"I'm telling you the truth!" Yelled Zhong waving his hands to try and regain his audience.
"Forget it old man!" Fei chuckled, "You didn't see anyone," he said, turning away.
"No, I saw him! Lu Bu is here!" Zhong shouted.
"Zhong," Da said sympathetically, "you're confused, you didn't see anyone." Zhong looked into her kind brown eyes and turned his head away in disgust.
"I know what I saw," he whispered.
"The old man's losing his mind! He needs to go take a nap!" Chao laughed.
"Shut up Chao!" Yun roared, breaking through the semi-circle of officers, his teeth gritted. Chao looked Yun up and down, a hush swept over the semi-circle as he ambled cockily right up until they were face to face, almost touching.
"You're so damn righteous Yun," Chao hissed, "but in the end you're only trying to start a fight with me," Chao's lips curled into a smile, "because Fan chose me over you." Anger burned in Yun's eyes as he charged at Chao fists clenched. Da watched helplessly as Yun threw Chao, skidding, across the beach. The throng of onlookers burst into life, yelling and cheering as the fighters rolled across the beach clawing and kicking. At one point Yun seemed to be winning, the next Chao would be showing his advantage, and everyone watching roared their encouragement.
Only Da tried to break the two of them apart, but despite her pleading for them to halt, the fighters ignored her, too involved in their desperate war dance.
"Please Yun!" she cried, "Chao, stop! Please! Oh for goodness sake, this is foolish!" She begged but she was forced to stay back and watch lest she be hurt herself.
"Fei…?" she asked but he wasn't listening. Da realized she would have to go in search of someone else.
Rushing across the beach; she threw her sandals off so she could move faster. Her sash blew out behind her in the breeze, purple rolling across the turquoise sea. She hurried frantically between the houses looking for the person she knew could help. She saw Yu and Xiao sitting together and Liang and Ying. And finally she found Gai sitting by the fire, his armour and shield lying beside him.
Chao darted up on top of Yun, trapping his arms underneath him. Chao raised his fist and brought it crunching down on Yun's face. Blood oozed from Yun's left nostril, he let out a half sob half choke, and red splattered Chao. Suddenly Chao was wrenched off of Yun and held kicking in the air.
"What the hell are you doing?" Roared Gai as he held Chao by the scruff of his shirt.
"Is he okay?" Da whimpered as she knelt by Yun's bloody face.
"I'm fine," mumbled Yun, rising to his feet. He shrugged off Da's hands and stumbled off towards the forest, not even looking back.
Chao released himself, still laughing at Yun's back, "You see Yun? I will always beat you!" Chao laughed.
"What's the matter with you!" Cried Da, but she only received a mocking glare from Chao in response. "Aren't you going to answer? Chao, I…" But Da trailed off staring at the figure who had just stepped out from between the trees. Covered in dirt and blood and naked from the waist up, Da barely recognised him. But she definitely recognised the ornate bells that ordained his chest.
"They're weak," Ning began, "There's less of them, than there are of us. And they have no weapons or anything. We could take them; we could kill them all, and avenge our friends and brothers." Ning glanced pleadingly to the faces of the entire camp. "Please, we have to save Shang Xiang." There was complete silence for a moment as every officer, Shu, Wu, man and woman alike considered the possibility of attack. Sun Ce got slowly to his feet and turned to address the camp.
"These others," he licked his lips thoughtfully, "have shown their hostility to us," he stopped for a moment and it seemed as though everyone's breath was being held for his answer. "I say, that we show them a thing or two about battle!" Ce roared and the whole camp burst into cheering and applause. Amidst this Liang rose coughing to his feet, supported by Ying, who looked to him questioningly.
"Silence," roared Yan, "The Sleeping Dragon wishes to speak."
A hush washed over the camp as they all looked to the increasingly frail looking strategist.
"My fellow generals," he wheezed, "my friends. We should not go so readily to war." At this uproar exploded into the crowd, "please! Listen, these others act intelligently. Perhaps Ning is wrong about their strength." Hearing this Ning glared aggressively at Liang.
"I'm not wrong, we can win!"
"Victory is not always easy to measure and even harder to predict. If we go to fight, we may each and every one of us end up dead." Ning watched fearfully as doubt seeped through the crowd.
"Then we're split," Ce continued, "It's a vote, those for attacking the others, raise their hand."
Fei, Ning and Tai's hands shot up instantly; others such as Yan and Chao raised their hands slowly afterwards. Ce counted up the total,
"That's 8," Ce said slowly. Everyone waited impatiently for the verdict, "there's 16 of us here. So there's no decision."
"I've made my decision," Ning called out, "I'm going to save Shang Xiang myself. I don't need your permission," Ning stalked off, the eyes of every officer there on his back.
Xun stared longingly at Da as she curled up against Ce's chest on the beach. Yan gazed at Ying helping Liang with his medicine. The two of them sighed together.
