try to reinforce the gate. The tanned general paused long enough to nod at Sun Ce before he bellowed orders.
Gan look questioningly at Sun Ce. "What am I supposed to do with her?" He shifted his weight a little, in some vain attempt to keep the blood from soaking even more into his outfit.
"Ask Yu. He's the man with the plan." Sun Ce remarked with a shrug as he walked off, giving orders here and there.
"Ohhhh… that was real helpful. About as helpful as pigeon in a cock fight." Gan Ning grumbled as he laid the body out.
yeah yeah, Jian Ye… uhm… a random open area?
"This… was his plan? To piss off Lu Bu even more than usual!?!" Ma Chao waved his hands in frustration. To him, the plans of strategists sometimes were a little much, as in this case.
"I can see some of what he seeks to accomplish." That, of course, was Zhuge Liang.
"Let us only hope that it is a flawless plan, Prime Minister." Jiang Wei seemed weary and still had marks upon his body as evidence of Sima Yi's abuses. However, nobody had had the time to inquire about the strange injuries.
Stupid smart people! Ma Chao seethed with his oxymoron. "I think that someone should actually face the man honorably."
Jiang Wei grinned in an odd sort of way. "Oh, well, if you're volunteering, go right on ahead." The boyish general waved a hand in farewell. "I'll be honored to say the eulogy at your burial."
"Maybe I would face him, but no man of sense faces an enraged bull." Ma Chao shot back, pointing wildly in the general direction of the gate.
"We all need to clam down here. There is both justice and injustice in this matter, but what we need to think of most is the people." Liu Bei cried, standing in the midst of his small force.
"That's all well and good, but the army still comes. Jian Ye's gates are all closed, but the enemy is still coming forward. Lu Bu might break down the gate by himself!" Zhao Yun bowed to his Lord as the words came out in a tumbled rush.
"Zhou Yu's plan has gone awry." Zhuge simply stated.
"Perhaps. But could we not come up with an add on that will make this a success, Prime Minister?" Jiang Wei asked, as he walked off towards the Wu commander, perched on the wall.
"Oh," Ma Chao huffed sarcastically, "What are you going to suggest? That Zhou Yu, the killer of Diao Chan, dare face the mighty Lu Bu?"
The other Shu officers stood still a moment. Ma Chao wasn't sure what that meant, but he was starting to think that maybe he's crossed the invisible line of appropriateness. This would be comical, given another situation. But now? Oh I wish they'd stop looking like surprised deer!
Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei briefly looked at one another and nodded in unison. Ma Chao decided that they must have had a psychic moment or something, because Jiang Wei proclaimed, "Hey, we think that might just work!"
In a bush behind the Shu contingent
Hmmm, that's amusing. Perhaps I can twist this to my own ends. Sima Yi was not credited with being the most combative general in the world, but he could have been an assassin, the way he could sneak around. He turned and noiselessly crawled out of the leafy shrubbery.
Glancing about himself to see if anyone neared him, Sima calmly walked towards the gate. Soldiers swarmed about it, taking orders from Huang Gai and barricading the gate from the forceful thrusts of the demon-like Lu Bu.
Inclining his head towards the top of the gate, Sima could see Zhou Yu pacing, and turning to shout orders to Huang Gai. The beautiful strategist's face was drawn and pinched.
Sima could hear some of the words of the two generals. "-the body?" Zhou asked as he leaned over the wall.
"She's in the stable for now, as per your order. At the rate the gate is being hacked away, we might as well catapult her into the enemy. That way, Lu Bu might leave us be." Huang Gai sighed as he tossed his bound pony-tail about his neck.
"No, my plan has gotten us into this mess, I shall get us out." Zhou paused, shaking his head. "I'll talk to him. Perhaps I can stall and buy time to figure… something out."
The two Wu generals' voices faded out as Sima Yi moved to the aforementioned stables. That Diao Chan woman was said to be an enchantress of sorts. Perhaps her body can serve me in death…
Sima calmly walked into the stables, looking like he belonged there. Fortunately for him, most of the horses had been led out for use and not another living human inhabited the place at the moment.
He poked his head into all the stalls, not sure exactly where a Wu soldier would dump a dead body in a stable. Around the corner into the last stall, Sima saw a tell-tale white and pink skirt.
"So you are Diao Chan." Sima grinned evilly and nodded to himself. The stall was clean, fresh hay lay thickly on the floor. He pulled the body into a sitting position, and was glad that not enough time had passed for her to become stiff.
The Wei strategist reached into a hidden pouch in his robes, and produced a pouch. Reaching into it, he withdrew a white powder and began to draw a circle in the hay.
"I have a friend that wants to meet you!" Sima purred and smiled at Diao Chan. The face of the woman was still set in a look of pure horror, set that way when the arrow struck her throat. Thankfully, the eyes were closed. Perhaps the soul of the woman would not see the abomination and ruin the body would…
I'm trying to update more thinks to self: be less lazy… less lazy…
Thanks for reading!
VTK ,-,