Hey guys! Chapter four is now open for reading! I'd like to thank all of my readers. Your reviews really keep me going!
Richochet, BlueSun91, Adder, Teri, Blaze Shadow, Maidengirl, and XxHikaruxX - - Thank you all sooooooooooooooooooo much! I shall keep trying to write to your standards and liking and whatnot. I'm so very sorry that this chapter took so long, but like I told many of you I have been busy with school work. College keeps you on your toes, that's for sure! Anywho. Enough of my rambling. On with the story! Enjoy!
30 Seconds To Game Over
Chapter Four
"You may enter," Da called out as she walked from her bedroom and into the sitting room.
I chose to stay put, being extremely self-conscious about how I looked. I peeked around the tapestry hanging in the doorway and saw Lu Xun enter with another Wu general who I recognized immediately. Sun Ce smiled at his wife and kissed her outstretched hand. The men were both dressed very handsomely in dark red outfits. Ce's garment had a giant golden tiger on his right sleeve and gold trimming along the hem of his other sleeve. Xun's had black trimming and a black symbol stitched boldly onto his back. It was really cool looking.
"Are you ready, my dear?" Ce asked, bending down to pet Da's little dog.
"Yes, my lord. We're both -," Da turned around and found that I wasn't behind her. She looked at the door and put her hands on her hips.
I let the tapestry fall back into place and gulped. Not good. Pissing of a warrior is never good. Especially this one. She kicked a fat guy's ass with a giant fan. She was ruthless, when she needed to be. And I had a feeling she was going to be just a tad ruthless with me now.
"Where is Lady Leigh?" I heard Xun ask.
"I'm afraid she is hiding away in my bed chamber," Da responded, sighing quietly.
I heard a deep chuckle that I assumed came from Ce.
"She's a shy one, is she? You'll have to pull this one out of her shell, Xun."
I didn't hear a response from Xun, and became very curious about how he was handling this comment. I lifted the tapestry slightly again and let out a surprised yelp. Da Qiao was standing right on the other side, frowning profusely (but still managing to be beautiful. How she does it is beyond me...). I dropped the cloth and scooted as far away from the door as I could. Da came in and crossed her arms.
"Lady Leigh, I did not spend all this time making you presentable to this court for you to hide away in my bed chamber. Our escorts are here, so do be kind and not make them wait any longer," she said sternly, an evil glint in her eyes that said "Do what I say now or you'll seriously regret it."
I gave an exasperated sigh and slouched.
"Alright."
"Stand up straight. Your not a hermit," she said crossly. I grudgingly did as I was told and followed her unwillingly into the next room.
I avoided Xun's steady gaze, instead studying each grain in the wooden floor very closely.
"Well, gentlemen, how does she look?" Da asked happily.
"She looks like a fine lady, my dear," Ce responded politely, fulfilling his duty as the loyal husband.
Xun didn't say anything, which I took as a "Oh my God. What did you do to her?" kind of response. But not in the good way. Oh noooooooo. My brain does not work like that, let me tell you now. It's always the disaster part that overrides everything. The "the world is going to end because this happened" part. I mean, I didn't think I looked that bad. Heck, I thought Da had made me look like all those models in the magazines.
"You look very beautiful, Lady Leigh."
The floor suddenly whipped away from my intense stare and Lu Xun's face took it's place. He was gazing at me with a weird look in his eyes. I felt a blush rise to my cheeks for some reason unknown to me and I quickly bowed my head again.
"Thank you, my lord," I said softly, wishing, praying, begging, that this god forsaken blush would just leave me alone.
Five minutes later the four of use were walking through the hallways, making our way to the Dining Hall. Da and Ce were ahead, talking quietly to each other, leaving Xun and I to awkwardly walk beside each other a little ways behind. Neither of us spoke for a while. It was annoying, really. The not talking thing. I didn't like the silence. So, I broke it.
"So, this dinner," I began, mentally bashing myself in the head for starting a conversation so stupidly. "Everyone is going to be their? Everyone important?"
"Yes," Xun said, smiling, but avoiding my gaze. "These types of feasts usually last for quite sometime, for generals and such like to speak a few words to the returned warriors," his eyes flickered to my face in sudden alarm, for a brief moment. "I hope you will be alright, Lady Leigh. I know it has been quite tiring a day for you."
"Oh no! I'm alright! Please don't worry about me. I've been through much worse!" I said hastily. This guy had been through enough hell because of me today. The least I could do was stay out of his way during his welcome home party.
"Much worse?" he asked, his alarmed look fading to a concerned one.
Oh maaaaaaan. Me and my big mouth.
We reached the Dining Hall, before I could amend my stupidity, and were announced as we entered ( though the servant didn't mention me...I don't really blame him, him not knowing my name and all, but he didn't have to give me such a weird look. Little prat). We were greeted with many smiles and were stopped numerous times so that Xun could answer a question for someone. Twenty minutes and five million questions later, we arrived at our table and were seated (on cushions! It was a low table with cushions for seats! How the heck I managed to sit that low in that god forsaken, pink monstrosity, I will never know) near where the emperor sat, chatting quietly with a beautiful woman to his right. She had dark brown hair pulled back into many tiny braids and piled elegantly on top of her head. She had on a small amount of make-up, less than me even. She was wearing a long violet robe, embroidered with silver cherry blossom trees, and had shoulder-length silver earrings in her ears.