"Yan," Xun said not looking at him, "you can't imagine how hard it is to be me."
"You know what Xun," Yan replied, "for some reason, I think I can."
"What is he doing?" Yan asked pointing at Zhou Tai.
Zhou Tai had returned with Fei, but since then he had been even more silent than normal. Merely meditating on the sand, his sword unsheathed.
"He thinks he's failed," Xun answered, "Sun Jian was killed and then Sun Quan too, and now he failed to save Shang Xiang. He's the Sun Family bodyguard and he's very committed to his job."
"And the silence?"
"Penance."
"Looks like Ning's trying to get some conversation out of him though," Yan remarked watching Ning crouch down next to Tai.
"He'll need some good luck with that," Xun laughed reverting his gaze to Da.
"Tai!" Ning called happily but was met with stony silence. "Buddy," He started again, "I understand you're not feeling too great. I mean Lord Sun Jian's death and then Quan's too that's gotta hurt." Ning thought he noticed Tai's expression grow even grimmer. "But what would you say if I give you a chance to redeem yourself?" Ning asked a persuasive glint in his eye. "Are you listening? Shang Xiang is part of the Sun family," Ning searched Tai's face for any recognition, "You have the honour of protecting the Sun family. Shang Xiang is in danger. Do you not feel it is duty to go and save her?" Tai stared down at the ground unable to keep Ning's gaze. And then slowly, oh so slowly, Tai raised and lowered his head in a nod.
Huang Zhong pulled his bowstring taut and notched the arrow. His eyes scanned the trees for a suitable target and he caught sight of a pomegranate hanging tauntingly about 50 feet away. Swinging the bow in the direction, he took a deep breath, aimed and released the arrow. It soared through the air in a swift arch, whizzing past the trees on either side heading straight for it's objective. The air whistled past it on either side as it began to lose momentum. Before it slammed into the tree just inches from the hanging fruit.
"Nice shot," said Yun announcing himself from between the trees. He walked with a slight limp now and his lip was still swollen, despite the blood being cleared off, it seemed his nose would never return to the way it was.
Zhong sighed and dropped his bow to the ground. And then, slowly, he turned to face Yun, "once," he began, "I could hit the centre of a target from two fields away every single time," his voice cracked somewhat as he spoke. "I…" he stopped and composed himself, "I don't want…" he licks his lips and looked away from Yun's questioning eyes. "I don't want to get old."
For the first time in a long while Yun looked at Zhong, really looked at him. He saw the wizened grey hair and the deep wrinkles that run like tear tracks down his cheeks. He saw how his hands had become ropey, the skin sagging somewhat, the veins sticking out as though trying to escape. And then up to his eyes, the misty blue was slowly being covered with the fog of old age and Yun could see why Zhong was finding aging so hard.
Zhong sighed and said goodbye to Yun as he went to reobtain his arrow. He found it stuck high in a tree hopelessly out of reach. With a groan he set his bow down and began to climb the tree, using any footholds he could to scrabble his way up to the higher branches. A few minutes later he found himself squatting among the upper branches clutching to the trunk a few feet from his arrow, beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead. He stretched his arm out slowly reaching for the arrow his fingers just brushing the feathers. He tried to move his body even closer when, from the corner of his eyes he saw a figure watching from the undergrowth far below. "Lu Bu," he whispered, letting go off the tree.
Gan Ning heard the thump as Zhong hit the floor but decided against going to help him. "Zhong may need more time, but Yun's ready to come out of the oven," Ning said to himself as he made his way over to Yun who was now sitting, leaning against a tree.
"Yun?" Ning asked quietly, Yun's head whipped round at the unexpected noise but upon seeing Ning he smiled and attempted to cover his puffed up lip.
"What do you want Ning?" Yun asked as Ning settled beside him.
"I want…" He trailed off, as though searching for a word, "help." Yun looked at him, confused. "I heard you fought with Ma Chao. And I can see… that you didn't win." The bruise on Yun's face twisted into a deeper frown. "I'm offering you… a chance to… reclaim your honour." Ning whispered, pleading with Yun as he had done Tai, using his eyes.
"Why not ask Ma Chao," Yun replied bitterly, "he's a better swordsman than I could ever be."
"Chao is not strong enough. Not ready. I need you, to help me face the others. Please."
Yun looked at Ning and saw the pain behind his eyes, and with the first real grin he had given since his fight he answered, "alright. I'm in." Ning burst into laughter grabbing Yun by the neck and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug, thinking all the while, "two steps closer. I'm coming for you Shang Xiang."
So sorry about the massive delay between chapters but I haven't really been giving this story as much TLC as it needs. Hope you like this new chapter and I hope you're keeping up. If you getting confused you can send me a message with any questions And I would really love it… if you…
READ AND REVIEW!!!!!!