ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS
CHAPTER FOUR: THE TEST

As Sun Shang Xiang woke up she heard a voice, it was a very odd voice, like the speaker giggled between every word.

"I knew you were a woman when I saw you. You have too much figure; you don't fill your armor quite right. You know that women cannot participate in battle, so how did you get that armor?"

Sun Shang Xiang stared blankly ahead; in front of her was a short, hunched over man who was quite unattractive, not ugly, just not pretty. She also wondered at the clothing he wore; it was very odd, kind of like the man inside. He wore what looked like a conic hat with a very wide, thick brim. Off the brim were hanging tassels. He had a scarf to cover his mouth. His green, mottled robe had very wide sleeves, almost to the ground.

"Does my appearance upset you? If it doesn't, it would be a first. So, what is your name?"

She felt compelled to answer his question, but must not. She had to keep her name a closely guarded secret. If she did not, she could very well not get to see the sunrise. She had to see Jiang Wei before that, if she didn't, she would go insane.

"Sorry didn't hear that. Do you have a name?"

Her mind drew a blank, she knew she needed a false name, but didn't think she needed one so soon.

"A little shy are we? …I can see that you are scared of me. How about we play a game for questions?"

"If I refuse…?"

"I can always call the guards—if I didn't think you worthy of my trust, I would have called them already," he gave her a slightly evil grin and pushed up his eyebrows, she was stuck and he knew it.

She was trapped, she had to hope it was a game she was good at, "What do you have in mind?""I was thinking Go, by the way I'm Pang Tong."

"I would love to," I played Go since I was seven, I can even beat Zhou Yu. Zhou Yu… She started to tear at the thought of his name; she shook it off, " I call white."

"First, this game has some special rules, each time we battle, the person with the most territory gets to ask a question."

"Fine," Sun Shang Xiang made a move, "beat that."

And the game went on, her avoiding battles, him trying to start them. After a short skirmish at the upper right of the board, his stones were more numerous. "So I guess the first question is mine. How old are you?"

Timidly, Sun Shang Xiang replied, "Twenty."

"I believe you," Pang Tong had an innate gift to tell if someone is lying to him, "So, shall we go on?"

A nod of her head and the game picked up with rapid speed, she now tried to incite battles so she could ask him some questions of her own.

More little battles came up, soon Pang Tong could not keep up with them, and she was good. Maybe this was a mistake. Oooh! He found a crushing move and won three battles at once.

"So, do you want to tell me your name?"

Sun Shang Xiang only shook her head no.

"Alright, how about Zhi Ning? It means, 'Little Warrior' in my native village."

Lady Sun thought, speak in a weird language; that will throw him off. "Joseki-Osho."

"I know you speak Chinese, you already talked to me. If you play a trick like that again, I will call the guards. Understand?"

"Yes." She thought (quite sarcastically), Boy that worked wonders. He's confused real bad. "Now the third question, Wha—."

"You already asked three questions. 'Do you want to tell me your name, How about Zhi Ning,' and 'Understand."

"So you're a smart one, eh. Young people think they're so smart, just once I want to shove my aged wisdom in their face." A thought suddenly occurred to him. I could use her for that.

Throughout the course of this game, many battles were fought, and many questions asked. Near the end of the game, the two were talking like they were old friends. Just before the end, someone neared the entrance to the tent.

"Pang Tong, this is Jiang Wei. Is the boy alright?"

Sun Shang Xiang looked worried, she feared her secret might not be a secret too much longer, would Pang Tong betray their trust?

"He's just fine. We're playing Go. He is quite the accomplished player."

Jiang Wei took this in his stride, and then asked an interesting question. "But can he fight?"

"I guess we'll find out," said Pang Tong as he winked at her. He whispered, "You can handle a sword, right?" She shook her head yes. After that he asked a rather stinging question, "Can you also hold on to your emotions?"

She finally realized what he was doing. He was testing her; Go had been the start of it, now other things. Maybe he would make her bunk with the other soldiers. She shivered.

"Well, I'm waiting," spoke Jiang Wei, obviously irritated.

She summoned her manliest voice (which still sounded a little too high), "I'm on my way, just hold on."

As soon as Sun Shang Xiang stepped outside of the tent, she tripped over the end of Boyue's trident and fell on her face.

"You're new, so you get a little leeway. But, next time, you will be eating more than dirt. Here we don't mouth off to superior officers." Jiang Wei stepped away, setting his trident at the ready. The new grunt came out with some sharp, circular weapons. "What are those? Put them away and get a sword."

"These are my best blades, I shall show you their power," she said this with a little zing because she felt insulted at how he hurt her. She threw one at him and nearly took his head off. Her feelings of endearment were forgotten with the punishment and with his insult of her weapons.

They fought, and much clanging was heard, his trident clashed with her chakrams time and again. The feral sides of the combatants were coming out. She tried to slash him into a massive combo; then would try to launch him into the air, and keep him aloft until he said uncle. Boyue planned to shove the newbie away and use his cutting light beam and magical darts to wear the new guy out.

Since one combatant was trying to get close, and the other to get far away, very little progress was made. After almost an hour of swinging blades at one another, they called it a truce.

"You can fight very well with your choice of blades. Perhaps I'll try next time," then Jiang Wei left. Her first response was, I know I did better than that. Then she thought, if he can move like that on his feet, I wonder how…

"I know what you're thinking and stop it. If you give yourself away, I can't save you from them." She thought, Pang Tong always knows how to ruin a good time… Wait a minute; he heard what I thought. HE'S TELEPATHIC!!!

"Yes, I am. I knew most of who you were when you came in. That was a good strategy in the fight, by the way. He was trying to shoot you with projectiles and you were trying to put him into the sky. A good bout. I see that you can fight, both on the board and in the field, but I hope you can cook."

"What was that?" She nearly collapsed into the fire from surprise.

"Well, you didn't think you would get next to Jiang Wei without some hard work did you?"

Sun Shang Xiang didn't know what to think, she was in the middle of a camp with some old man. She was confused and now, a cook.

"In this army, one must work to get ahead. You won't be in battle, I'll see to that. You also won't frolic with the common solider either, unless I make you. You will be sleeping in my tent. In one year, I will tell everyone about your secret. If by then the army values your position, then so be it. If you reveal it or are found out, I cannot save you, and if the army doesn't want to keep you, then I can't stop them. Do you understand?"

"I guess."

Pang Tong further said, "We'll need to give you a background, Little Warrior."

"I suppose so. You know, my father was in a position of power so I know very little of humility."

"That's alright, I'll teach you. Starting with the game in progress. My move, right?"

Go is an ancient Oriental game, in which the basic objective is to gain more territory than your opponent, which is done by placing black and white stone on a 19x19 grid. It is also an excellent way to test knowledge of battle strategies and general use in an army.