"Lord Xun, who is that lady the Emperor is talking to?" I asked Xun, leaning close to him so that he could hear me properly through all the noise in the hall.
"That is Lady Sun. The Emperor's wife, and mother to Lady Shang Xiang, Lord Quan, and Lord Ce," Xun replied, smiling at me. "She is a very kind woman. And very intelligent as well. When my Lord Emperor is away at war it is my Lady Sun who runs all of Wu."
I mouthed a "wow" and sat back in my seat, continuing to look around the room. Lu Meng was standing near the door with Gan Ning and Zhou Tai, saying something that had Ning rolling with laughter. Tai looked like he was quite bored by Meng's words. I moved my gaze over to another part of the room where Taishi Ci and Huang Gai were comparing the size of their biceps. It seemed that Gai's was just a tad larger, for he was grinning from ear to ear while Ci looked a little disgruntled. Xiao Qiao had just bounded into the room, dragging an amused looking Zhou Yu by the arm. A man with brown hair pulled into a ponytail walked in behind them and headed over to Lu Meng and the others. I recognized him as Ling Tong (from pictures off of the internet, of course), one of the newest characters in DW. He was quite handsome, I must say. Though he had this constant smug look on his face that annoyed me.
There were many others in the room as well, but I recognized not one of them. I thought I saw a servant who looked oddly like the foot soldiers from the game. You know, the ones that all look identical. But he was moving too quickly through the crowd for me to get a proper look at him. After a while Sun Jian finally stood, causing an automatic silence to befall the room.
"Come my friends!" he boomed in that booming voice of his. "Let us eat and rejoice in the victory that our fellow comrade Lord Xun has won in the name of Wu!"
A loud cheer erupted and many "oufs!" followed as people plopped down on their cushions. Servants walked out of a side door carrying large trays filled with every kind of food you could think of. I'm serious. So that means there were waaaaay too many to name. Be imaginative. I know you can. The feast pretty much flew by. All around me ladies and lords stuffed their faces and talked happily to one another. Me, on the other hand, I wasn't particularly hungry and so fiddled with the hem of my sleeve for most of dinner. My not eating went unnoticed for a little while, but I was kidding myself if I thought I could get away totally unscathed.
"Lady Leigh, you haven't touched any of the food," Lu Xun said quietly, giving me that horrible concerned look of his. You know. The one that can make you completely melt into goo because it's just So. Damn. Cute.
"I'm not very hungry," I said shyly, looking down at the sleeve I was currently playing with.
"I really think you should eat, my lady," he continued, and I know for a fact that he still had that same look on his face. Without even looking up, I knew. I could hear it.
"No, I'm fine really," I insisted, lifting my head to smile at him.
"Listen hear, little lady," came a gruff voice from across the table. I looked over and found Gan Ning leaning onto the table, a giant turkey leg in one hand and a bottle of rice wine in the other. Fabulous. "Listen hear," he repeated again. "This hears a feast. You eat at feasts -" Great logic. I wonder where Professor Booz learned that one. "- And believe you me, little missy, you need to eat. I mean, look at you! Tinnier than that little runt dog of Lady Qiao's!"
"Lord Ning," Xun said sternly, but still managing to be kind at the same time.
"You know what that -hick- damned mut did, Xun?" Ning continued, ignoring Xun's ominous tone. "He chewed through ALL of my stockings! Even my good pair! And you know how much my feet start to stink if I don't have stockings to wear with my boots."
Oh ew. I so did not need to hear that.
"My lord Ning, there is a lady in your presence. Please collect yourself," Xun said, his tone changing to a more threatening one.
"Hey Ning!"
Xun and I both turned our heads at the sound of the voice and saw Ling Tong a couple seats down. He still had that bloody smug look on his face and he was leaning onto the table in complete leisure.
"What the hell do you want, Tong?" Ning asked, his speech starting to slur slightly as he took another sip from his almost empty bottle.
"Oh nothing," Tong said turning away from us and stuffing his mouth with some white rice.
"Wait a shecond! What makesh you think..." Ning ranted, rising from his seat and heading over to Tong. Tong glanced briefly at us, winked, and focused his attention on the drunken pirate walking towards him.
"I owe Lord Tong a word of thanks after this," Xun said to himself. He turned to me again. "You looked exhausted, my lady."
"Not something I particularly like to hear," I mumbled, stifling a yawn. "However true it might be," I added sheepishly.
Xun smiled. "Forgive me. Allow me to escort you to where you will be staying for the time being. As my apology for being so rude."
"Oh no! This feast is for you! I couldn't make you do that!" I argued, mentally bashing myself in the head once again. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid...
"No, it's quite alright, my lady. We both look like we're not having much of a good time anyway," he replied somberly.
I opened my mouth to argue some more, but did something so unlike me instead. I shut it. Yes, ladies and gentlemen! For once, I chose to keep my mouth shut and do as I was told! Thank you, thank you.
I let Xun help me from my seat and (after many apologies to the emperor and feeding him the excuse about being tired from the long day, true or not, it doesn't really matter) walked slightly behind him as we headed out of the hall. Once in the corridor, Xun began to lead the way to my temporary home.
"Wait!"
We both turned around and saw Xiao Qiao come running out of the Dining Hall. She stopped before us and put her hand to her chest, trying to catch her breath. When she was finally composed enough to speak, she smiled.
"Sis told me that Lady Leigh would need some sleeping garments for the time being, until we retrieve her measurements to have some clothing made for her. So, if it's not too much of a hassle, Lord Xun, I would like to escort her to my rooms and fetch her some clothing," Xiao said, rolling on the balls of her feet the whole time she was speaking.
"Why off course, Lady Qiao," Xun said politely, bowing slightly.
"Oh yay!" Xiao exclaimed, clapping. She grabbed my hand and pulled me in the opposite direction I had been heading before.
Damn that girl can run.
It took all I had to not trip and fall flat on my face. This is why I hate gym. Never can stay on my feet. I managed to hold my own until we arrived at Xiao's room. She ran inside, dropping my hand at the door. I heard quiet chuckling from down the hall, and saw Lu Xun walking leisurely towards me.
"I'm sorry about that, my lady," he whispered to me when he had arrived. "Lady Qiao can be a bit...eccentric at times. I really cannot fathom how Lord Yu tolerates her at times." He smiled, his eyes dancing with laughter.
"Ah ha!"
I turned to look back into the room and was immediately surprised by what I saw. Not even five minutes earlier that room had been spotless, beautiful. Now, however, there were clothes and blankets strewn every which way. It looked like a giant gust of wind had blown through it. I randomly thought abou Xiao Qiao's musou in the game...and tried to hold in my laughter.
"Here you are!" Xiao said, handing me a pile of clothes. "That should be enough to last you a couple days. At least until we have some garments made for yourself. You're a little smaller than me, so they might be a little big on you, but it's the best we can do right now.
"Thank you very much," I said, hugging the clothes to me to try and keep them from toppling to the ground.
"It's no problem! I was planning on scraping them later on anyway. I mean, their to small for me now," Xiao rambled on.
"Thank you for you kindness, my lady. I think I should be getting Lady Leigh to bed now," Xun said, interupting Xiao's rantings.
"Oh, of course! Good night, Lord Xun! Lady Leigh! It was so very nice to meet you, Lady Leigh, and I hope that we can become good friends!"
"I hope so too," I said sincerely. I liked Xiao. She was...normal. To me anyway. She didn't worry about etiquette and whatnot.
Xun and I said good night to Xiao and then I followed the young general as he led the way to my room. It was quite a ways down from Xiao's. That's when I remembered something that Xun had said earlier that day.
"Um..my lord?"
"Yes, Lady Leigh?"
"Um..I was just wondering about something you told me. Earlier today you said that the generals were housed in separate buildings. But, how come the ladies Xiao and Da live in the palace? Well, Lady Da is married to Lord Ce, so I guess that answers half of my question.." I trailed off, halting my idiotic rant.
Xun chuckled. "The Lady Xiao is married to Lord Yu. Both were married around the same time as Lord Ce and the Lady Da. Lord Yu is very close to Lord Ce, they are like brothers. So, the Emperor invited Lord Yu to reside in the castle. And that would naturally mean that Lady Xiao would be permitted to stay here as well."
"Oh."
We walked the rest of the way in silence. It was quite awkward. When we reached my room, Xun opened the door and held it for me. Someone had previously been there. There were numerous lanterns lit, and the bed was made up with new sheets and fluffy pillows that looked oh so comfortable. I looked longingly at those pillows.
"This is all courtesy of my lord Emperor," Xun said quietly.
I just nodded. My eyes were fixed on that bed. Soft, warm, comfortable bed.
"Good night, my lady," Xun said, tearing my attention away from the inviting prospect of sleep. He was looking at me funny again. I looked down at my pink slippers, that stupid blush that seriously needs to burn somewhere unpleasant creeping onto my face.
"Thank you for everything, Lord Xun."
He bowed low, making my blush deepen, and then walked out of the room, closing the door lightly behind him. I walked over to the bed and plopped down onto it. God, it was so soft. I shut my eyes and thought about the all that had happened today. So far, being in another world hand't been totally bad. I mean, apart from almost being chopped up by a bunch of Scary Men With Sharp Items. What if this was a dream? And that when I woke up I was back in my bed, safe and sound in my boring old life. Where no one cared what I did or who I was. But what if I was still here when I woke up?
Well, first things first. I was going to get this make-up off of my face. No way was I taking the risk of waking up with a pizza face in a world full of hot warrior men.
I hope you all liked it! What will happen to Leigh on her second day in DW? You'll just have to wait and see!!
Umi